“If this happens again, you’d better be prepared.”

Sikar Blake had said it to scare Reidox, but contrary to his expectations, Reidox wasn’t particularly frightened.

After all, Reidox knew that no matter how much of a villain Sikar was, he would never harm children.

Anyway, we entrusted Kian Blake to them for that day and returned to the Duke’s mansion.

That afternoon, while having dinner with Kian who had come back to the Duke’s mansion, Sikar gave him one piece of advice.

“I have something to tell you. From now on, don’t just take it—fight back. Pull their hair or throw a punch.”

Kian, seemingly baffled, stopped putting the spoon he’d lifted for soup into his mouth.

“Girls? I can’t do that.”

“At your age, they’re all just children anyway.”

Kian placed his spoon down on the table as if he’d completely lost his appetite.

“I can’t reason with you, Duke. I’m not hungry, so I’ll excuse myself.”

‘This kid is better than most adults.’

Sikar didn’t seem truly furious—he merely raised one eyebrow and muttered something like, “Playing the hero, huh?”

But the next day, when Kian arrived with a bruise on his face, Sikar became utterly enraged.

“What happened to your face?!”

This time, because his face was badly bruised, Kian seemed slightly self-conscious and avoided eye contact.

“I fell while trying to stop the kids.”

Looking at his face, it didn’t seem like he’d been hit. Given that Kian was quicker than his peers, it was unlikely the other children could’ve beaten him so badly that his eyes were swollen black and blue—it really did seem like he’d just fallen.

I sent Kian upstairs to his room, fearing Sikar might blurt out something reckless like, “This time, slice their necks with a sword!”

Sikar clenched his fists tightly, as if his family’s honor had been gravely tarnished.

“I must go to Yukanadar immediately tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s the day Kian has his spirit lesson with Vika Lamberst. That’s why we’re not going to Yukanadar. There’s no lesson tomorrow anyway—no need to go.”

Kian went to the Marquis’s mansion three days a week, and received spirit lessons here two days a week.

Though it was an age when children should be playing freely, given his status, we couldn’t let him simply play around—this schedule reflected the original novel’s circumstances to some extent.

“Besides, tomorrow is also the day Grandmother was supposed to visit.”

“Grandmother won’t be coming tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“They say dementia symptoms still appear when she leaves the temple. So the visit’s been postponed.”

Though he spoke calmly, Sikar’s expression was quite dark. He only had one blood relative—of course he wouldn’t feel good about it.

“Then shall we go to her?”

At my question, Sikar looked surprised and stared at me curiously.

“You mean, go all the way to the Grand Temple where Grandmother is?”

“Yes. If Grandmother can’t come here, then we should go to her. She must miss you so much.”

“Really… you think so…?”

“Even though her dementia symptoms haven’t fully disappeared, she still wanted to come because she misses you. But as soon as she stepped out of the temple, the symptoms appeared again, so she couldn’t come…”

“Are you really that worried…?”

“As I said before, of course I’m worried.”

“Then, as you say, let’s go visit Grandmother. We can hand over the Grand Temple’s donation fund while we’re at it.”

“If we bring along knitting supplies she likes, she’ll probably be even happier.”

Sikar stared at me blankly, then placed his hand atop my head—it was the kind of gesture people make when patting a puppy they find endearing.

“You’re saying something quite sweet.”

He probably didn’t read my scowling face as saying, “This hand is annoying—get it off me right now,” but Sikar quickly lowered the hand he’d placed on my head.

“Then, right after Gillian’s wedding, we’ll go pay our respects to Grandmother. Attending the wedding comes first for now.”

‘Ah, right. Gillian’s wedding is still coming up.’

“In that case, let’s invite the children here tomorrow.”

“Huh? Invite the children here? Why?”

What are you planning to tell them?!

“As you suggested, we’re in the process of turning the training room into an amusement park.”

“So you asked Jeremi Iker to handle it?”

“Jeremi is here right now, working on it. He seemed quite pleased, since he’s been needing money lately.”

Apparently, Jeremi had already been working in the training room since yesterday, finishing various simulation setups. I felt inwardly grateful that Sikar had listened to my suggestion for the children’s sake, but at the same time, it felt suspicious.

Why had he suddenly listened to me so well? Was he actually setting up a haunted house-like environment to discipline the children, then calling it an amusement park? It seemed doubtful.

“Thank you, Sikar. The children will be truly touched. Thanks to you, Kian will probably make a good impression on them. But can I go take a look at how it’s set up?”

“Of course. First, we should check whether Jeremi has finished his work.”

According to what we found out, Jeremi had already completed everything and left the Duke’s mansion. So we headed straight for the training grounds.

It was a place I’d previously avoided out of fear—according to the novel, Sikar had installed all sorts of terrifying simulations there for training purposes.

It was a place where reality and illusion became indistinguishable—more frightening, even, than a hyper-realistic 3D horror game.

The training room was just a short walk from the mansion. Where most noble houses would place a greenhouse garden, Sikar had placed his training grounds.

Compared to the mansion, the training room was pitifully small—externally, it appeared to be only about 30 pyeong in size. Yet within that small space, another world existed.

