Eric extended his arm, and Alicia, chin up more than usual, hooked her arm with his and they started walking together.

(This is a time separator.)

“Chief, where are you going? The approval is–”

The subordinate who had been hovering by the desk shut his mouth upon seeing Alicia.

“Is it urgent?”

“No, it is not—also, not urgent. I will come back later. Excuse me.”

Though saluting Eric, the subordinate’s eyes remained fixed on Alicia.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Alicia smiled awkwardly, and the subordinate quickly saluted her before exiting the office.

“You sure we’re not disrupting?”

“It’s fine. No rush on their part. Have a seat.”

Alicia sat on the sofa as Eric suggested.

Glancing over the documents on his desk, Eric inquired,

“Tea? Or something else?”

“Anything cold.”

“Cold?”

“I need to clear my head.”

“Do you have to say it that way?”

Suppressing a laugh, Eric tossed the documents on his desk and opened the door to give instructions to his subordinates.

“Ah!”

“Uh–”

As the door opened, several subordinates tumbled in.

“……”

“Uh, anything you need, Chief?”

“Cold water, two glasses.”

“What? We have tea and coffee. Really premium stuff.”

Catching Alicia’s eye and noticing her embarrassment, the subordinate turned back to Eric and grinned.

“Is it because you’re embarrassed by us that you want something cold?”

“Yes, bring it quickly.”

“……”

Staring at his chuckling subordinates sprawled on the floor, Eric forcefully closed the door.

“Ah, wait. Don’t push. Watch your hands.”

“Then move quickly.”

“Hey, move back. Ah, stuck, I’m stuck?”

“I’m stuck too? Ah, Chief, we’re going to get hurt.”

Nevertheless, Eric mercilessly closed the door.

“Really embarrassing. Sigh.”

Ignoring the loud protests from outside, Eric walked back to the table and sat down.

“Are you sure it’s alright?”

“It’s fine. Did you see them? They’re so idle, that’s why they’re like that. Anything I ask for, they all swarm.”

“Ah.”
At those words, Alicia felt somewhat relieved, but she soon became embarrassed remembering the eyes that had met hers through the gap in the door, glowing with curiosity.

Soon there was a knock, and one of the subordinates who had been pushed out earlier entered with water, carefully setting it on the table.

“I tried to make it as cool as possible.”

Eric gave the subordinate a skeptical look for boasting about such a trivial task, but the subordinate’s gaze remained fixed on Alicia.

“Thank you.”

Upon Alicia’s polite and slightly strained smile, the subordinate’s eyes widened.

“Wow, the commander is divine. I swear I just saw a halo.”

“Leave.”

At Eric’s firm command, the subordinate’s face fell, but he chuckled again when he made eye contact with Alicia, quickly opened the door, and left.

Left alone, Alicia looked puzzledly at Eric.

“What did you mean by ‘halo’?”

“……Backlight. I meant backlight.”

“Ah.”

Alicia glanced at the window behind her where the sunlight was coming in and nodded.

“So why are you here?”

“I was returning a book to the royal library and thought I saw someone I knew on my way back, so I became curious and came.”

“Somebody you know?”

“Yes.”

“Did you know someone among the knights besides me?”

Ignoring Eric’s teasing question, Alicia looked around the office.

The office befitting a commander was spacious. Although there were stacks of papers here and there, it was neat, only containing the essentials.

“Do you sleep here when you can’t go out?”

“There’s a dormitory. If there’s no specific time, I make do on the sofa.”

“Sounds uncomfortable.”

At Alicia’s concerned tone, Eric smiled.

“When I sleep on the sofa, there’s usually no time to think about such things. And having sat on it, it’s not that bad, you know?”

“I see, but you still have a lot to deal with.”

“I appreciate the recognition. So how much time do you have?”

“I don’t have anything urgent.”

“Then can you wait here for a moment? I’ll finish up some urgent tasks and then we can leave together.”

“Is that alright? There’s still time until the end of work.”

“Being the commander has its perks. I can manage that much.”

Eric grinned, and Alicia smiled back, nodding.

When Eric stood up, a knock was heard and the door opened; Allen entered.

“Oh, you really are here. Hello, sisterinlaw.”

“Officer Allen, long time no see.”

“Yes. How have you been?”

“I had a great time last time, thanks to your care.”

“Ah, that. It’s nothing. It’s just a vacation house we had anyway. But I’m sorry I had to disturb you. I felt really bad.”

“It’s work. What can you do?”

“Exactly. So feel free to borrow the villa anytime.”

“Thank you, Officer Allen.”

Allen smiled goodnaturedly.

Wary that Allen might misspeak, Eric asked as soon as Allen finished talking.

“So Allen, where did you go this time?”

“I went downstairs because the kids on the first floor said there was a crazy woman crawling around.”