Until I escaped the sudden grip of Aslin’s “clutches,” I was certain today would be yet another uneventful day.

But things felt slightly off, starting with my post-morning training routine—cleaning my exhausted body and then enjoying a hearty breakfast. Something about the atmosphere was subtly different.

It was because of Aslin, who sat across from me during breakfast. She seemed unlike her usual self.

At first glance, nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

The meal consisted of carefully prepared dishes with medicinal herbs to aid the recovery of my slightly damaged mana core.

“Been waiting for you. Eat before it gets cold.”

“Sure.”

As always, Aslin waited for me to join her before eating, maintaining our usual morning routine. There was no change in the big picture.

“I’m sorry the food isn’t more impressive.”

“You say the strangest things.”

Even her usual polite apology for the meal’s simplicity and my equally routine response didn’t feel much different.

‘…What’s going on?’

The difference began with Aslin’s gaze. Her eyes lingered on me more often than usual—a detail impossible to ignore.

I was somewhat aware of her habit of glancing at me now and then during meals or daily routines.

Not that I found it unpleasant. Her gaze was emotionless, more observational than anything else. Still, the sight of her emerald-green eyes sparkling, even in their indifference, was strangely pleasant.

But today, there was something else—a subtle intensity that set her gaze apart.

Her usually emotionless green eyes carried a peculiar sheen, as if a hint of curiosity had seeped in.

Curiosity? That seemed fitting. The emotion etched delicately into her emerald eyes felt like curiosity, subtle enough to notice only if I paid close attention.

Considering the time we’d spent together, it wasn’t like my eating habits were a mystery to her. Yet, the way her luminous eyes gleamed gave the impression of a gentle, comforting magic.

Not exaggerating—this morning, an unexpected incident nearly left me speechless.

If Aslin had been gazing at me with her emerald eyes rather than asleep, I might not have been so startled.

Her eyes had a presence you wouldn’t forget, even in passing—warm and memorable in a way that left a mark.

I’ve met countless people from different walks of life—whether lingering in back alleys or pretending to be a noble under my father’s lead. Most had eyes clouded by the world’s corruption.

Even those with genuinely kind eyes rarely left a strong impression.

Rarely, but not never. I could count them on one hand. And yet, there was one other time I saw eyes as beautiful and radiant as Aslin’s.

It was during my childhood, wandering through the back alleys. There was someone whose eyes bore a striking resemblance to hers.

Roughly my age, I think.

Emerald-green eyes that sparkled similarly. And… what else was similar?

Nothing else comes to mind.

Maybe it’s because it was so long ago? While the striking eyes came to me easily, the other details felt hazy.

Was the owner of those eyes a boy? A girl? What color was their hair? What did their other features look like?

Lost in thought, trying to recall the person behind those eyes, I even forgot about Aslin’s watchful gaze and our ongoing breakfast.

‘Nothing… I can’t remember anything specific.’

My musings were interrupted by Aslin’s curious voice.

“…Is something wrong?”

Her question snapped me back to reality. I quickly turned to face her.

“You stopped eating all of a sudden. I thought something might’ve happened.”

Her slightly worried tone told me I couldn’t just brush her off with a half-hearted answer.

“No, I just got distracted. Your eyes are so beautiful I couldn’t help but get lost in thought.”

Since her beautiful eyes were the truth, I decided to use that truth to escape the situation.

I thought it was a reasonable answer—something Aslin would accept before focusing back on her meal.

“…!!”

But her reaction was… unexpected.

Like someone startled by a sudden ambush, she turned visibly flustered.

“W-why would you say something like that so suddenly?”

Her voice trembled slightly as she avoided my gaze, her ears tinged with red.

Hmm. Well, she looked away, so… mission accomplished?

“This breakfast is full of excellent dishes, as always.”

I continued my meal, masking my awkward excuse for avoiding Aslin’s gaze with exaggerated praise for the breakfast menu.

Usually, such comments would prompt Aslin to respond with polite modesty, even if only out of courtesy.

“….”

Yet, as she barely lifted her head to eat, there was no reaction from her.

‘…Should I apologize after breakfast for saying something unnecessary?’

This thought crossed my mind as we neared the end of our meal.

“….”

Aslin’s quiet demeanor made it clear she was difficult to approach.

After the small incident triggered by my musings, breakfast finally concluded. Aslin calmly began her usual routine, unaffected.

Not that it’s worth mentioning, but…

As the interim head of the Caladbolg Duchy, overseeing the empire’s northern regions, including the Zakrat Mountains, her mornings were filled with reviewing, sorting, and addressing a mountain of documents.

These papers detailed everything from the restoration of territories damaged by monsters to providing financial compensation for affected citizens.

‘Every time I see this, it’s absurd.’

Even with my rushed education under my father and my barely passable pretense as a noble, the sheer scale of administrative work left me slack-jawed when no one was watching.

It was a veritable mountain of thin white papers, stacked so high that the staff tasked solely with moving them struggled under their weight.

If it were me, I’d have abandoned everything and run away at the sight of such a workload.

Yet, not only did Aslin face this paper mountain without batting an eye, but even the retainers of the duchy performed their tasks with unwavering focus.

First, the staff delivered the documents. The retainers would sort them, separating those they could handle into one pile on the left, and those requiring higher authority into a pile on the right. They would then process the left pile while the right pile grew.

