Evening, the day Miren, the young lady of the Padrima ducal house, came to take the interview.

"Here it is, Brother."

Alon received a book from Nangwon.

A book with a black cover, reeking of an extremely old feel.

Alon quietly accepted it and expressed his thanks to Nangwon.

"Thanks."

"No, Brother. I couldn't even find you the real thing."

Looking at Nangwon smiling while scratching his head, Alon shook his head.

If it hadn't been for Nangwon, they wouldn't have found even a small clue, let alone the Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One.

"No. If you hadn't moved, we wouldn't have been able to find even this book."

"......That you rely on me like that, Brother, it makes me happier than I can say."

As Alon expressed his thanks again, Nangwon, as if moved, reddened at the corners of the eyes and showed a clear smile.

"You probably want to check the contents of the book, so I'll be going now."

"......You're leaving already?"

"Yes. I have some things I need to do."

Things to do?

Alon swallowed the words he was about to ask back and nodded.

Leaving aside the peculiar point of reverse eyes, even if he looked like a boy, he was the head of the Information Guild.

He definitely had a lot to do.

"All right."

"If you need help anytime, please call me again!"

Nangwon disappeared, keeping an expression full of emotion.

Watching that, Alon felt a strange emotion behind a blank face.

......Is being thanked really that moving?

That thought was why.

Thinking he should give thanks more often from now on, Alon lightly brushed the hair back.

Soon, he opened the book in his hand and began to read.

And after a bit of time passed.

"Marquis, what are you doing?"

At Evan's voice, Alon turned his gaze.

"I was reading a book."

"-Ah, don't tell me it's that? The Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One? That thing."

"How did you know?"

"I heard that Nangwon would deliver the book today. So did you get any information?"

At Evan's question, Alon finished reading the page—there was only one page left anyway—then closed the book.

"I did, but it's a little subtle."

"Which part is that?"

Alon quietly looked down at the book.

It was fairly thick, but there weren't many parts he could read.

Because most of the pages had discolored to the point he couldn't properly see them.

Even so, it didn't matter much.

The information he wanted was inside.

The problem was where the jewel was.

"The Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One, it says he handed it over to his closest friend."

"A friend?"

The Closed-Eyed One's friend.

"......I think I know why you find it subtle, Marquis."

"Right?"

"Yes."

Evan thought about something, then continued.

"Th-that, the Closed-Eyed One is on the sins' side, right?"

"That's right."

"Then if it's a friend, doesn't that mean it's a sin, maybe?"

Alon let out a hmm— of a hum.

He had gotten information that would help, in its own way, but it was hard to find out anything more from here.

However, he decided to shake off the negative impression soon.

In the end, one way or another, he had gotten information.

And he had set the direction itself of how to find the jewel.

"The Closed-Eyed One's friend......" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Alon murmured quietly.

The next day.

"Hoo—"

Alexion, who had been handling work in his office from morning until well past lunch, finally finished and let out a deep sigh.

He took out the interview sheet he had put in the drawer.

It was the interview sheet evaluating Miren, the young lady of the Padrima ducal house, whom he had seen yesterday.

"Hmm—"

Alexion rubbed his chin.

Unlike the previous interview sheets where his opinion hadn't properly been reflected, this time it was, in many ways, a frankly uneven interview sheet.

Although the scores weren't consistent, Miren had reached the score Alexion had set in mind.

In other words, it meant she would enter the pool of partner candidates the marquis would choose from directly.

Yes, by score, it was.

Alexion recalled Miren during the interview.

In every movement—one gesture of the hand, one step of the foot—the dignity of nobility seeped out.

The tone that came out of her mouth was also extremely refined.

Even considering she was the young lady of a ducal house, the knowledge she had was quite deep.

'There was nothing to dock points for in the interview itself.'

Even so, the reason a displeased expression showed on Alexion's face was—

because of the rumors.

'......What people are saying going around, it wasn't that good.'

Of course, from Alexion's standpoint, he could just evaluate her appearance appropriately and move on.

That was the order he had received in the first place.

However, once he had received an order even once, he had no intention of handling the work carelessly.

......Of course, there had been interviewees in the middle that he absolutely couldn't do anything about.

But that was, to the end, a matter of 'survival.'

"Ahem—"

Anyway, because of that.

Alexion quietly asked the guild around for Miren's information.

And surprisingly, the Information Guild handed the information over to Alexion before even a full day had passed.

'No, actually, it wasn't even a day.'

Alexion had requested the information last night.

And the information arrived at dawn.

Meaning, if you counted time, it was only a few hours.

'The Information Guild is fast, but...... I don't remember it being to this extent.'

Even if they already had information gathered.

Basically, the Information Guild leaves about a day as a deadline.

It's something anyone who uses the Information Guild knows.

But they handed information over this fast, so it couldn't help but be strange.

'And with this much information, too......'

