While Kana was taken aback by the unexpected response, she found herself naturally sitting face-to-face with him in the garden pavilion. Her parents discreetly stepped aside, winking repeatedly, and even Lena, who brought out tea and simple desserts, sent encouraging looks before stepping back.

Left alone, an awkward atmosphere lingered. Kiriel sat silently, and if not for his golden hair fluttering in the wind, he could have been mistaken for a meticulously crafted statue.

Kana quietly sipped her tea and then set the teacup down.

“Tower Master, if this place is uncomfortable, you can just leave.”

Her blunt words broke the silence, causing Kiriel’s delicate eyebrows to furrow slightly before relaxing. Regardless, Kana calmly added,

“I mean, there’s no need to force yourself to stay since no one is watching. You’ve completed your task neatly, so who would say anything?”

“I didn’t stay to spend time with you, Lady Round. It’s just a simple rest, so don’t worry needlessly.”

Kiriel drew a firm line first. His tone was somewhat prickly, but she didn’t mind. After struggling to earn starmratings as a supporting role, she had long since lost any illusions about supporting character reincarnation stories.

‘At one point, I expected that even if it wasn’t a romance, there might be a tingling, romantic atmosphere once I entered the novel, but that was naive.’

Reality was far from it. No matter how many novels she traversed, getting close to the male protagonists, sub male leads, or villains, they all ultimately fell for the female protagonist.

Exceeding her role as a supporting character would only result in losing star ratings. Hence, she resolved to earn star ratings by diligently fulfilling her supporting character role.

For her, novels were no longer a hobby but a job imposed on her to earn star ratings. Even if she didn’t want to enter, once she did, she wanted to leave quickly.

‘Damn, thinking about it makes me bitter. Living is tough whether in my original world or another world.’

Pushing aside her pitiful thoughts, Kana nodded.

“Oh, you really just wanted to take a break. Then please rest.”

“Alright.”

Kiriel nodded slightly. She quickly averted her gaze from him and admired the beautiful flowers.

‘If I don’t have to talk, that’s fine with me.’

It wasn’t easy to perform emotional labor and force exaggerated reactions as a supporting character. Worse, she had to endure the tyranny of some major characters, especially the male protagonists.

Moreover, she was originally an introvert who had a few close friends but had to become an extrovert to gather information as a supporting role.

She had to manage even shallow relationships diligently.

‘Sigh, it’s exhausting. It’s like a service job with no breaks.’

Kana smiled wryly. She had felt sorry for supporting characters while reading romance fantasy novels, but being one herself was truly suffocating.

Though the characters’ appearances were dazzling and the settings weren’t bad, it didn’t alleviate her struggles.

Kana suddenly recalled a particularly harsh character from a certain novel.

‘Was it the tyrant emperor male lead?’

He was disgraceful, unable to admit his mistakes, and acted poorly. When the female protagonist left, he regretted it and chased after her, neglecting his work.

Who would handle the accumulating work during that time? Naturally, his subordinates. Unfortunately, she played the role of a mid-level aide in that novel, suffering a lot.

Having a heavy workload was already annoying, but he took out his frustration on the exhausted aides when things didn’t go well with the female protagonist.

Not only the emperor male lead but also the sub male leads, villains, and even near-extra characters were the type to drive people crazy, making her life difficult.

No wonder she and another supporting role actor secretly complained about the emperor as if it were a sport.

Recalling the hardships while talking to Kiriel made her feel unpleasant. She soothed her mood with tea and dessert.

‘Sugar is the best. The garden view is nice too.’

Despite the ominous keywords, the role assigned to her in ‘Fake Saint’ was not a subordinate supporting character, so it should be fine.

As long as she adhered to the core settings and delivered her lines like a background character, it would be much easier.

‘I should save my emotions for later when I need to praise and admire the female protagonist.’

Because that is the role of ‘Kana Round.’ Kana once again reminded herself of her duties.

Meanwhile, Kiriel, who had been silent, was quietly observing the profile of the woman sitting in front of him.

Surprisingly, she had fallen silent after their brief conversation, and except for occasionally partaking in the refreshments, she turned her body away and stared blankly at the flowers blooming in the garden.

Kiriel recalled situations when he was alone with others. Usually, the other party would try to forge a strong connection or shower him with insincere kindness in hopes of gaining something.

