Tie stood on the first floor of the mansion and opened her mouth wide.

"Waa!"

This was Agavert’s new hideout and, at last, Tie’s home.

The underground storage and utility rooms were enormous, and there were countless rooms—

"Waaaa......!"

And the view from the terraces on the second and third floors was no less impressive than the night panorama of Cheonggyecheon.

"Tie house, hnnng, this is a park!"

On top of that, the house was unbelievably large.

It would take Tie a full twenty minutes to run around it once.

Bale, standing in front of the central staircase, answered in stunned agreement.

"...Y, yeah. It’s really something."

Directly above his head hung a gigantic chandelier, comparable in size to the torso of a mid-rank magical monster.

Tie nodded and dashed past him at full speed.

Then she ran back and forth across the first floor, shouting:

"Waaa! This is Tie house, Tie house!"

"Astie. You’ll fall."

Lucarion and Pupu hurried after her.

Bale clicked his tongue, but still smiled.

"Looks like she’s been cramped this whole time in that hisunchim or whatever it was called."

Basto nodded.

"Yeah. And that informant who latched onto us the moment we arrived in the capital. She probably had to keep looking over her shoulder a lot."

"Finally, a house we can actually call home... Everyone worked hard."

When even Nordix said that, the tension loosened, and the squad members began to laugh meaninglessly.

"Hello."

Someone approached them cautiously.

Basto turned, his eyes widening slightly.

A woman stood before them, her gray hair neatly tied into a bun, observing the squad with a gentle smile.

She was the one who had just opened the gates for them.

"My name is Marshal. Lady Adeline told you about me, didn’t she?"

"Yes."

Marshal.

The woman before them was the mansion’s steward, recommended by Adeline from Caldenbein Ridge, with assurance that she could be fully trusted.

They said she had been looking after this mansion since the days when it belonged to a princess.

"Please settle in and unpack first. I’ve already prepared the rooms where you’ll be staying, and everything is ready in the kitchen."

Marshal truly gave the impression of a simple and kind woman.

"I had a feeling you like meat, so I slow-braised pork shoulder with garlic and vegetables for a long time. You must be hungry, right?"

Indeed, the scent of the pork she had prepared had been filling the mansion for some time.

Most of the squad members, who had skipped dinner, swallowed involuntarily.

However, Basto hesitated for some reason and looked toward Tie.

"That’s true, but Tie..."

Marshal laughed.

Looking fondly at Tie, who was plastered against the window, she said,

"Let our squad leader take her fill of it. I heard you’ve all been through a lot. For a child’s eyes, a new house is a whole different world."

She glanced around at the squad members and clapped her hands.

"Come now, come now! From this moment on, I will look after our squad leader, so all of you go have dinner first and get some proper rest."

Basto closed his mouth.

But before he could respond, Marshal was already walking toward Tie.

"Oh my, our squad leader. Pleased to meet you. Auntie’s name is Marshal."

At her greeting, Tie turned her head.

It seemed she had been touching the stacked coal by the fireplace—her palms had turned black.

Marshal naturally wiped the child’s hands with her apron and said,

"What is our squad leader’s name? Can you tell auntie?"

Tie’s eyes widened, then her mouth opened wide.

The child bowed politely and said,

"Hello, auntie. Tie name Kim Astie!"

"You’re not coming?"

At that moment, Bale, who was heading toward the kitchen, called out to Basto.

Basto tore his gaze away from the scene of Marshal and Tie.

"Ah... yeah."

Yet for some reason, he could not turn away immediately.

Marshal’s words still rang in his ears.

"From this moment on, I will look after our squad leader..."

From now on, she would take care of Tie?

Objectively speaking, it was good news.

How much they had struggled with raising a child when none of them were suited for it.

The moment the child begged and received even the smallest thing, Bale would immediately begin lecturing her...

"But why do I feel like this..."

Shouldn’t he feel relieved, as if he had regained his freedom?

And yet, why did it keep—

"So, curious what our squad leader’s room looks like?"

"Yeees!"

"Since it’s the squad leader’s room, it must be the best one, right? Maybe on this floor? Or the third?"

"T, third?"

When had they grown so close—Tie was already completely relaxed, tightly holding Marshal’s hand.

"Basto! You coming or not?!"

Bale called again.

Basto had no choice but to go.

But a dark shadow had clearly settled over his face.

"Tie needs to be with me to relax..."

He muttered it under his breath.

This was Tie’s paradise?

Tie lay spread-eagle on a bright pink bed and thought.

Large and small fairies crowded the ceiling.

At first she had asked if they were stickers, but Auntie Marshal said an artist had come specially to paint them.

Hearing that, Tie asked Marshal,

"Then uncle who draws, will he come again later?"

"You don’t like the ceiling? Should I ask them to change the painting?"

Tie grew flustered and wriggled as she answered,

"No, I’ll ask to draw more pictures on the wall too. Like..."

She showed the character Tanifang embroidered on her uniform.

"This Tonafang, and Tie wants Saekomfang and Postpang on the wall too."

"Oh my, what shiny eyes they have."

Auntie Marshal looked slightly confused, but soon nodded.

In high spirits, Tie went down to the dining room for dinner.

The meal resembled the dish she used to receive when the grandmother from apartment 107 salted kimchi and shared boiled pork.

"Waaah, Tie tummy going to burst!"

"Tie. Did you see this?"

She was lying on the bed patting her belly when Lucarion called her.

When she got up, she saw Lucarion and Pupu by the wardrobe.

"There’s a lot of pink clothes here."

"Really? Waa!"

Only then did Tie rush to the wardrobe.

"Princess dress!"

With a delighted expression, she began going through her outfits.

"What color clothes does Tie like?"

That was why Adeline had questioned her so diligently back at Caldenbein Ridge!

"This all Tie’s...!"

From overflowing joy, her nose began to run on its own.

Lucarion looked at her in surprise.

"Tie, are you crying?"

Tie shook her head.

"Not crying."

Of course, her heart had trembled a little.

Because such a spacious room, sparkling princess dresses, and a whole mountain of toy boxes in the corner of the wall—

"In Hanbit kindergarten only Tie didn’t have..."

In the Jongno district, getting things like this had truly been difficult.

But soon Tie sniffed firmly.

"It okay! Now Tie have too!"

She was no longer the Tie from Quail Class who was the only one without an Elsa dress!

Lucarion looked at her with a strange expression.

"I wear this today!"

Meanwhile, Tie stood on her tiptoes and pulled out the most glittering dress.

Then, throwing it on right over her clothes, she climbed onto the bed with the pink coverlet.

"Hehe."

Giggles kept slipping from her lips.

"If room this big, can play hide-and-seek with Papa."

This was not a house rented for monthly payment like Gold Yeonrip 106.

This was Tie’s real house.

Tie knew very well how hard it was to pay rent.

Because of her, Papa had to work every day in the Jongno district.

But now all of that was over.

"Papa not need work. [N O V E L I G H T] Now have house, and Tie earn money!"

Right now, on the first floor, many magic monster cores collected by Agavert were piled up.

Tomorrow, when the sun rose, Tie planned to go with Basto to the Compensation Bureau to receive the reward for those cores.

"How much give?"

There were more than a few dozen cores—one hundred thousand won? Or three hundred thousand?

"And next day go see Lord Commander too..."

As she thought, sleep gradually overtook her.

When Tie turned over, her fingers brushed against the hem of the princess dress she had just put on.

Half-asleep, she began to fiddle with it.

"Wear tomorrow too..."

she murmured.