When that oath was destroyed, the System that appeared before my eyes warned me like this.

[Restore the pact as quickly as possible!]

[If you fail to do so.]

[There is no telling what kind of revenge a thrall freed from the pact may attempt!]

The System was right.

This so-called “thrall pact” is just pretty wording. In reality, it’s a slave contract.

Once the pact is undone, it wouldn’t be strange at all for the one who used to be a thrall to come after revenge.

And honestly—

I thought I’d worked Ariella pretty hard as a subordinate.

And yet.

“Why did you save me?”

“......”

Instead of killing me, it protected me from the grand duke who was about to attack me.

In the process, it even attacked the grand duke, or threw out lies I couldn’t understand to slip past the situation—

taking enormous risks.

‘The moment that lie was exposed, Ariella would’ve been in danger too.’

That it would protect me even while taking on that kind of risk—

I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

And the reason was...

“...Just because.”

“Just because?”

“Yeah. Just because. I did it because I wanted to. Your actions don’t always have to have a clear reason, do they?”

...“Just because,” apparently.

I didn’t know whether it simply didn’t want to tell me, or whether it didn’t even know the exact reason itself.

Either way, the important thing was—

“Can I still think of you as my ally?”

“...For now.”

Contrary to what I’d thought the moment the pact broke, it had chosen to remain my ally.

“...Whew. Thank God.”

When I let out a sigh of relief, it looked at me like I was unbelievable.

“Thank God... you really do say that like it’s easy. Some of us have a head so full we feel like we’re going to die.”

“Well, there’s nothing good that comes from thinking about negative stuff over and over. Might as well focus on the good parts.”

I shrugged as I said it, then frowned slightly.

“...Though it’s hard for me to only think about the good parts right now, too.”

“What do you mean?”

“That grand duke.”

I’d gone to meet him prepared to become enemies if I had to.

I’d had no intention of taking him lightly.

Even so—

“He was... a lot scarier than I expected.”

It wasn’t just his strength.

I could feel the natural bearing of a leader pouring off him.

On top of that, he not only realized there was a pact between me and Ariella—

he even grasped our relationship in an instant just from the direction of that pact.

“I expected him to be strong... but his instincts and his mind were terrifying, too.”

“...Even I was surprised.”

“...Huh?”

“The grand duke being that frightening... I never imagined it.”

At that, I looked at it with a puzzled stare.

“Didn’t you know?”

It had warned me more than once about the grand duke’s power.

So I’d assumed it knew exactly how terrifying he was.

“That was only about the strength he possessed.”

Apparently, that had been my mistake.

“I didn’t think the rest of him would be that impressive. The Grand Duke of Melchiorn I’d heard rumors about—aside from his strength, he wasn’t supposed to be that great.”

“Really?”

“Rather, I’d thought he was like a mad colt that runs wild trusting only in power.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help frowning.

A mad colt that runs wild on strength alone?

“...How is that anything like what we saw?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I was just as surprised.”

If he’d really been nothing but a strong idiot, I wouldn’t have ended up skewered on stakes back there.

But the grand duke saw the pact between me and Ariella—

and even guessed what it contained almost exactly.

That inference was more frightening than the force he’d displayed.

“Well, that was only what the rumors said. Even I had never actually met the Grand Duke of Melchiorn. Either the rumors were wrong, or a long time changed him... it had to be one of the two.”

...Never actually met him.

“But the grand duke said he’d seen you before.”

“I found that a bit strange too. Well, he must’ve seen my face in passing somewhere and simply moved on.”

Honestly, that was hard not to find strange.

The grand duke said he’d met Ariella before.

Like Ariella said, maybe it really was just in passing, but—

‘The presence he had today was no joke.’

If you’d met someone with that kind of presence, and you claim you wouldn’t remember just because it was “in passing”...

‘Does that even make sense?’

It bothered me a little, but there was no point digging into it, so I tucked the question away.

“Anyway. There were rumors the grand duke was just a strong mad colt? Is that really okay?”

“Didn’t I say all bloodlines aren’t on good terms? Of course not every rumor about every grand duke can be good. And in truth, not every grand duke would’ve been a perfect person. The Grand Duke of Melchiorn... Grand Duke Valarak wasn’t the only one.”

“Then?”

“For example, I’ve actually met the Grand Duke of Neferat.”

Neferat—

the bloodline that handled mist, if I remembered right.

“The Grand Duke of Neferat certainly had overwhelming power, and a sharp mind. But that one always suffered from paranoia.”

“Paranoia?”

“Never letting anyone glimpse his true feelings, never trusting anyone, and always scheming something vile in his heart—planning betrayals against someone at all times. Relations between our bloodline and Neferat weren’t that bad, but I could never bring myself to like that grand duke.”

Never letting anyone glimpse his true feelings.

The first thing that came to mind was—

the part where I hadn’t been able to taste anything from that grand duke.

‘He must have some kind of ability to hide emotion.’

It seemed the Grand Duke of Neferat had something similar going on.

“And there’s more. I never met her myself, but people say the Grand Duke of Harcon is so beastlike it’s almost embarrassing to even call her a noble. Supposedly she can’t even use a fork or a knife properly, so every meal is just tearing into prey she hunted herself?”

“Can someone like that really lead a bloodline?”

