As for the black-haired boy, he could see in the dark so the source of light behind the dark-haired girl did not obscure her face in any way either.

The two of them stayed like that for a few seconds, just looking at each other and…

(Master!)

”!!!!”

A voice called out from the depths of Zoemi’s mind, causing him to jolt in absolute shock.

It wasn’t Ludier’s shadow – it was the voice of the bear that the black-haired boy heard while experiencing the events from three hundred years back!

(Master! I will protect…!)

|SHUT THE FUCK UP! SHE ISN’T YOUR MASTER!|

The voice called out again, and Zoemi’s body filled with warmth – but Zoemi himself did not feel happy at all, on the contrary, he looked away from the dark-haired girl in front of him and his face twisted in fury as he lashed out at the voice of the plush bear that found its way into his mind.

”Zoemi…? Is… is it a bad time for me to… visit…?”

Seeing the boy’s actions and mistaking them for a reaction to her showing up unannounced at the late hour caused Miriette to tense up.

”N-no, of course not! Well… maybe a little…”

Zoemi gasped and shook his head, focusing back on the girl in front of him.

”Oh… I understand… Let’s talk another…”

Miriette lowered her head, trying to hide her upset expression while biting the inside of her cheek, trying to not be too obvious.

Even though when compared, the two of them spent a lot less time apart than together it seemed like the time when Zoemi wasn’t by her side had changed her the most.

Before it would take a lot of convincing to change her mind from the idea she thought of as good – even for Zoemi – but now she was really showing off her self-restraint that she never displayed before.

…at least to the same extent…

”Wait, Mi… my lady – I only meant that the time of the day, or rather a night, is a little bit troublesome – not that I don’t want to see you…!”

As the dark-haired girl was turning away, the black-haired boy stepped out of the room provided to him and spoke out in a worried whisper.

’Well.. it is inconvenient… but I did make sure to sneak by everyone, so unless Ehmi or Burushi will wake up and start looking for me, everything should be fine.”

Miriette instantly turned around and declared in a confident whisper, as she puffed out her chest and raised her head proudly.

”…umm… how are you so sure…?”

The black-haired boy leaned back and asked.

He did not doubt the girl’s abilities – but he sure felt a bit worried.

Usually, Miriette’s idea of sneaking by someone was to knock that person out and just walk by normally.

”People breathe and that makes the air move, same with them moving around – I tried concentrating on that while using my mana, and I waited or hide when I sensed the movement of air~!”

The dark-haired girl boasted and spread her arms as if awaiting the prize to come her way.

She did not actually expect anything and was just emoting – after all, just like Zoemi knew how she acted, Miriette was more than used to him not picking up on her signals.

But this time…

”…!”

The black-haired boy’s face lighted up with a longing smile and he stepped forward, leaning down and hugging the dark-haired girl, causing her brain to short-circuit for a moment out of pure shock.

”I’m sorry for calling and bothering you when you were busy.”

Zoemi apologized as before he did not have a chance to do so…

”F-forget about that! That was my fault!”

Both the hug and the apology were unexpected enough to make Miriette start thinking straight again – and the first thing she did was to hug back the boy who was moving away with a timid expression that she recognized as a sign that he was about to start apologizing for hugging her in the first place – and she wanted none of that.

The dark-haired girl climb on her tiptoes and raced her with all her physical might – which did not include any magic whatsoever, so it amounted to a soft hug, only with Miriette’s arm slightly shaking as she was doing her best.

”I am the one who is sorry… I spoke before I thought and make such a big deal out of it, it’s not like you timed things out on purpose, after all.”

She said with her forehead firmly pressed against the boy’s chest, doing her very best to hide her blushing face.

”Ummm… well I did time it, though…”

”WHAT?!”

Zoemi answered sounding slightly worried and made Miriette flinch and look up at him in disbelief.

”I apologize once again. I was sure that you were about to eat supper and had some time to spare, but my timing seemed to be off completely.”

The black-haired boy apologized profoundly once again, and that calmed down Miriette a little bit.

”That’s what you mean… It’s okay… I wasn’t even all that mad at you, it just was a bad moment… well, not a moment but, you know…! Uuu…. this is embarrassing…”

The dark-haired girl flinched and fidgetted, firmly pressing herself against the boy’s body doing her best to let him know that she doesn’t want him to leave without actually voicing that thought.

Kid, you are a good kid so I will assume that this is your wife – maybe you should take her inside and not display your affection in the hallway?

|…|

Ludier’s shadow voice called out from within the boy’s mind, making Zoemi sigh internally as a response.

Ludier’s reaction did have an impact but not exactly in a way that the unique shadow intended the things to go…

”…I… I am a high noble now…”

The black-haired boy spoke up looking down at the girl clinging to his chest.