“……If you keep saying things like that, women will misunderstand.”

Cordelia pouted her lips and made her own protest. Rosenblur probably just blurted out words without much thought, but she wished he knew that the listener’s heart flutters like a paper doll at his every word.

“I’d like it if you did misunderstand a little.”

“What do you mean, eek.”

She looked up reflexively and was startled to find Rosenblur’s face too close. So close that his breath touched the tip of her nose. If she hadn’t been sitting in a chair, she probably would have tumbled backwards.

“Is my face scream-worthy?”

“It’s too, too close.”

“Hurry up and misunderstand. Though I can’t say it outright since it’s still the mourning period.”

“What?”

Rosenblur said something incomprehensible and then stepped back. Only then did Cordelia release the breath she had been holding.

But Rosenblur didn’t stop there.

“Shall we try something easy? Call me Blei.”

“What?”

“Blei.”

“B-Bl…”

At the sudden request, Cordelia couldn’t properly string her words together, like a newborn just starting to babble. Her heart had been pounding fiercely since earlier.

When she failed to utter the rest, Rosenblur laughed.

“Seems you need some time. Then practice until we meet next time.”

“What? Okay…”

By the time she thought, ‘This isn’t right,’ Rosenblur had already left. Cordelia returned to Leonard’s lab with a dazed expression, as if enchanted by something.

* * *

“Why are you empty-handed?”

“Pardon?”

“Where’s my meal?”

“Ah, right!”

At Leonard’s pointed remark, Cordelia belatedly remembered why she had gone to the cafeteria. For the past week, Leonard had personally brought meals, but today she had finally been granted permission to run errands for her master’s meals.

“I’m sorry. I was eating when some man…”

“What man?”

Cordelia spoke candidly about Ilias whom she had met earlier. From how he suddenly spoke informally to her to his proposal to form a good relationship. As he listened to her explanation, Leonard’s face grew increasingly grim.

“I didn’t know the Magic Association was so open. He asked, ‘Want to meet up with me?’ I’ve never heard that come out of someone’s mouth before. I guess the South really is different.”

“What’s that bastard’s name?”

“Ilias… what was it? I forgot.”

“You’re not hiding anything?”

“Why would I hide anything about him?”

Leonard stared intently at Cordelia’s face. It looked as if he was trying to determine whether she was lying or not.

“Fine. That can be confirmed later. Did you forget my meal because you were distracted by that guy?”

“No. That’s not it. Mr. Rosenblur chased that man away. But then Mr. Rosenblur suddenly told me to call him Blei and… I’ll go get your meal right away!”

Cordelia was about to hurriedly leave the lab after rambling about this and that incoherently. Then Leonard firmly grabbed her arm and asked.

“Blei?”

“Yes?”

“Wait.”

Before she could answer, Leonard went to the study and came back with something. He held it out to Cordelia.

“What’s this?”

“Shackles. Do you want to wear them? Or should I put them on you?”

“…?”

What kind of logic leads to this absurd conclusion? Cordelia blinked her eyes in utter incomprehension as she looked at her master’s face.

“Did I do something so wrong? Of course, forgetting your meal was a mistake, but it’s not a crime big enough to warrant shackles, is it?”

“No. You’ve committed a very big crime.”

“What crime is that?”

“The crime of not understanding my heart.”

“What? No, how can you say that now? How am I supposed to know your heart?”

Cordelia protested strongly, as if wronged. No matter how much she forgot the meal errand, it’s an unreasonable punishment to give such an absurd reason.

However, Leonard stubbornly held out the shackles.

“What are you doing? Put them on quickly.”

“Haha, you’re joking, right? Oh my, I almost fell for it.”

“Why would I joke? Hold out your hand.”

He spoke with utter seriousness. Of course, there was no way she would willingly offer her hand. Cordelia quickly hid both hands behind her back.

“Ah, I get it. I understand your heart now!”

“What is it?”

“You were extremely, extremely!”

“Extremely?”

“Extremely hungry! I’ll go right now!”

Cordelia opened the door and ran away. Watching her flee without looking back, Leonard smiled. Kandias floated over and was shocked to see the shackles in Leonard’s hand.

“Isn’t that Rajiana’s Ring?”

“That’s right.”

“Hey, you crazy person. You were going to put that on Cordelia? If you each wear one side, you can’t be separated beyond a certain radius forever, right?”

“That’s right.”

As the door closed and Cordelia’s figure was no longer visible, the smile on Leonard’s lips disappeared as if it had been a lie. Only his violet eyes remained, shining fiercely.

“All sorts of flies are swarming.”

“Flies? Are there bugs in the lab?”

“Can’t burn them all.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Should I really lock her up somewhere?”

“Have you finally gone mad?”

Leonard muttered while glaring into space, so Kandias’s words had a point. What’s even more strange is that when Cordelia returned shortly after, that coldness vanished in an instant.

“Master, I’ve brought your hot meal. Eat before it gets cold. Come on, sit down quickly.”

