"Eil?"
Before she realized it, Eil had stepped right in front of him. Stretching up on her tiptoes to make up for their considerable height difference, she placed a hand squarely against Lys's forehead.
"Young Master, are you feeling unwell?"
"—!"
The sudden warmth against his skin made Lys flinch, instinctively taking a step back.
But instead of withdrawing her hand, Eil simply closed the distance again, following him as though nothing had happened.
"Your face is red. Your ears are a little red too... But you don't have a fever."
"That's because... of you, Eil."
"Me?"
At the unexpected accusation, Eil's blue eyes immediately filled with wounded innocence.
I'm already stuck writing an incident report. I really can't afford another mistake.
For a fleeting moment, her expression darkened.
Lys caught the subtle change, his violet eyes rippling with quiet amusement.
"Most people would be startled after seeing someone else's naked body."
"...Ah."
Only then did Eil realize what she'd done.
Her eyes darted back and forth.
I grew up seeing bodies like that every single day. It would be stranger if I were surprised...!
It wasn't her fault so much as the environment she'd grown up in.
Black Rose had always been overwhelmingly male. Women were few and far between, which meant nearly everyone around Eil had been men.
"Today's leg day!"
"Protein! More protein!"
"Eil! I gained weight! Awesome, right? Check out these abs!"
"Get lost. Seriously, get lost."
After living together like family for years, regardless of gender, she'd become so accustomed to seeing their physiques that a bare chest hardly registered anymore.
"Young Master, I was surprised."
"Too late, Eil."
She hurriedly tried to recover, but it was obviously pointless.
Clicking her tongue inwardly, Eil swallowed a disappointed sigh.
If I don't act like an ordinary girl my age, people might start getting suspicious. I'd better be careful.
She was supposed to earn his trust, not throw it away.
Feeling a growing sense of urgency, she quietly helped Lys finish getting dressed.
"Eil. We're going to the arena today."
His low voice caused her hands, which had just begun fastening the last buttons on his shirt, to pause.
The fighting arena was a place where brutal, merciless battles never ceased.
It was hardly somewhere a noble heir who hadn't even reached adulthood should be visiting.
"May I ask what business you have there?"
"Someone told me that having money alone was useless—that I should spend it hiring bodyguards."
"...So that's what I'm going to do."
"What? Who on earth dared say something so outrageous to you, Young Master?"
Whoever it was had to be insane.
Who would dare speak like that to the heir of House Cassio?
They had to be some fool who didn't value their own life.
Just as Eil frowned in disbelief—
"What's the point of having all that money? You're weak as hell."
"Don't walk around by yourself anymore."
"Use all that money of yours to hire some bodyguards or something."
The memory surfaced without warning.
Every word.
Every syllable.
Exactly as it had been spoken.
...That was me!?
In an instant, Eil realized she had been calling herself an idiot.
Forcing the corners of her stiff mouth into an awkward smile, she screamed silently inside.
She had never imagined he'd actually remembered those words.
Correction to the target profile... No, make that a major note: much more petty than he looks, and definitely the type to hold grudges.
Suppressing another awkward laugh, Eil let go of his collar.
"Then I'll prepare breakfast first."
"Mm."
Click.
After closing the bedroom door behind her, Eil headed toward the dining room to make sure the Young Master's meal had been prepared.
"...The arena, huh."
The target was a member of House Cassio.
These were people so arrogant and confident they didn't even station ordinary guards around their own estate.
Yet now, simply because of a passing assassin's careless remark, he intended to visit the arena to hire bodyguards?
What's he really thinking?
She hadn't shown it on her face, but every part of his destination felt suspicious.
Bodyguards?
Someone whose very family name inspired fear shouldn't need such a thing.
I've never witnessed the target's strength firsthand, but based on everything we know, there's no way he's weak.
After all, why were the Cassios called monsters?
Because no one who had witnessed their true power had ever lived to tell the tale.
Then why was he getting cornered back in the forest? Is he still too young to use his power?
If that were the case, then his explanation about hiring bodyguards finally made some sense.
He had nearly lost his life once.
Perhaps that brush with death had finally made him cautious.
"...For now, I'll keep watching."
If the target truly lacked the monstrous power everyone spoke of—or simply hadn't awakened it yet—that possibility needed to remain under consideration.
With that thought in mind, Eil stepped into the dining hall.
Knock. Knock.
At Lys's brief response, the door opened.
Carrying a thick stack of documents despite the early hour, Damon entered and gave a respectful bow to Lys, who stood gazing out the window.
"Young Master, I'm here to report that we've finished cleaning up the assassins from the Black Forest."
"They were all members of a human trafficking organization."
"We chopped the bodies into pieces and scattered them beneath the cliffs. As for their families, we sent only torn fragments of their clothing."
A few scraps of cloth could never confirm whether someone was dead or alive.
There could hardly have been a crueler message.
The corpses had been so thoroughly mutilated that sending something like a finger as proof hadn't even been possible.
It was a silent testament to just how one-sided the battle had been.
"As for your other instructions, the procedures are rather complicated, so they'll require more time. We'll complete them as quickly as possible."
Lys merely nodded leisurely, showing little reaction to the report.
Yet after finishing, Damon didn't leave.
His lips parted, then closed again, as though he were buying time.
Finally, after a long silence, he spoke.
"...Young Master."
"If you had informed me beforehand that the 'angel' you met in the forest was actually an assassin... and that she'd be coming here..."
"I would have taken far greater precautions."
Only the previous night, while carrying out Lys's confidential orders, Damon had finally learned Eil's true identity.
Of course, Lys was hardly the sort of master who explained every decision he made.
Even so...
This was no small matter.
His master's life was at stake.
"Well... I hadn't confirmed it myself yet."
"I didn't think she'd actually come all the way here."
Whether he noticed Damon's cold sweat after learning the truth or not, Lys answered casually, as though it were of no consequence.
But Damon knew better.
Those weren't the eyes of someone who had truly been uncertain.
"And I figured you'd make a fuss."
"T-That's..."
The added remark made Damon's dark blue eyes tremble.
He couldn't deny it.
Had he known beforehand, there was no chance he would have remained quiet.
What kind of deranged aide would calmly allow an assassin to stay at his master's side?
"Is there a problem?"
Lys looked utterly unconcerned.
You know now, don't you? his expression seemed to say.
The problem isn't that you told me late...
The real problem is that you deliberately waited.
Lys had kept silent until Eil had settled comfortably into the ducal estate.
In other words, he'd waited until the period during which she might have been exposed and thrown out had safely passed.
Granted, it had only been two days.
But for an assassin—someone whose specialty was striking fast and disappearing—even two days was more than enough time.
By now, detailed maps of this estate are probably being sold for outrageous prices in the intelligence market.
Swallowing a bitter smile, Damon made a mental note to crack down on the black market soon.
"Setting everything else aside..."
"Keeping an assassin from Black Rose by your side is simply too dangerous."
"Why make the maid your personal attendant in the first place?"
"Because she's like a bug."
"...Excuse me?"
Damon's eyes widened.
Had he heard that correctly?
You called her an angel before... and now she's a bug?
He couldn't make sense of his master's thoughts.
The two descriptions couldn't have been more contradictory.
"If she's in front of me, she's irritating."
"If she's out of sight, she's troublesome."
Lys's lazy voice carried no malice.
He genuinely meant the comparison.
Only then did Damon understand.
"The fact that she's irritating means she's within my sight."
A faint smile curved the corners of Lys's lips.
"And killing a bug..."
"...is effortless."
