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Episode 89: Again, Three’s a Crowd (II)
‘May I ask you this?’
‘May I ask?’
I hesitated a bit and then asked.
“This artifact, it’s invisible to other people.”
“To begin with, those kinds of artifacts are only visible to the parties involved in the contract.”
I see. But there was another part that I was really curious about.
I continued, gently stroking my wrist.
“Then, what about magic?”
“

.”
If I looked back on the memories of studying for an A+ in <Principles of Artifacts> as a model student of the Forest, there was a subtle magical power flowing through these artifacts themselves.
Even if used, the magical power was, of course, valid.
However, even Heinrich, a powerful wizard, was unaware of the existence of the pattern engraved on this wrist.
It meant that he couldn’t sense the magical power.
Sislin gave an honest answer, his eyes even wondering why I was curious about it.
“The artifact has another spell on it that blocks the detection of magic.”
It meant that no magical power could be detected and that only the contracting parties could visually check it.
“So no one knows.”
“Why did you let no one know
?”
Of course, from my point of view, this was better than having rumors about the neighborhood.
However, I was curious as to why he chose this way.
“Well.”
“Is there any special reason?”
If I know why, I might find out how to destroy this artifact.
—Or maybe I wouldn’t know.
But it was true that the more information would be more helpful.
My life was still too long to be tied to this for the rest of my life.
“

.”
It was then. He was silently looking at me as I asked for a ‘special reason’, and he moved.
His broad shoulders gently leaned toward me to the point of being intimidating.
“

.”
I looked straight ahead without avoiding his gaze.
I didn’t want to make it obvious that I was agitated.
The handsome face with the eyes of a predator stared at me silently
 and whispered softly in my ear.
“I’ll just say it’s a little naughty.”
“

!!!”
Crazy.
‘Sir Obsessive Maniac, why is the keyword ‘unparalleled’ all of a sudden?!’
I was trying my best not to be shaken, but it seemed to have already failed. Because my face got warm.
I shouldn’t have asked.
That was when I was confused;
“Sister
 Hey, why is the conversation so long?”
Heinrich, who was grunting like a dog who was desperate for something, appeared with a little notice.
He asked, looking at my flushed face and the normal Sislin, squinting his eyes as if something was suspicious.
“What were you talking about? You two.”
Without hesitation, Sislin tried to open his mouth. At that moment, I barely covered his mouth.
“Uhh, nothing much.”
I could feel Sislin’s lips creeping up on my palm.
He looked very happy.
—To the extent that it was a little ridiculous.
I moved away the hand that was covering his lips, and said,
“Well, go ahead. Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Thank you for inviting me to the party. I will definitely attend.”
As Sislin spoke, Heinrich’s expression became noticeably colder.
“What, why would you invite that beast to a party? You are an uninvited guest. She never invited you.”
‘Actually, I never invited you either, Heinrich.’
“How can the villagers relax when the Crown Prince comes to the party? Tactless bastard.”
‘Same goes for the Grand Duke, Heinrich.’
Heinrich shouted as he stared at Sislin’s back with arrogant eyes.
“Don’t come again.”
Tak, tak.
Sislin ignored it and just walked.
“Because I’m going to live here with Sister. okay?”
Tak, tak.
“Sister and I are getting married!”
‘
Is it? Why doesn’t your sister know about it, Heinrich?’
It was then. Sislin, who had been silently listening, turned around and started walking this way at a frightening speed.
‘Ah, I think he’s finally going to hit Heinrich!’
He held it in for a long time.
Heinrich also seemed slightly embarrassed when Sislin came over.
Sislin approached without hesitation, wrapped a hand around my wrist, and slowly lowered his body.
He made eye contact with me as he placed his warm lips on the inside of my wrist that was engraved with a pattern.
—It was a pretty serious kiss.
My heart warmed up in an instant.
“

