The living room fell silent after Elina’s words. Kiriel sat next to Kana and snapped his fingers. A sound-blocking magic spread.

“Kana, seems like the female protagonist roughly knows the situation too. Should we just be straightforward?”

“Let’s do that. Leave the conversation with her to me.”

“Okay.”

Kiriel lifted the sound-blocking magic. To Elina’s eyes, it just looked like the two were moving their lips while exchanging words.

While she took a deep breath, Kana carefully opened her mouth.

“……Actually, we also thought it was strange how we keep returning to our move-in day whenever you die.”

“Ah, I knew it!”

The shadow on her face lightened somewhat with the relief of not being alone. Before gathering information, Kana comforted the female protagonist who must have suffered.

“Though we retain our memories too, we had no idea you would as well. You must have really struggled, unable to tell anyone and suffering alone inside.”

“Yes, I thought I was going crazy. At first I thought it was just an unpleasant dream, but when situations repeated with slight changes…… both home and the outside became scary.”

Elina trembled while hugging herself with crossed arms. Her completely shrunk appearance gave off a pitiful atmosphere.

Though not to that extent, Kana had experienced something similar while working as a supporting character. She could empathize with those feelings without having to act.

Her tone became even gentler.

“Of course. Who wouldn’t be afraid in that situation?”

“I thought I was living quietly, but why did this suddenly happen…… I don’t know how to avoid it.”

Elina let out a deep sigh with a face full of worries. Kana calmly responded to her words.

“First we should eliminate the dangerous elements.”

“This time it’s because of a flowerpot so we can just remove that but……”

Elina trailed off. They had already conspired with Kiriel to get rid of the flowerpot, so it would be helpful if the female protagonist removed it herself. She pretended not to know and asked.

“Were the first and second times caused by something different?”

“Yes, the previous two were related to people. The first time, a masked man in black clothes stabbed me at night, and the second time, after drinking juice I was given……”

“You remember in detail. We’ll actively help with those parts.”

Kana stepped up boldly. Elina’s eyes widened. Though it was what she had secretly hoped for, she felt dazed. She carefully asked while alternately examining the neighbor couple’s faces.

“……You and Mr. Kiriel?”

“Yes. Actually, we have some useful abilities.”

Kana glanced at Kiriel while shrugging her shoulders. When he nodded in affirmation, Elina’s eyes sparkled.

“Wow, really?”

“Well, if you don’t believe it, I can show you a bit.”

Kiriel spread his hand. Flames bloomed and extinguished above his palm, then water droplets floated and froze, and wind formed a small spiral before dissipating.

Seeing supernatural phenomena for the first time in her life, Elina’s mouth fell open. She rubbed her eyes and stammered.

“Th-that just now……”

“That’s the ability my beloved wife mentioned. I demonstrated with somewhat noticeable types.”

Kiriel was nonchalant. After confirming no warning text appeared in the air, Kana pointed at him and added.

“As you can see. I have abilities too, but not to this extent. My husband is capable in many ways.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

Elina sincerely marveled. Then Kiriel spoke up directly, fitting his personality.

“Actually, after things happened, we investigated the cause on our own, and it seemed there was someone behind it.”

“……Someone behind it?”

Elina’s body jerked. Still no warning text appeared.

‘Hmm, so this much is within allowable limits.’

While Kana glanced at the air, Kiriel snapped his fingers and continued the conversation.

“Yes. Do you have any relationships involving grudges? It would be easier to investigate if we knew that.”

“I’m not sure. As I said earlier, I lived quietly. And I’m not valuable enough to be targeted……”

Elina’s head drooped as her voice trailed off. She felt guilty for not being helpful to neighbors who were worrying and working hard for a complete stranger.

In reality, even as Duke Dekrom’s wife, she lived poorly unbefitting her position. To the point where rumors spread calling her a side wife. Even before marriage, she was just a noble in name with a small inheritance.

Kana clapped her hands to get attention.

“Then we should focus on blocking and enduring as much as possible. Let us know if you find any clues, no matter what they are.”

“I will.”

Caught up in her way of speaking, Elina nodded obediently.

Kana carefully examined the female protagonist’s face while asking.

“Ah right, were there any special symptoms before returning to the beginning?”

