Magnus’s face slightly contorted.

“I… don’t want to be with you.”

“…Do you find me uncomfortable?”

Serena slowly nodded to those words.

Magnus’s hand, which had been tightly holding Serena’s, slowly fell away.

Magnus, who never thought he would be rejected so bluntly, felt his mind go blank.

“…Do you hate me?”

Magnus asked, uncharacteristically tense.

However, fortunately, she quietly shook her head to this question. As if to say she didn’t hate him.

“Then why on earth…”

“When I’m with you…”

Serena’s face contorted.

As if it was a lie that there had been a faint smile, she instantly fell into an abyss.

“I feel like I’ll become unhappy.”

Serena answered.

Even if the current situation is different from the original story she knows, it’s impossible not to be afraid.

It’s easy to pretend to be nonchalant. But if he were to truly become hostile towards her like earlier…

It was terrible.

“I don’t want to…”

“You won’t have any reason to be unhappy.”

He said firmly.

“I like you, who in the world would dare to touch you?”

“……”

Instead of answering that, Serena slowly turned her head.

After turning her gaze to the window outside and maintaining a long silence, she soon slowly opened her mouth.

“Actually, I died once.”

Out of the many things Serena could have said, she pulled out just one.

In fact, it wasn’t just once.

“…Serena?”

Magnus, caught off guard by the shocking start of the conversation, unconsciously looked up at Serena blankly.

She quietly looked back at such a Magnus.

‘……’

Magnus read death in those eyes. The eyes of those who know death, which could only be seen on battlefields.

While thinking it was nonsense, he suddenly thought that what Serena had just said might be the truth.

“Over a decade ago, I died in that carriage accident. Magnus.”

Serena said.

That she had died long ago.

Magnus took a deep breath and clenched his fist.

It was a very big accident.

The carriage that fell off the cliff was shattered to pieces, and there was no one alive.

He heard that Serena’s condition was quite serious too. However, it was a seriousness that wouldn’t affect her life.

When he saw the accident scene belatedly, when he saw the miserable state of the coachman who had been riding with her belatedly, he thought something was strange.

“Then… if you died, who on earth was the person I’ve been with all this time…”

Magnus felt a chill down his spine.

Because he suddenly became afraid.

He was the type who didn’t believe in stories about ghosts, spirits, or supernatural phenomena at all.

But if Serena’s words are true, there’s only one conclusion Magnus can draw.

“…Don’t tell me it was a ghost?”

“A different exis… Huh?”

A crack appeared in Serena’s expression as she was speaking seriously.

‘What did I just hear?’

Feeling a bit dizzy, Serena unconsciously pressed her fingertips to her forehead.

“…I’m sorry.”

Magnus, feeling embarrassed, quickly said.

However, since he couldn’t take back the words that had already come out, laughter finally burst from between Serena’s lips.

“Pfft…”

It was because Magnus’s appearance, with his neck turning bright red, was too funny.

“……”

“Ahahahaha!!”

Magnus blankly watched Serena burst into laughter.

Had she ever laughed like this during their time together?

Magnus just blinked his innocent eyes as he watched Serena, who was almost rolling on the bed, choking with laughter.

‘I should be feeling bad…’

Because he didn’t want to show this kind of appearance, and he didn’t like being laughed at.

‘…I can’t seem to get angry at all.’

Magnus crossed his arms sullenly, feeling himself relieved.

It’s good that she’s laughing, but he doesn’t like the reason for the laughter.

But, it’s good that she’s laughing.

As she laughed honestly and properly, she was certainly as beautiful as her appearance.

Seeing that sight that seemed to make him lose his mind, Magnus finally let out a crooked laugh, and soon began to laugh loudly along with her.

“Serena.”

After a while, he stopped laughing and called Serena in a much softer voice.

Serena turned her head while trying to hold back her laughter.

“I really do love you.”

“……”

Serena’s eyes widened at the sudden words thrown along with a face thrust right in front of her nose.

This time, her neck suddenly heated up and turned bright red, visibly burning.

“…Ah.”

Magnus quietly looked at her.

Suddenly feeling the urge to kiss her, he pulled her closer.

Serena’s eyes, who had been rolling around on the bed, widened.

Magnus slowly kissed her.

Serena, who had been rolling her eyes with a bright red face, fortunately didn’t refuse.

That was at least a fortunate thing.

‘It seems her words about not hating me were true.’

If so, he becomes curious about why she’s rejecting him to this extent.

Magnus thought as he grabbed her waist and brought his body a little closer.

