Chapter 56
“Are you planning to follow me?”
“……”
“I don’t mind if you come, but if you do, you have to behave.”
“I know. You want me to stay by your side.”
Alnazir smiled softly, though his eyes burned with something sharper.
“And you can’t go turning people into stone like you did to Uncle Bilter.”
“You shouldn’t trick women!“
Bilter had only tried to scold him like a proper adult, but the moment he put a hand on Alnazir’s back, he was turned to stone. It took Fay crying and begging for him to be restored before he was changed back. She’d nearly lost him.
“You can’t do that to my friends. If you do, I’ll really be mad, so you’d better remember that.”
Fay shot him a sulky glare before turning her head away.
Her prickly attitude made Alnazir’s brow twitch. He didn’t know what her problem was, but lately she’d been like this more and more—sometimes normal, sometimes suddenly glaring at him and snorting in annoyance.
He had asked her if she was unhappy.
“With the great Alnazir? No! Not at all! I have absolutely no complaints!”
She said she didn’t, there was nothing more he could press. Still, her occasional hostile looks were starting to grate on him. It felt like the witch was testing how much he would tolerate.
He only hoped she would stop before he snapped.
Otherwise, she’d end up crying beneath him again.
…Then again, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Her flushed cheeks and tearful eyes when she was overwhelmed by pleasure had been rather adorable.
The sulky witch and her faintly predatory invoked climbed onto the broom together. With no lumber or supplies to carry, it was light that day.
When they reached the castle, Fay went straight to find Virelda. She and Zynie were standing on the first staircase past the main gate.
“So that man is here with you too.”
Both of them looked uneasy as soon as they saw Alnazir.
“Do you still think I’ve been fooled?”
Other people might think that, but these two were her closest friends. Their disbelief stung.
Zynie hesitated.
“Well, it’s just… the atmosphere in your house felt like that.”
“My house?”
“When I went there before.”
She’d been inside?
Fay froze. She had no memory of letting her in. That could only mean Alnazir had opened the door while she was out. She had told him again and again not to do that!
Her irritation with him was already sky-high, so she immediately blamed him.
“And his face is totally your type, the bad boy-looking ones.”
Zynie glanced down the steps at Alnazir, who was standing there blankly.
“I-I don’t like bad boy-looking guys!”
Zynie blinked.
“Since when?”
“Sadly, it’s always been like that.”
Virelda backed her up.
“Well, okay, some of the men I dated didn’t end well, but still—”
“Some?”
Virelda cut in coolly. Fay could only groan.
“Still! I wasn’t attracted to them because they looked bad!”
Had they really looked that bad? At least to her, they’d just been… very handsome.
“I think you two are remembering things wrong. I—”
“Enough. I didn’t call you here to talk about your invoked’s looks.”
Virelda cut her off and got straight to the point.
“The Golden Army is on its way.”
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