“Well, that’s true.”

Kiriel grinned while stretching his shoulders.

They rested for a while before moving to the bedroom. Due to their setting as a married couple, it was set up as one room, but fortunately there were two beds, placed slightly apart. Kana clapped her hands in delight.

“Wow, we can each use our own bed. This is perfect!”

“Yeah.”

Unlike her jumping joy, his expression was dark. Kana tilted her head and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“While we’re set as a married couple, they draw the line at things like this……”

“Isn’t this better than suddenly having to share one bed?”

“I would prefer that. We could just hold hands while sleeping.”

“Ahem.”

Kana politely cleared her throat, preemptively blocking the atmosphere that was about to turn strange. In romance novels, saying they would just hold hands while sleeping was the least trustworthy line.

‘Though I’m not the female lead of a romance novel…… but the situation is similar.’

Kiriel, still lingering, slightly lowered his eyes and gently coaxed her in a soft voice.

“Can’t we at least push the beds together?”

“Why? It’s better to leave them as is.”

She avoided his desperate gaze while playing with the ends of her hair. Kiriel tried to persuade her logically.

“This is a strange world, and dangerous things could suddenly happen. Being right next to each other would make it easier to respond.”

“……Well, that’s a fair point.”

After much consideration, Kana accepted. Kiriel happily used magic to push the beds together.

* * *

Three months had passed since Kana and Kiriel fell into ‘Flower of Aidel’. The female protagonist showed no dangerous signs yet, and the surrounding people they had marked just in case remained quiet.

They decided to keep only ‘Del’, created by Kiriel, as the jewelry store employee. Though they had screened several candidates through job postings, no one seemed suitable. It was better this way considering security and efficiency.

Currently, they were sipping coffee at ‘Corn Panna’. As usual, while watching Elina and her surroundings and exchanging small talk with people, an important guest arrived.

The coffee house owner warmly welcomed the guest.

“Mr. Cedric, it’s been a while.”

“Indeed. I finally have some free time after finishing a project I was caught up in.”

A handsome gentleman with slicked-back blonde hair and quiet gray eyes slowly nodded.

Cedric Cleave. The sub male lead of ‘Flower of Aidel’ and the person who supported and invested in the jewelry store they operated according to the setting.

Whenever there were business matters to discuss, his representative always came, so this was their first direct meeting.

While Kana and Kiriel observed him, the coffee house owner continued the conversation gently.

“Shall I get you your usual coffee?”

“Yes.”

Cedric nodded slightly. The coffee house owner served him coffee. Kana leaned toward Kiriel and whispered, conditionally blocking even the sound.

“Kiriel, the sub male lead is here.”

“Yeah, we should leave that mark on him too.”

“Yes.”

Kiriel finely controlled his mana and sent it flowing to Cedric. The mark naturally attached to him, but of course, he remained unaware.

Kana tapped her finger on the table. A faint breeze brushed past Cedric’s hand. However, he dismissed it casually while showing curiosity about the new employee.

“I see an unfamiliar face, did you hire someone new?”

“You mean Miss Elina? Yes, she’s a very friendly and capable employee.”

“Hmm.”

He rested his chin on his hand while glancing at Elina with interest. As expected of the sub male lead, he seemed immediately taken with the female protagonist.

Elina maintained the friendly smile typical of service workers but appeared uncomfortable with Cedric’s subtle attention. Kana called out to her, wanting to help in the awkward situation.

“Miss Elina, could I have another coffee over here?”

“Yes.”

Elina brought the coffee with a more relaxed expression. As she set the coffee cup in front of Kana, she whispered softly.

“Um, Miss Kana. In the evening……”

“Ah, of course I remember that appointment. Should I visit about three hours after you finish work today, Miss Elina?”

“Yes.”

Elina smiled softly and nodded. After working hard to build a friendship with the female protagonist, Kana had finally succeeded in receiving a dinner invitation.

The reason she put in so much effort was to scout out the structure and condition of Elina’s mansion beforehand, just in case.

After finishing her coffee, Kana said goodbye with her usual smile and returned to the jewelry store with Kiriel.

In the quiet situation, Kiriel stretched lazily and muttered in a deflated voice.

