Kinemia pouted, oddly annoyed by Ahyan's strange reaction.
"Fine! I wasn't going to take it back anyway! I'm not the kind of person who takes back a gift!"
Only then did Ahyan seem relieved, his expression returning to normal. But he kept fiddling with the bracelet.
"Why do you keep touching it? Is something wrong with it?"
Ahyan, who was rubbing the amber on the bracelet, smiled slightly.
"It's my first time having a friend."
"And it's the first time I've received something like this," he added quietly.
Kinnemia bit her lip, her heart wavering.
"Don't even try that sad act again; it's not going to work...!"
Kinemia's words stopped abruptly as she was about to ask how he could have no friends for 13 years.
Soon, Kinnemia's eyes widened. Ahyan tilted his head, but Kinnemia just stood there, shoulders trembling, struck by a sudden realization.
Me too…!
In this life, I haven't had any friends either!
How could I? Nobles wouldn't play with me because I was Leon, and commoners wouldn't play with me because I was a noble!
That's why I'm hearing about the Friendship Festival for the first time! Everyone knows I haven't had any friends, so no one would tell me about it!
Oh my god, I haven't had a single friend for 12 years…
Boom! It felt like thunder and lightning were crashing down on her head.
'How can someone as bright and kind as me have a life like a sociopath…!'
When Kinnemia didn't say anything for a while, Ahyan asked, "Mia? Why?"
"No... I was just thinking... we're each other's first friends."
"I'm your first?"
"Yeah… I hate it, though…"
"I like it."
He smiled sweetly.
"That's… good to hear."
Kinnemia turned her head away, her expression darkening.
Her first and only friend in this life is an evil wizard; is she slowly walking the path to ruin?
How sad.
After chatting idly by the pillar for a while, Kinnemia and Ahyan followed a maid to the dining hall when she called them for lunch.
Kinnemia was asking the maid what was for lunch when she noticed Ahyan. He'd been walking normally, but suddenly he swung his arm around, looking uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, my joints have just been kind of creaky lately."
"Really? Is it growing pains?"
"Growing pains?"
"You know, the pain you get when you grow taller."
"Ah…"
"Maybe something like that," Ahyan muttered, nodding.
Then Kinnemia narrowed her eyes.
He's already this big, and he's still trying to grow taller on his own?!
She huffed and turned away, but then something black caught her eye.
'…?'
Something that looked like butterfly wings brushed past the corner of the window.
Kinnemia rubbed her eyes. She thought she had just seen a black butterfly.
'Was I seeing things?'
Anyway, she couldn't just stand there. Kinnemia glared at Ahyan.
The height difference between them was already becoming significant. Looking up at the top of his head, she started getting more and more annoyed.
What is with him!
Even though they're only a year apart!
Even though they're still kids!
Even though he didn't have any friends either!
'I need to take some growth medicine or something.'
'The smell of herbal medicine…'
Kinnemia walked into the Hyeminwon, leaving Ahyan behind, despite his insistence on following her.
"Oh, Miss! You've come."
The clerk who spotted Kinnemia rushed out, putting his hands together in a prayer gesture.
'Again?!'
Kinnemia awkwardly bowed her head to him. The greeting of the Wei family, like that of the West Continent, was to bow, but she didn't know why they kept putting their hands together in prayer only to her.
"Young Miss, please wait here. I'll get Shen Tian-nim."
"Mm-hmm."
The clerk led Kinnemia into the reception room and knocked on the door of the next room.
"Shen Tian-nim! Quit your drinking and get out here! The Young Miss is here!"
He was drinking again?! In broad daylight?
Kinnemia was staring out at the bright daylight when she heard Shen Tian's voice.
"Mia?"
"She's here, in the Magnolia Room."
Shen Tian straightened his silky robe and shuffled out, a bottle of liquor in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
'…The epitome of laziness. Is this what a real loafer is like?'
As the clerk led him to the Magnolia Room where Kinnemia was, Kinnemia stood up and greeted him.
"I'm here, Brother."
"Well, well, Aga. Good to see you."
She wanted to tell him that he would die young if he lived like that, but Shen Tian Xinghai was terrifyingly healthy. It meant that even with his laziness, his health wouldn't be threatened at all.
'Envy…! That healthy body, and the laziness that comes from it!'
Shen Tian quickly approached, slammed the bottle on the table, and sat down in the chair opposite her.
"How is life at Hyeminwon? Is there anything uncomfortable?"
Well, he looked like some kind of bum living the high life... no, more like a hermit, but he was just making small talk.
"It's nothing special. Better than the Wei place. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something—"
"Yes? What…?"
"It's about—"
Just then, a large hand snatched the liquor bottle from the table.
"Are you drinking again, Master?"
"Y-you little punk, how did you know again...!"
It was Row.
"Nyangpapa!"
"Little Fairy, you're as cute as ever."
"Thank you, Nyangpapa looks really cool today too!"
"Meow—"
"Ah, Meowy!"
Row handed Meowy over, and Kinnemia took him into her arms.
"How did I know? The alchemists were all talking about how Shen Tian-nim was hitting the bottle in his room, in the middle of the day."
Those guys... Shen Tian gritted his teeth. Dammit! I told them over and over not to blab about where I am.
"You punk, get back to work!"
He yelled and kicked Row in the butt. Row didn't seem affected at all, but soon moved quickly when the clerk asked for help. He was still holding Shen Tian's liquor bottle in his hand.
"H-hey! Leave that here!"
Shen Tian's desperate voice echoed after him.
Meanwhile, Kinnemia was looking at Nyangpapa's body as if admiring it.
'His movements are like a leopard.'
Despite being very tall, Nyangpapa didn't look clumsy or slow, and his movements felt like those of a sleek beast.
'Beastly beauty…'
Kinnemia raised the corners of her mouth in satisfaction when Shen Tian spoke.
"About what I was going to say earlier."
"Yes?"
"Aga, how about taking that guy off my hands? He's as strong as an ox, so you can put him to work."
"Weren't you putting him to work here at Hyeminwon?"
Kinnemia tilted her head.
Judging by how Nyangpapa calls Shen Tian 'Master, Master,' it seems like he's his disciple.
"But what exactly is the relationship between you and Nyangpapa, Brother?"
"I picked him up."
Ah… Brother picked up Nyangpapa and became his master. That's usually the relationship between a disciple and a master.
Kinnemia nodded, but Shen Tian continued.
"That punk picked me up."
"Wait, he picked you up?!"
"That punk picked me up. I came to the West Continent knowing nothing, and I was wandering around lost because those cruel West Continent jerks were giving me a hard time."
Not because he was an illegal immigrant?
"I was shaking like a leaf and collapsed in the filthy streets of the West Continent because of some local sickness."
Not because he couldn't get his alcohol fix?
"I whipped up some herbal medicine to repay him for feeding and sheltering me, and then he started spouting nonsense about serving me as his master and cleaning up his act. He should just go back to doing what he's good at."
"What he's good at?"
"Yes. That guy, he's a Kshyan, after all."
"…?"
Huh? Kinnemia blinked.
"Yes? Kshyan?"
"Yeah, he said he used to run some guild called Black Night or something... I don't know why he's suddenly gotten it into his head to become an alchemist and is being so pigheaded about it."
Black Night…?
"Could it be… Kshyan Row of the Black Night Guild?"
"Aga, you knew about it too?"
Eeeeeeeh?!
Nyangpapa was Kshyan Row?! Kinnemia covered her cheeks with both hands.
