The red bird queen, who had been fuming for quite some time, soon seemed to find even her anger a waste and released her presence.

[Foolish child, are you truly all right looking like this?]

“I am not all right, which is why I came to find you. Otherwise, why would I willingly walk into a forest reeking of gloomy energy?”

As she stepped down onto the grass, an oval ripple swept across the ground around her.

Everywhere it passed, the forest that had been shrinking in alarm looked to its owner for cues.

[Ha! This is exactly why one should not go around picking up ungrateful little brats!]

Even as she said that, a golden halo of light flowed from Irena’s feet to the top of her head.

The next moment, a slender, handsome young man was wearing the backpack in Irena’s place.

Irena blinked to adjust to the higher eye level.

[To think I chose such a raccoon-like contractor, oh, what a fate is mine.]

Contrary to her grumbling voice, the stomach that no medicine had been able to settle had quietly calmed down at some point.

Irena’s lips curved into an arc.

‘She was going to do it all along.’

Color returned to her face, which had gone white. Even the fingertips that had remained cold ever since her visit to the duke grew warm.

As expected, that soft-hearted being was endlessly yielding toward Irena.

“Thank you. I will be back before sundown.”

The queen’s magic, having lost her true form and memories, only held for as long as the sun was up. So she had to take care of her business swiftly and accurately and return.

[Enough. Every time I see you, my head rings and rings. Now hurry up and get out of my sight.]

The queen waved her hand irritably and turned her back.

But she, who had seemed as though she might flare up and disappear at any moment, lingered in place without moving.

If she had cat ears, they would surely be perked up, pretending not to listen.

‘I should try attaching some later.’

Thinking such an impertinent thought, she secured the backpack that felt considerably lighter.

It was the start of a long day.

* * *

“Cheap, cheap! Fish that were in the sea just this morning, for only 2 roh!”

“Hey! Step aside up front, cargo coming through!”

“……So if you wrap it like this…… ta-da! No matter what a young man wears……”

A slender, fine-featured young man slipped quickly through the crowd of merchants with a heavy backpack.

Only after the noise of the central market district faded behind him did he remove his hood.

“Phew, so many people. What day is it today?”

The young man, that is to say, Irena, walked briskly into a residential area where narrow, tall buildings were packed tightly together.

Street 52 was quiet. At a glance, it could have passed for an ordinary residential neighborhood.

‘It is a residential area, all right. Even thieves need a place to live.’

Look more closely, and every window and door was covered.

Among them, there were very few real doors. And of those, only one could be used by outsiders.

Irena stood before ‘that place’ and stared at the wooden sign creaking in the wind. With no shop name, just a sign reading ‘Severed Sheep’s Head,’ it was not merely unusual but outright bizarre, fitting its owner perfectly.

“Honestly, you do love your eerie things.”

It was a terrifying place where, the moment you let your guard down, you would be stripped clean.

This was the secret cradle known colloquially as ‘that place.’

From the number of newborns in the slums yesterday to the Emperor’s breakfast menu this morning. The empire’s foremost information broker, who knew everything and could obtain anything.

The rough and dangerous things that could not come into the light flowed through the world and pooled here. It was a gathering place for mercenaries, thieves, troubadours, suspicious vegetable sellers, general dealers, and pirates alike.

Irena was a special case, but there was no harm in being careful.

“To think I have to deal with this money-grubbing demon every time.”

It was disagreeable, but there was no other choice. This was the only place where rachichi could be obtained.

Irena steeled herself and pushed the door open with vigor.

Jingle. The small bell sound was hopelessly swallowed up by the flood of noise from inside.

Like any tavern, the interior was rowdy with the shouting of men who had started drinking since midday.

The thick-set, rough-looking men seemed to have no interest in Irena, too busy laughing and making noise.

But the moment she had taken three steps and stopped.

“……”

“……”

“……”

The boisterous interior went silent in an instant. Sharp gazes flew in from all directions and fixed themselves on Irena.

The rules of ‘that place’ were simple.

First, take three steps and stop. An attendant will then be assigned.

Irena waited calmly. Before long, a boy of indeterminate age appeared and spoke to her out of nowhere.

