“I see.”

“Stand on it and if you feel a tingling from the soles of your feet up, that’s the warp gate.”

Owen set the magic stone on the floor and stood up.

“Your hand.”

Owen held his hand out to Shiloh.

“Do you really need my hand?”

“Yes. I do.”

Owen answered firmly.

Shiloh hesitated with a puzzled look, and he took her hand and pulled her toward him.

Owen’s face flushed slightly as he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing.

A moment later, his golden hair drifted mysteriously, as if someone had stirred the air from below.

Shiloh watched him and opened her mouth in surprise.

“Perumenes Volumen.”

Owen gripped her hand tightly and murmured the magic incantation.

His hair settled again shortly after.

But even after opening his eyes, Owen did not let go of the hand he was holding.

Shiloh looked at him with blank eyes and asked.

“Is it done?”

“Yes.”

Shiloh quickly pulled her hand back and stepped away.

Something briefly flickered across his face, like reluctance.

“Keep holding my hand.”

“Sorry.”

Shiloh held her hand out again and Owen took it eagerly.

“Hold my hand and step on it again.”

“All right.”

“Can you feel it?”

Shiloh nodded with a subtle expression.

“Yes.”

“Then it’s done. I want to stay longer but I have things to do at the magic tower so I should go.”

“Thank you so much for today.”

“I’m the more grateful one.”

Owen gave Shiloh a lingering look, then turned away.

“See you again soon.”

“Yes. Take care.”

Shiloh saw Owen out of the shop and stood alone, looking quietly at the worn, smooth stone floor.

“You can’t tell at all.”

The realization that she now had a direct line of transport to Kyle seeped into her mind belatedly.

Shiloh let out a sigh, her face crumpling as she ran her hands through her hair.

“Ha…… what on earth is happening to my life……”

*

“Ha……”

Kyle flipped through the pages of a book, then closed it and sighed, leaning back in his chair.

The cover of the book he had closed bore the stiff title ‘Everything About Policy.’

Kyle had been unable to concentrate on work lately.

“I can’t figure her out.”

He thought of Shiloh and rubbed his face dry.

At first it had been her hard work in difficult circumstances that had made him want to help.

But then she had understood his struggles and taken his side, and it had made something ache behind his eyes. She hadn’t even known he was the emperor at the time.

‘I hope Your Majesty finds happiness.’

Thinking of those lovely words warmed his chest, but the moment the sensations of that burning night came back to him, his mood shifted in an instant.

Kyle rubbed his eyes.

He had thought they had grown much closer.

Her polite, line-drawing manner after spending the night together had caught him off guard.

‘Was I too clumsy?’

Kyle crossed his arms and bit the inside of his lip.

His only exposure to the intimacy between a man and a woman had been through books, so no matter how much theoretical study he had done, he was bound to be inexperienced.

Kyle chewed the inside of his lip and thought carefully about Shiloh’s reactions that night.

No matter how he thought about it, she hadn’t seemed to dislike being with him.

‘Is she uncomfortable because I’m the emperor?’

Kyle fidgeted with the communication device he wore as a necklace, debating whether to activate it.

A few days earlier, he had given Shiloh a small communication device earring, which meant they could speak even at a distance.

Shiloh had never contacted him first.

After debating with himself, Kyle decided to just do it, squeezed his eyes shut, and pressed the pendant.

Zing.

—Is something the matter, Your Majesty?

A clear voice came through from the other side of the communication device.

Kyle’s heart hammered wildly.

He steadied the corners of his mouth that wanted to move and lowered his voice.

“Have you finished baking the cookies for tomorrow?”

Shiloh was apparently in the middle of baking, because she answered between quick breaths.

—I’ve been too busy and haven’t gotten to them yet. I’ll stay up all night if I have to and have them ready by the agreed time.

“Make sure you do.”

—Your Majesty, today is the day I go to the guild headquarters.

“The guild…… understood. I’ll contact you later.”