When Serena seemed to be running out of breath, he slowly let her breathe and then swallowed her again.

“Haa, haa…”

“Sorry, I suddenly wanted to kiss you.”

“……”

Whether it was because of the breathing or the kiss, Serena took shallow breaths with a face turned bright red.

He let out a short sigh.

“So, will you continue telling me?”

He pulled Serena into his arms and lay down on the bed.

“Wait, wait. I didn’t wash today…!”

“Did you wash yesterday?”

“You told me to wash!”

“…That’s right.”

It was surprising that she did exactly what he told her to do.

“But why didn’t you eat?”

“I did eat.”

“Eating one meal every day or two isn’t considered eating.”

As he spoke lightly in the much more relaxed atmosphere, Serena rolled her eyes.

“No, I kept eating what was brought.”

“Of course, one plate isn’t considered a meal either.”

Magnus retorted while burying his face in her neck.

Serena let out a sigh.

“So… you said you died.”

The words on the tip of his tongue are not at all familiar.

“…If I say I opened my eyes after dying and it was a different world, would you believe me?”

Serena asked in a muffled voice, her face buried in his chest.

As if she didn’t want to see his reaction head-on, she had her neck completely shrunk, and Magnus took a moment to choose his words.

‘…Of course I don’t believe it.’

It’s not just unbelievable, to put it a bit crudely, it’s f*cking unbelievable.

But he knows that if he says such words here, Serena will be hurt.

So he took some time to contemplate.

He needed time to convince himself.

“Yes, I’ll believe everything you say.”

He gave the answer that was the farthest from a lie that he could manage.

Serena remained still in his arms. With each long breath she exhaled, hot breath rushed through the gaps in his clothes.

‘…This is killing me.’

Feeling his lower body trying to act up again, he tried hard to close his eyes and imagine peaceful birds flying around.

If not, he couldn’t endure it.

Frogs are animals.

Humans are animals.

Therefore, Magnus was also an animal.

Magnus brainwashed himself into enduring this time of patience.

It was because he had been greatly stimulated by the kiss just now. But he had to endure.

“I opened my eyes and it was a different world…”

“Serena, I like you.”

“…Suddenly?”

Interrupting someone’s words?

Magnus seemed flustered too and was silent for a moment.

He tried to somehow soothe his lower body with his mouth, but he admitted that the timing was bad.

“…I’m sorry, you can continue.”

He said, shaking his head.

“…Anyway, it was a different world.”

“Yes.”

“There… somehow I got scammed and ended up living like a slave…”

“…What?”

“No, I wasn’t a real slave. Just preparing meals, running errands, pleasing them a bit, setting up appointments on their behalf, apologizing in their place when they made mistakes, delivering gifts, and that person was a scholar doing research so I cleaned and organized the lab, grew herbs, cleaned the house, and also wrote reports on their behalf and had them reviewed, and also took care of necessary supplies and…”

“Wait, wait, wait.”

Magnus urgently stopped her words.

Because the words coming out were too far beyond his common sense to listen to any further.

“It was similar to a butler…”

“Butlers don’t do that kind of work.”

Magnus retorted sharply right away.

Serena’s shoulders flinched again.

‘A butler is just a manager…’

Magnus thought.

To begin with, all those tasks are done by different servants, each in charge of their own area.

But she did all of that alone?

“…You were a slave.”

Magnus affirmed what she had said at first.

Serena became somewhat sad.

She wanted to prove that she wasn’t a slave, but her counterpart affirmed the fact that she was a slave even after hearing the whole story.

“…I wasn’t a slave. I could move around freely…”

“You don’t have to be in shackles to be a slave.”

“…And it wasn’t that hard.”

“When you get used to it, you tend to resign yourself to the situation.”

“…I learned quite a bit too. All the medicines they gave me and such…”

even Magnus paused for a moment at those words.

It was because he thought that if it was a master-disciple relationship, there might be a very small chance that such an unreasonable relationship could exist.

“Then was it something like a master?”

To his question, Serena awkwardly nodded.

It’s because while she really hates calling them a master, it’s true that it was a similar position.

“I see. Then it’s possible you weren’t a slave.”

After all, even knight apprentices are practically rolled around while serving their masters.

“I wasn’t.”

“So how did you come back?”

“That master and I went back togeth… no, together we went boom…”

Serena spoke vaguely, hating the idea of uttering that word.

“……”

Magnus was silent.

“That’s not a master. You were definitely a slave.”

He said firmly.

“……”