Peonia reached out and covered the mouths of Seraphie and Lunie. “Shh.” After confirming they had quieted down, Peonia slowly removed her hands and nodded toward the window.
As the attic fell silent, the sounds from outside grew louder. Right below the window, figures cloaked in black lingered near the entrance of the shop. They looked suspicious at first glance, as if their appearance screamed, ‘We’re up to no good.’
The strangers fumbled around, pulling something out of their cloaks.
“What is that?”
“Cigarettes?”
“It’s heavy…” While Peonia and Lunie pressed themselves against the window to watch, Seraphie was stuck underneath them, uncomfortable in her position.
Soon, a small red dot flickered to life—it was a lit cigarette. One of the men lit the cigarette while another looked around nervously, picking up a long, dry branch. There were plenty of branches lying around the shop. The men gathered a few and swept them toward the entrance with their feet. Then, they dropped the cigarette onto the pile. The red glow of the cigarette’s ember began to spread through the branches, and the smoke started to grow.
At that moment, Peonia flung the window open.
“Kyaaa!” Lunie screamed, startling the men below.
In that brief moment, Peonia slammed her palm against the attic wall. A sky-blue magic circle flashed, sending water rushing down the wall, extinguishing the smoke and dousing the branches. The water formed into a grotesque shape, swirling like a creature that might chew up bones and tendons before regurgitating them.
“Uaaaah!”
“Aaargh!”
Terrified, the men fell backward and scrambled to flee.
“Did you see?” Peonia asked Lunie.
Lunie, still gripping the window ledge, nodded weakly. “…Damn it.” She recognized one of the men. “They work for my family.”
Lunie’s suspicion had been confirmed.
“Want to file a forced succession claim?” Seraphie suggested, advocating for revenge.
“My father’s too powerful for that.”
Lunie knew her limits. She didn’t have the ability to protect the family estate better than her father or brothers. She didn’t even have much love for the family anymore. In fact, after realizing the truth about the arsonist, whatever small affection she had left turned to dust.
The three of them stepped outside. As Peonia erased her magic, the hideous water creature collapsed like a sandcastle, disappearing without a trace. Meanwhile, Seraphie and Lunie stared down at the wet branches.
“They definitely touched those branches earlier, right?”
“The trap you set up was…”
“That?” Peonia pointed at the wet branches.
“I bought them thinking they were incense wood, but it turned out to be a mistake.”
When the store staff handled them, red blisters had popped up on their hands, and some even complained about itching.
“What was it again? I heard they used it in some kind of chicken dish…”
In their efforts to catch the arsonists, Seraphie and Lunie had decided to use these branches, which would leave traces. Luckily, the shop had medicine for the symptoms. Now, all that was left was to go to the Mars estate and find the two people with red blisters and itching hands. But none of the three moved immediately.
“…Are you okay?” Seraphie asked, noticing that Lunie had fallen silent.
“No,” Lunie sighed, leaning against the wall. She had hoped, even if only faintly, that her family wouldn’t be involved. But now that her hope had been completely shattered, she couldn’t pull herself together.
Lunie’s eyes filled with tears. Finally, she buried her face in her hands and slowly sank to the ground.
It must be a huge shock. Seraphie went back inside the shop to grab a blanket and draped it over Lunie’s shoulders. Seeing someone usually so strong and confident look this vulnerable made Seraphie worry a little. At times like these, it was better to offer silent patience than empty words of comfort.
“…I’m going to take everything they owe me.”
See? Patience worked like a charm.
“Those b*stards set fire to my precious shop? I’ll burn their crotches with fire, and they’ll have nothing to say!”
Seraphie was sure that Lunie would soon join her in becoming a rebel.
“Let’s prepare right away.”
If they didn’t start catching the arsonists and reclaiming her share of the Mars family’s wealth, they’d miss the chance.
“And Sera, after we’re done, we need to have a talk.”
Seraphie paused as she was about to go back inside the shop.
“…”
She turned around to see Peonia looking at her, the same intense expression from the tea party still in her eyes. Standing under the bright moonlight only made Peonia’s cold gaze seem more chilling.
“The consultation already ended, didn’t it?”
“It’s not about that.” Peonia’s dark red eyes glinted. “Kis told me you recommended the light magician to become my disciple, didn’t you?”
“…”
“You know that my brother’s nickname is Kis, right?”
