Navia knew all too well what that look in his eyes meant.
It was the gaze of someone who held the power of life and death.
'Has the negotiation failed?'
Navia bit her lip and cautiously avoided his touch, pretending to make contact.
She needed to absorb some of his magical power with the power of Black Moon to at least prepare a minimal defense.
But Black Moon remained quiet.
Lark's eyes flashed.
"What was that just now?"
Navia's face turned pale.
'What's happening? Why is there no change?'
This person is definitely a magician, right?
"You."
It was when Lark seemed about to twist Navia's neck.
"I'll cut it."
She tried to remain calm, but her voice quivered faintly.
"If you dislike this hair, I'll cut it all off. I'll even dye it."
Her hair wasn't important if it meant achieving her goal.
After all, it had been grown long, down to her thighs, merely to sell her at a high price in the orphanage.
Navia immediately prostrated herself on the floor, begging Lark.
The nobility liked this kind of thing.
The more lowly, the more they were satisfied.
Navia knew this from countless experiences.
That's why she had no hesitation in debasing herself.
Shame?
Humiliation?
Embarrassment?
Such things were of no help in preserving one's life.
"I won't be a nuisance. If there's anything I need to change, I'll change it."
What an opportunity I have obtained.
How far I've come to be here.
I must survive.
As long as I live, I can find another way.
Navia spoke desperately.
"I can do anything. I'm surely useful...!"
Then a voice she had heard countless times before hit her ears.
"You're good for nothing. This is what it means to be born lowly. Tsk!"
Her lips involuntarily closed.
Her throat was choked, unable to make a sound.
Navia's gaze slowly fell to the floor. Silence filled the hallway.
"..."
'Is this again the limit of my birth?'
She had never lived a welcomed life.
No matter how much she proved her usefulness, she had never been respected.
It was natural.
Because she wasn't a person.
But a tool.
Still, if she was a useful tool, couldn't they join hands just once?
But Lark, with his cold eyes, said no.
Not to her scheming, not to her silver hair.
'Then what must I do to survive?'
Is death my only option? Like in my past eight lives.
Lark, thinking a child would either cry or tremble, coldly announced,
"I'll spare your life. Now leave."
It was when he turned his back.
"You'll regret this."
Her voice was soft.
As if her spirit had left, it was dry.
She mentioned regret in such a voice.
Lark turned back toward Navia.
Navia was still looking at the floor.
But she wasn't engulfed in despair as before.
As he frowned, Navia intently stared at Lark's shoes caught in her gaze.
It was her first time seeing Lark Eseled.
She had no information about him.
But something caught Navia's sharp senses.
As her head cooled and she began to concentrate, Navia's face became expressionless.
She raised her head, meeting Lark's gaze head-on.
"You're staying here to guard this place, aren't you?"
A chilling look crept into Lark's expression, incomparable to before.
Navia's red eyes shone more sharply.
This person's weakness was definitely the Duke's mansion itself.
Despite his apparent indifference to the world, the fact that he had never abandoned this place was the proof.
Lark was exceptional.
Without any specific verification, one could intuitively feel how extraordinarily capable he was.
In appearance, magical ability, and status, he lacked nothing.
Reading much from the fact that such a person never left the ducal house yet maintained such a normal appearance, Navia spoke boldly.
"I have already informed the powers that be about the possibility of conquering Eseled. Agnes and the royal family turned their attention here after their power struggles. I know all too well how arrogant and persistent they are."
"Shut up."
"Your Grace. You need to listen to me. Eliminating me won't solve the problem. They will target Eseled relentlessly like a pack of hyenas, and a second, a third like me will come."
"Don't you hear me saying to shut up?"
Navia, unfazed by Lark's menacing demeanor, interrupted him.
"When someone else enters here, unlike me, there will be no room for such negotiations."
Because they would enter without having broken free from the brainwashing, like her.
"You'll regret it if you let me go."
Definitely.
Navia, like a fiercely poisoned kitten, threatened Lark with her claws out.
Silence fell between them for a moment.
However, a tense standoff and fierce psychological warfare were unfolding between the two.
Lark was genuinely dumbfounded.
And genuinely angry.
Not out of the usual annoyance or irritation.
But because he was hit where it hurt.
It was anger that this tiny child had seen right through him.
Ridiculous.
Not even funny.
That this insignificant life, which he could turn to dust with a flick of his finger, dared to be so audacious.
Lark spoke as if spitting out the words.
"You don't seem to care about your life."
Navia countered unyieldingly.
"I am threatening you because my life is precious."
"…Ha."
Navia, small and frail as if she could be knocked over with a touch, still glared at him with eyes sparkling with determination despite trembling.
'Irritating.'
The pure silver hair, unlike his, shining brightly.
The dazzling determination surrounded by the will to live.
Everything was irritating.
'Then I just have to remove it from my sight.'
As Lark reached out to the child.
Gurgle!
Navia quickly wrapped her arms around her stomach with a panicked expression.
'Why now of all times!'
Her face and even her neck were flushed with embarrassment.
She had drunk plenty of water, but that was not enough to fill her stomach.
Lark's hand involuntarily stopped.
The silver hair spreading like flames on the black floor painfully struck his sight.
His mansion was dark.
In it, Navia alone was shining.
Like a white flame.
It reminded him of someone.
"…"
Swoosh!
With a lift of his finger, Navia, who had been kneeling on the floor, was suddenly raised.
A soft force stood her up.
"One year."
At the unexpected words, Navia looked at Lark with confusion.
Lark continued indifferently.
"…Get out by then."
Huh?
"What does that mean…?"
Navia asked in a dazed voice.
"Does that mean I can stay here until then?"
Lark, faced with such a direct question, briefly closed his mouth.
Then, with a tsk, as if clicking his tongue, he nonchalantly replied.
"Do as you like."
Snap!
He vanished as he snapped his fingers.
