As soon as Ardion finished speaking, Duke Orchid scoffed and wiped his mouth with a white napkin. He looked at Ardion. "What do you want? Food?"

    The duke held his stomach and laughed heartily. The butler standing nearby seemed flustered, his feet shuffling.

    When the awkwardness reached a peak, the duke finally spoke. “Why should I give food to someone like you, whom His Highness Rowell practically abandoned.”

    “I’m a guest here,” Ardoion replied calmly.

    "Haha, a guest here? You little brats always like to talk back."

    Ardion hesitated for a moment and said, “... I hope you’ll take care of it soon.”

    The duke slammed his fork down, causing the sauce on his plate to splatter everywhere.

    Ardion said too much. I shook my head. No matter how I looked at him, the duke lacked any manners. Under my gaze, the duke smirked while watching a servant clean up his mess.

    "Your name is Ardion?"

    “Correct.”

    Duke Orchid kept his dark eyes on him throughout. “Alright. Then, Ardion, what do you think is your position in this mansion?”

    “...” Ardion was silent, but his expression hardened.

    The duke motioned the servant to leave, as the mess had been mostly cleaned up.

    “Ardion, you are less than a servant in this mansion. You do nothing here. You are simply an unnecessary existence here.”

    “...”

    “Look at the person beside you, Laila, who contributes in her own way yet doesn’t complain. You do nothing but expect something.”

    Ardion’s fists trembled, his figure exuding a chill colder than ever before.

    The duke merely looked at him as though he were just a pest. “Your shamelessness is just like your mother’s.”

    Ardion was stunned. I tried to step forward to save the situation when the duke suddenly pulled out the white dining napkin tucked in his collar and tossed it onto the desk.

    “My appetite is gone.” He looked at me. “Laila, didn’t I remind you to come only when you had business? You have disappointed me a lot lately.”

    “Your Grace, this...”

    But just as I was about to speak, the duke’s desk trembled, and even the floor shook like there was an earthquake.

    The duke got up from his seat in shock. “Wh-what is this?!”

    At that moment, the plate cracked and broke. The startled butler backed away, while the duke almost clung to the wall and pointed at the butler. “Butler! What’s happening?”

    Suddenly, Ardion said in a low, dangerous tone, “Duke Orchid, I am expecting you to take care of what I asked for.”

    The duke grimaced darkly at him. “Wh-what did you say?”

    The fork fell to the floor, and the pens and documents flew off the desk.

    “You little, what...!” Duke glared at Ardion as if he were going to kill him.

    I stared blankly at Ardion, whose fists were clenched tightly and whose eyes only had the duke.

    What’s going on? From the looks of it, he seems to know how to drive his mana... Does he really not know how? I examined him suspiciously.

    The tense Ardion from earlier was nowhere to be seen. Glaring at the duke, he spoke as if he were a completely different person. “Duke Orchid, your answer.”

    “How dare you...! Do you think you’ll be fine after doing that!”

    If only the duke hadn’t said that... Right after he spoke, a brick behind him fell.

    “Th-this!”

    “Prepare the same food for me that you eat. For Laila as well.”

    “What?” The duke looked at me quizzically.

    Ardion slowly opened his eyes, which were unusually dark.

    “Are you okay?”

    He slowly nodded. “Why am I lying down?”

    “You collapsed in the duke’s office earlier.”

    “Really?” Ardion furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief.

    “Do you remember what happened earlier?”

    “I remember when the duke talked about my mother.”

    “Anything else?”

    “I remember asking the duke to give me food...”

    “You don’t remember when you collapsed?”

    “... That’s right.” Ardion avoided my eyes.

    After realizing I was pressuring him, I stepped back. Ardion seemed to be burdened by me.

    I sat on the chair and looked at Ardion. No matter how I thought about it, I was concerned about his ability. Could the ability have emerged without him even realizing it?

    As I sat on the chair without saying anything, Ardion said cautiously, “Why?”

    “Young Master...”

    “...”

    “About your mana.”

    “What about it?”

    “Did you use your mana because you were angry back then?”

    Ardion nodded.

    “... Does that happen often?”

    “Why are you asking?”

    Ardion asked just as persistently as I did. In fact, what I wanted to know from him was whether he knew how to use his mana.

    No matter how I thought about it, it seemed he knew how to use his power. In the original story, Ardion knew how to use his mana even though he couldn’t control his power sometimes.

    It occurred to me that he might not want to discuss it, so I changed the topic. “Anyway, I think the mana you have is amazing, Young Master. It’s amazing that mana can be controlled by emotions.”

    He muttered softly, “I hate my ability. I wish it would disappear. I don’t need this kind of mana.”

    Ardion’s words were quite shocking. He must be overwhelmed by his great power. His expression was bitter as he clenched his fists, looking like he couldn’t stand it.

    I felt like asking anymore was pointless. Ardion was still young, so there was a chance he didn’t know what kind of power he used.

    I asked him so much for nothing... No matter how suspicious I was, I should have acted appropriately. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

    Ardion still had his head down and was just staring at his blanket.

    I got up from my seat and prepared to leave to give him some time alone, not wanting to disturb him anymore. “Young Master, please take a good rest.”

    Ardion raised his head. “Where are you going?”

    “I...”

    “Isn’t it okay to stay together if you have nothing else to do?” Ardion’s green eyes sparkled for a moment.

    I looked at him with curiosity. He met my gaze briefly before lowering his head with a hint of dejection. “If you don’t want to stay, you can just leave. It’s fine if I...”

    “I’ll stay. I don’t have anything else to do.”