***

Leticia woke up groggily to the sensation of someone shaking her body.

As she opened her eyes with a groan from her stiff body, Astrid was tugging at her cheeks and scolding her.

“Leti. I told you not to sleep in the workshop.”

“I’m sorryyyy…”

Leticia’s words became muffled as her cheeks were being stretched.

Astrid, looking as though she would die from cuteness, gave Leticia’s head a tight hug before finally letting her go.

“Chamuka stayed beside you until morning. Wasn’t that uncomfortable?”

“Ah, Chamuka stayed until morning?”

“You didn’t know he was beside you?”

“I remember being with him before falling asleep… I wonder why he didn’t leave.”

I wonder if he had something else to look at.

Leticia murmured while looking around at the mess of books and papers piled near the sofa.

Since childhood, Leticia’s main research interest has been “curse breaking.”

Her purpose was essentially to break the Basilinte curse, and perhaps because of that, Chamuka was also very interested in Leticia’s research.

To the extent that they would often stay up all night in the workshop reading research books or discussing together.

“Come to think of it, isn’t Chamuka amazing? Studying magic separately despite not being a mage.”

“….”

Ignoring Astrid’s silence, Leticia stretched and got up.

She gathered the paper she had been reading yesterday and said.

“I briefly went to the basement storage yesterday to find cases where curses remained alive even after the mage who cast them died- Ah, right. Chamuka must have carried me back?”

There was no excitement, no elation, no tension in Leticia’s attitude as she said this.

Astrid felt a little frustrated as she scrutinized Leticia’s face.

“I should thank him… This happens too often. He could just leave me there.”

“W-well, how could he do that? Chamuka may seem indifferent on the outside, but in-inside he’s so, so, so kind…”

Her tongue got tied trying to tell a lie.

Astrid awkwardly smiled as she looked at her disciple’s beautiful face, which showed not even a speck of romantic feelings.

Yet, despite that awkward smile, her lovely disciple smiled back prettily.

“I know. His expressions have become quite natural these days. If his smile used to be like this before, now it’s like this?”

Leticia said while using her index finger to lift the corners of her mouth.

“R-really? I didn’t even know he smiled like that- I mean, haha, right. These days Chamuka smiles well, well…”

Astrid, who had no talent for acting, couldn’t even meet her disciple’s eyes.

However, her kind disciple approached with concerned eyes, noticing her unusual behavior.

“Did you not sleep well yesterday? You seem a bit tired, Master…”

Astrid couldn’t bring herself to lie anymore to her disciple, who had a perfect personality to match his perfect beauty, unparalleled in the world.

Astrid still had a conscience, which was too much to gloss over her son’s twisted personality.

“I’ve been having some, some worries lately.”

So she changed her approach to probing her disciple. In a way that pricked her conscience less.

“Chamuka will soon be twenty. We should start looking for a fi-fiancée for him, and that’s quite a worry.”

Astrid’s tongue trembled as she spoke of thoughts she had never expected to have in her lifetime, pretending they were concerns.

All Basilintes throughout history had married as they pleased.

This also meant that none of the Basilintes had ever been interested in their children’s marriages.

Unlike other high noble families who searched for fiancées for their children from a young age, the Basilintes did nothing of the sort.

“Does Basilinte have arranged marriages too?”

Leticia knew something about Basilinte marriages, though not as much detail as Astrid.

At least she knew that there weren’t really any criteria for choosing a spouse.

Starting with Gaien’s spouse, Isana, who wasn’t even a noble.

“Well, not exactly none…”

If a Basilinte took a liking to someone who happened to be a noble, they would use all sorts of excuses and force to arrange a political marriage with that person.

At that point, one might argue it wasn’t really a political marriage, but since both the Basilinte and their partner lived their entire lives thinking it was a political marriage, it was roughly counted as one.

“Still, just as His Grace married Master, I hope Chamuka also marries someone he likes.”

His words, spoken with a gentle smile, showed how kind-hearted he was.

But this wasn’t a question to find out how kind the baby was.

Astrid felt frustrated with Leticia, who, far from being jealous about Chamuka’s marriage, was only displaying her kind heart.

What are we going to do, Chamuka? My disciple really doesn’t seem interested in you that way…

“I see…”

“Since Chamuka is a man of few words, someone a bit more talkative might suit him well. Of course, it’s not my place to interfere-“

“Why isn’t it your place?”

Astrid felt a bit bitter whenever Leticia made such distancing remarks.

Even if Chamuka didn’t like Leticia, she had every right to speak about Chamuka’s match.

At the very least, Astrid considered Leticia family.

“You’re our family, Leti. Whether it’s about me or Chamuka, you can interfere.”

“….”

Leticia silently lowered her eyes.

She didn’t particularly enjoy talking about such topics.

Astrid knew this, which was why she usually deliberately kept things light.

“Oh my. Why is our baby so fearful?”

Astrid teased, firmly pressing both of Leticia’s cheeks with her hands.

“I love my disciple even if he weren’t pretty and kind, but I never get the chance to prove it. You’re always pretty and kind.”

“I’b not.”

With both cheeks being kneaded, Leticia’s pronunciation leaked through.

Astrid only removed her hands after thoroughly messing up her disciple’s hair, who was now taller than herself.

At some point, Leticia was also smiling weakly.

“My baby.”

“Your baby is Kalia.”                

Her prim response was exactly the same as what Chamuka had said last night, which gave Astrid slight chills. It seemed they were influencing each other more than expected.

Although Astrid loved Leticia, she naturally didn’t spend all day with her.

So Astrid hadn’t realized it, but the thought occurred to her that Chamuka might be involved in most of Leticia’s daily life.

That was a somewhat terrifying thought.

If that were true, then Chamuka really was…her perfect disciple…

Astrid shook her head vigorously to dispel the thought.

For now, gathering information was the priority.

She casually asked while helping Leticia tidy up around the sofa.

“If our Leti isn’t a baby, then is he an adult?”

“Yesss. I’m an adult.”

Her tone was light, as if joking.

Astrid quickly inserted the main point.

“So, do you meet women like an adult?”

“Pardon?”

“Hallik said that you and your maid…”

“Ah.”

Leticia let out an exclamation as if she understood what Astrid was saying before she even finished and shook her head.

“It’s not like that. It’s Hallik’s misunderstanding. I happened to catch Aina when she was falling once, and he seems to have misunderstood after seeing that.”

Her additional comment that they really weren’t anything to each other didn’t seem like a lie at all.

Astrid felt relieved for now and quickly threw out the next question.

“Then if not that maid, what kind of person does our Leti like?”

“Me?”

Leticia just blinked, as if she had never thought about it.

Behind such a Leticia, the workshop door opened silently.

Astrid frowned sharply upon seeing Chamuka standing between the open doors.

Seriously, he was with her until morning, and how much time has passed that he’s back again?

Just as Astrid was about to scold him, Leticia, who hadn’t yet noticed Chamuka’s arrival, answered.

“I think my ideal type is a woman like you, Master.”

“…Huh?”