For some reason, I felt my face heating up. I laughed while trying to cool my flushed face.

“My, you missed me that much? Surely you didn’t cry like a child every night longing for me?”

“……”

“Did you actually cry? That’s a shame, I would have liked to see that.”

I teased him, trying to get under his skin. Contrary to my expectations, Ilion burst out laughing.

“What’s so amusing?”

“Just… it feels like you’ve truly returned.”

Is he out of his mind from too much work? He finds the strangest things amusing.

“Are you done with your questions?”

“Well, I don’t have any particular questions. As I said, I came because I missed you, Duke.”

“Your words are pleasing, but I’m concerned about how late it is.”

“I was just about to leave anyway. Thank you for the tea.”

I put down my teacup and stood up. I didn’t come with any specific purpose. I just wanted to see Ilion’s face and talk to him.

To erase the terrible nightmare.

“Um… I’m sorry for worrying you with this incident. And thank you for coming to rescue me.”

Ilion wouldn’t mind if I left without saying anything. He probably wouldn’t even care.

This was just a selfish apology and expression of gratitude to unburden my heart.

If I ignored even his pure act of kindness in continuing the search because he wanted to see me one more time, I felt I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself…

“I should be the one thanking you for staying alive.”

Thanking me for being alive… I know it’s just a polite phrase, but somehow it made me feel uneasy.

Would he be able to say such things if he knew I was ruining his destiny?

I felt I shouldn’t accept that gratitude.

With those final words, I closed the door without further reply. My steps back to my room felt heavy.

***

Today was the day my tutor was supposed to come. After all that chaos, you’d think they’d give me a day or two off from lessons, but I don’t understand why everyone is so diligent.

Right, it’s not their business. I’m the only one who has to attend the lessons!

“Miss Spinel? What are you doing there?”

As I was heading to the study for my lesson, I saw Spinel quietly observing something in the corridor.

“I was looking at this painting.”

“A painting?”

She pointed at a painting hanging on the wall.

It was a portrait of Ilion’s father, Eline.

I had seen it in passing a few times, but this was the first time I looked at it closely.

Eline was a man with blonde hair and warm green eyes. He had a very gentle image, certainly quite different from Ilion’s appearance.

“It’s the Duke’s father.”

“Hmm, I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

“I heard he passed away over 20 years ago…”

“Is that so?”

Spinel furrowed her brow in thought, but her contemplation didn’t last long.

“Well, it might not be someone I know. All humans look the same to me anyway.”

“Haha…”

As I always think, Spinel often ignored the fact that she herself was human.

“By the way, has your mana recovered much?”

“Ah, about that… It’s recovering more slowly than I expected.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It should have fully recovered in a day.”

Spinel said this while snapping her fingers.

A small spark flew, followed by a puff sound and some smoke.

“I can’t use magic properly.”

“Hmm…”

Could it be that the holy artifact’s power is still in effect?

Come to think of it, I think the items we took from the cult are in the knight order’s storage… I should check them out later.

“And about the residence. Do you have any particular place in mind?”

“Well, I’d prefer somewhere with few people, deep in the mountains.”

“How about living in a village?”

“No. Why would I?”

Spinel flatly rejected my suggestion.

After the kidnapping incident by the cult, I had already heard that Ceras was killed by the people of Selvas village.

I know she was deeply hurt by that incident.

Perhaps that’s why? She often showed hostility even towards ordinary people.

“Then, I’ll look for a place with few people for you.”

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yes. Aren’t you coming with me?”

Spinel asked, staring at me intently.

“I have things I need to do here…”

“Things to do? You mean marriage?”

“…Not exactly that.”

“Well. In my opinion, that male doesn’t seem to suit you as a mate.”

I was about to point out her use of the word ‘male’, but decided against it.

“Well, the Duke is certainly out of my league.”

I answered with an awkward smile.

“That’s not what I meant…”

“Miss!”

Spinel was about to explain something more to me, but was interrupted by Lily’s voice.

“The teacher is waiting for you!”

It seemed Lily had come looking for me since I hadn’t shown up. I decided to hear the rest of the conversation later and hurried to the study.

***

On the morning of the third day since returning to the mansion, I habitually got up, brushed my hair, changed clothes, and headed to the dining room.

As if the time spent in the mountains was just a dream, my daily life had already returned to normal.

As I arrived at the dining room with a languid yawn as usual, today Spinel was already there waiting.

It seemed she was upset about missing breakfast with me yesterday because she had overslept.

“What am I supposed to do with this…?”

Spinel asked, picking up the fork in front of her.

“You use the fork to pierce the food. And you use the spoon to eat soup.”

After watching how I did it, Spinel followed suit quite well. Well, half of it was spilled, but still.

