Monday, the first day of the weekday when everyone with a job goes to work.

Arasila headed to the magic tower with an extremely excited face. After spending such an eventful vacation, going to work couldn’t have felt better.

She was glad to go to the lab, as she had been itching to do something while staying in the duchy with nothing much to do.

Sally and Rudy welcomed their senior, who had returned after about 2 weeks, with open arms.

“I missed you so much, senior! It was so hard being with just Rudy while you were gone.”

“Really now, you weren’t having a hard time?”

“What are you saying, I went through so much trouble cleaning up after you.”

Arasila smiled contentedly as she watched her juniors suddenly bickering. Seeing their unchanged behavior made her think they must have been doing well.

The two, who had been childhood friends since before joining the magic tower, had such squabbles as their daily routine, to the point where it would be suspicious if they showed signs of getting along well.

“Kids, did anything happen while I was gone?”

Arasila intervened at an appropriate time to prevent the two’s petty argument from escalating.

Sally and Rudy cleared their throats and nodded. Then Rudy spoke as if he had just remembered something.

“Ah, they say there will be a 100th anniversary celebration for the magic tower’s establishment soon.”

“That’s right, an official notice came. It says everyone must attend the event without exception.”

Sally handed over the official document she had kept separately to Arasila.

Arasila stared intently at the phrase ‘Married magicians may bring their spouses as partners.’

‘I suppose it doesn’t matter if that partner is a knight?’

A 100th anniversary celebration would be a very meaningful occasion for the magic tower and its affiliated magicians. Most married magicians would bring their spouses.

Then it would be right for Arasila, who was the most recently married among the magic tower magicians, to bring Demian as well.

Arasila rolled her eyes to read the sentence written right after that phrase.

“However, spouses must wear white clothes regardless of gender.”

Since the magic tower’s uniform was white, it meant to match the dress code accordingly.

‘Hmm, I wonder if Demian will accept this?’

Considering his position as a knight, he might not be pleased about having to dress to match the magic tower’s uniform.

‘Should I just attend alone? But they might subtly pressure me by asking why the couple didn’t come together….’

After pondering various options, she finally decided to honestly tell Demian and give him the choice.

If he says he’ll go, we’ll go together, and if not, I’ll go alone.

After work, Arasila went to meet Iris. She wanted to confirm what Oscar had said at the duchy that had been bothering her.

‘Last time, I happened to see Lady Hugo having a secret meeting with an unfamiliar man….’

At the time, she had pretended to be nonchalant in response to his words, but in fact, Arasila hadn’t heard anything from her elder sister about meeting someone.

Moreover, since Oscar seemed to be showing interest in Iris, she couldn’t just sit still for various reasons.

Iris, who had been waiting at the coffeehouse to match Arasila’s off-work time, raised her hand when she saw her younger sister coming in.

“Ari, over here!”

“Elder sister, did you wait long?”

Iris smiled and shook her head. Being very considerate, she had arrived 30 minutes early but didn’t bother to show it.

Arasila sat across from her. Her favorite tea had already been ordered. This too was Iris’s consideration.

“Have you been well, elder sister?”

“Of course, naturally. Have you been well too, Ari? What made you want to meet?”

“Yes, I have something to ask you.”

“Something to ask? What is it?”

Arasila asked bluntly towards Iris, who was tilting her head curiously.

“Are you seeing someone these days?”

“Ah… How did you know? Did you hear from Mother?”

Iris asked back, flustered yet shyly. Arasila’s mouth fell open at the news that her sister really did have a romantic partner.

She felt somewhat betrayed that her elder sister was seeing someone without telling her.

“What’s this, why didn’t you tell me in advance? Who are you seeing? Since when, where, and how did you meet?”

Arasila fired questions without even taking a breath.

Iris became perplexed at this. If she had heard from their mother, there was no way she would ask such questions.

“Ari, you didn’t hear from Mother?”

“I heard from Duke Vandermir.”

