“Count, do you know what will happen later, the future?”

When Ibi asked while hiding her hesitation, Sion’s eyes widened.

Seeing the usually cold Count so surprised, Ibi’s eyes, which had been feigning composure, also shook greatly.

Ibi unknowingly swallowed a gasp and then bit her lip as if nothing happened. But that wasn’t enough to hide the bewilderment filling her lungs. Her obvious agitation was clearly revealed through her rapid breathing.

“I’ll come back later, I just remembered an urgent matter…!”

Eventually, Ibi couldn’t bear it and stood up.

But she couldn’t take even one step after that. This was because Sion reflexively grabbed Ibi as she tried to flee with an excuse that didn’t even make sense.

Sion, who had risen at some point, pushed down on Ibi’s shoulders. As a result, Ibi ended up sitting back down.

When Ibi sat down weakly, Sion removed his hand from her shoulder. But that hand didn’t go far, resting on the sofa’s backrest next to Ibi’s head. In the end, Ibi was trapped between the sofa and his arms.

Although forcibly held, Ibi couldn’t protest against Sion. Far from protesting, she couldn’t even look straight at the man who had made her sit back down.

As Ibi turned her head and avoided his gaze, a creaking sound came from the sofa with its solid wooden frame. It was the sound of the wood and leather furniture twisting under Sion’s grip.

At that sound, Ibi hunched her shoulders even more, but Sion didn’t withdraw his arms.

‘Why?’

He asked silently instead.

‘You’re the one who brought it up, so why are you running away?’

It’s your prediction. You came on your own and spoke with your own mouth. So why are you surprised, why are you flustered, and why are you trying to run away?

Just now, it was Sion’s instinct, not his reason, that had grabbed Ibi.

Feeling a sharp intuition running down his spine, he moved his body first, and as Ibi came under his arms, only then did he wonder.

Looking back, today’s Ibi Ariate had been strange from the start.

It should have been a situation where she was preoccupied with her own affairs, but she came unannounced. If it was because of the curse, she should have asked more details about the saint, but she quickly skipped over that story. Then she immediately turned the topic to her turn, and as if making excuses, she gave a long introduction.

And after doing all that, she’s trying to pull away as if she confirmed something on her own.

Today’s Ibi Ariate was suspicious from head to toe, and so Sion quietly repeated his earlier question.

“…Don’t you have something to tell me?”

“Infinitely many things.”

Ibi’s voice was faint as she inevitably confessed.

Ibi squeezed her eyes shut at her own answer, then let out a soft sigh and reluctantly raised her head.

Ibi looked up at Sion, tilting her head as if bending it. As Sion came face to face with Ibi, he almost let out a sigh.

Ibi’s eyes, revealed again, were filled with fear.

Surprised by the truth that had suddenly arrived, unable to decide whether to face it or avoid it, she was confused, not even recognizing who was in front of her.

At that sight, Sion also felt a strange sense of weakness.

He too was confused. He was even afraid.

But more than that, he desperately wished. He earnestly prayed that Ibi would shatter this suffocating secret.

So Sion swallowed his agitation and asked Ibi again.

“Am I…”

“Wait!”

“Ugh!”

But the moment he opened his mouth, Ibi shouted and shut his jaw.

Ibi forcefully lifted his jaw as if closing an open drawer, and Sion, who nearly bit his tongue, froze in surprise and then immediately got angry.

“What are you doing…!”

“No! I don’t want to! Don’t do it!”

Then Ibi shouted in panic, not even letting Sion scold her. As a result, Sion also became flustered.

“Be quiet…!”

“No! I’m not yet… mmph!”

As Ibi shouted wildly, Sion, unable to stand it anymore, covered Ibi’s mouth with his hand.

Ibi panicked once again at the touch holding her jaw, but then belatedly came to her senses when she realized that Sion was looking towards the door, not at her.

Ibi’s voice just now had been quite loud. But it was still quiet outside the door, and Sion let out a heavy sigh. Not in relief, but to suppress his anger.

Normally, at such a sound, someone would have burst through the door to check on His Excellency’s safety.

But the fact that no one appeared, that it was so deathly quiet out there, meant that those outside had interpreted the sound Ibi just made subjectively.

And that meant that Sion Laurel’s honor and value as a human being had finally been dragged through the mud.

It wasn’t hard to imagine Moren Arco and the other watchers outside just eyeing each other.

In this total mess, Sion looked down at Ibi coldly. Ibi also seemed to realize her mistake belatedly and looked at him politely. Of course, Sion was not one to be swayed by such things.

“How far are you going to humiliate me…”

“Mm… mmph…!”

As Ibi tried to brush it off with a smile, Sion tightened his grip on Ibi’s jaw.

Ibi struggled, saying it hurt, but Sion didn’t let go easily, and eventually ended up getting scratched and bitten.

Ibi, who knew no humility, despite her crime, firmly pushed him away by kicking the Count’s shin and biting his hand. Then, fearing she might be caught again, she fled far from him and whispered.

“It’s not too late to give up, try saying a ghost appeared! Then I wish you good luck!”

