‘What a stroke of luck.’
Er thought.
She had come out tonight to purchase information about Rayzen, and she had happened to run into him by chance.
Er calmly rose to her feet.
“Hello. Were you the one who helped me?”
“You seemed to be in a difficult situation.”
Er slowly stood up and brushed the hem of her clothes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Er greeted him according to proper etiquette.
Rayzen gave a slight nod.
“From above, it looked like you were being chased by His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“…….”
Rayzen continued.
“His Highness the Crown Prince is a young beast who holds the fate of this empire in his hands. Soon, he’ll become an older beast and make it so his enemies can’t even breathe. But why did you provoke him? You could have been seriously hurt.”
For a moment, Er was mistaken.
‘Does this man recognize me?’
She looked at him carefully, as if trying to gauge him.
‘Rayzen and the Er from my previous life did know each other, though.’
Rayzen, Er from her previous life, the young Tower Master, and the Crown Prince.
As one of the four High Masters in the world, there were only four people who held that title, so Er had been acquainted with Rayzen.
They weren’t particularly on bad terms, nor were they especially friendly.
‘So there’s no reason for him to help me.’
For now, Er decided to pretend she didn’t know him.
“His Highness the Crown Prince? I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. The person chasing me was a street swindler.”
“A street swindler?”
“You know, a con artist. A petty criminal. Something like that.”
“You really don’t know who he was?”
“No. Hmm… I think I may have seen him somewhere before. He was quite handsome, though.”
Rayzen looked at Er before giving her a faint smile.
“Yes. That’s just like you. Still as eccentric as ever.”
At that moment, Er realized.
Rayzen hadn’t recognized Erquana.
‘This man knows Erne, the original owner of this body.’
Rayzen gently beckoned Er over.
“Come here.”
Er approached him. Rayzen guided her toward the tea table set up at the bow of the boat.
“Have some tea. It’s been a while.”
“Yes.”
Er obediently sat down.
“Where is this boat going?”
“I have no intention of kidnapping you, so I suppose it’ll be heading toward your home. It’s time for children to go home.”
You know, Uncle Rayzen.
Er thought.
This ‘child’ is old enough to form a contract with an imprint.
‘Otherwise, I’d be as good as dead.’
The corners of Er’s lips twitched slightly.
‘Well, it’s even better if he takes me home. Going through the waterways is faster than traveling by road.’
She needed to get home and check the situation first.
Rayzen slowly poured the tea.
‘They say he’s a master of tea ceremony. I heard the tea he makes is supposed to be delicious.’
Seeing it in person, Er found herself even more curious about how good the tea made by such a beautiful man would taste.
Rayzen carefully prepared the tea using the utensils on the table.
“At first, I thought someone who threw themselves off a bridge must have been troubled.”
“That couldn’t be me.”
“I heard you even held a fake funeral recently.”
He clicked his tongue.
“When are you planning to become a good girl?”
“That depends on what kind of people you meet. My situation is a little complicated, you know.”
Rayzen paused.
“Your personality has changed.”
As he said that, Rayzen filled Er’s teacup.
“What was I like before?”
Er asked while savoring the aroma of the tea.
‘If Erne and Rayzen knew each other, then how close were they? I need to find that out.’
“When I saw you a few years ago, you always seemed frightened of something…”
Rayzen spoke quietly, then stopped.
He calmly looked into Er’s eyes.
“But why? Why is the past you saw through my eyes so important to you?”
Er felt the fine hairs on the back of her hand rise slightly.
“People’s personalities change dozens of times as they grow up. I was just wondering if I had made some mistakes back then.”
Rayzen didn’t answer. He quietly refilled his own cup.
Er slowly drank her tea with flawless elegance.
Seeing her graceful movements, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Rayzen’s lips.
“So. How is your father?”
At that moment, Er realized.
‘Her father is the connection.’
But according to what she had heard from Milla, Erne had practically cut ties with her father.
No, it went beyond that…
‘Erne was deeply ashamed of being half-blooded, since she had Seol-jok blood in her veins…’
Apparently, she disliked her father. And it seemed her father didn’t particularly favor Erne either.
Milla had said:
<The young lady has been out of contact with her father for a long time. Besides, I heard her biological father is too busy working as a mercenary to have the time to look after her.>
“Unfortunately, I haven’t been in contact with my father lately. Did you hear… anything about him?”
Rayzen slowly shook his head. Er felt slightly disappointed.
‘More importantly, is this man Erne’s father’s friend?’
But wasn’t he too young for that?
At the same time, another question arose.
‘Wasn’t Erne’s father just an insignificant mercenary? There’s no way just anyone could know Rayzen.’
Still, it was possible that he had once been Rayzen’s subordinate.
‘If that’s true, then he must be the most handsome dad’s friend in the world.’
Rayzen Luo was only thirty-one.
Besides, High Masters aged incredibly slowly. Honestly, he didn’t even look that much older than Erne.
‘At that age, maybe he’d be an uncle? Well, it’s not exactly an age gap that makes romance impossible.’
Since Er in her previous life had been in her mid-to-late twenties, she didn’t feel particularly uncomfortable about it.
