‘Huh, but he’s no match for me.’

Unlike other humans, Edgar didn’t feel any pain when touching Ios. Nevertheless, he was always sitting in his office. Ios had also never seen him carry heavy objects, so he believed he would easily defeat him.

“Hup!”

However, contrary to what he had expected, he felt great strength as soon as he grabbed Edgar’s hand and moaned. On the contrary, Edgar looked quite relaxed.

Ios had never lost to anyone when it came to strength. Most of the opponents he had encountered now surrendered even when he used just the strength to lift a finger. Because of that, for a moment, he couldn’t remember how he should use his muscles to bring out a greater force.

“Hey, what are you doing with your left hand?”

Edgar spotted Ios’s left hand moving and asked. A drop of sweat ran down the dragon’s forehead, so he must have been up to something.

Was he trying to cheat and use magic to win? It really enraged Edgar. He decided he had to teach what justice was to this rude lizard and started to put all the strength he had on his right arm.

“Awwww.”

Ios’s hand was bent down until it almost touched the desk. He was about to admit defeat, but then Edgar loosened his hand.

Was he exhausted after suddenly using so much strength? Regardless of that, they were in a game. Ios mercilessly put his arm down.

Edgar’s arm went down so easily that it was hard to believe he had been winning only a second ago.

“I… won?”

Before Ios could celebrate his own victory, he was surprised to see Edgar fall on his desk. He tried shaking him, but he didn’t move.

“Are you pretending to be unconscious because you’re embarrassed after losing?”

Ios poked his hand with a pen, but no response. He put a finger under his nose, just in case, but he wasn’t breathing. Ios suddenly got afraid.

“Oh, no!”

Anyone was going to think he had done this to Edgar on purpose.

And, how was he supposed to see Rubica’s face if Edgar didn’t make it? Minos had warned him many times that nymphs cherished their spouses a lot and he had to be careful about it.

He quickly took Edgar to the sofa, undid one or two of his shirt buttons, and started slapping him.

“Hey, wake up! Hey!”

However, he didn’t get the result he wanted. What was he supposed to do then? He managed to remember the term mouth-to-mouth.

He looked at Edgar’s red lips and gulped hard. Minos had once taught him what it was and how to do it.

He really didn’t want to do it, but it was the only way to save Edgar. He made up his mind and grabbed Edgar’s chin.

“Lord Ios?”

“Ugh!”

Ios fell on his butt at suddenly hearing Minos’s voice. The goblin looked shocked, probably misunderstanding the situation.

“What are you doing?”

“Minos! It’s great that you’re here, Edgar isn’t breathing!”

“What?”

Minos quickly checked on Edgar. Ios was relieved that he was here at the right time and started to press on him.

“Quick, do mouth-to-mouth!”

“I should do mouth-to-mouth? On him?”

“Yes?”

Ios was going to tell Edgar, ‘You were just kissed by a goblin,’ when he woke up.

Of course, he was going to tell Rubica what her husband had done while she was gone, with a little bit of exaggeration. However, Minos shook his head.

“Doing mouth-to-mouth won’t bring him back.”

“What? No way!”

This wasn’t funny at all. Ios regretted doing that arm wrestling, although it was a bit late. Then, Minos took out a vial from his pocket.

“He is…”

Out of habit, he almost explained to Ios that Edgar’s nymph blood and human blood were colliding, but then he quickly shut his mouth, shivering that he almost let Ios find out the nymph was Edgar and not Rubica.

He quickly opened the vial and put it under Edgar’s nose.

What was inside the vial smelled strange, but for some reason, it was quite familiar to Ios.

“What is that?”

“Cough, cough!”

Before Minos could give him the answer, Edgar coughed hard and opened his eyes. That was a relief. Although now Ios couldn’t make fun of him for being kissed by a goblin, it was much better than him never waking up again.

“Your Grace, are you alright?”

Edgar nodded and sat up on the sofa. While arm wrestling with Ios, he suddenly felt an electrocuting sensation on his right arm, and then his heart had a stroke.

He couldn’t remember what had happened after that. But now, there was something he wanted to know more than his condition.

“Minos, have you succeeded in convincing Iber’s underlings?”

“It was half a success.”

“Half?”

Then, someone urgently knocked on the door. Edgar looked at the clock, and it was time for Carl to bring tea.

“Carl, I don’t want tea now.”

“It’s not about tea, Your Grace. It’s about Her Grace.”

The butler sounded calm, but he was clearly worried. Rubica had gone to meet the queen. Had something happened to her?

Ios opened the door before Edgar could tell Carl to come in.

“Has something happened to my Rubica?”

“Your cousin Rubica!”

Edgar yelled, unable to control his anger. The hair on Ios’s back stood straight and he could feel the coldness on the back of his neck. He felt chill in his bones, although winter was still far away.

His brain was just too dumb to find out it was because now he was in front of a being who was more powerful than himself, but at least his instincts worked properly.

“Okay. Has something happened to my cousin Rubica.”

“Hmm, Your Grace, may I come in?”

“Come in quickly.”

Carl cleared his throat, came in and closed the door. And he reported what Elise, who came back from the palace alone, had just told her. Edgar ruffled his hair hard as if he was getting another headache.

“Now Gabriel is really messing up!”

What that cute girl thought of was mostly beyond anyone’s imagination. But still, a count’s daughter, sneaking into the king’s palace wearing the clothes of the royal maids?

Even that sly foxlike king would be enraged to hear about it, so he could see why Rubica had to follow her.

“Are they still at the palace?”

“As Ms. Solana had just arrived… I think it is highly likely, judging from the time.”

“Carl, I wasn’t asking you.”

Carl realized he was asking Ios and looked a little embarrassed. Ios couldn’t see he was being used as a tracking device and gave him the answer he wanted.

“Are you talking about that place with a shining roof? She’s not there.”

“Then where is she?”

“There.”

Ios pointed toward the area where workers who came to the capital looking for jobs lived. It wasn’t a slum area, but it didn’t have good security.

If a noble lady in expensive dress roamed around that area and met some gangsters… Edgar didn’t want to imagine the rest of it.

“What on earth is she doing there?”

Ios shrugged to show him he couldn’t answer that question. Edgar wished he could mount a horse and go there immediately, but he still couldn’t move his legs.

He sadly asked Ios, “Could you go and see what it is about?”

His voice was so soft that it was hard to believe he had just been yelling at the dragon. Ios normally would have worried about Rubica and go right away, but this time, he just crossed his arms.

He found Edgar particularly annoying today. Almost losing to him in arm wrestling, feeling that chill in his bones, and him suddenly fainting and scaring him to death, he hated all of what had happened.

“If you ask politely.”

“Please, Ios.”

“Ios? Wow, how could you not know the term ‘politely’ when even I know it?”

Edgar clenched his feet. He had to abandon his high pride to do what the dragon was requesting. He really didn’t want to do it, but now he was the one in need.

“Please… Lord Ios.”

Ios pretended to think about it for a moment. He wanted to hear ‘I beg you’, but he felt like asking that much would have him permanently banned from visiting Claymore Mansion. Disobeying Edgar’s will was getting harder and harder every day.

He decided to be content with Edgar calling him ‘Lord Ios’.

“Okay.”

Then, he opened the window and jumped down. He moved, following Rubica’s scent that reached him through the land’s energy.

He popped out of the empty area right next to the building she was in. People were having a fight there and it was quite noisy, so no one saw him coming out of the ground.