The Author's POV

"What's going on in here?"

When I got back from my trip, I was greeted by a thick cloud of smoke.

"Did the mansion catch fire?"

…but how was that possible?

Looking at Amanda, both of us made a dash for the main hall in an attempt to locate the source of the smoke.

Arriving at the large wooden door, I smacked it open.

Clank—!

"What's going on in h—eh?"

In the middle of my sentence, I had to pause in order to rub both of my eyes. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't interpreting what I was seeing incorrectly.

'I'm not high, am I?'

"I'm almost out human. Give me another pack."

"I've already given you two."

"What about it? Can't you see that I'm already almost done?"

"Smoking harms."

Bang—!

"Damn it human! Don't fucking test me!"

"Test you for what? You haven't even paid me anything for the packs!"

"Ah, so it was about the money! Why didn't you say so? I'll reward you handsomely for another pack, so hurry up and give it to me."

"No. I only have one left, and that's for me."

"Damn you human!"

Bang—!

The table fell apart, and the Duchess got to her feet immediately. The anger visible on her face was accompanied by a heaving motion in her chest.

In her mouth was a half lit cigarette.

"Didn't you just say that you'd sell it to me? You a swindler?"

"When did I say I was ever going to sell it to you? I just pointed out the fact that you took two packs from me for free."

"Bastard!"

She cursed again.

"Do you have any idea as to who I am?"

"I don't care."

"I'll fight you!"

'What in the world happened during the time Amanda and I were out?'

I pinched the middle of my brows.

The room was a complete disaster, and the scattered pieces of what appeared to be chairs, in conjunction with the conversation that I had overheard, helped me get an understanding of what was happening.

...It's just that I found it hard to believe.

'I can't believe this is what I return to...'

Before stepping in between the two of them, I let out an internal sigh. Despite how entertaining it was, I had no choice but to put an end to this.

There were more important things at hand.

going to sell it

"No."

"You fuck—"

stop this

maybe I shouldn't

loss of what to make out of the situation. It was, if anything, a fairly

my hands and

I have time, I'll get

would get back to normal as long as the Duchess was pleased with

"Really?"

she became noticeably less angry as a result. As soon as I saw this, I let out a sigh of relief and glanced over at Jin for

when did

quickly shoved the thought to the back of

what I

"Huh?"

what I had to say,

already?

completed everything on my

me with a suspicious expression on her face. She then took the finished cigarette out

anything, this was the response that

her throat, she looked back at

you. It's just that I still didn't receive any news from my side, so I find it

"That's understandable."

go into further detail. Whether or not I took the time to explain it to her,

Onto the

hands and stared at the

extended my hand in her direction,

"What are you doing?"

I'm not going to hurt you,

to hold any effect

Why do you want

find out. Don't worry

"Sto—hgkh."

energy and mana, the Duchess froze on the spot, and my hand soon came into contact with her head.

vision suddenly became hazy, and what appeared to be millions upon millions of spheres of varying hues filled the space in front of my

glanced through them very quickly before reaching out with my hand and having several of them fly in

"This is it."

orbs and inspecting the contents contained within, I channeled my mana, causing a layer of dark threads to begin covering the orb, which I then tossed to the

"Next."

the next few minutes, I looked around for any orbs that might have contained recollections of the others and myself, and I covered them

hundred pitch-black spheres floating around me. I had long since lost track of time and was

memory she had of the others and myself completely from her mind. It was something that needed to be done in order to make sure that everything worked perfectly, and it was imperative

needed a genuine

"This should be all."

from each other and dispersed. With another wave of my hand, my vision shifted, and I suddenly found myself back

Thump—!

to grab hold of her just in time and place her

for a brief moment,

"What did you do?"

at

"You worried about her?"

"No."

"Then..."

"Just answer."

and

about it. I just made her forget about us

"I see."

that had been left on the ground. He flicked his

to erase all evidence of us ever coming into contact

I smiled at Jin.

pick things

I looked around, I pointed out all of the blunts that had been thrown around.

much did the two

rid of all of

"What about the mess?"

pointed at the

"Good question…"

pondering for a moment, I eventually waved