* * *

He was used to the stares. He’d been handsome all his life. He’d never been ugly in his life.

There was no shortage of incidents to support this truth-based confidence. For example, hearing a priest perform a marriage proclamation, let alone a confession, in front of him, or witnessing an outrageous demonstration of ‘Garuel Monzasi is stolen by God!’.

When you live in such a glamorous place, you can’t help but attract attention just by breathing and walking. So the blatant stares didn’t really bother him right now. On the other hand, what really bothered him was…….

“Hey, I think I just saw a gnarly aura coming from that black magician’s hand. Is he cursing someone else?”

“What? So someone else is going to look like Easton? Damn it, why the hell is there a black magician roaming the Emperor’s sacred grounds?”

“It’s all because of the commander of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order. Because His Majesty indulges him, he doesn’t know his limit…….”

“You go and say something.”

“To whom? To the commander of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order?”

“To that black magician!”

“You madman. If I say something and then die from a twisted limb, you’re gonna be responsible?”

It went something like this. His role as a black magician, assigned to him by Cadel, was excellent for freeing him from the suspicion of others, but it also had its own side effects.

‘I thought Sir Easton was injured by his own fall. When did this become an injury caused by my curse?’

Turning his head in the direction of the sound, he saw two knights, their dark navy blue robes making them obviously members of the Heaven Time Knight Order.

“He, he’s looking this way!”

“Damn it, don’t make eye contact! You’ll be cursed.”

“Our eyes have already met!”

“Then go quickly and pray!”

“I have the pride of a knight, how can I bow my head before a black magician?”

“Then die alone. I’m outta here.”

As his unfaithful friend quickly moved out of Garuel’s line of sight, the lone man was left shuffling his feet. Unable to make eye contact, he hesitantly glanced at his thigh, so Garuel decided to approach him.

“Do, do you have any business?”

When Garuel bent down to force eye contact, the man shuddered and covered his eyes with his hands, even though he was right in front of Garuel.

“……What are you doing?”

“…….”

“I thought you were talking about me, so I came over. Did I mishear you?”

“…….”

“That’s strange. The curse I cast didn’t have the power to take away your voice. Should I check again…….”

After a teasing nudge, the white-haired man leaned back.

“I apologize for my ramblings, and I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, but if you’ve cursed me, please take it back…….”

Naturally, there was no curse. He didn’t even know how to cast one. But instead of just admitting that he was joking, Garuel decided to play the part.

“Well, why would I do that?”

“……Pardon? About that……. We, we are knights of the Empire, serving the Emperor together. We shouldn’t be hurting each other…….”

“Didn’t you frame our knight commander first? What did you say? Since His Majesty indulges him, he dares not to know his place and brings in a black magician jerk, who disrupts the discipline of the Imperial Knight Order and makes you guys uncomfortable. You’ll have to see that jerk’s blood before you’re satisfied……. Didn’t you say that?”

“Isn’t the statement too extreme?! I never said that much!”

The man raised his head as if he was truly aggrieved. Because of this, the face of the man who immediately made eye contact was stained with despair.

Garuel stared at the man and raised the corners of his mouth slantingly.

“So you’re upset?”

“……No, I apologize, and I will never speak ill of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order’s commander again, so please forgive me just this once…….”

“Well, sure.”

The man’s complexion brightened at the unexpectedly quick forgiveness, but the relief was fleeting.

“The curse I placed on you will break itself in three days, but in the meantime, you must spread the word of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order’s great deeds to fifteen people, five a day.”

“Great deeds, isn’t it……?”

“Violating this will reduce your lifespan by 10 years.”

“What, what did you say? What kind of nonsense is that……!”

“It is difficult to remove a curse that has already been cast. Wouldn’t it be easier to talk about the Scarlet Scales Knight Order’s achievements to fifteen people?”

Garuel patted the man on the shoulder with a friendly smile, then turned away.

“Do you think I would believe that? There are degrees of looking down on people……!”

“I don’t care if you don’t believe me, but I’d do it if I were you, because I don’t want to regret it when I die.”

Garuel could hear the man shout something from behind, but he didn’t respond anymore.

‘Maybe it would have been better to just reveal that I’m a half-demon.’

He might be despised, but he would never have bought such a ridiculous misunderstanding. A curse, an insult he could not bear as a former clergyman. Shaking his head, Garuel resumed his pace in the direction he was headed.

