I could feel how long he had kept those words in his heart.

It was a very sincere confession.

We stared at each other for a moment.

I smiled slowly.

To 10-year-old Kyle. And to the shy baby squirrel masked boy I had probably wanted to remember.

For some reason, I didn’t think I had been able to smile enough to that boy.

Kyle smiled at me. The time we smiled while looking at each other was warm, and for some reason, it was a little ticklish.

As I watched the smiling man with his dimples deeply indented, there was a person that immediately came to mind.

“…How is he, Marquis Winston?”

My supporter who made me feel the unconditional love of an adult for the first time.

Occasionally, I thought of him.

When it was difficult being alone, when the loneliness of being without family hit me, I thought of Kyle and Bizet Winston.

The kind people who tried to welcome me as ‘family’.

It warmed my heart just thinking about it.

It gave me some strength in my lonely life.

Our meeting was fleeting, but it still remained warm to me.

“Father…”

Kyle thought a little and looked around. Because now he remembered what his father had said.

“Son, don’t tell my daughter-in-law about me.”

“Why not?”

“Because she might feel burdened. A man who puts pressure on a lady is the worst.”

Then Bizet said,

“I dream of being a great father-in-law.”

―He didn’t know why he dreamed of such a thing (usually it would be to have a great spouse).

“Kyle.”

“Yes?”

As Kyle was lost in thought, I called him.

I said, widening my green eyes. 

―And swiftly read Kyle’s hesitant expression on his face.

“The reason I came here is because I want to hear everything honestly.”

“…….”

“I want to know everything. What happened during the time I didn’t know about.”

“My father ran an intelligence guild called ‘Circe’.”

“……!”

“My father is the boy who ran Circe, he wore a phantom thief mask and helped you escape from the Forest.”

“Yes?”

That phantom thief boy was Bizet?!

I asked in amazement.

“But wasn’t he around 15-years-old… It was a little boy?”

‘Isn’t that a radical rejuvenation?’

‘No matter how young you are, how old are you, Father?’

‘Besides, the boy had black hair…’

He was also a small boy.

I knew it would have been a disguise, of course, but I truly never dreamed that the two would be the same person.

Kyle smiled at me, who was in shock, and politely offered his hand.

“Would you like to walk together for a moment?”

“Sure.”

It was an interesting story, so it seemed appropriate to listen while walking.

We started walking together, by the lake, where the flowers of a clear afternoon bloom brightly.

Kyle started with a story about Winston.

“Since our predecessors, the Winston family has been doing two things. In the sun, the work of the ‘Magical Beast Subjugation Team’ as the guns of the Empire.”

“…….”

“In the shadows, we run an intelligence guild store.”

‘Oh, it’s a story that doesn’t exist in the original.’

It felt like I was reading an interesting side story, so I focused my attention on his words.

“My father used the pseudonym ‘Balrog’ as the 27th head of the household and the head of the 27th guild, {Circe}.”

“…….”

“To hide our identity in the shadows, we used masks. Masks that transform one’s appearance.”

“Aha, that phantom mask!”

“That’s right.”

The phantom thief mask that changed shape.

Plus, a guild with a know-how that stopped Gerard’s pursuit for 10 years.

Certainly, the greatness of the predecessors of Winston, who had been active for many years while hiding their identity, was felt.

I followed Kyle, crossing the flower grove and walking around the lake shore.

Several squirrels trotted after us.

It was like a fairy tale landscape.

I said;

“So that’s it. The phantom thief masked boy was the Marquis…”

He had been a huge help to me, and he never asked for anything.

Suddenly, I remembered what he had said to me.

A long time ago, when I first settled on Bayonaire, he said,

“Just use the name ‘Annette’.”

“…Changing my name will make it easier to evade the chase.”

“Changing names and hiding is like a criminal’s life. Whenever others call you by a different name, you’ll be unhappy because you’ll remember that you’re living in hiding.”

Now that I think about it, it was meticulous care.

—It warms the heart.

“I will definitely cut off the pursuit. So have a happy new start here. Understand?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t worry, the name Annette is very common here.”

Of course, changing the name would have made it easier to break the pursuit.

…He truly loved me.

He only wished for my happiness.

My sponsor.

I was well aware of that feeling.

‘Because I was like that too.’

