The Lord’s Office in the Meldorf Estate.

Raven, who entered without knocking, had already neatly tied his now completely white hair at the nape of his neck.

“You’ve come in person, Contractee.”

“Yes. You’ve made me come all this way.”

In front of the office desk, instead of its rightful owner, sat a blond man. His blue eyes, filled with displeasure, glanced at Baron Alterman standing beside him.

Baron Alterman’s face was flushed nearly purple, trembling violently. His head was slightly tilted back as if an invisible force was choking him.

“You tracked her?”

“Yes. I confirmed it myself.”

“She was really at the Grand Duke’s residence?”

“Yes. She seemed to be staying there under his favor.”

“…Ha.”

The blond man let out a short, cold laugh, and at the same time, Baron Alterman’s body flew across the room, crashing into a corner.

With a loud crash, the furniture in that area was destroyed.

“And?”

“She had a baby with her.”

“A baby?”

“How old would she be if she hadn’t even started walking yet?”

“There’s—there’s an infant! I saw it with my own eyes!”

Baron Alterman, who had been crumpled in the corner, hurriedly interjected.

Raven’s teal eyes swept over the baron, who was desperately trying to prove his usefulness, with a pitying glance.

“A baby, huh.”

“Well, that wench must have slept with some lowlife—ugh!”

Just as the baron was babbling in an attempt to please his lord, his mouth was forcibly shut by an invisible force.

“If Odelia Lure had been so obedient, things wouldn’t have come to this.”

The man bared his teeth in a grin, and his sapphire-like blue eyes gleamed chillingly. Though his face still bore traces of the beauty of his youth, his gaze and expression were nothing short of vicious.

Knowing well the depth of jealousy and inferiority his contractee harbored toward Lady Lure, Raven paid it no mind and continued speaking.

“In any case, the baby seemed rather peculiar.”

The blond man tilted his head slightly, signaling him to go on.

“It almost seemed like she recognized me.”

“She? Recognized you?”

The blond man raised an eyebrow in suspicion at Raven’s words.

“Yes. As if she knew I wasn’t just an ordinary cat…?”

As he spoke, Raven recalled the baby who had stood protectively in front of Lady Lure, staring him down.

The blond man scoffed.

“What would an infant know? Maybe she just doesn’t like cats. Your eyes do have a rather unsettling look.”

“Ugh, that hurts.”

Despite his words, Raven smiled with his teal eyes narrowed.

‘She definitely called me a demon and told me to get lost… That’s what she said. But human babies aren’t supposed to be able to speak before they can walk. More than that, the divine energy she emitted was painful.’

Every time the baby had sent her piercing gaze his way, Raven had felt as if he were trapped in an invisible convection current, unable to move.

Even now, he could still feel the lingering sting on the back of his hand, as if from when his front paws had been pricked.

But he couldn’t go around spouting such humiliating stories when he wasn’t even certain.

“I’ll investigate further and report back, Contractee.”

“If you let her slip away while dawdling, it won’t be fun.”

“…Understood.”

Though his response was crisp, Raven’s flippant demeanor didn’t inspire much trust.

“So, you’re saying Odelia truly intends to marry my cousin.”

The blond man—Crown Prince Michael of Arcadia—leaned deeply against the chair’s backrest, resting his arms on the armrests, and tapped his fingertips together.

“Y-yes, Your Highness. That is exactly what I heard.”

Having somehow composed himself, Baron Alterman clasped his hands together in front of him and trembled as he spoke.

“How long has brother been coming and going from that place?”

“Well, that is…”

“It’s been nearly a month now.”

As Baron Alterman’s eyes darted around in panic at Michael’s question, Raven promptly answered in his stead.

“You’ve been ruling this estate for years, and you can’t even keep track of that?”

“That—that Lure wench must have used some trick. The servants she brought in have all locked their lips…”

He had deliberately placed only those unlikely to catch Odelia’s eye among the mansion’s staff, yet for some reason, they were all getting along too well.

‘Had I known this would happen, I shouldn’t have played the benevolent lord. I should’ve ordered them to act as spies from the start.’

Baron Alterman had no inkling that the loyalty of Mila, Paul, and Hans stemmed from generous wages and the combined efforts of their former-life servant mindset and the soul within Odelia’s body.

“In any case, based on the rumors among the residents and the atmosphere in the mansion, it seems the Grand Duke of Norhart is utterly smitten with Lady Lure, having proposed in a whirlwind courtship.”

“Yes, apparently it was love at first sight or something.”

“Love at first sight, my foot.”

Michael sneered at the baron’s attempt to contribute to the conversation.

“He’s disguising this political marriage as a love-driven pursuit. What does he intend to do by reviving the ruined Lure family…?”

“Surely he wouldn’t dare to restore a traitorous house?”

“If not that, then what other reason would he have to engage in such a ludicrous betrothal?”

As Michael humored him with a response, the baron’s face brightened.

“Father arranged countless marriage talks with noblewomen to keep him under control, but he rejected them all—yet now, of all people, it’s Odelia?”

