Lerrhagen’s gaze darkened further at Hasis’s words. He lightly touched his forehead.

“Hah.”

This unusually intense reaction from Lerrhagen made Hasis furrow his brow, sensing something was wrong.

“What’s the matter? Do you perhaps know something…”

But before Hasis could finish his sentence, a golden light suddenly appeared in midair, forming a large circular ring.

“Isn’t this a teleportation ring used by alchemists?”

At that moment, Lerrhagen’s brow twitched.

A few seconds later, Ilian emerged from the circular ring, stepping boldly before them.

“We have a problem.”

“What are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the festival with those kids?”

“The young lady has disappeared.”

“What? What do you mean?”

Hasis’s face contorted completely. Despite his outburst, Ilian remained calm.

“Exactly what I said. The young lady has disappeared. I’ve already sent back the Adler child and the knights. What matters now is the young lady’s safety.”

“How could you possibly have lost her—”

“…”

“No, wait. She may look like a child, but she’s not someone who would get kidnapped easily… Master, shouldn’t we go right away… Huh, Master?”

However, Hasis was startled when he turned his head to ask urgently.

The spot where Lerrhagen had been sitting just moments ago was completely empty.

“Damn it. This is becoming a headache.”

Hasis messed up his hair while muttering a curse under his breath. Soon after, he turned to Ilian with a cold expression.

“You didn’t deliberately leave her unattended, did you?”

“Who knows.”

“If anything happens to her, you’ll die by either my hand or Master’s.”

With those words, Hasis walked away.

Left alone, Ilian smiled bitterly. Soon, he murmured quietly.

“Well, I wish that were the case.”

Of course, there was no response.

* * *

The festival was more bustling than I had expected.

Yet it wasn’t an unpleasant commotion. Rather, the festival atmosphere somehow made people more excited than usual.

Proving this point, Evelyn—who normally fidgeted nervously around me—was now gaping with her mouth open, completely absorbed in taking in her surroundings, unlike her usual self.

“Wow, how pretty.”

“Hmm.”

“Your Highness, look, isn’t that beautiful?”

What Evelyn pointed to was clearly a cheap bead necklace. The necklace, densely strung with beads, merely sparkled in the light, but there was no real reason to spend money on it.

However, Evelyn’s sparkling eyes were too obvious. When she started to pull out her money pouch that she had brought separately, I quickly stopped her and said to Ilian.

“Brother, buy just one of those for her.”

I didn’t want the child to take out money and face any trouble. Ilian caught my look, which clearly meant to buy it at a reasonable price, and shrugged his shoulders.

Soon after haggling with the shop owner a few times, Ilian came back with two sparkling bead necklaces.

“Here, this one’s for the young lady, and this one’s for the little miss here.”

“…?”

Why did he buy one for me? Is he mocking me now?

I looked at the bead necklace around my neck and cursed Ilian with my eyes. However, Ilian looked at me with a nonchalant face and asked.

“What, don’t you like it? Should I get you a different color?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Shut your mouth before I string you up like a necklace.

Eventually, I continued forward, holding Evelyn’s hand.

By the time we reached the central plaza of the festival, both she and I were laden with cotton candy, juice, crepes, and all sorts of food and useless crafts.

“Wow, delicious.”

I glanced at Evelyn, who showed no hesitation in eating street food despite being a noble lady.

Among the offerings were foods that I didn’t particularly want to eat—clearly unhealthy options that I sincerely wanted to stop her from consuming—but I refrained when I saw her beaming face.

‘Well, how many times in her life will a noble lady get to eat such things?’

When I was young, I never received permission to leave the imperial palace. Had I been able to attend festivals, I would have craved such foods too.

Thinking this way made me feel strangely emotional.

Eventually, I sat down next to a fountain after finding a spot in the central plaza.

Though dust had accumulated, it didn’t matter since clothes could always be washed.

Evelyn sat beside me, licking her ice cream.

For reference, it was what Ilian had bought for me, but having already consumed my daily allowance of sugar, I couldn’t bear to eat more and gave it to Evelyn.

Despite initially refusing, Evelyn was now enjoying it quite heartily. I asked her seriously.

“Don’t they give you desserts at home?”

