When she first landed here, she felt relief and fear at the same time. 

In this unknown world not written in any corner of the book, where no one knew her and she knew no one, could she really live well? No, could she even survive?

She’d questioned herself like that before the answerless sea.

It had been an escape to truly live, but she’d never done things like sleeping, dressing, or eating by her own strength. That’s why the beginning was terribly clumsy. 

She couldn’t even manage to prepare breakfast properly, so there was a time when she ate only hard bread and fruit she’d bought in bulk from the village for ten days straight.

But unfamiliarity and clumsiness were bound to fade with time.

In her first spring, she tried planting flowers in the garden herself.

In her first summer, she learned the sad fact that she was a lightweight.

In her first autumn, she learned to ride a horse and went on a modest adventure to the neighboring village.

In her first winter, she made stew for the first time and had a modest party with some village residents.

Though it was stew with a burnt bottom and a slightly charred taste, amid the warmth and stability, she finally felt at peace. She could truly feel that she was building a life.

Three years filled in densely like filling a blank canvas.

But soon she’d have to put a period on this picture too.

Chartia gripped the cup that had already lost half its warmth. She wanted to settle into this comfort forever, but she knew. She couldn’t keep hiding. Not just because of the family desperately waiting for her, but above all…

That’s when she was continuing her troubled thoughts. Ding-a-ling—she heard the wind chime.

At the sound alerting her to an intruder, Chartia flinched and pulled her body away from the window. Thanks to Cain barging in without knocking every time, she’d locked not only the entrance but all the windows too. 

Of course, if he suddenly appeared in the middle of the room with teleportation magic, it would be completely useless.

Still, ever since he’d appeared without warning as usual when she was changing clothes once and earned her fury, he’d been trying his best to come through the entrance.

Chartia moved toward the door with a sigh. Actually, she didn’t need to check who the intruder was—it was obvious.

‘It must be Cain.’

He was the only person who dropped by her house so suddenly like this. As expected, Cain trudged into the living room.

However, wherever he’d been, he was unusually dressed up in a white shirt, a black vest embroidered with gold thread, and a frock coat that reached his knees. He loosened the cravat that had been neatly tied with somewhat irritable movements.

“…Where have you been?”

Always seeing him disheveled and worn with fatigue, his appearance with his hair neatly slicked back was very unfamiliar. Chartia, feeling a sense of distance anew, spoke to him from a distance for no reason.

Regardless, Cain headed straight for the sofa, frowning around his shadowed eyes as usual. He sat in what was practically his designated spot and drooped like wet laundry.

“Yeah. A dog-like, no, annoying place.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen you this tired.”

Her father, whom she occasionally encountered at the estate before, was generally in that state. 

How pitiful he’d looked, smiling brightly even with hollow eyes, saying seeing his daughter’s face gave him strength. Chartia, who somehow felt more sympathetic, slipped him a cup of the flower tea she’d just brewed.

Then Cain, who’d been lying still with his eyes closed like he was dead, suddenly straightened his head.

“Right. So you should repay me, shouldn’t you?”

“What does that… what does you being tired have to do with me?”

“Your sister came to the Magic Tower again today.”

Chartia, who’d put both hands on her hips with a deliberately displeased face at the unreasonable demand, slowly lowered her hands.

A few months ago, Cain had come looking like a mess, disheveled like someone being chased.

[Hey, seriously, what’s with your sister? Hasn’t it been over two years? Isn’t it time she gave up?]

When her whereabouts remained mysterious even after turning the Empire inside out, Rose had finally stormed into the Magic Tower. Then she’d interrogated him about where he’d hidden her.

[The only people capable of evading my eyes are, no matter how I think about it, only Mother and you, the Magic Tower Master. Since it’s not Mother, doesn’t that leave you?]

Rose’s eyes saying that had been half-crazed, Cain had shuddered.

Even though he’d denied it many times, she apparently still occasionally showed up at the Magic Tower to grill him.

‘So that happened today too.’

Chartia smiled awkwardly and carefully asked.

“So did you send Rose back okay?”

“Where would that obsession go? She seemed like she wasn’t planning to leave until I spilled where you are.”

She’d heard right after leaving that Rose had immediately released mages throughout the capital. She’d thought Rose would feel relieved when she disappeared, that it would be better for Rose since there’d be nothing more to anger her about…

She still didn’t know why Rose was searching for her, but she wanted to meet her with a confident appearance when she had the confidence not to be her hindrance or misfortune anymore.

“Then, is it okay for me to stay here?”

It was a question born from worries—whether she might be tracked, whether Rose would become more suspicious if she noticed his absence.

But Cain snorted confidently, acting like it was no problem at all.

“I left a substitute, so it doesn’t matter.”

“…A substitute?”

“Yeah, Owen. I cast an illusion on him and left. He’s probably suffering in my place.”

