“seira, do you know what brings us to the council today?”

    “well… i don’t know. personally, i think it’s because we found the beast’s nest.”

    louis’ eyes softened at her answer.

    “you got it right. this time, we will be moving with a minority, not an army.”

    “i guess the location is terrible?”

    “that’s right.”

    as seira expected, franto’s eyes would be planted at the temple or the imperial palace, and she nodded without being surprised.

    “i must take part.”

    for her, who had to steal the remains of the nest, this was an opportunity she couldn’t miss. the smaller the number of people, the easier it will be to slip a few things.

    “what are you going to do louis?”

    “of course,” he calmly answered as he swept his thumb over seira’s chocolate powdered lips, and then put it in his mouth, “we should go together.”

    “hmm… it’s a bit bitter.”

    seira stared blankly at him, sucking the chocolate from his hands.

    ‘as expected, it’s a little… strange?’

    was it because they spent the night together? it felt like something has changed. it’s the same with physical touch, and it’s the same with becoming extremely intimate.

    ‘are we practicing in advance?’

    soon after getting off the carriage, they will have to act like earnest lovers, so attempting wasn’t a bad idea. although seira doubted whether she should.

    in the first place, their contract specifically said that she must convince everyone that her heart belonged to louis franto.

    ‘well, it’s not bad to get used to it.’

    it was rather a positive change, except that something in her heart kept tingling after she realized that she was seeing louis and aven overlapping. the stronger the alliance, the better their contract would be.

    “if this is the case, are we sharing accommodation?”

    “…if you do, you won’t be able to show half of your skills.”

    “only seira needs to sleep in the bed. i’ll be on the floor.”

    “i’m sure you’ll just be fine.”

    louis burst into laughter at her sarcastic remarks. seira was rather puzzled by the way he enjoyed himself without being obvious that he was pretending.

    ‘you really like it.’

    this kind of jokes seemed to be louis’ taste. seira thought it’d be best that she remembered it when she’ll need it for future acting.

    while they were talking, the carriage stopped in front of the assembly hall. louis, who stepped out of the carriage first, reached out his hand and escorted seira.

    the dress she wore exposed a bit of her skin, fitting on her thighs to reveal the curves of her body. it was an elegant design, but it hindered less activity.

    ‘there will probably be more occasions that i’d have to wear dresses…’ she grumbled silently.

    a large shadow fell over her suddenly. as she tried to take a step with a deep sigh about her situation, the mood drastically changed.

    “seira.”

    in the past, she’d have thought that it was merely a chance encounter, but now she knew better. he must’ve arrived early and waited for her the whole time.

    seira looked up at him and smiled.

    “good morning, baron.”

    baron, who seemed to have dressed up today, had his teeth clenched as if he was being strangled by his cravat. the reason why his face was full of anger and sorrow, a mix of hostility and longing, was probably because of the pheromones that stuck on her.

    “i have something to say.”

    louis who stood in his way and said, “the meeting will begin soon. why don’t you talk afterwards?”

    “it won’t take much of her time,” baron replied, “it’s important.”

    “in that case, all the more so, you must do it later.”

    before seira could say anything, louis had cut baron’s offer and rejected him. she was worried that baron might grab louis by his collar and throw him at his repeated refusals, but she was surprised to hear what he said next.

    “alright,” baron sighed, “i’ll do as you say, so get out of the way for now.”

    although he was greatly annoyed, baron stepped back. louis stepped aside slightly as if satisfied with baron’s response.

    coming close enough to touch her toes, baron leaned in and whispered in seira’s ears as he held her wrist for a second and let it go, “keep this just in case.”

    seira couldn’t help but stare at him as he turned and walked away from them.

    the flow of magic that she felt from the bracelet he put on her wrist was unusual. after raising her powers and calculating it, seira finally figured it out.

    a silver sword – moor.

    it was a sword known to be able to cut off iron as if it was a vegetable. the original appearance would’ve been a dagger about a centimeter long, but it seemed to have been enchanted with conversion magic to be easy to carry.

    ‘i think i’ve heard that it was kept in the jeff’s treasury.’

    it was too valuable to borrow.

    however, seira pursued baron and failed to return it. she knew it was shameless, but it was a desperate means to protect oneself when one couldn’t use power.

    ‘let’s keep it for a few days and return it immediately.’

    even so, she had decided to find illuminum, the family heirloom of askan.