"Tie?"

Hearing a distant voice, Tie opened her eyes.

"Uu..."

She squeezed her eyes shut at the bright sunlight—and immediately a shadow fell over her face.

Papa had raised his hand to block the sun.

On the other side, Ardiana smiled softly.

"Did you sleep well?"

Tie blinked and nodded hesitantly.

Yesterday it had been dark, so she hadn’t seen clearly.

But now, without the mask, Ardiana was the most beautiful person Tie had ever seen.

Tesetan said:

"King of the Dead. Your sleeping habits are quite something."

Tie flinched and quickly sat up.

Looking around, she awkwardly glanced at Papa.

'Ah! Tie rolled around again in her sleep!'

Now it was clear—she had rolled almost right up against Papa.

Tie looked at Tesetan guiltily.

"Sorry. Squad Leader. Was it uncomfortable...?"

Tesetan smirked.

"No. When you rolled over, I just pushed you back to the middle, so it’s fine."

"Really...?"

"Yeah. You wouldn’t notice even if someone carried you away."

Tie quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment.

Her cheeks turned red.

'Tie went to the dreamland together with Papa.'

Just like before, when they slept under one blanket in Apartment Gold, 106.

Papa would even move her back when she rolled over.

'It was like that in Jongno too.'

"Tesetan. Can you bring some water?"

At that moment, Ardiana spoke calmly.

Tie widened her eyes and looked at Papa.

With a smile, Papa replied to Ardiana:

"Aren’t you using me a bit too much? You pushed someone to that state and don’t even feel guilty."

Ardiana snorted.

"Unfortunately, that wasn’t by my will. Didn’t you say yourself that you wanted to live under the control of a woman worthy of admiration?"

A smile appeared on Tesetan’s lips.

He glanced at the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ faint dimple on her cheek and stood up.

When they were left alone, Ardiana brushed Tie’s bangs aside.

"Today, you’ll go to the siege with them."

"Yaaay!"

"It’s dangerous, so always stay close to the squad members."

Tie nodded energetically.

For a moment, silence fell, and Tie began fidgeting with the blanket.

"I like children."

Ardiana said gently.

Astie looked at her in surprise.

Ardiana continued calmly:

"It means you don’t need to hide it from me anymore."

She got off the bed and picked up Tie’s uniform from the bedside.

At that moment, Tesetan returned with water.

"Drink. Aren’t you hungry?"

Tie hesitantly took the glass, glancing at Ardiana.

'The princess... knows who Tie really is...!'

Ardiana had already put on her cloak and was brushing her long hair.

Her profile was calm.

Putting on her mask, she approached the bed.

And as if nothing had happened, she held out her hand to Tie.

"Shall we go have breakfast?"

Tie looked uncertainly at the offered hand.

Then Ardiana added:

"By the way, I will also keep the identity of the King of the Dead a secret."

Tie’s lips parted slightly.

Suddenly, she remembered what she had said on the day they first met.

'Tie will keep the chairman’s secret.'

A smile slowly spread across the child’s face.

Soon, Tie jumped up energetically from the bed.

The glass beside her tipped over, but Tesetan quickly caught it before any water spilled.

"Yaaay! Let’s go!"

Tie beamed as she stepped onto the floor.

And a dimple appeared on her cheek, just like Ardiana’s.

Tesetan smirked and set the glass back down.

He reached for his cloak—and suddenly froze.

'...No. ...I can’t raise one.'

A familiar face, soaked in tears, flashed before his eyes and vanished.

As Tesetan stood motionless, his vision flickered, and other scenes rushed past.

'I know this is a contradiction.'

'...I never, not even once, held you. So you...'

'I will not exist in this world.'

'You will come...'

Another vision.

The world spun, and he reflexively braced himself against the table.

A confused expression appeared on his face.

He looked toward the entrance where Ardiana and Tie had left and murmured:

"...Ardiana?"

Her tied-up hair fluttered in the air.

"Finally this damn siege is going to end!"

Bale shouted, riding his horse.

Tie, riding behind him, immediately protested:

"Bale oppa! No bad words!"

Tie swayed between Basto’s arms as he held the reins.

Raul rode up beside Bale.

"But still, we finished faster than planned! Though that’s probably because we skipped the preliminary investigation stage!"

Bale looked at him with a dismissive expression.

"So what! Why are there endlessly so many of these creatures?! I’m already sick just from looking at grass!"

"Ha-ha, but it all ends today!"

Shaking his head, Bale sped up.

Raul followed after him.

They reached the fortress a little past noon.

"Pupu, come out!"

Tie, wearing a small backpack in front, called out.

The awakened Pupu barely poked its head out of the zipper.

"Today we have to do our best! We can’t call bone friends, so Pupu and Marrr have to do everything."

Marbas popped out right after.

[Don’t worry! With the bee bomb invented by Marrr, any creature can be caught!]

Tie smiled with satisfaction and patted his head.

The new weapon, the "bee bomb," was truly powerful.

Recently, Marbas had modified a poison projectile at Tie’s request.

When thrown, it released poisonous needles while simultaneously deploying a honeycomb-shaped net.

After carefully examining the weapon, Tie had suggested:

'Can we paint it yellow?'

[...What?]

'Tie likes bees, so yellow!'

In the end, Marbas had to repaint the net yellow and name it the "bee bomb."

"Hehe, Marrr is the best!"

Of course, all his suffering disappeared with just one praise from Tie.

"Kid, ready? Once it gets dark, the creatures will come crawling out."

Said Bale as he approached.

Tie answered brightly: 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Mm! Tie is ready! No bone friends, but I have subordinates, the bee bomb, and Pupu!"

Bale nodded—and suddenly paused.

"By the way. Why haven’t you been summoning Kkamani lately?"

Tie flinched.

She looked away.

"K-Kkamani? Mm, I don’t know."

"What do you mean you don’t know?"

"I just don’t know!"

Tie hurriedly ran away.

Only when she stopped next to Allerik and Ribia did she let out a relieved breath.

"Phew."

That was close.

Bale oppa almost found out that Kkamani isn’t a summon.

But soon Tie’s face turned sad again.

'But why isn’t Kkamani really coming...?'

He had never disappeared for this long before.

"Tie, over here. I’m thinking of setting up a temporary tent."

Basto’s voice called out.

Papa was standing beside him.

"Yay! Tie likes that!"

She immediately ran toward them.

Weapons for the holy knights and mercenaries were already stacked nearby.

Suddenly remembering something, Tie reached into her backpack again.

Deep inside were three crumpled teddy bear orbs.

She took them out and hesitated.

"These... orbs?"

Someone nearby asked.

Turning around, Tie saw Allerik approaching with a curious look.