When Jade was fidgeting and watching hí Lord’s countenance. Just in time, white light began to pour from the mirror that Sarah went over. Soon her smiling voice flowed softly.

―That, Duke. I’m sorry for going away without saying a word.

It was a voice that shrank with fear. To be exact, it was a voice that seemed to be prepared for Ethan’s nagging. A smile leaked through Ethan’s lips as he showed that he was secretly looking around.

‘I honestly can’t say anything about it.’

Ethan swept up his disheveled hair with his hands and asked, organizing it.

“Is Claude okay? Is he surprised or hurt?”

―I knew you would worry about Young Master Claude right away.

The mirror shone once again with Sarah’s giggling voice. When Ethan’s fine brow frowned slightly in the dazzling light, Sarah and Claude could be seen through the mirror.

“……Claude.”

The child was staring while in Sarah’s arms and his cheeks were red. Claude, who was staring over the mirror with his legs shaking, smiled brightly as soon as he saw Ethan’s face.

“Father!”

If Claude had a tail, he would sway it very violently from side to side. The figure of the child twitching his hips seemed to want to run and be embraced by Ethan at any moment.

“There doesn’t seem to be any injuries. You must have been very scared, but you endured it well.”

“Nanny came and took care of all the bad guys and scary monsters nicely!”

“Is that so?”

Claude’s voice was full of pride as if he were reciting a saga in which Sarah was the main character.

Did you see? This is my nanny!

It was evident on his face that he was proud of it. It was so cute that Ethan laughed a little.

“Sarah must have looked so cool.”

“Yes, she’s really cool! And Nanny was laughing out loud! That was a little scary.”

“Um?”

When Ethan tilted his head curiously at Claude’s words, Sarah laughed and covered the child’s mouth.

“Oh dear, Young Master Claude. It’s a secret.”

“Uh um, uuuum?”

“Yes yes, I know everything has already been discovered, but it’s a secret only to the Duke.”

“Uuum! Um uh um! Um!”

“I see. I promise. So, Young Master Claude must keep his promise too?”

“Uuuuung.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Um.”

“Okay.”

Claude, who had his mouth shut, and Sarah had a conversation. It was just as if they could communicate very well. As if the eyes exchanging between the two and Claude’s murmuring were enough.

“……”

What kind of conversation is that?

Ethan and Jade were enraptured by the sight beyond the mirror, and soon looked at each other.

‘Sir, can you understand?’

‘No way.’

Even if there were no words between the two of them, the meaning was communicated just by eye-contact. At that time, Sarah and Claude smiled and looked through the mirror again as if they had reached an agreement.

“Anyway, I’m fine!”

“I see.”

Anyway, seeing Claude smiling with a bright complexion, Ethan smiled. The mere fact that the child was doing well was sufficiently reassuring.

“The damage to the mansion is not that great. There are quite a few corpses of monsters, but what would you like to do? Shall we put some useful stuff together? There are also rare monsters, so it will be quite a bit of money.”

“I can’t bother Sarah with such a small sum. Just let it burn.”

“……?”

Small sum? Sarah’s eyes blinked slowly. Then she looked to the side for a moment. Outside the window, Ambrosia’s servants were diligently collecting the corpses of monsters. Each and every corpse of a monster was an expensive material. Unfortunately, it took quite a while for the Third Prince to join Alton as he was collecting the corpses of undisposed monsters on the way. With that number of corpses of monsters, it was enough to feed at least one noble family for the rest of their lives.

“Ambrosia’s financial situation is not so poor.”

“No, it’s not that poverty…….”

Sarah tried to talk about the value of those monsters, but then she shut her mouth. The man smiling in front of her was the Duke of Ambrosia. She forgot for a moment that he was not supposed to be in a general category.

“Okay, so I’ll be with Young Master Claude for a little bit and then I’ll go back tomorrow. Actually, there is something I want to discuss……”

Sarah looked at Claude, who didn’t want to get out of her arms. Then she saw Belluna and Benjamin standing still, blocking the door from the back.

“As you can see, this is……, it’s a little difficult to get there right away.”

“I understand.”

Ethan burst into a small smile as Sarah’s face showed difficulty. It was because Claude’s face, which changed uneasily when she said she wanted to discuss something, was so visible.

