"I hate this… why did I have to be born in this family? Why did I have to be the daughter of the duchess?" Emilia buried her head into the pillow and screamed in frustration, hating the day she was born as a noble girl.

Michael and Fafnir exchanged glances, feeling more embarrassed and frustrated than her.

"Should we… leave?"

Hearing Michael's question, Emilia turned around and glared at him: "Leave? You realize that I am the one who will be punished for that, right? Don't even dare!"

Michael smiled bitterly and sat on a chair: "Well, what can I do then? It's not my fault that her grace rejected my rejection. I didn't even know that it was possible!"

Fafnir sat on Michael's shoulder and nodded.

After the banquet, the duchess herself called for Michael and Fafnir. She wanted them to share a luxury room with Emilia and stay with her to know each other better and become friends.

She couldn't be more obvious. If they had doubts previously, they were now certain.

Michael and Fafnir had officially become marriage candidates.

Of course, they were just candidates. The duchess had to know more about them through their future fights and interactions with people, and more about Fafnir specifically due to his countless mysteries, but the fact that she considered them so early spoke volumes about the weight of their potentials.

Regardless… they rejected her offer to become friends with the daughter in that way. Michael wasn't interested, and Fafnir hesitated in such a decision.

And the duchess? She simply "insisted". The next thing they remembered was already being in the same room with Emilia.

Well, at least it was a luxury room. The air was filtered through some kind of magic, making it even fresher than the air of the sea, and that room was literally in the castle!

"The ascenders are really terrifying, huh?" Greed remarked on Emilia's head: "I suggest trying to become friends with her at least. If you succeed, you'll become friends with a rich lady. And who knows? That friendship might develop into something deeper…"

'It won't.' Fafnir rejected the idea instantly: 'I can't feel love. And even if I did, my master would remain my top priority. I'll kill her if she is a threat to my master.'

"Of course you will." Greed sighed: "I hate the World Runes sometimes. I can't believe that thing turned a pure soul like you into a slave who doesn't care about himself anymore."

'And I'm happy with that. I'm literally my master's shadow. Being able to manifest and serve him is the best thing that happened to me.'

Greed smiled: "Your denial is really impressive."

Fafnir imagined himself inhaling deeply—because he didn't need air—and calmed his mind.

It was becoming harder and harder to ignore that parasite.

"Will we just stay like that?" Emilia sat straight and crossed her legs on her bed: "We are forced to be like that, so at least let's do something fun."

Rubbing her chin, Emilia suddenly smirked at Michael: "You are a clown! Give me that shadow and show us something impressive."

"It's a jester! Why is everyone mistaking me for those ugly clowns?" Michael sighed helplessly and stood up before throwing Fafnir to Emilia.

'Hey!'

Emilia caught Fafnir with ease and placed him gently on her head. Then her earring glowed subtly before a plate with a steak materialized on her lap.

Grabbing the steak, she started eating, her eyes sparkling while watching Michael.

Michael smiled, then countless strands of silks emerged from his body and coiled around it, turning into a colorful jester costume with a funny hat. In addition to that, his face turned white, as if someone covered it with flour, his lips became as red as blood, and black circles surrounded his eyes.

The next moment, thousands of particles burst out of his body and gathered together in his hand, turning into a staff.

'So it was a relic.' Fafnir thought in realization: 'And the costume seems to be a class ability. Did he get it after advancing to Rank 2?'

Michael spread his arms and shouted: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending my humble show. And now with my first trick…"

Without a warning, Michael held his head with both hands and lifted it up.

"..."

Fafnir and Emilia's jaws dropped instantly. In front of them, Michael severed his own head.

"Without this, I'd have been dead against Fafnir." Michael's smile widened despite being a head without a body.

And somehow, his neck wasn't bleeding, as though something was stopping the bleeding.

"How are you doing that exactly?" Emilia asked: "Can you just dismantle your whole body?"

"Well, I'm not sure myself." Michael rotated his own head like a basketball, as though that was the most normal thing to do: "I'm not brave enough to cut myself into pieces. I discovered this by coincidence after a beast severed my head. The World Runes tend to be vague in their description, so I didn't really know I could do this."

Michael's smile suddenly disappeared as his lips curled downward: "If I knew about my class' real capabilities earlier… maybe I could have changed a lot of things. It's my fault for being ashamed of it for so long."

Fafnir caught the hints that Michael dropped with ease.

'He is talking about Elizabeth, right?'

It was true that Fafnir never knew what Michael's class was. And considering that it was Jester, then Michael really had a reason to be ashamed of it.

After all, he was a soldier. Everyone would make fun of him if he revealed it, and maybe it already happened before.

For the next few minutes, Michael showed Fafnir and Emilia several tricks that neither of them could understand.

He pulled a coin out of Emilia's ear.

Conjured a bunch of flowers out of nowhere.

A living bird came out of his hat, and Fafnir himself confirmed that it was alive, seeing a Spirit value upon using his silver eye.

And he even pulled out a long rope from a small cup. Fafnir himself, despite his understanding of the Space Aspect, couldn't understand how it was done.

Everything Michael did defied the logic of this world!

'Just how is he doing this?!'

Greed jumped to Michael's shoulder and pulled out a coin from his ear: "Heh, not so special. I can do it too."