Mihail, who glanced at me, soon asked Frigia.

“What brings you here?”

“Oh my, speak of the devil and he shall appear.”

Unlike me, who felt caught as if overheard gossiping, Frigia was quite bold.

“My friend just came to seek some advice. Don’t be so harsh.”

“I wasn’t being harsh.”

When Mihail replied curtly, Frigia shrugged as if to say ‘Is that so?’ Then she whispered to me.

“He doesn’t really like me.”

Mihail twitched one eyebrow. It meant he could hear everything.

Frigia laughed merrily and slapped Mihail’s shoulder as she spoke.

“But he’s not a bad person, so try asking him! He has experience teaching children at the magic tower!”

Mihail took a step back.

Frigia, unfazed, waved her hand at me.

“Well then, I’ll go look around the castle some more!”

“O-okay, have a good time…?”

By the time I managed a bewildered farewell, Frigia was already gone.

‘It’s so chaotic.’

The energy of the extremely extroverted Frigia was quite extraordinary.

As I wiped away cold sweat,

Mihail was still standing at a distance from me.

‘Should I ask, or not?’

I also thought Mihail wasn’t a bad person.

Just that he was quite eccentric.

I was briefly lost in doubt about whether it would be okay to entrust a child to such a person.

‘Why does he keep looking over there?’

Mihail’s gaze lingered on the spot where Frigia had departed.

Seeming to sense my stare, Mihail made to leave.

“I’ll take my leave now.”

“Wait a moment!”

I reflexively grabbed his sleeve tightly. The face that turned to me was terribly cold.

“What is it?”

Though scared by his frigid expression, I was able to notice something I hadn’t known before.

“Mihail, could you spare a moment?”

Mihail, glancing between me and his captured sleeve, let out a brief sigh.

“Very well.”

In the end, I was able to walk through the garden with Mihail.

‘This is awkward.’

It was natural. Even after my possession, there had been practically no points of contact to exchange words with Mihail.

He was the loyal subordinate who remained by Kashar’s side even after he became the Demon King.

I don’t know why he stays by his side.

One thing is certain.

“You know, Mihail.”

I stopped in the middle of the eerily chilling garden and asked.

“You like the princess, don’t you?”

Mihail’s steps, which were trying to pass by pretending not to see me, also stopped.

“…What are you saying all of a sudden?”

He was asking me back, but his flustered appearance was evident.

“I’m not sure what you saw to say such a thing, but…”

“Your eyes resemble mine. Eyes of unrequited love.”

He who was about to deny couldn’t continue his words.

The gray eyes were suddenly wavering.

‘This makes it impossible not to know.’

The way I gazed after Kashar and the way Mihail’s gaze followed Frigia were identical.

Mihail’s face turned red.

He turned his head, avoiding my gaze.

I pretended not to notice and asked what I had been curious about all along.

“By the way. That time you made the magic tower gray and said it was pretty…”

“It wasn’t about the tower, but about Lady Frigia.”

As I thought.

The innovative line that had contributed to his nickname as the ‘Gray Weirdo’ was actually a shy confession.

“In the midst of all that gray, only Lady Frigia stood out to me.”

Mihail’s tone softened as if recalling that day.

‘It was the same earlier too.’

His expression, which had been like a cold wind to me, softened only for Frigia.

The difference was so subtle, but perhaps because we were in the same boat of unrequited love, it was more noticeable to me.

“It’s a shame you had to leave the magic tower.”

“Even without that incident, I was planning to leave the tower. Because I had completed what I wanted.”

As it turned out, Mihail becoming Kashar’s adjutant was also an order from the tower master.

But I didn’t know what he had completed.

“What you wanted?”

“The gift I gave to Lady Frigia.”

Suddenly, I remembered the earring embedded in one of Frigia’s earlobes.

‘The gray earring.’

In the latter half of the original story. The Continental War.

Frigia stands by Elcius’s side as a great mage.

At that time, Michael had gone to the opposite side of the world to awaken the dragon’s ability.

Before Michael arrived, crises occurred several times.

What saved Frigia, who almost died at Kashar’s hands, was the gray earring.

‘It was a magical accessory that could neutralize all attacks just once.’

After Frigia blocks Kashar’s attack, her magic pierces through Mihail.

It was like dying at the hands of the person he was protecting.

‘Mihail made that? If he liked her that much, why didn’t he confess…’

I, who couldn’t understand him, sighed a moment later.

‘Mihail thinks Frigia dislikes him.’

Perhaps he thought it would be better to end his life by her hand rather than be rejected if he confessed.

‘…This is quite complicated.’

Unrequited love was always bitter. Especially in Mihail’s case.

Knowing the future made me feel even more depressed.

I forced a smile and spoke to him.

“I won’t tell anyone. If you teach magic to the young princes.”

“…So you had something you wanted.”

“Of course.”

The gray gaze turned towards me.

He smiled faintly and then revealed something unexpected.

“At first, I thought you were a con artist.”

“…A con artist?”

“Yes. There were quite a few con artists claiming they could cure my lord’s madness. Of course, they disappeared by my lord’s hand.”

Among them, only the Aruby fruit had any effect.

‘So that’s why he was especially cold to me.’

Given that con artists were rampant, I could understand why Mihail had been so frigid towards me.

“It’s late, but I apologize for the misunderstanding.”

Mihail offered a polite apology.