‘Is she without ambition?’

Interestingly, Kana showed no interest in him whatsoever. Her expressionless face exuded an indifferent and even bored atmosphere. At least when she was with the Round Viscount couple, she had a faint smile.

What puzzled him was that she looked extremely tired. Her eyes, reminiscent of fresh greenery, were filled with deep fatigue. She looked like one of those mages from the Magic Tower, worn out from magical research.

‘Why does she look more exhausted than I do after repairing the barrier? And she possesses the energy of a spirit, too.’

Despite his amazement, Kiriel harbored an academic curiosity. Typically, those with the qualities of a spirit summoner were lively and vibrant, given their affinity with spirits, beings close to nature.

‘Was her reaction earlier due to the Round Viscount couple’s presence?’

Instead of growing closer, the atmosphere was more desolate than when they were together with the couple. As host and guest, they were practically neglecting each other.

The couple likely didn’t expect the two to just let time pass without doing anything. They probably arranged this meeting to foster a connection between the two peers, but unfortunately, the attitudes of the individuals involved were lukewarm.

Kiriel followed Kana’s gaze to the flowers she was staring at. Given how intently she was looking, he wondered if there was something special about them, but they were just ordinary garden flowers.

At this point, it seemed like she was the one taking a break, not him.

After staring at the flowers for a while, Kana, apparently bored, began plucking small wildflowers growing near the pavilion and decorating her braided hair with them.

The small white flowers somewhat suited her light brown hair. Perhaps it was because of her spirit summoner qualities. Kiriel silently watched her, then took out a vividly colored spirit stone from his spatial pocket and fiddled with it.

‘I want to test her and see her condition.’

Sensing the spirit energy around Kana, he finally spoke.

“Lady Round.”

Kana, who had been daydreaming, straightened up in surprise.

“Ah, yes!”

“You really don’t say anything.”

Despite exuding an aura of ‘don’t bother me while I’m resting,’ why did she react that way? It was a rather capricious attitude. Though she felt slightly miffed, she responded with a gentle smile.

“Although we met for the first time today, I thought you preferred a quiet atmosphere, Tower Master.”

“……”

“It’s comfortable for you, and comfortable for me. Wasn’t it a good situation for both of us?”

“Uh, well.”

Responding in a deliberately bright voice, Kiriel showed a reluctant expression and slowly nodded. Kana naturally shifted the topic.

“Is there something you wanted to say?”

“No. Well, you know, earlier I mentioned sensing the energy of a spirit from you.”

“Yes, you did.”

“Let’s take this opportunity to try making a contract with the spirit here.”

Kiriel’s face was quite serious. At some point, he had taken out a spirit stone from his spatial pocket and was holding it in his hand.

‘He must be curious about the spirit I might contract with if he’s suggesting this. Maybe he’s intrigued since he’s been experimenting with spirit stones.’

Kana speculated internally and blinked slowly.

“Trying it here, but how…?”

“Using this will make it easier.”

Without any hesitation, Kiriel pushed the spirit stone towards her.

‘From the moment he took it out, I had a feeling, but I didn’t expect him to offer it so readily.’

She furrowed her brows, looking at him showing such unexpected kindness.

“Wasn’t this something you prepared to use yourself, Tower Master?”

“That’s why I’m using it now.”

Kiriel retorted bluntly. Kana looked at the spirit stone with a slightly troubled heart. Seeing her hesitation, he added softly.

“I’m not asking for anything in return for a mere spirit stone, so just use it. If you’re worried about failure or safety, I’m here, so don’t worry.”

“May I ask why you’re doing this?”

“I’m curious about the spirit you will contract with.”

It was a straightforward and honest answer. His expression matched his tone, remaining indifferent. As she had guessed, it seemed to be a whim born of pure curiosity.

‘Having lived doing whatever he wanted since childhood, he must be used to pushing things forward suddenly like this.’

Kana’s eyelashes fluttered. Although his actions were somewhat rude, contracting with a spirit in front of him was neither particularly concerning nor difficult.

‘However…….’

What bothered her was that she was already contracted with Celia. Wouldn’t it be unnatural to show another contract when the summoning wasn’t going smoothly or when she was already contracted?

Kiriel urged Kana, who hesitated to readily extend her hand.

“Lady Round, your answer?”