Baon’s voice came through the crack in the slightly open office door.

I stopped walking.

What does this mean?

“Are you planning on letting the lady go?”

I was standing absent-minded as if an accident had stopped me in my tracks.

Have you already decided to send me to the East?

Crumple. 

The corner of the box I was holding was slightly wrinkled.

I didn’t want to be alone again, just thinking about that made me so lonely and sad.

“……No.”

I swung the door open.

Baon, who was sitting in the front, looked at me with a surprised expression.

“Miss Irene?”

“I’m not going! I’m going to stay here!”

Whik!

I threw the cookie box I was holding with all my might. 

Tuk. 

The box was thrown helplessly to the floor and rolled.

“I-I hate you Daddy!”

My voice echoed through the hallway.

Huck! 

The sound of Baon taking a deep breath was heard and in the frighteningly quiet office, no one spoke first.

Why don’t you say anything?

The sudden subdued mood was a little scary, but I had no intention of canceling what I said. I even baked cookies to give as a gift, but Cade was thinking of sending me back.

Boiling emotions soared, my eyes got hot and tears welled up. I let out a deep breath in my intense emotions.

I opened my tightly closed eyes a little, to peep, and dazzling red eyes were staring at me without shaking an inch.

Startled.

As I stepped backward with tears in my eyes, Cade gave out a crooked smile.

“I thought I heard it wrong, but I guess that’s not the case.”

“……M-My Lord. Calm down for now…”

“What did you throw on the floor?”

“I’ll check.”

Baon got up at once and checked the box I had thrown on the floor. Soon, surprise spread through the blue eyes behind the glasses.

“It’s a cookie.”

“Cookie?”

“Did you bake it yourself?”

Both eyes turned to me. I held back the tears that were about to burst, bit my lips, and nodded. Cade showed interest in the box and held out his hand.

“Give it to me.”

“You’re so mean. I’d like to see it for a second.” 

“It’s mine.”

“…Where is such a thing. Miss Irene threw it on the floor, so the person who picked it up is the owner.”

“This house belongs to me.”

Baon delivered the box to Cade with an expression of disapproval. He checked the inside of the transparent box and immediately looked at me with a happy face.

It felt completely different from the previous atmosphere. 

“Irene.”

“……Yes.”

I was in a position where I did something wrong, so I answered in a small voice. My throat was locked in intense emotions, and no sound came out.

Throwing objects is not allowed, I’m going to get in trouble.

“Did you bake this yourself?”

“I baked it with Bahaln.”

“I can tell at a glance.”

Cade, who opened the box, said so while holding a small heart-shaped cookie. Baon nodded his head as he looked at me, gloomily standing in my place.

“I think the lady probably heard what we were talking about.”

“I see. Is that why you misunderstood?” 

Misunderstanding?

I raised my head, which was hanging down.

Cade smiled and got up from his seat, getting close with a grin on his face. Soon he put his arm between my armpits and lifted me up.

“From where to where did you hear the story?”

“…From when you allowed them to visit.”

“Baon is at fault.”

“Me?”

Baon was stunned for a moment, then sighed and bit his mouth.

Unjust feelings were clearly visible on his face, but he did not dare to object because his words were indeed somewhat misleading.

“I had no intention of letting you go.”

“But why?”

Why are they coming?

“But things got a little complicated.”

“…Because of me?”

Maybe it’s because you didn’t want to let me go, that things got complicated, right?

Looking at my sad, weeping eyes changing to worry, Cade shook his head and said.

“No. Maybe that’s a good thing.”

It’s complicated, but is it good? What else does that mean?

As I frowned at the incomprehensible feast of words, Cade raised his thumb and rubbed my forehead.

“Now is the time to untie the tangled strings.”

“…Do you think it’s related to Lady Estella?”

Baon asked with a firm expression on his face.

“Yes. So, first of all, we should check the Loisard Clan.”

Cade hugged me and sat down on the sofa. Being held in a facing position, I looked up at him and his red eyes turned to me.

“And I’ll have to nail it down, once and for all. Irene Astrophel will always be my daughter.”

 * * *

The mansion’s dungeon.

Ella hadn’t been able to take a sip of water for several days. Her silence, which everyone thought would not last long, continued to be quite vigorous.

“Why don’t you open your mouth now?” 

“……”

“Soon an envoy will come from the East.”

Ella’s golden eyes, which had been blurry, shook slightly at the mention of East. Her eyes fixed on the floor turned to Durias.

A glimpse of hope and anticipation flashed in her eyes. Perhaps it was a vain hope and expectation that she might be able to get out of this place alive.

It was a brief moment, but Durias saw it and threw his arsenic reply.

“Do you think you’ll be able to get out alive?”

“……”

“Quite amazing, you must be very thirsty at this point and you can still think like that.”

Durias’ patience was slowly approaching the limit.

Ella’s mouth did not open as easily as expected. It felt like they were playing a tug-of-war that no one knew how long it would last. With her pheromones completely under control, Ella did not lose the light in her eyes, despite the fact that she was in a state inferior to a normal herbivore.

It continued to stir up Durias’ spirits. 

“If the delegation comes, you’ll have less chance of surviving.”

Ella scoffed at his words.

She already knew it well. That she’d rather keep her mouth shut. The moment she told the truth, it was the end.

“I hate pointless waste of time. But I don’t think you’re going to talk like this.”

“……”

“But that doesn’t mean there’s no way to open your mouth at all.”

“……?”

Ella, who implicitly thought that if she endured here, they would get tired and give up, took a small breath.

This is because the atmosphere of Durias that she has seen so far turned quite different.

“The leeway I had given you is now over.”

“Hunm…….”

“I did some research around Miss Ella. His name was… Is it Merrill?”

As soon as the name Merrill appeared, Ella’s expression turned pale.

“Now I’m getting something. I should have done this sooner.”

Touching the surroundings of prisoners was not his preferred method, but he had no choice but to do it.

It was because he was not able to push torture through to the end because of the instruction to deal with it in moderation before she opened her mouth. However, now that the visit of the delegation was confirmed, there was no more time.

At least before the day of the visit, he had to report the results to his master.

“If you don’t open your mouth, Merrill will suffer.”

“Ugh! Uhhhhhhh…!”

“You don’t have to be so fussy. You’ll be seeing each other soon.”

“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!” 

Bingo. The corners of Durias’ mouth flickered. He was a little doubtful, but he seemed to have properly hit the target.

As he was about to get up from his chair to leave the basement, he sat down on the chair again as if he wanted to look at what she would do. Because Ella started crawling to the front of the cell, leading her messed up body to where he was sitting.

It was a distinctly different reaction.

“……Hup! Yup!”

“To think people like you dare to cherish someone.”

Tuk.

Durias pulled out Ella’s gag.

“Cough, cof!”

A harsh cough filled the basement. Ella’s body, exhausted with only a few coughs because of a lack of strength in her body, fell to the floor. Her dry lips, where wounds had already scarred, began to tremble and barely opened.

“Merrill… not Merrill.”

“It depends on Miss Ella’s actions.”

“…Oh, no. I’ll tell you everything. I’ll tell you everything…. All……”

“Let’s listen and judge.”

Her face was tearfully distorted but Durias only nodded, telling her to start quickly. Soon, a voice crawled out of Ella’s mouth, who had her head bowed.

“I really…….”

“Really?”

“…I really, really wanted to go back.”

Ella, who was kneeling on her knees, began to cry as if giving a confession.

Durias’ eyebrows were raised. 

“Where?”

“Home.”

Hometown.

At that word, Durias burst out laughing.