And so, several days passed where everything seemed well resolved on the surface.

“Kalia. Would you like to come here?”

Leticia picked up Kalia, who was wide awake in the arms of Astrid, who had fallen into a nap.

The sunlight-filled room of Kalia was a picture of peace.

Astrid was asleep on the sofa, and Leticia, who had come looking for her master and found Kalia blinking her eyes while trapped in Astrid’s arms, smiled quietly.

“Oof. Kalia, weren’t you bored?”

Leticia asked while holding Kalia, whom she had neatly extracted from Astrid’s embrace.

“His Grace seems to be quite busy these days, as he’s not by my master’s side today either. If he were here, he would have helped free you.”

Due to Ferik, who was busy going out frequently these days for material procurement(?), he wasn’t by Astrid’s side today, either.

Of course, Leticia just tilted her head, not knowing the reason. Then, she immediately smiled broadly at Kalia.

“Would you like to play with me instead?”

“……”

“Kalia…?”

Kalia’s silent, fixed stare at Leticia was different from usual.

Leticia made eye contact with Kalia and asked.

“Are you sleepy? Would you like to take a nap?”

Kalia just stared at Leticia with an expressionless face, giving no answer despite repeated questions.

Leticia wondered if she had done something to upset Kalia.

“Should I leave, Kalia? Do you dislike seeing me?”

She put Kalia down on the floor and bent down to match her eye level as she asked.

Then, Kalia quietly opened her mouth. In a tone clearly different from her usual one.

“Herta.”

“Pardon?”

“Not Herta.”

That unfamiliar and clear tone was definitely not Kalia’s manner of speaking.

No matter how smart and fast-growing she was, Kalia was still a young child.

But the current tone was as articulate as an adult borrowing a child’s voice.

Sometime, long ago, there was once a time like this…

“You. Herta. Liar.”

Leticia could recall the unforgettable moment 10 years ago when Astrid woke up from her long sleep.

Just before that, Tan, who hadn’t even properly learned to speak, had clearly uttered words.

So many things had happened afterward that she had just let it go. There hadn’t been anything similar since then.

‘But suddenly, why is Kalia, like Tan back then…’

“I can’t do it.”

“I can’t do it.”

Kalia’s words gradually quickened. She seemed somewhat urgent.

“No matter how much magical power I consume, I can’t do it. I’m insufficient.”

“Kalia…”

“Even if many magicians are killed and offered to me. I can’t do it.”

“…What? Killed and offered?”

Regardless of Leticia’s question, Kalia spoke one last time in a clear tone.

“You should eat me instead.”

After that, there was only silence.

Kalia blinked her eyes slowly and reached out to Leticia as if nothing had happened.

“Leti?”

In a child’s speech pattern that wasn’t yet perfectly formed, Kalia babbled.

“When did you come? Hold me. Why did you come now?”

Leticia stared blankly at Kalia.

Behind her, there was a rustling sound as Astrid woke up.

Soon after, a hand ruffled through Leticia’s blonde hair.

“Has my beautiful disciple come? Kalia, I told you not to keep asking Leti to hold you. You’re heavy now.”

“Mom is a liar. Leti said I’m light.”

“You’ll make Leti’s arms fall off.”

“It’s okay. When I grow as big as Chamuka, then I’ll carry him around.”

The bickering conversation between mother and daughter was somewhat amusing, and, thus peaceful.

However, Leticia began to feel a sense of dissonance in this peace.

The bizarre and incomprehensible conversation with something that wasn’t Kalia.

And the words she heard there.

Killed and offered…

Was it really true that Kalia’s problem was being solved without any issues, without anyone’s dangerous sacrifice?

***

Leticia walked into the lake with splashing steps.

The forest lake was a place where Leticia often immersed herself when she needed to think.

Since she also felt more energetic in the water, she frequently went in just to rest when she was sick or tired.

As Chamuka, who had naturally followed Leticia due to the castle’s atmosphere of not wanting to leave her alone for long, was about to dip his foot in the lake.

Leticia turned around quickly and stopped him.

“There’s no need for you to follow me in. Just stay there. You can’t even swim.”

“I won’t drown when I’m with you anyway.”

“Still, it would be uncomfortable for you to move.”

“I’m not uncomfortable. I want to be closer to you.”

Leticia hesitated, involuntarily recalling the confession that had happened here. Though she didn’t particularly want to call it a confession.

Leticia tried not to give meaning to Chamuka’s words.

She flicked her hand toward a small carved boat tied at the lakeside. Immediately, the boat approached, riding the waves Leticia had created.

“Then get in. I’ll be in the center.”

“I prefer being in the water. There, you have to hold onto me. Continuously.”

“…I have some things I need to think about alone.”

“I hope it’s about my confession.”

Chamuka said as he climbed into the small boat.

Leticia pretended not to hear and moved to the middle of the lake.

Just before she completely submerged into the lake, Chamuka, who was quietly rowing after her, spoke again.

“I want to become lovers with you.”

“No. Chamuka just wants to be with me.”

Leticia didn’t want to add worries about Chamuka to her already complicated thoughts.

She sighed and added.

“I want to be with someone who likes me as a lover, at the very least.”

“I like you.”

“Not in that sense. Of course, I like you too, Chamuka. I also like Tan, and I like Kalia.”

As if displeased with those words, Chamuka’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Leticia had come to understand the possessiveness Chamuka felt toward her through his confession. But such possessiveness wasn’t exclusive to romantic relationships.

“Do you want to embrace me and kiss me?”

“Yes.”

…She had expected him to say no.

Leticia looked up at Chamuka in the boat with a somewhat surprised expression.

Interpreting her look as a request for an explanation, Chamuka added.

“I like increasing the area of contact with you.”

“……”

It was truly an unpredictable answer.

Leticia lost her words for a moment, then suddenly had a question.

“Chamuka. Between kissing me and hugging me, which do you prefer?”

“Hugging.”

“Then between kissing and holding hands?”

“Holding hands.”

Hmm. I see. Leticia nodded.

So he just wants more surface area of contact! The specific action doesn’t matter at all!

…What in the world? And he talks about being lovers.

Leticia looked somewhat pitifully at the young man whose outward appearance was incomparably beautiful.

His silver shimmering hair and clear golden eyes made him the very image of a mysterious forest beauty, but in Leticia’s eyes, she could see his mental age that had not yet left infancy.

“Chamuka. Not all feelings of wanting to monopolize and protect someone are romantic feelings.”

Leticia shook her head and plunged completely into the lake.

As she slowly sank into the transparent lake, she recalled Chamuka’s golden eyes that had been staring at her until the last moment, but she soon dismissed the thought.

After all, she hadn’t come here to think about Chamuka.

Leticia closed her eyes while greeting the ‘water’ that filled the lake. And for the first time in a while, she made a somewhat difficult request.

Since her way of using magic wasn’t through commands, extensive magic required quite a lot of pleading.

How much time had passed like that?

From far away, the faint sound of raindrops could be heard. Pitter, patter.