Chapter 36. A Penetrating Gaze

“It’s nothing.”

Nix, smiling while wrinkling his nose bridge, nodded in the direction he was walking. It meant they should talk while walking. In the quiet dawn corridor where no one had started their day yet, the sound of the two people’s footsteps echoed.

“She’s cautious. Is it because she’s of Viscount Shua’s bloodline? And the way she tends to believe in the good side of others. There are so many people with ill intentions in this world.”

“Don’t think about playing tricks with the letter.”

“How scary. I told you. I follow the Viscount.”

Nix shrugged, showing both hands raised beside his head as if surrendering to Vanessa’s sharp gaze. As if he had no other intentions. Vanessa glared at him like that and then turned her gaze away.

Nix lowered his hands and put them in his pants pockets, then bent down to examine her face.

“But didn’t you have something to say? You’re unusually quiet. Has all the momentum that turned our guild upside down without thinking twice gone?”

“Hey, that’s–!”

“Come to think of it, it’s strange. Why didn’t you properly tell Miss about our past? You said you were close friends. Close enough to risk your life.”

“……”

“Wow, don’t tell me. You’re not embarrassed, are you? Our intense first meeting, mmph!”

Vanessa, finally reaching the limit of her patience with his annoying tone and attitude, suddenly covered his mouth with her hand. His ash-gray eyes widened and sparkled. As soon as Vanessa lowered her hand, glaring at him warningly, Nix started to quip again.

“I’m right! You’re embarrassed! Well, I guess it’s understandable. You did beat me up a bit, didn’t you?”

“Haa.”

Vanessa looked at him with a fed-up expression and let out a deep sigh. Her face showed no expectation that he would quiet down.

“What’s the point of talking about that? It’s all in the past.”

“…Wow, I’m a bit hurt just now. Sniff.”

“You didn’t get hit enough.”

“Sniff cancelled.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, dropped the corners of his mouth, and made a crying sound that didn’t suit him at all. But when Vanessa raised her fist again, unable to tolerate this, he quickly waved his hands and corrected himself.

Vanessa sighed once more and raised her index finger towards him.

“Anyway, don’t even think about saying nonsense to Iella. That’s not important right now.”

“Yes, yes, of course. After all, I’m also focused on sending Miss back.”

“Because of the Viscount?”

“Well, that’s true, but……”

As Nix hesitated for a moment, Vanessa nudged him as if to hurry him. He frowned one eyebrow, pondering something, but then changed his expression at her touch and drew his usual sly smile.

“I told you there was another request. To resolve that quickly, I need Ailexia, not Miss.”

“What is it?”

“Tut-tut, you know well that requests are confidential by default.”

Nix playfully but firmly cut off her curiosity. Knowing he wouldn’t tell her even if she probed further, Vanessa backed off without asking more.

Instead, she changed her question.

“Is the Viscount the only one who made a request targeting Iella?”

“Excuse me.”

“I’m not asking what the request is. You can at least tell me if there are other requests, can’t you? It’s not like we can’t talk about that much between us.”

“Oh my.”

Nix grumbled as if he find it ridiculous that she would bring this up now when she was the one who set boundaries earlier. But as he said, this was the kind of information he would tell her when she asked. It’s just that until now, it had been limited to cases of requests targeting the sorcerer.

“Seems like you care for her. You’re acting like you’re protecting your own kind.”

“……”

“Excluding the Viscount’s case since it’s an order, not a request, there aren’t any within the ‘range I can tell you’ for now.”

Vanessa’s brow furrowed. She seemed to have caught the hidden meaning in his words. Nix flicked the tip of her nose with his index finger as she was lost in thought.

“You don’t need to worry about that side. I only serve one master.”

By now, the two had reached the door of the secondary palace. Before opening the door to go outside, Nix turned to look at Vanessa, who was covering her nose.

“So you should choose well too.”

“Choose what?”

“In the end, if you’re going to hide something, hide it perfectly.”

So that even I can’t detect it.

His ash-gray eyes took on a sharp light. His gaze, as if seeing through her, was full of nuances suggesting he knew something. Vanessa met his gaze silently.

