Only after seeing his face turn bright red behind his hands did Merrien smack her forehead.

She couldn’t bring herself to hit him like this.

‘What… what kind of misunderstanding is he having right now?’

“That’s not it. I’m extremely tired right now. I’m just saying let’s go rest.”

Because of you, I’m tired because of you!

Merrien repeatedly pressed her index finger against Ariel’s chest.

She had to refrain from any further touching, as she didn’t know what he might do if provoked.

“Oh.”

Ariel finally lowered his hands. He seemed somewhat disappointed.

Sigh… something was wrong. Terribly wrong!

Was there a runaway locomotive inside his mind?

Merrien roughly ran her fingers through her hair, which had been neatly arranged by the imperial maids since the crack of dawn.

“I do want to rest, but there’s another reason why we need to go to the terrace.”

“Reason?”

“Yes, Forcite left without saying anything.”

“…Yes.”

Ariel’s voice instantly lowered, as if recalling something. At least he wasn’t completely thoughtless.

“Something’s suspicious. If Forcite is plotting something, the targets would be you or me, and then it would be safer to stay away from people as much as possible. And…”

The two, who had been walking continuously, finally arrived at the terrace.

Merrien pulled back the curtain that was firmly drawn across the terrace and led Ariel inside by the hand.

Then with her other hand, she pointed alternately up, down, and to the sides.

“The terrace is convenient for movement.”

Ariel nodded as if he understood immediately.

Though he still couldn’t completely hide his disappointment.

Whether he was sulking or not, it was enough that he understood.

Merrien looked at Ariel’s face before grabbing the railing and stretching her body outward.

“Ah, now I feel alive again…”

She had faced the outside air so much while confronting magical beasts.

If the wind there had been painful enough to make her face feel like it would crack, now it was a warm and gentle spring breeze.

“It’s a shame.”

“What is?”

“You look so pretty.”

“……”

Merrien deliberately ignored the gaze staring at her from the side. Ariel was resting his chin on the railing, gazing at her.

Judging by how he had waited without complaint as soon as he saw the outfit yesterday, he seemed to have been quite looking forward to this.

Honestly, if she were to be frank, she was disappointed too.

Their outfits were a white-based dress and uniform with sapphire jewels set into them.

If they had danced in the banquet hall like this, they would have been a beautiful couple for anyone to see.

After ignoring him briefly, Merrien approached closer to comfort him, his eyes still downcast.

“Ariel.”

“…Yes.”

“Be patient a little longer.”

Merrien reached out and slowly caressed Ariel’s cheek.

His blue eyes seemed to close languidly, and then Ariel rubbed his cheek against her palm.

Like a puppy craving affection.

They stood like that for a while.

Then suddenly, as if remembering something, Merrien opened her eyes wide.

“Oh, but what happened to Mr. Nes? Should we have brought him along?”

Ariel, who had been contentedly closing his eyes, frowned. Agnes was someone who had never been helpful in his life.

“He’ll be fine on his own.”

“…But everyone must be strangers to him.”

“He just dislikes desolate places like the Tower. He’ll be insanely happy anywhere he can receive attention.”

As if not wanting to lose Merrien’s touch, Ariel slowly opened his eyes.

His expression was indifferent as he slightly pulled back the terrace curtain, perhaps imagining the scene he was about to see.

“Look at that.”

Ariel’s index finger pointed to the center of the banquet hall.

But he probably didn’t need to point it out.

Agnes was dancing in the center of the banquet hall.

No, it would be more accurate to say he was going wild.

Not dancing with the young ladies, but alone as if possessed.

The sight of him shaking his body while receiving applause from the nobles was almost unbearable to watch.

“…Yes, we don’t need to worry.”

Where had all the dignity of a dragon that I had imagined gone?

Seeing him like that reminded her of when he had gone on stage first at a festival and sung.

Merrien waved her hand with a weary expression.

It meant to close the curtain again.

