Chapter 161 - Charles' Astonishment

“What…? What are you saying?”

Azriel shook her head and laughed meaninglessly. Then, she buried herself in Lexina’s arms and rubbed her cheeks against her.

“M-master…”

Marthi was disconcerted and studied the atmosphere. Rhema, who had stiffened, took a few steps forward. When he tried to approach her, Marthi blocked him. “Don’t get close to my master.”

“I can’t leave her like this, so I am going to take her to a safe place,” Rhema said.

“That’s a familiar’s job,” Marthi said.

“Can you move her without being seen?” Rhema asked in a calm tone, but it sounded mocking.

Marthi raised his feathers and growled.

“Get out of my way,” Rhema said coldly and approached Azriel. When Marthi blocked him again, he gave the familiar a look. Upon that, Marthi could not move at all. It felt like he was being bound by invisible chains.

“…!”

Rhema passed by the struggling Marthi, snatched Azriel, and lifted her into his arms.

“Huh? Where are you going?” Lexina asked, blinking in confusion. Ignoring her, Rhema gestured to Marthi.

An invisible hand caught the nape of Marthi’s neck. He let out a muffled cry. “Kek!”

Rhema disappeared beyond space with Azriel and Marthi. There was only Lexina left in the garden house. She grumbled and drank wine alone. Not long after that, someone approached from outside.

“Lady Madriol, Azriel, are you still here?”

It was Charles. He danced with other noble ladies adequately so that gossip about him would not become serious. Then, he slipped out to get to the garden house after Ash told him that the lady and Azriel were in there.

“Is there no one?” he asked, but as there was no response, he pushed the door open. “What?”

As soon as he entered the garden house, he tripped over something. He bent his waist and picked up a fancy-looking woman’s shoe made out of white leather.

“Why is this…” Curious, he lifted his face with the shoe in his hand and was stupefied by the scene before his eyes. “…Lady?”

The blue shade of the disheveled hair looked familiar. Charles realized it was Lady Madriol. However, he was not familiar with her current appearance at all. She had lifted her dress above her knees, sinking to the floor with her bare feet stretched out freely. There were a couple of empty bottles rolling beside her. She lifted her head upon hearing his voice, and her reddened face was splotchy with tears and smeared makeup.

Lexina was always perfect and elegant. In addition, she was a remarkable talent. Using her practice guild made it easy to conceal the mobilization of a great deal of money and people. For such a reason, the investigation headquarters was disguised as the Topaz Guild. However, the reason that Lexina’s guild was chosen among many was that Charles acknowledged her considerably. For her age, Lady Madriol was cool-headed and handled matters in outstanding ways. She also had assertiveness. It was rare for the children of high nobles to be admitted to a royal college by themselves and establish fine records. Above all, she was trustworthy. Madriol and Rudimna were the families that Charles trusted the most as king. Thus, Charlene had never imagined Lexina to be in such a state. He was so surprised that he even forgot the fact that he had come to find Azriel. Lexina frowned as soon as she saw his shiny blond hair.

“Your Majesty?” she asked.

“…Lady Madriol, did something happen?”

“Well, something happened indeed.” Lexina groped around the floor and grabbed a bottle, glaring at him. With his mouth agape, Charles vacantly watched her while she drank from the bottle. The bottle was empty. Lexina annoyedly shook the bottle and threw it carelessly to one side when nothing came out. The bottle surprisingly did not break. “Geez. There’s none.”