"You fucking—get your filthy hands—off her!!"

An’s beautiful eyes abruptly widened.

That voice was too wonderful—so wonderful that she thought she was hallucinating.

But she understood almost immediately that it wasn’t a hallucination.

Because this voice was carved too deeply into her bones, buried into her soul. Even in a dream, even in a fantasy, she could still tell real from fake in a single instant.

"Young Master..."

The cold shell automatically peeled away. Ripples spread across a calm lake. Those eyes that had never shown a trace of emotion even when facing the Enchantress Grand Duke now couldn’t help but bloom with dazzling color.

Like a flower opening.

Like a hot spring bursting up.

Like a rainbow hanging in the air.

Her gaze refused to waste even a heartbeat as it chased toward where the voice had come from.

"Young Master, you really did come to save me... huh?"

An suddenly froze.

When that longed-for scene finally entered her sight, even the cultivation and composure she’d been honed with since childhood—as Young Master’s personal maid—still couldn’t stop her mind from going blank for a moment.

Because in that instant, she didn’t see that familiar, handsome face.

What she saw was...

Something soft and lovely, like a delicate bloom.

Golden, big-waved hair spilled over the shoulders. The simple single-layer outfit still outlined curves not inferior to An’s own. The aura was noble, the looks were stunning, but the mannerisms and motions were rough to an almost comical degree...

Like a rebellious princess who’d hoisted a massive greatsword onto her shoulder, stuffed herself into ten-centimeter heels, and made a huffing, stomping, powder-and-paint entrance.

But... shouldn’t the one stepping in right now be a prince?

For a moment, An truly thought her longing had made her hallucinate. Yet that familiar scent—and her Young Master radar—could not possibly be wrong.

"I see."

An drew in a deep breath and returned to calm.

"So while I was gone, Young ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) Master has developed this kind of... hobby?"

"Dog thief, eat my—huh? Wait, An, this is a misunderstanding!"

Muen, who’d planned to catch the Enchantress Grand Duke off guard with a vicious slash—then appear in front of An in a cool, handsome way—nearly stumbled when he heard that.

Only now did he realize that in his panic, he hadn’t even undone this pretty-pretty disguise...

Damn it!

Is An going to think I’m some kind of pervert?!

"Don’t worry, Young Master. No matter what bizarre hobbies you have, I will respect them and accept them."

An tilted her gaze slightly aside.

"Because I am your personal maid."

"..."

No, no, wait—An, look me in the eyes!

In that moment, Muen felt the tall, handsome, macho image he’d maintained all this time collapse with a roar.

Of course, a shattered image wasn’t that big a deal—she was his closest person.

But with An’s personality...

Is she going to develop some kind of... special play later?

Muen shivered!

"Dammit—it’s all because of you!"

Grief and rage overlapped. Naturally, it had to be vented somewhere.

And as black flame danced with an eerie beauty, Muen had already clenched Elizabeth tight, aimed at the Enchantress Grand Duke, and swung without hesitation a strike he’d been charging for a long time...

His strongest slash.

Or rather—his appearance here was for this slash.

The blade light, dyed by black flame, turned pitch-black.

A hundredfold stacked brute force made that blade light explode outward, almost as if it were going to cut the entire high tower in two.

Off to the side, Zagu finally reacted. Even the brow hidden behind his faceplate couldn’t help but twitch.

Even he felt the threat of death in that slash.

"Oh my, has another pretty girl made an entrance?"

Yet the Enchantress Grand Duke still laughed, soft and coquettish.

With a casual wave, she swept away the black flower that had made her feel pain. At the same time, the pink fog spread, and Muen’s slash was like it had cleaved into layer after layer of swamp—gradually dissolved and dispersed.

It was as if, as long as it was a pretty girl, then insulting her, trying to kill her, even truly making her feel pain, wasn’t that big a deal.

How could the dignified Enchantress Grand Duke possibly stoop to quarrel with tasty—no, cute little white rabbits?

But then...

"Hm?"

As her gaze flicked—

"A man?"

The Enchantress Grand Duke froze as well. No matter how powerful the senior’s potion was—no matter how it had been improved later to fool most detections in this world—

That “most” certainly didn’t include a Crowned One.

The Enchantress Grand Duke’s expression abruptly turned savage.

"A man? You’re actually a man? You’re actually a stinking man?!"

"...You can treat me as a pretty girl for now."

Muen’s mouth twitched.

"I won’t mind for the time being."

"Die!"

The Enchantress flew into a fury.

To change one’s appearance and deceive her pure, innocent heart that appreciated pretty girls—this human had to be killed in the cruelest way possible.

First, she’d peel his skin off.

The Enchantress Grand Duke pointed with a finger.

But the moment she extended her hand, she felt something was wrong.

Huh?

Her... finger?

The Enchantress Grand Duke’s gaze dropped, and she saw that swaying black flower was still blooming on her finger, relentlessly gnawing away at her flesh.

She... hadn’t shaken it off?

Not only that.

The pink fog was like a swamp, making the blade light sink and then vanish.

But the black flames clinging to that blade light seemed completely unaffected. If anything, they burned even more fiercely—like a scythe of death already beginning to scorch her skin with pain.

"Not ordinary fire. This is... an Evil God’s power? An Evil God I’ve never seen."

The Enchantress Grand Duke finally looked the black flame in the eye.

