“So, how long are you planning to stay here?”

“Until I lose interest?”

Michalis, who had approached unnoticed, intercepted the answer.

I was left speechless.

As I glared at the two vampires in disbelief, he added nonchalantly.

“There’s no other city on the continent as interesting as this one. There’s always some incident happening.”

“Then why don’t you buy a house in the capital instead of freeloading here? And working as an attendant…? Don’t you have any pride as the head of your clan?”

Among the rulers I knew, Michalis was the laziest. Shahar and Pinion were so immersed in their work that they lost track of time, and Iscallion had long been stripped of his title as a grand duke.

Michalis shrugged at my words.

“Well, actually… I got kicked out of my lordship. It was a hassle anyway, so it worked out well. Consider it an early retirement. I’m lucky to have a wealthy friend.”

“So, you’re planning to live off our family’s wealth? Even if you’ve stepped down as the head, how old are you…? Even if you spent your life doing manual labor, you should have saved up a fortune by now.”

“Well, I spent it all trying to save Violet. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit I’m broke, ha ha.”

Michalis answered with a face that showed no embarrassment at all.

‘Right, he’s a crazy lover too.’

“Don’t be so harsh. You never know when you might need my help.”

This was getting ridiculous.

‘Whatever happens, happens.’

It would be a lie to say I wasn’t uneasy about having my parents and high-ranking vampires under one roof, but with Iscallion around, the chances of the vampires causing trouble in the mansion were close to zero.

Thus, Iscallion and the two vampires became guests of our family.

“How long do I have to keep seeing those faces…?”

Despite being fed up, our family became the most popular in social circles due to the rare beauties gathered in the mansion. Requests to be invited to our home flooded in, regardless of gender. This was also why my social connections never dried up, even though I stayed in the mansion for only about half the year.

The person who enjoyed the constant parties the most was undoubtedly Janet. With our contract nullified and the terrifying Holy Knight Order leader long resigned, she had nothing to fear. She roamed parties freely, busy catching her evening prey.

Today, Janet’s radar caught fresh prey.

It was Count Capone and his friends, a group notorious for their poor behavior. They wouldn’t leave the beautiful Janet from the countryside alone.

Pretending to be innocent, Janet smiled naively and allowed them to approach.

Count Capone, thinking he had her hooked because she kept smiling despite their rudeness, grinned from ear to ear.

Watching the scene, I clicked my tongue.

‘How can they not be suspicious when she’s accepting such crazy behavior?’

Born as the eldest son of the count’s family and smoothly inheriting the family, Count Capone was excessively arrogant. Blinded by his arrogance, he couldn’t sense any danger even with real madness right in front of him.

“Well then, my lady, how about we discuss more important matters outside?”

He grabbed Janet’s wrist abruptly.

“Oh my, Count…”

Feigning reluctance, Janet looked back at me as she was being dragged away by the count.

Instead of stopping her, I shrugged my shoulders. I sincerely wished Count Capone’s final moments would be peaceful. He would end up falling straight into the fires of hell in the Underworld.

With that, I lost all interest in the count.

Having encountered all sorts of villains in the Underworld, I no longer had the same overflowing humanity as before. Souls like his were not the ones to be saved.

“Sigh.”

Seeing couples holding hands and whispering sweet nothings at the banquet made me feel unnecessarily melancholic.

While it was nice to meet my parents and Iscallion, I already missed Shahar. Even though we had only been apart for a few days, it felt like it would be an eternity before I saw him again.

Knowing I would just wallow in misery if I stayed longer, I decided to leave early. Then, I locked eyes with a woman. She was a beautiful and elegant lady.

However, it wasn’t her appearance that caught my attention.

In a banquet filled with joy and laughter, she alone looked sad and lonely.

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

With her looks, she should have had plenty of men approaching her, but no one seemed to notice her.

With a pitiful expression, she opened her mouth.

— Please help me.

Though her voice was drowned out by the noise, I was sure that’s what she said.

Just as I was about to ask what she needed help with, a group of people passed between us.

And in that brief moment, she vanished as if she had never been there. She was truly a mysterious person.

Even on my way home, her sorrowful eyes lingered in my mind.

Feeling restless, I stared blankly out the carriage window, and this time, I spotted a strikingly handsome man from afar.

“Huh? Gined…?”

I felt more joy than curiosity about why he, who had returned to his homeland long ago, was in Arcadia.

I immediately stopped the carriage and approached him as quickly as I could. I wanted to run, but my shoes, which I hadn’t worn in a while, didn’t cooperate.

But Gined disappeared without seeing me. As a result, I only ended up with sore feet.

“Damn…”

As I limped back, a familiar voice called out from behind.

“You still have so much energy.”

“Sir! I never expected to meet you here, oh…?”

I was greeting him when I noticed something. His long, silky silver hair was now cut short.

Though his solemn demeanor remained, he no longer looked as inhumanly cold as before.

Gined responded to my greeting with a smile.

“Nice to see you, Lou.”

Hearing him call my name felt unfamiliar but very kind.

“Oh, you seem a bit different, Sir Roengreen. Or should I call you Your Highness now?”

“Call me whatever you’re comfortable with. But I’d prefer if you used my name.”

“Yes, Gined.”

Hesitant that I might be too familiar, I called his name, and Gined smiled brightly. It was a smile so wide that his teeth showed.

Though he was the oldest among the male leads of human origin and always felt like an adult, it was hard to believe he had such a boyish charm. Anyway, seeing him doing well made me happy too.

“So, what brings you to the empire?”

Even though he was close to the Emperor, it wouldn’t be a trivial matter for a prince of one country to come to a foreign land.

Sure enough, Gined’s expression darkened slightly.

He lowered his voice to a whisper only I could hear.

“An ancient demon has been released from its seal.”

“What? A demon?”

“I don’t know the details yet. But it’s certain that it’s an ancient demon that was sealed a long time ago.”

Gined briefly explained the situation.

Here’s what happened:

Corrupt mages in his homeland gathered and awakened a demon, and unfortunately, most of the mages lost their lives to the awakened demon. Those who barely survived were captured and executed. The summoned demon managed to escape and evade pursuit.

“We tracked it from Freyr, but its trail vanished near the capital. Given that it came straight here, it’s undoubtedly targeting Enril’s lair.”

I was surprised twice by his words.

First, I was astonished that there was still a powerful transcendent on earth that I didn’t know about, and second, I was surprised by the demon’s poor information-gathering skills.

“Do you know the demon’s name?”

“There were ancient words written at the site where the demon was sealed, but no one in Freyr could read them.”

Gined showed me a piece of paper with the ancient words he had copied.

But as an illiterate person, looking at it didn’t yield any results.

‘It’s been ages since I saved the world, and now there’s a demon…’

Because of this demon with poor information but great action, I was about to get entangled in another troublesome affair.

“You must have informed His Majesty the Emperor about this, right?”

“Yes. But I haven’t been granted an audience yet, so I couldn’t convey the details.”

“What? That stingy bastard!”

Knowing Gined’s character, he must have promptly requested an audience. If he still hadn’t met Pinion, it was clear that Pinion was deliberately delaying the approval.