Zeno turned to me.

“Why are you calling me?”

“Maybe Elijah Dell won’t come. Don’t expect it.”

Though he might have expected it, no matter how much I thought about it, Elijah was not the kind of man to step into a trap openly dug by his nemesis. If someone were to come, wouldn’t it be Mikael? It didn’t seem like Cain would come because it didn’t concern his sister.

“You. You always talk about your father like he’s a stranger. Are you two not really close?”

He turned around again. There was a rattling sound of glass in the drawer Zeno was rummaging through. The wood in the fireplace crackled.

Yeah, I made him, but a stranger is a stranger. I guess the distance between us was obvious.

I blinked blankly at the pattern the burning wood was making on the ceiling. Looking back on the process from the imperial palace to this place, it felt like at least a week had passed. For a dream, time was passing by especially slowly.

I was sick of it.

“Hey, excuse me.”

“Why are you calling me again?”

This time, his voice was heard a little closer. In a moment, Zeno came into view.

“What, when did you come here? You’re really fast.”

“…”

I couldn’t read the emotion in his eyes as he lowered his body towards me.

What if, by any chance, this unfortunate man falls in love with Mikael. Even in that lonely desert, an elegant flower will bloom.

And this is a man who will devote his life to that one flower.

“Does this make you feel any better? How does it feel?”

“This? What are you talking about?”

“It’s all wood. Here.”

I reached out and pointed to the ceiling. Although it was something I set up, and even though this dream was based on my unconsciousness, I still wanted to ask the person concerned at least once.

Zeno looked alternately between me and the ceiling, and slowly opened his lips.

“Hey. You. Do you trust your father?”

Ah, this is driving me crazy. The question that should have gone to Mikael came to me. I smirked, sneering at him.

“I don’t trust him at all. But before that, can you please answer me?”

“Why? Why don’t you trust your father?”

He raised one eyebrow as if my response was surprising.

“Well, Elijah Dell…”

“Boss!”

Just then, Red Tail suddenly opened the door. The voice that interrupted me was urgent. I forced myself to get up and looked back.

“I’m really sorry for interrupting you while you are having an important conversation, but I think something happened with Jack. He completely trashed the treatment room and went nuts. Suzy got hurt because of that bastard. Go and knock him out.”

Her face contorted to the fullest.

“Okay, got it. There’s no helping it.”

Zeno let out a short sigh.

“Daughter of the Archmage. I think you will have to wait here for a while. Can we continue our conversation later?”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Thank you.  Excuse me then.”

As he was about to leave, he said, “Ah.” and paused for a moment.

“Red, I’ll leave this to you.”

Then he threw something at Red Tail.

“Why this all of a sudden?”

She asked, puzzled.

“Will you apply some to the neck of the daughter of the Archmage? She’s hurt.”

“Don’t tell me, the restraints?”

“Yeah. The restraints.”

He looked down at me and answered stiffly. At some point, Red Tail, who was standing next to me, started staring at me with disgusted and pitiful eyes.

“Can both of you stop looking at me like that? I’m not like this because I want to. What can I do, when I was born like this? It wasn’t my intention!”

I said grudgingly. Somehow, I felt very pathetic. Them being like this made me feel like I had committed some serious crime.

“She’s really all over the place. She’s not worth being held hostage. It’s a nuisance. Anyway, I get it, Boss. Hurry up and go.”

“Then, I’ll leave it to you.”

Zeno left the room immediately after saying that. I watched quietly as she pulled another chair and sat beside me.

“In any case, guys don’t know how to stay still, do they? Whenever there’s trouble, it’s always men.”

“Phew,” she opened her mouth as she slowly loosened the bandage around the stick.

“That’s a narrow-minded generalization.”

“Gosh, you’re not funny at all. Why does the Leader find you funny? And why is he giving you this expensive medication?”

“For an expensive medication, he put it randomly inside a drawer.”

“Miss. Are you going to keep annoying people?”

Red Tail, looking dumbfounded, scooped up a bit of the purple ointment in the container with the clean stick, and applied it around my neck. She was not applying it; it was more like she was plastering it on my neck. Even her hand gesture was harsh.