“What did you wish for?”

Carl opened his eyes first and asked casually. She lowered her hands and smiled.

“It’s a secret.”

“If you wished on my birthday cake, shouldn’t you tell me?”

“No way. These things don’t come true if you tell other people.”

Then Carl made a displeased expression but didn’t ask anymore.

He cut a piece of cake neatly and prettily and held it out to her.

“Try it. I had a famous baker from the capital make it, so it should be delicious.”

“Really?”

She pretended to take a big bite of cream then immediately dabbed it on Carl’s nose.

“What.”

“You’re supposed to do this to the birthday person. Didn’t you know?”

“I didn’t know.”

When she dabbed cream on him once more, wrinkles formed on his handsome brow.

He roughly wiped off the cream with the back of his hand and curled up one corner of his mouth crookedly.

“I learned that I should repay as I received from my former master.”

“Didn’t you also learn that former masters are exceptions?”

“Well, I don’t remember that part.”

Carl suddenly reached out to put cream on her. She quickly stepped back and dodged.

Mandy had worked so hard decorating her face since morning.

She couldn’t let cream ruin her efforts.

“Come here while I’m asking nicely, Shailyn.”

“Try asking not nicely. I’m curious.”

“You, if I catch you……”

At her playful provocation, Carl’s red eyes flashed as he muttered.

“I’ll wash your face with cream.”

“……!”

At his sincere declaration, chills ran down her spine.

If she got caught, she was dead.

They played ‘catch me if you can’ like lovers frolicking on a beach.

Except the background wasn’t a sweet atmosphere in a party hall but as deadly as a thriller chase scene.

“Aaaah! Don’t come! Let’s make peace!”

“Then come quickly and put your face out.”

“No! I worked hard since morning to look pretty today!”

Do you know that effort? I woke up at dawn to dress up!

Perhaps her strong protest worked, as Carl hesitated for a moment.

In the meantime, she had been running too hard to create distance and stepped on her dress hem, staggering.

“Ah……!”

Just before falling to the floor, Carl, running over as swift as a leopard, grabbed her waist.

Tap.

His forehead lightly touched her forehead. He, finally giving up on putting cream on her, chuckled and said.

“I’m letting you off because you’re pretty.”

“Oh, that’s a bit cheesy.”

“Should I not let you off?”

“No, thank you for looking at me prettily.”

Actually, since a handsome face was praising her right in front of her nose, embarrassment rushed in, so she replied while trying to hide her reddened ears.

However, Carl, looking exactly at her ears and laughing, let go of her waist.

They returned to the cake together and shared the sweet cream, fluffy bread, and fresh fruit.

As Carl said, the cake was very delicious. More than anything she had ever eaten.

After the party ended…

Carl saw her off with a regretful face, fidgeting with her fingertips.

“Isn’t the Diart residence a bit cramped?”

“My room alone is big enough for ten people to live in, what are you talking about.”

He’s saying something that doesn’t even make sense.

When she retorted as if dumbfounded, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“My mansion has many spare rooms, so if it’s cramped, you can come live here.”

“Carl, sorry but I’m a somewhat conservative person. I have no intention of living in the same house until marriage.”

Since her values on this were surprisingly firm, she conveyed her intention clearly, and Carl obediently nodded.

“Then to live with you again, I’d have to propose rather than confess.”

“……For me, dating comes before marriage. I hate marrying then dating.”

“That’s the same for me too. I have no intention of rushing ahead, so don’t worry.”

Hmm, then that’s fortunate and…… no it’s not.

The moment she receives a confession to start dating, she has to return to her original world.

Carl, who bent down to look at her when she suddenly became silent, said.

“You’re making that expression again.”

“……What expression?”

“An expression mixing guilt, fear, and sadness as if you’re about to leave somewhere. …… The moment our carriage overturned, that’s exactly the face my parents made looking at me for the last time.”

At his words, her heart seemed to sink heavily to the ground below.

What should she say? How would be the right way to say it?

