"...Hah, hah."
Lilien, who had unknowingly slipped out of Kairen's room and dashed back to her own, caught her ragged breath as she collapsed onto her bed.
"Fuck."
She cupped her face with both hands, grinding her teeth for a long while before finally muttering curses to herself.
"...Yeah. It's all going according to plan anyway. If anything, it's better this way."
"..."
"Who the hell trusts anyone in the Belverk family? It's not about getting tricked. Right?"
She suddenly lifted her head and spoke in a low voice to her personal maid, who stood silently by the bed.
"And besides, is this even worth making such a fuss over?"
"..."
"That stupid note said he'd be back by tonight."
Her maid remained silent, but Lilien's one-sided conversation continued.
"That coward definitely won't even enter the Mist Forest—he'll just hesitate and come back on his own. Haha."
"..."
"...Even if he does go in, he'll get scared at night and come crawling back. Yeah."
"..."
"Or maybe he'll wander in cluelessly, shake in fear, and get caught by Mother. Then he'll get the beating of his life. That'd be a sight."
But just as her initially confident voice began to waver and grow quieter...
"...Miss."
"What? Spit it out."
"Are you worried about him?"
The maid, who had been maintaining her silence, suddenly stared at Lilien and asked that question.
"Don't talk bullshit."
Lilien's face turned icy in an instant as she glared at her maid and growled lowly.
"You know damn well what the heirs of the Belverk family are like. Why are you saying this?"
"..."
"That guy's my rival in the end. If we don't eliminate him early, neither you nor I have a future."
Lilien's eyes held a hint of desperation as she spoke.
"...From what I've seen, Young Master Kairen seems a little different."
But for some reason, her personal maid—who would normally fall silent again—kept adding to her words.
"Are you pitying him now because he protected you?"
"...No. I know full well that tools don't have the right to do that."
Though Lilien pressed her with a chilling expression, the maid calmly denied it and continued quietly.
"But last night, Young Master Kairen actually came to find me."
"What?"
"While I was preparing dinner, he sneaked into the kitchen and said that."
Lilien glared at her maid, but her eyes soon wavered slightly again.
"He said that if he couldn't find the earring by nightfall, he wanted to gift you a new one and asked about your tastes."
"...S-so? What about it."
But Lilien quickly shot back with venomous eyes, as if nothing had happened.
"I asked him then. Why he wanted to be friends with you so badly."
"..."
"And Young Master Kairen said this."
To her, the maid recounted the kitchen incident from yesterday in her usual calm voice.
"...I don't want to be hated again."
And this time, Lilien couldn't maintain her sharp gaze.
"Maybe he's the same type as you, Miss..."
"Shut up. Don't say another word."
Instead, she whipped her head away to hide her expression and used a binding spell to seal her maid's mouth before letting out a deep breath.
"Hoo..."
A moment later, she glanced sidelong at the frozen maid and spoke again.
"...Sneak over to the Mist Forest outskirts and check if he's there."
"Pardon?"
"With your abilities, you can scout the entrance without getting caught. He's probably hanging around there anyway."
The maid, surprised that the binding—which could last weeks if applied fully—had already lifted, smiled faintly at Lilien's order.
"If he's cowering in fear, drag him back. My mood's soured for some reason."
"...As you command."
"Tch, talk about bad luck..."
With that, the maid melted into the shadows by the bed and vanished. Lilien flopped back onto the bed, venting her frustration.
"He's probably too scared to go in and is crying somewhere obvious."
And so, the noisiest night in recent Belverk history began to flow as usual once more.
"...Night's almost here. Wonder if there's any news soon?"
But contrary to her words as she lay on the bed, the time felt several times slower to Lilien, who spent it wide awake.
"Running late. Stupid maid."
But by the time the clock hands neared midnight...
"...W-well, dawn is still technically night."
And when the hands pointed to three in the morning, Lilien actually wished time would slow down for real.
"...Fuck, why is it taking so damn long."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
About three hours after I entered the Mist Forest.
"Chirrp..."
"Hang in there just a bit longer, Peep."
After scouting around and finding a cave to hide in, I gently set down the Peep I'd just picked up and began treating it.
"This should help once I apply it."
I'd brought healing salve just in case, and luckily there were plenty of herbs near the forest.
I never thought the times I'd sneak out to the garden at dawn to forage herbs after getting slapped by Dorsia would pay off like this.
"Tweet!"
"...Huh? Hey, hold still!"
But as I reached out with the salve-and-herb mixture, Peep suddenly thrashed and slipped from my hand.
It backed away a bit, eyeing me with full distrust. It must have been through a lot.
"Hey, Peep."
"..."
"Sorry if it hurts. But this is to treat you."
Feeling a strange kinship again, I put on my most harmless expression and spoke. Then I reached out once more to the still-cold-eyed Peep.
"J-just trust me once...?"
If it's a spirit beast or spirit, it'll understand me, right? I'd be a little hurt if it rejected me again...
"...There we go, good boy."
Fortunately, though still glaring, Peep let me handle it this time.
Peep leaned its head into my palm, still shooting me looks, but didn't resist the treatment despite its many wounds.
"Alright, emergency treatment's done..."
About thirty minutes later, having finished more easily than expected, I carefully placed Peep in my palm and wrapped it in a return scroll, smiling.
"Hehe, feeling better now?"
At my words, just as Peep tilted its head and met my eyes...
- Grrr...
A chilling growl suddenly echoed from the cave entrance.
"...Eek."
I whipped around to the entrance, my face draining of color.
'That's the Forest Lord.'
The long scar near its eye. The crescent patterns on its body. And the wolf-like monster with glowing blue eyes.
This was definitely the top-grade monster that had ruled the forest for a long time before Mother purified the Mist Forest.
But according to Schwarz, who described its features in detail, its habitat and range were supposed to be the center...
No time for questions now. Facing a 'top-grade monster' like the Forest Lord is suicidal unless you're on Mother's level.
- Grrrl...
Luckily, spraying Mother's perfume with my trembling hand made it wary and back off.
But unlike other monsters that flee in panic, it held its ground—clearly a cut above.
So I need to use the return scroll right now...
'...Ah.'
I tried to unwrap the scroll from Peep in a hurry, then realized something and stopped.
'This is single-person use.'
Return scrolls transport one person total. Animals and spirits count too.
"Peep, it's okay. I have a plan..."
But I couldn't just abandon the 'absolute gain' the System promised.
More than that, I couldn't bear to abandon someone hurt and discarded with my own hands.
"...Hup!"
So, taking a deep breath, I aimed Mother's perfume at the Forest Lord, bolted out of the cave entrance, and launched my emergency plan.
"Peep, I'll definitely save you and make you useful!"
"...Tweet?"
Strategy 36: Run like hell. A tactic that works in any era, any world.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Time passed, and morning returned to the Belverk estate once more.
"...Results?"
Ignoring the birdsong outside the window, Lilien sat on her bed with bloodshot eyes and rasped the question to her maid, who appeared before her wreathed in black smoke.
"I searched the Mist Forest entrance and pushed as far as near the center, but couldn't find Young Master Kairen."
"What?"
"Instead, I found these near a cave at the entrance."
The dirt-covered maid extended something toward Lilien with a grim expression.
"This is..."
What she held out was an empty potion bottle and a familiar-looking shoe.
"...And fur from the Forest Lord nearby, along with footprints."
The moment Lilien heard her maid's follow-up, her expression...
"...No way."
Was so unbearable that even the grim-faced maid quietly turned her head aside.