“As an apology, I will proceed with the magic education for the young princes.”

That was good news.

But it wasn’t just Mihail who had something bothering him.

“I’m sorry too. For bringing Lady Frigia unnecessarily.”

Frigia clearly seemed interested in Kashar.

If Kashar also had feelings and the two of them got together…

‘No, absolutely not!’

Not only would it break my heart, but it would also be a great betrayal to Mihail.

At my apology, Mihail looked puzzled before nodding.

“I was glad to see her face, but my lord must have been annoyed.”

“What do you mean?”

They seemed to have a good relationship, like they already knew each other, so what was the problem?

“You didn’t know?”

Mihail laughed as if it was amusing.

“I’d like to tease you a bit, but I’ll let it slide this time. Follow me.”

His tone, as if he was being especially generous, was strange.

When I stood still in my spot, he asked as if wondering why I wasn’t coming quickly.

“Aren’t you curious about what Lady Frigia is doing right now?”

At those words, I recalled Frigia being with Kashar.

If so, the place Frigia headed to was…

“I’m coming now!”

I stuck close to Mihail’s side as if nothing had happened.

The place he guided me to was the reception room.

Through a tiny crack in the door, I could see Kashar and Frigia. Perhaps because the door was closed, almost no sound could be heard.

As I pressed against the wall as if trying to bore through it, Mihail whispered softly.

“Step back.”

At that moment, a faint green light disappeared beyond the door.

Then voices could be heard. It was a sound amplification spell.

“…So, you intercepted the ship deal?”

“Oh my. You also took my diamond mine, didn’t you, Your Grace?”

“That was originally mine. If you want it, hand over the mana stone mining rights.”

“Why should I?”

…What is all this about?

No matter how I listened, it wasn’t a conversation about love or happiness at meeting again.

The continued dialogue was even more outrageous.

“I guess they don’t teach manners or conscience at the magic tower?”

“Are you perhaps introducing yourself?”

“That would be introducing you.”

‘How, how childish.’

It felt like eavesdropping on dogs and cats growling at each other.

As I was dumbfounded, Mihail whispered so only I could hear.

“The two of them have a long-standing rivalry.”

Kashar’s business and Frigia’s Elvitor had overlapping deals, big and small.

‘A fight between a royal and a great mage.’

As they kept taking things from each other, their relationship had come to this point.

“I thought you had deliberately brought the princess to irritate my lord…”

“Absolutely not. I didn’t even know Lady Frigia was coming.”

Rivals? I had no idea.

“It’s understandable that she would come directly. I heard she recently lost a red diamond mine to my lord, but it seems she hasn’t given up on it.”

Mihail added that although she immediately took Kashar’s ship in retaliation, she couldn’t reclaim the red diamond mine.

While we were talking, the voices beyond the door grew louder.

It seemed best to intervene for now.

I carefully opened the door and poked my head in.

“Um, Kashar?”

Two pairs of eyes turned towards me.

“Eileen?”

“Miss Eileen!”

Frigia ran to me first and hugged me.

She clung to me and sniffled as if crying.

“Hic, Miss Eileen. The Duke is so scary. How did you end up with someone like him?”

“Do you want to be thrown out right now?”

“Oh my, just listen to how he talks! I came here as Miss Eileen’s guest!”

Suddenly, I recalled the scene I had witnessed earlier in the office.

Back then, they were clearly laughing together.

‘Were they actually fighting while smiling?’

I had been thinking it was about first love and reuniting and whatnot.

‘…Then if I make a contract with the princess.’

If they fight over ships and diamond mines, what would happen if they found out I was considering a contract with the princess?

Just as I flinched,

With a gentle voice, Kashar pulled me out of Frigia’s arms.

“Eileen, you’re hiding something from me, aren’t you?”

“Ah, not yet…”

“So you’re saying you will soon?”

The sweet tone was terribly frightening.

“We need to talk separately.”

“Let go of Miss Eileen!”

Frigia pulled on my arm. But she couldn’t take me away from Kashar.

“Why should I let go of what’s mine?”

Kashar growled as if his irritation had reached its peak.

Frigia snorted as if it was ridiculous and said to me.

“Miss Eileen, you can be honest. Are you being threatened by the Duke right now?”

“What?”

“Suddenly claiming to be lovers. There are too many strange things.”

I was too stung by those words to say anything.

I had no idea what would happen if I actually said we were fake dating.

“There’s no way that ill-tempered person could have a long-time lover, right? Haven’t you heard about the Broad Thieves’ Guild?”

“Thieves’ Guild?”

“The Duke annihilated them. For the ridiculous reason that he didn’t like the location of their sign.”

Frigia updated me on Kashar’s recent achievements.

‘So the name was Broad.’

I vividly recalled the attackers who had assaulted me and been massacred.

‘Well, there were some circumstances behind that…’

This was the first time I heard they had been completely annihilated.

Frigia made a frustrated face.

‘Earlier when she said it was surprising that I was dating Kashar…’

It wasn’t aimed at me, but a criticism of Kashar.

“I’ll help you, so please be honest.”

Frigia grasped both my hands tightly. She was genuinely worried about me.

“…I do.”

“Pardon?”

I was going to say that we really were in a relationship.

But what came out of my mouth was a completely different confession.

“I like Kashar!”

I like him…

Like…

My voice echoed through the reception room.