“When did she lose consciousness?” The girl carefully pondered Rumiaon’s question, failing to grasp the purpose behind his inquiry.
“Give me your guess. Even if it’s wrong, I’ll forgive you.” A strange curve appeared on Rumiaon’s face.
From his casual, lazy tone, it was clear he didn’t expect the girl to give the correct answer.
Because this was indeed a very difficult question—he himself only discovered the secret behind it at the very end.
Whether the hidden truth could be uncovered depended solely on the girl.
Before settling on her answer, the girl gleaned other crucial information from Rumiaon’s question, which made her vaguely certain about some matters.
“Since Your Highness Rumiaon asks this, you must already know the correct answer,” the girl said, placing the back of her hand against her chin—a habitual gesture when she was thinking.
“Yes, I know,” Rumiaon nodded without hesitation.
The girl was absolutely certain that she had already lost consciousness when she carried Baia down the mountain, which meant Baia’s loss of consciousness had occurred earlier. If Rumiaon really knew the answer and was fully aware of everything before she even met him, then that meant…
She had been under surveillance.
This was something she should have realized from the very beginning.
“I see. Then, while I was out on the mission, Your Highness Rumiaon used soul magic—the Thousand-Mile Eye—to monitor my every move, right?”
“Yes. A master must never relax; it’s absolutely necessary to constantly watch over the slave girl’s every action. A master who cannot do this is merely a foolish mediocrity.”
At this moment, inside a certain ancient castle, the Empire’s Second Prince Arthur, already fast asleep, furrowed his brow as if trapped in a nightmare.
Training his slave girl today had utterly exhausted him.
“So that means,” the girl felt herself growing closer to the answer, “the entire process of my meeting with Baia Ephiel Clorom…”
“As well as the scenery you passed through and the way you threatened the ghouls—everything, not a single detail escaped my sight.” Rumiaon tapped his temple with his index finger, his one open eye gleaming with a mixture of excitement and cunning.
He was quite proud of his actions.
Of course, the boy Baia would only think such behavior a bit twisted but couldn’t help but admire him. After all, this ability to ignore location and time and peep around all day and night was something he himself wanted.
Because then he could secretly watch beautiful girls anytime, especially during their changing and bathing moments—a real feast for the eyes.
If Baia were still awake, given her naturally friendly personality, upon learning this, she would probably pat Rumiaon’s shoulder, blow in his ear, and smile knowingly, “You really are a pervert.”
The boy Baia would have been more than willing to be that kind of pervert, if circumstances allowed.
This was merely a thought born of a man’s most primal desires. Since she now had a girl’s body, she no longer cared much for the sights beneath skirts or the female **.
As a boy, that interest would have been even stronger!
Baia had not yet given any thought to her complicated sexual orientation—a topic that might trouble her deeply in the future.
For example, if she were to face the impossible yet utterly romantic situation of being confessed to simultaneously by both a boy and a girl, she’d probably be at a loss.
Who knows.
The girl didn’t mind being watched. A slave was the master’s possession; body and spirit alike, everything was dedicated to the master. If Rumiaon wished, she would have no problem serving his daily needs completely naked.
Therefore, she didn’t focus on the fact of being spied upon. What concerned her more was that Rumiaon had witnessed the entire meeting with Baia.
That meant he had heard every word Baia said, right? The girl’s struggle against a fatal fate—though weak yet unyielding—had also been seen by him.
The girl finally resolved her doubts. She could now confirm that her master—Rumiaon Amidale—had been moved by Baia and thus taken an interest in her (not in a romantic sense).
This was why he had gone outside the city gates to wait for her return with Baia.
Though one mystery was solved, the girl still didn’t understand the true meaning behind Rumiaon’s question about when Baia lost consciousness.
Was there some deeper significance to the question…? To uncover Rumiaon’s real reason for ordering her to save Baia, the girl forced herself to keep thinking.
Your Highness Rumiaon took an interest in Baia and commanded her rescue. That vague answer was something she absolutely would not accept unless she had no other choice.
She wanted to know more. She needed a reason to convince herself to save Baia!
And Rumiaon seemed able to provide that answer.
“The moment she lost consciousness… must be when she said those words!”
The girl nodded while affirming her conclusion. After careful consideration and multiple reviews of her memory, she was very satisfied with her answer.
In her memory, Baia’s last words were—“It’s not yet time to die.” After that, she completely lost all signs of life. There was no doubt that was the exact moment she lost consciousness—the answer.
Soon after, the girl carried Baia down the mountain into the city. During that time, Baia made no sound or movement, indistinguishable from death.
As far as the girl knew, the Thousand-Mile Eye had no power to see into hearts. It only gained all the visual information from the marked individual in advance. Since Rumiaon was borrowing her eyes, what she could see was everything he could see.
Both observed with naked eyes and heard the same words. It was truly fair and equal conditions. Because of this, the girl didn’t believe there was any detail she could have missed that Rumiaon might find. This only strengthened her confidence in her answer.