Meiana’s eyes blinked a few times. Beyond the closed playroom door, the children’s laughter could be heard. After a moment, Meiana nodded in understanding. Eventually, the two of them left the mansion together.

‘Where are they going?’

Walking a few steps ahead, Meiana watched Cedeloi’s back, lost in thought.

It felt like summer was fading away. Despite being the hottest time, the sunlight wasn’t as piercing. The shade on the ground gradually deepened, and although the greenery on the earth still looked thick and vivid, the branches that had risen with the rising water were slowly withering in preparation for the cold season.

Cedeloi, piercing through the sunlight and shadows over his head, moved forward as if swimming along the current, as if nothing rough would obstruct him. Meiana, who had moist soil sticking to her low-heeled shoes, looked down and said,

“Your Grace.”

At her words, he turned his head.

“Why?”

“Where are you going exactly? Is there something wrong?”

Cedeloi looked up at the sky, then gazed down the path ahead. Finally, he looked back at Meiana.

“You haven’t been this way before, have you?”

“No, never.”

“Even though I thought Ariante had already circled this forest with you.”

Meiana shrugged as if to say, ‘It’s possible.’

“I’ve been to various places, but not here. What’s here?”

Taking a moment to think, Cedeloi turned his eyes back to Meiana.

“Not much, nothing at all. Just a small pond.”

Meiana quickened her pace and stood side by side with him. Although the path was narrow, it was just enough for the two of them to walk. Occasionally, if they moved their arms widely, the backs of their hands lightly brushed against each other.

Cedeloi said, looking ahead.

“There’s really nothing here. There’s a small pond.”

Meiana, standing next to him, said, “Your Grace.”
“Gemero almost found him. That forest keeper.”

Forest keeper? Meiana, for a moment, couldn’t quickly understand what he was talking about and looked puzzled.

But soon, it occurred to her. Perhaps it was due to the story about the pond, naturally associating it with the deaths of Verbo and Liria.

“If you mean the forest keeper… from back then, the person you mentioned before? Verbo young master and Miss Liria’s…”

“Yes. He found the recent place he stayed, so we should be able to find him soon.”

Meiana replied, “That’s really fortunate. It took a very long time, though.”

Cedeloi, smiling subtly, clenched and unclenched his fist.

“Yeah, it took a while… And the story I wanted to tell you isn’t just that.”

“Then?”

At that moment, a small pond mentioned by Cedeloi appeared, and at the same time, a small cabin resembling a toy house came into view. The cabin’s door extended like a fitted panel toward the pond. Opening the door and following a short path made of wood, it seemed designed for a direct jump into the pond to play.

He briefly glanced at the cabin, then sat on a small bench overlooking the pond. The bench, flanked by a gently sloping grass field, was very old but showed recent signs of human intervention.

Before Cedeloi could tell him to sit, Meiana calmly sat at one end of the bench. The wind, making a rustling sound through the forest path, created silk-like ripples on the pond.

“Jocelyn is in a precarious state. It seems like it could burst at any moment if touched… The fuse is burning rapidly, and the most dangerous thing is the ill feeling she harbors against you.”

Listening attentively to his words, Meiana suddenly let out a breathy laugh.

“What were you trying to say? You didn’t have to come all the way here to tell me this, Your Grace. Who in the mansion doesn’t know that Jocelyn housekeeper is on the verge of creating a nonexistent disease because she couldn’t devour me? Probably, if she could, she’d stuff me into a mortar and pestle and grind me as much as possible.”

Meiana said it as if making a playful joke, but Cedeloi’s expression was not good. He looked like someone who had swallowed a horribly bitter medicine without water.

“I knew she disliked you. But she’s even having unreasonable delusions.”

“What delusions?”

“Not a pleasant thing to hear inside. But I’ll tell you anyway.”

Looking at Meiana as if asking if she would still listen, Cedeloi said,

“A somewhat unpleasant fire flickered in my mind for a moment.”

“Do you think I’m trying to tease you, Your Grace? Right?”

Cedeloi, who was stroking his upper lip, nodded a moment late.

“Something like that.”

Meiana chuckled.

“You’re suggesting that I’m flirting with you, right?”

Cedeloi, still stroking his upper lip, nodded unexpectedly seriously.

“Yeah, that’s right. Let’s just do that. Until I go.”