Because there were times when I, too, desperately hoped for the happiness of certain boys.

Even though it was a love I was unaware of, my heart warmed when I thought that I had been receiving it in abundance.

“If I had known that, I would have done a little bit better for the ‘Phantom Thief Boy’.”

I said a little apologetically.

“I always acted like a cheap old man that wanted to give one less gold coin.”

This self-employed person was always thinking about cutting costs, and always saved gold coins with a desire for a ‘cost-effective phantom thief boy’ (actually, after 5 years, became a ‘half-price boy’).

―No, now I have become a very bad baker, haven’t I?

Kyle laughed lowly.

Then he looked at me with those friendly emerald eyes.

“You have done well enough.”

“…….”

“Once or twice a year, on the day he met Owner, he always had a big smile all day.”

He leaned back and smiled softly.

“He’d say, ‘Today, I met a really cute and lovely lady.’”

‘…Now I’m even more sorry, heuk-heuk.’

How did he smile like that even though he was being sold at half price like a hogu?

‘I’m sorry for being an ungrateful beneficiary, sponsor.’

“The next time we meet, I’ll have to sincerely thank him.”

I felt like my conscience was brimming to my hair.

“Especially, he saved me from Gerard. I was really grateful when I escaped—”

At that moment, Kyle, who was listening to me, pointed to his handsome face and smiled at me.

“Oh, that was me. Owner.”

“Yes?”

“It was me who was dispatched that day.”

My eyes widened.

No, you mean that 10-year-old little chestnut was helping me?

He was very cool, good at shooting a magic gun.

‘Winston’s are amazing.’

While he was talking about how he flowed into the Forest earlier, I had already heard the explanation that he had been going out to the subjugation sites of magical beasts since he was 8-years-old.

—Now it was a bit of a match.

The shy 10-year-old boy was the same person as the phantom thief boy who brutally wielded bullets and bravely rescued the girl from the prince.

This particularly shy, innocent handsome man with square-rimmed glasses…

…Was same person as the ‘Leader of Larva’, nicknamed the cruel murderer.

‘He can do that.’

There seemed to be a lot of different sides to this man, apparently.

“But I have a question.”

“Anything.”

“What happened to Circe after that?”

After saving me, more than 10 years have passed and Circe and Balrog had disappeared.

Instead, the new ‘Larva’ and ‘Kine’ appeared.

I was curious about the circumstances in between.

Kyle’s answer came as a bit of a shock to me.

“Circe has been disbanded. My father and I lived as the ‘Magical Beast Subjugation Team’ for about 10 years to escape Gerard’s wanted list.”

“…….”

Without realizing it, I stopped walking.

Kyle looked back at me slowly and said,

“We cut off Gerrard’s pursuit of a certain girl, and fought against the beasts on the outskirts.”

“…….”

“And six months ago, I made Larva and returned to Bayonaire.”

“W-What did you say?”

Because of me…

The fate of a family changed?

Of course, he was at odds with Gerard, who has a reputation for persistence, and he assumed that it would be difficult for the family to remain safe in the country.

But they disbanded and hid outside.

‘The father and son spent more than 10 years on the battlefield…’

Only, for me.

The battlefield would not have been easy for a young boy growing into a teenager.

If he had come to Bayonaire six months ago, he would have had his coming-of-age ceremony on the battlefield with blood.

I was heartbroken.

I bit my lips and asked.

“Why did you help me so much?”

“…….”

Kyle was silent.

He just stared at me calmly with those dark green eyes that I thought at once was like a swamp.

There was thirst in his eyes.

He supported my hands with both of his and placed my face in my hands.

He lowered his eyes and whispered.

“Because it is you. There is no better reason than that.”

—His breath was hot.

“My Owner.”

It was an unbelievable reason.

“I, uh, what the hell am I…”

Kyle Winston, he knelt slowly on the shore of the lake at sunset.

Before I knew it, we went round and round, and we were there again.

―The breathtakingly fragrant lilac cluster.

Kyle took a small box out and opened it.

It was a ‘ring’.

To her question of what on earth he was, he simply replied:

“You are my ‘everything’.”

At that moment when my heart was strangely warm, his sweet, plump lips parted.

―With eyes like a deep, deep swamp, who had longed for only one person.

“Miss Annette.”

I swallowed my breath precariously.

“Marry me.”