“What’s that?”

Heloise frowned and tried her best to get a more detailed look.

Though it was blurry as it was far away, if she looked closely, it looked somewhat similar to the pattern on Heloise’s wrist.

“No way. Is it real?”

She remembered the word ‘kinsfolk’ that was mentioned by the door-to-door vendor.

If she tracked down the man that had a pattern that’s similar to the one that suddenly emerged one day, wouldn’t she be able to find out more about her ‘kinsfolk’?

It would have been nice if she had something like opera glasses.

Unfortunately, however, something that’s similar to that wasn’t prepared.

This was a place that’s made to look at the arena, and not an ant-like audience that’s in the spectator stands.

The man had even flipped up the hood of his robe and began to disappear into the crowd.

“Oh oh…!”

Heloise was so anxious that she eventually ran out of the box seat hurriedly, and started chasing after that man.

“My lady, where are you going? My lady?”

Although she heard the sound of Peter calling for her from behind, she couldn’t even afford the energy to respond with “Wait here for a moment.”

Heloise could only run as hard as she could so that she wouldn’t miss that man.

“Wait a minute, wait! Excuse me!”

After saying all sorts of apologies while weaving her way through the crowd, she spotted the back of a tall man wearing a robe from a distance.

Heloise had a hunch that if she missed him now, she would never see him again, and ran like her life depended on it.

“Please let me pass through here!”

The robed man that left the stadium was heading towards a shabby three-story building.

Heloise, who was hidden away, was troubled when she watched him go down the dark underground path that didn’t even have a light on the wall.

‘In movies, whenever someone follows another into a place like this, something would definitely happen.”

If she was currently in a theatre, and not at the entrance to a shabby three-story building, Heloise would’ve shouted internally, “Don’t go in, gosh if I said not to go, don’t go in!”

‘Should I just return? Or should I not?’

However, she can’t get it out of her mind. Could it be possible for people with similar patterns to discuss what will happen in the future?

Furthermore, it was a temptation that was easier to fall into if, like her, one was in a position where confiding their feelings in others was impossible.

She agonised over that and rubbed her face while crouching down in front of the entrance, when the sound of metal ornaments clinking resounded from somewhere.

The sound came from the bracelet on Heloise’ left wrist.

Hexagons, pentagrams, snow, gales…

“I was in a hurry, so there were a few I couldn’t add.”

When she looked at these, it felt like Zenon was always there for her.

While he was sickly and ill-tempered, and though he would collapse sometimes, her mage was stronger than anyone else.

In the movies, the main characters would enter without any countermeasures, but Heloise had a countermeasure called Zenon.

When she thought of that, her courage soared.

Heloise finally made up her mind and followed the man who had already disappeared into the basement.

As she descended down the long stairwell, she could feel the damp and humid air.

Before she knew it, the sound of chanting could be heard from somewhere amidst the permeating silence.

Heloise clutched the bracelet that Zenon gave her with her right hand and crept towards that side stealthily.

As she moved along the wall little by little, the low pitched voices of men chanting became louder and louder.

It’s a sign that she was getting closer.

Heloise leaned her back against the wall and let out a short sigh before turning her head back and to her surprise, there were about ten people, who wore the same robe as the robed man, were in a circle and reciting a spell.

‘What is that?’

At first glance, it didn’t look normal.

It seemed unpleasant for a religious ceremony, and ineffective for it to be a magical association.

As she watched them breathlessly, one of them stopped reciting and flipped the robe back.

As such, she could see a pattern on his neck that’s just like the bald man’s.

Upon closer examination, it had a completely different appearance from Heloise’s pattern.

But that wasn’t the reason Heloise felt surprised.

‘Why are you…?’

Heloise was so surprised that she covered her mouth.

It’s because a shriek was about to spill out.

“Is this enough?”

“Yes.”

A soft and benign voice. Dark, wood coloured eyes.

“It’s about time for me to return to the Young Master, so I think we should stop here.”

“Please take good care of him, Miss.”

“Please don’t feel guilty. This was the Young Master’s first time experiencing the Founding Festival properly. Thank you very much for your assistance.”

The thing that shocked Heloise was that he’s the Langbert Mansion’s butler, the very same butler that Heloise and Zenon believed in and followed.

In the face of an unbelievable reality, Heloise took a step backwards and accidentally kicked a can that was littered on the floor.

The sound of a rolling can in the quiet basement rang loudly, and the people that were chanting spells with their lowered heads immediately raised them and looked around with goggled eyes.

