Sion asked with quietly simmering eyes.

“What do you want to do with that person?”

“I want to tie him up tightly and throw him out of the continent.”

Ibi answered without hesitation.

Despite saying that, she briefly covered her mouth with her hand, then quickly added before Sion could take her words seriously.

“But I can’t throw him away yet. Count Montra is someone I need.”

Ibi’s voice saying that sounded confident. So Sion looked at Ibi with furrowed brows.

Sion’s face showed great displeasure.

One might feel intimidated by that cold demeanor, but Ibi instead nodded vigorously as if understanding everything.

“Of course, the count’s attitude isn’t exactly great. Still, he’s helpful to me in many ways. So even if he plays some excessive pranks, I just put up with it.”

Ibi saying that seemed completely unaffected and fine. She appeared to have already brushed off the count’s earlier behavior as merely an excessive prank.

But Sion didn’t believe that composure and looked at Ibi suspiciously.

Of course, he didn’t think Ibi should act sad like a tragic heroine or belligerent like his vice commander because of what just happened.

Everyone has their own way of dealing with things, so even if Ibi’s reaction was unfamiliar, he had no intention of denying it outright.

But Sion found Ibi’s seemingly deliberately cheerful expression very dubious.

So he carefully studied Ibi’s small, clear face and asked.

“Does that kind of thing happen often?”

“If by ‘that kind of thing’ you mean the count’s naturally flowing sexual harassment, well, it’s not frequent but it does happen occasionally. …I feel like we’ve had this conversation before.”

“And each time you want to throw him out of the continent?”

“No, the method of execution changes each time. But they all have in common that the cleanup is clean. …Um, Count, I don’t want to say such harsh things.”

“And yet you say you just put up with it…..”

And yet you say you just put up with it?

Sion was about to ask this.

But his final question was never completed. That’s because Ibi blocked his mouth with her hand, like a cat placing its paw.

“Count, you know this is cheating, right?”

Ibi said sternly while covering Sion’s mouth. It meant don’t even think about prying any further.

At this clear boundary-setting, Sion just quietly looked at Ibi with his mouth covered. As his gaze lingered, Ibi added with a refreshingly sweet smile.

“As I’ve said many times, if I end up saying something too harsh, we’ll both be embarrassed. We need to look at this long-term, and that would be troublesome for both of us.”

While Sion was by no means an honest person himself, Ibi was no less stubborn.

Ibi proudly rejected Sion’s meddling, as if she had not the slightest desire to complain.

After pushing Sion away like that, Ibi removed her hand from his mouth, and Sion dropped his gaze quietly instead of saying anything more.

The count, who had silently closed his mouth, looked quite displeased.

So Ibi, who had been secretly observing, casually asked.

“Are you perhaps angry?”

“No.”

“You seem angry though? Your brow is furrowed like when you’re angry.”

Ibi tilted her head and examined Sion’s expression. Then, resting her elbows on the table and cupping her chin in both hands, she asked cutely.

“Could it be you’re angry because of me?”

At that adorable question, a cold sneer burst from Sion’s lips.

Sion looked at Ibi as if he really couldn’t believe it, and Ibi, offended by his blatantly insulting reaction, retorted.

“If you just keep sighing like that, it really seems like you’re angry. Anyone who sees will think you’re the one who was harassed.”

“As I already said, I’m not angry.”

“You’re lying.”

“…If you’re trying to make me angry, you just succeeded.”

Sion’s eyes sharpened at Ibi’s provocation, but Ibi smiled without blinking.

Then, still cupping her cheeks with both hands, she looked up at Sion and said.

“Count, you’re unexpectedly gentlemanly.”

It was clearly a teasing tone. Not just the tone, but her impishly grinning face was full of that intention.

So Sion wanted to ask if she found this funny.

Though he kept denying it to Ibi, Sion was quite angry.

However, Sion knew he was in a position where he shouldn’t get angry carelessly, so he had a habit of first examining whether his anger was justified when he got angry.

Following that habit, Sion had been thinking the whole way through the dusty secret passage. About why he was so upset.

The root cause was of course Count Montra.

The count had treated Sion’s subordinate, the vice commander, like a decoration and behaved frivolously in front of her, needlessly tormenting an innocent young woman.

This alone was enough reason to be angry, but while Sion might not be honest with others, he was not one to deceive even himself.

What Sion had listed earlier were reasons to be angry, but they were not why he was angry.

So after careful consideration, Sion reluctantly accepted the fact he didn’t want to admit.

That the reason he was so angry was because the count had messed with Ibi.

This was a very uncomfortable realization for Sion.

Yet even in this situation, Ibi was impishly grinning at Sion, saying “You’re gentlemanly, so gentlemanly.”

Thanks to that, Sion felt like he was going a bit more crazy.

Ibi has been quite uninhibited with Sion lately like this.

In the past, she would turn pale and watch his reactions nervously if the count just slightly frowned, but now she provokes him in all sorts of ways without caring whether he glares or grinds his teeth.