At those words, Iris flinched slightly. She didn’t expect Oscar to run to Arasila and tell her.

Worried that he might have said something strange to her younger sister, Iris watched her carefully.

“Elder sister, tell me what’s going on.”

“Well… It’s Lord Roberts, I was introduced to him by someone Mother knows, and we agreed to get to know each other.”

“Are you meeting with marriage in mind?”

“No, we’re not at that level of commitment yet.”

Iris denied it quite firmly. Arasila then made an expression of surprise.

“I thought that when elder sister met a man, you would naturally consider marriage and meet seriously.”

“…Why?”

“Well, elder sister is always cautious and serious about everything. You’re thoughtful and careful.”

Despite being only a year apart, Iris had always seemed like an adult to Arasila. Her precocious personality since childhood played a big part in that.

Although it was a familiar compliment she had heard from many people over the years, Iris didn’t feel particularly good about it today.

It was true that she was cautious and careful, but recently she had become uncertain whether she was really serious and thoughtful.

After all, she had started dating Eric as a pretense, simply because she didn’t want to get married for no reason.

Of course, Iris couldn’t honestly reveal this fact, so she just smiled appropriately and replied.

“Thinking about marriage when we’ve just met would be shallow and thoughtless.”

Hmm, I see. I decided to get married after meeting only twice.

Arasila swallowed the words that had risen to the tip of her tongue along with her tea.

Then she asked about what was naturally curious as a younger sister.

“Is Lord Roberts a good person?”

“Yes. Although we haven’t met for long, we have a lot in common and he’s a decent person.”

“Hmm.”

At Iris’s cool response, Arasila narrowed her eyes.

Her elder sister was basically a kind and gentle person, so she rarely openly criticized others negatively.

So it was hard to know what this Lord Roberts was really like.

‘Of course, judging by elder sister’s good expression, he does seem to be a decent person….’

Still, Arasila didn’t let her guard down. Although the fate of dying by marrying Oscar had been avoided, she didn’t know exactly how Iris’s future might have changed.

The fate with Oscar could have shifted to Lord Roberts.

For now, since nothing could be concluded, she decided to show a neutral reaction.

“That’s good then. Oh, and… There hasn’t been any trouble with Duke Vandermir, right?”

Having resolved her biggest curiosity, Arasila threw out her next question in a seemingly casual tone.

“Huh…? What kind of trouble?”

“No, just. I was wondering if the Duke had been flirting with you.”

For a moment, Iris’s fingers twitched nervously. Not wanting to create any discord between families, she denied it.

“He didn’t. I don’t even have any particular friendship with the Duke to begin with.”

Anyway, the relationship with Oscar had ended when she started fake dating Eric. He hadn’t contacted her since then.

So she thought it would be good for Oscar too if everything up to now was treated as if it never happened. At least, that’s what Iris thought.

“Even if the Duke tries to flirt with you, don’t ever fall for it. Don’t even exchange words. You don’t have to greet him.”

Arasila held her hand and said seriously. Iris was slightly taken aback by the excessive measure.

“How can I do that? He’s your husband’s elder brother…”

“No, don’t worry about that. Treat him worse than a stranger. Understand?”

Arasila, not wanting to create even the slightest chance for Iris and Oscar to get involved, earnestly implored.

Iris couldn’t nod readily and opened her mouth with a worried expression.

“But if I do that, won’t it cause trouble for you…”

“Elder sister, you don’t need to be a good person for my sake.”

Arasila sincerely hoped that Iris wouldn’t soften towards Oscar because of her.

To begin with, Oscar was a guy who didn’t even deserve the minimum courtesy. He was a bad guy who would have driven Iris to death if it weren’t for Arasila.

“You need to be a bad person for elder sister’s sake.”

So even if it meant hearing some unpleasant words, she wanted Iris to avoid him.

He was like a harmful pest that would only bring harm to Iris’s life.

