“The crazy one is you.”

Leah said.

“Living so long in a mountain village being revered as God’s representative must have made you lose touch with reality… You think your church will protect a lowly priest who dared touch the Piert family’s lady?”

The priest’s face, which had turned ashen, now went deathly pale.

Leah was right.

If this got out, the church would surely cast him out immediately.

Watching the priest tremble in fear, Leah continued.

“They’ll surely say they have nothing to do with you. They’ll be happy to brand you as a demon. How convenient would that be? Just burn one person as a heretic and the matter is cleanly resolved.”

“I-I… am not a demon!”

The priest cried out as if squeezing out his voice.

In that moment, Leah gestured for Janet to come to her. Janet started running, but the priest was faster.

“No!”

“Kyaah!”

The priest grabbed Janet’s hair and swung his knife like a madman.

“I’m not a demon…!”

“Janet!”

Crack.

With a strange sound, the hand holding the knife bent backward.

“Aaaagh!”

While gripping the screaming priest’s arm, Helix said.

“You really don’t know how to repent.”

“Helix!”

Leah’s face brightened with joy at his timely help.

While Helix restrained the priest, Janet ran to Leah.

“My lady!”

“Janet, are you hurt? Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine!”

Janet said while trembling.

But both the asker and answerer knew.

She was only ‘relatively’ fine.

How could anyone be truly fine after going through something like this twice with the same person?

Leah hugged Janet’s trembling shoulders.

Feeling the trembling spread to her own hands and arms, she glared at the priest restrained by Helix.

Leah said in a low voice.

“You are a demon.”

The priest flinched at the anger in her voice.

“At least to Janet and Louise, you were a demon.”

“That’s… those witches…!”

“Still saying that?”

Leah laughed in disbelief and extended her hand.

“Since you insist, I’ll act like a proper witch. Fireball!”

Bright red flames shot from her fingertips.

Whoosh!

Fire caught on what little hair the priest had left.

“Aaaagh!”

Helix threw the screaming man to the ground.

Splash!

He also kicked away the knife in the man’s hand, sending it into the stream.

Helix pushed the rolling priest with his foot to increase the distance from Leah, then carefully backed up.

Hiding Leah and Janet behind him, he said.

“From now until we reach the villa, I’ll stay in the back.”

Leah nodded at Helix who stood like a reliable wall.

“Thank you. I was a bit startled…”

“Being startled and scared is natural.”

A flash of regret crossed his gray eyes.

“I should have come sooner.”

“You had your own business.”

“Your safety comes first, Leah.”

Helix added firmly.

“You can relax now.”

At those words, the trembling that had spread from Janet gradually subsided.

Helix took Leah’s still trembling hand and flowed mana into it.

Pop.

Familiar, refreshing mana.

Helix’s body heat.

His careful touch.

The fear and anger that had spread like flames in her stomach faded away like rain extinguishing a fire.

Leah squeezed his hand back in response.

“…Okay.”

Helix smiled.

“Then let’s go.”

The priest pleaded like a scream toward the departing three.

“Save me! Put it out!”

“Why should I?”

Leah turned her back without hesitation.

“Helix, Janet. Let’s go.”

***

“H-hot! Oh God, save me…!”

The priest writhed in pain as he rolled on the ground.

The fire on his head wouldn’t go out no matter how much he rolled.

“Aagh!”

As he staggered toward the stream like a madman, he fell.

Splash.

The rough hands that had tripped him shoved the priest’s head underwater.

“Urgh!”

Bubbles rose to the surface as the priest thrashed.

But the hands holding his head didn’t budge.

“Guh!”

Only when the priest went limp did the hands release him, letting the corpse float away in the water before turning away from the stream.

Because he wanted to see even a glimpse of Leah’s retreating figure.

‘Lady Leah Piert.’

Never had he so regretted being Count Trow’s spy.

She who had bravely stepped forward during the witch hunt in the strange village square last night.

He had almost forgotten his position and wanted to rush out, cling to Leah’s legs and beg her to take him.

The long platinum blonde hair waving in the night breeze.

The face that stood out white in the firelight.

Those lips that had firmly told the girl.

Become my maid.

His heart, which he thought had died after drinking the elixir, beat faster.

If that gaze turned to him, if those red lips would say the same to him.

Become my dog.

Just imagining it made him shiver with ecstasy.

His lips moved.

“…Master.”

The man’s name was Karai.

He was a spy raised by Count Trow since childhood.

As a vagrant orphan on the streets, he had been dragged away by thugs and sold as material for human experiments.

