Ethan asked, looking pitifully at his subordinate, who was shaking and trying to escape from reality.

“……What about Sarah?”

“I don’t know either. She hasn’t come back yet. I’ve been waiting for My Lord here.”

“It’s late now. Wasn’t she supposed to be back in the morning?”

“My Lord said you would come back soon, but you didn’t. Lady Sarah might not be coming even though she promised to come by morning.”

“Sarah has never failed to keep her promise. Is there anything that happened to Claude……”

Ethan, who was trying to think about the situation of the mansion, frowned at Jade, who had been subtly annoying for a while.

“But Sir Harper. Isn’t your tone a little cocky?”

In response to Ethan’s question, Jade pouted his lips.

“I will die at the hands of My Lord anyway…… Don’t I have to say what I have to say?”

“I won’t kill you.”

“Really?”

“That’s right.”

“Did you promise?”

“……I promise.”

As Ethan answered, Jade’s face brightened and his posture straightened. Then he began to flatter, rubbing his hands in a blatant servile manner.

“Aigoo, I’m alive. Heaven, My Lord, I had a dream that a reaper came and went in front of my eyes.”

Jade looked really brazen as he sighed and pretended to wipe away the sweat that didn’t even flow as if it was terrible.

“……”

Ethan couldn’t even say anything about that action.

Jade Harper.

He was the only one in the Crombell Empire who could shut Ethan Ambrosia’s mouth after Sarah.

“Anyway, thank you for coming back safely to this Jade Harper! As a faithful servant of My Lord, how delighted I am!”

“……”

He couldn’t believe he had this kind of subordinate. Ethan thought seriously for a moment whether he had chosen the wrong aide. His brain was good, but he was stupid. So, the brain was a genius, but the person was an idiot. He learned through Jade that the two could coexist at the same time.

“Haa.”

In the end, he had no choice but to shake his throbbing head, remembering the fact that he would have to carry that frivolous subordinate for the rest of his life. If he went under someone else with that snout of fear, he would have died sooner.

“What about the Second Prince and the Third Prince? How are they doing?”

“Under the pressure of the Emperor. Apparently, the Emperor was nervous. He was hoping that they would come back safely without anyone getting hurt.”

At Jade’s words, Ethan raised his eyebrows for a moment, narrowing his eyebrows, then walked past him. Ethan, who was rushing toward the place the princes had prepared, paused for a moment, and then turned around as if he had been thinking about something else.

“I need to see Sarah first.”

“She’s not here yet.”

“I’m going to make her come over here.”

“How?”

“With my beauty?”

“……”

He couldn’t believe this was his Lord. Jade Harper thought for a moment. His Lord was so well-respected that he was a wise man who could not even be put in the same category as ordinary people. But sometimes he wondered where that confidence came from.

‘Yeah, it’s the confidence that comes from the face. By the way…….’

How did the idea of making Sarah come to this place with his beauty really come about? If that was possible, he thought he would be Jade Woofer*, not Jade Harper, and he would be a woofer in the future.

*Woofer (우퍼) has the same last word as Harper (하퍼) in Korean. And woofer is also a type of loudspeaker (given his loud mouth LOL)

“Anyway, there’s something like that, so Sir should deliver it to the Second Prince and the Third Prince at the same time. As soon as this is over, Ambrosia is out.”

“……My Lord? What does that mean? What do you mean we’re taking our hands off?”

“Literally. Withdrawal from Alton, the First Prince, and everything related to the black magicians, Ambrosia will close the family door.”

At Ethan’s declaration, Jade went pale and struggled to support his body.

“Why! We did it all! Even if you pick up things that fall quietly here and wield them around, the Imperial family will……!”

“Shh.”

“……”

Ethan lifted his index finger and put it on his lips. His eyes were bent in a soft curve while shining coldly.

“Does Sir know the saying that a prawn died in a whale’s fight?”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“That’s what Sarah told me. I loved it from the first time I heard it.”

At Ethan’s words, Jade tried to swallow the words, ‘My Lord likes everything Countess Millen says.’

“So what does that have to do with closing the family door now?”

“It means that Ambrosia only has to pick the flesh of the prawn that died after the whale fight, Sir.”

“……”

The doubts on Jade’s face gradually turned into astonishment at Ethan’s words. It was because he seemed to know what kind of picture was being drawn in his Lord’s head.

“What the hell…… did you see in there?”

Ethan just smiled at Jade’s question. It looked like an abyss of the sea that was pulling both whales and prawn to the bottom at once, so Jade had no choice but to tremble.

* * *

The long-awaited day has dawned. All the nobles and soldiers who had departed from the capital for the Alton Estate gathered in one place. The army led by the Second Prince and the army led by the Third Prince each fought an invisible battle, but in the end, they had one thing in common. Rescue Alton Estate from the clutches of the black magician and the First Prince.

