“So you were wearing your hair down because that young master was gone. This style suits you much better.”

“Ah, Aiden went to a banquet….”

Moreover, May accepted it as if it were nothing. As if that level of skinship between them was nothing unusual.

Dominic felt a more severe headache than when May had sucked his p*nis while he was asleep, or when she suddenly reached out to embrace him. It was because he had no idea how to make sense of the situation before him.

Such impurities weren’t part of the peaceful daily life he had wished for her. He had been looking for that servant, but he hadn’t anticipated the cordial atmosphere before him. He had only thought of finding that man, questioning him, holding him accountable for his crimes, and making him receive appropriate punishment.

He didn’t think they had spent that much time together…. Yet her black eyes were filled with trust toward the man.

‘……He definitely used some kind of trick.’

Considering May’s abnormal behaviors, that man definitely possessed something strange. As he had suspected earlier, it was most likely a narcotic aphrodisiac.

In fact, there were aspects that didn’t quite add up if May’s behaviors were symptoms of addiction or side effects of such a drug…. But those were things he would find out by digging deeper. Even if he couldn’t uncover anything else, that servant wouldn’t escape the role of a criminal.

‘Does the compass he just handed over have some significance too?’

Or was there something inside it? Considering the woman’s face had brightened with delight when she received the compass, it was quite a plausible assumption.

Hiding drugs in objects for trafficking was an old-fashioned but enduring method. Especially metal objects like compasses that could be hollowed out were often used for small-scale transactions.

‘I should examine that object first.’

Dominic glanced briefly at May’s pocket where the compass was kept, then raised his gaze.

As soon as he did, he met curved golden eyes. The owner of those eyes was clearly smiling, but with one eyebrow raised, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant expression.

When Dominic didn’t avoid his gaze, Johan raised the corner of his mouth crookedly and affectionately grabbed May’s arm beside him. Not content with that, he put his lips near her ear. It looked as if he was about to whisper something, but….

“……By the way, it seems the lawyer has been glaring at me for a while.”

The volume of his voice hadn’t decreased at all.

The shameless-faced man soon hunched his body and rested his head on the shoulder of the woman who was much smaller than him. Meanwhile, he rolled his eyes to peek at Dominic, which was quite a spectacle.

“What did I do wrong, my lady?”

Though the question was clearly playful, May began to visibly fluster. She quickly changed the subject, saying she had forgotten to introduce them.

“I’m sorry. Since you were together earlier, I thought you had already greeted each other….”

“We did greet each other. We just didn’t exchange names.”

“Ah, then I’ll introduce you… Mr Dominic, this is Johan.”

Being introduced first made Johan’s mouth curl up even more.

“I am my lady’s only servant.”

As he completed the introduction, May’s eyes widened.

“Um, servant… aren’t you not anymore…?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you said you were quitting….”

“My last words were that I would come back. And here I am.”

With this mischievous way of catching her words, Dominic’s presence was naturally erased. As if targeting him, Johan deeply locked eyes with May instead of Dominic, who was supposed to be the subject of the introduction. Then he spouted nonsense about how, “Come to think of it, my lady’s hands probably can’t reach the upper parts of the mansion windows.”

May’s face, momentarily confused, suddenly brightened. She seemed quite pleased with that ridiculous ploy.

“You mean you’ll stay at the mansion instead of leaving…?”

“If my lady doesn’t chase me away.”

The brightly smiling face after receiving Johan’s confirmation was something Dominic had never seen before. Of course, he hadn’t spent much time with her, but he had never seen her smile like that even when she was young.

‘So she could smile like that.’

Though he was in the position of a guest, he somehow felt like an outsider. In fact, that wasn’t wrong, and there was no reason for him to feel any particular way about it. But….

“Ah! This, this is the lawyer who was supposed to visit last time.”

The face that belatedly looked at him.

“His name is Dominic Vicenti….”

The distant tone was a stark contrast to when she had first reached out, asking to be embraced.

“The, the lawyer wasn’t glaring at you, Johan. His eyes are just a bit sharp… he was just looking, but I think you misunderstood….”

Somehow his mood sank at the sight of her earnestly making excuses to the blond man.

“Pfft…. Ah, so he was just looking. I misunderstood, I’m sorry.”

“……”

It was natural for that low mood to deepen at such unnecessary rivalry.

“By the way, that young master isn’t coming back, right? I hope he doesn’t.”

Johan eventually began to flatter May while ignoring Dominic as if he didn’t exist. Dominic’s expressionless face began to frost with slight irritation at the accompanying skinship.

Finally, as he rose from the sofa, both of their gazes followed him. Dominic spoke while fixing his gaze on the hateful man.

“I’d like to continue the conversation we couldn’t finish earlier.”

Johan smiled brightly at the pressuring gray eyes.

“Ah, that’s right, we were supposed to.”

* * *

May looked at the two men going outside the mansion with a puzzled face.

‘Do they have something to talk about?’

She naturally looked toward the garden outside the window out of curiosity, but her attention quickly shifted as she felt a vibration in her pocket.

Clatter.

The compass, which had escaped from her pocket on its own, rolled across the table as if performing acrobatics. As it stopped and spun around, May furrowed her brow watching the needle turn.

‘Huh? What’s this….’

When Johan had handed it to her, she only felt pure joy without any hesitation…. But now, an inexplicable discomfort rose with the golden energy that began to spread like rippling waves. May unconsciously wrapped her arms around her stomach protectively as she looked at it.

She couldn’t clearly define the sensation that seeped out from inside her throat like nausea. Finally, unable to bear it, she widened the distance between herself and the compass, but it quickly followed her with a clattering sound.

“…Ah!”

May frowned at the cold metallic touch against her cheek. The compass, which had been somewhat well-mannered before, began to cling to her intensely as if reuniting with a long-lost friend. It looked like a large dog licking her face wildly.

Of course, since it was an inanimate object doing this, the scene that unfolded was quite bizarre.

“Wait, wait….”

Three or four times, no, more than that. May couldn’t shake off the cold sensation repeatedly touching her face. The persistence and strength of the small object were quite fierce. She eventually had to receive the strange shower of kisses while collapsed on the sofa. The golden light scattering before her eyes had grown in scale and now seemed about to cover her face.

The one fortunate thing was that as she frantically twisted her head, she realized her stomach felt better. The discomfort that had been concentrated in her throat, the middle of her chest, and lower abdomen had noticeably subsided. Somehow her mind felt clearer too.

May blinked for a while at the strange sense of dissonance. And when the compass that had risen before her eyes attached itself calmly to her cheek again, she burst out laughing without realizing it. She could feel its remaining energy wrapping around her body comfortingly.

‘It’s a bad object, is it right to feel comfort from it….’

She had already heard warnings about the compass’s evil several times, and had even experienced trouble because of it. Yet she couldn’t hide her childishly improved mood. She had been depressed all along about her grandfather’s story…. It was strange that a bad object instantly lifted that mood.

‘Come to think of it, my body becoming strange isn’t because of the compass either.’

Looking back now, she couldn’t understand why she had such a misunderstanding. Her body was just naturally preparing to create a vessel. Moreover….

“Here, take this.”

“…Huh? Why this…?”

“I couldn’t come back from going out empty-handed.”

It seemed like an excuse made with Dominic in mind, but in any case, her wariness faded because Johan had personally returned it. In fact, any vigilance had long since disappeared….

Recalling Johan’s face smiling as if telling her not to worry, May began to laugh freely. And quite naturally….

“Hahaha, ha….”

Her eyes met those of the man watching her from the garden beyond the window.