An experiment force-feeding elixirs to children.

Among the many test subjects who were fed the elixir, he was the only survivor, and Count Trow who led the experiments doted on him who woke up after just days.

But the attention was brief.

When it was revealed he had no abilities, the count immediately treated him like a parasite.

Though they thought he’d be special for surviving the elixir, the count often starved him while complaining he was useless.

‘He’s absolutely worthless.’

‘He has a decent face. A cute type that women like, why don’t we send him to noble ladies with such tastes? As a bedwarmer and spy.’

But Karai had no talent for that either.

After waking from the elixir, he was apathetic about everything and his heart never raced.

Whispering sweet nothings, pretending to submit – such acting was too difficult for him.

‘This is your last chance.’

Count Trow had said when infiltrating him into the Piert Ducal Family.

That since Leah was someone who survived the elixir, he was giving a chance to Karai who had also survived it.

But the count wouldn’t have known. How Karai thought of himself, what abilities he was hiding.

Karai murmured dreamily while looking in the direction Leah had disappeared.

“Master.”

The unexpected word was so sweet.

Count Trow always said.

If you’re a dog then act like one, prove your worth by either guarding or performing tricks.

What ridiculous words.

Whether living as a dog or human, he had no interest in living or dying.

But for a master who would stand before villagers with flames at her back, who would gesture ‘come here’ before someone threatening with a knife.

“Woof.”

Karai gave a small bark.

For such a master, he would gladly become a dog.

“Woof woof.”

His brown eyes curved.

How sweet would it be to do whatever she commanded and hear her praise?

How much more would his heart race?

He grinned and followed after Leah’s group.

***

Back at the villa, Leah made excuses.

“I went out early thinking training with Helix at dawn might be effective, but ended up getting lost.”

Knight Biden and the head maid sighed at her words.

“Please tell us before going out…”

“I’ll be careful.”

Leah felt a bit guilty and sorry but it couldn’t be helped.

She couldn’t exactly say she was going out to hunt monsters with fire magic.

“Who is this child you brought?”

“We happened to form a connection, and I liked her so I want to train her as my personal maid. Janet, introduce yourself.”

Janet bowed politely.

“I am Janet.”

“Experience? Letters of recommendation?”

“…None.”

The head maid carefully looked at Leah. She declared confidently.

“I’m recommending her.”

“…I will train her to be worthy of being the lady’s maid.”

“Good. Make sure to assign her exclusively to me after the probation period. For now, her quarters should be the side room next to mine…”

“No, my lady. I want to share a room with the other maids. I need to learn from my seniors too.”

Seeing the head maid’s expression at those words, it seemed she approved of Janet’s conduct.

‘True, too much favoritism from the employer could lead to bullying.’

Leah nodded in understanding.

“Do as you see fit.”

After leaving Janet with the head maid, Leah washed up and returned to her room.

A small pretty plate sat on the table in her private reception room.

“What’s this?”

The plate was full of unfamiliar purple berries. Leah picked up the note beside it.

<These are Tigone berries. They’ll upset your stomach if you eat too many, so only eat two or three at a time.>

The elegant handwriting didn’t match the round berries.

Leah found herself smiling without realizing. He picked them because I was curious.

“Acting like it’s nothing, when did he even pick these.”

She thought he’d only gone to check the barrier and contamination, but he’d gathered berries too.

Feeling somehow fluffy inside, she stared at them for a while before rolling one on her tongue.

“Ugh, bitter.”

The first taste was intensely bitter, but the longer she held it, a slight sweetness emerged.

Leah gathered her courage and bit down.

An unexpectedly soft sweetness spread in her mouth.

“It’s like red ginseng. Just like the person who picked it.”

Leah chewed the Tigone berry while thinking of Helix.

Seems prickly and inflexible at first glance, but turns out to be someone of great character who’s strong with the strong and gentle with the weak, attentive and good for you – the more you experience him, the more he’s like medicine.

‘Plus he’s ridiculously handsome. Why is a man like that single?’

Is it because he was sealed for so long?

She nodded in understanding.

‘He’s like wild ginseng buried in the ground.’

What a find.

I’m the master ginseng hunter of this area, I dug up a contractor as valuable as wild ginseng.

Leah hummed as she pulled out writing paper.

‘While I’m thinking of it, I should handle the real ginseng field too. I should contact home about sending herb experts and guards.’

She planned to check them herself before sending them to Louise.

‘Wait.’

She stopped writing mid-letter.

‘The herb experts need to come from the capital, but we can send guards from here right away?’