When my lady walked out of the room, she was drenched in sweat, her expression forlorn, and my [Devil eye] guided her toward us. She reached the third floor soon and stared at me for a tad too long before stuffing her face in my bosom, disregarding her two worried friends.

I placed my chin over her head and let her revel in the newfound warmth she craved. Her sweat had stained my shirt, and my palms felt wet after I ruffled her hair. She had used a large amount of mana, and it was evident from her attire alone.

“That was freaking scary!” she said, her voice muffled in my embrace, and I felt her shiver slightly.

I smiled at her once she was outside my bosom and leveled my gaze with her. “But you did well, my lady.”

“How did you know I cleared?” she asked with a complex expression. Her internal battle must have involved me, for she avoided my eyes.

“Because I am never wrong,” I gave her a smug, and she rolled her eyes. “And don’t feel guilty, my lady. Even if you did doubt me, you had every right to do it.”

Well, it didn’t take undead to know why she hated me all those years. She had witnessed my smile at her mother’s funeral, so her doubts must have warped into something meaningful. It should have been quite a surprise for a four-year-old kid.

As for the truth regarding her mother’s death was concerned, I reasoned it didn’t matter anymore. For she had won the internal struggle, perhaps by learning to trust me more. That only made it easier for me to conduct my machinations.

She looked into my eyes, the guilt disappearing with the doubts she harbored all these years. “Nothing escapes those eyes,” she smiled, reaching for my cheeks.

I removed my coat and placed it on her shoulder, making sure to cover her breasts. “I can see your undergarment, my lady.”

“Oh,” she smiled at me, refraining from touching my cheeks. “You want to touch them?”

Her rosy ears clearly contradicted her words.

“Ahem,” Beth coughed, though it sounded too fake. “Can you even see us, Leti?”

“Beth and Casey?” her gaze returned to normal, and her flirtatious expression vanished instantly. Noblewomen never failed to surprise me, and they were better than undead in changing their expressions. Lips pursed to a thin line, her stare flickered between annoyance and relief. Those were a lot of emotions to decipher in a few seconds.

“What?! You don’t want us to see you flirt? Even though you bawl out your eyes and stare at us every time we kiss?” Beth clicked her tongue while Casey giggled.

“I cleared the prelims,” she smiled at them, disregarding Beth’s annoyance. The two girls' faces softened, and they indulged in idle chatter as we walked down the stairs.

What would I see in [Darkness]? I wondered, but there hadn’t been a powerful enough mage to make me see nightmares, ones that would haunt me for a few thousand years until.

The Academy didn’t have any extra sessions in store for the students, so they were left out once the results of the prelims were released. It took quite a while, and I was able to take my afternoon nap under the shades of the tree. Surprisingly, all the students cleared the test, and most of them credited the heroine because she had managed to hold some additional study sessions for the brats, which helped them tremendously. Even the Academ was pleased with her initiative, while my lady didn’t really feel like acknowledging her achievements.

After the classes, I tagged along with the noble ladies to the gates of the Academy, where my bread lad was busy sorting his empty bread packets and the filled ones.

Casey cast [Spark] at him while the man grumbled, not daring to fight back. “What now, noble ladies?”

“You better wear something presentable while visiting my Casey’s mansion," Beth said, watching his saggy pants and dingy tunic with unconcealed disgust.

“Is the dinner tonight?” Garlan asked in surprise.

“Is the dinner tonight?” My lady asked in unison, staring daggers at Garlan for having interrupted her.

“Ah,” Casey touched her forehead. “Didn’t I tell you in the morning?”

It was rare for Casey to be forgetful, but I suppose she had been equally nervous about the prelims. Only Beth was a brute, ready to take everything by her fist, always eager for a rumble even if the situation never necessitated it.

“My forgetful Casey is sweet too,” Beth grinned. “It’s tonight. And we have prepared a room for your overnight stay.”

“I need a room with Rudolf. Who knows what your sisters might do to him?”

“I am more worried about what you will do to him, Leti,” Casey laughed, and Garlan stared at me, his mouth wide open.

I shook my head, but he raised his eyebrows slightly more than usual.

‘This devil incarnate violated you?!’ he mouthed me the words, and I sighed. At least he knew I was a good man. That would do the job for now because I didn’t really want my bread lad to push his girls on me if we ever went to a tavern late at night. I highly doubted that would ever happen, but extra precautions never hurt.

We departed from the booth after affirming the day multiple times. Nobody liked getting kicked out of a mansion on a cold winter night. Though I doubted Volch would kick his benefactors out even if we got the day wrong, but he was corrupt for a reason. And you never trust bad guys.

The same old streets of the capital greeted us, the commuters wearing warmer clothes than usual. Even carriages trudging through the streets had increased, and people were too hesitant to walk around without the company of the sun. Gossamer winter soiled the capital now, but the temperature would start dropping abruptly soon until the lakes outside the city started freezing in the dead of winter, which was only a few weeks away.

My lady was wearing my coat, so I felt colder than usual, even though fire spells offered me solace. She ambled through the streets merrily, like that same maiden who enjoyed looking at things the first time. Fishes held her attention for a few minutes until an adornment store entered her view, and she smiled at me before dragging me inside.

Hundreds of gemstones lined on the wall beneath the delicate glass behind the counter, most glittering in shades of red, others orange, blue, green, violet, and black. The gemstones gleamed in different shapes and served as embellishment for noble houses that attached great importance to appearances. The counter ran along the two walls, the other two reserved for closets that held crafted jewelry from the looks of it.

The lean man on the counter greeted us with a smile, rubbing his hands together. He lacked hair, so the action only exemplified his crafty appearance. He was probably going to loot us because we looked too young. Yes, even two millennium-old undead did.