Chartia lost her words for a moment at the radical countermeasure. Surely there must have been a better method that left everyone at peace. But she could bet even her herb garden that it was simply because he found it too bothersome to look for another plan.

Chartia, who now projected him not onto her father but onto the Emperor who overworked her father, slightly frowned.

“Be nicer to your subordinate.”

It was all thanks to Owen’s help that he could occasionally but consistently rest here and return. Wasn’t the treatment too harsh?

When she spoke like scolding a mischievous child, Cain narrowed his eyes.

“Shasha, are you taking another guy’s side in front of me right now?”

‘When I’m taking on all these annoying tasks for you?’

She could tell the unspoken follow-up even without hearing it. It was bragging she’d already heard numerous times. But Cain’s contributions were certainly undeniable. If not for him, she would have been caught long ago.

Ahem—Chartia cleared her throat and hurriedly brought the three-piece rest set. Since she’d already given him tea, she brought a pillow and blanket and handed them over, and his lips softened.

“I was planning to just see your face and leave today…”

Even as he muttered that, his tired body was already using the pillow. Cain, who seemed too lazy even to spread the blanket and just placed it roughly on his stomach, breathed deeply.

With the playfulness gone and silence settled, he looked very exhausted, like someone bearing all kinds of worries.

‘Did something really happen?’

Chartia, who’d become serious belatedly, was mulling over her concern when Cain tapped the empty space on the sofa.

“Shasha.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t stay far away, come closer.”

She still hadn’t heard about why he couldn’t sleep alone, but he’d once told her that having someone’s presence nearby made him feel more at ease.

But a narrow distance from others shouldn’t be an essential condition for sleep. He kept his eyes open, sending silent urging until she approached, seemingly unwilling to fall asleep.

Chartia clicked her tongue softly at the stubbornness just like a child’s. No one would know the infamous Magic Tower Master was actually like this. Even while lamenting, she habitually grabbed a book and approached his side, plopping down below the sofa.

“Is this okay now?”

“Yeah.”

For an affirmation, he didn’t fall asleep right away. Cain, who’d been playing around rolling her considerably longer hair around his fingertips, spoke in a low voice.

“Shasha.”

“What?”

“Just.”

Chartia, who’d taken her eyes off the book, looked at him. Then Cain slightly avoided the suspicious gaze and squeezed his eyes shut, starting to pretend to be asleep.

Both the cigarette smell that was thicker than usual and this strange attitude—clearly something else had happened besides the incident of Rose visiting the Magic Tower.

But… Sometimes she knew that staying by someone’s side in silence was greater comfort and support than prying. Chartia kept her mouth that was about to move shut and turned her head back to the book.

But before reading even one page, Cain called her again.

“Shasha.”

“Why do you keep calling?”

This time she didn’t turn around. So she didn’t know whether his face was drowsy with sleep, whether he still had his eyes closed, or if not, what he was staring at.

“…Are you afraid of dying now?”

The unexpected question dug into her ears lower and deeper than other noise. Only then did Chartia turn to look at him. Cain’s face wasn’t drowsy with sleep, nor were his eyes closed. He was staring straight up at her.

Chartia quietly met the blatant, unrefined purple eyes that seemed to be searching her.

Actually, she still sometimes felt lonely. When she remembered that old hospital room, became lethargic, or shuddered at emptiness.

But now she could feel happiness even from small things like freshly baked bread, the sea at dawn, or tea she’d brewed herself. She could easily imagine what she wanted to do tomorrow and in the more distant future, how she wanted to live.

Her contemplation wasn’t long.

“Yeah.”

At the concise answer, Cain burst into a loose laugh. Right. Muttering that, he placed his arm over his eyes. Then he slowly fell asleep.

She’d definitely fallen asleep uncomfortably on the floor, but when she opened her eyes in the morning, she’d been laid on the sofa where Cain had been lying.

‘He must have left.’

Cain would disappear without promise just as he’d come without notice. He’d show up again soon, ringing the wind chime. Chartia, who’d gotten used to his absence, sluggishly got up.

The ingredients she’d bought last time had run out completely, so today she had to go down to the village to buy breakfast items.

She washed her face with lukewarm water and changed into her favorite linen shirt and leather pants. She hesitated briefly over the muffler but decided against it. The robe with thick lining seemed sufficient for now.

Finally, she put on the bracelet she’d kept carefully hidden in a drawer. It was a magical tool with appearance-altering magic that Cain had gifted her right after she’d settled in. 

Though it was rechargeable and had the limitation of only being able to change hair color, being able to hide her conspicuous color was useful enough.

Only after checking her hair that had changed to dark reddish-brown close to black did Chartia step outside.

‘I need to hurry.’

Her steps going down to the village were quite rushed. The rye bread from the bakery she frequented was extremely popular and would sell out by midmorning.

Having arrived several minutes earlier than usual, Chartia caught her rough breath in front of the bakery. Fortunately, one appetizing loaf of bread remained in the display case.