What was he talking about? Noah wondered. She looked up at him strangely when she realized something. Right. Being in his arms like this was very dangerous. 

Noah’s rattled mind managed to find its place in Kyle’s ensuing words.

“It’s a joke. We have to separate our public and private lives.”

“…is that the truth?”

“Of course. Right now, we are in the middle of an investigation.”

The part ‘right now’ was very disturbing. When Noah couldn’t shake off her suspicious face, he smirked as he set her down. Then he said nonchalantly, “When will you come to know that this barrier is meaningless?”

After glaring disapprovingly at him, she grabbed his arm to hide her bulging pouch and burning earlobes and to quickly return to a crowded place.

“You’ve seen the whole process, right? Then let’s go. Leave all this for the investig—”

“Over there, you have to release even the magic summoned on the replica process, Noah.”

“Oh, that.”

Noah summoned a fireball that she had burned the safe’s barrier with earlier, put it in her palm, and blew on it. Immediately, the bulky flame flew through the air with a light blow from her lips, ripping through the barrier in front of the replica process

“Got it!”

“Good job. Then do you want to take it out now?”

“Huh? Take what out?”

“I’m talking about the thing you took from that bookshelf and stuffed in the pouch around your neck.”

Feeling guilty, Noah studied him. What a ghastly man… When did he see that?

“Noah?” He even held out a hand to her. Instead of taking out the red, warm thing, she raised a hand.

“…mean hold your hand?”

“That’s right.”

Smirking, Kyle looked down at her hand, then her face, then her hand again. There was a bit of satisfaction in his smile. He naturally wrapped his hand around hers. “I can’t idly let you slide like this every time. It’s hard to put it into practice even if I think about it a hundred times. This isn’t dangerous, is it?”

Suddenly, Noah felt very grateful for the warmth of the man in front of her. 

Why did she suddenly think of that? Was it because she remembered that she had always had a thorn in the corner of her heart similar to his from the moment she had opened Adrian’s record again? It may have been because in a short few days the thorn had become so small that she wouldn’t even know it was there if she didn’t pay attention to it, and maybe because she had come to realize it was Kyle Leonard.

Noah slowly opened her mouth at him waiting for her answer.

“It isn’t dangerous. It’s very small, powerless… It might not be able to survive, and even if it’s brought back to life after already being badly damaged, it can never be the same as before.”

Kyle seemed to have roughly understood what she had brought up just by hearing her vague explanation.

“The soul and body of Baroness Asil, whom the minister touched?”

“Right, the soul and body, but it’s not Adrian’s fault. I think there’s a high probability that it was through Eleonora’s own volition…”

“If it was a joint study, that means that this hotel’s process wasn’t a product of his work alone.”

In this case, two people should be put on trial: Adrian and Eleonora. Kyle’s eyes looked confused and complicated. “Is the damage severe?” he asked.

“It looks like it. Even Adrian’s record says so. If you feel it now, the wavelength is very faint.” Noah shrugged. “Adrian tried to use Muell’s power to divide the soul into two, but… now the imprint is perfect. There’s nothing Muell can’t do.”

Faint crevices formed on Kyle’s face. He had come to the same conclusion as Noah. What she had in her hand now was a genius who was born once every one-thousand years and a strong criminal who was also recognized in the history of Laurent’s Protection Bureau.

Whether Eleonora lived or died was solely in her hands.

***

It was already after dark when they came down from the geniuses’ research lab. The replica experiments and failures trapped in the hotel were sent to a shelter temporarily set up by the Harrell Police Department, and those who had been gambling and soliciting prostitution were taken to the branch office of the Tauren Protection Bureau.

Adrian was secretly sent to Tauren state prison so as not to cause any trouble. The circumstances of his crimes were so clear that he will immediately go up to Tezeba to be put on trial.

Muell stared at Noah in front of Harrell’s temporary shelter. Noah was shocked as soon as she saw him.

“What are you doing, Muell!? When did you get so big?” The charming boy laughed. “A little more and you’ll be a real kid.”

Within a few hours, Muell had grown from a three-year-old’s body into a six-year-old’s body. Noah could hardly hear the slight gibberish of his pronunciation and could feel much more power in his toddling steps. Now he could probably jump around with no problem while holding her hand.

“The imprint is perfect, so I thought you could grow more! You’re not a baby anymore, Muell.”