It only took a few seconds for the confident noble to turn into a broken machine who could only let out empty threats as he backed away from Mary and Layla.

"D-Don't you dare come near me! You don't know whom you are talking to here! If you come here, t-then I will-"

The noble tried to speak, and he even looked toward his slave to get some help. But Mary had already cared for Raizel before she turned toward the noble.

She could not use her demonic powers to hold the kid hostage, but physical force still worked fine.

Raziel must have already realized what was better for him because he turned away from the Duke when he tried to catch his eye.

And that was the end for the Duke. There was nothing else the Duke could do before Mary grabbed him by the shoulder and brought him to Layla.

"L-Let me go! This is illegal, and I will have your head for it. Do you know who I am-?"

Mary slapped the noble on the back of his head to quieten him.

Layla was only six years old and had no height to intimidate someone. And yet, her aura made her seem bigger than the noble before her.

"Mary, make him stand straight in front of me. And you! I want you to transfer your ownership of Raizel over to me. We can do that the peaceful way or the hard way. So, you decide."

Layla gave the man an option, but he sneered in her direction.

"Sorry, kid! But I don't take orders from those younger than me. You are not even noble, so how dare you order me around. Both you and your maid would die once the news got out-"

Mary got tired of listening to this map yap, and that was why she ended up stabbing this man right through his heart.

The man coughed as blood poured out of his mouth. Before he knew it, he was lying in the pool of his blood, and his eyes had closed due to exhaustion.

"Oops, looks like we ended up killing him after all. Now, what do we do with you? We cannot let you continue like this. As a former slave, it won't take long for another group of traders to find and sell you off.

So, why don't you come with us? That would be a better alternative for you, right? We will give you a legal identity and a place to return to. All you have to do in return is serve our young miss. What do you say?"

Mary asked with a smile, and Layla froze.

This was even dangerous, a gamble, and Layla did not know whether it would pay off.

Raizel had been a hard egg to boil, even for the original female lead.

Unlike most male lead candidates, Raziel had not folded in front of a female lead since the start. He had been on bad terms with the female lead who freed him from slavery.

Since that was all he had ever seen, Raziel felt odd and even angry to have his safety net taken away from him. It made him feel bitter, and he had tried to unalive the female lead a few times.

But he had a contract with the female lead, and that prevented him from being able to kill her for real.

Layla also wanted to have some guarantee like that, but she could not achieve her goal this time.

'Fuck! This is bad! But I guess there is nothing else I can do about it. It is just a good thing that I found this kid early. This way, I can start reversing the effects of the brainwashing done on him.'

Raziel did not say anything, but Layla expected this. The older kid was still debating whether he wanted to trust Layla.

But the longer this inactivity lasted, the more nervous Layla got over this issue.

She was about to speak up when Raziel extended his hand toward Mary and her with a cautious look.

"I want a contract."

That was all he said, but it was enough to convey that he was not totally against this relationship.

A contract was a security and a promise not to get abandoned. The person he was asking for the contract was Mary, but the maid turned toward Layla with a smile.

"Young miss, what do you say? Would you like to form a contract with this child? We can take him under our wing once you do."

Mary already knew the answer to her question, but her teasing smile remained.

Layla looked at Raizel's face and was just a bit bitter to see that the one responding to his call was Layla, not Mary.

He likely wanted to have the stronger and older of the two become his guarantor.

But despite this, Layla was not going to miss this opportunity.

"Fine! I will take this kid under my wing. But teaching him and training him would be your responsibility."

Layla forced the hard work over toward Mary.

Since the demoness was interested in Raizel, she won't kill him. And what did not kill you made you stronger in the long run…. or something like that.

Raizel remained quiet as Layla formed a serving contract with him. This contract was different from Mary's, but it had just as much binding power as hers.

As soon as the contract was finished forming, Mary warped an arm around Raizel's shoulder and pulled him closer.

"Welcome to the family, kid! I bet you and I will have so much fun learning new stuff. You better brace yourself for all the training I will drill into your head."

Mary looked happy to have someone else besides herself serving Layla. Her mood was far too good for all the screams that echoed around the halls.

People were running around as they got captured and then interrogated.

Layla looked outside at the sky, only to see it was bright outside already. She had missed the final round of the competition, but it was to be expected.