Cordelia said nonchalantly as she set down the tray. Leonard looked down at Cordelia with his arms crossed.

“Just try forgetting my meal one more time because you’re distracted by some weird guys. I’ll really put those shackles on you and make it so you can’t leave the lab.”

“Of course. Naturally. You know my top priority is always you, Master, right?”

“You always say such plausible things.”

Cordelia clasped her hands together and tried to appease her master. Otherwise, those shackles he spoke of jokingly might really end up on her wrists – an instinctive fear washed over her.

She sat down across from Leonard at the table where he was eating.

“Oh right. I met Lydia on the way.”

“When is she going back to Elfenbaum?”

“Huh? You heard from Mr. Rosenblur? That Lydia is going back?”

“Do I need to ask that to know? Would Rosenblur keep his younger sister here? He’ll try to break the contract somehow and send her back to her hometown.”

“Do you think that’s right too, Master?”

Cordelia asked with her chin resting on one hand. Noticing that something other than sympathy for Lydia was reflected in her eyes, Leonard asked back.

“Why do you ask like that?”

“Just… It reminded me of myself. I was thinking maybe Lydia was also really desperate to learn magic, so she made a contract with a demon.”

“Having a desperate motivation doesn’t excuse everything. You and her are different. If Lydia really wanted to learn magic, she always had opportunities. But she just didn’t want to put in the effort. She wanted to achieve in a month what others would take ten years to do.”

“I see.”

Leonard’s words were right. Cordelia nodded in agreement. Unlike Cordelia, who lived in a rural area where she couldn’t even see a magician’s face, Lydia had plenty of opportunities to learn magic.

Skipping all the arduous process could be an insult to those who have silently walked that path without doing so.

Suddenly, Kandias made a retching sound and his eyeball split in half. Surprisingly, a letter popped out from inside.

“W-what is that.”

Cordelia was startled to see this sight for the first time. Leonard picked up the letter and said calmly.

“A letter came from outside.”

“Outside?”

“Outside the Magic Association, I mean.”

“Ah.”

Come to think of it, it was strange that there was no separate means of contact with the outside within the Magic Association. But an eyeball splitting open – it gave her goosebumps even after seeing it.

Leonard briefly skimmed through the letter and got up from his seat.

“I’m going out for a moment, so work on the homework I gave you. I’ll be back soon to check.”

“Okay. Take care.”

Being left alone in the lab to study was a frequent occurrence, so Cordelia saw him off and returned to her seat.

She opened her book and picked up her pen as usual, when suddenly she remembered something she had forgotten to ask.

“Ah, right.”

“What?”

“I forgot to ask why the eye color changes.”

“Who had their eye color change? That’s an extremely difficult magic.”

Kandias flew over and said.

“Is that so? But when I talked to Lydia earlier, her eyes definitely changed to black. At first I thought it was my imagination, but this time they stayed changed for quite a while.”

“Lydia? The girl who made a contract with a demon?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know who she contracted with?”

“No. She doesn’t even mention that.”

“You said her personality changed a bit too, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

Cordelia responded appropriately to Kandias’s words, but her eyes were fixed on the complex formula.

“Could she have descended?”

“Descended? What’s that?”

“It’s when you fully accept a demon’s power into your body.”

Cordelia’s back straightened automatically as she heard the unfamiliar term.

“Is it different from a contract?”

“It’s different. A contract transfers a part of the demon to the human world, so you can use a very small amount of power here, but a descent summons the actual main body to the human world, so the power is beyond imagination. I only have one eyeball in the human world, that’s why, but if my main body came, it would be incredible.”

“Huh? Weren’t you originally a demon with just one eyeball?”

“What are you saying? Do you think I’m some kind of monster? A demon’s form is almost similar to humans. That bastard Atilei only contracted with one of my eyeballs, that’s why I’m here like this.”

Kandias boasted about how cool his main body was, puffing up with pride. Cordelia let it pass and threw a question.

“Does descending change eye color and personality?”

“If you lose control of the body to the descended demon, it can change. Ah, but it probably isn’t a descent. If it were a descent, there would be a huge collapse. That’s why descents to the human world are prohibited in principle.”

“It happened recently.”

“What did?”

“A collapse. Lady Matilda said so. She said there was a big collapse in southern Ershe for the first time in twenty years.”

“……”

“……”

Kandias and Cordelia were silent for a moment, looking into each other’s eyes. Cordelia jumped up from her seat.

“D-did Lydia really descend? What happens when you descend?”

“What happens? The body and mind are completely dominated by the demon, so they go berserk and in the end, boom.”

“Boom?”

“They explode. There’s no way a human body can withstand a demon, right?”

Hearing Kandias’s words, Cordelia couldn’t stay still any longer. Even if it might not be true, if there was even a slight possibility, she had to inform someone quickly.

She hurriedly headed for the lab door. Kandias chased after her.

“Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m going to Lydia, no, to Mr. Rosenblur! I’ll be right back!”

“Atilei told you to stay here… She’s already gone.”

Kandias shook his eyeball while looking at the already closed door.