“Welcome. You appear to be a traveler?”

The boy’s words, his freckles endearingly scattered across his face, served as a signal, and the tavern filled once again with noise loud enough to split one’s ears.

Irena raised her voice to answer.

“No. I am a wanderer.”

Rule two, identify yourself as a wanderer.

“Please follow me.”

The boy smiled and turned around. They passed through a maze-like corridor, climbed a staircase, and ventured deep into the interior of the building.

‘I do not think I have ever come this far inside before.’

Whether the entirety of Street 52 was connected as one, the interior was a labyrinth that could not be easily gauged from the outside.

“Then I hope you find what you need.”

The freckled boy gave a cheerful farewell and disappeared. Leaving Irena in front of a fluorescent green door.

“Ah, I am already exhausted……”

A breeze from somewhere set a wind chime strung with jewels swaying. One did not need to be told whose room it was.

“Could they not just give me a decent meeting room.”

Irena was muttering gloomily, glaring at the jeweled wind chime swaying conspicuously outside the door, when.

Crash!

“Ugh……!”

Along with a crashing sound from inside, a stifled cry was heard, and the door swung open.

“Darling! You’re here, come in!”

The sky was blocked in an instant. It was because a man had burst out with both hands raised high above his head.

“Wh, what!”

She reflexively ducked and slipped under the man’s arm.

There was nothing to be gained from physical contact. For someone with sharp senses, the red bird queen’s magic might not hold.

Stepping inside before she had quite registered it, Irena swept her gaze around the room and furrowed her brow.

‘What is all this……’

Carpets woven with patterns so vivid they hurt the eyes, furniture without a single straight angle.

Primary-colored knots twisted and tangled in strange directions, sunlight dyed by stained glass windows filtering in, and jewels placed in every corner.

“Is this any way for a person to live?”

Not a single thing was normal, just like its owner. She could already feel her composure fraying.

On one side, toys had tumbled out in a heap, likely the source of the earlier noise. Irena hopped and stepped over the objects that left no room to place a foot and barely managed to find a spot to sit.

“Darling, coffee? Or tea?”

“I am busy, so let us get straight to the point.”

“Why. After barely showing your face after so long, you want to talk business right away?”

The easy-going voice carried exaggerated hurt. She scoffed.

‘Friends, honestly. Who wears a mask every time they meet a friend.’

It had already been four years since she had been doing business with the proprietor. Yet he wore a mask every single time.

Age unknown, face unknown, accent and hair color changing every time. Today’s hair color was the same fluorescent green as the door.

‘Face, he says. This is even my first time in this room.’

She had expected his taste to be flamboyant, but this was something else entirely, a room that would drive even a composed person mad if they stared at it long enough.

Or perhaps one that made it impossible to dare draw any conclusions at all.

In the midst of it all, the owner of every glittering thing in the room let his eyes shine toward Irena.

“See, you were waiting just for me again, weren’t you? I’ve been bathing every day and scrubbing myself clean on the chance you might come, so what do you think? Sparkling, makes you want to have me, right? Hands itching to reach out and touch……”

“How would I know, when you are wrapped up like that.”

When Irena answered bluntly, the proprietor crossed his arms over his chest.

“Oh, darling. I know we have something special between us, but we are not quite at the stage of showing bare skin yet, are we? Not that I would mind, of course……”

Absolute lunatic jellyfish of a person.

Irena swallowed her curses inwardly as she watched the proprietor writhing as though embarrassed.

He had not seemed quite this bad when they first met, so what on earth had happened to him.

“If it is Oliver, I am perfectly willing. Ready at any time, so just say the word……”

“I am leaving.”

Irena shot to her feet. The thought of him blushing behind that mask was enough to make her body move on its own.

“Wh, whoaaa, I was joking. You are particularly prickly today.”

The proprietor raised both hands.

It was the same prank every time, yet she could never quite get used to this insufferable nonsense.

He appeared to be young, wealthy, and reasonably well put together, and the reason he was still alone was entirely due to that thoroughly broken taste of his.

On top of that, she was clearly a man right now, so why did this person with a broken head keep making advances.