After sending everyone out, Niel abruptly asked.

“What happened with Cail Aleret, Tenes? Why was he with her?”

“Ah, that hero spent the night in the snow…”

Tenes, Niel’s excellent spy planted in the underworld, explained what had happened that day.

Niel, who had been listening quietly, let out a small laugh.

‘So it was just a bluff.’

His expression softened somewhat as he realized nothing had happened between them.

‘I couldn’t sleep all night because of her.’

He had spoken as if something special had happened with her…

“You have no idea how much trouble I went through cleaning up the snow that fell on the floor.”

After rambling on about what he had seen and heard in the underworld, Tenes suddenly asked in a worried voice.

“But I won’t get in trouble with that woman for acting as a spy, will I? Her cruelty is becoming more terrifying by the day.”

Shuddering, he suddenly seemed to remember something and fumbled in his pocket.

“Ah, and…”

It was Yuria’s wanted poster.

“I think I saw the saint. Can I get the reward?”

“There have been dozens of reports this morning alone of women resembling the saint, but the true saint’s whereabouts remain a mystery.”

“Ah, what I saw wasn’t someone who resembled her, it was definitely the saint! Because this woman came to the underworld yesterday.”

“…What?”

For a moment, a cold killing intent flashed in Niel’s eyes.

“She came to request help because some crazy people were trying to kill her.”

However, Tenes, not noticing this, babbled excitedly at the thought of the reward that would be his.

“So the saint has been with Jella Irene since last night!”

***

Looking at the paper on the table, I pressed my throbbing temples.

It was Yuria’s wanted poster that Felitz had brought.

“So that day, you were the one who poured poison on the emperor’s face?”

It had been strangely quiet despite what had happened to the emperor’s face, but this morning, suddenly news poured out everywhere like breaking stories that Yuria had attempted to assassinate the emperor.

“I-I’m being wronged! That man tried to kill me first, so it was unavoidable self-defense!”

Yuria cried out in a genuinely indignant voice.

“This morning, the emperor’s soldiers destroyed the base of the cult, sister. They’re rounding up everyone associated with Lady Saint.”

At Felitz’s explanation, Yuria’s eyes, sitting next to me, trembled slightly.

“Oh my, will we be caught too if we’re discovered?”

“I suppose so. Moreover, not only the imperial court but also the atmosphere at the Grand Temple is ominous. I heard that this morning, several high priests from the Holy Nation came to see the Pope in Yetrisha. Apparently, the Pope summoned them regarding the saint…”

“Oh dear, this is serious.”

I responded indifferently while taking a bite of an apple from the basket.

Unlike me, Yuria, terrified, grabbed the hem of my clothes, not knowing what to do.

“W-what should we do?”

“What do you mean ‘what should we do’? The difficulty of the request has increased, so you’ll have to pay more.”

It had become a bit complicated with Yuria being wanted, but the goal remained the same.

To protect Yuria from the threats of the male leads and safely send her back to her original world.

‘Based on the circumstances so far, it seems they really are targeting Yuria.’

Suddenly, I remembered the male leads reaching out to Yuria on the day she was summoned.

‘Lady Yuria. We’ll escort you to the imperial palace, so please come with us.’

‘Yuria! Why did you come only now? I’ve been waiting. So much.’

‘I will serve you, Lady Yuria.’

Wow, so that day when they reached out their hands to Yuria, asking her to go with them…

‘Cruel bastards.’

I inwardly clicked my tongue at their malice.

“But why did your relationship with those three become so bad?”

“I told you. They’re crazy.”

“I agree that those three are a bit strange, but they wouldn’t try to kill someone without reason…”

‘Would they?’

I thought I knew them well. I had read the original story before being reincarnated into this world, and when I lived as Jella Shunaibel, they were the closest people to me.

But I’ve recently come to realize that the image I had of them might be a bit different from who they really are.

“But Jella, you speak as if you know them well. How do you know them? I saw yesterday that Cail Aleret is also here…”

“That’s because our sister is the infamous hero-catching villain that everyone in the capital talks about. Hahaha!”

Felitz answered Yuria’s question with a hearty laugh.

“Even Sir Cail, on his first day in the capital, met our sister and was knocked out in one go, then became her subordinate!”

“Stop talking nonsense!”

As I scolded Felitz for adding unnecessary details, Yuria exclaimed.

“Oh my goodness!”

With an ominous feeling, I turned to see Yuria’s eyes already sparkling with infinite trust toward me.

“I want to call you unnie too!”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Sister is better than Unnie!”

I don’t even have siblings, so why is everyone so eager to be my sibling?

“I’m proud to be sister’s first subordinate! Hahaha!”

“Who’s my first subordinate?”

I glared at Felitz, who spoke with a proud voice, but he answered regardless of my glare.

“I’m your right-hand man, aren’t I?”

“Then I’ll be the second subordinate, unnie!”

No, weren’t you supposed to return to your original world?

As I stared at her in disbelief, Felitz added beside me.

“Then Lady Saint can be sister’s left arm.”

“I don’t want to be an arm, I want to be a leg. Unnie has very long and pretty legs.”

“Then be sister’s left leg. Since I’m the right arm, that would balance things out, wouldn’t it?”

“Okay. Then I’m unnie’s left leg!”

…Wow, there’s actually someone who goes along with Felitz’s nonsense.

Yuria and Felitz got along very well.

At that moment, Cail came up from downstairs.

Instantly, Felitz and Yuria fell silent.

Cail glanced coldly at Felitz and Yuria’s arms and legs, muttering.

“Right arm… Left leg…”

It sounded exactly like a threat to cut off their arms and legs, so the two hurriedly changed their words.

“C-come to think of it, I’m not sister’s right arm but more like the nail of her right ring finger.”

“I-I’m unnie’s hair.”

In an instant, the two were demoted to a nail and hair.

But Cail’s cold gaze still didn’t leave them.

“N-no! On second thought, I’m the dirt under sister’s right ring fingernail!”

“I-I’m the dandruff sitting on Unnie’s hair!”

“I don’t have dirt under my nails or dandruff!”

I shouted indignantly, but no one listened.

Only then did Cail smile with satisfaction, and thus Felitz and Yuria became dirt and dandruff.

“I checked if there were any suspicious people lurking around.”

As Cail approached me, Yuria inhaled sharply and slightly distanced herself.

Fortunately, Cail no longer showed interest in Yuria.

Instead, as if his only purpose was me, he stared intently at my face.

It was a bit awkward to receive his gaze after yesterday’s conversation.

‘Let me stay by your side with a sword that protects you, not one that pierces you.’

Although he didn’t mention it directly, I realized it from the faint resentment in his words.

That he knew all along that I had brought him to kill me from the beginning.

And that this fact had left such a wound on him.

‘Please, don’t abandon me. Jella.’

My throat painfully fluctuated at the sight of Cail speaking like a puppy abandoned by its owner on a rainy day.

I hadn’t intended to abandon him.

I just wanted him to live a little more peacefully, a little more happily in this world.

I wanted him to no longer be pointed at as the tyrant’s dog, but to be a hero loved by everyone.

But he still couldn’t break free from me, as if he remained subordinate to me.

That fact made me a little sad.