“Leah.”

Helix asked.

“Aren’t you buying anything for yourself?”

“Hm? I already have plenty.”

Leah replied casually. Helix’s brow furrowed slightly.

He looked around the tailor shop again. It was indeed primarily a men’s clothing store.

“Give me that too.”

What Helix pointed to was a scarf made from the same fabric as the flashy evening wear fit for a southern prince that he had tried on.

“I’ll pay for this.”

“Huh?”

Just as Leah was about to ask if he had money, gold coins appeared in Helix’s hand.

“T-this is?”

“Gold coins from the Age of Magic!”

To the astonished staff, Helix asked.

“Is this enough?”

“More than enough! This would cover all the clothes you’re buying today and then some!”

Helix glanced at Leah.

Between her surprised expression, he could see a slight pout.

Seeing her emotions so clearly displayed was secretly cute, making him want to tease her. Suppressing his internal laughter, he said.

“No. The clothes are gifts for me, so calculate them separately.”

“T-then how should we give you the change?”

“Hmm.”

Helix thought for a moment.

“Could you make women’s clothing to match what I wore today?”

“Women’s clothing to match, you say?”

The manager asked in surprise.

“Yes. The measurements… fitted for this lady.”

Helix’s hand pointed to Leah.

“Would that be possible?”

“Of course!”

The staff rushed out and took Leah’s measurements at the speed of light. The manager smiled, mixing flattery with sincerity.

“Both of you have such perfect figures that we’re almost afraid to make any adjustments.”

“Our Helix is quite perfect, isn’t he.”

“Leah, isn’t that about you?”

The manager almost lost control of his expression for a moment. Led by him desperately maintaining his business smile, the tailor shop staff lined up and bowed ninety degrees.

“We’ll make everything to your complete satisfaction. Please visit us again!”

“Take care!”

Once outside the shop, Leah quietly marveled.

“I thought I was quite extravagant with money, but Helix, you unexpectedly have a talent for it.”

“I learn everything quickly.”

She giggled.

“Except taking compliments?”

“…Except that.”

He replied flatly and placed the scarf in Leah’s hand.

“What’s this?”

“Isn’t it a set with that loose evening wear from earlier?”

Helix said.

“When it’s the season for such clothes it would be warm… but you might still feel cold even then. Instead of wearing matching clothes and shivering from cold, wrap this around your neck.”

The handed scarf softly brushed against the back of her hand. As if Helix’s hand was gently caressing it. Leah smiled.

“The season for that dress is more than half a year away, are you already worried I’ll be cold then?”

“Of course.”

It felt ticklish, as if her heart was placed on the silk scarf. She murmured.

“Helix is really cute.”

“…Isn’t that compliment a bit strange?”

***

With rumors spreading that Leah Piert had appeared in the capital and was sweeping through the streets with an extremely handsome man, the father and son of the Trow family were trembling with anxiety.

“What is an unmarried noble lady thinking, openly associating with a man?”

“She’s walking around with him without even covering her face and spending money lavishly! I don’t know if Peirlily is in her right mind!”

With them being so open about it, their plan to spread dirty rumors in society using young nobles who admired Peirlily was useless.

When people try to hide something, rumors spread like ‘they must have that kind of relationship’ or ‘something’s fishy’, but when Leah’s side was openly saying ‘Look at my handsome man’, there was nothing they could say.

Count Trow let out a groan.

“We need to somehow make it impossible for her to show her face…”

“Should we look into assassination again?”

“…There are too many eyes in the capital. The Piert Ducal Family must be on guard too.”

The Count pressed his wrinkled forehead. Once again, Leah Piert wasn’t going according to his plans.

‘Damn woman…’

At first, he wanted to tear her down because she was a walking advertisement for their pharmaceutical industry competitor, the Piert Trading Company, but now it wasn’t just that. There were too many reasons she needed to be eliminated. She likely knew about their dark secret of drug human experiments, and with their spies going silent, she must have dealt with them and had evidence.

‘Why is the Empire demanding information about Peirlily at a time like this?’

It was a connection with the Oken Empire that he had worked hard to establish and maintain. It was deeply unsettling why they wanted information about Peirlily.

“We need to somehow prevent words from leaving that woman’s mouth.”

“Father, what if we change the direction of the rumors to damage her reputation? Make it dirtier by connecting her with this mysterious handsome man she’s been seen with. Like saying Peirlily returned quickly from the north because she’s pregnant…”

Count Trow, momentarily tempted, shook his head.

“That won’t work. Didn’t you say the man has such striking looks?”

“Yes. They say even Rikeil Piert and Ruyan Piert’s followers are defecting to his side.”

Surpassing the capital’s most handsome men, Rikeil and Ruyan? Count Trow frowned.

