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.

are you going to sell

"No."

"You fuck—"

stop this

I

of them, I was at a loss of

and tried to

or else understand the problem. When I have time, I'll get you as

back to normal as long as the Duchess was pleased

"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

did he start

caught me off guard, but I quickly shoved the thought to the back of my mind and focused

completed what I set out

"Huh?"

I had to say, her expression changed to

already?

I've already completed

Duchess looked at me with a suspicious expression on her face. She then took the finished cigarette out of her mouth

at her, but if anything, this was the response that she had hoped for, thus

she looked

I still didn't receive any news from my side, so I find it

"That's understandable."

but I didn't go into further detail. Whether or not I took the time to explain it to her, she would eventually figure

Onto the

my hands and stared

I extended my hand in her direction,

"What are you doing?"

worry. I'm not going to hurt you, we've already signed a

any effect on the Duchess as she still stepped

doing? Why do you want to suddenly

soon find out. Don't worry

"Sto—hgkh."

into contact with her head. After a moment, a

suddenly became hazy, and what appeared to be millions upon millions of spheres of varying hues filled

them very quickly before reaching out with my hand and having several of

"This is it."

contained within, I channeled my mana, causing a layer of dark threads to begin covering the orb,

"Next."

minutes, I looked around for any orbs that might have contained recollections of the others and

since lost track of time and was

that needed to be done in order to make sure that everything worked perfectly, and it was imperative that

a

"This should be all."

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

Thump—!

me. Jin was able to grab hold of her just in time and place her safely on

for a brief moment, he turned his

"What did you do?"

looked at him

"You worried about her?"

"No."

"Then..."

"Just answer."

and

made her forget about us for now. I'll return her

"I see."

had been left on the ground. He flicked

to erase all evidence of

I smiled at Jin.

sure pick things up

I pointed out all of the blunts that had

how much did the

of all of

"What about the mess?"

pointed at the broken

"Good question…"

a moment, I eventually waved my