“Because she was so beastlike, her wild instincts were said to be exceptional. With those instincts, she always made the right choices—and her unique charisma was outstanding as well, so she led her bloodline well.”

Ariella gave a bitter smile.

“Well, my point is that no matter how great the grand dukes are, they aren’t perfect beings. That’s how I understood it.”

“......”

“And the Grand Duke of Melchiorn I met today was outside what ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ I expected.”

After saying that, she shut her mouth and stared off into the distance, like she was finished talking.

“...What about the last one?”

“Hm?”

And then, I watched her for a moment before speaking.

“There’s one more grand duke.”

There were four bloodlines total, and four grand dukes.

The last one Ariella hadn’t mentioned was—

“The Karshtein... Isabella, was it?”

“.......”

“What was that one like?”

According to the System message, the one who had “favored” Ariella—

was Grand Duke Isabella.

“...Isabella.”

At my question, Ariella’s mouth opened and closed for a moment like she didn’t know what to say, then she lowered her head and spoke.

“Isabella had overwhelming power, dignity, and she was intelligent.”

“Yeah?”

“And she wasn’t vile. She always treated others honestly and proudly. Did you know? Even the Grand Duke of Neferat got along well with Isabella. Even that man, who doubted everything except himself, knew Isabella wouldn’t deceive him.”

At that, I let out a dry laugh.

“What the hell. Just hearing that, she sounds perfect.”

“Did it sound that way?”

“Aren’t you hyping up your bloodline’s leader too much?”

“Heh... it’s not like that.”

Ariella smiled with a strange expression, then—

“Isabella... had a childish side.”

“A child?”

“Yeah.”

As if recalling the past, she continued.

“She didn’t think much about other people’s feelings... and yet she still wanted to get what she wanted, no matter what.”

“.......”

“That kind of child.”

That bitter smile on her face—

had a faint shadow cast over it.

***

“A child...”

After hearing that, I got curious for more details.

Why Ariella had heard a toy being mentioned. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

What kind of relationship she and Isabella had.

‘I don’t know Ariella.’

I’d only realized that after arriving on this land.

Even now, I wanted to fill in what I didn’t know, but—

“...Let’s stop here.”

That was just my thought.

Ariella didn’t seem to want to tell me anything more about herself.

She looked like she didn’t want to speak further.

If she were still my thrall, I would’ve just asked anyway, but—

right now, she had no obligation to answer me.

‘...’

I could only smile bitterly to myself.

Back when she would’ve answered if I asked, I never even tried to learn about her.

And now only after she’d stopped answering—

here I was, trying to learn.

It felt ugly.

‘There’s no point pressing her here.’

All I could do was hope she’d tell me someday, on her own.

“Anyway, don’t worry too much. I also suddenly... um.”

Ariella flinched mid-sentence, then chose her words carefully.

“I have no intention of betraying you.”

“Can I really trust that?”

“Hm, who knows. Wouldn’t that depend on how well you do?”

She said it with a playful smile.

As the one being made the butt of the joke, it wasn’t something I could laugh off.

But it was also true that right now, I had no choice but to rely on her goodwill.

“Fortunately, the grand duke seems to want something from me. If we use that, we’ll be safe for a while. Then, once we see an opportunity where we can escape through that transfer gate, I’ll help you get out then.”

“I’d be grateful if you did, but... is that really okay? It sounds like you’ve already said all that stuff about making me a noble. If I suddenly vanish—”

“Well, the pact was broken, so you couldn’t trust my promise and ran away in secret... we can say something like that.”

She shrugged lightly.

That grand duke didn’t seem like the kind of person who would let it slide so easily, but—

‘Ariella isn’t clueless about that either.’

Knowing that, she was still saying she’d help me escape anyway.

“...There is a safer way than that.”

“?”

So.

I looked at her and spoke carefully.

“Like the original plan— you come back to the Legion with me.”

“...Ah. So that’s what you meant.”

“You said you’d help me escape, but... couldn’t you just escape with me?”

Looking at Ariella with a faint smile, I crossed my arms and said,

“If you’re worried that the barrier might open later and you’ll end up meeting that grand duke again, that’s not a problem. Now that we know vampires are staying in this land, by the time the barrier opens and the Legion pushes into China, the Legion will already be prepared.”

“That’s true.”

“Their force does seem big. But trust me. If the Legion comes over fully prepared...”

“You don’t have to try so hard to inspire confidence.”

Unlike how I’d been trying to persuade her, she nodded as if she understood.

“As you say—if you have enough time to prepare, you’ll be able to handle the enemies of this land one way or another.”

“...Huh. You trust me that much?”

“Well, if we still didn’t know what kind of enemies were here, it’d be different, but I’ve been watching you.”

She looked at me, then spoke with a slightly serious face.

“You may not be that strong against someone you meet for the first time, but once you manage to gather information on your opponent, your ability to respond based on that information is unmatched.”

“...And if you’re given a long time to prepare, then during that time you’ll find some kind of way—no matter what.”

Instead of me persuading her, she seemed to be rating me even higher than I did.

“But.”

The problem was—

regardless of how favorably she evaluated me,

“Your suggestion is appreciated, but it isn’t worth even considering.”

She—

shook her head and refused my offer.