Leah continued.

“And if we ambush him but he happens not to have the potion with him, we’ll have to try again. That’s why we shouldn’t hit him from the start.”

“As expected of my sister. Surprisingly meticulous.”

Karai interjected into the siblings’ conversation.

“I know exactly when to ambush him.”

Karai explained.

He said Lord Trow’s peculiar habit reached its peak when he bought prostitutes while drunk.

“One of his former guards told me that he carries the potion around and gives it to prostitutes he spends the night with. So if we target him when he goes to his regular secret club…”

Helix was enraged.

“What a despicable pervert!”

Ruyan also jumped up.

“That bastard, did he feed that to our Leah?!”

“Calm down, little brother. We’re not sure if he’s the culprit.”

“What more proof do you need when the circumstances are this clear? You almost died after drinking whatever that potion was and became a mage!”

“No, but I don’t think I would have accepted anything from Lord Trow.”

That was true.

“I know how much the Trow family sees me as a thorn in their side.”

“They might have tried to harm you through someone else.”

At Rikeil’s words, the expressions of Leah’s group turned sinister.

“Such people should be killed.”

“I strongly agree.”

“I’ll flay them alive instead of giving them a clean death.”

“What are you talking about? We should drive them into crushing debt, dry them up completely, and then kill them. You want to give them an easy death?”

Leah waved her hands in front of her ominous companions.

“Save that for after we win. Let’s use this information for now.”

She praised Karai.

“You did well telling us this, Karai.”

Karai’s face turned bright red.

“My lady… if you wish, I can tell you all about Count Trow’s perverted activities too!”

“No, that’s… my ears are precious.”

Ruyan, leaning crookedly on the sofa, added a comment.

“I guess keeping that spy around turned out to be helpful sometimes.”

“If we can steal the potion from Yan Trow, Helix can use it to break the sleep magic.”

“It’s possible if we get the potion.”

At Helix’s words, Leah nodded.

“Then now we just need to infiltrate this secret club he frequents.”

Leah came to a crisp conclusion.

“We will.”

***

“Does Leah really have to go herself?”

Rikeil touched his glasses with a serious expression.

They were glasses he only wore for reading documents. He had rushed over forgetting to take them off while trying to stop her.

Ruyan, who had also rushed over still in his sweaty training clothes, nodded next to his brother.

“Leah, you? A secret club? There are so many dirty bastards in places like that!”

“That’s why I said I’ll go in disguise.”

“You don’t know how beautiful you are! A disguise won’t hide that!”

“I’ll wear a mask too.”

“In secret clubs, only high-class courtesans wear masks!”

Ruyan roared.

“I need to go with Helix to check if the potion is real with mana, okay? We’ll both be in disguise.”

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll take good care of Leah.”

At Helix’s words, Rikeil and Ruyan immediately grimaced. It seemed their sister and Helix had no idea how they looked.

“You’re both too striking to not stand out!”

“Ruyan’s right. You both catch too much attention, and Leah, you’re especially well-known.”

“Won’t wearing masks be enough?”

At Helix’s question, Rikeil and Ruyan explained.

Nobles in Peiren surprisingly rarely wore masks at the secret clubs they frequented. It was due to their unique mix of wariness and desire to show off.

There were roughly only three cases where people wore masks.

When they were doing something really shady, when they were actually of lower status but managed to get in through connections just once, or when they were nobles’ mistresses or high-class courtesans.

Helix listened and understood the situation.

“So we need to wear masks because we stand out too much, but wearing masks itself will draw attention.”

“Exactly.”

It was a valid concern then.

Even with masks they would draw attention, and when they drew attention their beauty would show through even the masks, and if they became objects of interest one way or another, it would be difficult to carry out their secret operation.

‘Our Helix really is handsome.’

Leah nodded.

“Alright. I’ll wear a mask and be extra careful with the disguise. Brothers, please support me.”

***

“In the end, the key is hiding the beauty well.”

In Leah’s private reception room, where all maids had been dismissed for the secret operation.

Sitting Helix in front of the vanity, Leah waggled her finger meaningfully.

“You mean to disguise me to look ugly?”

“Yes.”

Leah declared firmly as she placed her makeup box on the table beside Helix.

“The fastest way to make someone look ugly is…”

The eyebrow razor gleamed in her hand.

“To trim the eyebrows wrong.”

Helix stiffened.

Leah reached out tensely like a surgeon about to perform an operation.

Trembling.

“Wait, just a moment.”

Leah stopped mid-way with the eyebrow razor and pressed her chest, raising one hand.

“Leah, what’s wrong?”

“I… I can’t do it.”

She just couldn’t bring herself to shave Helix’s eyebrows.

