The master’s scheme to attach a shadow to Dietrich’s aide went on successfully.

Ren secretly attached his shadow to Nils, who came out of the mansion, and thanks to that, he was able to hear news that Vivian was doing well.

He felt mixed emotions at the contrasting story to himself, who was suffering with thoughts of only Vivian every hour, every second, every moment…….

Still, it was fortunate that she didn’t seem to be depressed.

If she had been struggling like him, he thought he would have been even more pained.

Yes, up to that point, everything was fine.

Dietrich and Ludovica.

Although he didn’t like that sibling pair, hearing Vivian’s laughter intermittently made it seem like there was less need to worry than expected.

However, Ren just realized his thinking had been short-sighted.

Because Dietrich had mentioned feeling chest pain while talking with Vivian.

The moment he heard those words, Ren immediately realized.

Dietrich likes Vivian.

No, even if it couldn’t be called such a deep stage yet, it was certain that he had feelings for her.

‘Not knowing his place.’

How dare he feel flutters for her.

He had been irritating from the first time they met. In the end, he crossed a line he shouldn’t have.

Perhaps his frustration showed on his face, as the master spoke to him.

“Master, are you alright? Is there anything I can help you with?”

“…Were there any people in the Belvedere family who had weak hearts? Did they complain of palpitations normally?”

“Huh? That’s quite a random question. As far as I know, there weren’t any, but.”

“Don’t answer carelessly, look into it properly.”

The master grumbled as he searched for files in the back.

After reading the section about the Belvedere family, he answered firmly once again.

“There aren’t any, none. They’re a family of magic swordsmen, so there’s no way they’d have weak hearts to begin with. It would be difficult to even learn swordsmanship with a weak heart.”

Ren sighed and leaned back against the sofa.

It was ugly. His attempt to somehow deny the possibility that someone else had developed feelings for Vivian.

He wasn’t originally a character who lacked composure to this extent…….

He saw himself becoming impatient at the appearance of a love rival.

Moreover, as soon as the conversation between Dietrich and his aide ended, the connection with the shadow was suddenly cut off, bringing his impatience to an extreme.

This was the first time the connection had been cut off like this, so it was difficult to even guess the cause.

Ren closed his eyes tightly in the situation that seemed to be spinning out of control in many ways.

He could barely grasp how he should act going forward.

However, amidst the unclear situation, one thing was certain.

Ren missed Vivian.

A week’s time passed, and finally the monster defense training ended.

During that time, I grew day by day to be able to face monsters.

Moreover, I could fight without panicking even when surrounded by several of them.

It was all thanks to Dietrich’s lessons.

“Well done, Miss Vivian. Your growth was faster than expected.”

“Thank you. I really couldn’t have done this without Dietrich.”

“That’s right. There aren’t many teachers as excellent as me.”

He smiled with his characteristic confidence.

“So, what are your plans now? Ludovica will be gone for a while too.”

Yesterday, Ruby left the duke’s residence due to some business.

She had said to stay at the mansion until the matter was resolved and she’d return right away, but…….

‘I can’t do that. Every minute, every second is precious right now.’

Even at this moment, the duke and his wife must be fighting against magical energy in the basement of the mansion.

Desperately holding onto their unstable minds.

So I need to quickly find the Elaine herb and save them.

“Thank you for letting me stay here. I think I’ve been away from home for too long, so I’m going to go back now. I need to reconcile with Ren too.”

“Ludovica will be quite disappointed if you leave like this.”

He tried to hold me back to stay a bit longer, but I declined with a faint smile.

“Please give my regards to Ruby as well.”

After saying goodbye to him, I immediately left the mansion alone.

Dietrich offered to take me home in the family’s carriage, but I politely declined.

Because where I was actually going wasn’t home.

After making sure Dietrich wasn’t around, I secretly borrowed a carriage and headed straight for the Black Tree Forest.

I had to be careful. Not to be caught by him.

If he knew where my destination was, he would certainly try to stop me.

That place was a forest owned by none other than his family.

He would know better than anyone how dangerous it is.

