Edgar’s residence, the Duke’s room, was dark without a lit light.

Unless its owner, no one could enter the room and never thought of doing so.

Therefore, the figure that suddenly appeared was Nocton Edgar. With the aftereffect of using magic in a bad condition, Nocton arrived in his room.

He immediately vomited blood one more time. His hands were trembling and his breath was rough and lacking energy.

Even when he tried to wipe the blood off his mouth, his hands don’t move properly.

He strained his legs, which seemed to break at any moment, and managed to walk to the sofa. Only by burying himself deeply on the sofa could Nocton breathe a little.

It’s really a mess.

Nocton laughed at himself because it was funny.

There’s a degree of clarity, he knew he’s in bad shape, but his ankles got stuck when he heard Aaron Claymore was there.

That was one of the rarest stupid things Nocton Edgar had ever done.

He was obviously Valrose’s fiance.

Even if it’s not that day, the two will be together for many days.

He didn’t even see them together today, I just heard he was there, so why….

As if Aaron Claymore was hiding in the silence, he gazed into the dark darkness with his sunken eyes.

A little while later, when his breath was cleared, he twitched his hand to turn on the light and rang the bell. Immediately one attendant opened the door and appeared.

With a blurry face that makes no sense, the boy approached and bowed his head.

He was waiting for Nocton’s words, without any agitation for the bloody appearance of the master.

“Bring the troll’s blood.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Nocton also did not regard him as strange. He watched the attendant go out and turned his mouth on.

A black mansion with hundreds of people inhabited, and nonetheless, it was only their owner, Nocton Edgar, who was still properly alive.

The butlers, maids, attendants, and knights are all just living dolls. So there was always no warmth in the mansion.

Since when did this start?

It was obviously Nocton Edgar that made them into dolls, but it wasn’t because of his magic that the mansion felt dead.

They were no different even before they lost their senses. They were indifferent to Nocton Edgar, had no respect, and often laughed at whatever he ordered.

Until the use of force eventually.

Nevertheless, Nocton was consciously or unconsciously recalling the old days.

Even though the people who laughed at him before couldn’t do that now, why he wants to bury himself in the past so much?

Why, why, why.

In fact, he already knew the answer.

“Just like you said, Nocton. Aaron is important to me.”

“I’m nothing to you. There’s nothing to be regrettable about if I disappear, and it’s nothing special. Even if you call me a friend in words, you’ve never thought about me that way.”

“You’re testing me, then you’re making me feel special.”

“So no matter what you do, I’m still stuck next to you and get a little angry and a little irritated, and if you talked to me soothingly, I will let it go and be your toy forever?”

“10 years is enough.”

“So I have no choice but to distance myself from you.”

After all, it was Roa Valrose.

Nocton jumped up.

His gait wasn’t straight, but without stumbling, he headed to the drawer on the side.

The drawer opened as mana flowed in the pattern of the drawer locked with a magic device.

Inside the drawer was a black velvet box.

The box hasn’t been opened yet, but Nocton already knew what was in it.

He could paint the shape, the touch, and everything vividly.

It was a cuff inside the box. A button with a light purple mist floating in a black diamond. The light purple thing he hates the most.

Nocton looked down at the box with tired eyes and habitually reached out his hand.

But before reaching the box, his right hand stopped in the air.

He looked down at his hands, but there was blood everywhere, whether it was his right or left hand.

After returning to the mansion, his left hand must have been bleeding too.

The hand, which had been almost in the air, crouched holding nothing.

Nocton closed the drawer again and went back to the sofa. He buried himself like he was falling apart and covered his eyes with the back of his bloodstained hand. The front of his eyes was terribly black, and his hands smelled of iron.

Everything in the world felt bothersome and annoying.

He was buried in a world where there was no light.

He had to wait for the attendant to bring the troll’s blood, but he didn’t feel it was worth it.

Roa Valrose.

Valrose.

Valrose.

He completed the same name several times.

Then, soon again, with a sound that is thinner than the breath.

“Roa.”

Disappointed, his consciousness is sinking to the base.

Nocton Edgar fell asleep in the dark.

***

We had a good time when we spoke, but late in the day, we were so ashamed that we were silent for a moment.

As if to break the ice, Aaron opened his mouth.

“His Grace Edgar, he’s originally like that….”

“Savage? Well.”

“You’ve had a rough time.”

“I’ve never been scared before. I got a lot of knowledge … although it wasn’t reliable.”

If Nocton hadn’t tested and measured me like that, I could have trusted him a little more.

It was a meaningless assumption.

Still, I got up because my legs gave me strength after I rested a little. The crumpled skirt was roughly straightened and dusted out.

