“Is the Empress’s Palace trying to attach someone to you again?”

“Well, I can’t quite figure out the intentions of our benevolent Empress.”

Despite his sarcastic voice, Kaisel’s expression remained utterly calm. Like a dark and quiet deep sea, there was no wavering.

Mila carefully changed the subject and asked in a respectful tone.

“Are you not suffering from the curse these days?”

Kaisel’s lips curved into an arc.

Though no answer came, Mila was relieved to see that his condition was much more comfortable than before.

Naturally thinking of Cynthia, Mila wore a faint smile.

She was a person to be grateful to for treating her master’s illness.

‘How strange.’

Kaisel suddenly had a different thought.

His subordinate’s demeanor had changed slightly from before. Of course, it was such a subtle change that only those close to him would notice.

Observing Mila with a puzzled face, he narrowed his brow. Soon he noticed that the gloves she had been diligently wearing were gone.

Reading the question in Kaisel’s gaze, Mila answered as if to reassure him.

“I recently had a skin rash from accidentally eating palmes.”

“Palmes?”

Kaisel’s eyes suddenly sank coldly.

“Master, what’s wrong?”

“Are you aware that caracal beastkin can die from eating palmes?”

“What?”

Mila’s gaze shook violently. This was the first she’d heard of it.

“How long has it been since you ate the palmes?”

“…A little over two weeks, I think.”

“Strange. It wouldn’t be unusual for you to have lost your hands and feet or even died by now.”

Mila’s heart sank at these incomprehensible words. It seemed her illness was not a simple skin rash after all.

“I’ve been diligently applying the prescribed medicine…”

“That’s impossible. Palmes poisoning can’t be cured with topical medicine. Have you eaten anything else, perhaps?”

“Nothing special… Ah!”

Mila’s eyes twitched.

“I received some strange candy from Miss Cynthia.”

Raising one eyebrow, Kaisel burst into laughter.

“Haha! She’s truly an interesting woman.”

“Pardon?”

Mila couldn’t help but ask.

“Was the candy Cynthia gave you marshmallow?”

“H-how did you know?”

“It seems she saved your life. The juice from marshmallow root is the only antidote for palmes.”

So marshmallow wasn’t just the name of a cloud-like candy but an actual plant?

“…Miss Cynthia didn’t say anything to me.”

“Timid small animals are sensitive to wariness. She seems to have been considerate, not wanting to burden you.”

Mila’s fingertips tensed.

It was hard to believe that someone would act to save a beastkin, whom everyone despised.

‘A warm person like the master.’

Kaisel withdrew his gaze from the dazed Mila, and his lips curved upward. Then he murmured softly.

“It seems she’s a benefactor not only to me but to you as well.”

A benefactor of life.

Repeating those words to herself, Mila adjusted her posture.

“…I’ll report on the materials regarding the Blewitt viscount family.”

Mila placed before Kaisel the documents she had been investigating.

“It’s certainly strange. There’s particularly no information about Miss Cynthia. All we know is that she was sickly from childhood and lived in a villa with Lady Nicol, the mother of Viscount Blewitt.”

Kaisel quietly scanned the documents.

A noble daughter who hadn’t even had her debutante ball and had been kept hidden away.

The record was too clean, and Viscount Blewitt’s intentions remained suspicious.

Perhaps it was to hide the fact that she was under a spell.

“There’s just one peculiar point. Lady Nicol was originally an imperial palace apothecary.”

Leaning against the window, Kaisel’s gaze turned back toward the imperial palace.

His deep blue eyes exuded an intensely cold atmosphere. His lips curved languidly.

An imperial palace apothecary. How interesting.

“Look into not only the Blewitt family but also their collateral branches, and add Nicol Blewitt as well.”

Mila, who had bowed at Kaisel’s command, hesitated before adding one more thing.

A few days ago, she recalled Cynthia asking her with a haggard face if she had ever seen a snake.

Since there was no trace of animals anywhere in the mansion, that question had oddly bothered her.

“Master, there’s one thing I’d like to ask. Have you sensed any other presence in the mansion? For example, animals?”

“Animals?”

It was an unusual question from Mila, who had been by his side for a long time.

The only animals in the mansion were the horses pulling the carriages. However, even these horses were specially bred by the Magic Tower, belonging to a special category with immunity to magical power from birth.

Kaisel didn’t bother with the tedious task of chasing animals away himself.

