The curator looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“What’s the matter? Do you have some connection to that sword……”

“No such thing! I just! Find it interesting!”

I snapped back urgently. The curator tilted his head for a moment, then stepped away.

I stood there and stared at the soul sword the way one might gaze at an unreachable paradise.

I need to take it back quickly……

Obstacles were piled up on all sides.

※※※

Andre kept hedging at my demand for the soul sword. He twisted and turned as though it was a difficult request.

It was deeply frustrating.

“Answer me quickly. If it’s not that, there’s no deal.”

“Why that of all things? His Highness is quite…… attached to it, you might say. It’s something he’s fixated on.”

“How can he be attached to something he’s barely seen? It only just came into the museum. I simply thought the moment I saw it that it would definitely be worth a lot of money.”

“……”

“Worth money, so I want it. It’s beautiful.”

I hid my anxiety as best I could and crossed my arms. Fortunately, Andre didn’t dig too deeply into my desire for the soul sword. He simply seemed flustered about what to do.

“Is it too big a matter for you to negotiate, Assistant?”

He gave a careful nod at my question. He looked quite pitiful.

I stroked my chin and reached a conclusion.

“Then I’ll go to His Highness’s study right now. I’ll hear a direct answer from His Highness himself.”

“No, that’s——”

“Why. Does His Highness find the sight of my face unbearable?”

“How could that be? His Highness cares so much about you……”

“Enough. Same words every time. I’m getting up!”

I had nothing to lose. Now that the soul sword was in David’s hands, I had no choice but to get it back quickly.

The moment it’s in my hands, I’ll drive it into his chest. I don’t know what will happen to me afterward, but none of that matters.

I was too exhausted to think about anything complicated. The thought of abandoning David and running off on my own had crossed my mind more than once.

But…… Moz could no longer play the role of the female lead. And I was the one who had made it that way.

I didn’t want David to spend his entire life as the host of the spirit of desire. That was too cruel.

I headed to David’s study with Andre and Achilles, who always trailed behind me. Each step I took was deliberate and purposeful.

David in the study was wearing small glasses. He had been so absorbed in his work that his features were all drawn together. A crease between his brows, his lips slightly pinched. It was an unfamiliar look.

David received me with a dry expression.

I felt a small surge of emotion but suppressed it. I still didn’t fully know what cards David was holding.

David led me to a chair without any fuss, as though he had been expecting me. I sat on the leather sofa and got straight to the point.

“I heard it was decided at the grand council that I would train the new administrative officials.”

“Yeah.”

“Who gave permission? Who said they’d do it?”

“Didn’t you come because you want to?”

His words left me speechless. David had known all along. From displaying the soul sword in the museum to knowing I would come to negotiate. The pieces fit together like a puzzle.

What is he trying to do?

I raised one eyebrow.

“Yes. Do you know what I want too?”

“That I don’t know.”

“Then why do you look like you do?”

“Well. You’re a suspicious person.”

His words hit me like an attack, and my chest tightened for a moment. A suspicious person. Someone who doesn’t believe in love.

I quickly steadied my breathing. I couldn’t lose my composure here.

“Fine. I want the soul sword on display in the museum.”

David showed no surprise at my words. He simply curved one corner of his mouth.

“It’s something that can’t even be priced…… you have a good eye. Must be the businesswoman in you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. Will you make a deal?”

David stroked his chin as though drawing out the moment. He crossed his legs and wore a bored expression, and it was infuriatingly attractive.

A moment later, he slowly nodded.

It was like a tiger leading a pack, graciously permitting the others to eat what was left.

It felt unpleasant, but getting the soul sword was what mattered.

Then David smiled with a certain cheekiness and added one more thing.

“In exchange, I’ll give it to you on the day you finish training the new officials.”

“Are you worried I’ll slack off?”

“Maybe?”

“Ha! What do you take me for. I’m the one who built Dia.”

I thumped my chest in frustration. David only shrugged. I genuinely wanted to hit him.

I trembled with irritation and stood. Whether it was the new administrative officials or Dia’s employees, I was confident I could bring anyone into line.

David spoke as I moved to leave the study.

“Is that sword really that important to you?”

His voice was noticeably different from before. A little more sensitive, a little sharper.

I swallowed and gripped the door handle.

“It is. In every sense.”

Because it’s a sword I need for your sake.

I walked out of his space without looking back. Only then did I breathe freely.

Achilles, who had been standing quietly beside me, lowered his head briefly and studied my face.

“Are you out of breath?”

“I didn’t realize you talk this much.”

“I only said one thing.”

“No……”

In the book he was truly quiet, is what I mean.

I gave up pressing the matter and went back to my room. My head hurt.

The walk from the main building’s study to my room was quite long. Andre had stayed behind in the study, so it was just Achilles and me, and the servants we passed kept glancing at him.

It seemed strange to them that a well-known figure from the Kresi Knight Order was walking the grand ducal castle as my escort knight.

Right. I still find it strange myself.

Achilles erased his own presence with the ease of someone who had done escort work many times before. All for the comfort of his charge.

So even I, who was acutely aware of Achilles, sometimes forgot he was there.

In any case, when would the new officials’ training end? If it depended on my abilities…… two weeks, perhaps?

Lost in those thoughts, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I stepped forward without thinking and felt the ground drop out from under me.

What, what?

Eyes wide, I was falling, and Achilles beside me wrapped a firm arm around my stomach and waist. His reflexes were so fast it felt like a rehearsed performance.

Caught abruptly in Achilles’s arms, I let out a ragged breath.

“Hah, hah!”

The twenty steps descending below were enormous and terrible, like the mouth of a demon. I had nearly tumbled endlessly to the bottom. My heart was pounding.

But from Achilles, who had no scent at all, I sensed a dangerous energy for just a moment. A bead of sweat like dew clung near his neck and rolled down.

I slowly pulled free from his hold and looked up at his face. My head tilted up on its own. He was quite rigid.

“You nearly…… got hurt.”

A moment later, Achilles spoke in a tense voice. He looked, somehow, a little angry.

I stared at Achilles with a puzzled expression.

He still hadn’t moved, his hand still resting at my waist. Like another step from me would cause an accident.

The change in Achilles, now carrying himself like a man with a woman, made me uncomfortable, and I quickly stepped away. Even after putting distance between us, his presence seemed to linger. And it was not the clean, pure image he usually projected. It was full of desire.

Dangerous. Very dangerous.

I pressed my cold hands to my face. I needed to get a grip.

“Thank you for catching me. That could have been bad.”

“Please watch your surroundings when you walk. You think too much, Miss.”

“I make one mistake and you lecture me like that. You sound like someone who’s angry.”

I looked at him with sharp eyes. Achilles seemed not to have realized he was angry, and wore a bewildered expression.

“What reason would I have to be angry.”

“That’s how it seemed to me.”

He probably didn’t even know he had felt that way. He was a grown adult, but emotionally he was still a child who hadn’t properly learned or awakened to his own feelings.

In some ways, I was the same. Full of wounds, hiding and running away.

I felt a strange kinship with Achilles as I returned to my room.