The training grounds consisted only of a waiting area-cum-corridor and a small door leading into the training room. Durion and Vika Lamberst, who had been lounging in chairs in the waiting room, jumped up as soon as they saw me.

“Oh, what brings you here at this hour, Madam?”

“I came to show you the training room.”

I smiled gently at Sikar’s words as he followed me inside.

“Yes. That’s why I’m here.”

As Sikar reached to open the training room door, Vika Lamberst leapt off the wall, dashed forward, and stood in front of him.

“If Madam enters right now, she’ll be quite surprised.”

“That’s why I’m adjusting the environment—step aside.”

I knew what kind of settings they usually used for training, so I understood why Vika suddenly tried to stop me from entering.

Their usual settings included labyrinths filled with Balrogs, dragon nests where dragons roared, or stormy mountains engulfed in blizzards.

Extremely dangerous places. Though created by magic—so even if an enemy beheaded you, you wouldn’t die—you usually entered at scheduled times, meaning you had to remain motionless in that state until the space reverted to a normal room.

So if you fell into hellfire, even though it wouldn’t burn you, you’d have to swim around in it until the setting timer ended or you walked to the door and opened it yourself.

For ordinary people, such visual horror would make them shudder or even faint.

Seeing that Sikar was adjusting it to a completely new environment, Vika nodded as if to say “Go ahead” and stepped aside.

“Shall we go in, then?”

Though I watched Sikar open the door and step inside, I didn’t immediately follow. I gripped the doorframe, peeked my head in slightly to glance around, then intended to enter.

After all, I’d only read descriptions of it in the novel—I’d never actually seen it myself.

Just as I was peering in slightly, Sikar grabbed my hand and yanked me inside.

“Eeek…!”

I screamed as I was pulled in, then marveled at the scenery around me.

Inside the training room was an amusement park brimming with childlike wonder. Behind a grassy field covered in lush green under a blue sky rose a small hill, and beyond the horizon stretched a rainbow.

Though it was daytime, the sky held the sun, a crescent moon, and stars all at once, while above the grass spun huge pinwheel-like objects folded as if from colored paper.

The space, with its pleasant temperature and gentle breeze, felt instantly refreshing just standing still.

Moreover, seeing such a vibrant, sunlit spring meadow in a place where everywhere else was deep winter felt even more surreal.

“How is it? Good?”

“Yes. The children will love it.”

“If we just lay down a single picnic mat, it’ll be the perfect environment. I’ve also prepared all sorts of toys the children enjoy these days—blocks, jenga, marbles, and so on. I drew a lot of inspiration from your memories.”

I hadn’t expected him to prepare things so meticulously—Sikar seemed slightly different to me now.

That is, I saw just a tiny glimpse of a parental side in him.

“You’ve prepared so much. Thank you, Sikar.”

Sikar, who had been watching me without expression, slowly raised the corners of his mouth.

“Thinking about how happy the children will be tomorrow makes me quite satisfied. Let’s go now.”

At that moment, Sikar’s retreating back somehow felt unsettling. But since he always radiated an unsettling aura anyway, I wasn’t particularly disturbed.

It wasn’t until the next day that I understood the meaning behind his “satisfaction.”

The next day, the Yukanadar twins visited the Duke’s mansion.

Seeing Vika Lamberst, the twins gaped in wonder.

“A Dark Elf!”

Vika Lamberst showed them his ears with a face that clearly said he wasn’t pleased.

“Have you ever seen a Dark Elf with ears like these?”

“Uh… weird… your skin and hair color are definitely Dark Elf…”

They must have been confused. After patting the twins’ heads, Reidox approached me and bowed slightly in gratitude.

“Thank you for inviting us. However, it’s very difficult to manage the twins alone. Still, we couldn’t refuse the invitation, so we thought we’d just come over for a cup of tea. Where is Duke Sikar?”

“Ah, Sikar is away on business right now.”

“Did he perhaps go out to investigate the spirits spread across all of Blake?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“The Duke must be working hard.”

Gillian was spreading spirits throughout not only Blake but the entire Rekador Kingdom to find Kian.

Sikar’s mental power could control spirits, and Durion’s sword could cut them down. But they couldn’t chase down every frequently appearing spirit individually—so Sikar had been setting traps for spirits whenever reports came in.

“Are there many spirit reports in Yukanadar too?”

“Thanks to the spirit traps Duke Sikar installed previously, it’s manageable—but once those traps reach the end of their lifespan, things will get busy again.”

“Then, will you follow me now?”

I led Reidox toward the training room, but since the training grounds outwardly resembled a greenhouse garden, he followed me with the casual air of someone coming for afternoon tea.

“I didn’t know the Duchess also tended a greenhouse garden.”

I suppose since work is work, even close friends like Jeremi hadn’t told Reidox anything about the training room.

“It’s much bigger than a garden.”

I opened the training room door for him. Reidox stared blankly, then glanced around the corridor disbelievingly before looking back into the room.

Strange, right? Clearly, from outside, it appeared only as large as a greenhouse garden—but inside existed an enormous, dazzling amusement-park-like space. Hard to believe.

“This… this is…”

Smiling at Reidox, who was simply standing there with his mouth agape in astonishment, I said,

“There’s no better place for children to play, is there?”