“Well, they say that woman is going to die soon anyway.”

“Right. So, brother may not get what he wants, but I need to know what it is he wants in order to solidify my rule, don’t I? Besides.”

At that point, Michael’s blue eyes gleamed. If the young ladies of Belvo, who believed him to be a fair and warm-hearted man, saw this expression, they would be utterly shocked.

“Odelia Lure—so that arrogant woman is begging for my attention again in this way, is she?”

“Exactly, exactly! The timing of this whole mess, right after Your Highness announced your engagement, is more than suspicious.”

The baron eagerly chimed in, more than willing to reinforce his master’s words.

“Hmm. A political marriage refers to a union made for economic benefits, without regard for love or lust, correct?”

Raven, who had been listening to the conversation, tilted his head and asked. It had been over ten years since he entered the Middle Realm under his contract with Michael, yet he still found human customs difficult to grasp.

“Why are you saying something so obvious and disturbing His Highness’s mood?”

Neither of the two humans responded directly, but that was answer enough for Raven.

It meant that his assumption was correct.

‘…But something doesn’t add up.’

Raven recalled what he had observed over the past two days while staying in Norhart—how the Grand Duke and Lady Lure interacted.

He didn’t know the full story behind their relationship, but at the very least, it seemed a stretch to call it “loveless.”

“All I do is water the plants. Mathias does all the heavy lifting.”

“…Who?”

“My knight.”

When Lady Lure had mentioned a male name, the Grand Duke had reacted sharply—that had looked an awful lot like jealousy, hadn’t it?

And thinking back on the close distance between them, their lack of hesitation in touching one another—it all pointed in the same direction.

‘More than anything, Lady Lure’s heartbeat was racing far too quickly… If it wasn’t out of anger or fear, then wasn’t it because of passion?’

The overwhelming presence of magic flowing from Lady Lure’s heart had been impossible for Raven to ignore. The scent of it was so intoxicating that it nearly made him lose himself.

Raven licked his lips internally, but since he wasn’t entirely certain, he chose to keep quiet.

He wasn’t human, so he couldn’t make definitive statements about human emotions.

Instead, he decided to seek a different kind of compensation.

“By the way, my contractor. While you’re here…”

“…You really are a devil.”

“The Grand Duke kept trying to send me away, do you have any idea how much effort it took to stay?”

Raven buried his face in his hands and pretended to sob dramatically.

Tsk. Clicking his tongue, Michael pulled a dagger from his coat, slit his own wrist, and extended it toward Raven. The motion was so natural, as if he had done it hundreds of times before.

Raven bent down, sinking his fangs into the offered wrist, and sucked the blood as if savoring a fine drink.

Meanwhile, the baron, watching the scene unfold, turned pale as a sheet.

‘No matter how many times I see it, it’s always unsettling…’

A moment later, Raven lifted his head, looking completely satisfied.

‘If my contractor’s blood is this delicious, I wonder how much better Lady Lure’s would taste?’

Though he regretted being unable to indulge in it, he gently returned Michael’s arm. There wasn’t a single mark left on his wrist.

Michael irritably adjusted his sleeve and muttered through clenched teeth,

“For all the effort I put into reinforcing the barrier, and yet I still couldn’t stop brother from coming and going as he pleased.”

“I—I deeply apologize, Your Highness…”

Tsk. Michael clicked his tongue again, his elegant jaw tightening. A dull grinding noise came from his teeth.

“I’m in the middle of preparing for my wedding, yet he made me come all the way here.”

“I—I am truly, truly sorry, Your Highness…”

“I can’t trust you, so I’ll be visiting more frequently from now on. Thanks to you, my beautiful fiancée is about to shed tears.”

Michael muttered bitterly, but there wasn’t a single trace of affection in his expression—the kind of expression one would expect from a man who had abandoned the crown princess candidate of the century to marry another woman.

“Going back and forth here will attract too much attention. I’ll have to use that villa. It’s empty now, correct?”

“Yes, they finished moving out their belongings yesterday. And this morning, they even cleared out the kitchen garden.”

“The kitchen garden?”

“Seems they cultivated one while they were in exile.”

The baron, eager to prove his usefulness, quickly supplied the information, stating that he had confirmed it with a local horticulturalist.

Michael’s well-shaped lips twisted.

“…Couldn’t manage any maids, so she resorted to ordering around peasants?”

“No.”

Raven, who had been listening quietly, suddenly interjected.

“She took care of it herself. Something about rosemary, if I recall correctly.”

“Herself?”

Michael’s expression twisted as if he had just heard the most absurd joke.

“Odelia Lure? Tending to a kitchen garden herself? Getting dirt on her hands, watering plants?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

“She even had it replanted in Norhart.”

“…She must have lost her mind, knowing she’s about to die.”

Wasn’t she the same Odelia Lure who had shunned anything unrefined, who had deemed anything that didn’t enhance her honor to be beneath her?

‘Well, her stubborn pride kept her silent about the past, so I suppose I should be grateful for that.’

Michael bared his teeth and scoffed.