Chapter 24
Eloise smiled broadly as she thought,
“Healers, mages, and all you complainants, please hang in there just a little longer. From what I can see, the Support Team Leader won’t even last two days.”
Maybe he would give up completely in just one day, raising both hands and feet in surrender.
Then the Magi Administration would reassign a competent team leader and staff, and the Support Team would be reborn anew.
It felt as refreshing as pulling out a long-aching tooth.
Eloise and Merlin lay down with their legs fully stretched out for the first time in a while.
“But Eloise, are you going to keep sharing the dorm with me?”
“Why? Is it uncomfortable?”
“No, not that. But you’re a team leader now. Aren’t they giving you housing support?”
In fact, Gerard had strongly urged her to move dorms.
The office was too far away, and the low-ranking civil servant dormitory was especially shabby, with poor security.
And there was one more reason.
“Eloise, what if I urgently need healing? Even to keep our relationship hidden, wouldn’t it be better to stay close?”
Gerard had suggested that they live together in the top-floor residence of the Magi Administration.
There were probably residences in the Mage Tower too, but lately he seemed to stay here most of the time.
He only went back and forth to the Mage Tower when necessary.
“The entire floor is my residence. We’d only be ‘living together’ in name. Our living spaces would be completely separate.”
After saying that, Gerard had shown Eloise the space she would use.
Just as he said, it came with a bedroom solely for her, a neat sitting room, and even a bathroom and dressing room.
It was spacious and comfortable enough to be called a house within a house.
To be honest, she had been tempted when she saw it.
But she didn’t think she could handle being around him all the time.
Whenever she looked at him, memories of the past surfaced.
Especially when he gazed at her quietly…
Ah, again…
Her entire body tingled.
Am I… a pervert or something?
Eloise pulled the blanket over her head.
She realized belatedly that she hadn’t answered Merlin yet and lowered the blanket, but there was no need.
Merlin, on the bed beside her, had already fallen sound asleep, completely forgetting the question she had asked.
****
Knock, knock, knock.
At the sound of knocking on the dormitory door, Eloise yawned lazily and checked the clock.
Five in the morning.
It wasn’t a time when anyone should be visiting.
Had she imagined it?
Just as Eloise flopped face-down onto her pillow—
Knock, knock, knock.
The sound came again, and Eloise scrambled out of bed, wildly messing up her hair.
Who dares to interrupt a working person’s precious dawn hours?
She hadn’t even heard the reason yet, but irritation bubbled up inside her.
Eloise quickly wrapped herself in a robe to prevent losing body heat. That way, she could fall back asleep right away.
Leaving the bedroom, she passed through the living room that was too small to be useful and opened the dormitory door.
She was about to snap that it was rude to visit at this hour—but the other person beat her to it.
“Good morning, Miss Eloise Rubelia. I am Bern Draker, Lord Gerard’s secretary and a mage.”
Eloise froze when she saw Bern Draker.
She had been ready to curse out the rude visitor, but given who he was, the words caught in her throat.
Her nose stung.
He’s alive.
His fluffy, poodle-like curly hair and his gentle expression that turned his eyes into crescents when he smiled were exactly the same as in her previous life.
He had died before her at the infamous Purple Hole, his body bursting apart from miasma poisoning.
Seeing him alive like this made her happy and relieved.
Eloise smiled at Bern.
“It’s been a while. You’re managing your miasma well, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Well, I mostly assist Lord Gerard these days instead of going on Rainbow Hole missions. You could say I transferred to an internal position. But… haven’t we met for the first time?”
“…You’re meeting me for the first time. I’ve seen you, though. Talking with Lord Gerard.”
“Ah…”
That was understandable.
Bern accompanied Gerard on most of his schedules, and thanks to Gerard’s popularity, he received countless glances.
“But you’re not going on Rainbow Hole missions?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange…”
Eloise muttered.
Bern was top-class even among A-rank mages.
When Gerard was busy and a Rainbow Hole opened, he would either send Bern in his place or go in together and clear it quickly.
Bern was the only mage Gerard trusted to guard his back.
