As I tilted my head, trying to gauge the author’s intentions, I suddenly noticed that Adriel was unusually quiet.
“…?”
Huh?
Slowly raising my head to check, I saw that his face had turned bright red.
Just as I was wondering why he was like that.
“…Don’t tell me you’re blushing right now?”
Because I said you were handsome?
I couldn’t believe it, but seeing Adriel silently turn his head away, my assumption seemed correct.
My goodness. To think that man would be embarrassed by something like this.
While surprised, the mischievousness dormant within me began to creep up.
Since this was the first time I’d seen him like this, I strongly felt the urge to tease him.
I approached him slowly with a mischievous smile.
“Why are you so flustered? Are you really embarrassed?”
“…I am not.”
“Really?”
As the distance closed, Adriel became flustered and stepped back. Only when his back touched the wall where a painting hung did he stop.
“Hmm?”
Having cornered him, I stood on my tiptoes and brought my face close to his.
Adriel’s Adam’s apple bobbed noticeably as our eyes met. His face gradually reddened with tension, and eventually he turned his head away to avoid my gaze.
He covered his mouth with the back of his hand and muttered in a small voice to stop teasing him.
As I stared blankly at that sight, I was startled and stepped back.
I didn’t expect him to be so flustered.
I pressed down on my pounding heart and changed the subject before the atmosphere became more awkward.
“Anyway… welcome. I was just in need of your help.”
I asked the butler to prepare some light refreshments and then led Adriel to the drawing room on the first floor.
“You don’t look well. Is that bet not going smoothly?”
Adriel carefully asked as he watched me quietly sipping my tea.
“How did you know? You’re right. The bet ends in just two days, but Echo suddenly refuses to meet me.”
“Marquis Berto, what is that man plotting now?”
Adriel’s eyes grew cold as he mentioned Lucian. I nodded.
“It’s just speculation, but it seems Marquis Berto is threatening Echo using me as an excuse.”
I sighed and placed my teacup down on the table.
“Strangely, on days after meeting Echo, there would be disruptions to the guild’s operations. I can’t help but think these incidents aren’t just coincidences.”
Adriel nodded as if agreeing with my thoughts.
After appearing lost in thought for a moment, he asked me.
“The key would be to meet that child quickly.”
“Do you have any good ideas? I don’t think Echo will come out even if I go to the Marquis’s residence now… Or should we secretly send Wit into the Marquis’s residence?”
Could Wit secretly infiltrate the Marquis’s residence and bring Echo out?
But what if Echo, seeing Wit for the first time, gets scared and faints?
As I sighed deeply in this seemingly hopeless situation, Adriel’s solemn voice reached me.
“I’ll help you get inside Berto Marquis’s residence.”
“What?”
He’ll help me get into the Marquis’s residence?
How?
“Um… Is there a back door to the Marquis’s residence that I don’t know about?”
Or is he saying he can get me in using his authority as a Holy Knight?
To my question, Adriel smiled slightly and answered.
“You just need to trust me.”
With that confident attitude, I couldn’t help but trust him.

***

That evening, in front of Berto Marquis’s residence.
“Wow…”
After hearing Adriel’s explanation, I couldn’t help but be amazed.
“I think I must have misheard. Could you explain again?”
“I said we’ll climb over the wall.”
Despite my request for a more detailed explanation, Adriel merely repeated the same words.
I craned my neck to look up at the wall surrounding the Marquis’s residence.
We’re going to climb over this?
“He said to just trust him…”
When I glanced at him with eyes full of disappointment, Adriel tilted his head as if not understanding what was wrong.
“Is there a problem?”
Are you kidding me?
I exclaimed with my mouth wide open.
“Is there a problem? Of course there is! Maybe you could do it, Sir Knight, but how am I supposed to climb over this!”
“Kekeke. Master, Wit will lift you up. Let’s leave the stupid Adriel behind and go in with Wit.”
I sighed as I heard Wit’s laughter.
“And even if we climb over, there will be soldiers standing guard. How do we get past them?”
When I visited the Marquis’s residence two weeks ago, security was tight with soldiers stationed everywhere.
Getting into the mansion without being caught by those people wouldn’t be any easier than Wit claiming to have thrown a tomato to the ground, right?
I crouched down and held my head.
I shouldn’t have come here just trusting this man’s words.
As I was pulling at my hair, wondering what to do next.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
“What?”
I felt a large hand on my back, and suddenly my body was lifted into the air.
Blink, blink.
The full moon high in the sky filled my inverted vision.
“Eek! What are you doing! Put my master down!”
At Wit’s cry, I came to my senses and lowered my gaze to meet eyes with Adriel, who stood nobly below.
You’re too close!
“Wh-what are you…!”
“Please bear with the discomfort for a moment.”
I didn’t even have time to struggle. Because Adriel, who had lifted me up, instantly crossed over the wall and entered the Marquis’s residence.
“Teacher…?”
What’s going on?
“Teacher, did you come in through the window?”
What just happened?
“This is the fifth floor…”
Echo muttered as she looked at me and Adriel with wonder.
But I couldn’t answer Echo’s question about how we got in.
Why? Because I didn’t know either.
As Adriel had told me to close my eyes for a moment, I did so, and when I opened them, we were on top of the wall.
Before I could even be amazed, Adriel carried me and jumped onto a large tree, and in the blink of an eye, we had arrived at Echo’s room.
Wait, how did Adriel find Echo’s room so directly?
I had questions, but for now, I needed to focus on Echo.
“Lady Berto.”
Echo, who had been looking at me with bright eyes, flinched at my call and lowered her head.
“You… you shouldn’t be here, Teacher…”
I looked at the small body of the child who was trembling with fear.
That vicious man.
What on earth did he do to this child?