“Tan will monitor at night, Ferik and I in the morning, and you from afternoon until evening. Understand?”

To monitor Leticia all day long, Astrid had created a rather detailed schedule.

Leaving Leticia and Chamuka together at night would be insane, and despite their teacher-student relationship, it would be burdensome for Astrid, who was of a different gender, to guard the bed all night, so Tan was the appropriate choice.

Ferik was someone who shouldn’t be left alone with Leticia for different reasons than Chamuka, so Astrid had to accompany him.

“Tan…?”

Seeing Chamuka’s sharp reaction the moment Tan was mentioned, Astrid clicked her tongue and retorted.

“I’d rather entrust fish to a cat than leave you and the child to sleep together.”

“We wouldn’t be sleeping together. I wouldn’t be sleeping at all. And how can you trust Tan?”

“He’s more trustworthy than you.”

“Tan follows Leti around just as much as I do.”

Astrid snorted.

Tan was different from Chamuka. Tan, who had experienced almost no loss of emotion, surprisingly had affection for his own bloodline.

Of course, that wasn’t for his father or siblings.

Tan liked his mother, Astrid. In short, he liked Leti, but he didn’t like ‘only’ Leti.

“He genuinely likes Leti. Not impurely like you.”

“That guy is pure?”

“At least in our family, he’s the second most pure after Kalia. He might tease his older brother a bit, but isn’t that better than the other people who have no interest in family at all?”

Ferik, one of the “other people who have no interest in family” that Astrid was mocking, was fiddling with Astrid’s fingers without even realizing he was being insulted, and Chamuka, another one, didn’t agree with Astrid’s words at all, but Astrid didn’t care.

Just as silence briefly settled, there was a sound.

Knock, knock.

Someone was knocking on the workshop door.

Sensing the familiar presence outside the door, Chamuka asked in a low voice.

“…Did you already call Tan?”

“Of course. As you said, we need to start monitoring from now.”

Astrid casually replied and called toward the door, ‘Come in, Tan.’

The door opened, and Tan, smiling brightly in a way uncharacteristic of a Basilinte, entered quickly and placed his hand on Astrid’s shoulder.

“Mother, why did you call me?”

Ferik’s gaze smoothly shifted to Astrid’s shoulder.

He naturally brushed away Tan’s hand and wrapped his arm around Astrid’s shoulder.

“Ouch.”

It was obviously a fake groan from Tan, but Astrid took Tan’s side and pushed away Ferik’s hand.

“I told you not to do that to the children.”

Tan, who was laughing as if enjoying the sight of Ferik being scolded by Astrid, began to casually touch Leticia’s golden hair.

Chamuka imagined throwing Tan out the window right then and there.

“Mother, I’m fine. But Leti looks uncomfortable. Should I move him to the bedroom so he can sleep more comfortably?”

“Oh my, would you?”

…That fake b*stard.

The same thought crossed both Ferik and Chamuka’s minds at that moment.

***

“Master, aren’t you bored?”

“Not at all. Leti, keep reading your book. I’ll just be watching.”

After waking up in the morning and being startled by Tan’s face, Leticia was now uncomfortable with Astrid following her around since morning as if they were taking shifts.

What made it worse was that Ferik was also following behind Astrid.

When Leticia fell asleep after drinking the tea Astrid gave her last night, she thought Astrid might question her again the next morning.

However, Astrid acts as if nothing had happened yesterday. She still smiled kindly at Leticia, looking at her with adoring eyes…

…and wouldn’t even let her bathe alone, trying to send Tan in with her.

With such determination not to leave Leticia alone for a moment, Leticia gave up on using the bathroom and just used magic to clean herself.

Never had Leticia been so grateful for being a mage who could control water.

“Mother. It’s my turn now.”

And after lunch, Chamuka took over from Astrid.

Astrid held Leticia’s hand tightly and told her to just ignore ‘that thing’ if possible before leaving.

Leticia was a bit dumbfounded, not expecting such thorough surveillance.

Having deliberately avoided meeting Chamuka by eating lunch in her room, she didn’t know how to deal with him standing quietly near her door.

On the contrary, Chamuka stood there with his usual expression and asked.

“Are you planning to rest in your room today instead of going out? Then I’ll sit over there.”

Why is it that he was the one who confessed, but I’m the one feeling awkward?

Aina, who had fled, saying she would bring tea as soon as she saw Chamuka, showed no signs of returning.

Aina, who had been grumbling since last year that the first young master kept glaring at her, now tactfully left whenever Chamuka and Leticia were together.

“Every time the first young master looks at me, I hear a hallucination saying, ‘Don’t get in our way and get lost.'”

“Oh my. Aina. Your delusions are serious.”

…She seemed to have had such a conversation before.

At that time, she thought it was just Aina’s baseless complaint because she was intimidated by Chamuka, but it might have been true.

“I’m thinking of going to the library. You don’t need to follow me.”

Leticia left the room, deliberately ignoring the eyes staring at her.

Chamuka, of course, followed her regardless of what she said.

Throughout arriving at the library, taking out a book, and finding a seat, Chamuka’s gaze followed her.

The gaze that she hadn’t minded before, thinking it was just a habit, now felt strangely uncomfortable.

Maybe it would be better to just think of it as surveillance.

Anyway, she was planning to behave for a few days.

For about two days, Kalia’s ‘fire’ would be suppressed by her blood, and for three or four days after that, it wouldn’t be too much strain on Kalia, so it should be fine.

The amount of magical power Kalia possessed couldn’t compare to Astrid’s or Leticia’s, but it wasn’t so little that it would be depleted just by having her magic absorbed for three or four days.

However, after that, to suppress Kalia’s ‘fire’ that would grow stronger again, she would need to pour more blood…

Leticia swallowed a sigh that was about to escape and turned her eyes to the book.

Although the words didn’t register, she didn’t want to meet Chamuka’s gaze, who was staring at her.

How much time had passed as she forcibly turned the pages? Thinking his gaze would have been withdrawn by now, she slightly raised her head.

But upon immediately meeting his eyes, Leticia flinched, forgetting to pretend to be calm.

“What?”

Chamuka, who hadn’t moved an inch from when she last saw him, finally blinked and asked.

It felt just like the moment an inanimate art piece comes to life.

She found herself staring at Chamuka without realizing it.

Leticia, who had been making up reasons like maybe he just liked men but mistook his feelings because she was the person he saw most often besides family, thought for the first time:

What if he’s sincere?

Like how His Grace loves Master, like how Grandfather desires Isana, what if his heart is sincere?

“Chamuka.”

Leticia closed the book and faced Chamuka.

She couldn’t hide her troubled mind and only after tapping the leather book for quite some time could she ask him a question.

“Did you… originally like men? I mean, have you only… considered the same gender as romantic partners…?”

“I’ve never considered anyone as a romantic partner.”

“…?”

Then who was it that confessed to me yesterday?