It was a literal vertical drop from midair.

Calliphe pressed herself flat against the griffin and shouted.

“Snap out of it!”

She pulled the reins and yanked its fur with all her might. The flipped griffin suddenly opened its eyes.

WHOOSH!

In an instant, it shot upward again. The abrupt change in direction made Calliphe feel her insides turning over.

But the creature hadn’t properly regained its senses.

“SCREECH!”

Extremely confused and in pain from the stone fragment embedded in its body, the griffin flew wildly through the air.

It flew beyond the annex courtyard and into the forest of the marquis estate.

Lynen, running after them, clicked his tongue.

‘At this rate, it will completely leave the marquis estate.’

That would cause quite an uproar on the island. Calliphe might also lose her strength and fall.

With no other choice, Lynen instantly climbed up nearby trees and ornaments to reach the roof of a building. From there, he jumped high and shouted.

“Calliphe, jump off!”

“Are you crazy?!”

“Trust me!”

“…Ugh!”

With what sounded like a curse, Calliphe jumped off the griffin.

At that moment, Lynen unleashed a sword strike.

Very briefly and lightly.

WHOOSH!

The blade energy, extremely restrained in power until it resembled a blunt weapon, struck one of the griffin’s wings.

“SHRIEK!”

The griffin screamed and began to fall, spinning around.

But Lynen didn’t check on the griffin.

Immediately after delivering the sword strike, he rushed downward and caught the falling Calliphe in both arms, landing in a roll.

“Kyaaah!”

“Kugh.”

CRASH! Grass and dust rose from the ground where Lynen’s shoes had dug in.

“Huff, huff…”

As the dust billowed up and then settled.

Calliphe breathed heavily, her heart pounding seemingly ready to burst through her chest. Cold sweat soaked her back.

‘I must be crazy. I actually jumped.’

All because of a single cry to trust him.

‘I absolutely can’t do this a second time. Won’t do it!’

She looked at Lynen to tell him just that. Then Lynen, who had been staring at her all along, suddenly brought his face close.

“Well done.”

THUMP. He pressed his forehead against hers.

Their noses almost touched.

“…?!”

Calliphe only then realized that Lynen too breathed shallowly. She felt his heart pounding through his clothes. Similar to someone experiencing extreme shock.

‘His, his breath is hot.’

His breath tickled her lips. Somehow feeling they shouldn’t share breaths, Calliphe unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut.

“…”

A few seconds of silence.

Perhaps her imagination made her sense someone’s hesitation?

Eventually, a small vibration transmitted through their touching foreheads. Lynen laughed.

“Why are your eyes closed?”

The breath that had hotly enveloped Calliphe moved away.

Raising his head, Lynen released her. Only then did Calliphe realize he had tightly embraced her all this time.

Belatedly massaging her tingling arms, Calliphe looked around.

“Is this the forest near the annex?”

“It seems so… wait.”

Lynen lightly placed his index finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.

Carefully approaching the direction he looked.

“CHIRP, CHIRP.”

They saw the griffin, panting from pain and excitement.

Having received two powerful blows, the griffin seemed to struggle controlling its body due to the pain.

Lynen lowered his voice.

“It would be best to wait until it calms down. If it notices us, it might get excited again.”

“Understood.”

Just then, the griffin, with its heightened senses, suddenly looked in their direction.

Fortunately, Lynen had already pulled Calliphe behind a large tree to hide.

Over Calliphe’s head, Lynen’s whisper, even lower now, could be heard.

“Try not to move.”

“…”

Calliphe nodded.

‘But is it really necessary to be pressed together like this?’

Almost reading her thoughts, Lynen added.

“Stay close to me. That way I can conceal your presence as well.”

“You can conceal someone else’s presence too? Just by being close?”

After a beat, the answer came.

“…Yes.”

“How is that possible?”

“A Sword Master can do it.”

There was nothing to say to that.

Instead, Calliphe wriggled a bit to make her face, which was buried in Lynen’s chest, more comfortable.

“…”

A low groan escaped from Lynen’s throat.

“Don’t squirm…”

“I-it’s your fault for pressing against me uncomfortably.”

“I’m not enjoying this either. Just bear with it.”

Calliphe pursed her lips in displeasure but obediently stopped moving.

The sounds of the quiet forest.

Occasionally, along with Lynen’s breathing, the sound of the griffin panting could be heard.

As she stayed still like that.

[Lynen’s affection +1]

[Lynen: ♥ 10/100]

His affection increased.

‘Maybe because I followed his instructions.’

Still pathetically low, though.

‘I thought our relationship had improved because he showed so much concern for me?’

Not that I’m particularly disappointed or anything!

‘By the way…’

Calliphe stared at the system message.

‘I think something strange appeared before.’

It looks normal now.

‘Show me the quest currently in progress.’

As a test, she asked to see the recently received quest again.

[Quest Generated!]

[Increase the affection of the Crown Princess who is preparing to become your enemy.]

[Condition: Increase Lucilia’s affection to 30 or higher]

[Failure consequences: Crown Princess’s interference, greatly increased probability of the Crown Princess obstructing your actions, decreased support rate from House Offensa’s retainers]

‘I don’t see anything strange.’

Was it just noise caused by the sudden shock?

But there was no doubt that my magic had somewhat separated from the corrupted magic.

I should understand it properly just in case.

For that, I needed the saint’s help.

“What do you think about telling Allen, Lynen? About my corrupted magic.”

“Are you thinking of revealing your ability?”

“The ability and its applications too.”

While receiving training from Lynen, Calliphe had told him about the applications of her ability.

He had grown curious about how Calliphe had repelled the griffin.

Lynen also believed that Calliphe’s shattering of the corrupted white spirit stone came from her ability. Plus, he already knew about corrupted magic, so he understood quickly.

“Sharing your secrets with others brings danger.”

Lynen answered carefully.

“But the saint should be fine. He’s already taken an oath.”

“Yes. I think it’ll be okay now too.”

At first, she had hidden her secret for various reasons, but now she needed to share it to receive his help more effectively.

“If I keep hiding it, he’ll probably feel really hurt later.”

“That’s not your concern.”

The returning voice sounded curt.

“CHIRP…”

Just then, they heard a small cry from the griffin. Its excitement seemed to have subsided.

Calliphe separated from Lynen’s embrace and walked toward the griffin.

“Are you okay now?”

While Calliphe went to tend to the griffin.

Lynen, about to follow her, discovered the imaging orb that had fallen to the ground. It seemed to have fallen out of his pocket when they hurriedly hid.

Without much thought, he checked the recorded images.

“…!”

A deep flush rose to Lynen’s cheeks.