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Margaret.

“Mel. My Mel. Please.”

The voice was desperate. In the darkness surrounding me, I could hear that voice gradually despairing, grieving, and growing angry.

It felt as if butterflies were fluttering in my stomach.

I lifted my head to find the source of the voice.

“Margaret!!”

And finally, I woke up from the strange feeling. No, more accurately, I regained my senses.

I saw blood-red eyes glistening with moisture, trembling before me. Only then did I recover enough composure to try to grasp the situation with a dazed expression.

‘Have I returned?’

I slowly reached out to touch the face of the person looking down at me.

“…Ah.”

My hand touched white strands of hair covering those red eyes. The texture felt rough, and as I brushed it aside, I realized my hand was empty.

I took a deep breath, and the absence of the smell of alcohol finally prompted a faint, almost sigh-like, exclamation from me.

“Not yet, huh.”

I mumbled to myself as I weakly smiled at Taylor, who was holding me. Taylor was trembling just as much as I was shivering.

“Is this what it means to leave?”

He spoke. I couldn’t respond, my breath caught in the tight embrace, and my eyes darted around.

Even though his nails dug into my shoulders, I couldn’t show any sign of pain.

I felt the moisture on the back of his hand, which was neatly placed on mine.

It took a little longer for the night sky and familiar curtains to come into view. I remained limp in Taylor’s arms until I was sure I could support myself. Then, I quietly asked,

“…How long have you been like this?”

“You.”

“It must have been hard.”

“Mel.”

“You can put me down.”

“Margaret!!”

He raised his voice at me, something he rarely did. I fell silent, staring at his unfocused red eyes. It seemed like the right thing to do.

“You weren’t okay.”

Taylor carefully laid me down, then rubbed his eyes as he continued to look down at me.

I appeared to have been lying on a bed or a sofa, as the sensation of my body sinking into the cushion was vividly transmitted.

Taylor seemed confused. He bit his lip and pressed his temple hard.

Only after he straightened up did I realize the room looked similar to Glacies.

“Your maid came all the way to the guild. Did you know?! That child brought you here alone from that slum. Everyone, from Heizen Claude to the Duke, was looking for you, and when I finally went out, you weren’t even moving. You were barely breathing!! Do you know how much I…!”

The pain was just an act, wasn’t it? That’s what you said. Taylor, unable to string together a coherent sentence, kept rambling before starting to reproach me.

“It was all an act. Or was leaving supposed to be like that?”

“…”

“If it hurts, just say so.”

“Taylor.”

“Don’t go.”

“I’m not hurt.”

“Don’t ever… in front of me like that again….”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. I felt his body collapse onto mine, and the overwhelming weight made me clench my fists.

“Don’t act like you’re going to die.”

With a voice thick with tears, Taylor began apologizing for everything. I watched him, struggling to wipe away his tears with his still-scarred arm. I couldn’t help but smile faintly as I hugged him.

“So scared.”

As for my father’s situation… Well, it seems the trauma runs deeper than I thought. I quietly took a deep breath, and while waiting for him to calm down, I thought about the wizard.

If only I could take his place.

I can’t help but sigh. The conversation had ended so abruptly, leaving behind an unsettling feeling, and I couldn’t tell when or if we’d ever be able to continue it.

Perhaps it might never be possible.

‘Ugh….’

I knew better than anyone that Taylor had no intention of moving away from me, so I didn’t bother trying to escape as he expressed his obsessive need to cling to me.

At this point, I didn’t think I could even claim it felt unpleasant.

After a few more minutes passed, I felt well enough to chuckle softly at his ridiculous statement about wanting to keep me locked up.

When I laughed at his words, Taylor lowered his eyebrows and asked weakly,

“Did that sound like a joke?”

“No.”

Poor Taylor. I mumbled. Even if you tried to lock me up, I wouldn’t be unable to leave. I’m sure Taylor himself knew that as well.

“It’s just… it was cute.”

“…”

Taylor lowered his head. I let out a quiet sigh, then heard footsteps approaching from outside the room.

This was quite an uncomfortable situation for me to be in, maintaining such an awkward position.

“You’re heavy.”

