"Ariel... she should’ve gone this way, right?"

Inside the tangled, ancient structure, Muen moved along the route he’d chosen.

There wasn’t any lingering scent or trace of Ariel on the way. Even now that everything was “resolved,” she wouldn’t get sloppy to that extent.

So why was Muen so sure she’d left in this direction...?

Maybe it was what people called chemistry.

They’d fought side by side so many times. Even if you didn’t call it chemistry, you at least ended up understanding someone.

"She definitely wouldn’t go poking around the wrecked areas. She’d be somewhere collecting anything valuable."

He kept eliminating wrong answers as he followed his intuition.

Before long, the view opened up, and he arrived in an area he actually recognized.

"This is... the corridor I was in before?"

Candlelight wavered, lighting the path. As he walked down the corridor, Muen saw the familiar numbered doors, and...

the mirror.

The mirror was still as old and plain as ever, almost perfectly blended into the wall behind it. From the outside, it was hard to imagine it had once been a decent ancient relic—though now it was broken.

"This thing is still here? Ariel didn’t take it? Or did I come to the wrong place?"

A little moved despite himself, Muen walked up and tapped the mirror.

Ariel wasn’t going to crawl back inside the mirror, and from the look of it, the female adventurers who’d been imprisoned in there had already been rescued by Miss Feier and the others.

So... should he take it or not?

Ariel hadn’t taken it. If he took it, he could at least sell it for some money. His old man’s estate had basically been sold off, and Celicia was still fighting the Kingdom. Even a rich household ran out of grain. Honestly, coming up with that hundred million for Ariel was still a bit hard.

He should take it.

After weighing it for a moment, Muen decided to be thrifty for once. Besides, this thing would end up in Ariel’s hands anyway—as payment against the debt—so what was there to hesitate about?

So he did it.

Muen gripped the edges of the mirror with both hands. But just as he was about to pull it down...

Huh?

He saw a figure in the mirror.

"Ariel?"

At some point, Ariel had come up behind him. She was standing there quietly, watching him.

Muen jumped, hurriedly letting go of the mirror and turning around.

"Why are you here?"

No—stupid question. Where she was had nothing to do with him.

"When did you get here?" Muen asked again.

"Just now."

The silent Ariel finally spoke. She looked extremely calm, and she didn’t ask why Muen was here either—she just stared straight at him, her gaze deep.

"Do I have something on my face?"

That look was making Muen uncomfortable.

"No." Ariel shook her head.

"Then... do you want this?"

Muen shifted aside slightly, letting the mirror sit in Ariel’s view.

He’d just thought about using it to pay his debt, but the point was the same—this thing would end up with Ariel anyway, so there was no reason for him to agonize over whether he should keep it.

And in a way, he really did owe Ariel a lot. Fighting her for loot on top of that would be... pretty inhuman.

But, to Muen’s surprise...

"Take it."

Ariel shook her head again. "I don’t need it."

"..."

Muen paused, frowning as he studied her face more closely. But her expression was too calm—like a windless lake. There was nothing to read.

Was she mad?

Why?

After thinking it over, Muen still took the mirror down and put it into the storage magitech ring on his finger. Ariel’s gaze followed his movements, silently watching all of it.

"Right. I came to invite you to go back to Belrand with me."

"Did you?"

"I heard that Calamity Dragon can give us a ride."

"Sounds impressive."

"Are you coming?"

"Yes."

"Think about it again. It’s really convenient—ah... wait, really?"

Seeing Muen’s startled expression, Ariel repeated herself seriously.

"Really. I’m going with you."

"I see..."

Muen couldn’t help smiling.

"That’s great."

Getting Ariel—who was always stubborn to the point of insanity—to agree had been a hundred times easier than he’d expected. She didn’t show the slightest resistance. She was obedient in a way he’d never seen before.

It made Muen genuinely happy.

No time to waste, he headed out in front, planning to take Ariel to meet up with An, then hurry onto the road back to Belrand.

He’d been away from that city for a long time. He actually missed it.

But before that...

"Oh, right."

Muen suddenly stopped.

"Ariel, can I ask you something?"

"Ask."

Ariel’s tone was still that calm—like a quiet, reserved lady. She didn’t seem surprised at all by the abrupt question.

"I want to ask... where did your ring go?"

On Ariel’s left middle finger, there should’ve been a ring. It had been her mother’s keepsake—an antique Count Bugaard had tossed her mother one night when he was feeling generous.

It looked like nothing more than a slightly valuable antique, but it was a ring Ariel’s mother had refused to sell even at her poorest.