“Who is it?”

“Hik.”

At that moment, her head turned blank and she couldn’t think of anything.

Heloise didn’t even think about the fact that she was wearing the bracelet from Zenon, who she believed in.

‘Should I run away?’

‘Should I ask them what they are doing, all gathered together?’

Just as Heloise was about to sink to her knees out of confusion with spinning eyes, someone behind her hurriedly blocked her mouth.

“Heub!”

“Shh.”

The owner of the voice that whispered quietly in her ear had a large, calloused hand and a firm embrace.

Heloise was abruptly swept into someone’s arms and pressed to the wall with her mouth blocked.

“Who was that just now?”

One of the robed women ran over and checked the place Heloise was at.

Cold sweat seemed to be trickling down Heloise’s spine, but she lost consciousness due to the extreme nervousness.

Afterwards, it became dark.

⋄────∘°❃°∘────⋄

Blake felt Heloise’s body in his arms going limp, and whispered in her ear.

“Heloise?”

He was about to tell her that it’s alright as he’d used transparency magic, but did she faint?

As soon as he tried to lift up her body with a helpless countenance, Heloise’s drooping hand suddenly clasped Blake’s arm.

“Have you come to your senses?”

“…….”

He was behind her and couldn’t see her face.

However, he could tell that she was slowly lifting her head, and her slackened feet were standing on the ground firmly.

Blake thought that she had lost consciousness for a moment before coming back to her senses.

As such, he relaxed his guard for a moment.

“What’s going on?”

There was the sound of a man shouting in the distance.

Come to think of it, the robed woman, who came to find the source of the noise, stiffened and was just standing there dazedly.

‘What’s this?’

If it went as per his expectations, she would be deceived by Blake’s transparency magic and return back to the group, but that woman was only looking blankly at this side.

Blake had only noticed after a while that her gaze wasn’t at him, but aimed towards Heloise, who’s in his arms.

“Who is it?”

When an anxious voice asked again from her back, the woman who was staring at Heloise dazedly opened her mouth.

“N…o. There’s nothing here.”

“It sounded like a can.”

“There’s a can here. A rat… or a cat-like wild animal must have hit on it by mistake.”

The woman kept looking at Heloise as she was speaking.

It was like she was someone under hypnosis.

The butler, who listened to the woman without noticing this, was visibly relieved and patted his chest.

“But just in case, let’s finish it quickly and organise it.”

“Let’s do that.”

Returning back to where they were at, Blake, who was hiding in the corner, looked down at Heloise with a perplexed expression.

Before he knew it, she was looking up at Blake with her head tilted backwards.

However, both of her eyes, which were like points on her expressionless face, were a twinkling golden colour, as if it was melted gold.

‘Were her eyes originally this colour?’

Blake pretended to be as nonchalant as he could to hide his puzzlement, and opened his mouth.

“I used transparency magic. You and I are currently invisible.”

“I know.”

Her words were much shorter than usual, unlike the extreme honorifics like ‘Your Highness the Crown Prince’ that she’d use to taunt him whenever she was in a good mood.

“What’s with your tone? Are you sure that you’re the dignified Young Lady Heloise Lorca?”

While he didn’t get a reaction, those words were spoken half-jokingly.

But the answer Blake received was unexpected.

“How do I look in your esteemed eyes?”

“What?”

“From now onwards, it’s fine if you don’t interfere with what this body does irksomely.”

Both the haughty way of speaking and the odd golden eyes, and though he couldn’t feel any notable magic like before, an ability that couldn’t be explained by magic had manifested.

Blake took a step back and scanned Heloise’s appearance.

Heloise, who had a faint smile on her lips like she didn’t care about his subtly cautious attitude towards her, looked back at Blake and continued.

“This body is not weak enough to require your protection.”

As soon as words left her mouth, the lights that illuminated the dark basement flicked a few times before the fire went out completely.

“What’s going on?”

Each of the robed people brought over a torch that had been burning at a distance.

Then, the torches they were carrying began to burn with great vigour.

The flame that rose upwards with a roar ate up people with its red tongue.

“Argh!”

“Fire!”

They scrambled out of their seats confusedly and tried to leave this place.

Just as the flame burned like it was about to consume the entire basement, Blake tried to escape with Heloise while covering their mouth and noses.

Heloise slapped Blake’s hand, which was on her shoulder, away.

“As I said, this body…”

Her words stopped there.

Heloise’s eyes closed and she fainted like she had previously.

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