“Peni,” Seraphie spoke up. “I’ve decided to date your brother.”
Thud. Seraphie turned to see Lunie frozen in place, her jaw hanging open. At her feet was a sharp stick that she had dropped, presumably the one she was going to use to burn her family’s crotches. Turning back, she saw Peonia looking equally stunned. Her mouth was so wide open that a bug could fly in without her noticing.
“…Though we’re just pretending to date.” Seraphie clarified, leaving them both behind as she went inside to change clothes.
* * *
Count Mars was sure that being struck by lightning in the middle of the night would have been far better than what was happening now.
“Hiiing! Hiiing!”
Lunie, who had said she’d spend the night with friends, had returned to the house with those friends in tow, bawling her eyes out. She collapsed onto the floor, kicking her legs and screaming like a child, making anyone question her mental age.
“How am I supposed to face these two after this humiliation!”
The ‘two’ Lunie referred to were Seraphie and Peonia.
“What in the world is going on!” Count Mars demanded. He wanted to yell at her to stop crying like a child, but the cold expressions of the two young women sitting on the sofa gave him pause.
Seraphie and Peonia sat silently, showing no reaction to Lunie’s loud wailing.
“Lunie! What are you doing, acting like this?” Unable to stand it anymore, Countess Mars reprimanded her youngest daughter.
“Let go of me!” Lunie harshly shook off her mother’s hand, leaving the countess stunned. With tear-filled, angry eyes, Lunie glared at her. “Do you even know what happened earlier?” Sniffling, she stood up on her own.
“I should be the one asking you that.”
“You said you were at the Felicia estate…”
“Yes! I was with my friends at the Felicia estate!”
Friends? Count Mars and the rest of the family narrowed their eyes.
“Then I remembered I’d left my notebook at the shop—the one with all the important details for running the business.”
Worried about her missing notebook, the three of them had gone to the shop in the middle of the night, thinking it would be fun to explore in the dark. But when they reached the attic…
“My God! I really…” Lunie started crying again.
“Let me explain,” Seraphie said, crossing her legs slowly. “We almost burned to death.”
Seraphie’s cold gaze fixed on Count Mars, and even though her glance was brief, the count felt his breath catch in his throat. The naive young woman he had thought he could manipulate easily had turned into a deadly viper in an instant. He suddenly felt something bump into his back. When he turned, he realized it was the wall.
“…”
Count Mars was embarrassed to find himself backing away from a young countess.
“There were strangers trying to set fire to the shop,” Seraphie continued, barely acknowledging him as she looked away. It was as if she no longer found him worth looking at. “Fortunately, Lady Felicia was with us, so we were safe. But I won’t let this incident slide.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Peonia threw a bundle of damp blankets onto the table. Out of the bundle spilled the burnt branches and cigarette butts.
“Count,” Peonia said. “Gather all the estate staff.”
* * *
It didn’t take long to find the culprits. Among the gathered staff, who all looked confused, two men were sweating profusely, red blisters covering their hands.
“Touching the branches with bare hands causes blisters and itching,” Peonia explained, levitating a branch above her palm. “Even contact with someone who touched the branches causes the same symptoms.”
As Peonia stopped in front of one of the staff members, the branch began to spin like a broken compass.
“Our poor Lu,” Peonia sympathetically yanked down the shoulder of Lunie’s older brother’s nightgown, revealing red blisters all over his shoulder. “Almost got killed by her own brother.”
It was Lunie’s second oldest brother.
“Huaaaang!” Lunie’s sobs grew louder. “Brother tried to kill me!” Her voice was so sharp that it pierced the ears of everyone in the room.
“I-I wasn’t trying to kill you—!”
Her brother, whose face was pale with fear, tried to explain but fell silent as despair clouded his vision. It wasn’t just that his failure had been exposed; the most humiliating part was yet to come.
“If that’s the case. You might also be responsible for the previous fire incident.”
The eldest brother, who had been competing with the second for the succession, took the opportunity to speak up.
“I apologize, Lady Felicia, Countess Vallidus. I deeply apologize for the trouble.”
Count Mars added, joining in the apology. “I failed to raise my son properly.”
Seraphie and Peonia exchanged glances.
“I thought something was off earlier,” Seraphie said, genuinely curious. “Why hasn’t anyone asked if Lu is okay?
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