“Oh, so is the holy water real? you said you could check.”

“Yes, in the case of real holy water, there is a reaction that pushes mana, so it cannot be manipulated. The purity is high and even that amount, so it is impossible to know how much it will be worth.”

“Is it that great?”

“At least many times more than the one in the Claymore mansion.”

When I was suspicious of the authenticity of the holy water, I felt more uncomfortable when I heard that it was more authentic than I had expected.

Why did Nocton give me something like this?

It was too much for me to accept it as a gift, and I also worried because the person who gave it was Nocton.

Beyond the burden, I had no choice but to doubt.

What the hell is he thinking?

Then Aaron rose from his seat. The legs, which had been a little weak earlier, stood upright.

“Then I will now….”

It was when he had just opened his mouth.

There was a knock on the door of the drawing room.

Somehow, I think most of the knock I heard recently was a harbinger of something ominous.

I’m nervous about the unpleasant sound, but there’s no way Nocton is come again.

Fortunately, it was Carissa who made a sound beyond the door.

“My lady, it’s Carissa. I’m sorry to interrupt you twice, but Lady Alice Limorand is here. I already took her to the second reception room. Should I tell her to go home?”

It was the same in that it was announcing the sudden visit of a guest, but Carissa’s voice was much calmer than before.

It was understandable.

It was a serious situation to think that she had to guide my fiance Aaron when I was alone with my opposite-sex friend, Nocton Edgar, even if I ruled out Nocton as a villain.

I can imagine the level of complexity in her head as she guided Aaron inside because it rained.

If Carissa had a little more experience, she would have taken him to a different drawing room from the start, but it’s praiseworthy that she didn’t make the same mistake twice.

Because Valrose isn’t strict about one mistake.

First, I’ll send Aaron off and talk to Alice.

With that thought, I looked back at Aaron and found his face hardened.

His reaction was not new, but his bloodshot face was certainly new.

Come to think of it, there was no Nocton Edgar.

Although quite a few people would know that he entered the drawing rooom, he disappeared in a bizarre way called magic, and the attempt became a strange situation.

How do I fix this?

A sigh came up to my chin, and I took a thin breath.

“….please wait a moment, Carissa. I’ll call you back.”

“Alright, my lady.”

I tried to speak in a calm voice and I looked back calmly at Aaron.

“What should I do, Aaron.”

“It’s okay to talk to her. His Grace has gone, so I’ll leave. There’s no Nocton.”

Fortunately, he didn’t forget to take Braman Duff, and he cleaned up the bloodstains before he left, but it doesn’t seem usual that a whole person disappeared.

Only then did Aaron realize the absence of Nocton and put on a troubled look.

“If you say something urgent happened and he teleported … no one knows that His Grace is a wizard. But wouldn’t it be alright to say that he used magic tools? Maybe he’s really using the tools.”

“Even if you’re just going to go back, look at your face. If one person disappeared and you got that much blood on you, they would know that two people fought.”

“Wipe … If you have something to wipe my face.”

At Aaron’s words, I glanced around the drawing room.

The carpet on the floor, the teacups that fell into the carpet spilling the tea , fortunately, did not break.—and the front part of the table that has been torn apart and collapsed….

Oh, my God. I forgot this, too.

“First of all, it’s you who made that table like that.”

“Yes?”

“I think it would be better to have the table torn apart because you’re so embarrassed. Okay, that sounds reasonable.”

“It doesn’t make any sense at all.”

I ignored Aaron’s words and looked around again.

A clock, a chandelier, and a shelf with a bottle of blue liquid.

I nodded.

“Okay, the time has come for me to show you that I don’t care for holy water.”

“…..what are you talking about?”

“I just happened to see something there to wipe your blood.”

“Roa! Wiping my face with holy water, how could you….”

“You are more religious than I thought.”

“That’s not what I meant. If you don’t know the value, you can’t do that without knowing how precious it is.”

Rarely, Aaron’s face turned blue.

No matter how rich Aaron Claymore is, he seemed afraid of using money like water.

There was another knock at the door of the drawing room.

“My lady, I apologize, but Lady Alice is here again. She said she’ll go back and contact you later if it seems to be longer. What should I do?”

I blinked at Aaron.

The face that had been slightly loosened was hardened again. It’s an easy response.

I wanted to get things under control, but I couldn’t ask her to wait.

I can’t go back like this.

I thought it would be better to talk to Alice as soon as possible, so I decided to give up the unsolved arrangements and send Aaron back.

What, I’m going to die. I’ll have to make sure to break off one’s engagement.