‘If it were Iscallion, he would have been swayed by just one compliment from me.’

But Michalis was not Iscallion. For him, being straightforward would be more effective than giving clumsy compliments.

“Keep an eye on Ines for a while, and if she summons any strange beings, take care of them quietly.”

One transcendent to subdue another transcendent.

It was a lesson learned from the man standing in front of me.

“Lou. While I like you and have done you a favor, I am the leader of my kind. If you need someone to serve you like a servant, let me remind you that your contractor is Janet.”

“Please. I have no other choice. I may be second to none in incompetence, but she is truly hopeless. I promise I won’t ask for this favor for free. I swear I’ll save you if you ever face danger.”

“Unfortunately, I’ve rarely been in danger throughout my entire life. And how do you plan to save me?”

Michalis chuckled as if he found it absurd.

I handed him the coal.

“Right now, the King of the Underworld is targeting you. What could be more dangerous than that? But don’t worry. I will dedicate myself to persuading him for you. Doesn’t that sound tempting?”

His smiling face stiffened immediately.

***

Fortunately, Ines remained quiet for a while. But it was clear that once she fully recovered, she would cause trouble again.

Despite my anxiety, I had never felt more at ease physically.

Michalis took care of the small fry that came to the capital, and thanks to the Crown Prince pretending that Janet was his contractor, I could use her as much as I wanted.

With some free time on my hands, I decided to visit Iscallion.

Currently, he was the male lead most likely to accept me, so I couldn’t neglect our relationship.

Iscallion was waiting for me, leaning against a tree in a casual outfit.

He looked handsome even when seen one-on-one, but a truly good-looking man shines the most in a crowd.

He was sucking on a lollipop, looking both innocent like a child and oddly provocative. Given his good looks, it was no surprise that women flocked around him like bees.

“Sister!”

Iscallion spotted me among the crowd and waved with a bright smile.

The women dispersed with disappointed faces at my appearance.

“Did you wait long?”

“I could wait for days if it’s for you, Sis. Am I good?”

“Of course, of course. Our Leon is so good.”

Even on tiptoe, I couldn’t reach his head to pat it because of our height difference.

So Iscallion bent down and offered his head to me. It felt like taming a large dog.

Though it bothered me a bit that he was like a large dog with rabies…

“What should we do today? Tell me if there’s something you want to do. But no illegal activities like violence, arson, theft, or marriage.”

“Darn.”

Iscallion immediately pouted.

After a long moment of sulking with his broad shoulders drooping, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he grabbed my hand.

“I thought of something I want to do.”

I wondered what grand thing he had in mind, but he led me to a small fountain. Couples and families were tossing coins into the fountain, making wishes.

It was a place I had visited countless times before.

The amount of gold coins I had thrown into that fountain could have supported a family of four for a month.

But my wish for the Crown Prince to love me never came true.

In hindsight, it was a blessing.

“Let’s toss a coin too.”

“Isn’t that too modest? Have you never thrown a coin into a fountain before?”

“No. When I was young, I was too poor to think about throwing money into a place like this.”

Even though he became the lord of a grand duchy, his painful past always tugged at my heartstrings.

Iscallion, however, nonchalantly took out two gold coins.

He gave one to me and immediately tossed the other into the water. Then he closed his eyes and made a wish quite seriously.

I followed suit and tossed my coin.

“What did you wish for?”

“To marry you someday. What about you?”

“Uhmm… I wished for my family and friends to be healthy and happy.”

Of course, it was a lie.

‘Please, just let me catch one of them, please…!’

“Since we offered gold coins, our wishes will surely come true, right?”

“Of course. The fountain must like gold coins too.”

As soon as we left the place, the vagrants would probably retrieve the gold coins, but I played along to preserve his innocence.

While we were moving to another location, an unexpected autumn rain started pouring down.

In a hurry, we entered a nearby restaurant. However, even as time passed, the rain showed no signs of stopping.

At this rate, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to return home before dark.

“What should we do…?”

“Wait here.”

Iscallion, who had stepped out of the restaurant, returned shortly with an umbrella. The sight of him shaking off his wet hair was incredibly mesmerizing.