Bern transferred to an internal position?
“What a waste of talent.”
It really was strange.
“I completely agree. Locking away a capable talent like me in the Magi Administration and Mage Tower.”
“What?”
Eloise’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s.
“You said it was a waste of talent. Wasn’t that meant for me to hear?”
She must still be half asleep and said her thoughts out loud.
Eloise laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.
“What brings you to the civil servant dorm at the crack of dawn?”
“Ah! Lord Gerard sent me.”
As he spoke, Bern opened his subspace pocket.
Then he began taking things out.
“A dress rack?”
“Just a moment.”
He set up the dress rack in the hallway, then pulled out red dresses, white dresses, floral dresses, blue dresses…
In total, twenty dresses.
As Eloise stared blankly at the hallway now crammed with dresses, Bern smiled cheerfully.
“This isn’t all yet.”
Next, he pulled out a jewelry cabinet.
She had wondered why his subspace pocket was so huge. It was apparently to take out a nearly two-meter-long jewelry cabinet.
“The jewelry cabinet should probably go inside, right?”
Bern lightly lifted the heavy cabinet with magic and gestured toward the room.
Eloise hurriedly blocked him.
“There’s nowhere to put it.”
Even if there were space, she couldn’t let him inside. Merlin was sleeping.
“Is it because I’m a man?”
“No.”
More than him being a man, waking up a working person in the morning was the real problem.
If Bern woke Merlin, he would witness the breath of a dragon that went extinct hundreds of years ago.
“Anyway, you can’t.”
“Then it can’t be helped. I’ll leave everything in the hallway and put a locking spell on it.”
Bern reached into his subspace pocket again.
This time, velvet boxes that were clearly jewelry cases kept coming out.
There were ten of them.
“From gold to diamonds, opals, and ruby sets. I’d love to show you everything, but there’s no time. You can check the actual items later. I still have a mountain of things to take out.”
From that point on, he shut his mouth and only moved his hands.
His movements were too fast for Eloise to stop him.
Only after taking out twenty pairs of shoes, thirty scarves, ten feathered hats, five bonnets, and ten fur shawls did he finally straighten up.
Sweat dotted Bern’s forehead.
“Whew… that’s everything. Could you please sign the receipt here?”
Eloise snapped back to her senses as she stared blankly at the hallway overflowing with items.
On the receipt, the recipient’s name, “Eloise Rubelia,” was written in large letters, with the signature line left blank.
“All of this is from Gerard?”
She couldn’t believe it.
How much would all of this cost?
“Yes. Please don’t say you won’t accept it. I’ll get scolded by Lord Gerard.”
As someone who also served a difficult superior, Eloise felt sympathy and camaraderie toward Bern.
Of course, Colin’s brand of difficulty was different from Gerard’s.
If I refuse, Bern will get scolded. I’ll just accept it for now.
But she needed a place to put everything.
Blocking the dormitory hallway was a disaster and a trial for busy civil servants in the morning.
Just imagining their complaints made Eloise shudder.
“Please lend me your subspace pocket.”
“I’m sorry, but subspace pockets are valuable items and can’t be taken outside the Mage Tower.”
That was a lie.
Most people would believe Bern, but Eloise, who had lived as Gerard’s healer and knew the Mage Tower’s inner workings, knew better.
Subspace pockets were valuable, yes, but they were easy enough to obtain with money.
Do I look like I don’t have money?
Which was true, but it still hurt her pride a little.
She couldn’t exactly pay a usage fee, so Eloise appealed to his sympathy.
“Bern, if you leave them here, it’ll block passage. You know how busy we are in the morning.”
Come on, let’s help each other out. We’re both low-level workers.
“Then move them into the room.”
“There’s no space. This is a low-ranking civil servant dorm. It’s small.”
Two single beds, a nightstand between them, and a long wardrobe were all the furniture there was. The room was so full there wasn’t space to add even a chair.
Eloise clasped her hands together and pleaded.
Bern didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.
Was his heart made of ice?
Eloise changed tactics.
“If you don’t lend me the subspace pocket, then I won’t sign the receipt either.”
