Why is this man coming out of here?

I stared bewilderedly at the annoying face with a smirk.

‘Wasn’t he a servant?’

Why is Floria’s fervent follower here… and as the guild master no less?

Flustered, I quickly composed myself. Showing confusion here would be tantamount to admitting I knew the man. Since I was perfectly disguised, there’s no way he could recognize me…

“We meet again.”

“…”

Rolling my eyes, I tilted my head pretending not to know.

“What do you mean… Have we met before?”

“Hmm.”

As I feigned ignorance while changing my voice, the man looked me up and down amusedly and smirked.

“Where did you get that drab wig?”

Drab, he says. How beautiful is black hair!

As someone who was Korean in my past life, it was a statement I simply couldn’t let slide, but this was the man’s domain. I decided to pretend I didn’t hear it, lest I irritate him and end up buried without a trace.

Judging by the man’s expression as he gazed at Silvia’s collection, I was certain it would be useless to keep denying. He seemed to have no intention of playing along at all.

“…How did you know it was me?”

“I have a good eye for detail.”

I gave up and asked, and the man answered while leaning back on the sofa.

‘No, how did you recognize me, really.’

I glared at the man. Not just the wig, but the makeup and outfit unsuitable for my age too. I was amazed he recognized my perfect disguise, which even Silvia would approve of, in an instant.

‘They say information is the lifeblood of a guild, did he find out my identity in the meantime?’

But the distance from the bookstore to this room was only about 2 minutes. It didn’t make sense to figure everything out in that time. And there was no way he could have investigated in advance knowing I would come. Unless he had been watching me. Is he really just that observant?

‘Anyway, this man has many useless qualities. How annoying, how annoying.’

“This is already the third time we’ve met by chance.”

Of those three times, thanks to him, my plans were foiled twice including today. Despite my displeased gaze, the man remained relaxed.

“I heard there’s a saying in the far eastern continent that three chance meetings make a connection. Shouldn’t we at least introduce ourselves properly now?”

“You go first, since you brought it up.”

By this point, I was curious about the man’s identity too. Just who are you to run into me so often?

The man stared at me silently for a moment before speaking at my retort.

“Cal Demon. You can call me Cal.”

Cal Demon. It was a name I’d never heard before. As expected, he seems to be an extra largely unrelated to the original work. I was worried he might be a key character I couldn’t remember, but I was relieved by the truly unfamiliar name.

“You already know my name, don’t you?”

Since he came to get me directly on Floria’s orders. I shrugged, and the man, Cal Demon, stretched his lips into a smile.

“Still, I’d like to hear it directly. Isn’t that where relationships start, by exchanging names?”

“Reneola Violet.”

What kind of relationship could possibly start between us? But there was no need to stubbornly withhold a name he already knew anyway.

Cal crossed his long legs languidly as he sat deeper into the sofa. The sight was extremely handsome. Though his words and actions were detestable, he was truly perfect in appearance.

“You came to make a request?”

Oh no.

Snapping back to my senses at Cal’s words, I straightened my back. Now was not the time for me to be leisurely admiring a man’s looks.

‘Can I ask about Shana’s magic?’

He was clearly on Floria’s side when he came to Honolulu, but now he’s the master of this guild, which was confusing.

If he’s on Floria’s side and I ask about magic, what if she finds out? Imagining her gentle smile instantly turning vicious, I shook my head inwardly.

Even if he’s on the first prince’s side, it’s still a problem. He might view me as a pawn to use against Floria, using my weakness as leverage. That was absolutely not an option.

‘Damn, is there no choice to just leave?’

Of all people, why did I have to meet this man here? If I say I didn’t actually intend to make a request at this point, who knows how that face would change…

“Hey.”

As I was racking my brain for an excuse to escape, Cal snapped his fingers.

“Can’t you hear me? I asked what request you came to make.”

“Well… Oh, but weren’t you a servant? Is it okay for you to do this kind of work?”

Unable to think of an excuse, I changed the subject, asking something I’d been curious about anyway. Is this man a servant or a guild master? Which is the real one?

The man stroked his chin with his finger and smiled faintly.

“In times like these, how can one survive doing just one thing? I work at the palace, then come out to the streets to do guild work, and sometimes even fight to protect the country.”

‘Don’t tell me this man…’

Does he work as a mercenary too?

