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A classroom in the Department of Magic, visited together with Eve and Seron.

It was unusually quiet inside—probably because the students had all gone off for lunch.

Toward the back of the classroom sat a lone girl.

A girl with long indigo hair, skipping lunch and dozing off.

Second-year, top of the Department of Magic—Sharin Sazaris.

It was her.

“Sharin.”

When I called her name, Sharin’s shoulders flinched.

Then, slowly rising, she gave a lazy smile.

“Husband~”

Looks like she’s not mad anymore.

Just as I thought that, Sharin paused.

She stopped smiling, puffing out her cheeks as if she’d suddenly remembered something.

Seems like she’d forgotten—then remembered just now.

Maybe just seeing my face made her happy for a moment.

“I brought your favorite cream bread. Let’s eat together.”

“And them?”

She pointed behind me, at Seron and Eve.

The two glanced at each other.

“If it makes you uncomfortable, we’ll leave.”

“I don’t want to.”

Just as Eve was about to step out, Seron proudly placed her hands on her hips and puffed out her small chest.

Then Eve slid her hand between Seron’s arms and lifted her up.

“Let’s go.”

“Waaah! Let me go!”

Eve had taken care of Seron—no need to worry about that.

While Seron flailed as she was dragged away, I approached Sharin and sat down in front of her.

Sharin still had a sulky expression.

At least she didn’t storm off.

I pulled the cream bread out of the bag.

Tearing off a piece, I held it out to her.

Sharin stared at the bread for a moment before opening her small mouth.

I placed the piece in her mouth, and she quietly chewed.

“Drink?”

“Give it to me.”

Even when sulking, she does everything that needs to be done.

She sipped the drink through a straw I gave her.

Then she opened her mouth again.

I fed her another piece of bread.

It felt like feeding a baby bird.

Sharin finished the cream bread.

When I tried to wipe the cream off her lips, she quickly licked it off with her tongue.

“Good?”

“Mm, sweet.”

“How do you feel?”

“Bad~.”

Guess sweet treats weren’t enough to fix this.

“Everyone else knew your identity except me.”

She tapped my knee with her foot, slipping out of her slippers.

I wish she’d stop—those black stockings are really distracting.

“My identity wasn’t that important, right?”

“It was important. I was waiting for you to tell me.”

I had promised to tell Sharin the truth about myself after we graduated from the academy.

Because of that, she hadn’t been too curious—she trusted I’d tell her in time.

But even so, it wasn’t easy knowing that everyone else knew and she didn’t.

I did feel bad about that.

Truth is, I just never got the chance to tell her.

“Hubby, I’m your fiancée~.”

“That’s true.”

“The others are just friends~.”

“Hania’s an ex-girlfriend…”

Her eyebrows shot up, so I decided to stop with the jokes.

“I should be the most important one.”

She asserted her pride as my fiancée with confidence.

Thud!

“Huff, huff, I can't agree with that!”

At that moment, Seron broke free from Eve and returned.

Panting, she smirked smugly.

“Magic fox and sweet potato prince, you two aren’t even officially engaged anymore.”

Oh—right.

It was announced that Sharin was engaged to Hannon, not me (Vikamon).

Sharin and I weren’t technically engaged.

Sharin’s eyes widened, seemingly remembering that as well.

Seron, with a triumphant grin, stepped up beside me.

She grabbed the red bean bread from the bag and shoved it into her mouth.

Hey—that was my bread.

She swallowed it and crossed her arms, lifting her chin proudly.

“Magic fox, your days of acting like the fiancée are over! You and the sweet potato prince have nothing going on!”

“……”

Sharin stared at me in a daze.

She looked totally stunned by Seron’s blow.

“Well, uh…”

Seeing that, Seron hesitated, as if unsure what to say next.

Even she seemed at a loss upon seeing Sharin’s quiet reaction.

I quickly grabbed Seron’s wrist.

“Eek!”

Seron let out a sharp squeal, her face turning bright red.

Still not used to me in Vikamon’s form.

“Seron, wait outside for a bit.”

“Uuugh, okay…”

With no resistance, Seron backed out of the classroom.

I turned back to Sharin.

She still had that blank expression.

“Sharin, being engaged isn’t that important—”

“It is important.”

She cut me off.

She looked up at me with her lips tightly pressed together.

“To me, it’s the most important thing in the whole world.”

Tears glimmered faintly in her eyes.