And inside it was a secret even Count Bugaard knew nothing about.

An ancient soul slept within that ring.

And that soul...

was Ariel’s teacher.

For so long, that ring—and the teacher inside it—should’ve never left Ariel’s side.

"..."

The entire corridor went quiet.

The candle flames along the walls flickered, making Muen and Ariel’s shadows flicker wildly with them.

Muen waited patiently. No matter how long it took, he felt he could wait for a reasonable answer.

But unfortunately, none came.

What came was a sudden surge of killing intent.

"So that’s it..."

Muen’s body snapped tight. Without realizing it, both hands had already clenched around Elizabeth’s hilts. He pivoted with extreme agility, and at the last possible instant, he braced against the scarlet greatsword that came screaming in on a gale and blazing fire.

Muen slid half a step back. The shock of the head-on clash sent pain lancing through both hands.

Ariel’s strength still outweighed his. From the very first collision, he was already at a disadvantage.

But more than the disadvantage of the fight, the confusion on the other side of it was what made Muen’s heart impossible to steady.

He lifted his eyes and studied the girl in front of him again—seriously.

She didn’t have An’s dignified beauty. She didn’t have Senior Anna’s seductive allure. She didn’t have Liya’s sweet charm, and she didn’t have Celicia’s cold, delicate refinement.

But she was the kind you could keep looking at.

Her brows and eyes, her nose, her ears, her lips—every feature sat in exactly the right place. Nothing about her was aggressively striking, and yet when all of it came together, the result was a painting that would make even the finest artists click their tongues in admiration.

But right now, on that painting...

Aside from the still-perfect lines, Muen couldn’t see anything else.

Her aura wasn’t wrong. His instincts told him ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) it was really her.

And yet what those eyes reflected was so empty—so stiff.

"Ariel, why—"

"..."

Ariel still didn’t answer. Her first strike hadn’t landed, so she closed in again. The Skyfire greatsword drew a perfect arc through the air—an edge only she could swing.

But in the instant Ariel moved in, beneath the crackle of the flames, Muen faintly heard something.

"Miss Muse..."

It was Ariel’s murmur.

"I love you..."

"...No way."

Muen’s pupils shrank hard.

A truly awful thought surfaced in his mind.

It felt impossible. He could believe anyone in the world might fall for something like this, but Ariel absolutely shouldn’t.

Because she was the protagonist.

In the original novel, she’d cut her way through thorns from the start, defeating countless powerful enemies—she was the overpowered heroine born to save the world.

How could she possibly trip over something this ridiculous?

But his earlier conversation with Teacher Mela forced the suspicion in his chest to become harder and harder to deny.

Ariel liked Miss Muse.

But Miss Muse was a man—her most hated man, Muen Campbell.

And even so, she still couldn’t throw away the love in her heart...

Wasn’t that twisted?

Of course it was. It was twisted into a goddamn pretzel.

Muen hadn’t expected that even after all this, Ariel still hadn’t let go.

Weren’t you a master of romance? Why?

"Ariel!"

Muen roared, trying to snap her out of it.

"Wake up!"

"..."

No response.

Ariel kept staring at Muen with that same calm. But her lips kept whispering Miss Muse’s name as she turned her blade, terrifying pressure gathering.

That opening stance was so familiar that Muen understood at once what she was about to do.

"Skyfire—Unsheathe!"

Deathly flame and gale surged toward Muen without mercy. In an instant, the searing heat and sword intent set off the death-warning in his head, buzzing madly.

The Skyfire greatsword trembled slightly, but it couldn’t disobey its master’s forced control.

Everything happened in a blink. Muen only had a single instant to act. Against Ariel’s full-power blow, if he didn’t answer with everything he had, he’d be torn to pieces on the spot.

But...

Muen suddenly withdrew his hands.

As if he meant to embrace death like this.

Firelight and Ariel’s face reflected in his eyes as he let it come closer and closer, closer and—

until the tip of the blade was only one centimeter from his chest.

until the flames had singed a strand of hair on his forehead.

But Ariel still stopped.

Her body trembled faintly, like she was forcing herself to break through some kind of control. Fierce struggle flickered across her pretty face, and her eyes were no longer empty and stiff—now they churned with anger and pain tangled together.

With a clatter, the Skyfire greatsword fell to the floor.

Muen didn’t embrace death.

He swept Ariel into his arms, and in the roaring flames that were steadily dying out, he whispered,

"See? After all these times, you still can’t really bring yourself to swing the blade and cut me down... can you?"