At those words, everyone in the room—Eclise, Lexiard, and Rodi—immediately focused on Duke.
“I thought if we dig deeper, we might find some clues. Fortunately, we managed to bring it alive to the Magic Tower, but the samples we have are severely lacking.”
“But.”
As the conversation paused, Eclise continued speaking, and Duke, seeming somewhat tense, took a breath and carefully opened his mouth.
“If we research this further, we might be able to gain information about both of your abilities more quickly and in greater quantity. So I’d like to request experimental samples before the examination.”
“Samples?”
It was at that moment that Rodi felt Eclise’s voice had become much colder than before.
“Blood. I’d like to research both of your blood samples. While the examination only requires one drop, the amount needed for samples would be considerably more.”
Blood?
Even without hearing the exact method, Rodi already felt goosebumps rising all over her body and shuddered.
“Rejected.”
As expected.
Before Duke could finish his explanation, Eclise cut him off.
Duke quickly added, as if he had anticipated this reaction.
“Safety is absolutely guaranteed.”
“……”
“……”
Rodi looked at Lexiard.
He says he needs our blood.
“There will be no pain at all, no harm to your bodies, no wounds inflicted—we’ll extract it solely using magic. We might be able to gain a tremendous amount of information.”
“Rejected.”
Eclise cut him off decisively once more.
Then he stood up as if there was no need for further discussion.
“I thought you had brought something quite useful, but I’m disappointed.”
“Your concerns are understandable. That’s precisely why I came to make this request in advance.”
Despite Eclise’s sharp reaction, Duke maintained a flexible expression.
“All research information will be disclosed to all three of you and conducted with complete transparency. Regarding this, documents will be immediately—”
“Such research is unnecessary. I only asked you to confirm that there are no issues with growth, but I didn’t realize such explanations were needed, Mr. Duke Evilun.”
Duke flinched when Eclise called him in such a warning tone.
Though no violence was exchanged, there was a fierce aura that could be felt on the skin, warning not to cross the line.
A slight look of dismay crossed Duke’s face, who had seemed confident in everything until now.
In truth, being at odds with Cheiles wasn’t a particularly helpful situation even for the Magic Tower.
Until now, they had maintained a good cooperative relationship, exchanging necessary information.
This was because it was quite beneficial for the Magic Tower as well.
No matter how many capable magicians the Magic Tower had and how confident they were in magical matters, they were utterly hopeless when it came to finding and collecting information.
Rodi’s eyes met Duke’s.
Rodi no longer viewed Duke comfortably, and wariness rose in her eyes.
Lexiard had also somehow positioned himself slightly in front of Rodi.
Duke, who had suddenly gone from being an intimate partner to the edge of an enemy boundary, smiled awkwardly.
“Ah, well. I suppose I was too hasty.”
Duke, furrowing his brow, opened his mouth again.
“I apologize. But I truly haven’t had any change of heart. I’ve been completely honest with you all.”
Duke flicked his fingertips, and a pile of documents, along with a small metal box, suddenly appeared in midair.
He placed it on the table.
“This is one of the waste materials from the information we’ve been tracking. As you said, it would be best to forget about today’s conversation, but I wanted to clear up any misunderstandings.”
Looking at Eclise, who had completely left the sofa by now, he pushed the box in his direction.
“I’ll leave this here for you to check directly if you wish. It has been safely processed, and you can just return it later after examining it.”

***

Duke left without hearing Eclise’s answer.
Leaving behind an apology if he had caused any displeasure.
Rodi, who hadn’t yet left the third floor, pattered over to Eclise.
“Boss.”
“Hmm.”
Despite Rodi and Lexiard moving around and touching various objects throughout the third-floor office, Eclise left them be.
While he might normally have said something to Lexiard if not Rodi, today he remained silent.
“Earlier, you were protecting us, right, Boss?”
Seeing him working calmly as if he had never been angry, Eclise slightly raised an eyebrow.