He doesn’t look like he’s in financial difficulty, so is he unexpectedly diligent despite his glib words and actions? But even if being a guild master is one thing, can he really juggle being a servant and mercenary too? Wasn’t he a noble? As I looked him over, filled with questions, he spoke again.

“So, what is it you want to request?”

This is the third time he’s asked. The man’s voice lowered a tone. As if displeased at being made to repeat the same thing several times, this time there was pressure to definitely answer. With nothing prepared yet, I grinned awkwardly.

Just then, a knock on the door diffused the atmosphere. I let out a sigh of relief as I looked down at the teacup the red-haired clerk placed in front of me.

“This is tea imported from the West.”

Thinking the tea looked just like the clerk’s hair color, I picked up the steaming cup. But I couldn’t even swallow a single sip before grimacing and spitting it back out.

‘Why is it so sour!’

Glaring at the teacup, filled with a sourness that would be believable even if a whole lemon had been squeezed into it, I belatedly realized my rude behavior and quickly apologized.

“I’m sorry, it was just so sour…”

“That tea really won’t do, will it? That’s the fourth person already.”

“Hmm.”

“Let’s find a different tea.”

I stared incredulously at Cal nodding his head. What was even more outrageous was that his cup contained normal coffee.

Cal silently turned to look at me. Before those lips could once again ask “What’s the request?”, I quickly opened my mouth.

“I’d like you to deliver something to my family.”

“Deliver? What?”

Eliya, this is how I’m granting the favor you begged me for repeatedly while holding my hands.

“A catalog from Matilda Boutique.”

“…”

The room fell into silence. Even I thought it was an absurd request, so it was only natural. Who would hire a guild just to deliver a boutique catalog? But as before, I intended to brazenly push through.

I smiled faintly, pondering how to counter if Cal objected that I was talking nonsense. After staring at me blankly for a moment, Cal slowly opened his mouth.

“Marche.”

“Yes, master.”

The red-haired man who had been looking dumbfounded quickly composed his expression and bowed.

“How much does a catalog from Matilda Boutique cost?”

“Well, I believe the catalogs are free…”

A gaze that seemed to ask if I was joking came my way, but I just blinked innocently. Cal let out a low chuckle and raised an eyebrow.

“It seems our client has more money than expected. To request a guild for something as trivial as delivering a free catalog.”

“I can’t trust the mail. Fashion is all about timing, so what if it gets lost along the way? My younger sister throws terrible tantrums. Just thinking about how much she’ll fuss gives me a headache.”

“Hmm.”

Cal stared at me silently for a moment before curling his lips into a smile.

“Alright. We’ll accept that request. Marche.”

“Yes.”

At Cal’s nod, Marche brought over some documents and placed them on the table as if he had been waiting for this.

“This is the contract.”

Though I thought it ridiculous to have a contract for mere catalog delivery, I obediently picked up the papers. It was fortunate they were going along with such an absurd excuse.

−or so I thought, until I gaped at the amount with an unbelievable number of zeros.

“A, a hundred gold?!”

What kind of outrageous amount is this? Thinking I must have seen wrong, I counted again several times, but the result was the same. I jerked my head up with wide eyes, and Cal tilted his head as if asking if there was a problem. Then, as if belatedly remembering something, he said, “Oh, right.”

“What’s written there is the initial fee, and the contract fee is 10% of that, ten gold. You need to pay that right away.”

“And when the request is properly completed, you’ll need to pay an additional 50% of the initial fee as a success bonus.”

Are you thugs?

I stared in disbelief at the two people boldly stating they would pocket 160 gold just for catalog delivery. I was so flabbergasted that words failed me for a moment.

“…Wh-why is the request fee so expensive?”

When I finally gathered my wits to ask, Cal raised an eyebrow.

“Our guild is on the pricier side.”

“We’re famous for cleanly succeeding in our requests. We’ve never failed even once, you see.”

Cal nodded at Marche’s additional words.

“Even so, this doesn’t seem like a request worth paying such an amount…”

“You came knowing enough about our guild to be aware of the exact request method, so you couldn’t have been unprepared for this level of fee.”

“…”

“Surely you’re not saying you have no intention of making a request now? Unless you were just trying to toy with us, that is.”

Cal smiled faintly.