“That cunning woman. For someone of Peirlily’s position, if her partner is an otherworldly beauty, it becomes a medal rather than a scandal. We should have let Baron Durford stick to her instead…”

The Count’s eyes suddenly lit up as he muttered.

“Yan, what has Baron Durford been up to lately?”

“Uh… with Peirlily like this… he’s probably chasing after some new actress somewhere, isn’t he?”

***

Meanwhile, at the capital’s Dark Guild, the Master was in a panic.

“Who…!”

The door to the Master’s secret office, which no one could easily approach, had slid open.

Fortunately, it was a familiar figure who entered.

“G-Guardian, it was you?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

At the casual voice, the Master clutched his chest.

“It’s been a long time since anyone has approached me so silently. Please make some noise.”

“You boasted about becoming the best assassin with your half-elf experience, what’s with this weak talk?”

“How could I win against you, Guardian?”

The Master, shaking his head, felt slightly puzzled.

‘Didn’t he make a bit more presence known last time? Could his powers be returning?’

The Master looked at Helix with hopeful eyes as he offered him a seat.

“You’ve come at a good time. I have news I wanted to tell you.”

He rummaged through a pile of documents while offering Helix a seat.

“Please look at this.”

What the Master handed over was a rough sketch capturing key features. Helix’s face hardened as he examined the drawing. The Master carefully asked.

“Doesn’t it look like a Dragon relic?”

“Indeed. Though I can’t tell if it’s genuine just from the drawing… looking at the features, it seems to be a goblet made from Dragon eggshell.”

Helix, glaring at the sketch with fierce eyes, asked sharply.

“Where did you find this?”

“There were rumors of Dragon relics being put up for auction in the Free Trade City, so I bought information from someone connected to that.”

“Free Trade City?”

“Ah, you wouldn’t know about it, Guardian. It’s only been around for two hundred years.”

The Master explained.

The Free Trade City was a merchant city-state attached to the southwestern coast below the Oken Empire. With the Oken Empire above and the Southern Desert below, it was well-positioned to be a trade hub in many ways.

“I remember now. There were several trading cities in that region in the past too.”

“About two hundred years ago, the trading cities formed an alliance and became a confederate city-state. It’s close to the Kingdom of Peiren too. They say from the southern coastal cities, you can reach it in a week with good winds.”

“Then with trade flourishing, information must flow well too.”

“Yes. It’s rather difficult to get information about the Oken Empire from Peiren. It’s somewhat better through the Free Trade City. Though sometimes we get rumors that are quite dated due to the time lag…”

The Master lowered his voice.

“Anyway, it seems certain there are people searching for Dragon relics in the Free Trade City.”

According to the information gathered, the Second Imperial Princess of the Oken Empire was passionate about collecting Dragon relics.

“The Second Imperial Princess of the Oken Empire?”

“Yes. Though the First Imperial Prince is overtaking her now, until recently she was considered the next candidate for Imperial Crown Princess of the Oken Empire.”

While First Imperial Prince Archaik Oken was gaining attention for his Dragon resonance and charisma despite his weak support base, the Second Imperial Princess had long been considered the next Emperor candidate for both her birth and talents.

Not only was she born to the Empress who came from a great noble family of the Oken Empire, but excluding the First Imperial Prince, she was the oldest and most brilliantly intelligent among the Emperor’s children. Even now that the Emperor and the Imperial Guard Snake Knights had turned to support the First Imperial Prince, the high nobles of the Empire still supported the Second Imperial Princess.

“I suppose since the First Imperial Prince won the Emperor’s favor and public support through Dragon resonance, the Second Imperial Princess wants to show off Dragon relics at least.”

“Hmm.”

Helix stroked his chin.

“If that’s the case, they wouldn’t put out something ridiculous claiming it’s a Dragon relic when the Second Imperial Princess would be paying attention, would they?”

“That’s right. The possibility of it being genuine is… quite high.”

At the Master’s answer, Helix pushed the sketch back to him and asked.

“Can you track where this relic came from?”

“I’ll do my best.”

The Master, bowing his head while collecting the sketch, opened his mouth with an “Ah.”

“And I was going to tell this when Lady Piert was here too…”

“Tell me. Leah said she’s busy with a tea party today.”

The Master paused and looked at Helix.

“You didn’t go with her?”

“The title preparations aren’t complete yet, they said.”

Though his voice seemed calm, it carried a subtly anxious tone.

‘Anxious? The Guardian?’

Helix had always said that personal emotions and desires were nothing but danger factors for a guardian.

The man who didn’t bat an eye at kingdoms, great mages, and Dragons courting and threatening him wouldn’t suddenly be fixated on a title.

‘…Is he instinctively sensing his contractor’s crisis as a guardian?’