“Claude must have been lonely, so please comfort him.”

“Yes, I will.”

Sarah smiled and nodded. After making eye contact with Ethan for a while, she flicked her fingers. Then the mirror returned to its normal state with the first white light.

“……It’s Countess Millen after all. How can she sort things out so quickly?”

“It’s only natural because Sarah went over there herself.”

Ethan said so and got up. Then he walked out of the tent that had been prepared for him. Then, right in front of him, the black veil surrounding the Alton Estate appeared.

“……”

The black veil remained intact despite the disappearance of the main culprit. It was even expanding its size by moving forward little by little.

“It’s growing terribly fast. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

Jade shook his head and looked at the veil as if he had been sick and tired of it. He took out the sword he was wearing on his side and swung it at once.

Claaang!

A terrifying sound resonated like it was going to break one’s eardrums. The sword used by the Knights of Ambrosia was by far of the highest quality in the Empire. Nevertheless, the veil could not be scratched as much as a fingernail.

“How can a living thing pass through but a sword cannot pass even an inch?”

Jade was now astonished. Any living creature could pass through the veil with ease. In return, they had to give up their life force. It was impossible to count how many people and how many animals had been sacrificed until they found out about that fact.

“Sarah said he couldn’t create something like this with simple black magic. There must be something more.”

Ethan looked at the veil in front of him, deep in thought. A strangely familiar power was felt in that veil. As if it wanted to pull him in.

“You’ll be seriously injured if you just bring your hand.”

Ethan murmured and reached out toward the veil. Some of the Ambrosia Knights, who were trying to examine the veil, touched it and collapsed on the spot. Fortunately, there were no abnormalities in their life force, but they were seriously ill from high fever.

“How did the envoys of other Empires working with the First Prince pass through this veil?”

“They moved with the black magicians.”

“Except for those heading to Ambrosia’s mansion, there are still a lot of black magicians in the Alton Estate.”

“Now that they’ve lost their leader, I don’t think it’s a big threat?”

Jade struggled to predict a bright future. But Ethan said, shaking his head.

“No, on the contrary, they have become more dangerous.”

“How so?”

“Now they will do anything to survive.”

“Ah.”

At Ethan’s words, Jade realized exactly what he meant and nodded. It was Sarah’s disciple who led the black magicians. They were the warlocks who were holding their breath in the veil because of Oliven, who had been keeping an eye on Sarah. Now that Oliven is gone, they won’t hesitate. Now that Sarah realizes at once that she has the power to subdue Oliven, she will struggle to survive.

“Should we prepare for war?”

“No.”

Ethan shook his head resolutely. A fishy smile formed on his lips.

“It’s not up to us Ambrosia.”

His gaze reached the tent of the Third Prince in the distance. The Third Prince’s servants were diligently going in and out of the tent. They were still busy working to solve this situation. And the same was true of the Second Prince’s tent right next to it. It was clearly visible that the two of them were constantly on fire, making servants busily coming and going as if they were competing.

“Shouldn’t Ambrosia take a step back for the glory of the Imperial family?”

“……”

Seeing the smile on his Lord’s face, Jade trembled. Every time his Lord smiled like that, something unusual would happen.

“I don’t like fighting, Sir, even more so when it comes to war.”

“Yesss, you do.”

“So we have no choice but to hide. I wouldn’t dare to point the sword at the Imperial family.”

“Eh, not the black magicians, but the Imperial family?”

“Yes.”

Ethan’s eyes shone deathly blue as he looked at the veil. He knew the Emperor well. And he also knew the Emperor’s dearest son, who was plotting there.

“It’s time for Ambrosia to hibernate for a while.”

Saying so, Ethan raised his hand on the veil and slowly pushed his hand into it.

“It’s dangerous, My Lord!”

“I’m wrapping my hand with Ambrosia’s power, so if there’s a conflict, it’ll bounce off.”

Jade resisted, but Ethan pushed a little harder and put his hand into the veil. Then the veil shook violently, and then it gently passed Ethan’s hand. As if accepting something very familiar.

“Um?”

Ethan made eye contact with Jade with his hand in the veil.

“……Even Sarah would not have expected this situation.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Far from bouncing him off, the veil was welcoming him furiously.