Chapter 28

While Helio was distracted by Sabina, Ashton greeted someone and then led Helio away again.

“Your Majesty, this is Helio.”

Ashton’s voice sounded almost cheerful.

“Helio. This is His Majesty King Kenneth Brinita, blessed by the Sun, Lord of Radiance.”

Helio quickly bowed deeply. Soon, a smooth, clear voice sounded above his head.

“Raise your head.”

As Helio obeyed, he froze for a moment.

It was the young man who looked exactly like the beauty he’d met earlier.

But the two were obviously different, not just in dress but also in attitude and expression.

“Indeed, a boy of fine appearance. Worth paying a fortune for.”

King Kenneth Brinita uttered his indifferent, careless words as he sipped his champagne.

“Receiving excellent education from Miss D’Vialis, showing talent, and scheduled for an attribute test next week, I hear? We’ll see if Certanon Academy gains another promising student.”

“It’s not certain yet.”

Helio, flustered by the king’s resemblance to Reyes, froze, so Sabina quietly answered for him. Kenneth gazed into Helio’s eyes, asking more of those rude, powerful questions, but as the shy Helio stammered, he soon lost interest.

Helio couldn’t tell if that was fortunate or not.

He quickly put on his mask to hide his expression.

The new master’s daylight carnival began from that moment.

* * *

Empty bottles piled up endlessly, and every time a bottle ran dry, ten fireworks exploded at midnight in Ridblon.

After greeting everyone, Ashton, the host of the day, felt he’d made a strong impression on the capital’s nobles. Especially being able to greet King Kenneth Brinita was deeply satisfying.

‘Was it just a greeting?’

His steps were light.

‘I’ll be able to build a connection. Surely.’

Ashton Bryant had removed Don Slapdi and smoothly taken his place.

The noble lords regretted the loss of the carnival, but none were motivated enough to create a new one. The pleasure to be gained from hosting a carnival was outweighed by the reputation to be lost.

The person to host a new carnival should be a foreigner, not a Brinita-based noble, someone who didn’t have to worry about dignity.

If that foreigner planned to do business in Brinita and needed to catch the nobles’ eyes, it gave him a plausible reason to host the carnival.

Once the conditions were met, nobles could justify attending this undignified carnival as “a favor to a young businessman eager to enter Brinita society.” They would polish their cane handles or fan themselves, saying,

「That young man, wouldn’t he be embarrassed if no one came to his party? So we must accept the invitation.」

Ashton actively used his position to win the nobles’ favor, even if it was somewhat dubious. Either way, he gained an unofficial chance to infiltrate the center of society. Even the King showed interest in him.

Ashton Bryant had been Number 3 at the last carnival.

Depending on his conduct, he might even win the King’s favor. Certainly.

‘The more solid my position becomes…’

He opened the mansion’s front door.

‘Reyes Brinita will find it increasingly difficult to remove me officially.’

No matter how much the prince disliked him, if Ashton became the King’s friend, he couldn’t easily intervene. Then Ashton could actively separate Reyes from Sabina, marking him. If only that happens…

He climbed to the second floor, walked down the hallway, and knocked on the guest room door. A calm voice answered from inside.

“You may enter.”

Ashton slowly opened the door.

The person sitting at the table was so beautiful that, if it was the result of genetic chance, it could be called a miracle. Even when he’d seen her before, even now. The man had never seen anyone as beautiful as her. He’d seen many beauties, but only Sabina had ever stirred something inside him.

He smiled faintly at her.

He cared nothing for the Solvent or scroll business, nor for a million Riom a month.

His interest was solely in preventing the heart of the time mage from falling into Reyes’s hands.

“Helio is asleep. Would it be alright to let him rest for a while?”

The man glanced at the bed. The boy’s mask was neatly placed beside the pillow. But his gaze soon returned to Sabina and stayed fixed.

“Of course. He can sleep here until morning if needed.”

“And please show me to another room. There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

Ashton bent slightly and reached out his hand to Sabina. Without any hesitation, she took his bare hand. She did not know how dangerous this act was.

‘O ruler of time, may you remain innocent like this always.’

* * *

Sabina had decided to bring Helio indoors about thirty minutes earlier.

When Ashton took Helio away, she was secretly relieved. Ashton had rescued the boy from those who swarmed like hyenas, showing him unhealthy interest. She was grateful to Ashton. Unaware of what was happening inside the mansion, she fulfilled the host’s duties faithfully while Ashton, as host, was away.

But Ashton taking Helio away didn’t solve everything. After resting in the mansion, the boy still looked pale and sweated coldly. Sabina understood. Helio, as a slave, had met the King and received several teasing questions.

Those who knew the full story might sigh, saying sometimes innocence is a sin.

Her reasoning was mistaken, but Sabina’s decision for Helio at that moment was excellent. Seeing Helio’s fingertips turn blue from cold, she decided to bring him inside.

Ashton gladly accepted Sabina’s request for a space for Helio, since his condition was poor. He offered the best guest room in the mansion, and even assigned four maids to attend him.

Helio almost collapsed as soon as he entered.

The carnival, Ashton’s prohibition, a new friend not on good terms with Sabina, and the king with the same face—all these were too much stimulation at once for sensitive Helio.

He suffered a headache for a while, but after Sabina personally gave him medicine and checked on him, he soon stabilized. The way he rubbed his cheek against the hand checking his temperature was like a young kitten.

Sabina smiled slightly at the sight. The Helio she remembered from the past two occasions had never shown this side. He’d always seemed so grown-up.

The boy whined that he wanted to go home. Being in someone else’s house was uncomfortable. Worse, the owner was awkward. But after Sabina explained that moving in his current state could make things worse, he understood why he couldn’t go home immediately. He blinked slowly and fell asleep beside his master.

Sabina looked at Helio’s sleeping face for a moment, then lifted the curtain to glance outside.

The tall young man in a red suit stood out. He skillfully crossed the garden, talking to people and laughing at dull jokes. Reyes seemed to have gone home, and Kenneth was enjoying himself at the head table.

He had kept his promise to keep Reyes away.

For some unknown reason, Ashton was treating Sabina very well and wanted to stay by her side as long as he was in Brinita. Was it true, as he said, that he liked Sabina? If so, since when?

The logic did not flow smoothly, breaking off here and there. A man who suddenly appeared from a third life and stirred everything like a lie. Sabina sometimes wanted to push him away, feeling she could not control him, but also wanted to know what he was thinking.

Listening to Helio’s sleeping breath, she watched Ashton for a long time. He never once looked up to the second floor where Sabina was. When he finally turned toward the entrance, Sabina stepped away from the window and quietly sat at the table.

Soon, Ashton arrived at the room and silently looked at Sabina for a moment before smiling faintly. Sabina looked into his opaque blue eyes and finally made up her mind. Once she decided, her thoughts cleared as if clouds parted.