I was caught off guard—never imagined Sharin would tear up over something like this.

To me, it had merely been an engagement arranged by the Blue Tower Master to keep me tied down.

But to Sharin, that engagement was something more precious than anything.

I had taken her feelings too lightly.

I didn’t realize just how much this engagement meant to her.

Tears began to fall, one by one, from Sharin’s eyes.

Even when her mother passed away, she hadn’t cried—but now, here she was, crying so easily in front of me.

How did you comfort a crying girl again?

I racked my brain, only to come to a sudden realization.

I couldn’t empathize with Sharin’s sorrow at all.

‘…Has even sorrow reached its final stage?’

The Veil Bandages was stealing sorrow from me, just as it had stolen love and rage.

I was becoming someone who didn’t even know how to comfort a girl who liked me when she cried.

Sharin’s teary eyes turned toward me.

Showing her my face now would do no good.

I quickly reached out and pulled her into an embrace.

She buried her face into my chest.

“Sharin, it’s okay. Our relationship isn’t just built on some promise like that. I know full well that I’m your fiancé.”

Her sobbing slowly subsided.

Looks like I’d said the right thing.

“So… if I’m not Hannon, does that mean your feelings have changed?”

“…No. The person I love is still my husband.”

“Right. Just like you said, our relationship is more than that.”

If our bond could be shaken just because I looked different, it would’ve broken a long time ago.

Sharin’s love wasn’t so weak as to falter over my appearance.

“So don’t worry.”

I gently patted her back as I held her.

Sharin buried her face even deeper into my chest, seeming to find comfort in it.

As I watched her, my gaze drifted to the reflection in the window.

A man who could no longer empathize with sorrow.

His face felt more alien than even when I had facial paralysis.

The loss of three emotions.

I didn’t know what the end of that road looked like—but what scared me more was the fact that I didn’t particularly care.

* * *

After that, Sharin calmed down safely.

She understood what I meant—that there was no need to cling to the engagement itself.

But for some reason, she still wouldn’t let go of me.

Instead, she subtly shifted and nestled even deeper into my arms.

The fox keeps prowling around the hunt.

“Sharin, I think you’ve calmed down enough now.”

“Nuuuh, I haven’t~ Sharin’s still crying~”

She whined in such a way that just made me want to hug her more.

But it was about time to go.

Soon, the students from the Magic Department would return from their meals.

“Sharin.”

When I called her again, she finally lifted her head.

She still looked a little pouty, but overall, she seemed okay.

“Then, I guess I’ll be going now.”

As I started to get up, Sharin grabbed my collar tightly.

When I turned back to her, she had a thoughtful expression on her face.

“Husbaaand, I thought of something.”

She still had more to say, apparently.

I looked at her curiously, and she spoke with the utmost seriousness.

“If we have a baby together, it’ll be fine.”

…What on earth did she just say?

“…Sharin, what did you say?”

Thinking I must’ve misheard, I asked again.

But Sharin puffed out her chest proudly.

“We can have a baby together.”

So I didn’t mishear.

“If we’re not engaged, we can just get married. Then we can have a baby.”

“Sharin… you haven’t quite recovered yet, have you.”

“It’s okay. If it’s your baby, I’ll love it.”

She said that while gently placing both hands over her lower stomach.

“I’ll give birth to the most beautiful baby in the world.”

Someone please stop Sharin.

Then she looked up at me.

Her silvery eyes sparkled under the sunlight streaming through the window.

If I still had my feelings of love intact, I might’ve been swept up by that smile and taken her right then and there.

“Don’t you want to make a baby with me, husband?”

Don’t say that with such a sweet and coy face.

I never imagined I’d hear something like this in my entire life—it was completely absurd.

“…Sharin, let’s talk about that once I’ve regained my ability to love.”

She knew well that my emotions had been dulled by the Veil’s bandage.

So at least until then, I was sure she wouldn’t act too rashly.

I’ll leave this matter to my future self.

Surely, he’ll know what to do.

Then Sharin gave me a sly smile.

“So… that’s not a ‘no,’ right?”

Wait, was that her plan all along?

My eyes widened at Sharin’s masterful setup.

She’s a fox.

There’s a fox right here.

Then she leaned her head forward and gently rested her forehead on my chest.

“You promised to make a baby with me later.”

A promise that goes beyond engagement—to making a child.

Faced with such an outrageous promise, the fact that I couldn’t feel sorrow didn’t seem so important anymore.