“To eat something that’s not even a mouthful with such difficulty…”

“How long does our guest intend to stay?”

Ilion, who had been quietly listening to Spinel’s complaints, asked.

“Well, I asked Sebastian to look for a suitable place…”

“If that’s the case, I’ve already looked into a few places. You just need to make a decision.”

“You’re quick.”

How did he find the time to do that with all his work?

It seemed he wasn’t pleased with Spinel staying at the mansion.

“Is that so? Then I can go look around with Ravenne.”

“Ravenne has things to do at the mansion. I’ll assign someone else to accompany you.”

Ilion cut in sharply, interrupting Spinel’s monologue.

“I don’t like that.”

Ilion put down his fork and looked at Spinel.

“I’ll treat you as a guest and give you appropriate hospitality, but I have no intention of overlooking presumptuous behavior.”

“You really have a complicated way of speaking. Are you saying I’m being presumptuous now?”

“It seems you’re not completely incapable of understanding after all.”

Ilion delivered his signature sarcasm in response to Spinel’s retort. Why are these grown adults arguing like children…

I tried to ignore the two and continued eating.

“Good morning, Miss.”

Just then, Sebastian entered the dining room and greeted me.

“I have something to show you. Would you mind sparing a moment after breakfast?”

“For me?”

“Yes.”

Something to show me… It probably wasn’t the wedding dress and shoes since we had already roughly fitted those last time…

“What is it?”

When I asked what he wanted to show me, Sebastian replied with a smile.

“You’ll see when you look at it.”

“Should I be excited?”

Sebastian just kept smiling at my question.

“Ravenne!”

“Ravenne.”

However, that peace was short-lived. The two who had been arguing called my name irritably.

“Why is your male like this?”

“Why did you invite this person to the mansion?”

Despite their bickering, the two seemed to be quite in sync.

After breakfast, I followed Sebastian to the entrance. There was an elegantly decorated box placed in front of the entrance.

“Is this it?”

“Yes, shall we open it?”

When I opened the box, familiar objects were revealed inside.

“This is…”

“I had them made similar to what you described last time. What do you think?”

“What are these… unfamiliar objects? What are they used for?”

Lily, who had followed along, asked me with a tilted head.

“They’re used for a game.”

“A game?”

“Yes.”

I never expected to see these objects in this world.

“Is this the baseball you mentioned before?”

“That’s right.”

I answered without thinking, as if responding to Lily, and then turned around. Ilion was looking down at the objects.

“Are the items not as good as you expected?”

Sebastian asked worriedly, perhaps because my expression wasn’t as pleased as he had hoped.

“No, not at all. These are extremely well-made items.”

A few weeks ago, Sebastian had asked about baseball out of the blue, so I had drawn a few pictures to explain the game.

The items were remarkably well-made considering they were based only on that explanation.

It’s just that I didn’t have the peace of mind to play with them right now. I was just happy to see objects from the real world, that’s all.

“Then shall we go out and try it?”

“No, it’s fine. If we play, our clothes might get dirty, and I have lessons soon… But I’ll gladly accept the items.”

“How do you play this game?”

As I was trying to end the conversation by thanking Sebastian, Ilion interjected with a question.

He seemed interested, probably because it was his first time seeing such objects.

“Well, it’s a game played with two teams of 9 people each… It’s a bit complicated to explain in words.”

I tried to brush it off, since there was no point in explaining something we weren’t going to do anyway.

“Don’t be like that. Why don’t we go out and try it?”

“…Pardon?”

Sebastian suggested, holding up the package.

“But…”

“The Duke is curious too, and I’m also interested in what kind of game you like, Miss.”

“I’m curious too.”

Spinel, who had appeared at some point, chimed in.

“Well… shall we try it for a bit then?”

Unable to resist the pressure from everyone, I reluctantly nodded.

***

Hastily decided, I quickly changed clothes and headed to the training ground. Lucas spotted us from afar and came running.

“What brings everyone here?”

He seemed puzzled to see not only Ilion but also Sebastian and the guest, Spinel, accompanying me.

“We’re going to try a game the young lady likes. We need some people, would that be alright?”

At Sebastian’s suggestion, Lucas nodded and gestured to some soldiers who were training nearby.

Somehow, this seems to be getting bigger…

At Lucas’s gesture, about twenty knights gathered around us.

I briefly explained the rules to them and demonstrated how to use each piece of equipment.

“Now that I’ve explained the rules, let’s divide into teams and play.”

We divided the teams simply by drawing lots. Lucas and I ended up on one team, while Ilion and Spinel were on the other. Sebastian decided to be the umpire.

Just as we were about to start a practice game…

“Draw again.”

“……”

Spinel said, crumpling her paper.