Contact?

Cail froze instantly.

Had the dragon gone mad? How could it suggest such a thing? Was it telling him to touch that noble body?

It was while Cail remained frozen with a bewildered expression.

[Why are you taking this so seriously? Jella is asleep anyway, so just touch—!]

In that moment, Cail looked at the dragon with cold eyes.

At that fierce gaze that seemed ready to tear him apart, Helasio hiccupped and stopped speaking.

The dragon felt somewhat wronged by Cail’s gaze that looked at him like trash. He had been asked to explain the method, and when he did, he was met with anger.

[If you’re so against it, just holding her hand or…]

“Is there another way?”

Cail cut him off sharply and asked. Holding her hand? He couldn’t dare commit such disrespect.

[Th-there’s no other way. If you don’t want to hold her hand, even just a finger would…]

The dragon explained while nervously glancing at Cail. The wider the area of contact, the better the effect, but even a small area of contact would work somehow.

“…”

After looking at Jella with eyes clearly conflicted for a moment, Cail bit his lower lip and then, with newfound resolve, knelt at her bedside.

Then he slowly reached his hand toward her.

Unable to bring himself to touch Jella’s body carelessly, Cail carefully grasped the tip of her hair.

Rustle.

The moment the soft texture of her hair filled his hand, Cail’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.

Her hair always had a sweet scent.

Just smelling it felt like committing a sin, and Cail tightly closed his eyes.

Suddenly, he felt some energy through his fingertips.

“Ah…”

Cail let out a shallow exclamation.

[See? I told you that you could read my energy.]

Helasio said in a boastful tone. As the dragon had said, he could feel Jella’s magic mixed with the dragon’s energy.

Just as he had snatched the energy fluctuating above her heart earlier, Cail instinctively seemed to know what to do.

He carefully drew the magical energy from her body through his hand that was touching her hair.

He could feel the residual magic transferring through the point of contact.

For a moment, his blood vessels painfully constricted, causing sharp pain, but Cail swallowed the groan that threatened to escape.

The dragon explained that as payment for relieving her of magical energy, residual magic would continue to accumulate in his body, an unavoidable side effect.

Cail didn’t respond.

He just quietly looked at Jella’s face.

Her face, which had been suffering just moments ago, now looked much more peaceful.

At her even, gentle breathing, the corners of Cail’s lips rose slightly.

The next morning, Jella woke up feeling refreshed.

Feeling unusually light, she sat up and discovered Cail standing in front of the door. Cail was standing in the same position as before she had fallen asleep the night before.

“What? Have you been standing there all night?”

Instead of answering, Cail bowed his head.

Jella chuckled and said:

“You’re so earnest. I’ve told you that you don’t need to be so diligent. You should be a little cunning too. Even the head chamberlain takes a breather when I’m sleeping.”

“…Lord Karen serves Your Majesty while you’re awake, but I am the one who guards you even when you sleep.”

“You’re so rigid.”

Jella clicked her tongue lightly.

Typically, the Emperor’s personal guards worked in shifts, but Cail took on all the duties by himself.

One might expect him to complain about labor exploitation or try to slack off, but Cail was so diligent that he truly tried to handle all the guard duties alone.

‘Well, after a few months, he’ll get tired and find his own pace.’

Jella quietly looked at Cail’s innocent face, then tilted her head at a sudden thought and muttered to herself:

“Maybe it’s really because you’re protecting me. I feel like I slept well without bad dreams for the first time in a long while.”

“…”

Cail couldn’t answer her words.

Neither he nor Jella noticed that his earlobes had turned slightly red as he quietly bowed his head.

After that day, Cail occasionally used the time when she was asleep to relieve her body of accumulated magical energy.

This was something only he could do.

Neither the Duke of Alpenhayer, Her Majesty’s fiancé, nor the priest of the Grand Temple, Her Majesty’s friend, could do this.

Something only he could do.

Even then, Cail didn’t know what Hersha was or what a successor was, but he was simply happy.

