Charlotte really came just a few hours later.

“Merrien!”

“Charlotte!”

Ariel’s eyebrows twitched as the two Saints hugged each other like they hadn’t seen each other in ages when it hadn’t been that long since they met.

He crossed his legs and folded his arms, making it very obvious that he didn’t approve.

“This isn’t a place you can just come to as you please.”

Speaking loudly as if to make sure she heard.

“But I’m the friend of the Duke’s lover.”

However, Charlotte had already learned how to handle him. Far from being intimidated, she responded confidently.

“Then that’s fine.”

Of course, Ariel melted into a smile at the word ‘lover’.

He adjusted his position comfortably and gave strict instructions to the servants to prepare tea to go with the pudding.

‘Wow…. He’s really simple.’

Merrien clicked her tongue.

Soon the drawing room table was set with pudding and steaming tea.

Though no one had called him, Agnes was somehow already sitting on a sofa at a distance, and the two Saints began reading, having piled up romance books.

“So then the butler exposes the corrupt temple’s true nature and makes the High Priest kneel before the Saint.”

“Wow, that’s so thrilling.”

“Right?”

The two Saints’ discussion topic this time was [This Butler is the Strongest].

Charlotte was so deeply moved that she couldn’t contain her emotions and excitedly explained everything.

Tears were welling up in her eyes.

“Really now.”

How could a mere butler expose the temple’s true nature and do this and that to the High Priest?

Ariel, leaning askew on the sofa eavesdropping on their conversation, glanced at the butler standing stiffly by the door.

But the butler acted as if he couldn’t hear anything. Now the real power in this mansion was Saint Merrien.

Regardless of what was happening beside her, Merrien recommended another book.

“Ah, Charlotte. This book is interesting too! The male lead is fierce and brutal at first, but later gets tamed by the female lead.”

“My goodness…. That sounds lovely.”

Ariel no longer interrupted their conversation either.

He just seriously eavesdropped on what she was saying while watching Merrien’s red lips move.

It was good for understanding her tastes from the casual words she spoke.

She had said her book preferences were different from her actual tastes, but from Ariel’s perspective, she was heavily influenced by the books.

Meanwhile, Agnes stared intently at the pudding on the table.

The pudding that would never be within reach of his short hands.

Agnes was particularly quiet today, sitting in a spot separated from everyone else.

No one paid him any attention. Just what he wanted.

Agnes suddenly stood up and toddled over.

Soon he grabbed Merrien’s clothes hem and said, “Sister, could I please have that chocolate pudding over there?”

He pointed at the pudding on the table with rounded eyes and short fingers.

For a moment, silence fell in the drawing room that had been as bustling as if dozens of people were present.

Not to mention the two Saints, even Ariel, who had been frozen for a few seconds as if time had stopped, dropped his jaw.

Of course, this was intentionally done by Agnes to tease Ariel.

Finally succeeded!

Just as Agnes was feeling satisfied about getting an unprecedented reaction from Ariel.

“…So cute!”

“!!!”

Merrien grabbed Agnes’s defenseless cheeks.

His white plump cheeks stretched like rice cakes.

Soon Ariel’s expression fell so dramatically his mouth seemed to nearly touch the floor.

Agnes rolled his eyes at the ominous energy coming from across.

Still with both cheeks in Merrien’s hands.

Their eyes met, and Ariel’s gaze pierced through him with an eerie intensity, all traces of warmth gone.

His pupils had contracted into razor-thin vertical slits.

…Maybe Ariel was the dragon, not me. Thinking this, Agnes held his breath.

Unable to move an inch and standing still, Ariel very slowly opened his mouth.

‘You’re really crazy, aren’t you?’

No sound was heard. He only mouthed the words predicting Agnes’s death.

Agnes sent a wistful look as if giving up everything.

‘You’re right, I am crazy.’

Mouthing back the same way.

This time I’m really going to die.

He tried to beat that bastard even like this…. No. Since he managed to disturb Ariel’s mood, he won.