If I were caught going to the Black Tree Forest, I’d have to explain everything from beginning to end about why I needed to go, but I had no confidence in doing that at all.

Logically speaking, even if I suddenly said, “The medicinal herb to save your parents is there!”, would he believe me?

So rather than being unnecessarily hindered, my current goal was to just obtain the Elaine herb without him knowing.

The forest wasn’t too far from the Belvedere mansion, so I could easily arrive there soon.

When the forest came into view in the distance, I got off the carriage.

And without making any footsteps, I gradually walked towards the forest.

With each step I took closer, I unconsciously held my breath at the form of the approaching forest.

The trees were all painted black as if shadowed. As if color had never existed from the beginning.

Although it was clearly daytime now, only the forest seemed trapped in an eerie darkness.

An ominous energy could be felt from all directions.

An instinctive aversion arose. That I shouldn’t enter there.

But I had to go in.

To intervene more actively in the original story. To overturn Dietrich and Ludovica’s fate.

As I was courageously continuing towards the forest, I saw guards patrolling around it.

‘No, why are there guards even here? I didn’t expect this.’

Although I couldn’t confirm exactly because it was far, the emblem on their clothes somehow looked familiar.

It was the emblem symbolizing House Belvedere.

Are they patrolling outside the barrier to prevent civilians from entering?

Barriers are usually installed around monster habitats.

They serve to prevent monsters from coming out.

Although there is a drawback that monsters can escape if their numbers grow beyond what the barrier can handle, barriers are generally sturdy.

Of course, since the barrier only blocks monsters at this time, humans were able to freely pass through it.

It seems they deployed guards to prevent civilians from occasionally entering monster habitats without knowing the dangers.

‘This is troublesome. I can’t be caught.’

I hid behind a tree to observe the situation without being noticed by the guards.

‘It looks like he’s alone, should I just knock him out? No, there’s no need for that, I’ll just sneak in using my ability.’

My conscience pricked a little as it felt like I was committing a crime, but I decided not to mind.

Come to think of it, I was already an unprecedented criminal as a serial kidnapper of handsome men.

There’s no need to feel guilty about this now. Be confident, Vivian!

I immediately activated my ability. And with that, I quickly passed through the barrier and entered the inner part of the forest.

Fortunately, the guard didn’t seem to have seen me.

I slowly deactivated my ability while hiding my body inside the forest.

‘I don’t know what kind of unexpected situations might occur, so I can’t waste it carelessly.’

The ability cannot be used all day long. Due to my physical limitations, 5 minutes is the maximum per day.

‘Monsters could suddenly appear without warning, so I should move as quietly as possible.’

I drew out the dagger from the scabbard hanging at my waist. Then I carved X marks on the surrounding trees.

‘Right. I’ve seen this somewhere before.’

I moved my steps deeper into the forest while checking that the traces I left to easily find my way back were clearly engraved.

At this time, I was unaware that there was another guard watching me from afar.

At the sound of someone urgently knocking on the office door, Dietrich put down the pen he was holding.

“Come in.”

Nils hurriedly entered. It was an uncommon sight for the usually calm Nils.

“Young lord, I have an urgent report.”

When Dietrich nodded, Nils began to speak in earnest.

“A carrier pigeon has arrived from the guard at the Black Tree Forest.”

Black Tree Forest?

Tension crept across Dietrich’s face at the name that sent chills down his spine just from hearing it.

Nils, who was equally serious, began to read the letter he was holding.

“There was an intruder in the forest, he says. They were too fast to catch, and…”

Nils took a breath and continued speaking.

“…the intruder’s appearance was that of a woman with purple hair. He said she was a bit shorter than average with short hair.”

For a moment, Vivian’s face flashed through Dietrich’s mind.

‘Surely the identity of the intruder couldn’t be Miss Vivian? No, that’s impossible. She has no reason to go there.’

As his heart raced wildly, Dietrich tried to maintain his composure.

No matter how similar they looked, it was an absurd assumption.

Suddenly, a conversation he had with her during the lesson came to mind.