Alexion lifted the stack of documents remaining in the drawer.

All of the dozens of pages had rumors related to Lady Miren written on them.

And they were quite the bad kind of rumors.

"Hmm—"

Of course, he also knew that rumors weren't all truth.

But the ones who gathered these were the Information Guild.

And what Alexion had requested from the Information Guild was rumors based on 'fact.'

And the Information Guild, for the most part, strictly keeps the client's words.

Meaning what was in his hands had a high probability of being fact.

Because of that—

'I can't put someone like this as the marquis's partner— no, even so, she passed the interview itself...... Should I deliver these documents together when I report to the marquis?'

Around when Alexion was worrying in his own way.

"......Sir Alexion?"

"Why?"

"Th-that, the young lady who took the interview yesterday is requesting to see you."

"You're talking about Lady Miren?"

"Yes."

"......All right. Where is the young lady?"

"She's in the reception room."

"Then I'll go there."

Tilting his head at the secretary's words, he soon stood up and headed for the reception room.

And he could meet Lady Miren.

"......?"

A young lady who had grown haggard.

For a change that happened in just one day, it was so dramatic that he was flustered for a moment.

Alexion soon bowed his head and greeted her.

"Hello, Lady Miren. Was your sleep comfortable?"

A simple greeting.

He felt strange again.

Because, normally, there should have been a greeting returned, but it kept not coming.

So, feeling odd, he lifted his head.

And he realized she had been bowing her head the whole time from the beginning until now.

"?"

After finishing the greeting with no answer.

He noticed a very small muttering.

"-Please-sorry"

A sound so quiet you wouldn't properly notice it if you weren't paying attention.

"Pardon?"

The bewildered Alexion, braving the rudeness, stepped a little closer to her.

And at that moment—

"I'msorryIdidwrongIwasn'tgoingtodothatI'msorryforblasphemyI'msorryforblasphemyI'msorryforblasphemyI'msorryforblasphemyI'msorryA-!!!!"

"Waah—!"

The voice gradually got louder.

And Miren, like someone terrified of something, burst out of the reception room and ran away.

Alexion froze in shock, then blankly stared at the door that had been flung wide open.

"Wh...... what is this......?"

After calming his pounding heart, a few hours later.

"......She said she wants to withdraw from the partner candidates?"

"Yes. A maid came and told us so."

"Did something happen at the villa yesterday?"

The secretary suddenly reported it.

Alexion asked, feeling doubtful, but—

"As I reported yesterday, because the young lady said she was uncomfortable and dismissed our servants on our side, I don't think we can know in detail."

"Right......"

He couldn't find a clue in the secretary's answer.

Of course, the doubt didn't go away.

Of course, from Alexion's standpoint.

If a young lady who might have problems in many ways withdrew from the partner position on her own, it wasn't a bad situation.

But the point was why the young lady suddenly ended up in that state and made such a decision.

As Alexion tilted his head again and again, he suddenly turned his gaze to one side.

"......?"

Sili, Yutia, and Rine, whose faces were now somewhat familiar even to him, were walking along.

Smile—

Maybe because they felt Alexion's gaze, they lifted their eyes for a moment and smiled softly.

A purely innocent smile.

That was all it was.

After that, they slightly lowered their heads and disappeared somewhere.

......That was the end of it.

"......"

Somehow.

He felt like he could guess how Lady Miren had ended up withdrawing from the partner position.

......Cold sweat ran down Alexion's back.

Three weeks passed after that.

There were still many guests at the Palatio marquis's estate.

In Yutia Bloodia's case, under the pretext of building a church.

In Seollang's case, under the pretext of vacation.

And everyone else, too, was staying at the marquis's estate for their own reasons.

Thanks to that, even in the beginning, every other day or so, something a little noisy happened.

For example, Seollang being dragged somewhere by Yutia.

Or a red moon suddenly rising inside the marquis's estate at night.

Or Alon's statue becoming more and more ornate as time passed.

However, when even that commotion was now being accepted as a bit of daily life.

The recruitment of partner candidates for the Palatio marquis also ended.

And Alexion, having recruited a total of ten candidates, finally.

"Is this it?"

"Yes. From now on, I'll explain briefly."

Only then did he hand the interview sheets over to Alon, lightly clearing his throat.

Even though his own opinion hadn't been reflected in the interview sheets.

He intended to add at least a little opinion now.

So Alexion, having prepared firmly and about to open his mouth—

"......!"

Soon, without realizing it, he fell silent.

The reason was.

"Hic—"

Behind the window with ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the Palatio marquis at his back.

Countless gazes were all gathered on Alexion.

Of course, their expressions weren't grim.

They were all smiling.

"......"

......If there was a problem, it was that only their mouths were smiling.

Around then, the marquis, who had been quietly looking down at the interview sheets, threw out the first words.

"......Ten, eight?"

Like that,

......Alon's partner selection began.