“It’s so peaceful. I wonder if anything……”

“Ah, you shouldn’t say things like that carelessly. Incidents usually happen suddenly when we let our guard down.”

“True enough.”

Kiriel nodded slowly. Having cut off his words to half-block the event flag, Kana sighed in relief and changed the topic.

“By the way, how are the movements of those we marked? It’s hard to track that delicately with my spirit stone……”

“Hmm, nothing particularly suspicious, but there are several people who frequently contact the female protagonist and come and go from certain places at regular intervals, meeting each other.”

Kiriel tapped the counter with his finger while slightly furrowing then relaxing his brow. Kana paused while arranging the jewels in the glass-covered display case and speculated.

“I find those people suspicious. Of course it could be just daily life, but someone might be involved in causing the female lead’s death.”

“Yeah, I think so too, that’s why I’m keeping watch.”

Kiriel snapped his fingers. A translucent blue window appeared in the air, listing names in order of how they connected and separated.

Her eyes narrowed as she carefully scanned the list up and down.

“Is that the list of people you’re watching?”

“Yes. I remember them all, but I’m keeping records to avoid missing anything. Of course, if our initial hypothesis is correct about reset, this list would disappear too……”

“Hmm, since it’s a mana-formed list, how about sending it to Celia too? We might not be able to recover it in other rounds, but it seems worth trying once.”

“Not a bad idea.”

“Then I’ll ask the spirit.”

Kana immediately asked the wind spirit dwelling in the pure pearl of her necklace.

‘Celia, is it possible?’

[Yes, tell him to send it to me.]

‘Thank you.’

Happy with the spirit’s ready acceptance, she relayed the message to him.

“Please send that mana to my spirit.”

“Alright.”

The floating window became faint and transformed into thin threads of his mana that flowed into her necklace.

Vaguely sensing the energy, Kana immediately checked with her partner.

‘Did it transfer?’

[Yes, it’s recorded in energy form.]

Just as the spirit finished answering, Kiriel’s voice reached her ears.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.”

“If this works in the next round too, it should reduce our wandering around.”

“Let’s hope so.”

Kana answered seriously while clenching her fist. Kiriel gazed at her determined green eyes while gently massaging her clenched hand.

Having always lived busy with work, suddenly entering a relaxed state, and being in a world where magic, which she loved so much, didn’t exist—even if she didn’t show it outwardly, she might often feel empty inside.

‘I was like that too when I first started working.’

Everyone is clumsy and struggles at first. Kana didn’t stop him from naturally fussing over her as she casually suggested.

“Kiriel, it doesn’t look like we’ll have any more customers, want to walk around the neighborhood?”

“Sure.”

Kiriel brightly accepted.

They left Del in charge of the jewelry store and went out. Kana held his hand while strolling the streets, glancing at the neat and proper buildings around.

“Still no signs of anything unusual.”

“Yeah, and all the places people frequently visit make sense too. We haven’t been here long but I’m already so familiar with the streets I could memorize them.”

“Ah, me too.”

Kana smiled softly while agreeing with his words.

* * *

After looking around more with both sightseeing and reconnaissance in mind, they returned to the jewelry store.

They passed time dealing with scheduled customers, and after returning home and tidying up, it was soon time for their appointment with the female protagonist.

Kana visited Elina’s mansion with Kiriel.

Elina, in neat attire, welcomed them with a smile.

“Welcome, both of you.”

“Thank you for inviting us, Miss Elina.”

“Not at all.”

Elina carefully guided them to the table. The mansion’s owner sat across from the guests who sat side by side.

Meanwhile, the spirits dwelling in the pure pearls of Kana’s necklace and ring came out and moved according to their prior discussion.

Celia took charge of scouting the mansion’s interior, while Gnome handled the exterior.

True to the non-fantasy setting, Elina, like other characters in ‘Flower of Aidel’, couldn’t see the spirits.

Pretending not to see the spirits moving stealthily, she examined the table set with abundant and neatly arranged food.

“Wow, the food looks really delicious. You’re very skilled. It must have taken a lot of effort to prepare all this by yourself.”

“Ah, this is my first time inviting neighbors, so I got carried away……”

While Elina smiled shyly, Kana explored the mansion through the spirits, and Kiriel also used his magical power to look for anything suspicious.