“By the way, what brings you out here?”
“There’s only one reason someone would take a boat out onto the river at night in the capital. I came out to look at the moon. Catching something unexpected was merely an exception.”
“Hmm. Since you caught me like this, I suppose it’s fate.”
Er grinned.
“Would you like to have tea together from time to time?”
It would be good to get to know him gradually.
And it would be even better to find out whether he was someone she could rely on completely.
‘And it’d be even better to know whether there’s room for a deal between us.’
“Interesting, but if you drink tea with me, people will misunderstand. The people of the Empire are rather conservative about these things.”
“Why? Because you’re unmarried, Uncle?”
Er had always been like this in her previous life. Once she set a target, she became straightforward.
This time, Rayzen was likely to become her target.
“Or… are you worried about it yourself?”
Er asked.
“Do you want to hear why?”
“Yes.”
Rayzen quietly beckoned Er closer.
‘Come closer,’ his gesture seemed to say.
Er widened her eyes and leaned toward him.
‘Is that the smell of tea…? It smells nice.’
Up close, Rayzen’s light purple eyes gave him an even more mysterious charm.
Their shadows drew closer together.
“It’s time to get off.”
He whispered into Er’s ear.
“And once you get home, it would be better for you to become a good girl who doesn’t sneak out at night anymore.”
Creak!
The boat, which had been gliding smoothly, slowly came to a stop.
Er’s body jolted slightly from the impact.
‘What is wrong with this man?’
Er felt her cheeks growing warm without realizing it.
Rayzen’s attendants, who had been standing like shadows, approached and escorted Er.
‘I’d like to push a little more, but I can’t help it.’
She was busy right now. Stopping Kiers came first.
“I’ll see you again.”
Er lifted her skirt and bowed with perfect etiquette.
“Er.”
Just as she was about to turn around, Rayzen called her.
“Yes?”
“That matter… don’t worry about it too much. You’ve always suffered because of it. What happened to your sister wasn’t your fault.”
Sister?
Er blinked.
“Go on now.”
Rayzen said.
Er got off the boat. Slowly gliding away beneath the moon, the boat began to disappear into the distance.
Along the riverside of the Imperial capital, magical stone streetlights that never went out even at night glittered brightly.
‘What on earth happened? Sister? Ah, could he mean Erne’s cousin?’
From what she had vaguely heard, the man who was the heir to the family—the current head’s younger brother—had children.
‘Home first.’
Er turned around and hurried off.
‘Milla, please tell me you handled everything properly.’
If the people Kiers had sent arrived first, she was done for.
Capital. Medina Family Estate.
“W-What should I do? Just like the young lady told me. Yes. That’s right. She told me everything. Burn the Mage Pool at all four corners of the room. But this is the basement. What if we accidentally start a fire?”
Milla was anxiously thinking.
“Should I prepare some water, just in case?”
The annex could burn down. Milla brought a bowl of water and placed it nearby.
Then…
“Ah!”
While hurriedly moving around, she accidentally touched the Mage Pool with her wet hand.
‘What do I do?!’
Milla’s face turned pale.
<Remember, Milla. Mage Pool is a magical creature that begins to rapidly corrode when it comes into contact with water. Never let it touch water.>
Lady Er had told her that.
At that very moment, a commotion began outside.
The sound of a large number of people approaching.
Er hurriedly arrived at the estate.
‘The doggy door!’
She quickly entered the house through the doggy door.
“We will now conduct a special investigation. Is there a young lady named ‘Erne’ living in this household?”
For the first time, Er saw the butler she had only heard about from Milla.
He was standing in the garden with his head lowered, nervously rubbing his hands together.
“Ah, that crazy girl? That crazy gi— No, I mean, has our young lady caused some sort of trouble again?”
“We have received information that the young lady purchased illegal smuggled goods related to demon worship.”
The man standing at the front spoke.
“If the charges are proven, we will arrest and interrogate everyone in the Medina family.”
“Y-You mean the members of the family could be involved?”
The butler asked fearfully.
‘Ah, the Heresy Inquisitors are here.’
Er knew the people confronting the butler.
The Heresy Inquisitors, an organization belonging to the Imperial special forces, dressed in white robes with their faces covered by black cloth.
‘Just like Kiers’ hounds, they’re a vicious bunch.’
In particular, they were fanatical worshippers of the Main God.
‘Milla should have burned all the Mage Pool by now.’
Those dogs of the Main God could detect even the faintest traces of demonic energy.
‘Let’s get into the annex first.’
While the servants and Heresy Inquisitors faced off against each other, Er slipped past them and quietly entered the annex.
“Milla!”
Er came face-to-face with Milla, who was nervously pacing around the living room.
“Milla, did you do everything I told you?”
“Th-That, Young Lady…”
Tears suddenly fell from Milla’s eyes.
At the same time, a subtle crease appeared between Er’s brows.
“Young Lady. I made a mistake. I’m truly sorry.”
Milla apologized miserably.
Ah, this…
‘Am I screwed?’
Before she could even worry about the mission…
‘Am I about to get arrested for heresy and dragged away by Kiers?’
