After spending so long in the forest of women when he could have escaped, now he rushes over just as she’s about to dance with the prince. What was that all about?

Though annoyed, Leah focused on the dance. After all, she didn’t need to make a scene at an event organized in her honor.

Crunch.

‘Oops, I stepped on him.’

She had felt a slight urge to step on his foot, but hadn’t actually intended to. She looked up at Helix in embarrassment.

It must have hurt quite a bit, yet his expression remained as impassive as ever. His stoic face drew closer to hers.

“See, Leah.”

Helix whispered as he held her waist, “Didn’t I tell you dancing with me would be better? Other men wouldn’t have any toes left.”

She would have laughed at this comment under normal circumstances.

But right now, she was angry. She kicked his shin under her dress.

“…Ugh.”

Despite receiving a solid kick, Helix swallowed his groan and continued leading Leah. His composed face only fueled her anger, and as soon as the dance ended, she stormed out to the terrace.

Swoosh!

Just as she was drawing the terrace curtain, Helix squeezed through.

“Leah.”

His hair was disheveled, suggesting he had rushed after her.

“Don’t talk to me, you jerk.”

Helix flinched.

Leah’s voice was becoming tearful. Alarmed, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around.

“…Why are you crying?”

“I’m not crying!”

She shook her head with glistening eyes full of hurt. Helix was at a complete loss.

“Why, why are you upset?”

“Why do you always say I’ll step on other men’s feet if I dance with them?”

He was speechless. Helix reached out to her, his gesture conveying both uncertainty about how to respond and regret. She shook her head vigorously.

“Can’t you just say you want to dance with me?”

“…What?”

Tears that had been welling in Leah’s blue eyes grew fuller. Seeing Helix unable to respond made her even angrier.

‘With your personality, you like me enough to secretly punish men who’ve been rude to me.’

Yet he pretended to be reluctant, acted like he disliked it, pretended not to care.

“Can’t you just say you don’t want me dancing with other men, that you’d prefer I only dance with you? Why am I the only one who has to be honest?”

Tears rolled down her pale cheeks, making Helix’s heart ache.

‘What a fool I am.’

He was stunned by the realization.

‘While I was trapped in my guardian duties and thoughts of revenge… was Leah feeling insecure too?’

How could he be so foolish? Not understanding his own feelings, and even when he did, failing to express them—making his woman cry.

He had finally brought tears to Leah’s eyes, when she had always approached him first with a smile.

“Leah… I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

“That’s not what I want to hear right n-now…”

Seeing her face flush red as she tried to hold back tears, Helix felt like crying himself. He fumbled to take her hand.

“…Even when I try to be honest, I don’t know how. I don’t know how to explain myself to you, but…”

Helix guided her hand to his chest. His heart was pounding erratically.

“Can’t you check this instead?”

“…”

“Leah.”

He whispered, “The times I feel alive, the sensation of my heart beating—it’s all because of you.”

Pressing her hand firmly against his chest, Helix said:

“So it all belongs to you.”

The powerful heartbeat beneath her palm, the sincere low voice.

Blinking as she looked up, she saw a smile spread across Helix’s face—like ice cream made from melting snow on a mountain.

Leah pressed her finger firmly against his brow.

“That’s cheating.”

“…My face, you mean?”

“Your face is cheating too, but there’s something else that’s even more unfair.”

She said, “You’re only honest at times like this.”

“…”

“When I say I like you, you act all prickly, but when I get angry, only then do you say sweet things.”

“Have I been doing that?”

Helix sank into self-reproach.

It was true that he had consciously avoided Leah, preoccupied with his duties as a guardian.

‘Because she was too beautiful and lovable.’

But he hadn’t realized that his efforts to resist falling for Leah had become a habit that was now hurting her.

“Forgive me, Leah. I’ll change. What should I do? Would complimenting you a hundred times a day help?”

Leah stared at Helix intently.

He truly was a man without tact. Full of sincerity, but clueless about how to soothe a woman’s heart.

Yet there was always a consistent feeling that reached her.

That he wouldn’t do what she disliked, that he wanted to do what she wanted. She could always see how attentively he listened to her words.

It would be the same this time too. Finding this man—who would earnestly try whatever she said—somewhat adorable, Leah wrinkled her nose.

“…Thirty times. And practice expressing your affection honestly with me.”

“Like this?”

Before she could finish speaking, Helix gently caressed Leah’s cheek.

She wanted to say it was about actions rather than words, but his careful touch—treating her like the most precious thing in the world—melted her heart.

“Honestly, really.”

Leah grumbled but nuzzled her cheek against his hand. Helix hesitated before carefully wiping away the tears from her eyes. Leah blinked languidly and smiled at him.