Not knowing that someday he would shed tears of blood and grieve over this fact, he was just content.

Then one night, Cail unknowingly crossed a line.

It was a day with an event outside the imperial palace.

The carriage carrying her stopped. Helping her out of the carriage by offering his hand was the only time Cail could legally touch her.

Cail greatly enjoyed this moment of escorting her as her knight.

“I’ll do it, Sir Cail.”

But Niel, who had arrived and waited first, took that role from him. In front of her fiancé, Cail had no choice but to step back.

As the carriage door opened, Niel elegantly extended his hand toward her.

Unlike himself, who always simply offered his hand awkwardly, Niel naturally kissed the back of her hand with an aristocratic gesture that came to him effortlessly, then escorted her into the venue.

Cail stared at her back as she walked away with that man’s escort, then followed.

Niel’s followers often picked fights with Cail because they disliked him. The only difference from before was that after Jella punished the nobles who had bullied Cail, they no longer openly harassed him but did so subtly, pretending it was accidental.

That day at the event venue was no exception.

Splash.

One young noble spilled his drink on Cail.

“Oh my, what a shame. There was such a trash smell that my hand slipped without me realizing.”

“My, are you alright, Sir Cail? I see a dry mop has become a wet mop?”

“Don’t be too upset, though. You should thank Lord Hamas for covering up the foul odor coming from your body! Hahaha!”

The young nobles surrounding Cail laughed mockingly.

‘How petty.’

Cail thought, feeling the moisture dripping from his head. A sour scent emanated from his entire body.

Did they think this would affect him?

During his days as a slave, he was often doused with sewage. This was merely a drink.

As Cail was thinking this and turning to walk away, ignoring them.

“What is the meaning of this?”

A voice tinged with mild anger stopped him.

“Ah, Your Grace, Duke Alpenhayer.”

It was Niel.

“Ah, haha. My hand slipped by accident, not realizing he was standing here…”

“You call that an excuse?”

Niel’s expression grew colder at the young noble’s excuse.

“We, we did it for Your Grace…”

“Y-yes! This fellow doesn’t know his place, always beside Her Majesty…!”

“Enough.”

Niel cut off their words with cold anger.

“That’s enough. Stop disappointing me with such unsightly behavior.”

Niel Alpenhayer was a man of strict character who wouldn’t tolerate injustice, even from his own followers.

The young nobles apologized to Cail while watching Niel’s reaction.

It was strange.

Clearly, he was the one receiving the apology, yet Cail felt humiliated by the situation, as if he were being punished.

“I apologize, Sir Cail. It seems they’ve been troubling you because of me.”

After the situation was resolved, Niel sighed and handed Cail a handkerchief.

“I’ll instruct them to be careful so this doesn’t happen again. I apologize once more on their behalf.”

Niel’s sympathetic gaze, like giving charity, made Cail feel something he had never felt before. It was an extremely unpleasant and terrible feeling.

And at that very moment, Jella appeared.

“What’s going on?”

Her brow furrowed at Niel’s explanation.

“Are you alright, Cail?”

Jella took the handkerchief that was still in Niel’s hand and approached Cail.

“You’ve been treated poorly. I’ll tell Karen to prepare a change of clothes for you, so go wash up.”

Strangely, on that day, her concerned voice was unpleasant to hear. He felt a terrible urge to flee from this place immediately. He just felt miserable.

Ah, yes, misery. Only then did Cail realize that the unpleasant and terrible emotion he had felt in front of her fiancé was called misery.

But in the face of this newly realized emotion, all he could say was…

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

This was all.

“The event is about to begin. Let’s go.”

Niel offered his arm to Jella, and she lightly placed her hand on it as they walked away.

As he quietly watched the two of them, perfectly matched, a drop of sour moisture fell from his wet hair.

The sour smell, which hadn’t bothered him at all when he was surrounded and mocked by the young nobles, suddenly felt like a terrible stench.