After Elsius had swept through, the castle remained quiet.

I was lying on the bed, scribbling with a pen.

In case someone might see, everything written on the paper was in Korean.

1. Elsius cannot break the curse.

2. Kashar goes berserk when I’m not around.

These two things had become established facts.

‘One more.’

3. If I don’t grant Denoar’s requests, I will disappear.

This was the most terrifying part.

‘He said I would vanish if my magic stopped for a certain period of time.’

If my influence on this world diminishes, the ends of my body will become translucent and soon disappear.

I can stay in this world if I fulfill three requests.

‘I can have one wish granted in return for fulfilling the requests, but.’

Still, I felt resentful about being forced to grant the requests.

‘There’s no choice.’

Kashar had separation anxiety and I had to do my job.

So today’s conclusion was that I had to bring Kashar along for everything.

‘Just in case… I have the item too.’

The cute duck-shaped sticker was always in my possession.

Maybe because Kashar was always around, Hayangi remained quiet.

‘This one’s not helpful.’

While I might disappear if I stay still like this, the limp teddy bear looked quite carefree.

Annoyed by that, I was pinching its cheeks when a voice was heard.

“What kind of writing is that?”

Kashar, hugging me from behind and asking, was like a languid beast.

I felt oddly guilty since it was the first time he directly asked, even though I had been fidgeting for a while.

“Just, doodles.”

Since it was just Korean scribbled messily anyway, it could pass for doodles.

“Doodles, huh.”

Echoing my words, he embraced me with his strong arms.

“The paper’s getting crumpled!”

“This is why I can’t leave you alone.”

He paid no heed to my protests.

Eventually, I tired myself out and declared surrender.

“Let’s go to the kitchen together.”

“Together?”

“Yes. Together.”

At my words, Kashar obediently got up.

These days, the magic word for Kashar was ‘together’.

I went down the stairs with Kashar.

The spiral staircase with its curved steps felt especially long today.

My steps slowed down for no reason.

Perhaps sensing my unease, Kashar turned around.

My mouth moved before my thoughts.

“Kashar, do you believe in fate?”

At my words, Kashar stared at me blankly.

“It’s a bit out of the blue, right? It just suddenly came to mind.”

I scratched my cheek under his gaze.

‘I should stop these unnecessary thoughts.’

It was because the Black Rabbit’s words kept bothering me.

Kashar remained by my side even after meeting the female protagonist.

With a gaze that loved me more than anyone else.

But.

‘What if the original story is a predetermined fate?’

In the book, only Elsius and Michael truly found happiness.

‘It’s too protagonist-centric.’

From a reader’s perspective, that seemed natural.

The female and male leads must necessarily be happy.

What I learned as a side character within that story was that everyone’s future, except for the two protagonists, was made up of their own deficiencies and emptiness.

‘Was this what it meant when they said it would be better to change the original story?’

As I recalled what Hayangi had once mentioned in passing, he interjected.

“No.”

A smile mixed with his firm denial.

Yet I couldn’t easily accept those words.

‘If only I could honestly open up.’

I was recalling the ‘Law of Incompleteness’ that Denoar had told me about.

Before leaving the corner store, he had said this to me.

‘If you intend to be honest, it’s best to be careful. Not everyone can accept that this is inside a book.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘If they deny the truth, their soul might crack due to the ‘Law of Incompleteness’.’

Though it was a worst-case scenario, it was enough to keep my mouth shut.

“If you’re going to say something, I’d like you to say it quickly.”

As if reading my mind, his gaze narrowed.

Soon after, his curved eyes were filled with mischief.

“If fate existed, I wouldn’t have met you then. You fatefully cracked my head and made me faint…”

“Stop, stop! That really wasn’t on purpose back then!”

This wasn’t what I brought it up for, but the conversation was going off track.

As I waved my hands with a bright red face, he kept looking at me.

“I know. So.”

Kashar paused for a moment.

He stroked my hair and kissed the ends of it.

“Don’t worry about unnecessary things. Nothing will change.”

His upturned red eyes watched me. It was a gentle restraint.

Why did I feel so reassured by words without a subject?

As I slowly nodded, Kashar held out his hand.

“Shall we go again?”

“Yes.”

I took his hand and went down the stairs.

But the direction Kashar was taking me was towards the main kitchen.

“Oh, is it completed?”

“Yes.”

We hadn’t been able to use the existing kitchen due to expansion work.

I had heard plans about building a new dining hall and turning that entire space into a kitchen, but it was hard to really grasp.

The kitchen we arrived at was completely modern.

Not only was the interior spacious enough for 30 people to cook with room to spare, but it also had shiny new kitchen appliances, two large cooking counters, and three sub-counters prepared.

That wasn’t all.

The two doors connected to the kitchen led to a food storage room and a utensil storage room respectively.

‘There are three hearth ovens?’