So Sion belatedly realized his mistake.

He thought he had just been growling the whole time, but at some point he had let Ibi get close. Or perhaps Ibi had cleverly wormed her way in on her own.

Either way, it wasn’t a very good sign for Sion.

“That was you earlier too, right? Knocking out Count Montra.”

Ibi suddenly changed her tone and said.

“Thank you for helping me when I was in trouble. I almost made a big mistake, but I got through it well thanks to you, Count.”

Ibi expressed her gratitude as she removed her hands from her chin. At that moment, Ibi’s tone was more skillful than lively.

It was similar to how she had been when walking under the wisteria earlier, so Sion felt that Ibi was drawing a line again.

Ibi seemed to want to wrap up the conversation about the count with this.

Sion didn’t want to let it go like this, but Ibi’s eyes were both calm and pleading, so he couldn’t ignore them.

“…It was my subordinate’s mistake to begin with. So you don’t need to thank me.”

In the end, Sion swallowed his anger that had nowhere to go and reluctantly played along.

He had gone along with it in his own way, but Ibi didn’t seem to like that businesslike response and glared at him gently again.

So Sion’s feelings became even more complicated.

Sion felt quite miserable about being so angry because of Ibi. But it wasn’t strange or surprising. It just felt like suffering a predicted accident.

From the beginning, Sion didn’t deny that Ibi was a special existence to him. Rather, he was closer to avoiding entanglement because he knew it too well.

Ibi might not know at all, and no one but Sion knows, but Ibi had always been in Sion’s time since 7 years ago.

When Ibi’s whereabouts were unknown, most of his time was spent trying to find her.

When he knew she was in Tienda, he tried to ignore it but still kept an ear out for news of Ibi.

He had been searching for her for years like that.

So of course she couldn’t be anything but special, but Sion persistently ignored this.

Because he didn’t want to be played by the astrologer. Because he didn’t want to repeat his wasteful emotions. Because he was done with leashes now.

But then a man named Cassel Montra unknowingly provoked Sion, and Sion helplessly became angry and faced the weight of Ibi.

Truly, pitifully so.

Due to his complicated feelings, Sion’s gaze on Ibi lingered.

Ibi tilted her head as if asking what was wrong, and Sion calmly changed the subject.

“You were busy running around earlier, did you finish everything you needed to do?”

“Yes, I was able to run around freely because you glared at me like you used to, Count.”

Ibi answered promptly. Though the ending was a bit messy because of Count Montra, she still looked fairly satisfied.

“By the way, since we’re on the subject, why did you glare at me like that when we first met? At the Grand Duke’s castle.”

“I must have heard you had no manners.”

“No, before that.”

“Before that?”

Sion looked at Ibi as if to say ‘what are you talking about?’ in response to her question. His expression wasn’t feigning ignorance, but genuinely not knowing.

So Ibi’s eyes, which had been suspicious, gradually filled with shock.

“Count, do you perhaps have very bad eyesight?”

When Ibi asked in a voice mixed with a groan, Sion nodded without much thought.

The count who seems to have everything is actually quite nearsighted. So he can’t see far without glasses.

And people with astigmatism typically frown to see things in the distance better.

“Then why don’t you wear glasses when you go out? You’re making people misunderstand.”

Ibi, who had realized the truth of that day after nearly a month, blamed Sion through gritted teeth.

But Sion ignored Ibi’s criticism with a shameless face. His expression said he couldn’t care less about others’ misunderstandings.

Seeing that stubborn attitude, Ibi narrowed her eyes and muttered.

“It may not be my fault, but I think I slightly misunderstood the count’s manners. But don’t be too disheartened. Your first impression isn’t much different from your current impression, Count.”

Ibi spoke as if Sion was truly terrible, and Sion almost laughed at the sight.

And while Ibi was chattering away, Sion’s mood, which had hit rock bottom, improved quite a bit.

Even this made Sion uneasy, but there was one consolation.

It was that the emotions he felt when looking at Ibi were similar to when he looked at his students.

Cheeky and cute and annoying and worrisome and wanting to kill anyone who dared touch them harshly.

Sion was relieved by this appropriate fondness that suited his personality.

And he was reassured again by the fact that he was different from that crazy astrologer.

“Anyway, since I’ve received help so far, now it’s my turn to help you, Count.”

Ibi got to the main point after finishing the long small talk.

This is the reason why the two met using even the secret passage.

Ibi and Sion, who had promised to cooperate, agreed to take turns helping each other. And as Ibi said, it was now Sion’s turn since she had received help earlier.

From now on, Ibi’s job is to find out the secrets that Sion cannot say himself.

But even though she said it was her turn to help, Ibi was silent for a while.

Ibi was slowly blinking her eyes while looking into the distance rather than at Sion sitting across from her.

At that contemplative look, Sion quietly watched Ibi’s black pupils disappear and reappear.

After a long while like that, Ibi looked at Sion again.

“By any chance, is the astrologer mister Count Laurel?”

And tore Sion’s heart into a thousand pieces.