Heloise woke up coughing with a ticklish and stifling sensation that rose from her throat.

“Cough. Ugh, what’s going on? Why are my eyes stinging so much?”

“Have you awakened?”

Heloise slowly got up from the stone ground she was lying prone on, and looked at the man seated next to her with a blank face.

He was looking into the distance, and turned to look back at her at the sound of Heloise’s coughing.

It was a strange expression that she had never seen before.

“You’re…”

Golden hair as rough as straw, and a crack-like wound on the cheek

Even to that refined smile.

Heloise knew this boy.

The Information Guild’s lackey, Bill. No…

“Your Highness, Crown Prince Blake.”

Blake laughed and replied.

“It’s been a while, Miss Heloise Lorca.”

While surveying her surroundings, Heloise spotted smoke arising from a certain building, as it was on fire.

Nearby residents and the fire brigade were busy putting out the fire.

When she realised that Blake was seated on the stone ground like her and seemed to be watching the scene leisurely, her expression turned dumbfounded.

“Why are we together?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“Remember?”

When Heloise was puzzled, Blake shrugged and turned his gaze to the blazing building.

“Forget about it if you can’t remember,”

How could he say such an irresponsible comment?

But why was this person at this place?

“What brings you here?”

She was lured by the man that had a similar brand as to the one on her wrist, but what was Blake doing here?

Blake didn’t answer, and instead tried to brush off the question with a smile.

Heloise frowned and looked straight into his eyes, speaking sarcastically.

“Aha. If Blake doesn’t know, will Bill know?”

“Bill wouldn’t know either. Rather than that, it has completely stopped.”

At his words, Heloise turned her head around.

Before she knew it, the fire was almost extinguished, and the repercussions of the situation were currently being assessed.

While the fire brigade wrapped up the rest, the onlookers and residents who tried to extinguish the fire slowly left.

Upon closer examination, it was the building that she had infiltrated just now.

Heloise’s eyes widened as she recalled the faces of people that she had seen in the basement.

While she didn’t know all of them, some of them were the parents of promising children at the ‘children’s gathering’.

There was also the father of Young Lady from the County of Infanta, who won first place in the Flower Maiden Contest.

Heloise’s face turned pale.

And, the butler.

From the butler to the Count of Infanta.

It didn’t seem like a normal magical association.

Heloise asked Blake in a quiet voice.

“How did I get out of there? Why is that place on fire?”

“Who knows.”

“Was that done by Sir Blake?”

Upon hearing those words, Blake let out a short, wry laugh.

After carefully ruminating on Heloise’s words, he couldn’t help but open his mouth at her urging countenance.

“I heard that you’re close to Zenon. Didn’t you see him use magic before?”

“You’re a mage?”

“Oh gosh, so you didn’t know. I’m a much greater mage than you thought.”

“I thought that you couldn’t even cast a single spell, let alone a dagger…”

“I do look quite treasured. But you can’t judge solely based on my looks.”

‘What precious looks.’

He looked like the king of the hill from her vague memories, who had nothing but was full of courage, and would still disappear eventually.

When she saw that human talk, she supposed that there wouldn’t be any shortage of narcissism.

“Did you fight with those people in the basement? Is that why the fire started?”

Blake scratched his head awkwardly as Heloise freaked out.

“Those people are heretics, so even if I didn’t do anything, they would be taken away anyways.”

The Kingdom of Ballide had a monotheistic culture and prohibited belief in other gods other than the one and only god.

In particular, the atmosphere rejected heresy greatly, and the gazes it garnered weren’t pleasant as they’d perform radical acts such as cutting off the wrist of religious leaders that had exploited others or left the church.

When Blake discovered heretics that were holding a secret rally and seemed to have used enough magic to light the entire building on fire, which completed the situation, and caused Heloise to shake her head.

“But aside from the fact that they’re heretics, why did Blake intercept them?”

“I came to investigate for the Information Guild.”

Heloise couldn’t help but be surprised at those words.

“Information Guild? Can they leave such huge matters up to a lackey? And to the Crown Prince at that.”

Blake nodded readily when asked with a hint of distrust.

“Of course. This type of work should be entrusted to me.”

“Entrusted to you? Are you really working at the Information Guild?”

“Of course. In any case, though I don’t know how we got here, the Information Guild will take charge of this matter, so don’t worry about it.”

‘What do you mean don’t worry?’

Heloise saw the butler of Langbert Mansion’s face.

He was Zenon’s butler. She couldn’t help but worry.

Also, it’s imperative that she figure out whether that heresy was personal, or whether it extended to the Marquis of Velks and would have an effect on Zenon’s confinement.

“I also have my reasons for being here!”

