Chapter 35

Yvette set the contract down on the table with an expressionless face.

To put it kindly, it seemed she would not be able to get the answer she wanted from him.

“I don’t know what your goal is, but I have no intention of handing magic stones over to you, Viscount.”

“Does that mean you don’t care what happens to your uncle?”

“Yes. I don’t care.”

Yvette answered calmly without batting an eye.

“Rather, I’m curious. If His Majesty the Emperor learned that a mere viscount was trying to lay hands on imperial property, what do you suppose he would think?”

“……”

Perhaps it was an unexpected counterattack, for the smile vanished from Viscount Magnus’s lips.

He faced Yvette with a frighteningly stiff expression.

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“Please think of it as a kind of warning. If you don’t touch me first, I have no intention of touching you either.”

Yvette gave a light shrug and rose from her seat.

She was pretending nothing was wrong, but in truth, she was a little afraid.

‘Because Viscount Magnus is even more of a madman than I imagined.’

She could not begin to predict how he would react to her words.

“It seems our business is finished, so I’ll be going.”

Yvette put strength into her legs to stand.

But before she could even lift herself from the chair, her entire body stiffened as if bound by ropes.

Yvette raised her head in surprise.

There, she saw Viscount Magnus wearing a cold smile.

“I’m curious what gives you the confidence to act so boldly.”

Viscount Magnus flicked his hand, and the chair Yvette sat in rose into the air.

“What is the meaning of this……!”

Yvette panicked and struggled to get out of the chair. But her body, bound by magic, would not move as she wished.

“Do you not realize that I gave you choices purely out of consideration for you?”

Viscount Magnus let out a sigh and slowly rose from his seat.

Then he took the contract and slowly approached Yvette.

“If I set my mind to it, I can make insignificant humans like you move exactly as I please.”

Viscount Magnus whispered into Yvette’s ear.

Yvette swallowed dryly and met his gaze. She felt cold sweat running down her spine.

It was then, as taut tension hung between the two of them—

With a loud crash, the café door burst open without warning.

At the same time, a voice—familiar yet unfamiliar—rang through the café.

“What do you think you’re doing to my fiancée?”

* * *

At the same time.

Noel, working in his office, suddenly raised his head.

For some reason, he had a bad feeling.

‘……This feeling is unpleasant.’

He furrowed his brow and slowly rose from his seat.

There had been a time in the past when he had felt something similar.

At the time, he had dismissed it as his imagination and let it pass, and right after that, the Averon tragedy had occurred.

‘Surely nothing has happened to Yvette.’

The moment the ominous premonition struck, the first person who came to mind was Yvette.

Noel quickly looked down at his wrist.

Fortunately, there was still no reaction from the communication stone.

‘Still, just in case, I should contact Witley.’

He intended to use the excuse of setting up their next meeting to check on Yvette.

But some time later.

The servant he sent returned with bad news.

“I’m told Countess Blanche is currently out.”

“……What?”

When Noel raised his head with a frightening face, the servant flinched and took a step back.

“Did they say where she went?”

“Well, I heard she went into the city to shop……”

“The city?”

Noel glanced at his wrist again.

The communication stone remained silent.

‘Is it just me being sensitive?’

Yvette was not a child he needed to protect.

Even knowing that, he could not stop worrying.

What if she was hurt again somewhere out of his sight?

Or what if she was wounded again somewhere?

Thinking of her wrist swollen bright red and her bitterly sunken face, his expression hardened on its own.

“……Prepare the carriage. I’m going into the city right away.”

Noel tossed aside the documents he was holding and ordered the servant.

The servant, momentarily flustered, nodded hurriedly.

“Yes? Ah, yes! I’ll prepare it right away!”

The servant ran out first, and Noel followed quickly after.

Perhaps this time it really was just his imagination.

Still, he felt he would not be at ease until he saw with his own two eyes that she was safe.

* * *

“Noel?”

Yvette widened her eyes and stared at her fiancé—or rather, the man who looked like her fiancé.

‘Who is that?’

His appearance was definitely Noel. But somehow, the atmosphere was different.