“When it comes to matters concerning the lady, I have no choice but to be of the same mind as my master.”

Nix, who had been coldly staring at her slightly trembling golden-brown eyes, smiled his usual smile again. Then, as he opened the door wide and stepped outside, he said to Vanessa,

“Tell her I’ll come at the same time next time.”

The moon was setting, and dawn was beginning to break. He smiled, wrinkling his nose bridge slightly towards her, who was still visible even though she was standing inside the door, and mouthed a goodbye saying he’d see her tomorrow before turning away.

But he had to stop walking after just a few steps away from the secondary palace.

“Oh……”

A pair of flashing purple eyes were glaring fiercely at him right in front.

“Do you have something to say to me?”

After a brief standoff, it was Nix who spoke first. It was an action taken with the fact in mind that he would need to stay in the harem for a while to carry out the request.

Even if he ignored him and passed by now, he would inevitably encounter him again at least once while in the harem. So it was better to deal with him quickly now and leave.

“…Why are you coming out of the secondary palace?”

Just when Nix was thinking the day might break first if this continued, Allen finally opened his mouth. His voice, full of edge, transparently revealed his emotions. He was displeased, angry, and dissatisfied.

“Hmm. Do you really want to know?”

At that moment, a different light flashed in his eyes that had been full of fatigue and boredom. Nix found him interesting. Doesn’t he seem to be jealous? The wariness and hostility he was showing resembled the behavior often seen in a man who had discovered a rival in love.

So he deliberately provoked him. Because he was curious how he would react.

‘I wonder if what the harem members were gossiping about is true.’

Allen Bledin. He was a very famous figure even within the harem.

He was known as an arrogant and insolent guy who acts like some tragic protagonist while having the fortune of being favored by Ailexia.

The fact that he was originally a prince of a kingdom, or that he was a hostage under the pretext of friendly relations, wasn’t important in the harem. After all, their ranking was determined by Ailexia’s favor.

‘They say he acts all high and mighty when everyone else is in the same boat, selling their bodies for luxury.’

Nix was shaking his head, thinking it was truly an incomprehensible place, when Allen’s voice rang out. At the same time, Nix caught sight of his fist clenched so tightly that the knuckles were prominent.

“Was this the first time?”

“Hm?”

“I know you entered the harem around the same time as me.”

“Wait, wait.”

Nix extended his hand forward to stop him. However, with his other hand, he covered his mouth that was trying to break into a smile while still clenched in a fist. He didn’t want to appear offensive as it might hinder the execution of his request. Quietly and quickly — that was the first rule he prioritized when carrying out requests.

However, after three deliberations, what came out was not at all careful for someone trying not to appear offensive.

“So, you’re curious if your favor has completely ended?”

He simply couldn’t contain his curiosity. Despite disliking Ailexia, he was concerned enough to remember when others entered the harem!

Moreover, he was curious how Allen knew when he had entered. His entry into the harem had been quietly arranged with the backing of his client, and until he started investigating Miss who was in Ailexia’s form under Viscount Shua’s orders, he had been coming and going without attracting people’s attention.

It was also unreasonable to assume it was simply because Allen entered around the same time. At that time, Allen had just arrived in the empire as a hostage.

From the audience with the Emperor to Ailexia’s invitation to the harem. The already noisy imperial family became even more chaotic because of him, so he was in quite a physically and mentally overwhelmed situation in many ways.

‘Well, thanks to that commotion, I was able to quietly enter.’

Nix, after briefly reminiscing about that time, looked at Allen again. But his seemingly spirited appearance was gone, and he was now tight-lipped like a mute who had eaten honey.

If you looked carefully, he seemed like someone who had received some kind of shock. His purple eyes were shaking like a violent storm.

“Hey. Hello.”

Nix, who had been waiting for a while, called out to him, breaking the silence that was about to settle. There was no answer. Rather, it seemed like Allen couldn’t hear his words at all.

Nix stood still, scratching his cheek for a moment, and then left. He didn’t want to break that state and continue the confrontation. The answer to his curiosity was sufficiently derived from the suddenly changed attitude, at least halfway.

Eventually, under the sky where the sun had risen, Allen was left alone in that spot.