The training room at Duke Blake’s estate looked like a small circular building on the outside.

The training room was a space used by the Duke, Sicar, and his subordinates, never known to the outside world. Directly in front of the training room was a corridorshaped waiting room where one could rest.

Bica and Durion spent almost half of their days in the training room.

However, lately, Bica hadn’t visited the training room as often as before due to taking care of the young Duke who had appeared in the estate, but on days like today when guests arrived at the mansion, she was always here.

Durion was pacing the waiting room with his arms folded.

“The relationship between the Duke and the King seems strange. Did they fight?”

Bica seemed uninterested and seated, but her whole attention was outside.

“People always fight.”

“You always fight too, don’t you?”

“We fight openly, but people fight superficially.”

Durion could not agree with the statement that all people are the same.

“Not all humans are like that. Look at me. I always fight openly. I am not a person who doesn’t know tricks!”

Bica could not agree either.

“You are stupid, that’s why.”

Durion did not deny that. After scratching his cheek a few times, he nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, the atmosphere is strange. The familiar sprite who always followed like a shadow is suspiciously absent.”

“Didn’t the sprite have a habit of appearing and disappearing?”

“In your dim eyes, you might not have noticed, but that sprite always silently followed Gillian.”

“Is that so…?”

Bica stood up from her seat and grasped the dagger at Durion’s waist.

“I think I need to look around outside.”

“Why are you going out with a sword? Should I go with you?”

“You just stay here. Slow guys like you get caught quickly.”

“But I’m strong.”

“That strength is useless now, wait.”

Durion wasn’t particularly worried about Bica’s safety inside the mansion. So, he leaned back into the chair to indicate that he would not go with her.

“Alright, be careful.”

As soon as she left the training room, Bica, who felt a gloomy atmosphere pervading the mansion, carefully followed the scent of darkness. Astonishingly, the sprites of nightmares were wriggling around the mansion walls.

‘Look at these?’

Bica seemed to know where they came from. The sprite, who was not seen, seemed to have done this in the mansion.

‘Finally, some snacks.’

Like a predator who found a herd of gazelles, Bica leaped into the wriggling sprites with regained appetite.

The nightmare sprites, frightened by Bica’s sudden intrusion, scrambled to escape, but Bica chased after the sprites moving like smoke on the wall, tearing them apart and eating them.

The more the dark shadows torn by Bica’s hands screamed, the more Bica seemed to enjoy, with a bitter smile on her face.

She grabbed the fleeing ones by their thin ends and chewed them all without leaving a single strand.

In an instant, all the nightmare sprites that had been attached to the mansion became Bica’s snacks. Bica cleaned up every strand of sprite stuck to her mouth corners.

‘It’s just this? I was almost full, it’s a shame.’

She was not satisfied, but Bica felt her mood improving for the first time in a while.

It was time for revenge. It was time to show Sicar what a wicked woman was!

From early in the morning, I put on a dress that seemed full of vanity to anyone, and all the jewels I had were taken out and put on my body.

It was a bit heavy, but it seemed to fit the concept of a luxurious and malicious wicked woman.

Kian, who was preparing to go out for the first time since he came here, looked very excited.

“Mother. Where are we going?”

“We’re going a bit far.”

“How far are we going?”

“We’re going to the downtown in the capital, where the royal palace is.”

“Then, is it the place where the King, whom I met before, lives?”

“That’s the royal palace, and we’re going to the downtown in the capital. There are various stores in the new city. And there’s a big toy store too.”

“Wow, a toy store?”

“I said I would make friends for Kian soon, right? Let’s go to the toy store and buy gifts for friends.”

“Can I really do that?”

“Sure, we’re going to be extravagant today.”

“What’s extravagant, Mom?”

“I want to buy everything I want without worrying about money. Whatever you want to buy today, I’m planning to buy it all.”

“Everything?”

“Yes. I’ll buy anything you want enough to spoil the Duke, so if there’s anything you want, tell me.”

After thoughtful consideration, Kian clenched his lips and spoke.

“Can I go think about it?”

“Of course.”

“Mother, are shrimps very expensive?”

“Why shrimps? Don’t tell me you want to eat shrimp?”

“Yes. It was really delicious when I tried it for the first time.”

Seeing him speak with a slight sticking out of his tongue, it must have been really delicious.

‘It seems impossible. I must warn him before anything happens.’

“Kian. From now on, you should never eat shrimp. Never.”

“Why? Mother?”