“Um, when dying my vision just turned pitch black…… and something screamed in my head. Though I couldn’t understand since the voice and pronunciation were muffled.”

Elina frowned while rubbing her temples.

She had an intuition that the identity of what the female protagonist carried and the keyword hidden by the guide text were related. Kana didn’t show it and gently advised.

“I see. For now, be careful with everyone regardless of familiarity while taking care of yourself.”

“Alright.”

“I’ll attach my friend to you for now.”

Kana summoned Celia and asked.

‘Celia, please transfer the list to Kiriel and focus on Elina.’

[Leave it to me, Kana.]

Celia transferred the list to Kiriel through spirit energy and moved beside Elina. She looked at the female protagonist with an awkward smile.

“Oops, you can’t see her, right?”

“Ah, no. I can see something whitish though it’s very faint and I can’t make out the shape well.”

Elina narrowed her eyes then waved her hands. Originally the female protagonist couldn’t notice spirits even when they moved right in front of her. Kana studied her.

“Hmm, could you see this from the beginning?”

“No. After experiencing death several times……”

Elina’s disturbed voice trembled finely. It would be troublesome if other characters saw spirits, but it didn’t matter much if the female protagonist vaguely perceived them.

‘Seeing how no warning text appeared, this world seems to allow it too.’

Kana answered with a friendly smile to reassure the female protagonist who was being cautious.

“Ah, I see. I was wondering how to explain, but it’s fortunate you can perceive it. I’ll keep it by your side as long as my energy allows.”

“Thank you, Miss Kana.”

“Don’t mention it. We’re helping each other since we’re both trapped in this strange situation.”

Kana’s eyes curved prettily. Combined with her gentle and round impression, she exuded an atmosphere of a harmless and kind person. Enough for anyone to lower their guard upon seeing her.

‘This impression can sometimes make people look down on or underestimate me, but it’s helpful in situations like this.’

While she briefly thought about this, Elina nodded with a small smile.

“Yes!”

“Take care on your way back.”

Kana sent back the female protagonist whose condition had improved greatly since she first came. The two naturally turned to face each other. She spoke first.

“Kiriel, it’s definitely more convenient now that the female protagonist is aware of the situation.”

“Yeah, while talking earlier I left markers and cast protection magic too. The protection magic’s effect should improve since her range of danger awareness has increased.”

“Wow, that’s good news.”

Kana clapped happily. Kiriel nodded but suddenly spoke with a serious expression.

“But that strange voice the female protagonist heard when dying must be related to ‘that something’, right?”

“Probably. Whatever it is, I hope we don’t encounter a situation where we have to deal with it.”

Could it possibly be some supernatural being or transcendent type? Kana sighed while speculating internally. Kiriel drawled slowly.

“Why do I have a feeling it won’t go as you say.”

“……Ah, then I hope it’s at least within a solvable range when we face it.”

“I agree. Though first we need to prevent the female protagonist from dying.”

“Yes. By the way, I wish the spirit summoning time was longer…… There’s no good way to quickly increase spirit energy here.”

Kana lightly mussed her hair. Kiriel tilted his head.

“What about spirit stones?”

“I fed them all to the spirits before coming over.”

“Snow essence?”

“Already ate those. I’m the type who doesn’t save things like that……”

Kana smiled awkwardly while twirling the ends of her hair. Suddenly five snow essences floated above Kiriel’s hand.

“Then eat these.”

“Could those be what I gave you before?”

“Yeah, they were too precious to use so I carefully stored them in subspace.”

Kiriel admitted straightforwardly though slightly embarrassed. Kana’s eyes widened.

“And you’ll use them on me?”

“Yeah.”

“……Thank you. I’ll prepare a different gift when we return.”

Kana didn’t decline and swallowed the snow essences. Kiriel chuckled and responded smoothly.

“Well, your existence itself is a great gift.”

“……You’re saying embarrassing things.”

“Why so sudden about it? I’m just stating facts.”

Kiriel shrugged his shoulders as if it was obvious. Though shameless, it wasn’t hateful. The tips of Kana’s ears turned slightly red as she lightly glared at him.

After fully absorbing the snow essences, she carefully honed her spirit energy.

They left the mansion to reset the initial settings. The warmth of their tightly held hands was comforting. They intended to see this round through to the end.