“Just wondering. Boss, when is Lexiard coming back?”

“He’ll come when it’s time.”

After saying it, she felt frustrated.

If he hadn’t driven Lexiard away, there would be no need to wait.

“It’s because you’re always telling him to leave.”

“Well, well. Whose side are you on?”

“The evil uncle’s side.”

“Oh really?”

“Tell him to come quickly. You can do it, boss.”

Now she was tugging on Eclise’s arm and begging.

Eclise looked dumbfounded but relaxed his muscles and allowed himself to be pulled around.

“What can I do? I’m an evil uncle and I don’t have the power to do that.”

Rodi flinched.

“No, actually I was lying.”

“Too late. You’re always trying to get through life the easy way.”

When Eclise flicked his finger against her forehead, Rodi’s cheeks puffed out.

“He’ll be here soon. So stop nagging.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“Sheesh.”

“Sheesh?”

Rodi was startled, her eyes wide open as she shook her head vigorously.

“But why aren’t you saying you’re hungry today?”

“Padrid gave me apple juice earlier, and I ate snacks…”

Huh?

Rodi opened her eyes wide again.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t felt hungry after using her ability earlier.

She did drink juice as soon as they arrived, but she hadn’t felt hungry even before that.

Even though she had checked several times to make absolutely sure she wouldn’t make a mistake.

If it was just a passing glance like usual, that would be one thing, but whenever she concentrated to look carefully, she always felt hunger first.

Rodi grabbed Eclise’s arm firmly.

“Boss, I haven’t been hungry since earlier.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! Not at all.”

“Maybe you ate a lot for breakfast?”

“I still felt hungry before.”

“Are you feeling sick anywhere?”

Eclise, who had been responding playfully all along, now had a serious look in his eyes.

Because of Lexiard, he had no choice but to be cautious about anything related to abilities.

“No, nothing like that.”

“If anything feels strange, tell me right away.”

“Why? Because I’d be useless if something went wrong?”

Rodi looked triumphant as if she’d guessed the right answer.

But instead, Eclise made a somewhat displeased face.

Seeing him, Rodi asked, “What? Isn’t that right?”

Eclise scratched the back of his head with the same uncomfortable expression.

“Well, this… what is it, some kind of karma?”

“Huh?”

“…Never mind. Don’t say such things with that innocent face.”

“But you taught me. You said I need to be useful.”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s my fault.”

Something that would normally have been brushed off somehow felt strange to Eclise, as if he’d stumbled over a stone.

“You go now.”

Eclise waved his hand dismissively, seemingly unable to continue.

He kept trying to drive her away, saying that being with a kid always made him feel like he was getting dragged into something.

“I was going to leave anyway. When is Lexiard…”

“Soon.”

Eclise cut off Rodi’s words with his answer.

Having received a satisfactory response, Rodi finally left with a bright smile.

***

As evening fell, people gathered one by one in the general affairs office.

Padrid complained about why they kept coming into his room, but it was useless.

Rodi watched as everyone, including the executives, came to get Padrid’s approval for various matters.

It seemed like everyone else would go out, swiftly complete their missions in style, and return quickly…

‘Why do I always get caught up in strange situations?’

This time too, they had said it was an extremely simple delivery mission, but it ended up becoming a major incident.

A murder case, at that!

Although she had resolved to endure no matter what scary things happened here, she began to imagine whether an even more frightening incident might occur next time.

“Sigh…”

Is that how it usually is?

Are adults just unfazed by such things?

And the boss had said she needed to survive well on her own, but it seemed like she was always receiving help.

Is that okay?

Like Ekision, who had come running out of concern.

‘I want to resolve things coolly by myself.’

Rodi’s dream was not only to become rich but also to impressively take an executive position at Cheiles.

Wondering if she could ever become a splendid Cheiles member at this rate, Rodi’s worries deepened.

“Rookie.”

Horas sat down heavily next to Rodi while drinking water.

“Yeah.”

As weight suddenly pressed down on her right side, Rodi’s body tilted toward Horas before returning to its original position.

“Why the long face? I heard you did something big today. Shouldn’t you be feeling good?”