Taylor grumbled as if he didn’t want to get up, but eventually, he reluctantly lifted himself off me and lay down beside me, resting his face on my shoulder.

And when the door opened, the expression on the former Grand Duke’s face was…

“That damn stray cat.”

A blatant curse slipped out. I couldn’t help but joke, asking if he thought I had bewitched his lover or something.

“Where’s Becky?”

“…I sent your maid back home. Damn it. I should have covered my face when I came to see you.”

“You seem a bit slow-witted.”

“Shut up. They said you weren’t breathing.”

The harsh tone was accompanied by a bit of violence. Carlix threw a knife at the assassin lying beside me as if venting his anger.

Taylor irritably swatted away the dagger Carlix had thrown. The metallic clang was soon followed by a dull thud.

Seeing the knife lying by the bed, Taylor fully straightened up and spat out in a savage tone.

“Are you blind, you crazy bastard? Am I the only one lying here?”

I shook my head.

Taylor wasn’t one to talk much in front of me. Even when he did, his sentences were often simple, lacking the embellishments that other characters would use. His speech was notably less sophisticated or metaphorical.

Born and raised in the slums, his tone was unusually rough.

He had tried to restrain himself around me, but after failing, he opted to speak less altogether. However, even that seemed pointless in front of the Grand Duke or Kestiel.

While the Duke responded to Taylor’s cursing with a sly expression, I stood up from my seat.

“That’s why I only threw it in your direction. No need to be so sharp, right?”

I shook my head. With the situation with the wizard still weighing heavily on my mind, I felt even more unsettled and quietly tried to leave the room.

Or at least, I was about to.

“Where are you going?”

Taylor was the first to ask, and the Duke, who had stopped speaking mid-sentence at Taylor’s question, began to stare at me intently. The two pairs of eyes, filled with similar emotions, left me feeling strangely uneasy.

“I don’t want to die here.”

You know that, right? We don’t share requests, do we?

My voice, which was as nonchalant and monotonous as ever, asked in a deadpan tone.

I was somewhat relieved to realize that my condition wasn’t as bad as I had thought. Carlix chuckled.

“There won’t be any work today. Even if I’m the former Grand Duke, I’ve got plenty of resources. And if worst comes to worst, that white dog of yours can go and protect you.”

And before that…

“There are still many things I haven’t heard.”

I looked blankly at him as he twisted his lips with a glint of expectation in his eyes, then lightly shook my head.

‘Taylor wouldn’t benefit from hearing this… would he?’

Oh, come to think of it, the wizard did mention something about the Duke.

I didn’t bother hiding my irritation. My voice, devoid of emotion, responded perfunctorily.

“There’s nothing special. Just as you saw.”

“Margaret Eilish. If you want to lie, at least put half the effort into it that you did when pretending to be sick.”

“It means don’t pry any further.”

I brushed off his question as I glanced down at myself. Judging by my clothes, it didn’t seem like they had changed me.

Still surrounded by the oppressive atmosphere, I took a step forward with a small sense of relief.

“…So, you’re telling me to ignore the possibility that you might die?”

Carlix asked in a voice that had suddenly calmed. I began to wonder what I must have looked like to them when I first appeared.

“Mr. Hamel.”

“That won’t work anymore, Margaret.”

Even as Carlix spoke those words, he seemed to be in a surprisingly good mood. Perhaps it was because he was the only one I didn’t address by name.

The man’s expectations were so transparent that I responded with a sly smile, just as he often did.

“Then, Carlix.”

“…”

Silence followed. I figured this pause gave him enough time to collect his emotions, so I returned to my usual expressionless face and looked at him with a teasing gaze, as if to ask what made him so happy.

This was where another difference between Taylor and the Duke became apparent.

His entire face flushed red, and he stood there speechless for a moment before clicking his tongue irritably and muttering.

“I heard you went to the Magic Tower. We were supposed to talk about that soon.”

He pulled out a moon-shaped emblem and tossed it toward me.

He briefly mentioned that it related to a story about the supernatural, and I chuckled softly as I looked at the silver-framed emblem, the same one my sister used.

“You’re the one who said we should meet soon. Don’t be too late.”