“No. It was just bothersome.”
“You got angry at Duke.”
“When did I?”
“Duke Evilun—.” Like this.”
When Rodi imitated Eclise’s intimidating voice from earlier, Lexiard’s laughter could be heard from behind.
“Who spoke so trivially?”
As Eclise put down his documents with an incredulous look, Rodi laughed with an “Ehehehe—” in a comical way.
“Thank you, Boss. For protecting us. I was a bit scared when he talked about taking blood earlier.”
Rodi, who normally wasn’t afraid of much, had felt fear when the blood topic came up earlier.
Along with that earlier fear, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
If she hadn’t come here and was still at the orphanage under the director…
If someone had offered money for Rodi’s blood—
‘They would have sold me off right away.’
When she had that thought, she suddenly felt as if a cliff had appeared right in front of her.
But then.
“Rejected.”
When he dismissed it as if it wasn’t worth any consideration, it suddenly felt like someone had grabbed her clothes to keep her from falling off that cliff.
Just like when she first met Eclise and he handed her bread.
She realized once again how good it felt to have a reliable protector.
“I told you, it was just bothersome.”
Hands lightly touched both of Rodi’s shoulders.
When she turned her head, Lexiard had somehow come close.
“Rodi, Uncle is just embarrassed about it.”
“Really? Boss is embarrassed?”
“What are you saying? Children, why don’t you go out now?”
Shoo, shoo.
Despite waving his documents as if shooing away flies, neither Rodi nor Lexiard was affected.
Come to think of it, there was an unopened gift box placed on one side of Eclise’s desk.
“Boss, what’s this?”
“Trash.”
“It looks like a gift?”
The packaging is pretty.
The ribbon tied to the box looked so luxurious that it could be sold.
Rodi discovered someone’s name written at the end of the ribbon.
“Lilsteria Teke…”
Rodi’s eyes grew as big as saucers as she carefully read the cursive writing.
It’s from the Imperial Princess!
“Did the Imperial Princess send a gift to Boss?”
“Haven’t you left yet?”
“Nope! I’m going to stay here! This, this—Boss, let’s open it. Okay?”
I’m curious!
The Imperial Princess, who had fiercely attacked the boss and then disappeared like a defeated person, hadn’t shown up at the guild since then.
Jin had also returned to his daily routine, and Rodi had been secretly curious about it.
As Rodi even stamped her feet, Eclise completely put down his documents.
“Ah, these ticks.”
Eclise picked up Rodi without warning.
“Eek!”
“Riffraff, you come too.”
Then he strode to the door and flung it open.
“Go, child.”
“But whyyy!”
How can I leave when I’m so curious about that!
Rodi tried to stick her face back through the gap between the door and Eclise, trying to burrow in, but Eclise snorted and pushed her forehead away.
“Go, please.”
“Let’s see the gift, okay? Boss.”
“Go.”
Eclise completely drove the two of them out and then closed the door.
Click.
There was even the sound of him meticulously locking it from the inside.
Wow, Boss is so mean.
Trying to enjoy good things alone.
“Tch.”
Rodi made a show of pouting at the door.
“Rodi.”
“Yes?”
Lexiard opened his mouth, barely suppressing a smile.
“Don’t you already know what’s inside?”
At those words, Rodi flinched.
In fact, she did know what gift was inside.
It contained an apology letter along with unfamiliar desserts and what looked like a notebook filled with some kind of information.
Tch, I was going to suggest we share the food together.
She had been caught by Lexiard.
“That’s right.”
When Rodi answered with a grumble, Lexiard burst into laughter.
It was loud enough to make a sound, causing Rodi’s eyes to widen again.
She had seen him smile a few times, but this was the first time she’d seen him laugh so heartily.
“Lexiard, your laugh is really pretty.”
“I wasn’t laughing.”
Ah, I wanted to see more.
She felt disappointed that the bright smile disappeared instantly after she smiled back at him.