Nicaine looked at me without speaking. The surroundings were as quiet as falling snow. His piercing gaze right in front of me, and the weight of his presence that was impossible to ignore.

I was turning over what to say when Haser stepped forward.

“I’ll look after my sister. You can go back.”

Brother. I felt something stir inside me as I looked at Haser.

“Someone nearly died because of me, and she’s not even at the hospital, and you’re telling me to go back?”

What, were they going to argue here. I quickly stood from the chair.

“Nicaine, I really am fine. The doctor said so too. My recovery was faster than expected. So……”

“You’re not fine. You look dangerously pale right now.”

Haser moved to subtly block my path. Nicaine looked at Haser with a low, steady gaze.

“My sister says she’s fine. Go back. And this is a family matter, so stay out of it.”

A family matter. One corner of Nicaine’s mouth lifted. Subtly defiant. It looked like something would happen if this went on any longer, so I spoke quickly.

“I’ll definitely go to the hospital tomorrow. And the doctor came with me, so I’m safe.”

Nicaine looked at me with a firm expression. Feeling like I needed to get him out of here somehow, I spoke.

“And this is my mine, so I need to stay until tomorrow to establish my authority here. There are too many things tangled up for me to leave right now. I want to be properly recognized here before I go back.”

It wasn’t a lie. This was my mine, and I wanted my rights fully acknowledged. The intensity in Nicaine’s eyes eased slightly. Perhaps the sincerity had come through.

I held his gaze without looking away, and Nicaine spoke in a calmer voice than before.

“Go to the hospital tomorrow. No matter what.”

I nodded. Nicaine kept his eyes on me and spoke.

“And for what you asked, I’ll speak to the Royden Knights rather than the royal knights, so it will be resolved quickly.”

For a moment I couldn’t speak.

The Royden Knights were known to be more capable than the royal knights. Their commander was Nicaine. With his magically enhanced weapons at their disposal, finding a person was only a matter of time.

Nicaine turned. Before he could leave the barracks, I gathered myself and called out.

“Thank you!”

Nicaine stopped. He turned slowly. His low gaze fixed on me intently.

“I’m helping because we’re friends.”

I nodded quickly. He looked at me for quite a long moment, then spoke as though chewing the words.

“I have absolutely no feelings for you, so don’t get the wrong idea.”

Nicaine seemed to remember what the old Roseline had been like. I called out loudly to reassure him.

“Don’t worry! I will never have feelings for you. We’re just friends!”

I put emphasis on “just friends.” Nicaine’s brow shifted almost imperceptibly. The look in his eyes was sharper than before, cold as a blade.

“Right. Friends.”

Why did those words sound so cold. Nicaine walked out of the barracks. I stared at the door as it swayed faintly behind him.

Haser came to stand beside me.

“Nicaine really does have a foul personality, just as I expected.”

“Still, he has loyalty as a friend, doesn’t he?”

Haser said nothing. Inwardly, he wasn’t objecting to Nicaine’s help either. A servant approached just then.

“Master Haser, everything is ready.”

I wondered what that meant, and Haser spoke warmly.

“I’ve prepared the barracks next door as your room. It was put together quickly so there isn’t much, but it should be comfortable enough for one night. I tried to find your favorite roses, but……”

“I don’t need roses. As long as there’s somewhere to lie down, that’s enough.”

I smiled as I said it, and Haser looked at me without speaking.

“Are you really all right?”

I smiled brightly and nodded. Right now I felt good enough to sleep on the ground. More than anything, I was glad to be able to protect my mine.

“I’ll head over then.”

I moved to leave the barracks, and Haser called out after me.

“I’m sorry.”

I turned and looked at him.

“What are you sorry for?”

“For not looking after your mine properly and making you come all the way out here.”

“It’s not as though you intended for this to happen. The manager was a bad person, and the workers here were thoughtless.”

Haser lowered his head. I continued with energy.

“You haven’t done anything wrong, so don’t take it too seriously. And things worked out in the end.”

“Those people insulting you is also my fault. I should never have let things go that far.”

“If they don’t apologize by tomorrow, I’ll file the report as promised. The loss is theirs.”

Haser looked at me in silence. Something moved in his expression. Almost like being moved.

He spoke then.

“Roseline, I didn’t know you could think this deeply. Watching you earlier, the way you stayed calm without losing yourself, I was genuinely surprised. I even thought that in some ways you think more carefully than I do.”

“Me?”

“Yes. In a way, I think you might be smarter than me.”

Haser smiled. It felt oddly like being recognized.

I smiled brightly at him, said goodbye, and left the barracks. The night air was quite cold. Goosebumps rose on my arms, but the air I breathed in was refreshingly clean.

‘Things are falling into place now that I’m friends with Nicaine.’

My illness would be cured before long. Holding onto that thought alone, I stepped into the barracks next door. It was small, but a table and bed were neatly arranged inside. It really did look like someone had done their best.

Chesha came in just then.

“Miss, please let me know if you need anything. And if you’re hurting anywhere……”

“I’ll call you when that happens, so rest for now.”

I pulled the blanket over myself and said goodnight.

“See you tomorrow.”

Then I closed my eyes. Whatever Haser and Nicaine had said about my condition hadn’t been wrong, because sleep hit me all at once.

The light went out, and the surroundings went quiet. The stillness pulled me deep into the dark of unconsciousness.

*

When I woke in the morning, my body felt better than the night before. The heaviness was gone and I felt lighter, and the sunlight coming through the window at just the right angle was warm and pleasant.

I was opening the barracks door to get some fresh air when I stopped.

“Wh, what.”

People were kneeling in front of the barracks. The moment they met my eyes, they quickly bowed their heads.

“We are deeply sorry. We were disrespectful yesterday.”

These were the same people who had been carrying on so boldly in front of me the day before. The ones who had insisted they couldn’t recognize me as the mine’s owner.

It was strange that they had changed overnight, and at the crack of dawn at that. I looked at them without responding, and the bearded man came forward quickly.

He was the one who had stepped up to insult me directly.

“We weren’t in our right minds yesterday.”

There was a tremor in the man’s voice. Looking at his face, his eyes were on the verge of tears. He couldn’t meet my gaze as he choked out his words.

“We are truly sorry. All this time, we had forgotten the most important thing. That you’re the owner of this mine, Miss Roseline.”

‘What is this. Why did they change so suddenly?’

I couldn’t make sense of it.

“Did something happen? Why the sudden change of heart?”

The man’s eyes went wide, and then he shook his head quickly.

“N, nothing happened. Nothing at all.”

Fear was visible in his eyes, as though the very question terrified him. He was also subtly avoiding my gaze.

“It seems like something happened.”

The man bowed his head in a fluster. I studied him and spoke quietly.

“This is so sudden that I’m caught off guard, and I’m not sure whether it’s genuine.”

The man quickly held out a notebook he was carrying.

“Th, the ledger.”

A short laugh escaped me.

“Why did you refuse yesterday?”

The man lowered his face as though trying to press it into the ground.

“I have no excuse. What I did was clearly wrong.”

The man wiped his tears with his sleeve. The people kneeling nearby also kept their heads down and trembled.

‘Did Haser warn them?’

But looking at how he had behaved yesterday, he didn’t seem the type to be that forceful. He had been defending the workers on the grounds that they were connected to their parents.

‘Then who?’

I truly couldn’t understand why these people had changed so abruptly.

“Miss Roseline, please accept this ledger.”

Come to think of it, the man had been holding it out to me this whole time. I took it. Standing there and skimming through it, my grip on the ledger tightened.