Chapter 242

This is it...

Even if his heart were torn out like it was back then, he wouldn’t simply lose consciousness. But to suffer that pain all over again...

Tap.

Veilks flinched as Kainel released his throat and casually rested a hand on his shoulder.

“I was joking.”

“...What?”

“You didn’t really believe everything I just said, did you?”

He smiled and patted Veilks’s shoulder.

“.....”

“Oh dear. I’m sorry. You took my joke rather seriously.”

“...A joke?”

“Surely you didn’t believe everything I just said?”

He remembered visiting Ceres not long ago. Did she feel the same way? Confused and deeply uncomfortable?

“How could anyone survive having their heart torn out? Right?”

“.....”

“But...”

His smile remained, but his eyes suddenly sharpened.

“If you keep sending people like that, I might actually start wondering.”

His murderous intent filled the room in an instant.

“What your heart looks like.”

“.....”

Kainel gave Veilks’s shoulder another pat before finally stepping back.

“Hopefully, we won’t have to meet again.”

With that, Kainel walked away. Veilks watched him until he was out of sight, then clicked his tongue.

Swish.

When he waved a hand toward the corpse lying on the bed, it slowly melted away.

“...We’ll meet again.”

Staring at the spot where Kainel had disappeared, Veilks gave his belated reply. His eyes gleamed.

***

Tap, tap.

“...Mm?”

Late at night, while everyone else slept, Ceres woke to a strange sound at the window.

A bird?

Assuming it was Jubelios, Ceres looked toward the window with a frown, only for her eyes to widen.

“Kai?”

The figure standing by the window wasn’t the Fire Spirit King but Kainel. Ceres hurried over and opened the window, then looked at him in confusion as he stepped inside.

“What are you doing here this late—”

Thud.

She didn’t get to finish. Kainel buried his face in her shoulder.

“I’m sleepy.”

“.....”

Ceres scoffed at his whining.

“If you’re sleepy, go home and sleep.”

“No.”

Like a child throwing a tantrum, Kainel pressed his face deeper into her shoulder. Ceres sighed silently.

“Can I sleep here?”

“.....”

Kainel looked at her like a forlorn puppy that didn’t want to be abandoned. In the end, Ceres couldn’t bring herself to say anything more.

“He only does this because you keep indulging him!”

...If Artia were here, he’d probably say something like that.

But what can I do?

He hardly ever gets enough sleep. Knowing that, how could she send him away? If he can get some sleep like this, that’s better than nothing.

By then, Kainel had taken her wrist, led her to the bed, and settled down. Ceres didn’t stop him.

“.....”

Ceres gently stroked Kainel’s hair as he lay there with his eyes closed, but her hand suddenly stopped.

...The smell of blood.

There was a faint scent of blood on him.

What did he get up to?

Ceres quickly checked him for injuries, but there wasn’t a scratch on him. Then the blood must have come from someone else.

“You...”

“.....?”

Still keeping his eyes closed, Kainel spoke in a low voice.

“Too many bugs around you.”

“Bugs?”

...What is he talking about?

Ceres frowned as Kainel continued to mumble strange things. He wasn’t sleep-talking, but he certainly wasn’t making much sense.

“Strange bugs keep swarming around you. They should be swarming around me...”

“Stop talking nonsense and go to sleep.”

As Ceres patted him, Kainel wrapped his arms around her waist. He seemed so uneasy that he always needed to hold onto her before he could fall asleep. Ceres merely sighed.

Pat, pat.

Having a pretty good idea of what was troubling him, Ceres quietly patted his back again.

.

.

.

Chapter 67: Awakening

“Here’s this month’s sales report.”

Princess Nailia came to the house with the sales report for the Ren Trading Company’s capital branch. Although Ceres had told her there was no need to come all this way just to give her a report, she still came by regularly.

“The iron business is doing well, but your medicine is really taking off.”

“Right? So many people were looking for it that we could barely keep up!”

Herion, head of the Ellesia family, was always with her. She came along whenever Princess Nailia visited.

“Lady Ceres also made an ointment for wounds recently, and it works wonderfully! I think we’ll be able to mass-produce it soon.”

It was highly effective for treating wounds. The medicine that removed demonic energy had been especially popular with mercenaries, but this ointment looked like it could be a hit with ordinary people as well.

“That’s good. Let our trading company handle the sales for that too.”

“Yes!”

After meeting a few times over the medicine sales, the two had hit it off and started seeing each other quite often on their own.

“How’s work going?”

“It’s fun.”

What impressed Ceres most was Princess Nailia’s knack for business. At first, she had relied heavily on the person Harua assigned to help her, but lately, she had been handling things herself with ease. And she was surprisingly good at it.

That’s a relief.

More importantly, Nailia genuinely enjoyed the work. It hadn’t even been a month, yet her eyes were full of life. The dullness Ceres had occasionally seen in them before was gone.

“Wow, it’s really warm in here.”

Herion took a sip of tea and looked around the greenhouse in delight. Her gaze naturally drifted toward the window. Ceres looked outside as well.

Snow was falling outside, piling up on the ground. It seemed like the heaviest snowfall of the year. Maybe that was why the warmth of the greenhouse felt even better.

“Come to think of it, this place feels different every time I come.”

Princess Nailia looked around the greenhouse curiously and tilted her head. Had that been there the last time she visited?

“Is that a field?”

A field inside a greenhouse? Unlike the rest of the greenhouse, which was filled with flowers and trees, one large section was turned into a crop field.

“...That little one is responsible.”

[Pi!]

As if she knew they were talking about her, a small figure poked her head up from the field. It was Airien, the little rabbit.

The sunlight wasn’t that strong, yet Airien was busy tending the field in a hat and apron. Before long, she came hopping over with a basket in her hands.

[Pi!]

The basket she held out was piled high with ripe, red strawberries.

“Go ahead. They’re pretty good.”

At some point, a field had appeared inside the greenhouse. Airien was the one who made it. She had been planting something new almost every day. Before anyone knew it, she was bringing in all kinds of crops she had grown herself.

“Oh my!”

“Why is this so good?”

Herion and Princess Nailia each popped a strawberry into their mouths, their eyes widening in surprise.

Were the strawberries I’d eaten until now even real? The taste, the aroma... Even the size is twice as big.

[Piii!]

Pleased with their reaction, Airien crossed her arms and proudly stomped her feet,  hoping for more praise.