Animals simply didn’t enter the mansion out of fear of his magical wavelength.

Perching on the desk, Kaisel muttered indifferently.

“There’s nothing like that. Unless you mean bugs.”

Despite his handsome smile, his eyes weren’t smiling at all. Mila’s expression hardened at the sudden pressure.

“Bugs” was a term referring to assassins infiltrating the grand ducal residence.

It was certainly strange.

No animal presence was felt, yet assassin intrusions were becoming more frequent.

“Master, there’s another concerning point. It might be a coincidence, but… external intrusions have become more frequent since Miss Cynthia came to the grand ducal residence.”

“Have you found out who’s behind it?”

“They were all under hypnosis and died before confessing. They were also skilled mercenaries of considerable caliber.”

Kaisel’s eyes gleamed with a different light.

The only person he could think of who might fear the disappearance of his curse was Empress Marianne.

“How fearless.”

Black magical power with an eerie aura rippled around Kaisel and spread rapidly.

“Keep a close watch on Cynthia for the time being.”

“As you command.”

❀❀❀

Time flowed relentlessly, and darkness came again.

Cynthia had been staying up nights for days because of the black snake.

Before going to bed, walking along the maple tree path under the pretext of taking a stroll to avoid the snake had become her routine.

It was when she had ventured quite far in. Suddenly, the sound of wind rustling through leaves loudly rang in her ears, and then a streak of light accompanied by thunder split the night sky.

Rumble, BOOM!

“Ah!”

Startled, Cynthia sat down where she was and covered her ears. Droplets of water began falling on her head one by one.

Cynthia felt dismayed that she couldn’t escape the sudden downpour.

But contrary to her wishes, her feet wouldn’t move at all. Her breathing became rapid with fear, and her jaw began to tremble.

‘I-I need to get back to the cottage quickly…’

Due to memories of being locked in an attic as a child, Cynthia would panic whenever there was thunder and lightning.

Despite desperately calling for her parents amid the overwhelming loneliness and fear, no one came to her side.

She thought she had improved a lot while living with her grandmother, but that was a mistaken judgment.

Cynthia’s lips trembled as she turned pale with fear.

Meanwhile, the rain grew heavier.

Droplets that had already soaked her hair now fell down her face.

Cynthia barely managed to move her unresponsive legs and reached under a tree.

Squeak squeak.

As she tried to catch her shallow breath, a faint crying sound came from a protruding tree root.

Looking around, a small bird soaked by the rain was crying sorrowfully.

“Oh dear, you fell from the tree.”

The bird was in poor condition, with an injured wing and completely drenched in rain.

Cynthia looked around the tree.

The migration seemed to have ended, as there was no sign of a mother bird anywhere.

“Were you abandoned too?”

Cynthia felt a bitter taste in her mouth, seeing herself reflected in the small bird.

She hesitated to take it to her cottage because of the black snake that appeared every night.

But she couldn’t leave it to die.

“I can’t leave you. Come with me.”

Cynthia removed her shawl, shaped it into a round nest, and wrapped the bird. Seeking warmth, the bird nestled into the gap.

Having found comfort, its loud crying gradually quieted. However, the bird’s condition remained poor.

As Cynthia sighed deeply and her expression darkened, someone suddenly extended an umbrella.

“Out for a stroll in the rain, I see.”

The distinctive cool atmosphere changed the flow of air. Startled, Cynthia turned her head.

Under the rainy sky, his figure holding an umbrella looked like a sublime work of art.

It was Kaisel, a man with a languid smile yet somehow empty and dry.

Kaisel scanned Cynthia with cold eyes.

“……”

Her green eyes trembled precariously as they met his, and her face, usually bearing a clear smile, was unusually pale.

She trembled like a rain-soaked mouse, quite a spectacle.

“Why are you out here in the rain?”

“I-I was taking a walk when suddenly thunder struck……”

She claimed to fear thunder and lightning, yet wasn’t afraid of him, a cursed man. The more he learned about her, the stranger she seemed.

His voice resonated heavily with a hollow laugh.

“Stand up first.”

Kaisel languidly extended his hand.

“…Yes.”

BOOM!

A terrified scream erupted at the loud thunder.

“Ah! Ah!”

Cynthia, her eyes tightly shut, unconsciously jumped into Kaisel’s arms.

Caught off guard, Kaisel dropped the umbrella. He looked down at her with a bewildered expression.

Normally he would have pushed her away immediately, but her clear face bothered him.