* * *

“Magnus?”

Magnus snapped out of his long reverie at the small voice.

“Ah, what is it?”

“I’m done eating. You haven’t eaten at all, are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?”

Magnus shook his head at her slightly furrowed expression of concern.

“No, not at all. There was a complicated matter I was thinking about, so I couldn’t hear what you were saying for a moment. What did you say?”

“I didn’t say much. Is there something that’s not going well?”

“Hmm, I was just pondering a bit because there’s something I need to conclude. It’s nothing major, so don’t worry about it.”

Serena nodded awkwardly with a strange look at Magnus’s words.

“Do you have anything that’s troubling you?”

“Not really…? Especially these past few days, how could I have any troubles? You’re practically carrying me around.”

Magnus let out a low laugh at her voice that sounded fed up.

He quite liked how she blushed but didn’t avoid him when he lowered his head to kiss her nape.

“Are you really okay? You haven’t eaten anything.”

“Of course I am.”

Magnus smiled faintly.

“Or would you let me eat you?”

“…You know that’s a weird thing to say, right?”

“I thought it was quite a normal thing to say. We’ve been at home for a few days, is there anything you want to do?”

“Hmm, well.”

Serena rolled her eyes, then scratched her cheek once before carefully opening her mouth.

“Then, is there anywhere with a larger library than the ducal mansion? There’s a book I’m looking for.”

“Ah, if there’s something you want, just tell me and I’ll get it for you.”

Magnus answered readily.

Getting a few books was nothing to him.

“Actually, I’m quite interested in mythology. I noticed there were some stories about the World Tree and Darkness…”

Serena glanced at Magnus cautiously.

She scratched her cheek and continued carefully.

“Could we get a few more books related to that? The ones in the library here seem too… lacking in credibility.”

Serena said, recalling the content of the book that still seemed ridiculous even when she thought about it again.

Apart from that, she realized from seeing Nyx that it wasn’t completely without credibility.

‘So I want to see a bit more detailed content.’

Something like a slightly boring history book written more seriously.

“…World Tree?”

Magnus couldn’t help but ask when an unexpected word flowed from Serena’s mouth.

“Yes, World Tree… Why?”

Seeing Serena asking cautiously, he shook his head lightly with a smile.

“I just asked because it seems like it’s been a long time since I’ve heard it, except when I was taking mythology classes when I was young.”

“Ah…”

Serena nodded as if she understood and scratched her cheek.

“I don’t know much about such things.”

“If that’s what you want, I’ll get you a hundred or a thousand books.”

Magnus said so while inwardly restraining himself from probing further.

“But why are you suddenly curious about the World Tree? Is it just simple curiosity?”

“Umm…”

Serena hesitated a little.

She wasn’t told not to disclose about the World Tree’s contractor.

However, no matter how she thought about it, she didn’t have the confidence to say that the rabbit she was living with seemed to be ‘Darkness’.

“Are the stories of the World Tree and Darkness famous?”

“It’s a story that all citizens of the empire know.”

“Hmm…”

Serena nodded.

If it’s a story everyone knows, they might not treat it as so far-fetched when talking about the existence of ‘Darkness’.

“Do you know that the World Tree also has contractors?”

Magnus knew that to maintain a smooth conversation with people, especially when you’re hoping to extract something, it’s good to bring up your own story first.

“Contractors?”

Serena showed interest.

‘…There’s something.’

Magnus thought so, but nodded casually as if he was just going to tell a myth story.

“What’s a World Tree contractor?”

“It’s literally a contractor who has made a contract with the World Tree. If a saintess is a contractor called by God, then a hero is a contractor called by the World Tree.”

“…Hero?”

Serena’s eyes blinked.

After saintess comes hero? It seemed like a fantasy world setting, but then again, it would be strange if there were no heroes when there were saintesses.

“Is that hero the World Tree’s contractor?”

“More precisely, those who are usually called heroes are the World Tree’s contractors.”

“Ah.”

So you awaken as a hero when you make a contract with the World Tree?

‘Then I’ve clearly been scammed in this contract.’

