“Is that so.”

“Yes. I thought it would be more surrounded by magical devices.”

The answer to that came from beside her.

“We don’t need magical devices. Everyone here is a mage.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

Lysith nodded. He then adjusted his grip on her hand smoothly and led her as if escorting her.

After gesturing to the aide in front of them to get lost.

As she was led by his hand, she looked around and once again felt like she was in a noble house’s reception room. Compared to a typical mansion, it would be like a hall.

And after crossing the hall and entering through a central door, a corridor that looked even more austere than before stretched out.

If the place they were in earlier had red carpets, glittering gold decorations, and splendid chandeliers, the place they were walking through now was much more rugged.

And when Ashites, who was walking ahead, opened a door at the end of the corridor—decorated in gold, in stark contrast to the almost decoration-less corridor—a room as vast as a stadium spread out.

Ashites, who entered the spacious room casually, turned to look at Lysith, who was following quietly behind him, and smiled softly.

“This is my office.”

What kind of office is this big? Lysith inwardly clicked her tongue as she carefully stepped in. She had expected a desk right as she opened the door, but contrary to her expectations, the desk was at the very back. And at the same time, a huge mountain of documents was spread out near that desk.

There were more than she had expected. That is, there were even more documents than those piled up in Verheigen’s office, which she had entered by chance. About three times as many, by visual estimation.

Lysith slightly opened her mouth, appalled by the amount of paperwork, which was more than she had imagined.

“……”

“Ah.”

Seeing where Lysith’s gaze was directed, Ashites let out a small sigh. Since he had no intention whatsoever of appearing busy, he had ordered the documents in his office to be cleared away before their arrival.

But since the amount of paperwork was the same as usual, it meant his aide had not carried out his order.

“I told them to clean up, why didn’t they, those bastards……”

“What did you say?”

“No, nothing. No, Noona. I’m not busy. Those are all… fake.”

Then why would anyone pile up empty paper like a mountain?

She wondered what he meant by asking why they hadn’t cleared it up. It seemed he was worried that she might see the amount of paperwork and tell him to do his work instead of spending time with her.

Having roughly guessed what was going on in his head, Lysith smiled slightly, and Ashites subtly blocked the mountain of documents from her view with his body.

“It looks like a lot.”

“It’s not a lot. I can finish it all in a day.”

“……All of that?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t tell if it was bravado, truth, or a lie. She didn’t know how fast he usually processed work.

Anyway, since he said so, there was no need for her to push him to work. After all, who was Ashites Dinev? He was someone who had perfectly controlled the Magic Tower at a young age and demonstrated outstanding abilities and work efficiency that were unimaginable for a twenty-one-year-old.

Whatever the truth was, Lysith chuckled at his nonchalant answer and reached out to gently stroke his cheek, causing Ashites’s complexion to brighten slightly. This is positive, right? His expression seemed to say.

“I won’t tell you to work, so stop hiding it.”

At Lysith’s words, he smiled broadly and pulled her into a hug. Then he lifted her up and moved toward the opposite side of the desk piled with documents, heading toward a display case as tall as her, lined with magical devices.

Naturally shifting her gaze, she noticed that among them were the black gem earrings that the two of them had shared before. Was he trying to show her this? Lysith rolled her eyes to count the number of earrings.

Just as he had said there were only ten, exactly ten earrings, or five pairs, were glittering inside the small glass case.

“There really are only ten, right?”

“Yes.”

And you took two of those ten outside……

According to his explanation, all the magical devices in the Tower Master’s office belonged to him. More precisely, they were under the Tower Master’s management.

The reason there were only ten of those earrings was because they could easily be used for bad purposes, and they only went outside when royalty or imperial family members wanted to use them.

“You used something like that just for sightseeing?”

“What do you mean ‘just’? I could give you everything here if you wanted it.”

“I don’t think I could handle that.”

There were many other things too. Magical devices that showed hallucinations, induced sleep, lit fires, and so on.

They were items that would cause no problems if used simply in daily life, but most of them could easily cause issues if someone decided to use them with bad intentions.

As Lysith was busy looking around after being set down by Ashites, he gently grabbed her hand as it moved toward a certain magical device she had just discovered.

“This is……”

What she had discovered was a black orb about the size of a palm. To describe it, it was like the kind of orb fortune-tellers might use.

However, it was clearly not ordinary at first glance. It wasn’t a typical black color, but appeared hazy, as if covered in thick fog. Moreover, the orb was surrounded by a thin white thread that looked like a barrier.

In other words, it felt ominous.

Since it was inside a glass case, she couldn’t touch it, but she was reluctant to even place her hand on the glass.

Noticing Lysith’s puzzlement, Ashites grabbed her hand that was about to touch the glass case and lowered it as he spoke.

“It’s a cursed object.”

“Cursed?”

This was the first time Lysith had heard about this. She wasn’t sure if this was common knowledge or not, but in any case, it wasn’t something in the memories of Lysith that she had acquired.

“It’s not common, so there aren’t many.”

“But why is it here?”

“There are a few humans who are immune to curses, and I’m one of them.”

Lysith listened attentively to this unfamiliar story. While she had memories about nobles, she knew almost nothing about magic, having had no interest in it originally.

“That emperor bastard is one of them too.”

“I see……”

What did it mean that two out of the four male protagonists were immune to curses? Lysith’s mind was spinning in complex ways.

And not knowing what was going on in Lysith’s head, Ashites contemplated and finally voiced one fact.

“Didn’t you find something strange when you made eye contact with your butler?”

“……Huh?”

“That guy’s eyes are also cursed. Not the kind you can’t touch like this, though.”

That explained why Verheigen was fine when he made eye contact with him. Whether that was fortunate or not, she wasn’t sure. Tilting her head to one side at his words, Lysith stared blankly at the black orb again.

“Then am I also someone with immunity?”

“……What?”

“No, I heard that people feel uncomfortable when they make eye contact with Penchev. I don’t feel that way. So am I also one of those cases?”

Lysith tilted her head slightly to the other side, as if she knew nothing. But unlike her calm outward appearance that suggested she really didn’t know, her mind was spinning so fast it was getting hot.

Until now, she thought it was just because she was a player, but suddenly something complicated like curse immunity was thrown in front of her.

She deliberately mentioned this fact to test Ashites’s reaction, since he seemed to know a lot about this area……

His reaction was a bit strange.

“Ash? What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Uh, ah, no…… It’s nothing. Noona, please don’t touch anything for a moment. Just a moment… I remembered something.”

“Okay.”

As Lysith nodded obediently, Ashites, who was visibly flustered, quickly left the office. Though he wasn’t as good as Verheigen, he was also quite skilled at managing his expressions, but this time he simply couldn’t control his face properly.

Only after Lysith’s puzzled gaze at his retreating figure had fallen away as he left the office did Ashites exhale a deep sigh.

Leaning his back against the office door, another sigh escaped. Only after repeatedly rubbing his face did his thoughts finally seem to organize.

“Two appearing in one era?”

Who would have thought she would be the third case.

Unlike the relatively certain first and second cases, there was almost no way to identify the third case. The emperor’s case was a bit unusual.

If that was the case, what he had been thinking was completely wrong. Why would anyone like a guy who feels creepy when you make eye contact with him, he had thought. But the premise itself was wrong.

If that was the reason why that bastard liked Lysith, it would make perfect sense.

And what had he said to that somewhat subdued face back then?

“Damn it, really……”

If he could go back in time, he wanted to beat his past self to a pulp. That bastard had probably been secretly delighted.