It was annoying when she was present, and it was unsettling when she was absent. Sending her away caused even more stress than the current situation.

He briefly thought that maybe he was being too overprotective. However, wasn’t it better to be careful with this sensitive behavior? The desire to confine her here or exert pressure on the Student Council crossed his mind, but he restrained himself. It was strange for him to find it difficult to control his emotions in this situation.

What was truly absurd was that the woman who had bothered him all day was still bothering him even when she couldn’t be seen.

It was annoying when she was present, and it was unsettling when she was absent. Sending her away caused even more stress than the current situation.

Was he becoming more sensitive because his body was weakened?

“I’ve been waiting. I brought medicine.”

Givern removed the hand covering his face and looked up. Riley approached with a tray containing medicine and porridge.

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong?”
“…It’s nothing.”

The culprit behind all this annoyance stood before him, yet why did the irritation melt away in an instant?

The heart that had been so sensitive regained its calm, as if saying, ‘When did it become like that?’

The change was so rapid that it was bewildering.

Givern caught Riley’s hand, which was stirring the porridge with a spoon, to cool it down. Then, he tightly embraced her.

Riley, though surprised, comforted Givern.

“Why?”

“Just because. I like it.”

“…”

“It’s nice because it’s warm.”

Riley didn’t say anything, and Givern was the same.

They just held each other in silence.

Until the hot porridge cooled down.

“Did you say she’s Riceun’s concubine?”

“Yes.”

“Did Count Hermence come himself, saying she’s Riceun’s concubine, and Givern Lianster is with her?”

Reynald, after nodding his head, spoke about the information he had collected.

“I checked just in case, and there was evidence that a woman was recently recommended for admission to the academy. Within the academy, there are rumors that Matopju has taken in a new disciple, but the faculty is completely tight-lipped, making it difficult to confirm the truth of the rumors. It’s also because it’s an area where our influence doesn’t reach well.”

“Hmm, strange. When Riceun was killed, we didn’t find any evidence or traces of a young child. By the way, Count Hermence, how did that old man find out such incredible information?”

He doubted that Count Hermence knew about Riceun’s existence and came looking for her with that information.

Riceun was such a secretive figure. Nothing about her, including her birthplace, age, real name, family relations, and even her appearance, was publicly known. Even when they tracked Riceun, she had about ten different disguises and aliases.

She was even a genius at disguise. She was so good at it that for a while, there were suspicions about whether the Riceun they killed was the real Riceun.

There was always the possibility that somewhere she was living well under a different identity and appearance.

In the midst of that, hearing the unexpected news about her being a direct descendant was quite intriguing.

It pulled at him.

“At first, instead of mentioning the concubine, he said he would provide information only about Riceun. That information turned out to be about the concubine.”

“How much did it seem he knew about Riceun?”

“…It didn’t seem like he knew a lot.”

“…”

“What should we do?”

Reynald’s question left the young man in thought without answering.

After a quite long time, after repeated contemplation, he answered slowly.
“Make contact. Find out what he wants in exchange for providing information, and report back to me.”

Reynald kneeled and replied, “Your Excellency.”

Returning to the hideout, Reynald commanded his subordinate, “Bring Count Hermence here immediately.”

“You must cover your eyes. Everyone in the party must do the same. If you don’t cover your eyes, you won’t be allowed in.”

In a shabby inn, Count Hermence, who had made contact with Nihill’s spy, couldn’t hide his confusion.

It was astonishing enough that people formed a village and lived in a garbage disposal site where all the trash of Blessige gathered. But now they were told to cover their eyes.

“It’s for security reasons. Please cooperate.”

Although they were dealing with people who engaged in various dirty deeds, it seemed like an excessive level of caution.

However, on the other hand, he couldn’t help but think that it was thanks to such thorough measures that their activities hadn’t been exposed so far.

“Understood.”

Even though it was fearful to wear a blindfold because they didn’t know what those people might do, they had come here prepared for it. They had heard quite often that risking one’s life was necessary to trade with the underwater people.

In this line of business, dealing with people who survived on the bottom, they had to put their lives on the line.