“Oh, is that so?”

“So I’m also coming along.”

“Where?”

“Where Your Highness is currently heading towards.”

“…….”

Blake’s eyes widened.

A bewildered expression appeared on his face.

“What are you doing? Lead the way quickly.”

As Heloise pushed his back assuredly, Blake pretended that he couldn’t win against him and was pushed forward.

After leaving the building, he let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself, “I shouldn’t…”, “I’ll be in trouble…”, but that didn’t stop Heloise from following behind.

Blake stopped in front of an old single-story building.

The murky window was broken and half of the door was broken, and it made a creaking sound whenever wind blew as it wasn’t repaired,

“Andy, I’m here.”

As Blake opened the half-broken door, he called for a certain someone.

Then, a dagger suddenly flew past Blake’s face to land in the wall. It flew with a sanguineous speed.

“Heok.”

Surprised, Heloise stepped back instantly.

However, Blake, who was almost hit head-on by the dagger, took the lead with a nonchalant look.

While the building had a low floor height, it was quite wide.

There were various trivial exercise equipment mainly used for muscle training, and a desk was before a large window in the center of the room.

A woman with long black hair turned back from the desk and folded her arms.

She stomped on the floor with her heels, seemingly dissatisfied with something, and when Blake called the name ‘Andy’ again, she exploded.

“My name is Andrea. Andrea Bigelow!”

“Yeah. Sorry, Andy.”

He didn’t seem to be listening at all.

The woman snorted loudly and tossed back her hair.

“Hah! Fine. Enough about that, how did it go?”

“It wasn’t there.”

“Nothing?”

“No. That man wasn’t there.”

Blake shrugged, swiped a drink from the messy desk and gulped it down.

“I found this kid there instead. Ta-da. Say hello. She’s the Young Lady of the Viscounty of Lorca, Heloise Lorca.”

When Blake introduced Heloise with a smile, Andrea began to fume.

“I told you to get information about the Marquis from the cult. Who told you to catch a girl?”

“What do you mean catch? Rather, I’m the one that was caught. I had no choice but to bring her here as she told me to lead the way scarily.”

“This capricious man! This is a clear breach of the pact!”

“I didn’t know that there was a pact that I shouldn’t bring Heloise to this dump.”

Andrea staggered and grabbed the back of her neck, perhaps because it was too unbelievable.

Long black hair, sharply raised eyes, and reddish eye makeup.

Although Andrea looked like she would beat Heloise up if she talked to her, Blake’s pun made her look so pitiful that Heloise wanted to give her a hug.

“A dump? This is the sacred fairy’s bridge!”

“Are you fairies crazy about muscles? Why do you always have exercise equipment out, and why aren’t you cleaning it up?”

[T/N: the word for ‘bridge’ can also mean leg, which kind of correlates with the muscles that Blake mentioned]

‘Fairy?’

Before Heloise could question their words, Andrea retorted sharply.

“I’m just too busy with all the fairies that are coming and going! Why are you picking a fight over strange things? Sir Blake had promised that you’d catch the Marquis today!”

“Did I?”

Blake looked out of the broken window and pretended like it had nothing to do with him.

Tears welled up out of frustration and Andrea hit her chest.

“My poor Highness! I can’t believe you entrusted such a big task to that kind of person!”

“Is it a big deal? All we have to do is get evidence of Marquis Velks’s fascination with the cult, right?”

Heloise’s ears pricked up at the mention of the Marquis of Velks.

“Marquis Velks?”

Her obvious question made her curiosity evident.

“Ah.”

Blake, who recognized those signs at once, scratched his scarred cheek with a troubled look.

“He’s a part of the Lionerik family which you serve. Did I make a mistake?”

At that, Heloise shook her head firmly.

What she had witnessed wasn’t enough to impeach him.

“No! My dad hates the Marquis enough to root for Zenon at home.”

Heloise stopped talking for a moment, and agnoised about the butler’s face that she saw in the basement of the building.

And spoke after biting hard on her lip.

“And I saw the butler of Langbert Mansion in the basement.”

“Butler?”

“The butler I know was someone that felt sorry for Zenon, and it’s so strange that he belongs to the same religion as the Marquis.”

“You have quite the keen eye. Someone like that was there?”

“That’s why I followed you here. What in the world is that place? I’m close with Zenon. For Zenon’s sake, please tell me all that you know.”

Heloise said in a rather earnest tone.

Then Blake, who was obviously looking down at her with a hand in his pocket, warned quietly with a smile on his lips.

“I see. But I think it’ll be better for you to go home from here onwards.”

“What?”

“Isn’t it dangerous if you knew more? Besides, you’re a daughter of a vassal of Lionerik’s.”

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