Then he placed his hand on top of Rodi’s head, asking what was wrong.

“I do feel good.”

Rodi, now accustomed to having her face squished by the heavy hand, muttered nonchalantly.

“Then why are you like this? Your lip is sticking out a mile.”

The left side was occupied by Gemvil, who had just finished showering and came in to report.

This time, Rodi’s body bounced slightly before settling down.

As he shook his still-wet hair with a towel, water droplets splashed out, making Rodi squint one eye.

She then slightly shifted her bottom toward Horas.

Not that it made any difference, given how massive both men were.

“Looking at this, the rookie really is tiny as a bean.”

Ekision snickered as he looked at Rodi sandwiched between them.

She was already small, but sitting between the two largest giants in Cheiles made her look like a completely different species.

Regardless, Rodi’s face was quite serious.

Looking up at Gemvil who had plopped down beside her, Rodi sighed deeply with her chin resting on both hands.

“Life doesn’t seem easy.”

Gemvil, who was drying his hair, and Ekision, who was sitting across from them.

Hailo, who was lying down using Ekision’s leg as a pillow.

And Jin, who was leaning against the backrest with his arms crossed behind them.

Even Padrid, who had been busy working at his desk, froze in place.

The water Horas was drinking flowed straight past his lips and dripped down.

“What…?”

Soon, raucous laughter erupted throughout the general affairs office.

Hailo burst into laughter while lying down, clutching his stomach, and Ekision turned his face away, his body trembling.

Jin lowered his head, pretending to touch his forehead.

“Puhah! Cough!”

Horas coughed as he choked from laughing.

It was funny enough that she was sighing with a stomach no bigger than a palm—how much air could even fit in there?—but the words coming out of her mouth were a spectacle.

“Hey, why are you laughing?”

Rodi got angry, but far from stopping, the laughter only grew louder.

Seeing them laugh without understanding her feelings, Rodi’s brow furrowed and her face turned sulky.

This was really serious!

“Stop laughing…”

“Hey, who’s laughing? Huh? Our rookie has a lot on her mind, who’s laughing!”

Ekision belatedly took Rodi’s side, but tears were already welling up in his eyes.

He had laughed the most!

Rodi’s face grew even more sullen as she abruptly stood up from her seat.

“Rookie, where are you going?”

“Yeah, where are you going? What’s bothering you? Hmm? I’ll listen, tell me.”

Despite Gemvil and Hailo trying to soothe her, Rodi turned her chin away with a “Hmph.”

“I’m not telling you.”

Then, ignoring all the voices calling after her, she walked out.

Tsk, adults.

As Rodi slammed the door shut behind her, the general affairs office became even noisier.

“You’re all mean.”

I’m being serious, why do they keep laughing?

As she grumbled, Rodi walked while kicking the floor with her feet.

“Do it like that then.”

“Yes, I’ll be back.”

Hearing familiar voices, she looked up to see Eclise and Percy.

As she stared at the two tall men, Eclise noticed Rodi and gestured for her to come over.

“….”

When she didn’t immediately bounce over and stood still, Eclise raised one eyebrow.

“Well, well.”

Only then did Rodi dash over like lightning and stand in front of Eclise.

“What? I’m here.”

“When the boss calls, you should come right away. Getting all huffy.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Food.”

“I already ate.”

“Then why are you wandering around?”

Rodi pointed briefly toward the general affairs office.

“They keep laughing at me and teasing me.”

“Maybe because you look funny?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, why do you look so funny then?”

“Sheesh, I don’t!”

Rodi headbutted Eclise, who was teasing her without understanding how she felt, but it didn’t make any impact.

“What if I scold them for you?”

“Huh?”

Scold them? No, that’s not necessary…

Rodi opened her eyes wide and then shook her head.

As if he had read her mind, Eclise chuckled.

“Why? It’s not that serious?”

“…No.”

This isn’t what I meant. It felt like the conversation had suddenly gone in a different direction.

“You thought well. You can’t leave home just because you’re upset, right?”

“Home?”

Rodi looked up, bearing the heavy weight that fell on her crown.

That’s right, home. This is my home now.

But why did she keep feeling uneasy?