Now let’s accept defeat and face death.

In that brief moment, Agnes rationalized that it had been quite a good life.

He tightly shut his eyes.

From across, he heard footsteps as Ariel presumably stood up.

Agnes clenched his fists too, but there was nothing he could do about his trembling body.

Ariel approached, lowered himself by bending forward, and gently stroked Agnes’s head.

“If you wanted pudding that badly, you should have just told me, Agnes.”

“……”

Agnes slowly opened his eyes.

The murderous gaze he had seen from afar was now right in front of his nose.

Agnes hurriedly mumbled.

“I’m, I’m sorry… brother.”

What did it matter if he had lived hundreds of years?

Though Ariel was probably hundreds of years younger than him age-wise, one could become humble in the face of death.

Having completely forgotten his earlier resolution to give up on life, Agnes instinctively took a submissive stance.

But this apparently wasn’t a good approach.

He had forgotten that Merrien was still stretching his cheeks.

Perhaps Merrien really thought Agnes was just a small and fragile boy.

Merrien suddenly hugged Agnes tightly.

“Why are you being like that to Agnes? He’s trembling.”

“!!!”

Agnes’s eyes instantly grew wide.

That wasn’t all.

Merrien pulled Agnes closer, trying to shield him from Ariel. By now, Agnes’s eyes were about to pop out.

“……”

The already malicious energy that had been directed solely at Agnes for quite some time grew even more ominous.

Agnes, held in Merrien’s arms, couldn’t ignore the gaze boring into the back of his head.

The choking sensation grew worse.

No words came despite how angry he clearly was.

Finally, Agnes hurriedly shouted and escaped from Merrien’s embrace.

“Haha…. It’s nothing. I was just jo-joking with brother. Right, brother?”

Speaking incoherently, he voluntarily stood next to Ariel.

Agnes’s eyes darted around nervously, and cold sweat had been running down his back for a while.

As if he’d been waiting, Ariel firmly grabbed Agnes’s hand. The overwhelming energy that had been pouring out decreased slightly.

“Right. Shall we sit back down with ‘brother’ and eat some pudding?”

Ariel smiled with both corners of his mouth raised strangely.

“Yes, brother…..”

Of course, Agnes immediately realized that wasn’t a real smile.

Nevertheless, he smiled as harmlessly as possible and moved to the opposite sofa with him.

The tightly gripped hand was finally released.

When he glanced down at his aching hand, angry red marks were carved into his flesh as though it had been crushed.

‘This crazy b*stard…..’

To think even his dragon hand could be marked like this.

If he had been human, every joint would have been crushed to pieces.

He wanted to grind his teeth. But if he did that, he might really die tonight without anyone knowing, so Agnes kept his mouth shut.

He thought he was acting like nothing was wrong, but the problem was that in a child’s form, his sulking made him look like he was about to cry.

“Agnes, smile.”

“Yes.”

Agnes hurriedly smiled. He sat up straight with his legs together and arms tensed, putting in all his effort.

Only then did the strangling pressure that had been bearing down gradually subside.

‘Phew, thank goodness.’

He barely managed to preserve his life today too.

The realization hit him that dragons might have nearly gone extinct because of such useless curiosity and interest.

With the tension somewhat relieved, Agnes slumped weakly on the sofa.

As if unwilling to let even this slide, Ariel approached without a sound and whispered in his ear.

“If you blush looking at Merri again next time, you’ll really die.”

In a very low and chilling voice that only Agnes could hear.

“……”

The goosebumps that covered his entire body lasted only a moment.

Agnes remained dazed for a while, unable to understand what he had said.

Unconsciously, his gaze turned to the opposite side.

Merrien, who had been watching them with somewhat worried eyes, was now focused on her conversation with Charlotte again.

‘…Me? Looking at Merrien?’

Agnes raised his hand to touch his cheek. It did feel a bit hot.

No, surely not. That couldn’t be.

Agnes soon shook his head.