The maids were still worried about me, “If you even have a slight headache, you must call the doctor.” —after repeating this about a hundred times, they finally let me go. As soon as I arrived at the Factory, I headed to the study to greet my grandfather after a long time. When I opened the door, my grandfather and Marquis Debussy were sitting there. “Miss, we were very worried.” “Erilot, you’re healthy now. Sorry.” I bowed my head and replied. Marquis Debussy shook his head and said, “What is there to be sorry about for being sick?” Grandfather quietly just stared at me. Marquis Debussy spoke softly to my grandfather. “Duke, don’t you have anything to say?” “What’s there to say? As long as she’s better.” “Erilot, then I’ll be going.” I was about to leave after greeting my grandfather as soon as I arrived at the Factory, but grandfather said, His low murmuring made me nervous, so I hesitated but went and sat again. What was this? Had I done something wrong? Was I being abandoned because I’m a sick three-year-old? I rolled my eyes, thinking all kinds of things, when just then the steward knocked and entered. Behind the steward, the maids followed, carrying food. The first maid offered a dish. A dish made from the tail of a fantasy fish. It’s a famous dish said to be the ultimate health food. The second maid also offered a plate. Exotic medicinal pills. Famous as health supplements, nobles secretly smuggle these from foreign lands. The third maid also offered a plate. A renowned health tonic; its name alone carries value. I diligently chewed the health herbs. At this rate, I’m going to burst. Duke Astra frowned as he watched Erilot burp with a scoundrel’s expression. “Why can you only eat this? Are you still sick?” Marquis Debussy looked at grandfather with a baffled expression. ‘I wondered what they wanted to do with all that when they told me to bring it.’ For two weeks, the intelligence department had been obsessed only with that. ‘I even wondered if the emperor was terminally ill...’ Erilot looked at Marquis Debussy with sad eyes. Seeing the pleading look, Marquis Debussy stepped forward. “You’ve only eaten this much!” “Medicine is poison if taken too much.” Duke Astra furrowed his brows and said, “Pack it all up and send it to Erilot’s room.” Erilot wore an expression full of world-weariness. Leaving grandfather’s room, I walked toward the annex. Since the shrine was unusable due to the explosion, the children were currently receiving education in the annex. At the end of the hallway, I saw kids lingering. Dione and Liantin ran up side by side. Both had grown their hair quite long since then. They seemed a little taller too. ‘Well, it’s been half a year.’ Liantin, who ran right up to me, gave me a sharp glare and said, “Idiot! I heard you got caught in the magic explosion!” “Don’t shout. You just recovered.” Dione sniffled, and Liantin bit her lip tightly, muttering, “Fool.” “I’m going. You take some medicine or something.” Liantin walked off alone. But after a short distance, she suddenly turned back. “I went to the intermediate training room while you were gone! I’m better than you, got it?!” She said this while sniffing. She really had a strong personality. Dione asked me several times, “Are you really okay?” I don’t know how many times I said “yes” before leaving. The maids behind me sniffled again in a second round. ‘One reunion scene is enough.’ I said, “Later!” and dashed out of the room. Running fast, I quickly arrived at the second gate. In front of the second gate, the needle dog I saw last year drooled and growled. “We used to be... no, we’ll be friends in the future.” Now I wasn’t scared at all. ...Okay, maybe a little scared. The more I thought about it, the more absurd it was. ‘I didn’t lure Dalia by breaking her curse.’ Dalia drunkenly staggered toward me, and the needle dog attacked to protect me. I was just playing with the needle dog that night. I suddenly took out something I had hidden in my clothes. When I blew into it, a clear sound came out and the growling needle dog calmed down. ‘It’s made of white cypress wood.’ The scent of white cypress wood, undetectable to humans, is perceived by monsters as the pheromone of a newborn. But it doesn’t work on all monsters. “Then the flying monster that attacked us when the white cypress tree fell on Hadix Mountain...” “Maybe it came thinking we were attacking its baby? Humans are sorry...” While Han Jihyeok and I were getting emotional, Michelan frowned. “You mean the flying monster called Karuathon [N O V E L I G H T] on Hadix Mountain?” “It eats weak creatures. It came because it smelled a baby.” So you have to choose carefully. ‘This one can be tamed.’ Needle dogs are often kept as guards. They’re not hard to raise. I petted the needle dog lying down, saying, “Good, good.” From afar, I heard footsteps coming. I could guess who it was just from the steps, so I didn’t even turn around and kept petting the dog. The needle dog that was lying down suddenly stood up, glaring and growling at Han Jihyeok. “Don’t scare me like that.” “Why are you so big...” “What about the Empress Dowager’s portrait?” Han Jihyeok said he met the one holding the Empress Dowager’s portrait while I was unconscious. They sent two fakes, hiding the original under the excuse of replication. “Well, you did well.” “...I did it because I was afraid you’d nag when you woke up.” He said that, but he seemed anxious when I wasn’t working. He was worried about what would really happen to me. Han Jihyeok was staring at the ground with a sulky face. “Did you bring the painting?” “I put it in the room.” Han Jihyeok and I returned to the room. The painting he brought was wrapped nicely in paper and stood up. “Why is the painting so big...?” “The painting itself is small, but the frame is big.” Han Jihyeok tore off the wrapping paper and showed it to me. The frame really looked very unusual. “It’s a smuggler’s frame.” Since this is a crime city, crime runs rampant here. I learned once in class that smugglers used frames like that to smuggle drugs long ago. I immediately called Conrad to the room. “You’ve been summoned.” Conrad came in looking puzzled and stared at me. I flipped over the painting and said to Han Jihyeok and Conrad, “Press the corners at the coins! Not a bit off!” The painting fell down and a box came out. While Han Jihyeok scrambled to catch the falling painting, I quietly opened the box. There was another painting inside. It was also well preserved. Because there was a blessing stone built into the box. A girl’s back hanging by a window overlooking the sea. She had brown hair and a small scar on her neck. There was a signature on the back. [Ordiacell K Merelis] As soon as I saw it, I shouted, “The painting the Empress Dowager is looking for!” Ordiacell was the Empress Dowager’s late mother. That’s why the art gallery the Empress Dowager built was named Ordiacell Gallery! It wasn’t just a painting passed down from her mother. “She must have been so important to be the Empress Dowager’s mother... Why was it hidden?” “At that time, paintings by female artists were believed to bring misfortune and were burned.” So they couldn’t bring paintings by women into the royal palace. “What will you do? Give it to the Empress Dowager immediately?” If it’s such a precious painting, it’ll be my joker. I chuckled like a demon. Han Jihyeok carefully packed the painting again and looked at me. “A lot of letters have come.” “I’ve received them all.” To Liantin, Dione, Hilda and Greta... and even to the Black Flame Dragon sister who sent a poem. “There are letters that you haven’t received.” “Letters without sender addresses.” Han Jihyeok said wait a moment and brought a bundle of letters. After Conrad and Han Jihyeok left, I lay stomach-down on the bed reading the letters. I heard from Pink Hair about how I was sick. She wasn’t really serious about telling me to go. ‘I already forgot everything.’ She must have been really worried. Spring has come outside. The guard picked wild greens and made something strange. Others didn’t want to eat it, but Luca kept teasing while eating. It was tasty, but since you said you wouldn’t eat it, don’t eat it. I saw Luca secretly throwing up in the bathroom. Luca is like an older brother. The guard—or rather, the camp chief—probably forced him to eat it because no one else would. The kids knew I’d been unconscious for months. Pink Hair has a big mouth. Tomorrow a comet is falling, and the kids said they’ll pray for your awakening. I guessed we wouldn’t get along well, so we fought. If Luca was like an older brother, he could have been a good friend. While the guards were talking, they mentioned the training camp. They were very embarrassed when they saw me. I was getting ready to sleep when the camp chief came in and explained everything. That this prison is actually a training camp, that recruits are not supposed to know, and that you paid a lot of money to entrust me. They thought I’d be shocked, but I was calm, so they were surprised. But what surprised me more was what I didn’t know until now. I suddenly sat up and grabbed the letters. They had sensed from the moment they openly admitted you here. That this place was not ordinary. When they found out the chessboard and pieces you and Luca used were handmade, they were certain. No one would give prisoners sharp objects, even in a juvenile prison. So that’s why he told me not to spend money on him back then. The guard—or rather, the camp chief—Karlie left it up to me to decide. Whether to train or to leave. Taking money and just letting kids out! I frowned and finished reading the letters. I said I’d think about it. Karlie said I could go out, and I got to leave the prison for the first time in months. It must have felt good to come out after so long. Maybe that’s why I said I wouldn’t train. I groaned and turned the page. I went to Daymond’s jurisdiction to deliver letters to you. Even the guard at the first gate stopped me. While I was blocked, I saw guys dressed in fancy clothes and with clean hands riding horses. They asked them nothing but asked me everything: my name, my parents, my age, where I live, my siblings... But in the end, those guys went up, and I couldn’t even deliver letters to you. Training has started. Next time, I’ll deliver the letters to you myself, not Pink Hair.