“No.”

Eustar said with a smile on his face.

“Please keep wearing it until we return today. It’s a date, after all.”

His tone was so soft, it was like light cream dripping and falling.

Laila felt as if white, soft, and slightly warm cream was trickling over her lips, eyelids, cheeks, shoulders, and collarbone.

She felt an unbearable tickle, as if someone had placed a feather on the inside of her palm.

She let go of the headband she was about to take off and deliberately changed the subject.

“How are you so good at hitting the target?”

Eustar bit back a laugh at Laila’s look, as if asking him to reveal any secret technique.

“Well… I just keep my eyes open properly, and it works.”

“I was keeping mine open too.”

Red pupils disappeared behind eyelids with a blink, then reappeared. Laila absentmindedly stroked the rabbit doll she was holding.

“I guess I must have been keeping the wrong eyes open.”

Realizing her intention, Eustar peered into Laila’s face.

“Don’t say that, Laila. You’ve been such a great help to me.”

That was true. It was a fact so clear that Laila didn’t bother to refute or display uncharacteristic modesty. Laila vaguely recalled the moment she first met Eustar.

—You have eyes different from mine.

That day, whispering in the kindest and sweetest voice Laila had ever heard, did he foresee that such a day would come?

What day? A strange voice whispered in Laila’s heart.

You, born of a woman who mated with a demon, and then mated with that demon again, thus the witch’s blood flowing in your body, half human, half demon. Did he anticipate the day when that blood would crave and desire this man?

Did Eustar expect such a day would come?

‘Stop thinking nonsense.’

Laila was about to shake her head but instead buried her face in the rabbit doll she was holding. Whatever was inside gave off a faint scent. Her mind settled a little.

‘I thought these eyes were useless my whole life. But…’

Laila sighed almost inaudibly and glanced sidelong at Eustar.

‘Meeting Eustar was fortunate.’

Just then, Eustar gently pulled Laila’s hand and led her onto a path outside the walkway. Small trees that didn’t shed their leaves even in the cold grew thickly.

“This way leads to the grand greenhouse.”

He casually passed a sign that read ‘No Entry’, and helped Laila do the same by taking the doll in one arm while supporting her with the other as she gathered her dress skirt.

The sign clicked and swayed as it caught on the heel of her shoe.

Laila looked back and said,

“Didn’t that say ‘No Entry’?”

“It did.”

“I feel like we’re doing something wrong.”

Eustar chuckled and replied,

“If anyone catches us, you can just blame me. Say I’m corrupting you.”

“Corrupting a witch, impressive.”

Perhaps due to the thoughts that had been swirling in her head just moments ago, a cynical voice escaped her unintentionally. But Eustar only smiled a picture-perfect smile, not reproaching her.

“That’s right, Laila. But you’re a very innocent witch. So I think I can corrupt you as much as I want.”

“I’m innocent?”

Eustar nodded and plainly wrapped his arm around her waist.

“For example, if I asked what could happen in these secluded bushes, you’d probably think of snakes hibernating, wouldn’t you?”

Laila slightly furrowed her brow, pondered for a moment, then said,

“That’s true though. Snakes do spend the winter in such places.”

The corners of Eustar’s mouth moved as if amused.

“Yes, that’s right. Various snakes spend the winter in the bushes. They especially like warm and comfortable places.”

His tone sounded strangely cold, or perhaps mischievous. It seemed as if he was making some kind of joke or had something else he wanted to say, but Laila ultimately failed to realize what Eustar had intended.

She only imagined a slender snake coiled up asleep under the comfortable shade of the bushes, and the sharp fangs hidden in its mouth.

“There’s the grand greenhouse.”

As they left the shaded area near the bushes, Eustar pointed towards the distant sky.

Though the clear sky had begun to grow hazy as time passed, the place he pointed to was still sparkling like the surface of a morning lake.

“It’s beautiful. Is it glass?”

The roof of the greenhouse was transparent. Whenever weak, pale sunlight fell, they reflected it back to the sky with all their might. The light shattering into red, yellow, green, and blue was fleetingly beautiful.

“Not glass, but probably a type of crystal. Actually, we received a lot of help from magicians in building this greenhouse. The palace agreed to provide some of what they need to maintain their city.”

“Have you been there, Eustar? To the magicians’ city, I mean.”

“No.”

He shook his head immediately.