The smile that had spread across Kyle’s face vanished immediately.

He ended the short call and let out a long sigh.

He felt like a foolish emperor with nothing to do but fixate on food.

‘Please forget everything about last night. I wasn’t in my right mind…… it was a mistake. I am truly sorry.’

Kyle pressed his fingers to his forehead and shook his head, trying to get a grip on himself.

“Get it together, Kyle. It was just a moment of being swept away by desire, nothing more than curiosity.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes, pulled the thick stack of documents toward him, and began turning through them as if battling with something.

*

Shiloh walked into the baker’s guild building on the main street carrying a few bottles of wine.

She passed the guards at the entrance of the ornate building and arrived at the meeting hall.

The guild members seated around the table were mostly middle-aged men, though there were a few women.

The cold, watchful eyes on her made Shiloh hesitate for a moment, but she deliberately put on a bright smile.

“How do you do. My name is Shiloh. I’ve been open for about two months, but things have been hectic. I apologize for the late introduction.”

“We were about to report you to the courts for not getting in touch. Consider yourself lucky.”

“Pardon?”

The guild master’s blunt words made Shiloh’s face go rigid despite her effort to stay composed.

In the meantime, a servant went around pouring the wine she had brought into the cups in front of each member.

It was customary in the guild for new members to share the wine they brought when attending a meeting for the first time.

The guild master set the license Shiloh had handed him on the table and looked down at it.

“Your maternal family is the Cygnus count’s family?”

The guild master looked up sharply from the license and fixed his gaze on Shiloh.

The atmosphere around the table went cold along with it.

“Yes……”

She answered in a small voice and glanced at him.

“Why is a young lady from a noble family baking bread? Was bread just the easiest option?”

The guild master pressed sharply, and Shiloh’s flushed face shook her head firmly.

“My parents were from noble families, but I hold no title. So strictly speaking, calling me a noble isn’t quite accurate either.”

“……”

“The family fell into ruin, and this was the only thing I knew how to do. My father disappeared suddenly while under investigation for fraud……”

“……”

“I held on by learning to bake during a hard time. I know it’s a difficult path, but I bake because I love it. I keep doing research too……”

“……”

Her voice trembled as she explained.

When no one among the members said anything, Shiloh squeezed her eyes shut.

Was this how her guild membership would fall apart.

The worst scenarios drifted through her mind.

After an uneasy silence, the guild master opened his lips again.

“You trained in Belmae. You must bake a remarkable ginger cookie.”

“Ginger…… cookie?”

Shiloh’s eyes went wide.

“Belmae means ginger cookies. Pretty to look at, and that warm, spicy-sweet taste is the best. I ate one myself decades ago when someone brought some back. I still remember it.”

A faint smile spread across his face.

Shiloh’s heart pounded.

“Make some ginger cookies for our members, that’s all I’m asking.”

At the guild master’s words, the members burst into laughter and clapped their hands.

The corners of Shiloh’s mouth, pulled up awkwardly, trembled.

At least the atmosphere wasn’t one of rejection.

After receiving her license back from the guild master, Shiloh glanced around at the members and realized Denis was not there.

“Didn’t Denis come today?”

She was concerned.

Was it because he was unhappy about her joining the guild?

“He said he’s been overworking and feeling unwell so he couldn’t make it. Oh. Denis was asking me the other day if there was a way to buy a knife cheaply.”

“A knife?”

Then another senior baker spoke up.

“The guild helps members buy supplies like flour and firewood at lower prices, but a baker buying a knife, how often does that happen…… that miser barely pays his dues and he’s still trying to squeeze blood from a stone.”

The other bakers laughed at that.

“Now then, everyone raise your glasses! To the future of the bakers of the Amondi Empire!”

Clink.

The guild master raised his glass and called the toast, and the musicians nearby played their string instruments with energy.

Amid the laughter and music, Shiloh’s expression alone had gone white.

Shiloh turned over the fact that the intruder had left a knife behind in the shop.