I asked out of genuine curiosity, but Evelyn seemed to take it differently. Her face turned bright red as she lowered her ice cream.

I quickly added to reassure her.

“I’m not criticizing you, so just eat it.”

“At home, I don’t get to eat much.”

“Don’t tell me Margrit steals your food too?”

“No, no. My sister actually avoids desserts for the sake of her figure.”

“If she wants to lose weight, she should exercise, not stop eating. No wonder she looks so frail.”

That was partly me finding fault, but I had no reason to view Margrit favorably anyway.

“So you’re not having things taken away? They just give you less?”

“Yes.”

“Then that’s fine.”

It’s natural for a marquis household to limit desserts. Giving children unlimited sweets just because they like them would show a lack of proper upbringing.

Evelyn seemed to have expected me to join her in anger again, so she looked somewhat dejected.

But how much time had passed when her eyes lit up again upon spotting a doll shop in the distance?

“Your Highness, can I, that, that one.”

I made a sour face. A doll shop?

Again? I glanced at the dolls already clutched in the knights’ hands.

“You want to buy more?”

“Is that not okay?”

“I’m a bit tired.”

“Really? Then let’s go back!”

“No, what I mean is, can’t you go by yourself? I’ll stay here and eat something.”

Evelyn looked a bit disappointed at my words. However, soon her desire to look at dolls seemed to overcome her desire to stay with me, and she hopped off the fountain.

“Then I’ll go look around and come back.”

“Yeah, sure.”

Soon Evelyn headed toward the doll shop with the knights. The place was already crowded with all sorts of children. Around them were adults like me, watching their children with tired expressions.

“Why don’t you go too, young lady?”

“You want me to join that crowd? I’m tired.”

“My, weren’t you supposed to be a great magician? I thought I heard your combat skills were impressive, but you’re already tired?”

“That stamina and this stamina are different. Why do children run around so energetically? We’ve been chattering non-stop since the entrance, peeking at every crowded spot, so why aren’t they tired yet?”

“Young lady, you’re in a child’s body too.”

“But my spirit is that of a worn-out, jaded adult.”

In the end, I just rambled whatever came to mind.

Ilian chuckled softly beside me. Seeing him laugh like this for the first time, I looked at him curiously.

Come to think of it, this was also the first time we had sat side by side and talked.

‘Of course. Why would I sit and chat with someone who came to harm me?’

But on second thought, for someone like that, he had been rather well-behaved.

“So, have you noticed any suspicious energy or people while enjoying the festival so far?”

“Huh?”

“What? Don’t tell me you’ve just been carelessly enjoying the festival this whole time?”

However, Ilian looked genuinely clueless at my question.

When I made a stern face, he finally smiled again and shook his head.

“No, there’s nothing. Don’t worry.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. I can’t lie to you anyway, remember?”

That wasn’t wrong, but why did it sound so strange?

“You certainly have a way with words.”

“I need to speak well if I don’t want you to kill me.”

“So, what exactly did that person instruct you to do? Isn’t it about time you told me?”

“Ah, that’s a difficult question. I’ll die if I lie because of our covenant. Can I refuse to answer?”

“Were you ordered to kill me?”

I had actually asked about his objective once before. However, that was before we made the covenant, and now that we had established it, lying could genuinely trigger the covenant’s effects.

Ilian looked a bit surprised by my direct question. But soon, he smiled gently again and replied.

“Aren’t you afraid of dying, young lady?”

“It’s not so much fear as dislike.”

“Then why do you ask so calmly?”

“Because I won’t die.”

“…”

“I told you before. No matter what crimes I’ve committed or what wrongs I’ve done, I will live shamelessly. And if someone tries to punish me, I’ll resist as much as possible before facing death.”

“…”

“So it doesn’t matter. Whether you’re trying to kill me or not. I won’t die. Ever.”

So tell me.

Perhaps understanding my intention, Ilian finally sighed.

“You’re right.”

“Really?”

“You guessed it, didn’t you?”

“What bastard would dare try to frame me?”

Ilian chuckled at my reaction. I glared at him.

“You find this funny? I could kill you right now, you know?”

Of course, I have no intention of killing Ilian. I plan to use him as much as possible while I can.