Ibi left those words behind and quickly climbed up to the secret passage in the ceiling, and Sion considered pulling her back down but gave up after seeing her hurriedly disappearing back.

Left alone in the room after Ibi disappeared beyond the ceiling, Sion looked at the bite marks left on his hand.

It was absurd, but he wasn’t angry. Because he had already confirmed it.

Earlier, when Ibi had struck Sion’s jaw to shut his mouth, Sion was going to ask this:

‘Do you know who I am?’

But Ibi desperately refused and ran away, as if she already knew what question Sion was going to ask.

It was such a meaningless effort. By then, Sion no longer needed an answer.

Because just being able to start that question, being able to speak it out loud, made everything clear.

Sion took a deep breath, just as Ibi had done earlier.

At the sudden liberation, confusion and longing, and all sorts of emotions that were hard to name, crossed his mind.

Ibi Ariate had stepped into the realm of secrets that had been confining him.

The loneliness that had been driving him mad was finally coming to an end.

.

.

.

At the same time, Ibi, who had returned to her room, was sitting on the floor without even thinking of dusting off the dirt on her. It was because her legs gave out and she collapsed on the spot as soon as she arrived in the room.

Ibi wanted to confirm the voice she had heard last dawn.

So she went to see the Count and achieved her goal. And instead fell into confusion.

“It can’t be…”

Ibi groaned without realizing it.

Ibi couldn’t accept anything.

So she sat there for a long time.

The reason Sion let Ibi go nicely was because he knew she needed time.

When he realized Ibi had noticed something, Sion also felt a moment of resistance.

It was a vague sense of burden about the things he would have to deal with after confirming the truth.

If even he, who knew everything, felt this way, Ibi, who knew nothing, must be much more bewildered.

So Sion decided to wait for Ibi, gathering his fragmented sense of consideration. Not for long, just about three hours.

But as expected, the formidable Ibi Ariate shattered Sion’s rare sense of consideration into even smaller pieces than its original form.

“Ibi Ariate returned to her mansion an hour ago.”

‘…She ran away.’

At Moren’s report, Sion felt his blood pressure rising.

He was starting to get angry. So he was considering going after her now, when Moren casually asked.

“When will you return to the Hall?”

Looking at Moren asking about the schedule, Sion realized it was time to return to the guard.

It seems Moren brought up the news of Ibi leaving the villa for this reason. Saying, your one flower is no longer here, so let’s go back to work.

Sion clicked his tongue at this unreasonable treatment, but agreed with Moren’s intention.

It had already been three weeks since they subdued Amanecere. They couldn’t leave the guard unmanned any longer. Now he had to return to the Hall and prepare for Amanecere’s awakening.

But he didn’t feel like going like this.

Ibi’s butler is currently in the southern part of Bis. And yesterday, Ibi set herself in perfect opposition to Cassel Montra. Ibi moving alone, without her butler or guard or whatever, was caught.

Ibi has the protection of the Tower, so Cassel Montra probably won’t be able to touch her carelessly, but humans aren’t always rational.

“What about Cassel Montra?”

“The Marquis already left this morning. It seems he returned right after meeting with Ariate.”

Then at least their paths won’t overlap on the way.

Moreover, Tienda’s roads that circle around the huge lake are perfectly open. It’s fundamentally different from the dark mountain paths or forest paths of Bis, so it would be pointless to worry about Ibi’s journey home.

While Sion was thinking this, the sharp Moren added one piece of news that he thought his superior would want to know.

“And by yesterday evening, most of the nobles came to know that it was Ibi Ariate who framed Marquis Montra. According to my younger brother, even those close to Ariate were all greatly surprised.”

‘Greatly surprised’ was Moren’s euphemistic expression.

The nobles weren’t just surprised, they were outraged. Learning that the girl who acted like an angel was a vile schemer, they trembled with a sense of betrayal. The gentle ones said it was scary, and the honest ones said it was detestable.

Even Arco Young, who was Ibi’s close friend and soft in everything, said, “I hope it’s a misunderstanding, but if this is true, I don’t know how to continue my friendship with Miss Ariate in the future.”

Even a great noble can’t completely ignore the voices of many nobles, so Ibi Ariate’s chances of becoming a saint had now become truly remote.

Moren reported thinking this, but Sion didn’t agree with his aide’s speculation at all.

Ibi is not the type to give up like this. She must have done it with some intention from the start, and she’ll surely plot something again. And then she’ll turn the tables spectacularly.

While he respected that indomitable will, Sion hoped that Ibi would first confirm what she knew about him.

Instead of running away like this.

“We’re returning too.”

“Understood. I’ll prepare right away.”

The deputy commander saluted happily and turned away.

When they return to the guard, Sion will have to stay there for at least a week, or up to two weeks at most.

In the end, he felt frustrated that he couldn’t finish what happened earlier before leaving, but Sion reminded himself of his duty and pulled himself together.

And he just hoped. That when he returned, Ibi would no longer run away.

The time he had struggled and waited for that was already too long.