His heart began to race again, and the music inside the hall changed. Helix asked:

“Would you like to dance?”

“Really?”

Even as she asked, Leah took his hand. Helix lifted her up and placed her feet on top of his own.

Her eyes widened in surprise before she burst into laughter.

“What is this? Hahaha!”

“What do you mean? It’s dancing.”

“Hahaha! This is how fathers dance with their little children!”

“No, it’s not.”

Helix feigned innocence as he placed his hand on Leah’s waist. They were extremely close. His warm hand firmly supported her body as her feet rested on his stepping feet, pulling her toward him.

“Leah.”

He asked softly, “May I kiss you?”

Instead of answering, Leah wrapped her arms around his neck.

***

With most of the urgent patients who had been poisoned now recovered, the hospital beds attached to the Piert Research Institute were finally less crowded.

“Whew. All the beds on this floor are empty now, right? I should change all the sheets today.”

Maid Mona rolled up her sleeves.

“Mona, aren’t you overexerting yourself? Take it easy. You only just recovered yourself.”

“I must be completely healed. There’s this feeling when you want to power through work with newfound energy, you know?”

The other maids laughed at Mona’s comment.

“I think I’d want to play if I recovered, but Mona is so diligent.”

“They say the world looks beautiful after recovering from illness. She probably wants to work now that she’s healthy again. Keep it up!”

The maids cheered her on as they went off to find other tasks. Mona watched them with a gentle smile.

She had spent two years working as a maid in a desperate viscount’s household because of debt. Then she was poisoned when a vengeful cook mixed poison into the soup, which led to her being brought to the Piert Research Institute.

‘I thought I was going to die in my prime after suffering through hell…’

Compared to those times, this was heaven.

“La la la la~”

Her poisoning was completely cured, the viscount had been ruined, and when she was at a loss after losing her job, the Piert Research Institute hired her as a maid.

The Piert Research Institute offered far better wages, colleagues, and working conditions than the viscount’s mansion.

Humming happily, Mona vigorously lifted the removed sheets.

“Huh?”

She should have listened to her colleagues.

As her body began to fall backward, unable to support the weight, that thought flashed through her mind.

She should have carried fewer sheets. She had thought they would be lighter.

“Wh-what?”

Her arms suddenly felt lighter. Mona balanced herself in surprise and looked at her empty arms, then up at the air.

The sheets that had been in her arms moments ago were now floating.

“What is this?”

***

“People who were poisoned are developing magical abilities?”

Leah, who had been called away from her magic practice, asked in surprise.

“Are you certain?”

“Absolutely. Three people who were treated and recovered at the Piert Research Institute have already shown signs.”

At Rikeil’s words, Helix spoke gravely:

“We should examine everyone who was treated.”

“Please do. I’ve been troubled by not knowing how many more might develop abilities… Having Helix identify them would be reassuring.”

Helix nodded. Leah fell into thought.

“Well, it makes sense. Like me, Karai, and the students at our magic school, we all developed magical abilities after consuming dragon mana. There’s no reason this would be different.”

“The problem is that Archaik Oken, the Crown Prince, probably knew this would happen.”

Master said, “While the Trow family has been identified as responsible for maliciously distributing fake medicine, it seems the Crown Prince’s faction was behind the widespread poisoning.”

Leah’s face hardened at Master’s words. Helix and the two Piert sons also grew serious.

Helix nodded and said gravely:

“There was too much poison for it to have been distributed by the Trow family alone.”

“The quantity wasn’t the only issue.”

Master explained.

“When we interrogated those who distributed the poison, they were all from the lower social classes, full of grievances, with easy access to food consumed by many. They all gave identical statements—that strangers had handed them the poison, presenting it as toxin.”

“So they deliberately approached those with nothing to lose and instigated them to cause a disturbance…”

As Rikeil muttered, Ruyan furrowed his brow.

“Why go to such unnecessary trouble? If causing a disturbance was the goal, they could have spread it anywhere.”

“They probably intended to cover their tracks. They wanted to disguise it as civil unrest caused by lower-class citizens resenting their circumstances.”

Leah shook her head at Rikeil’s words.

“No, big brother. The effort involved is too great for simply covering tracks. And the outcome is strange. People who survived are developing magical abilities.”

“That point is peculiar. Crown Prince Archaik Oken surely wouldn’t have intended to turn Peiren’s citizens into mages.”

“Exactly.”

“We might consider another possibility.”

Helix said.

“Huh?”

“The Oken Crown Prince might actually intend to turn Peiren’s citizens into magic users. To make them his subjects…”

“His subjects?”

“Dragons can control magic users and mages created with their mana.”