Ariel finally moved his feet after thoroughly dusting off his hands.

Toward the trembling, high-ranking magical beast, suddenly left alone.

“Come with me.”

He extended one hand as if rescuing a comrade. His refreshingly upturned lips, showing no malice, appeared more terrifying than death to the high-ranking magical beast.

Meanwhile, Forcite silently drew his sword.

Before the high-ranking magical beast could make any move, he leaped high and struck its neck directly.

Bang-!

The beast’s tough hide was cut as simply and neatly as the edge of paper sliced in half.

The head of the magical beast, which appeared at least three times the size of a human, rolled to Ariel’s feet.

Ariel slightly pushed the head with his toe to prevent it from rolling any closer to him.

Though his expression was hidden behind his mask, anyone could tell his mood had drastically worsened.

“I said I would take it as my companion, Your Highness.”

His voice, speaking in short, abrupt phrases, resonated deeply.

The imperial knights, watching unnecessarily, shrank back and straightened their posture.

The spirit of Forcite, who had created this situation, was tremendous.

Perhaps because he had already been badly hurt by Ariel once, this time he showed no fear at all.

Forcite sheathed his sword and countered.

“We are here under His Majesty the Emperor’s orders to subjugate magical beasts. Saying you’ll spare the strongest one makes no sense.”

Unlike Ariel’s seemingly insane words, this was quite logical.

The eyes that fully embodied the empire truly befitted one who had been called a hero of the empire from the beginning.

“……”

Ariel’s blue eyes slowly turned toward Forcite.

Forcite, who flinched ever so slightly, proudly squared his shoulders as if nothing had happened.

Then he approached and whispered very quietly, just loud enough for only him to hear.

“How long do you think you can hide from Merrien that you’re the Tower Master?”

It was an explicit threat.

For some reason, Ariel didn’t budge. Rather, he pulled up one corner of his mouth as if he had been waiting for Forcite’s provocation.

“I heard you’ve been intimate with Saint Charlotte. Merri would be so pleased to know.”

“……”

This side also had plenty of material for threats.

Despite being the one to speak first, Forcite kept his mouth tightly shut.

There was no way to know how this man had discovered that. Nor could he beg him not to tell.

All he could do was glare silently.

Ariel, who had already secured victory, looked extremely pleased, but even in the midst of this, he continued firmly.

“Don’t harbor attachments. The Merrien now is not the Merrien you knew.”

“…What does that mean?”

But what on earth was this nonsensical statement?

Forcite immediately questioned back, examining the expression beneath the mask. Unlike the playful voice, the blue eyes were infinitely serious.

Ariel did not avoid Forcite’s gaze. It seemed as though he could see right through him.

“After sending and receiving so many letters to the temple. Has Your Highness never felt something was off?”

It wouldn’t have been Merrien’s original way of speaking.

His voice, returning to formal speech, bored into Forcite’s ears.

Moreover, the fact that he wasn’t saying “Merri” but deliberately mentioning “Merrien”…

Confused, Forcite unconsciously avoided his gaze. His eyes wavered unsteadily.

“You must have clearly felt it when you came to the mansion. Don’t cling to the shell, Your Highness. Because she’s not the Merrien you know.”

Ariel didn’t give him time to think.

After adding these incomprehensible words, he left the place.

Forcite still had a confused look in his eyes. He covered his face with his hand and sank into thought.

All that remained around him was the bisected corpse of the massive, high-ranking magical beast.

“Forcite! When we grow up, let’s be together.”

The voice of young Merrien still vividly came to mind.

He simply couldn’t forget how her chubby cheeks had turned red as she smiled brightly.

After standing blankly for a long time, he emerged from his reverie and quietly murmured.

“Yes, I actually knew.”

He knew.

That the current Merrien was very different from the Merrien he had known.

“……”

“Don’t cling to the shell, Your Highness. Because she’s not the Merrien you know.”

Ariel’s recent words echoed in his mind.

The shell.

Forcite removed the hand he had placed over his face. He made some kind of resolution.

And just as he was about to move, a faintly spreading black aura caught his eye.

‘…What is this?’

An unfamiliar black aura. When he turned his head to find its source, something was spreading from the corpse of the high-ranking magical beast.

Forcite crouched down and without hesitation, pulled out a square object from inside the corpse.

Over his black gloves, an ominous black aura visibly spread.

A black, square object with a rough appearance, completely devoid of light.

The black aura was emanating from this very small, bumpy object.

***

After this recent meeting with Charlotte, Merrien changed her mind.

She decided not to be swayed by rumors going up and down in people’s mouths.

She had worried that Ariel would be left alone with strange rumors after she returned to reality, but it seemed he was handling things well.

Though she didn’t know exactly how he did it, he must have schemed something behind the scenes.

Just like at the banquet, the suddenly changed rumors were the same.

‘Sigh, never mind.’

What’s the point of thinking about it when he won’t tell me anyway? Merrien shook her head.

It was all unnecessary concern.

She had needlessly created stress and bottled it up herself.

But you know…

“Ariel.”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“Getting healed, of course.”

Ariel raised his head.

That sparkling gaze as if he had no idea what was wrong. He was stuck right next to Merrien with no intention of moving away.

***

It was healing time.

For some reason, there wasn’t a single servant in the room, leaving just the two of them, but Ariel couldn’t concentrate on the healing at all.

It wasn’t because he felt awkward.

He stared intently at the door, and as soon as Agnes entered, he jumped up.

“You’re here, Agnes. Time for medicine.”

With a gentle smile like one would give to their own child.

In his hand was Agnes’s medicine.

“……Why you?”

Agnes, sensing something strange, pressed himself against the door. Of course, Ariel didn’t even give Agnes time to enter.

“You should call me brother.”

“Why brother….”

“Open your mouth.”

“No, …mmph!”

Agnes resisted timidly, but it was futile.

Agnes’s mouth opened as his cheeks were forcibly grabbed.

Ariel seemed to pour the medicine into Agnes’s mouth in the blink of an eye, then quickly sent him away, saying they were done.

‘Won’t he choke like that?’

There was no time to intervene. Agnes had already been driven out.

This was all Ariel’s plan.

Patting the bed beside him, asking her to come closer, telling her to use her holy power up close.

When she approached, deceived by his pretend dreamy gaze, Ariel immediately clung to Merrien, clearly having waited for this moment.

He embraced Merrien’s waist and even nuzzled his face against her shoulder. He was like a large Whitey.

“What does hugging have to do with healing?”

Merrien grumbled. But since she had no intention of pushing him away, she naturally tousled his hair.

Her other hand was already placed on his heart, which had gotten as close as possible, infusing it with holy power.

A white light began to spread from her palm.

Ariel, with his eyes comfortably closed, mumbled.

“You said physical contact allows you to give more holy power.”

“That’s because I’m currently healing your heart.”

No, this is ridiculous.

The white holy power was obviously directed at his heart. It was so clear that the afterimage would be visible even with closed eyes.

He was just doing this for his own pleasure.

Really now, she snorted, but Merrien didn’t stop the healing.

As the holy power rapidly drained from her, the breath felt right beside her became more stable.

“…Mmm, good.”

Comfortably resting on Merrien’s shoulder, he looked up at her languidly with half-closed eyes, adding the word “good” to his strange sigh.

No matter how you look at it, isn’t he openly seducing her?