“This is artistic terrorism! Destruction of a masterpiece! A loss to humanity!”

“Calm down, Leah. Eyebrows grow back.”

“But it’ll take weeks until they grow back completely! What am I supposed to do until then!”

Not being able to see Helix’s perfect face for weeks. Just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes.

“Do you like my face that much?”

“How can you even ask that?”

Leah looked at Helix with an annoyed expression.

“How can I not like a face that’s perfect in every way?”

Maybe it was because she hadn’t heard it in a while.

She thought she had built up immunity to his compliments, but that was an illusion. Helix pressed his chest as he spoke.

“…Shouldn’t we hurry and plan the club infiltration after the disguise?”

“Ah, right.”

After pondering, Leah compromised and decided to change Helix’s impression instead.

“Since Helix has a perfect cold beauty style, going the opposite way will change your image and tone down your looks a bit.”

She put down the eyebrow razor and picked up makeup.

She darkened his sharp gray eyebrows with black and drew them downward at the ends. Seeing it didn’t match his eyes, she carefully added eyeliner to make his eyes appear droopy.

Gulp.

Leah swallowed as she saw the result.

‘This is dangerous in a different way.’

Helix asked.

“What? Did something go wrong?”

“…You’re still too handsome.”

Moreover, making his eyebrows and eye corners droop had softened his cold beauty image, making him look like a large dog.

‘The Elf King turned into a Samoyed.’

Both are good, can’t he have both? As Leah pondered this, she looked at Helix with a groan.

“I guess I’ll have to trim the eyebrows a little after all.”

“Wait, hold on.”

“Just stay still for a moment.”

Helix held his breath for a moment as Leah came in close. Concentrating, she pressed herself almost against him.

“No, um, wait.”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay still? You’ll get cut if you move.”

Carefully smoothing down Helix’s eyebrows and working with the razor, Leah pursed her lips into a circle.

“Phew.”

Warm breath flowed from her pink lips.

“Phooo.”

Leah blew air from her mouth to blow away the cut eyebrow hair.

Some slightly longer cut hairs tried to fall onto Helix’s eyelashes. She hurriedly held his face.

“Phoooo.”

Helix’s long eyelashes fluttered and suddenly opened.

Her reflection in his gray glass-like eyes was too close.

‘Oh?’

As Leah tried to jump back startled, Helix was faster. As he pulled her in as if supporting her tilted back waist, her hands that were holding his face reflexively embraced his head.

“You almost fell.”

Helix sighed in relief as he gripped her waist tightly.

When his breath touched her from the face she had embraced in the moment, her stomach tightened where they touched. Leah swallowed dryly as she slowly removed her hands from the back of his head.

“…I’m fine.”

Her voice came out trembling despite saying she was fine, and she lowered her eyes. Helix, his eyebrows half-trimmed, looked up at Leah and met her gaze.

“Are you really alright?”

Though it was a concerned voice, there was a strange heat to it. He lightly caught Leah’s left hand as she removed it from his head. His thick fingers pressed and rubbed her slightly trembling fingertips.

“Your hands are cold.”

Leah’s cheeks flushed.

Only her fingertips were cold. With a bright red face, she looked down at the beautiful man and reached out as though she had been entranced. Her free right hand rested on Helix’s cheek.

“Then Helix can…”

“…”

“…just warm them up with mana.”

Her lips felt dry.

Still holding Leah’s left hand tightly, Helix covered her right hand on his face. Mana that was more hot than warm flowed into her cold fingertips.

Her fingertips were so hot and tingling that she was afraid to hold Helix’s face. His large hand caught her white hand again as it tried to escape from his face.

“…”

Even after catching it, his eyes wavered, surprised at his own action. Though Leah moved her hand as if asking him to let go, Helix, despite his confusion, didn’t release her hand.

They both held their breath at the strange standoff. That’s when it happened.

“Leah!”

At the voice from outside the room, they quickly separated. Rikeil hurried in.

“I heard Yan Trow made a reservation at the secret club for tonight.”

“Tonight?”

Leah asked again.

“So what did you do? About our reservation?”

“I made two reservations under fake identities.”

“What about the information on Lord Trow?”

“…Here it is.”

It was dirty but valuable information about his taste in women, the prostitutes he was meeting lately, his preferred reservation rooms, and such.

It was bad enough touching it himself, but it made him feel worse having to hand it over to his precious one and only sister.

Rikeil sighed.

“I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do.”

Leah put her hands on her hips confidently.

“Big brother, trust me. It’ll work out well.”

She assured him.

“If things go wrong, I’ll get mana from Helix, use magic, and run away.”

“Leah, if you start talking like Ruyan too, big brother’s going to age faster… But this time, do exactly that. If things don’t work out, make sure you run away.”