“No one except magicians recognized by them can enter the city.”

There was a rumor that the magicians of Sierou had created their own secret city, where they lived always watching the stars from thousands of towers they had built.

There were also ghost stories circulating that their city couldn’t be seen or entered by ordinary means, and that even approaching it could cause people to break down from magical power.

Of course, the latter was false, but the former was somewhat true. Their city did have, if not thousands, at least hundreds of towers of various sizes.

It was also true that they had used magic to conceal the city’s landscape, and it was no lie that one needed special permission and had to go through a process to set foot in the city.

‘But when did the magicians start creating such a city to live separately?’

Laila tilted her head, pondering the question that suddenly arose.

One of the greenhouse caretakers came running, panting, with an angry face upon seeing the two. Judging by how he seemed ready to chase them away without even checking their identity, he must have been quite troubled.

“Oh my, isn’t it His Highness the Prince!”

However, he quickly recognized the ring on Eustar’s hand. The caretaker, who immediately bowed deeply to the two, instantly changed to an ingratiating attitude.

“What brings you here?”

“I know it’s not open yet, but I came to quietly look around with my consort. Could you open the door for us?”

“Of course, Your Highness. This way, please. Your Highness Consort, please watch your step as the path is still uneven.”

The two entered the greenhouse guided by the caretaker. After opening the door for them, he advised them to check the signs carefully so as not to get lost, then bowed deeply once more and left them.

The inside of the greenhouse was enormously spacious, and the air was pleasant. If it had been summer, it might have felt a bit hot and humid, but since the outside air was still cold and dry, Laila felt as if her stiff cheeks were thawing.

Countless trees, whose names she didn’t even know, were densely packed.

As if to prove the claim that they had received help from magicians, there was a noticeable artificial waterfall flowing using magical devices, and jeweled fish—with scales made of amethyst and sapphire—swimming against the current.

“Look at this tree, Laila.”

Eustar tilted his head back, almost bending it backwards to look up. Laila too parted her lips in surprise as she saw the tree that had grown so large it nearly touched the ceiling.

“It’s enormous. It must be hundreds of years old. I wonder what it’s called?”

Eustar immediately answered.

“Gigelos Tifris.”

Laila turned to look at him sharply. Her eyes seemed to ask how he knew.

Eustar pointed downwards and said,

“It’s written here, look.”

Only then did Laila notice the nameplate embedded near the massive roots of the tree. Gigelos Tifris. Below that unfamiliar name was an inscription that read ‘Great Tower’.

“Great Tower…”

Laila slowly recited the inscription as if savoring it. It had a pleasing resonance. She gazed for a long time with eyes full of wonder at the tree that seemed capable of seeing not just Sierou, but all continents, to the very ends of the earth.

The two slowly walked through the warm interior, looking at various plants. As Eustar looked down at a bush whose leaves were said to glow mysteriously in the dark, he said,

“Once the Sync problem is resolved, this place will become even more famous. People will gather from not just Sierou, but other countries as well to see this greenhouse.”

His tone carried undisguised pride and expectation.

Due to the strange phenomena caused by Sync, Sierou’s relationships with neighboring countries had been almost completely severed.

Himierd and other officials were doing their best to maintain the last trade route, but there was no guarantee how long even that would last. It was natural for Eustar to show a serious reaction to this issue.

However, Laila couldn’t easily agree with his words. Setting aside trade and diplomacy, it was unclear whether the Sync problem could be solved at all, and if so, when and how it could be resolved.

As everyone in Sierou knew, Sync suddenly began occurring everywhere one day, throwing the entire kingdom into terror.

Magical beasts and ghosts appeared, and people rarely ventured outside at night. In some places, it became routine to pack up and evacuate when Sync appeared near residential areas.

“Will the day ever come when Sync disappears?”

Laila murmured, almost to herself, as she stared at the tip of a pointed leaf.

Eustar said,

“Do you think such a day won’t come?”

Laila didn’t answer immediately, but hesitated for a moment.

“I think it will come. No, I want to believe it will come. But it appeared without any cause, didn’t it? We still don’t know anything about why Sync appeared, where it started from. We don’t even really know what Sync is. Just that it’s energy, a pit created by the gathering of negative things, and that energy attracts new negative things. That’s all we know. It’s not surprising or fresh information anymore, is it? Just as disasters have no reason, could Sync be the same?”