The mansion that Julius had prepared had a unique structure of magnificent, shiny white walls and roofs made of black stones. As I looked up at the mansion in awe, the door swung open and an old man with greying hair greeted .
“Welco, Countess Alshine. I have been waiting. I am Baristan and I will be serving you henceforth.” Even though Baristan had rushed out in a hurry to greet them, he didn’t even break a sweat. His gesture of courtesy was perfect. Baristan scanned our travelling party.
Due to the large magic circle and teleportation magic, the barrier in the mansion was shaken. Kaichen excused himself to take care of it and appeared after a while. Baristan’s eyes widened at the sight of him. He was surprised and imnsely delighted.
“Greetings to Lord Tenebre the Great Archmage” he greeted Kaichen respectfully.
“Baristan,” Kaichen acknowledged with a nod, “did His Highness send you?”
“Yes. I will be serving the Countess.” Kaichen approached . He looked at questioningly as if asking why I was still outside.
Baristan was the butler Julius had sent for them. Although he looked old, he was very capable. Of course, I know Baristan. He is an excellent butler who has served Julius from the ti he first entered the Imperial Palace. It was only natural for Julius to trust Baristan. He perfectly did his job and had spent his ti with Julius teaching him etiquettes befit the Crown Prince of the Imperial Palace.
Perhaps he would be perfect to teach so etiquette. Since for the last two years, I had practiced and failed to grasp the whole concept. Maybe Baristan was who I needed.
“Please enter.” Even though we had arrived much earlier than the scheduled ti, Baristan did not seem flustered. He apologized for not being able to prepare a grand welco for us. As expected, he was very experienced in his job. I understood the importance of experience and how people always wanted experienced workers in the job.
“Baristan, these are Mimi and Angel. My servants. I usually take care of myself so I don’t keep a personal maid.”
“I will be careful not to interfere with your way of life.” Baristan bead.
Although I had taken the dicine Kaichen had given for motion sickness, I still felt a little queasy. Baristan, who was instructing my staff about the system in the mansion, noticed my pale complexion at once and guided to the bedroom.
“This is your bedroom, Countess,” said Baristan. “The next room is where you can work. Opposite to that is the study.”
“There is a study in the bedroom too?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes. There is a small reading area as well. The space which connects to the first floor is also empty so I turned it into a place where you can conduct your magic research. If you need anything, please let know without any hesitation.” He was very competent. Baristan briefly explained the structure of the mansion to , who was honestly exhausted.
“Please have a rest,” said Baristan and left. He had told that he would be back tomorrow to explain the details. He was very clever. I wanted to jump into bed at once and go to sleep but I couldn’t. I had sothing else to do.
“Teacher, do you have anything to say to ?” I asked Kaichen. He had followed to the bedroom as if that was the most normal thing in the world. We often did magic research together in each other’s bedroom in Acrab so it was not very strange. But here, there were many eyes watching.
“We should pick up where we left off.” I turned to him. I thought he had already made his answer clear. Kaichen narrowed his eyes, probably thinking that I had forgotten about our conversation from a while ago.
“I thought you said you didn’t want to.”
“I didn’t an it.”
“Then why didn’t you say so? When I explicitly asked you if we could make a wand together, I clearly rember…”
“Dalia,” said Kaichen, interrupting .
“Yes, teacher?”
“Stop talking nonsense and co here.” He sat down on the sofa so casually as if the bedroom was already familiar to him. He extended a hand to . I stared at his outstretched hands and grabbed it.
Kaichen looked surprised. “I thought you wanted to hold your hand…,” I smiled awkwardly and let go of his hand. Isn’t it natural for soone to hold a hand if it is offered? It wasn’t because I was dying to hold his hand, anyway.
Feeling guilty for no particular reason, I sat across from him. Kaichen stared at his hand that I had held. Did he hate it so much? Was it because of his mysophobia? Maybe he wasn’t as comfortable with as I had thought. Eventually, he clenched his hands into a fist and sighed.
“Keep in mind that you can’t show this kind of careless behaviour in Heulin,” said Kaichen.
I frowned. “What do you an careless? I am a very ticulous and serious person,” I reasoned.
“Don’t be frivolous.”
“Oh my! When was I ever frivolous?”
“Dalia.”
“Yes, teacher!” My na from his lips was pleasant to my ears. Although he was frowning, he looked handso. I laughed and leaned back on the sofa. “I am not a child so you don’t need to worry so much. I won’t do anything as frivolous as holding hands in front of others.”
“You can’t follow soone carelessly even if they promise you things,” said Kaichen solemnly.
“Of course,” I smiled. “I won’t follow them even if they offer candy. I promise.”
“You can’t gamble either.”
“It has been a long ti since I quit.”
Kaichen instructed with a serious face as if I was a child and he was my parent. Even before we had embarked on this journey, he had told exactly the sa things thirty-six tis. I had counted, of course. I had even morized his tone of voice when he said it.
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