Chapter : 53
Pession, who had been unable to play properly like a dog waiting for its owner and kept waiting only for Arellin, suddenly jumped up.
“Arellin!”
With a bright smile, Pession ran up to Arellin but tilted his head in confusion.
“Why does your face look like that, Arellin?”
“Huh? No.”
Arellin fiddled with her face. Her normally pale face was so white that her veins looked visible, and her indifferent eyes looked somewhat dazed.
“Did the tea party go well?”
Arellin stared blankly at Pession.
“?”
Pession tilted his head.
“Is there something on my face?”
“Pession.”
“Hm?”
“We’re friends.”
“Yeah? We are friends.”
“Then that’s good.”
“What’s wrong?”
Arellin made a mischievous expression at the confused Pession.
“I’m calling you a nanny.”
“Huh?”
“You’re clinging to me like my nanny.”
Pession frowned.
“What are you talking about? I want to be your dad!”
“Rejected. I already have a dad.”
Arellin shook off Pession, who was naturally clinging to her.
“You said you’ve never seen him!”
“But a dad is a dad.”
“I can take better care of you!”
“A dad can’t just take care of you.”
“I don’t like that.”
Pession grumbled and clung again, but Arellin shook him off once more without fail.
“A lady who knows honor doesn’t cling to a guy. Go away.”
“What’s that all of a sudden?”
“Clinging to a guy is vulgar. Go away.”
“No, what do you mean?”
Pession jumped up in frustration.
Suddenly, Arellin acted strange.
Sure enough, instead of explaining, she said something off-topic again.
“Pession, how long do you think your interest will last?”
“What interest?”
“In me.”
Arellin’s indifferent words hit Pession like a maddening blow.
“What on earth are you saying?!”
“If your interest is going to cool down, let me know in advance. I have to widely announce that I’m about to be abandoned.”
“Arell!”
The twins exchanged looks while watching the strangely cold Arellin and Pession who was struggling and about to lose his mind.
“Did you two fight? Ciel, do you know?”
“No idea. Noel, do you have any guesses?”
The twins whispered to each other, but then their eyes met Arellin’s.
Even though they hadn’t done anything wrong, why did they feel guilty? The twins experienced this strange sensation.
“Why? Why?”
“Arelarellelle. Got something to say to us?”
“Hmm.”
Arellin stroked her chin.
The twins briefly thought about what sins they might have committed against Arellin.
There were far too many suspects.
What is it? What’s caught her?
“Because of Pession, you’ve worked hard taking care of me, twins.”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
“So you don’t have to try to take care of me anymore.”
No, that’s not true.
They should have protested.
But they blinked in disbelief and missed their chance to argue.
What kind of nonsense is this?
“Areliririn, did we do something wrong?”
“Arelarellelle, did we offend you somehow? Is this your revenge?”
“Areliririn, distorting our feelings like that is too much!”
“Arelarellelle, we’re different from His Highness! We’re purely interested in you!”
Pession exploded.
“I’m purely interested too!”
Pure or not, watching the twins and Pession flustered seemed to improve Arellin’s mood a bit.
“Wait!”
Suddenly, Ciel protested.
“Areliririn, why don’t you say anything to Harun?”
“Yeah, this is discrimination!”
Arellin’s gaze fixed on Harun. Harun, who had been standing silently in the corner, flinched.
“……”
“……”
A brief silence.
Arellin patted Harun’s shoulder and walked past.
“What’s this? Ciel, I feel like I lost even though I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, Noel. Me too.”
“Put me in too.”
Pession was caught in the middle of the twins hugging each other. Harun quietly approached but was gently pushed away.
“……”
Harun felt wronged again.
Rustle.
Watching the paper disappear from his hand by magic, Mehen fell silent.
Information arrived as a top-secret first-class confidential letter.
“The Sky Tower is coming…”
The sacred place of wizards, the headquarters of the Mage Tower, the birthplace of all magicians.
Surrounded by mysteries and questions about whether it exists in the skies, if it truly exists at all, and where it is if you’re not a magician, the ‘Sky Tower’ officially sent a letter expressing their intention to visit the Albrecht Empire.
‘Is this because of the Sharit incident?’
Mehen sent a letter under Halbern’s name requesting a meeting with the Mage Tower’s head, while his gaze shifted to other documents.
Request for Support in Monster Subjugation in the Western Mountain Range
“There have been no breaks in the hunts recently.”
“Maybe monsters came out for a picnic now that spring has arrived.”
“It’s already summer.”
“It’s late spring though.”
“What’s this special request from the crown prince?”
“It’s a secret request mainly handled by the First Knights. The rewards are good, so the knights are highly motivated.”
Mehen’s expression turned strange. He was curious about Pession’s odd behavior, which was unlike the crown prince.
‘It probably doesn’t matter.’
More importantly,
“Reinforcements for the northern castle…”
Every time the communication connected, Zaren kept complaining about how hard it was, so the situation seemed serious.
‘Valer.’
A shadow fell over his light green eyes with golden glints.
Duke Halbern, who feared nothing in this world.
Power, wealth, physical strength, appearance, and intelligence.
It was as if he monopolized the grace of the gods, possessing everything possible — yet Mehen always felt that he was unstable.
As if he lived every moment as if it were his last.
“Let’s go together.”
“If you come with me, I’ll give you a place where you belong.”
“You’ll never be alone again.”
The confident smile of that kid, who was about the same age, had captivated Mehen, and he had unknowingly held his hand.
Valer kept all the promises he made, but Mehen never saw that smile again.
“Damn bastard.”
He thought it was a golden lifeline.
In reality, it was an enemy who wouldn’t even let him leave work.
“I never trusted him.”
A faint regret surged, then left with barely a trace.
With a light sigh, Mehen shook it off and looked down at his place with slightly clouded eyes.
Halbern’s proxy.
The only position authorized to exercise full power in Halbern’s name while the master is absent.
‘They just entrusted this to me.’
Even though they passed over the vassals who had served the Halbern family for generations since the family was founded.
There was natural resistance, and public sentiment was ruined, but as always, Valer ignored it all with a smile.
‘I don’t know what he’s thinking.’
The burden and tension that came when he first took this position suddenly returned.
“Damn bastard.”
Entrusted with the family, entrusted with his child, entrusted with everything — and stuck in the north, what exactly was he doing?
“Couldn’t even give me an explanation.”
As Mehen pressed his forehead to ease his anger, Dylan spoke.
“The royal department contacted us. There was a brief commotion related to the young lady at today’s meeting.”
“A commotion?”
Mehen raised his head. Dylan relayed the message briefly from the royal department. It was a light commotion.
‘This is the first time something like this has happened.’
Mehen was inwardly surprised.
“The young lady even quarreled.”
“She’s a child. It’s better for her to hit back than be hit!”
“That’s true.”
Mehen responded reluctantly. Maybe because he was thinking about Valer, no good memories came to mind.
“Dylan doesn’t know Valer. If Arellin resembles Valer… shouldn’t we warn her firmly in advance?”
Dylan blurted out bluntly.
“If she looks like Duke Valer, it’s useless to scold her.”
“……”
“Isn’t it better to just let things be?”
“We still have to scold her…”
“Mom!”
Arellin came in, opening the door to the office.
“Arell.”
When Mehen looked like he was about to ask if he should scold her, he immediately welcomed her, causing Dylan to swallow a laugh.