She hadn’t expected that a mere Fourth-Tier martial warrior could hurt her—and wield such an uncanny flame.

In her hundred years as the Enchantress Grand Duke, she’d never encountered this. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

And this black flame felt oddly familiar. The Youyan Grand Duke had once reported that black sun that appeared on the empire’s frontline battlefield—it seemed somewhat similar to this black flame.

Were they related? Or was it...

"So what?"

The Enchantress Grand Duke sneered.

The spreading pink fog suddenly trembled, and her mocking laughter echoed like a drifting ghost.

"Your flame is indeed impressive. If it were an ordinary person, maybe they really would die if they weren’t careful. But who do you think I am?"

Who was she?

She was the Enchantress.

One of the demonfolk’s eight Grand Dukes.

A Crowned One standing at the demonfolk’s summit.

Even if an Evil God’s projection descended in person, she still had the qualifications to trade a few blows—let alone a mere...

Little flame?

The Enchantress Grand Duke stepped out of the pink fog, her body not harmed in the slightest.

And the Enchantress that had been scorched by the black flame had already turned into smoke and dispersed.

The black flame circled once, as if it had lost its way. Even though the Enchantress Grand Duke was right in front of it, even though Muen was constantly controlling it, it still couldn’t find the Enchantress’s true position.

"Truly ridiculous. But since you possess such an interesting power, I won’t kill you outright for now. I’m very curious about the source of this flame."

The Enchantress flicked a finger.

That cluster of black flame immediately wavered in panic, like a candle in a gale, ready to go out at any moment.

Muen’s face flushed. Terrifying backlash poured along his projected mental power into his mind, like an invisible sledgehammer slamming down—cracks instantly appearing across his entire mental space.

Warmth spread under his nose. Muen wiped, and saw vivid blood on his palm.

Useless.

Completely useless.

It did absolutely nothing—even with a full-force attack.

He couldn’t even singe a single hair on her. To her, his black flame was nothing but a circus trick—looks fierce, but other than entertaining her, it meant nothing.

Since obtaining black flame, this was the first time Muen had felt that this powerful force from an Evil God—something he’d always been able to use as a trump card—could be so helpless.

The gap was still far too great.

Crowned One—the “special realm among martial warriors” that that old loli had talked about—was simply not something his current black flame could contend with. It wasn’t that black flame’s “rank” wasn’t high enough. It was simply that right now, Muen was still far too weak in front of a Crowned One.

Charging out on a rush of hot blood was nothing but delivering himself for free.

From the amusement in the Enchantress’s eyes, it was obvious that his act of throwing himself out for An like this was laughably overestimating himself.

But...

"I won."

Muen suddenly crooked his mouth into a meaningful smile.

But because those three words were so unexpected, even Zagu at the side didn’t react—otherwise, at this moment, he would definitely have shouted with overwhelming déjà vu to tear that mouth off.

"What do you mean—did I scare you stupid?"

The Enchantress raised a brow. She didn’t care, already prepared to directly seize this human male reeking of stench and take him back to study slowly. The most important thing right now was still—

"Enchantress Grand Duke, you might not understand humans," Muen said suddenly.

"...What do you mean."

"For humans, there are two ways to die. One is death in the physical sense. And the second is... death in the social sense."

"Oh? That theory is a bit interesting. But what exactly are you trying to say?"

"What I’m saying is..."

The smile at Muen’s lips suddenly turned bitter.

"If social death is that humiliating, do you really think I’d run out here on my own to socially die?"

"It’s not social death."

Behind Muen, An spoke softly.

"Young Master is Young Master. No matter what you become, you are still Young Master. How could I ever be shaken just because of Young Master’s appearance?"

The Enchantress’s pupils shrank—she finally realized something.

That black flame wasn’t only blooming on her fingertips and in front of her.

Those black flames were also blooming on An’s shoulder.

Swaying. Swaying. Like a little spirit.

But because black flame could burn and devour everything, when Muen used his body to shield An, even the perception of the Enchantress Grand Duke—a Crowned One—had failed to notice that tiny flame.

And that black flame wasn’t trying to burn anything of An.

There was only one thing it wanted to burn.

The restriction the Enchantress Grand Duke had placed on An.

It didn’t need much. Just a little.

Enough for her to... move again, even if only slightly.

And then—to make the final three seconds of countdown that Ariel had fought for... start again!

Just three seconds ago.

"No—impossible! Right under my nose, you couldn’t even transmit sound in secret. How could you coordinate this perfectly?!"

All of this sounded simple when said out loud, but it wasn’t easy.

There was no way the Enchantress Grand Duke could truly fail to notice forever that her restriction was being eaten open by a tiny gap. And the moment she noticed, every bit of pretense would be ruined.

So their window to coordinate might only have been a negligible three or four seconds at most.

And this human male should have had no idea what that ancient relic in her hand was even for—so why could he be so certain...

"There was no need to discuss it in advance. No need to transmit sound, or even exchange a glance. No need for any so-called doubt. The moment I appeared, I think An knew what she had to do."

"And I also knew what I had to do."

Muen turned his head and looked at that familiar, dignified pretty face he hadn’t seen in so long.

"Right, my personal maid?"

"Of course, Young Master."

An’s lips curved, revealing the joy of finally piecing her world back together into something whole again.

"We’ve always understood each other without words."