As Roman familiarly opened the large clock, a long aisle could be seen.

‘This must’ve cost a lot of money,’

To create such a mechanism, they probably needed a lot of skilled technicians. Skilled technicians with a heavy mouth.

(T/N: Heavy mouth: Those who can keep a secret.)

“Let’s go.”

“V-Valleta-nim…”

“Why? Are you tired?”

Valletta, who was about to enter the aisle, looked down and asked.

It was not a friendly tone. She was willing to leave the child here for a while if necessary.

“If you’re tired, stay here for a bit…”

“N-no! I’m okay! Don’t, don’t leave me behind…”

At the desperate words of the child, Valletta knotted her brows.

‘Does he have separation anxiety?’

She couldn’t help it, but she was not in a good mood. She was not amiable enough to leisurely go along with the child’s whining.

Valletta looked at Therion’s tense expression and nodded her head.

Once Valletta gave her permission, Therion ran and clung to her legs. Roman, who was watching the situation, leaned his body a little in front of the child.

“If your feet hurt, I can carry you.”

“… Ah.”

Valletta, who exclaimed a little when she realized why the child stopped, showed a dismayed expression.

With her eyes on him, Therion blushed in embarrassment, grabbed the hem of her robe and looked down.

“This way.”

The aisle that they entered as they followed Roman, was very long and dark.

Rarely, there were lamps in the middle of the aisle illuminating the darkness, and at the end of the aisle was a large door.

As if the shabby pub was just for show, the place that they were guided to was antique, neat and well maintained.

At the moment the door opened and they stepped inside, Valletta had to throw away her previous thoughts.

It was not a ‘room’.

Rather than a room, it was more of a new space or an underground mansion that was as big as an aristocrat’s mansion.

“Where is this place?”

“You can call it the alchemist’s hideout.”

“You seem to have a lot of rich supporters.”

Valletta looked around the mansion and said lightly. Roman, who was holding Therion in one arm, could no longer hide his surprise.

“You’re very observant.”

‘Is this a matter of observation?’

Valletta tilted her head.

It was a well-known fact that a considerable amount of money is needed to maintain such a spacious mansion. What’s surprising was that they were able to build it under a shabby pub.

‘The person looking after them… is at least an aristocrat.’

She doesn’t know how the Alchemist were making potions and making money behind the scene, but if they were making just enough to be able to hide their tail in the Imperial Capital, it was impossible to maintain such a mansion.

“I would like to thank you for coming this far, Lady Delight.”

Valletta’s gaze moved upward at the voice, like a calm lake, that tickled her ears from above the stairs.

Valletta’s eyes slightly widened as she looked up and met the other’s ice blue eyes.

“You…”

“You know who I am, right?”

“… No matter how ignorant I am of the world, it would be absurd if I don’t know who the only two Dukes in the Empire are.”

Valletta’s indifferent voice reached the man as he descended the stairs.

Light blue hair, as if dyed by dissolving the sky in water, swayed around the man’s waist.

He had almost translucent white skin, and a calm and soft voice that was pleasant to listen to. The man with the beautiful appearance has always been the talk of the town. Who would think that he would be in his early 40s.

‘At best, he looks to be around his late 20s or early 30s.’

Valletta did not take her eyes off the man, even as he came down the stairs and stood in front of her.

The man’s expression did not change mliket like Valletta. He was in fact wn to have exceptional self-restraint.

“I never expected to see Count Delight’s precious jewel here.”

“It’s because the jewelry box has shattered”

“Words filled with hidden meaning. Nevertheless, I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Isn’t it better to say goodbye to words filled with hidden meaning, Your Grace, Duke Carlon Delphine?”

Valletta said as she used his own words against him.

The man, Carlon Delphine, stood still and just stared at Valletta without a word.

Of the two, who were standing still and having a confrontation without a word, Valletta was the first to back down.

‘I don’t like fighting.’

She let out a faint sigh and avoided his gaze. Her head hurt and she was tired.

Valletta dislikes being bothered and to bump against emotions.

“If it’s okay, how about having a cup of tea with me?” The Duke asked.

“Do whatever you feel comfortable with.”

“Roman, the drawing room please.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Roman turned around with Therion still in his arms. She saw the child trying to escape, but Valletta did not say anything.

“Lady Delight, this way.”

“Valletta is enough.”

“Okay.”

Carlon Delphine answered.

As she was about to follow him to the stairs, an urgent voice was heard from behind.

“Valletta-nim, me too…!”

“Ah, you want to go with them?”

“Yes.”

Roman asked the child’s intention and brought him down from his arms.

When Roman dropped him down, he rushed to Valletta’s feet at the same time.

‘He’s like a puppy.’

The puppy that Valletta had once picked up and cherished, had to die because she refused Count Delight’s order.

As her punishment, Valletta was ordered to kill the puppy with her own hands, but she refused to do so.

She could not kill the being she had cherished with her own hands.

Because of that, the puppy was killed in an even more painful way by Count Delight. After that, she had never thought of raising another one ever again.

‘Ah, bad memories are coming back.’

Valletta messed up her hair. She turned her head away as she saw the child cling to her legs desperately.

With a weird expression on his face, Carlon Delphine looked at Valletta.

“What is with the child?’

“A magician’s egg.”

As a child who would become a magician, ‘egg’ would be the correct expression.

Even with Valletta’s roundabout words, Carlon Delphine quickly understood the meaning of her words.

“Did you bring him from the Magic Tower?”

“Yes, is that a problem?”

Valletta meekly nodded her head. To be precise, he was brought away from the Magic Tower’s Master room, but saying that would surely lead to useless accusations, thus, she kept silent.

“I thought magicians value child magicians, but I guess it’s not true.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know them very well.”

“If you took a child magician from the Magic Tower for your own protection, they wouldn’t stay still.”

Having said that, it wasn’t a worried voice at all.

Carlon Delphine opened the door to his drawing room. After entering, Valletta closed the door and followed him.

He offered her a seat, with a modest gesture like flowing water, but in a supremely graceful manner.

Valletta took a seat across from him, and the child carefully took a seat next to her.

It was after the child had sat down that Carlon Delphine took a seat as he lifted his robe.

“As long as that man is ruling over the magicians, the Magic Tower would not lay their hands on me.”

“Is he the one who has become the new Magic Tower’s Master?”

“Yes, that’s right. However,I did not come here to chat.”

Vallettt expressed her discomfort to the man who refused to get to the point.

Carlon Delphine nodded his head as he smiled faintly like a fog.

“But as someone who knows your situation well, I trust you will understand that I’m in a situation where I can’t help but to ask.”

As if she had already guessed it, Valletta nodded her head without complaint.

“What are you curious about?”

“I’m curious about the annihilation of Count Delight.”

As the head of an organization, it must be an unavoidable choice, as she was carrying some risks.

Valletta bit her lip for a moment.

“It’s mostly the truth. He just annihilated Count Delight. There’s no other explanation.”

“Are you involved in it?”

“… It’s not a question whether I was involved in the massacre of my father and the servants. It was his own volition.”

Valletta slightly shrugged her shoulders.

“Then, why did he not kill you?”

Carlon Delphine asked sharply. Valletta paused for a moment. This was probably the question that he wanted to ask the most. The real purpose of the interview had arrived.

***