“Never get close to Duke Vandermir. Don’t harbor even a shred of affection. Actually, I wasn’t going to say this, but…”

Feeling that this much should be enough but wanting to drive the point home, Arasila spoke as if being careful.

“That person, he even came to flirt with me at the wedding.”

At hearing that he had made advances not only to her but to her younger sister as well, Iris frowned.

And to do so at the wedding, no less. Her already non-existent good opinion of him fell even further.

‘…Surely, he didn’t approach me because of Ari, did he?’

From what she heard, it seemed he had hit on Arasila first and been rejected, so he might be trying to use her to approach her younger sister again.

“Arasila, you too shouldn’t get close to Duke Vandermir just because he’s your husband’s elder brother.”

Iris advised with a serious face. Arasila, who was already keeping her distance from Oscar, nodded.

“Alright, but elder sister must do the same.”

“Yes. Duke Vandermir is an even worse person than I imagined, so I really dislike him too.”

While thinking it was fortunate that Oscar hadn’t contacted her anymore, Iris scowled deeply.

Seeing her rare display of disgust, Arasila smiled with satisfaction.

Hmm, this should be enough to prevent them from getting involved.

Demian changed his method of searching for the will.

If the will really wasn’t in the hands of the Duke’s family, then it was clear that the previous Duke had hidden it somewhere that no one could easily access.

So he decided to investigate people or places that his grandfather might have trusted to keep the will.

Of course, even amidst all this, he diligently fulfilled his duties and business as the captain of the Red Hawk Knights without neglecting them.

In particular, he focused hard on tightening the discipline of the knights who had become lax during their long vacation while he was down in the duchy.

“Maintain a constant running speed! Matthew, don’t slow down. Kevin, how long are you going to run in last place? The more tired you get, the more strength you need to exert!”

Under Demian’s harsh whipping, the knights moved their legs with dead expressions.

After the hellish run that squeezed out every last drop of strength ended, high-intensity training followed. Wails erupted from all directions, but Demian didn’t even blink.

“We’re dying, Captain!”

“So, are you dead?”

“No, sir!”

“Then continue.”

The price of the sweet vacation was this bitter.

Moreover, since Demian himself was also completing the same training, his subordinates couldn’t even complain and had no choice but to forcibly follow along.

By the time work ended, everyone was exhausted and sprawled out. They were so drained of energy that they just lay scattered around the training ground, not one person moving an inch.

Leaving his subordinates like that, Demian alone left the knights’ quarters in a neat appearance.

Arasila, who came home later than him because she had met with Iris, went to find him as soon as she got home.

Then she abruptly said to Demian, who was sitting at his desk in a light shirt.

“Demian, there’s going to be a 100th anniversary celebration for the magic tower’s establishment soon. This is quite an important occasion for magicians like me.”

“Yes.”

“They say married people can attend with their spouses, but there’s a condition that they have to wear white clothes to match the magic tower’s uniform.”

Demian nodded with an unreadable expression.

Not knowing if that was simply acknowledging that he understood or if he was agreeing to go together, Arasila asked directly.

“Do you want to go together?”

“Yes.”

Taken aback by the answer that came without a moment’s hesitation, Arasila felt a bit dazed.

“You’ll have to dress according to the magic tower’s standards, is that okay?”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s just couple outfits, isn’t it?”

Demian answered in an indifferent tone. Arasila blinked slowly. That’s right, come to think of it, it’s just matching couple outfits in white.

He glanced sideways at Arasila’s slightly dazed face and slowly leaned back in his chair as he spoke.

“And if it’s an important occasion for my wife, it’s important to me too.”

“Why?”

To Arasila’s question, Demian smiled faintly at the corners of his mouth and replied as if it were only natural.

“Because I am your husband.”

Arasila felt that those words somehow carried more personal emotion than usual.

But since it wasn’t unpleasant, she just nodded.

They didn’t realize it, but it was the moment they silently agreed to act as a loving couple in front of others for the first time, without the calculated thought of having to put on such an act.