My lady’s coat attracted his unwarranted attention, and my smile forced him to avert his eyes. I wasn’t trying to scare him, mind you, but I didn’t want some horny man staring at my villainess.

“How can I help you, lady?” the man asked.

“I need a silver bracelet,” she said, pulling my hand, “that will fit around his wrist. And a silver ring for me.”

He smiled warmly and walked to the end of the counter before stepping out through the wooden partition that opened outwards. It almost touched the door, but as expected of the masons, it didn’t. A bunch of keys dangled from his black trousers, and he picked one randomly. The metal closet opened with a creak, and carved ornaments decorated almost all the shelves. Most were carved from gold, while silver and platinum weren’t far off. Some exotic glittering metals didn’t escape my sight, either.

My lady had a smile on her face throughout, and she didn’t let go of my forearm. I couldn’t help flicking her forehead to wipe off that goofy grin. The last time I had seen her this excited was when she ventured out of the gates for the first time.

“That hurt, mongrel!” she said, still smiling. I glanced at the mana lamps at the four corners of the ceiling and a chandelier right above our head. Nothing out of the ordinary as the shops operated well into the night.

“Just silver ornaments,” Letitia said to the noble merchant, who nodded with a crafty grin.

The dealer brought two boxes to the counter and spread the sparkling silver before us. My lady picked a plain silver bracelet randomly and tried it on my hands. It fitted perfectly, and she was done. Nothing surprising there, because that was how I shopped for her clothes. We saw, we picked, we paid. There was no room for selection.

But I found it really hard to get the right size for her ring finger, so we settled down for a matching bracelet despite her ardent opposition.

“Twelve hundred shins,” the merchant said after a brief glance at our ornaments.

It was clear as daylight that the store was trying to cheat us, but my lady paid the full price by exchanging her mother’s favorite golden hairpin.

The merchant stared at the jewelry for a while before shaking his head in disapproval. “This can hardly fetch you five hundred shins, noble lady.”

“That’s gold, master,” I said, pointing my finger at the beautiful ornament. The door to the store opened at the same time, and a noblewoman stepped inside. Her face was covered with a veil, but her eyes glittered with greed as she watched the shining gemstones in the store.

“But it has been used previously,” the merchant shrugged and gave me his apologies. “Nothing more than five hundred shins.”

Is there such thing as old gold? I wondered because it was my first time in the jewelry store too. As far as I knew, gold was gold, no matter how times it switched owners because remolding it to a novel design was always an option.

“He’s trying to rob you, kids,” the veiled lady, dressed in a red gown, said. Multiple gemstones festooned her hair, and her hands held a surreal appearance after having surplus ornaments reaching till her elbow. She had appeared disinterested in our conversation, but I suppose you can’t do much in a small encamped space other than eavesdrop.

“That will fetch you at least five thousand shins if you sell it outside the capital,” she smiled and grabbed the ornament from the ignorant merchant, who was fuming with rage.

“What do you know, noble lady?! I have been in the business for the past twenty years, so you can’t disregard my word so carelessly,” the merchant snarled, glaring at the lady in the room. It was apparent that she adorned more expensive jewelry than the merchant could afford, so his question sounded absurd.

“I can pay you three thousand shins for the hairpin,” the noblewoman ignored the merchant entirely and stared at my lady. “Even though you will be selling it at a loss, it is almost six times his price. Of course, you can earn more if you sell it later, but you need to provide proof of ownership and the likes if you decide to trade it outside the capital. That can be a hassle, so I’m curtailing the expenses with my price. You can always look for better shops in the capital if you don’t want to sell the hairpin.”

My lady stared at me for a while before nodding at the lady. No idle talk was exchanged between the two women, and my lady earned a few fresh notes in exchange for the hairpin and the ownership paper. The merchant behind the counter scowled at the newcomer who had stolen his goods but accepted twelve hundred shins without any farce.

By the time we walked out of the store, the noble lady had already entered her adorned carriage and started waving at us from within the embroidered curtains. I could only see her hand, which would undoubtedly get slashed if she carelessly dangled it outside the carriage.

“Do you know her, my lady?” I asked as we stared at the moving carriage that had gained quite a distance.

“Not really,” my lady shrugged as she placed her left wrist against my right and clinked our bracelets together. “But this would do for now.”

We walked to the residence, my lady traipsing all the way with a cheerful smile. Everyone at the manor ignored us more than usual now that lady Marlica ruled the place, but no one dared to touch the western courtyard. Not even Marlica herself, despite stopping all our allowances. We managed to get the food, somehow, but my lady wasn’t welcomed at the table. Neither was I, so I bought her meals from the kitchen usually or cooked some basic dishes myself.

“Wash my hair, mongrel,” she said, pushing the door to my humble abode open.

“As you wish, my lady,” I replied as I removed my overcoat and hung it on the cloth stand close to my closet. That was a new addition to my room, but it didn’t consume much space.

Letitia rested on my cot, held her hands over her breasts, and glanced at herself in the mirror. “Have they grown, mongrel?”

“N­–“ I stopped short and sighed. No bread for a week sounded dreadful, and I wasn’t necessarily lying. They were growing, though more slowly, but it was too evident from her clothes. “Yes, my lady. They are growing every day. But why are you worried about your growth spurt?”

“Beth said it’ll be easier to seduce you,” she smiled at me with her rosy ears.

I sighed. Those girls were draining my lady’s innocence every day.

Letitia lay down on my cot and let her hair dangle outside the boundary. I collected her strands patiently and decided to wash them more thoroughly today. Her hair reeked of her sweat after all. Reek is probably too harsh because her sweat didn’t really smell bad. It was just different, somehow befitting an ice attribute mage.