“Today, I will remove the savage veil over Alton Estate! Save the suffering people of Alton and show the whole continent the strength of my Crombell Empire!”

“Woaaaah.”

The Second Prince Ilior stepped forward and raised the morale of the army. When that barrier was removed, they had to deal with black magic they had never experienced before. They had never seen a magician in their entire life, but now they would soon meet black magicians, villains that only appeared in books or long stories. Not only the soldiers but also the knights sent by each aristocrat were in a state of fear.

“The magician of the magic tower will be with us. Black magicians are, after all, just impurities in the magic tower, with the  true magician with us, today’s victory belongs to Crombell.”

Following the Second Prince Ilior, the Third Prince Eleon came forward and encouraged them. It was then that confidence appeared on the faces of those who had hardened with tension. Now, the eyes of all the nobles and soldiers turned to the realm of Ambrosia, which was located a little further away. The moment that Duke Ethan Ambrosia with the magician appeared there, it would all begin.

* * *

“May I come in?”

“Yes, come in!”

Ethan grabbed Sarah’s robe with his own hands and entered the tent where she was staying. Sarah did not bring her maid, let alone any servants to attend her. So it was Ethan’s job to attend her all the way to Alton Estate. There were many Knights of Ambrosia who would volunteer to serve Sarah with their eyes shining, but they had no choice but to yield to their Lord with a sad smile and tails between their legs.

“You don’t look nervous at all.”

“That’s nothing.”

Sarah smiled brightly with a confident expression on her face. Seeing that, Ethan smiled a little and unfolded the robe he had brought with him, making it comfortable for her to wear. At first, Sarah was awkward with his touch, but by this point, she naturally accepted what Ethan was doing.

“Do you want me to brush your hair?”

“What? No, it’s okay. It’s going to be a mess if I wear the robe anyway……”

When asked by Ethan, Sarah shook her head in surprise. At first glance, she seemed surprised and refused, but Ethan smiled and looked at her face secretly as he stepped away. A subtle red color was coming up in her ears. He spoke in a gentle tone, pretending not to know it.

“It would be nice if you braid it nicely and tie it up.”

“Is that right?”

“Of course.”

“……Then, please.”

At Ethan’s words, Sarah pondered for a moment, and then nodded as if she had made a big decision.

“Then come over here.”

He smiled happily and led Sarah to a small mirror inside the tent. Sarah, who looked at Ethan’s face with eyes as if possessed by something, sat down on the chair in front of the mirror with a red face that seemed to burst.

“But does the Duke know how to braid hair?”

“Why? Are you nervous?”

“No, I don’t think there’s anything the Duke can’t do…… I’m a little curious.”

Sarah looked into the mirror and said, looking at her hair gently wrapped around Ethan’s hand.

“It looks like you are familiar with it to me.”

A subtle and delicate narrowed gaze was directed at Ethan. Sarah’s face looked as if she wanted to say ‘Well, the Duke seems to have combed the woman’s hair a bit? Since you are so popular, how many women must have gone through the hands of the Duke?’. Ethan smiled quietly at Sarah’s face, which clearly showed what she was thinking.

“I’m used to it.”

“……Oh, I see.”

Sarah’s words continued slowly in response to Ethan’s answer. It seemed to resemble Claude when he was dissatisfied, so Ethan suppressed his desire to tease her a little more. It was because he did not want to be hated by Sarah for a useless misunderstanding.

“When I was young, there was no one to trim my hair, so I often combed and braided my hair like this.”

“……The Duke did?”

“Yes.”

Sarah’s eyes shone beautifully as if she had found something very interesting.

“Did you have long hair as a child?”

“After the manifestation of my powers, everyone was scared and extremely reluctant to come near me.”

Ethan was only about Claude’s age at the time. He was too young to control his power, so the servants at that time couldn’t even take care of Ethan. There was no one to take care of him, so Ethan did the washing, dressing, and eating all by himself. Since there was no one to take care of his hair, his hair naturally grew longer, and he often tripped over his own hair and fell.

“I think that’s how I lived until I was able to control my power and I was old enough to enter the noble school.”

“So you’re saying that you had been braiding your long hair until then?”

“Yes.”

“……I want to see it.”

Sarah’s gaze turned to Ethan’s now shortened hair.

“If we finish this job well, I’ll show you a portrait of my childhood.”

“……!”

Sarah’s shoulders fluttered excitedly at Ethan’s words, then drooped as if she realized something.

“……?”

Ethan tilted his head curiously at the sight. It was at that time that he felt something strange when he saw Sarah’s face peeking at him.