"Who's that man?"
Mirellia's voice sliced through the silence, aimed at Lysette.
The question lingered in the silence—they had just discovered this hidden underwater cave, tucked far among the coral reefs.
And yet, someone lay sleeping inside, as if he belonged here.
Mirellia gently touched Lysette's shoulder, but she didn't react.
A moment later, Lysette flinched and slowly turned her head.
"S-Sorry... did you say something?"
Lysette asked, feeling slightly bad for ignoring Mirellia.
Seeing the boy sleeping soundly inside the underwater cave left her frozen.
What if he was a demon in disguise? Or a villain scheming in silence?
They'd both be doomed.
"Should we wake him up?"
Mirellia didn't answer. Instead, she responded with a question of her own.
She pointed at the man in front of them with her index finger.
Lysette Replied.
"We shouldn't."
Lysette turned around.
"Let's just leave."
"Don't."
Mirellia stopped Lysette as she was about to leave.
"We need to rest. Besides, we can't go back to the surface; it's already very dark. The princess herself said so, didn't she?"
Mirellia pulled Lysette's arm and pulled her in.
"We can rest here without waking him. The princess's health is the top priority."
"But—"
Lysette froze as the man stirred.
She hadn't meant to stop—it was like something was holding her down.
"Mirellia... I can't move," she whispered, panic creeping into her voice.
Mirellia seemed to be experiencing the same thing.
Her body refused to move.
Her hands trembled, her muscles tensed.
"H-He's awake…"
Mirellia tried to take a step back as she watched the man rub his eyes.
Her intuition was bad.
She felt that this man was a dangerous creature.
"Huh?"
Hastora was slightly confused when he saw two girls standing before him.
He rubbed his still-blurred eyes.
"I must be dreaming."
He stood up and washed his face using the water from the nearby pool.
He wiped his face to dry it.
He turned towards the two girls he had just seen.
His eyes widened; it wasn't a dream; it was real.
He really did see two girls in front of him.
One had light blue hair and sapphire eyes. She had a sweet face, fair skin, and a very athletic build.
The other had white hair and striking blue eyes. Her cheeks were sunken, her skin pale, and her body athletic.
Although both were athletic, there was a significant difference between them.
His gaze flickered down momentarily.
'Too much detail', he scolded himself.
With calm steps, he walked towards his smartphone.
He checked the time.
'1:58? What the heck?I thought it was morning.'
His brows furrowed.
After everything today, he'd only managed a few minutes of sleep?
He was slightly annoyed, but he couldn't do anything about it.
He sighed and turned back towards the two girls.
'Wait…'
Something about them rang a bell.
Familiar.
He dug through his memory—so many names, so many faces...
Then it hit him.
Lysette von Asterea. Mirellia Avelora.
His heart skipped a beat.
Although his face looked calm, his mind said otherwise.
'Shit… this is bad.'
Of all the people he could've met, why them?
Those two girls were from Glazareth, the territory ruled by Valeska, the kingdom's current queen.
This was bad.
Meeting them would potentially involve him with Glazareth, which meant he would be involved with Valeska.
As much as possible, he had to avoid them to avoid getting too involved with them.
"If you want to sleep here, go ahead. I'm done here; I'll be going. Sleep well."
He spoke, then without saying anything, walked past them both.
Lysette's body could already move when Hastora passed them.
So did Mirellia; she could move her limbs again.
"Who exactly was that man?"
Mirellia gasped; the incident had truly sent chills down her spine.
She felt as if she were in the presence of a truly dangerous entity.
She was sure that if she made even the slightest mistake, she would die.
She felt incredibly lucky.
However, she was slightly suspicious that the man would just leave them like that.
They had disturbed his sleep; he would surely come back to kill them both while they were asleep.
"What now?"
She asked Lysette.
She had to hear Lysette's opinion and decision first.
Although she was slightly unsure, she couldn't act arbitrarily.
She was aware of her position as a personal maid.
"What else can we do? He said he was done."
Lysette sighed and made her way to the corner of the cave.
"Now this place doesn't belong to anyone; resting here isn't a big deal."
"…If the princess says so, then okay."
Mirellia walked towards her.
She sat down and leaned against the cave wall.
Her energy was completely drained.
She had been swimming all day to find a plant said to cure a curse.
But now she was sure that such a plant didn't exist.
They had been searching for the plant for days but hadn't found it.
Initially, they believed the words of a black-hooded man they met in the imperial capital.
The hooded man had seemed suspicious from the moment she first saw him.
However, to save the queen, she had no choice but to try to find the plant.
But now her suspicions had become the truth.
The plant was just nonsense.
They had been deceived.
However, Lysette didn't seem to realize it yet.
She sat in silence, staring blankly at the diving suit by the pool.
Her mind was so jumbled, she hadn't even realized what it was.
She was lost in thought.
"…?"
Now she realized it.
"Mirellia, isn't that a diving suit?" she asked.
"Yes," Mirellia replied. "Why are you asking? Did you just realize it?"
"We have magic that allows us to breathe underwater; we don't need that thing, so it's clearly not ours.
"Does it belong to that man? He was the only one here, wasn't he?"
"Hmm… It doesn't add up. How could someone that terrifying use something as mundane as a diving suit?"
They exchanged confused glances.
If that man really owned the diving suit...
Then was he truly powerful — or had they just imagined it?
To be continued in the next chapter…