* * *

BANG–!

‘Is it thunder?!’

The rabbit, no, Nyx, startled awake from its peaceful slumber on the bed, suddenly opening its eyes and pressing its front paws against its ears while jerking its head up.

That’s when it happened.

CREAK–!

Along with a loud noise, the bed shook violently.

‘No, it’s an earthquake!’

Thinking this, Nyx was so startled that it leaped off the bed with a hop.

Even while flustered, like a seasoned professional, it didn’t forget to grasp its notebook and pencil with its front paws.

BOOM–!

‘Oh no, everything’s collapsing!’

The moment Nyx jumped off the bed and into the air, this time the bed collapsed helplessly to the floor with a thunderous noise.

‘Serena!’

The black rabbit Nyx, eyes wide open, kicked the air once more with its hind legs.

It was when Nyx, who had changed direction to wake Serena after initially trying to escape towards the door, looked back at the bed.

“……”

“……”

“……”

Nyx was at a loss for words.

Of course, being a cute rabbit, it naturally couldn’t speak.

It didn’t have a voice to lose in the first place.

Thud–

Instead, Nyx dropped the notebook it was holding.

“What… are you doing?”

“…It’s apparently a new conversation trend.”

“……”

Thud, roll–

Hearing those words, it ended up dropping the pencil as well.

In fact, Magnus realized something was wrong from the moment the bed’s stuffing burst out and the creaking sound occurred.

Roel probably didn’t expect this either.

He wouldn’t have known that Magnus could split rocks with his sword and break trees as thick as three grown men could encircle with his bare hands.

Serena, who had been sleeping peacefully until this rude awakening, was simply at a loss for words.

On the mattress with its broken frame and burst stuffing, a man and a woman were entangled.

Serena’s eyes widened as she looked at Magnus, who was so close that their breaths mingled.

Her heart pounded loudly.

‘I thought I was being murdered…’

Because she thought she was going to die.

Serena, extremely startled, took a deep breath.

Her trembling gaze, unable to find words, wandered before settling on Magnus’s eyes.

Magnus’s pupils were shaking just as much as hers.

His heart was also pounding so fast it hurt his ears.

He was surprised too. He didn’t expect the bed to collapse so easily.

‘…Today’s trends are scary.’

He thought.

If one had to be this rough for a conversation to work, he wondered if the social circles were becoming a bit frightening.

“…Where did you get scammed?”

Serena asked with a serious face.

He’s entering the room of someone taking a nap, as always, suddenly breaking the bed, and then calling it a new conversation trend.

‘Where did you get taken advantage of?’

Serena guessed that he must have been scammed or bullied.

Otherwise, what kind of incomparable idiot would believe and act on such nonsense!

“Scammed? No, nothing like that.”

Magnus answered firmly with a puzzled expression.

In reality, he hadn’t been scammed at all.

‘…He was scammed. He was scammed without even knowing it.’

She was simply dumbfounded.

“Today… did you meet anyone?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“…An assistant. Why do you keep asking?”

Magnus, who had been answering, felt something odd and asked back.

“…It’s nothing.”

‘So it was that guy!’

Serena frowned slightly while pretending to answer nonchalantly.

If it wasn’t Pamel, the butler of the ducal residence, the assistant he mentioned must have been that man at the information guild.

‘…He’s committing insubordination against his heavenly superior.’

For Serena, who had been rolling around under her professor, this was an incomprehensible act.

“I have something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

She tried her best to compose her expression while calming her still pounding heart.

Her voice trembled uncharacteristically due to the shock.

“I heard from an acquaintance at the information guild that you had visited the information guild…”

Magnus sold her a dubious story.

“……”

The problem was that he was the only one who didn’t realize he was selling a dubious story.

Unlike Roel, who successfully was sold to his dubious ideas, Magnus had a tough opponent.

Serena already knew that he was the head of the information guild.

“Ah, um…”

She couldn’t bring herself to meet his somewhat stupid… no, innocent golden eyes, so she slightly lowered her gaze.

‘She averted her gaze.’

Magnus was a bit surprised that things were going exactly as Roel had said.

Because he couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong when he saw Serena’s furrowed brow and trembling pupils.

But soon, as things went as Roel had predicted, Magnus felt relieved.

“I heard you were going to do something.”

But he shouldn’t have felt relieved.

“Something like a business…”

“……”

Serena desperately avoided his gaze to hide her shaking eyes while racking her brain.

She had no choice.

‘How on earth does this person run the information guild?’

To Serena, who had been rolling around under her professor in the rotten world, Magnus’s probing seemed too immature, naive, and amateurish.

Even his excuses were clumsy.

“Well, I am preparing for a business…”

But she didn’t understand why he was so interested in her business.

Honestly, Serena found Magnus’s persistence somewhat unfamiliar and perplexing.

‘I was a bit surprised when he refused…’

Come to think of it, it was a bit strange that she thought he would naturally accept.

‘He must hate me.’

It was almost embarrassing that she only realized this obvious fact after hearing Magnus’s refusal.

“I don’t intend to interfere with you.”

Serena thought Magnus might be angry because he misunderstood her.

Did he think she was going to do something bad with that business?

‘I understand given what I’ve done so far, but…’

It still stings a bit.

“I know you hate me… but I don’t intend to interfere with you much through the business. I just thought I needed a steady income to live alone.”

Serena said with a slightly subdued voice.

“……”

Magnus was a bit flustered. He realized that his attempt at goodwill had been misunderstood.

As he was organizing his thoughts to explain this, Serena asked first.

“How did you learn about this new… conversation trend?”

“I asked my assistant.”

“About what?”

“He said it was a conversation method to subdue the other person and make everything go smoothly.”

“Ah.”

Serena blinked. She suddenly realized something.

‘It wasn’t a scam!’

She made a face of great surprise and slight disbelief. Magnus had simply threatened her.

And in such an intimidating way!

‘That’s why he refused.’

He must have thought she was plotting something. She tried to clear up Magnus’s misunderstanding first.

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe, but I really don’t intend to harm you.”

She glanced down at the bed that had collapsed and crumbled with a single punch, swallowing her tension.

She made her voice as gentle as possible.

“I’m sorry for going to the information guild where your… acquaintance is, but I was rejected there and I won’t go again.”

“…Is that so?”

Magnus replied with a slightly flushed voice.

Serena became even more uncomfortable at his reaction. However, looking at the broken bed, she didn’t have the confidence to show it.

“Yes, I won’t go there anymore.”

“Then, regarding that matter, I…”

“It’s fine, I’ve already found another partner anyway.”

Just as he thought the conversation was going well as Roel had said, and was about to remove his arm propped on the bed…

“…What?”

A rather shocking statement came out of her mouth.

“…No, you did it with someone else?”

“Yes.”

“Who on earth?”

Where else did she go besides the information guild?

Magnus finally realized that the conversation, far from going well, was heading in an increasingly strange direction.

“IMA.”

“If it’s IMA… don’t tell me.”

“That’s right, the Imperial Merchants Association.”

“…Of all places, you went there?”

“Of all places? Well, I was originally thinking of going to the Merchants Guild, but it seemed to have too many restrictions, so I went to negotiate with the more liberal association. Now I just need to stamp the seal.”

Serena nodded to reassure him.

“Everyone knows that the head of IMA is pro-emperor, so he’ll quickly notice if I try to do anything unnecessary.”

So there’s no chance of any trouble spilling over.

Serena thought her idea was quite excellent.

However, Magnus, who had climbed on top of her after long deliberation for this conversation, was at his wits’ end.

‘…After the information guild, it’s the IMA?’

Magnus’s pupils trembled finely.