As if he had made up his mind, Ariel leaned in close and smiled prettily.

Merrien couldn’t help but fall for his charm.

No, rather than falling for his charm, her body was so limp that it was difficult to even open her mouth to refuse.

Merrien barely managed to nod.

Meanwhile, Seren discovered Agnes’s letter attached to the last page while flipping through documents.

“Ah.”

It was a letter that had arrived this morning, but he hadn’t checked it due to being busy.

If Ariel caught him, he might scold him for not doing his job properly.

Seren quickly unfolded the letter while glancing around nervously.

[‘That month’ has passed, so I’ll come to pick up Cerberus this afternoon.]

Huh, what? The content was about visiting.

Seren, gripping the letter tightly with both hands, urgently opened his mouth.

“Tower Master, wait a moment!”

But Ariel was already in a state where he couldn’t hear anything. He snapped his fingers while holding Merrien.

“Agnes is coming… Sigh.”

Eventually, Ariel and Merrien disappeared. They had clearly headed to the Tower Master’s room at the very top.

Seren scratched his head as he watched Ariel vanish before his eyes.

“You crazy bastard.”

Timidly uttering words he would never say to his face.

***

Merrien blinked at the suddenly changed view.

He had said they would go to his room, so she expected the teleportation, but…

Although Ariel had been holding her waist, she had definitely been standing until just now. Somehow, she was now completely lifted and cradled in his arms.

“…So, this is your room?”

She tried to speak calmly, but her cracked voice made the effort futile.

Merrien tapped his arms as if asking to be put down and avoided Ariel’s gaze.

He showed no intention of taking his eyes off Merrien’s, neither when he snapped his fingers for teleportation nor after arriving in the room.

If she had continued to meet his thirsty gaze, her whole body would have trembled.

“Yes.”

Hey, put me down.

Merrien was only able to place her feet on the floor after repeatedly hitting his arms.

However, his hands remained wrapped around her waist, somewhat ticklishly.

Merrien did not reject his touch.

More precisely, she couldn’t reject it.

Because she had sprinkled holy power on dozens of people, her legs were shaking so much that she could barely walk without leaning on him.

She placed her hands on Ariel’s chest, breathing heavily.

Fortunately, she still had enough strength to look around the room.

“It’s neat.”

Extremely so, more than expected.

She had arbitrarily imagined that a Tower Master’s room in novels would be incredibly messy or covered with strange patterns, but it was unexpected.

Books were neatly arranged in the fixed cabinet on the desk, and the white bed was cleanly organized from the frame to the sheets.

It didn’t look hastily cleaned at all. There was not a single piece of carelessly thrown trash or junk in sight.

As Merrien carefully examined his room, Ariel, seemingly pleased even though she had never visited before, gently stroked her hair.

“Let’s lie down first, Merri.”

Then he lifted her up and laid her on the bed.

It happened without giving her time to answer or even react.

Merrien, lying in the center of the bed, shouted at him as he looked down at her intently.

“Hey!”

“You need to rest. You said you were dizzy.”

Even so, to do this so forcefully!

She was too shocked to speak.

Placing her hand on her chest, she felt her heart pounding.

She didn’t know where to look under his passionate gaze that paid no heed to her feelings.

Surely aware of her emotions, Ariel calmly pulled up a chair and sat down.

Then he took hold of her pink hair that had fallen over the edge of the bed and kissed it.

“!!!”

His lips, pressed firmly and then slowly released, were overtly craving something.

Merrien reflexively wrapped her arms around herself as goosebumps covered her entire body.

But he didn’t hide his eyes, which had darkened so much with madness that their depths were unfathomable.

The chair he had been sitting on crashed to the floor.

This was because Ariel could no longer contain himself and abruptly stood up.

His expression, smiling so widely that his teeth showed, was like that of a predator before a small cornered animal.

The distance between them gradually decreased.

Perhaps Merrien had no intention of pushing him away either. Even while shrinking her body, she didn’t avoid him as he approached.

With his face almost right in front of hers, Merrien tightly closed her eyes.

Soon, a deep, low voice, like one echoing in a cave, penetrated her ears.

“Merri, don’t be nervous. I won’t eat you.”

…

That was all.

Merrien’s eyes flew open at the suddenly retreating breath.

As if nothing had happened, Ariel had righted the fallen chair and was sitting with his legs crossed.

‘Huh?’

A confused Merrien hugged the blanket and pressed her body against the headboard.

Ariel’s eyes had returned to their original calm light, as if it were a lie.

Even though he had been breathing heavily with excitement just moments ago. As if nothing had happened, Ariel simply smiled and made Merrien lie down again.

“Merri. You need to lie down until your body recovers.”

“……”

Ah, this was truly unfair.

Merrien swallowed her saliva, along with her tears.

It was frustrating enough to have been swept up in the inappropriate atmosphere, but it was also frustrating that she felt disappointed that nothing had happened.

‘Why make me misunderstand?’

Those gleaming eyes and approaching gestures as if something big was about to happen. At least he should have kissed her…!

After thinking that far, she just closed her eyes.

Perhaps she was the only one with her head full of strange thoughts.

Rather than reproaching Ariel for being lecherous, she was at the point where she should pray to the god of this world to remove the lustful demon from her mind.

‘Right, I’m a Saint. Yes.’

She should quit reading romance books…

She neatly placed both hands on her chest as if nothing had happened, but her eyelids trembled.

Annoyingly, Ariel seemed to have no intention of pretending not to know her inner thoughts.

He whispered in her ear.

“Merri, we’ll do what you want when your body is better.”

“…What are you talking about!”

She opened her eyes wide in irritation, but Ariel had already silently moved to the window.

He pulled back the white curtain.

Unlike the otherwise clean room, the window frame was full of dust and cobwebs.

It meant that it had not been opened for a very long time.

“It’s a bit hot.”

When the window opened, the curtain fluttered in the wind.

‘Ah.’

His face, grabbing and shaking his collar behind the curtain, was flushed red.

Merrien instantly realized that her face was also becoming hot.

She just closed her eyes again. She felt she needed not to look at him for the feeling to subside quickly.

At that moment.

Bang-!

An enormous sound echoed from outside the window.

It was a sound that started from the entrance of the tower below.

Hazy smoke began to rise from where the sound came from and soon reached the very top, where they were.

“What’s that sound?”

Ariel silently gazed downward.

A human figure smaller than an ant.

It was Agnes, walking confidently toward the entrance of the tower.

He had a habit of announcing his arrival noisily like this whenever he came to the tower.

Even though the magicians wouldn’t pay the slightest attention, being busy with their research.

With bright red hair that was recognizable even from a distance and a height that was a head taller than others.

He didn’t expect him to visit so soon after ‘that month’ had passed.

Ariel’s mouth twisted.

It bothered him that Agnes had not only returned to the form of an adult man but also had a more peaceful expression.

If they had gone up to the room a little later, he would have almost made Merrien met that dragon with his robust physique.

Ariel murmured grimly.

“A guest has arrived.”

“A guest?”

“Yes. Merri, rest for a while. I’ll be right back.”

Smiling brightly, he nervously closed the window and locked it so it couldn’t be opened. Only after firmly drawing the curtains did he snap his fingers.

Soon, he completely disappeared from Merrien’s sight.

“…You’re just leaving so suddenly?”

Left alone, Merrien could only stare at the innocent ceiling.