Hearth ovens were so rare that there were only two or three in an entire territory, and villagers would line up every day with their dough to bake their bread.

‘It would be perfect if ovens and microwaves were distributed!’

While hearth pizza was the best, perhaps one oven and one microwave per household was the greatest invention.

Before that, it might be good to start a meal kit business with this kitchen.

“Do you like it?”

“Yes!”

Seeing the spacious and luxurious kitchen, ideas that had been stagnant were now gushing forth.

As I was busy exploring the kitchen, a bright golden head popped out from what looked like the ingredient storage.

Michael, whose eyes met mine, smiled as if pleased to see me.

“Sister-in-law, you’re here?”

“You were here? The kitchen is amazing.”

“Isn’t it? I’m still in awe every time I come.”

“Every time?”

Somehow it sounded like this wasn’t his first time seeing the place.

At my question, Michael flinched as if flustered, then confessed.

“Actually, I helped with the kitchen construction too.”

“You did it yourself, Sir Michael?”

“Yes. I really wanted to help.”

I wondered if it was okay for a royal to do such things, but Michael himself seemed very proud.

Following him, Babito, who came out of the food storage, added to this.

“He worked so hard! Oh, by the way, this chair was made by the prince.”

A net of onions was placed on the wooden chair.

As Babito patted Michael’s back hard, the chair’s maker blushed intensely.

“The height is a bit off, so people can’t sit on it.”

“Oh, what are you saying? It’s very impressive for a first attempt. You seem to have talent in carpentry work too. Hahaha!”

Michael was on the verge of turning into a red radish.

“…I’m trying to make it better next time.”

Somehow it felt like we had become Michael’s self-esteem training center, but a cute male lead wasn’t bad either.

‘I should praise him enthusiastically too.’

He was originally a person thirsty for praise.

Perhaps it was fortunate that he quickly left the imperial palace to stay here.

“This is also something I made…”

As I watched Michael bringing various things, I suddenly recalled Elsius mentioning him.

‘She definitely said Michael wasn’t there either.’

From any perspective, she seemed to know the original story.

But this also differed from what Denoar had explained to me.

‘He said there could only be one possessed person at a time.’

At least within the range he could summon.

Moreover, it was strange that everything had been quiet despite being chased out like that.

‘I was worried thinking a war might break out.’

In fact, I had been quite anxious because Ferberopf’s expression wasn’t good.

But thinking about it now, the attitude of the priests towards Elsius was also strange.

‘Why were they so submissive?’

In the original story, the Holy King and the High Priest bound Elsius, the holy maiden, and made her follow the temple’s orders.

But what I saw was the complete opposite situation.

‘I don’t know.’

I couldn’t figure out the character of Elsius.

I was about to consider putting in a request through Frigia.

‘But, if the original story has changed, shouldn’t cards appear?’

At least according to Hayangi’s explanation.

The fact that nothing was given to me meant that the original story about Elsius and Kashar hadn’t changed yet.

The moment I thought that, a huge vibration rang out.

Boom-!

“What, what is…!”

My staggering body was caught by Kashar.

Kashar was looking out the window of the kitchen.

While I was in his arms, Mihail entered the kitchen.

“Someone is tampering with the barrier.”

“They’ve got guts. Go check.”

Whoever it was, this was the first such attack.

“Michael, could you bring the princes here?”

“I’ll go right away.”

Michael left the kitchen with a hardened face.

Meanwhile, the barrier continued to receive impacts.

‘Can the mist barrier shake this much?’

From what I heard, the barrier beyond the forest was created by prominent magicians led by Mihail, laying a huge formation.

It was a powerful defensive magic that couldn’t be broken in one blow even by a grand magician.

‘Besides, if magic was used, Mihail wouldn’t have missed it.’

Magical power moves from the moment the spell is uttered.

There was no way Mihail, the chief magician supervising the magical power in this area, wouldn’t have noticed until the barrier was damaged.

A moment later, the impacts stopped.

‘Did they resolve it?’

I couldn’t tell who the instigator was, but it seemed not to be at a level requiring Kashar’s intervention.

But that was my misunderstanding.

Shortly after, Mihail returned to the castle with the uninvited guests.

‘Elsius?’

Standing in the hallway were Elsius, Ferberopf, and the castle knights.

Kashar’s gaze turned to Mihail.

As Mihail bowed his head, Elsius stepped forward.

“It’s been a while, Lord Kashar!”

But Kashar didn’t even acknowledge her greeting.

His interrogation was again directed at Michael.

“Who allowed you to set foot here?”

“I apologize. However, the Shaina Temple side had His Majesty’s imperial edict.”

At this, Kashar’s brow furrowed deeply.

Elsius waved the imperial edict as if showing off.

“I’m to stay here until my celebration party. I even got permission from His Majesty.”

The red background with gold-embossed dragon pattern.

It was undoubtedly the emperor’s seal.