“May, come here.”

At the casual voice that sounded like calling a dog, May took small hurried steps. Her hair, which had tried various styles until now, was now tightly braided and rolled into a circle. It was clearly a style done with Aiden in mind.

‘She said wearing it loose was more comfortable and better…..’

With that hehe, her submissive smiling face showed not the slightest intention of expelling the rude guest who had arbitrarily taken the head seat. Aiden handled such a May quite well. No, more precisely, he used her well.

Johan sneered at the pathetic sight of him delegating trivial tasks to a woman much smaller than himself. Perhaps because he’d heard that he was actually two years younger than May, his childish behavior was even more irritating. Though of course, he would have been just as irritating even if he were older.

‘……F*ck, does he not have hands?’

Though he was well aware of nobles’ excessive behavior of being unable to even wash themselves without attendants, this bastard’s intentions were clearly impure just by looking. At least he didn’t seem to make her attend his baths, but he made all sorts of petty demands like having those tiny hands massage his scalp.

Johan frowned, completely forgetting that he had made those small hands massage his uncouth c*ck. He was displeased seeing the woman who had served him, even playing the role of an improper servant, being treated poorly. He felt like shooting magic balls at that arrogant face that acted as if May were his possession.

Moreover, Aiden’s appearance had disrupted his plans to slowly win May over. This was because Aiden took precedence over Johan in her priorities. Whenever he tried to have a conversation, a call would come fishing her away like pulling a leash.

Even the compass that had just started showing its presence was now perfectly acting like an inanimate object with the appearance of this new person. Though its energy could sometimes be felt from the direction of May’s room, that was all.

As a result, May also tried to focus only on Aiden while restraining herself from glancing at the old man pretending to shovel in the garden. She appeared not to want him to discover the mansion’s secrets.

‘……This is boring.’

Johan felt his interest in May itself fading. Actually, rather than that, it was more of an oddly irritating feeling that bothered him more. In any case, since he couldn’t spend time with her like before, his mood naturally soured. When he saw those black eyes watching out for Aiden, an inexplicable irritation welled up. It was the kind of boring development he hated most.

“……Let me take care of the compass.”

That’s why he said that.

The thought occurred to him to quickly accomplish his original purpose for entering this house and leave as planned. He was sick of engaging in childish power struggles with the annoying young master.

But May hesitated and rejected his proposal.

“Well, there aren’t any strange symptoms anymore……”

Even as she said this, purple unpleasant energy still pooled in her belly. It not showing itself was simply because it was waiting for the right moment. It was obvious that through the previous experience, it was calculating more meticulously for the right timing to create a vessel.

For instance, when there were many men who could embrace her besides Johan. Or perhaps it might look for trash who would embrace an unconscious woman. Johan’s brow furrowed at the ugly assumptions. The woman, unaware of such circumstances, continued speaking with an innocent face.

“It seems like the compass isn’t as bad as I thought…… Um, how should I say it? It understands what we say? So if possible, I’d like to send it away gently like grandfather……”

It was an idealistic notion that could only appear in fairy tales. Had she grown attached after keeping it close all this time? Johan’s eyebrows twitched at the maddening nonsense. To think she would try to protect the compass that might be the cause of the thought-form rampaging inside her body that would inevitably sweep her away.

Johan sighed and said,

“Even if we put aside the garden ghost, there’s nothing good about getting close to that thought-form. Because they don’t have ‘grudges’ but only ‘evil’. It will harm you someday.”

“Ah……”

“I promised I’d get rid of it. Trust me and let me handle it.”

As he added this in a fabricated gentle voice, conflicted colors appeared on May’s face. The words about it being different from the grandfather ghost… And she was clearly thinking about the malicious symptoms she had experienced.

Johan quietly stared at May’s lips moving. Though he thought his interest in her had cooled, it wasn’t easy to take his eyes off those fidgeting lips. Perhaps it was because having even this conversation was rare due to that worthless interference.

Though she was timid, he also felt concerned seeing the woman who used to bustle around the mansion become gloomy. The image of her planting herbs with a thoughtful expression beside the ghost old man making shoveling motions flashed through his mind. It seemed that pretending to be a kind person lately had somehow become his real personality. Though the thought of leaving wasn’t erased from his mind, he would surely feel uneasy leaving the mansion like this.

‘If I leave, will she seek help from that guy?’

That was a very unpleasant assumption. Moreover, help from someone who didn’t know the circumstances could cause problems. For instance, if the thought-form’s desired ‘vessel’ was really created….

Johan contemplated while keeping his gaze on May’s white cheek. If her heart weakened, the thought-form would surely exploit that gap. Therefore, he couldn’t tell her that her body was a temporary host, and that the thought-form was trying to conceive a child to have a perfect vessel. It would be quite a frightening story for an ordinary human to handle.

If that happened, it was also clear that it would gain more power feeding on negative emotions like fear. Moreover, May was quite a fearful woman.

But if he were to leave the mansion, he needed to inform her about her body’s condition to some extent beforehand.

‘Besides, if she bears that stuck-up brat’s child, it becomes more than just the thought-form’s problem.’

Though his attitude of easily showing jealousy suggested he had some interest in May, considering how he always disrespected her, it was clear he would end up just playing with her. To begin with, a high-ranking noble would never seriously consider a commoner woman.

Not knowing why he was worrying about things that hadn’t even happened, Johan’s face became serious. The thought of warning her stood out more than the thought of leaving the mansion. However….

“Master….”

“May.”

Just as Johan opened his mouth, an irritating voice cut between them. Naturally, Aiden smirked when he met Johan’s frowning eyes. The mole at his left eye became prominent.

“I told you to come up quickly.”

“Ah, yes….”

Then again at those eyes that seemed to claim ownership of the woman, undisguised irritation appeared on Johan’s face.

“J-Johan, I’ll think about that talk some more…. Um….”

“Stop the useless chatter and come,”

His earlier raised lips at the man with a low anger threshold now seemed foolish.

‘Ah, I want to kill him.’

As time passed, Johan’s ignition point was also getting lower.

* * *

Looking back at May who had followed him like a puppy, Aiden frowned and said.

“Why do you keep that thing around?”

At that brusque voice, May pursed her lips. Earlier when she had answered a similar question by listing Johan’s kindness, gentleness, and diligence despite occasional mischief, she had received a cold glare.

If he had an answer he wanted, it would be better to just tell her outright. Moreover….

‘When exactly does he plan to return to the ducal household…..’

Though Aiden’s mood seemed somewhat better than before, he still showed no signs of leaving the mansion. Unable to directly ask ‘when are you leaving,’ May was constantly just worrying the flesh inside her mouth.

Because of that, the recently chewed inner cheek flesh being bumpy and swollen had become the default state. May rolled her eyes while tracing over it with her tongue tip.

Aiden’s blue eyes narrowed at the lack of answer to his question.

“……Never mind, sit down.”

He soon withdrew his gaze, satisfied. Though a reflexive sigh of relief escaped when he took his seat in the armchair… that was all. The discomfort settled in one corner of her mind wasn’t something that would easily disappear.

Especially since the topic of the ‘offense’ she had expected him to ask about hadn’t come up at all….

‘……I wonder if Butler Benedict managed to explain it away somewhat?’