From the look in his eyes as he gazed at her to the way he stood.

It was a difference only Yvette, who had seen him up close, could recognize.

“How is the Duke of Averon here……”

Perhaps startled by his sudden appearance, Viscount Magnus faltered and stepped back.

The momentum from moments ago had vanished, and bewilderment filled his golden eyes.

“I was certain I had sealed the door with magic……”

“Ah, that? It was so crude it broke easily.”

Noel—or the man who looked like Noel—scoffed as if it were laughable.

Even that was completely different from the Noel she knew.

“No wonder I kept catching a strange smell around Yvette Blanche. So it was you.”

“What are you talking about……”

Viscount Magnus looked at Noel with confused eyes.

He too seemed to have noticed that Noel was not his usual self.

“Hey, fiancée. Would you come down from there first?”

The man who looked like Noel snapped his fingers, and the chair floating in the air crashed to the floor.

At the same time, the magic binding Yvette’s body was released.

“Ack!”

Yvette, who had tumbled to the floor, cried out. At that, the man who looked like Noel spoke with a face that showed not the slightest remorse.

“Ah, sorry. My mistake.”

Yvette stared up at him in disbelief.

That irritating way of speaking felt strangely familiar.

“……Kerbel?”

She called out the first name that came to mind, half in doubt.

At that, the man who looked like Noel smiled crookedly.

“Oh my. How did you know?”

At his shameless answer, Yvette sprang to her feet in alarm.

“Wh-why are you wearing that face!”

“Just because. For this situation, I thought this look would be the most natural.”

Kerbel shrugged as if it were nothing, then turned his gaze back toward Viscount Magnus.

His eyes, now turned red, glinted sharply.

“You laid hands on someone you shouldn’t have, Awain Magnus.”

Kerbel muttered in a low voice.

As he took a step forward, Viscount Magnus flinched and drew back.

His golden eyes flashed with an unknowable emotion.

“I’ll handle things here, so you go home.”

Kerbel glanced at Yvette over his shoulder and spoke.

His face was plainly annoyed.

“But……”

Yvette hesitated, looking back and forth between Kerbel and Viscount Magnus.

‘I feel like I shouldn’t just leave like this.’

She had not yet heard what Viscount Magnus’s goal was.

And she also wondered how Kerbel had found her.

As Yvette continued to show hesitation, Kerbel spoke briefly.

“If you leave now, I’ll consider thinking about lifting your curse.”

“……Goodbye. I’ll be going first.”

Yvette, having quickly changed her tune, turned on her heel.

Viscount Magnus and everything else could wait—breaking the curse was more important.

As she hurried out of the café, Viscount Magnus twitched his hand as if to grab her.

But with Kerbel blocking the way, he could not move rashly.

“Now that it’s just the two of us, I suppose I don’t need this form either.”

Kerbel let out a small yawn and snapped his fingers again.

In the blink of an eye, his appearance changed.

His black hair turned red, and its length grew to his waist.

His neat features became sharper, more alluring.

Viscount Magnus, having witnessed the entire transformation, did not seem particularly surprised.

Rather, a bright smile had risen to his lips.

Then Viscount Magnus spoke.

“……It has been a long time, Master.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Yvette, having escaped the café, finally caught her breath only after fleeing far away.

Left alone, everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

‘……Who would have thought Kerbel would show up there.’

Yvette let out a hollow laugh and swept back her hair.

No matter how she thought about it, the situation made no sense.

‘How did he know I was there? No—more importantly, why did he even save me in the first place?’

The last time she met him, Kerbel had clearly seemed to dislike her.

So why had he helped her today?

‘And Viscount Magnus—what was that about?’

Yvette recalled the conversation she had with Viscount Magnus and ground her teeth.

As if threatening her with Baron Larishi was not enough, he had even used magic on her.

She had known long ago that he was a bad man, but today she had carved that fact into her heart anew.

“Once I deal with this curse, I should just leave the capital.”

Yvette shook her head weakly and muttered.

She did not want to live any longer in a place where mad mages ran rampant.

“Yvette.”

That was when it happened.