The day Agnes realized something.

From that day on, he waited for Merrien to be alone, hiding behind corridor pillars and watching for his chance.

And the moment Merrien left the room, he rushed out hurriedly.

Agnes stood boldly in front of her, panting.

“Actually, the Tower Master is Ar…”

He shouted like that, but.

“Merri, you’re here?”

“Hm? How unusual of you to open the door for me?”

“……”

“By the way Agnes, what were you saying?”

“It’s nothing…”

The plan ended in miserable failure as Ariel suddenly opened the door to greet them, his face looking menacing enough to throw Agnes out the window at any moment.

Agnes clenched his tiny fist that probably wouldn’t even hurt if he got hit.

Still, he didn’t give up. There were more chances yet.

Throughout the healing session, he waited nervously with trembling legs, then quickly followed when Merrien finished healing and left the room.

Agnes showed dedication by even standing on tiptoes as he whispered to Merrien.

It had to be conveyed very carefully and secretly.

“Actually, Ariel is the Tower Mas…”

“Ah, Merri. Want to go for a garden walk?”

“Sure. But Agnes, weren’t you trying to say something? About Ariel…”

“…Ah, aren’t I cuter than Ariel?”

…This had been the perfect chance to finally reveal Ariel’s secret!

Agnes lowered his painfully maintained tiptoes as his toes trembled.

Somehow sensing it, Ariel had interfered and caused another failure.

Moreover, Merrien was now looking at Ariel’s reaction to the unnecessary question.

“Shut up and get lost.”

Ariel whispered softly while pressing firmly on Agnes’s forehead.

Then, as if determined not to let Agnes hear Merrien’s answer, he led her away by the hand.

Merrien let out an awkward laugh as she disappeared from Agnes’s sight.

The door closed.

…Seems like something similar happened not too long ago.

Agnes was suddenly left alone in the room.

Looking at the firmly closed door with empty eyes, he made another resolution.

“Well, I’ll try again tomorrow morning.”

He had already figured out that Merrien liked cute things.

Crossing his arms seriously, he displayed groundless confidence that his current appearance would be enough.

The next morning he had been waiting for.

Agnes carefully knocked on Merrien’s door, determined that today would be the day of success.

“Come in.”

Though he had deliberately come early, Merrien’s voice sounded energetic, as if she’d been awake for quite a while.

Well, she probably thought it was the butler or another servant.

‘Success.’

Agnes opened the door with a winning smile.

But.

“……”

“What.”

Good heavens.

There was Ariel, sitting brazenly on Merrien’s bed, having breakfast with her.

‘…I never thought even this would fail.’

It was the very definition of shock and horror.

However he had found out, Ariel was glaring at him while emanating an ominous aura that only Agnes could feel.

The aura crept up Agnes’s neck like an invisible blade poised to strike.

“It’s nothing. I’ll take my leave.”

Agnes forced his frozen legs to move, answered stiffly, and hurriedly left the room.

“It’s over.”

And he realized. That it was impossible from the start to mess with that madman.

That he would die without a trace before that could happen.

But Agnes giving up cleanly and Ariel forgiving him were different matters.

That night.

The window in Agnes’s room flew open and the curtains fluttered endlessly.

Though no sound was heard after that, the air definitely became cold enough to send chills through his entire body.

It wasn’t because of the wind.

Agnes’s closed eyelids trembled.

‘…And they said today would have a big round moon.’

Even though the window was wide open, not a speck of light came in from outside, as if darkness had completely swallowed the moon.

Agnes quickly realized why.

He placed both hands demurely on his stomach and only moved his mouth while remaining completely still.

“I was wrong. I…”

“You must be absolutely dying to die.”

The response came before he could finish speaking.

Even though he had apologized in advance anticipating this.

The voice from the window was sharp enough to strangle him at any moment, clearly unwilling to accept the apology.

Agnes drowsily opened his eyes and slowly rolled his pupils.

As expected, Ariel was sitting on the windowsill, glaring at him.

His gaze was intense.

“…Tower Master. I was completely wrong.”

Agnes apologized immediately.

His bold demeanor had long since been abandoned.

Every time Ariel’s blue gaze touched him, he remembered being beaten nearly to death when they first met.

No, actually, this was much scarier.

Back then, he was just a madman encountering an interesting toy, but now it felt like he might actually kill him if something went wrong.

As Ariel lightly jumped into the room and approached with determined steps, Agnes tightly shut his eyes.

‘Ah, so this is how I die…’

All he wanted was to play one prank, but death was what awaited him. He even held his breath.

But why?

Though Ariel had clearly stopped walking right next to him, Agnes couldn’t feel anything.

Even after waiting for what felt like a long time for a sharp sensation to pierce his body.

Instead, something dropped onto the bed with a thud.

“…?”

At that sound, Agnes blinked slowly and looked up at Ariel.

“Stop messing around and read this instead.”

Ariel pointed to the side in annoyance.

Far from hitting him, he just leaned against the bed frame and watched Agnes’s movements.

“……”

This wasn’t like him at all. Perhaps it was Ariel, not Agnes, who was near death.

Agnes’s hand cautiously crept toward what Ariel had thrown on the bed while giving him a wary look.

What he grabbed was a book.

A book titled [Fairy Tales for Children].

Agnes’s voice immediately came out sounding pitiful.

“…Friend, have you also fallen for those strange books?”

How disheartening.

Having forgotten his earlier fear, even his gaze toward Ariel became sympathetic.

To think he tried to tease someone like this. I’m sorry. Agnes muttered while stroking the book as if petting Ariel.

That’s when Ariel’s fist finally headed toward Agnes’s head.

“Ow!”

Tears instinctively welled up.

Even though he hit lightly, given Agnes’s child-like form, the knock was enough to leave a bump.

Only after Agnes touched his head while tearing up did Ariel point to the book again.

“Your way of speaking. Read this and talk like a child.”

His voice was cold as he spoke through clenched teeth.

“Ah.”

It was a misunderstanding.

Agnes covered his mouth with his small hand and fake coughed. Too embarrassed to look at Ariel, he asked:

“Was it that strange?”

“Yeah. Thought my ears were rotting.”

“Sorry they didn’t rot.”

Agnes opened the book while having this pointless conversation with Ariel.

[“Sister, what’s the name of that flower?”]

[“Oh, that’s a rose. Be careful looking at it since it has many thorns.”]

Since it was a children’s fairy tale, it was full of young children.

For a moment, Agnes’s lips curled up wickedly.

Still living and dying by curiosity, this dragon.

Agnes had completely forgotten that he had just nearly died trying to mess with Ariel.

***

It was just days after Charlotte’s visit.

A letter arrived for Merrien.

[Merrien. The [This Butler is the Strongest] series is so interesting!

So, I was wondering if I could borrow other books?]

“She’s already finished reading them?”

Just how interesting were they?

Merrien’s mouth gaped open.

While she had spent many nights reading romance books herself, that series was ten volumes long.

It would take reading all day for several days to finish them all.

“Well, anyway…”

Merrien neatly folded the letter and put it in her drawer. Then she stretched both arms up in a victory pose.

‘Finally, I have a reliable companion to read romance books with!’

Merrien smiled contentedly and sent a reply saying okay.

As if she had been waiting just for her response, Charlotte contacted her again saying she would bring pudding right away.

Of course, to House Hartez.