Once a significant number of documents accumulated in the right pile, they were taken by another group of staff to the higher-level retainers authorized to deal with them.

This process repeated until—

“The aroma is lovely….”

Eventually, the documents requiring final approval made their way to Aslin, seated calmly at the end of the office, sipping an exquisite tea.

Even though these documents had undergone several rounds of sorting and filtering, the final pile was enough to make a cold sweat drip down my forehead.

‘…There’s more than even my brother used to handle.’

I vividly recalled my brother, in his iron mask, confidently managing the affairs of the Sword Manor’s territory. Though I was impressed by his efficiency, the sheer number of papers covering his desk had left me daunted.

Now, the stacks of papers carried by the groaning staff here made my brother’s workload seem laughably small by comparison.

Had it been me in Aslin’s seat, I’d have thrown everything aside and fled.

‘This is insane.’

Yet, as I watched Aslin methodically handle the deluge of documents, I couldn’t look away.

She gently set aside her teacup, picked up a document, scanned it quickly, and stamped it with the seal of the Caladbolg Duchy—a bleeding, roaring red dragon.

Without pause, she grabbed the next document and repeated the process.

I barely blinked, yet in that short span, she had already processed and sorted several papers at a pace that was impossible to miss.

What could I say? It was just routine paperwork, and yet…

Watching Aslin work, I couldn’t help but feel an intensity akin to the battlefield, where she earned her reputation as a swordmaster both feared and admired.

As if to confirm my thoughts:

“Now this feels like real work. The volume has been oddly light until now.”

Aslin swiftly processed several documents, stretched lightly, and remarked with satisfaction, “Now this feels like work.”

Then, with a determined expression, she added, “Still, I have plans today, so I’ll need to finish quickly.”

With that, her eyes and hands moved in perfect harmony, their coordination becoming even more precise and swift. Before I knew it…

“Phew… all done.”

The towering stack of documents delivered by the staff had been sorted or signed off on and neatly placed on the table in a blink of an eye.

“Well done. That concludes today’s work. There’s no point wasting time sitting here when there’s nothing urgent left.”

“Yes, ma’am!!”

Aslin’s extraordinary efficiency had wrapped up what was, by all accounts, a heavier workload than usual, completing her morning duties by 9:30 AM. On any other day, this office would be bustling with her leisurely reviewing documents, but today…

The room echoed with the sound of retainers and staff leaving early, clearly pleased by her unexpected generosity.

“It seems we’re done here, so why don’t you spend some time with me now?”

Her voice, innocent yet filled with a strange sense of anticipation, caught me off guard.

“May I ask what you plan to do with my company?” I cautiously inquired, curious about her intentions.

“Hmph. What do you think I want to do?”

Her teasing response, accompanied by a playful expression, would normally irritate me if it came from anyone else. But with Aslin, it didn’t.

“Hmm. Are you planning to finally resume serious swordsmanship training?”

Her eyes sparkled as she responded, “Exactly! Although the retainers and staff tried to dissuade me, leaving my fully recovered body idle would be a problem, wouldn’t it?”

Her delighted smile at my correct guess was so captivating that it momentarily distracted me.

“If it’s not too much trouble… would you join me in my training?”

“Ah, uh, sure. I don’t have much else to do here, so I’ll join you.”

Before I could fully grasp what I was agreeing to, I found myself enchanted by her request. Despite having already trained in the morning, I foolishly accepted her invitation, knowing my body might protest.

‘Damn it….’

Regret hit me almost immediately, but it was too late.

“Now I see why the Sword Manor is considered on par with our Caladbolg swordsmen.”

By the time I came to my senses, I was already in the training grounds, struggling to keep up with Aslin.

Though I gave it my all, I was barely managing to match her pace.

Aslin’s dedication was awe-inspiring. Despite recently recovering from injuries, she was rigorously pushing her body to regain its strength, running with metallic weights magically embedded in her greaves.

Yet, what followed was even more astonishing.

“You know,” she said, her breath steady and her voice calm, “besides my father, no one has ever joined me for my training. Even the most enthusiastic knights gave up after one session and avoided me the next day like the plague.”

Her tone was lighthearted and cheerful, but what amazed me most was that her breathing didn’t falter even after the grueling session.

‘Does she never get tired?’

Since arriving here, I’d devoted myself to recovering my damaged mana core and engaging in intense physical training. Yet, compared to her, I was an amateur.

“Huff… huff… huff….”

While I struggled to catch my breath, Aslin carried on effortlessly, embodying relentless determination.

The day, which had started with subtle oddities, seemed determined to escalate, making it clear this would be anything but ordinary.

‘There’s no way I can give up here!’

Determined, I pushed myself to close the gap between us. But before I could move forward, Aslin’s urgent voice reached me.

“...Endy? Endy?!”

Before I could register her concern, my vision shifted. Instead of seeing her, I found myself staring at the clear blue sky, an odd mismatch for the season.

And then, with an ungraceful thud, my back hit the training ground floor.

Thud!

The sound was far louder than it should’ve been, likely due to the absurdly heavy metal plates embedded in my greaves mimicking Aslin’s.

‘Of course….’

As consciousness began slipping away, I had no time for further thoughts.

‘What an idiot….’

My final thought, before darkness claimed me, was cursing myself for getting caught up in Aslin’s pace and failing to stick to my own limits.