Cadel’s doorstep. Garuel’s hand paused as he was about to casually knock on the door. He opened his palm and ran it over the door, then blew lightly on it, a cloudy breath escaped.

‘It seems to be unusually cold over here.’

Shaking his head, he knocked on the door and heard Cadel’s voice from inside.

“Who is it…….?”

“It’s me, Knight Commander.”

“Come in…….”

His voice sounded haggard and exhausted. He had left the castle with Sorin yesterday afternoon and hadn’t returned until late at night, and Garuel wondered if something had happened to him.

“……Knight Commander?”

“Do something about this one, Garuel. I’m so cold…….”

For one thing, it wasn’t just Cadel’s room that felt cold. His entire room was frozen over. The floor, ceiling, and everything else was covered in ice, making it difficult to even step on it.

And the only ice attribute magician in this place. The presumed mastermind of this outrageous event was lying on the bed, hugging Cadel tightly, looking disgruntled.

Cadel pinched Lydon’s cheek as he wrapped his arms around his waist like a koala, his blue lips curling into a smile.

“Can, can you get me that blanket over there?”

Turning to where Cadel’s gaze was directed, he saw a pile of crumpled, frozen blankets by the door. They looked too stiff to do their job.

After a moment’s pause at this unacceptable sight, Garuel walked over to Cadel with a wry smile and threw his own robe over his shoulders, and Cadel, releasing his grip on Lydon, desperately pulled it on.

“Can someone explain to me how this happened? Did Sir Lydon go on a mana rampage or something?”

Lydon seemed to be in pretty good shape for a rampage, but Garuel couldn’t quite put his finger on it, so he asked, and Cadel shook his head in misery.

“He suddenly came to me and said I smelled like another human being.”

“The smell of another human being?”

“Of course I do! I’m out there meeting people!”

Cadel glared at Lydon in annoyance, and Lydon glared back at him.

“Why are you hitting me after you cheated on me, darling? Isn’t it me who should be angry?”

“Who’s cheating on you?!”

“Then why don’t you tell me who you’re meeting with!”

“Because his identity is a sensitive thing to talk about.”

“Look! It’s an affair! That’s too much, Cadel. Am I not enough? I even took care of your concubines. I can’t stand it anymore because I’m so angry that you’re being greedy even though I’ve tolerated you so much.”

As Lydon whined, Garuel could see what was going on. Cadel had met with someone who wasn’t supposed to be in the public eye, and his attempts to keep it a secret had apparently irritated Lydon.

“I understand how you feel, Sir Lydon. If this continues, Knight Commander will catch a cold. Why don’t you stop getting angry?”

“If he has a cold, he’ll stay in his room. That’s better.”

“Oh, that kind of obsession tires out the other person, and while I might be able to build up some favorability by acting as Knight Commander’s only breathing space, Sir Lydon is going to be thoroughly disliked, isn’t that right?”

“…….”

“Didn’t you already have a history of being hated once? I thought you’d learned your lesson from the time you got treated harshly……. Well, you still have a chance, because I don’t think he’s that mad at you yet.”

Cadel secretly admired Garuel’s skillful handling of Lydon. After all, the former knight commander was quite skilled at manipulating his opponents.

Lydon’s grip on Garuel’s arm loosened a little as he was persuaded. His sullen face rubbed his cheek against Cadel’s thigh and he sighed softly.

Sensing that Lydon’s stubbornness had finally broken, Cadel took the opportunity to stroke his hair.

“It’s not really an affair, Lydon. Don’t worry, dead or alive, I’m not cheating on you with those people.”

“……It’s okay to cheat.”

“Huh?”

“I can just kill them all.”

Contrary to the bloody remarks, the expression on Lydon’s face was one of complete tears. Cadel finally burst out laughing at the consistent foolishness and rubbed Lydon’s white cheeks like dough. Garuel, who was looking at Cadel coddling Lydon, also took off his mask with a pleasant smile. It was the knight commander’s relaxed smile that he had rarely seen lately, so he was not even jealous.

“By the way, Garuel, didn’t you come here to talk to me?”

“……Ah, yes.”

He’d completely forgotten why he’d come here in the first place. Garuel clutched his removed mask in his hands and cut to the chase.

“I’ve heard rumors that a summit of the 7 great nations is about to take place, and since the host is the Osma Empire, I’m wondering if you might be involved. Apparently, Sir Lumen is in trouble with the Mainue Kingdom.”