Ariel firmly closed the curtain, conveying that he didn’t want to see Agnes again.

But suddenly a rectangular screen appeared above the curtain.

It was the same screen that had appeared when Ariel was communicating with the Tower before.

“Seren?”

-Tow…er Mas…ter.

Something was wrong.

Seren’s voice came through intermittently.

The screen crackled as if the magical power was unstable.

Ariel’s expression immediately hardened. The crackling screen wasn’t the problem.

Looking closely, behind Seren…

-Sorry… ga…te… one more… found…

There were magicians who had collapsed as if they had been terribly attacked.

Red splatters were all over the walls.

-Imp…banquet… Emp… sor… ry.

Bang-!

As the communication cut off, a massive explosion sound came from somewhere.

The entire building shook with tremendous vibrations.

When Merrien lost her balance and wobbled, Ariel quickly grabbed her arm.

“Kyaaaa!!!”

Piercing screams came through the curtain. The banquet hall became rapidly chaotic.

There was no need to pull back the curtain to know.

Grooooar-!!!

The unwanted roar of magical beasts. The trembling vibrations continued to reach the terrace.

“…He had hidden one gate here.”

Ariel gritted his teeth while embracing Merrien.

It was clear what the Second Prince, who had only briefly shown his face before disappearing, had done.

The Tower, which had never tolerated a single error until now, wouldn’t have made a calculation mistake.

Judging by the magicians who had collapsed bleeding as the communication was cut off, the Second Prince must have had a hand in that too.

While Ariel was assessing the situation, Merrien detached herself from him.

Lifting the curtain slightly, she saw that the banquet hall had become a scene of chaos with magical beasts that had broken through the walls and poured in.

While Agnes was grabbing and punishing the magical beasts, the entangled nobles were hurriedly escaping from there.

‘…As expected, I knew this would happen.’

Merrien’s heart began to beat rapidly.

There was a reason why Forcite, who had been trying to corner them, hadn’t interfered with the magical beast subjugation.

…Yes, he had been making a different plan from the beginning.

He wouldn’t give up so easily.

Merrien smoothed her heart and took a deep breath.

Her chest rose greatly and then fell.

“Ariel.”

“Yes.”

“Find Forcite.”

“Merri, what about you?”

“The nobles will soon escape to the first floor.”

There was no time to say more.

As the nobles rushed out screaming toward the exit, magical beasts blocked their way with a thud.

With nowhere to go, the nobles exhaled rough breaths without even fixing their disheveled hair.

They looked like they might faint at any moment at the sight of the huge, grotesque magical beasts that seemed five times their size.

Merrien stretched her hand toward them.

“I’ll clean up with Mr. Nes and follow. When you catch up to Forcite, the magical beasts will stop temporarily.”

Just before the magical beasts pounced on the nobles, white streams of light from Merrien’s hand swiftly wrapped around the beasts.

Soon the Holy Power completely evaporated along with the magical beasts.

By now, her skill was refined and clean without any excess.

“…Th-thank you! Saint!”

The nobles who looked up at the terrace, toward the source of the light, cheered.

But… could Holy Power eliminate magical beasts? Setting aside such questions.

Ariel nodded at the triumphant Merrien.

Then he snapped his fingers and teleported, following Forcite’s energy.

…And immediately realized he had fallen into a trap.

***

“…Tsk.”

The place where Ariel arrived was a staircase, or an illusion that looked like a staircase.

He continued to eliminate the constantly pouring magical beasts, tearing them apart one after another.

However, he couldn’t tell when this would end.

Looking up the stairs, their end was completely hidden in darkness, making him wonder if he could reach that place.

Fortunately, there was only one gate producing magical beasts, so Merrien and Agnes had less trouble, but the problem was that he had lost his way.

Ariel pressed his temple.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to escape.

It was self-loathing for being caught in such a crude scheme.

If he got out of here, he wouldn’t let that prince off easily. Despite such thoughts, his expression remained quite calm.