At least it was clear that Nyx, or whatever Nyx served, was not the World Tree.

Because Serena’s role was not that of a hero, but of a villainess.

While a hero would receive praise, all Serena was receiving was malice from all directions.

‘Then what I contracted with is indeed Darkness?’

Serena sat at the dining table and lowered her head with a serious face.

She touched her forehead in frustration, then let out a deep sigh and eventually buried her face in her palms.

You know that feeling, right?

‘It’s like joining what you thought was a financial company, but it turns out to be an illegal loan shark operation with gangsters.’

Serena’s expression instantly turned into a frown.

They say that when an unlucky person falls backwards, they break their nose, and that was exactly Serena’s case.

‘How can a person have such strong bad luck?’

She sincerely wanted to ask herself.

Magnus carefully observed Serena while calmly continuing to speak.

“Anyway, the hero receives compensation from the World Tree, and the World Tree gives trials or revelations to the hero to eliminate some evil that threatens the world.”

“…Evil.”

Serena now didn’t feel good just hearing that word.

“Even if it’s not evil, you can think of it as eliminating threats.”

Magnus quickly changed his words.

It was because he noticed Serena’s face becoming somewhat dejected.

“Threats…”

“It’s just about maintaining world peace.”

“To maintain world peace, you need to eliminate villains, right?”

Magnus rolled his eyes, not knowing what to do at Serena’s self-deprecating words, and just opened his mouth as it came.

“No, I’ll eliminate the heroes.”

“…Huh?”

Magnus was about to touch his head but stopped and shook his head towards Serena.

“I can eliminate any hero who tries to punish evil.”

“…If you eliminate heroes who punish evil, doesn’t that make you evil?”

“I can be a villain if need be.”

Magnus nodded, saying something that would horrify the Emperor or Crown Prince if they heard it, as if it was nothing.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, so if a hero comes, I’ll eliminate them all.”

Magnus once again uttered words that would terrify Drukan if he heard them, as if it was nothing.

“…I want to know more about the World Tree and Darkness.”

Serena said.

“Hmm, I’m cautious, but if you want this so much, it seems like you’re involved in something complicated…”

Magnus observed Serena’s reaction.

Serena looked at him with a troubled expression.

“Serena, by any chance, do you have some connection with the World Tree?”

“…Is that not allowed?”

“No, that’s not it.”

While answering, Magnus was frantically thinking in his head.

After all, everyone who had learned mythology knew that there was only one contractor of the World Tree.

And a hero already existed.

Drukan had said so, and Magnus found Drukan’s words credible.

“Serena, perhaps…”

“What should I do, Magnus… I think I’ve been scammed in a contract…”

Serena, on the verge of being found out, said with a quite miserable face.

Magnus, who was prepared to listen generously to any story, gaped.

“Scam, cont…”

Magnus touched his forehead, unable to finish the word.

Serena glanced at Magnus’s reaction and fidgeted with her fingers.

‘I shouldn’t get angry.’

He shouldn’t get angry, but.

A scam contract?

Scam… contract.

It’s unbelievable and doesn’t make sense, how could a marquis’s daughter fall for a scam contract?

Anyway, Magnus just felt a throbbing headache.

“This is what happens when you stamp a contract without properly reading it! It was the same when you tried to divorce before…!”

Magnus, who had been reminding himself of dozens of reasons to be patient in his mind, finally couldn’t hold back and ended up shouting.

No, who on earth could have scammed her into a contract with the World Tree!

“Are you a fool?!”

“No!”

“You are a fool!”

“No, why are you getting angry! How was I supposed to know what it was?!”

“If you didn’t know, you shouldn’t have done it! Didn’t you learn not to make contracts carelessly?”

Magnus’s words were right on every count. Serena was at a loss for words.

“I did learn…!”

I did learn, but I was blinded by the desire for revenge.

Serena knew that Magnus was making perfectly valid points, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she would make the contract again if given the chance.

“I became so consumed by the desire for revenge that I lost sight of everything else. Like… blinded by vengeance…”

“Stop trying to set the mood, Serena.”

“Yes.”

Serena quietly backed down at Magnus’s rebuke.