She felt sorry and anxious, as if she had accidentally touched a wound.

‘I shouldn’t have……’

Then, Carl touched her forehead as if flicking it with his knuckle.

Her mind that was about to burrow into a tunnel was instantly scattered.

“I’ll follow wherever you go, so don’t think about abandoning me.”

“……I never did.”

How could I abandon you.

I can’t abandon you at all, which is why I keep postponing the mission like this.

Still, seeing that her expression had become similar to usual, he smiled satisfactorily.

“Thanks for today, I had fun. It was one of the happiest birthday parties of my life.”

She rubbed her forehead that didn’t hurt once and answered.

“For me too, it was the best party I’ve attended since coming to the capital. Thank you so much for inviting me today.”

Carl personally opened the carriage door and extended his hand. She took that hand and got into the carriage.

“Go home safely.”

“Yeah, see you next time.”

As soon as the door closed and they departed, she opened the window and stuck out her hand to wave.

Then Carl, not leaving his spot immediately, greeted her the same way.

They waved their hands like that for a long time until each other’s presence completely disappeared from view.

***

She couldn’t avoid the mission forever.

Even if she couldn’t resolve it immediately, she decided to proceed with the remaining cleanup.

She had rejected the crown prince and head priest’s hearts, so one remained.

The tower master.

Whether fortunately or unfortunately, contact came from him first through Deborah.

“The magic tower is going to hold a magical tool exhibition again soon, and the tower master invited you too, sister. Will you go?”

“Yeah, that works out well. I wanted to see the tower master anyway.”

“You’re saying something similar to what the tower master said. You two must have connected.”

Deborah, knowing nothing, smiled innocently. So the tower master also wanted to see her.

He might also be waiting for an answer to his confession.

‘If there’s a separate hidden route male lead, they shouldn’t tell you to capture the existing male leads……’

She grumbled inwardly with an uncomfortable feeling, then on one hand thought this too.

‘If I had come to like one of the blond male leads according to the original game setting, would the hidden route have meant something very different.’

In a way, it was quite amazing. She was originally a character set to fall in love with those three men.

She had entered a world constructed that way but ended up liking someone else.

While feeling strange emotions about this fact, time passed quickly and the exhibition day arrived.

She dressed neatly and headed to the magic tower. Since she was also going as Deborah’s older sister, she put quite a bit of effort into looking mature.

She had to uphold their dignity!

The area around the magic tower was bustling with people who came to see the exhibition like her.

The carriages were lined up so long that at some point they stopped moving forward, so she had no choice but to get out.

‘Ugh, this isn’t easy.’

She pressed down on the hat she had stylishly placed on her head so it wouldn’t fall, and walked directly on her own two feet to arrive at the exhibition hall.

She caught her breath and entered elegantly inside, pretending nothing had happened.

After the explosion accident Johanna caused, they seemed to have paid considerable attention to security, as all the magical tools were inside glass cases.

‘Deborah said hers was also exhibited, but where could it be?’

She wanted to freely look around here and there to find it, but there were too many people, making it impossible.

She was forced to look at the magical tools carefully one by one starting from the first, like standing in a lunch line.

But this wasn’t bad unexpectedly.

‘Oh, interesting. They make things like this these days too.’

Thanks to this, she could examine each magical tool, which was fascinating.

She was enjoying the viewing for a while when her gaze was captured by a specific magical tool.

‘This is……’

It was a magical tool that translated the words of certain animals, and coincidentally, the developer was the tower master.

Cats were included in the examples of translatable animals.

‘Cats? Speaking of cats, I remember Goldie……’

If the tower master had developed such a magical tool earlier, she might have been able to communicate in Goldie’s cat form from the beginning.

Of course, now that his curse was lifted, it was a magical tool with little utility.

‘There would be many people in South Korea who’d want this too.’

Still, she found it fascinating and was looking at it for a longer time compared to other magical tools.

“Are you interested in that magical tool?”

A familiar voice came from behind her.