!”
The lips fell off quickly, but the warm feeling on the inside of the wrist remained as if it was about to burn.
His red eyes smiled only for the girl.
Next to the man shouting that he would marry Annette, the way he dared to seize and kiss her was wild, even playful.
He did more damage to Heinrich than a hundred words.
Sislin, who stole the girl boldly, leisurely left the place with his usual relaxed and wide strides.
Belatedly, the sound of Heinrich seething behind his wide back could be heard as boring background music.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
In Larva’s headquarters.
“Tomorrow is finally the party! It’s been a long time since I’ve felt really nervous.”
Chubby smiled warmly, the feeling incongruent with his size. Another Larva member said with bright eyes.
“There must be a lot of delicious bread!”
“I’ve always eaten it sparingly, but I can finally devour <Little Bakery> bread
”
“Hey, have a meal before you go. At parties like that, it’s basically a social gathering while trembling with elegance! Who is going to eat?”
“Right. We need to eat more than usual.”
Another heinous looking man supported the one that made this strong claim.
“Unfortunately, I should eat less than 15 of them.”
(TL/N: it wasn’t specified in the raws as to ‘eating what’, but I guess we can infer it to be bread/buns/baked goods.)
Originally, he ate 30 pieces in one sitting. Still, it was an unconventional declaration of a ‘half-portion’.
“Then don’t you just dry up and die?”
Number 19 was really worried.
Tomorrow was the party, and from the evening before the night before, Larva’s minds were as if they were already in the party.
It was as if they were more excited than the young ladies making their debut in the social world.
One-eyed spoke as if to calm the overheated atmosphere.
“Everyone, don’t get carried away. Just behave as usual.”
At the same time, he wiped the ‘glass eyeball’ that he usually doesn’t wear, apart from only on special occasions.
—It was not convincing at all.
All the excitement was the same, so everyone laughed it off.
“The only regret is that we will be participating as <Winston’s Shield> tomorrow.”
“I know. It would be more meaningful if we just participated as Larva.”
As Winston’s shield, of course, they were invited to parties.
They were banquets held by the state if the subjugation of the beasts was accomplished successfully.
However, it was rumored that they were very scary warriors, so when they went to a noble party, everyone seemed reluctant to get involved.
It was all about seeing the faces of the nobles who were forced to attend because of Winston’s name.
Such a position couldn’t have been pleasant.
So, everyone had a negative impression of participating in the party as <Winston’s Shield>.
“
It won’t be the same at the town party tomorrow, will it?”, One of the scary men with ‘banquet trauma’ suddenly said.
“No way.”
Still, everyone was a little agitated.
In the atmosphere of joy and worry, Kyle was quiet throughout.
He rested his chin on his hand and was deep in thought.
Recalling the conversation he had with Annette earlier.
“Owner, did the Crown Prince of El Dorado come to visit?”
“Yes, he just came to see me.”
‘The Crown Prince has come to Bayonaire
’
It was also at that time when <Winston’s Shield> went to subjugate the north.
When he gave a false command to catch a griffin that didn’t exist, he came to Annette with the perfect timing.
‘Absolutely no coincidence.’
Now, Kyle had turned his suspicions about the crown prince into almost certainty.
‘He must have smelled something.’
The crown prince was a man who had been looking for Annette for a long time.
In the process, Gerard’s tracking group and the movement might have overlapped, and traces of Circe or Larva might have been found.
‘But obviously there is no solid evidence.’
If everyone knew that <Winston’s Shield> was actually the former Circe organization (now Larva) protecting Annette.
In the first place, they would have found her by slaying Winston, instead of going the long way of war.
―With that temper, it wouldn’t have been much to destroy his family.
If he thought only of Larva and Winston


It was definitely time to save himself.
However.
“Are you okay, Owner?”
“Of course I’m okay. I just met my old friend after a long time.”
She said it was okay.
“I was very sad when we parted
 I am very happy to see him again.”
Rather, there was a nuance not to worry because it was a happy event.
But Kyle was sensitive to her change.
He read some worries and fears.
It was natural.
For an ordinary woman, meeting the man who caused a war with madness to find you would not be pure joy.
No matter how much she loved her old friend, she must be in a complicated mood now.
Yet, she tried not to show it

It was when Kyle was thinking of her and feeling sorry for her.
“Master! Annette sent you a letter.”
One-eyed received the letter from the squirrel and handed it to him.
For a letter, it was a smaller note than usual. It looked like it was sent in a hurry.
Kyle quickly opened the note.
The content was just this.
「Crown Prince Sislin is joining the party tomorrow.」
“

!”
Kyle’s brow twitched.