“You bought it legally, right? You didn’t take it from someone else, right?”

“They just gave it to me when I looked at them?”

“Well, as long as you acquired it legally.”

When we stepped outside, the rain was still pouring heavily. Almost everyone had gone home, and the streets were nearly empty.

As I shivered involuntarily from the noticeably colder temperature, Iscallion took off his outer garment and draped it over my shoulders.

“Thank you.”

Then I realized something.

Even though we were sharing a small umbrella, almost no raindrops were falling on my side. The umbrella was tilted excessively towards me.

Sure enough, unlike me who was dry, Iscallion’s one shoulder was already soaked. His thin shirt clung to his skin.

I pushed his hand holding the umbrella to the other side.

“Your clothes are all wet.”

Iscallion didn’t seem to mind much. He casually glanced at his shoulder and tilted the umbrella back towards me.

“Then come closer. There’s a bit of room.”

His words were purely out of kindness, but they felt like a blatant ploy once spoken.

Before I could explain, Iscallion quickly pressed his body close to mine.

Under the narrow umbrella, our bodies kept bumping into each other. Every time it happened, I couldn’t help but be conscious of it.

“Just like you said, I’m less wet and it’s nice.”

“Yeah, you should always listen to adults.”

The sound of raindrops hitting the umbrella seemed unusually loud.

To shake off the awkwardness, I blurted out anything that came to mind.

“Uh, Leon. Aren’t you cold? I think you should wear this.”

When I tried to take off the outer garment, Iscallion stopped me.

“I’m fine, you wear it. You’re still shivering.”

His large hand wrapped around my shoulder. Naturally, I ended up half-embraced by him.

“Uh…”

I didn’t know what to do and awkwardly rolled my eyes.

Even though I understood that this was a golden opportunity, my body froze like a fool whenever we touched.

As I hesitated, he gently pulled me closer.

Then, his smooth forehead rested on mine. Unlike his wet, cold hair, his body temperature was warm.

“Sis.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to grow up quickly.”

Those words brought a flood of thoughts that quickly vanished. Thanks to the necklace, I managed to calm him down quickly.

“Don’t do this. There’s only a few months left.”

I gently chided him and slowly pushed him away.

Just then, I sensed someone approaching from the opposite side. If I had been any slower, I would have had to deal with more rumors.

As I sighed in relief and glanced over, I saw an unexpected person.

“Ines?”

“Hello, Lou?”

Ines, dressed in a brightly colored dress, walked towards us. A maid holding an umbrella followed her closely.

I didn’t expect to run into her outside just a few days after she had been bedridden, especially on a rainy day like this.

“Are you feeling better?”

“I’m completely recovered. I wasn’t seriously injured in the first place. Thank you for your concern.”

“That’s a relief.”

Ines whispered with a shy smile.

“Thank you for your advice that day. Thanks to you, I realized how foolish I was.”

“Well… I’m glad it helped.”

‘Isn’t she repenting a bit too quickly?’

Though it was fortunate she realized her mistake, something felt off. If she had come to her senses this quickly, she wouldn’t be a villainous supporting character.

Ines shifted her gaze from me to Iscallion.

“We meet again, Count Philip. I couldn’t properly greet you at the last imperial palace banquet. I’m Ines Poel.”

“Ah.”

Iscallion gave a perfunctory nod. His demeanor lacked even a trace of the courtesy one should show to a lady.

Speaking so rudely to an imperial lady. There was no way Ines, who already had ill feelings towards me, would overlook his rudeness.

Though I didn’t care about that girl, I didn’t want Iscallion’s reputation to suffer.

“Count Philip is a foreigner, so…”

For some reason, Ines didn’t seem too upset by Iscallion’s rudeness.

“I know. I understand. Oh, by the way, I’m planning to hold a banquet soon. I’ll invite you, Lou. It would be wonderful if Count Philip could come too.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Then I’ll take that as a yes.”

Humming a tune, Ines disappeared happily.

As she passed by me, a sweet perfume smell was followed by a sudden foul stench of fish.