"Did I… did I just provoke him?" Grammi only now realized something was wrong.
Hearing the discouragement in Grammi's voice, Layla quickly smoothed away the heaviness on her face and brought back her gentle smile.
She took Grammi's hand and led her over to Lucy, neatly steering the conversation elsewhere. "Speaking of which, you have a daughter about Lucy's age, don't you? I really hope the two of them will get the chance to become good friends someday."
"They definitely will." The moment her daughter was mentioned, Grammi's mood visibly eased.
Then, as if she'd just thought of a wonderful idea, Grammi's eyes lit up. "Milady, why don't we take a photo together? Once I return to the western continent, who knows how long it'll be before I can see you again."
"Great idea!" Layla brightened immediately.
She sprang into action at once, calling Shane, Lucy, and Grammi to stand by the brightest window in the library, then asked a maid waiting nearby to take the picture.
The photo was developed quickly.
Grammi and Layla both carefully placed it into elegant frames, treasuring them like priceless keepsakes.
"Shane, you really don't want a frame?" Layla picked up an empty one and offered it to him.
Shane shook his head and took only the photo. "The photo is enough. Carrying a frame around is inconvenient."
As he said it, he still looked faintly puzzled—why had an outsider like him been pulled into a "mistress and maid reunion" portrait in the first place? By rights, he should've been the one pressing the shutter.
After that, Grammi and Layla chatted as if Zoldeo had never existed at all, talking from afternoon deep into the night, as though they had endless things to say.
Shane felt it wasn't his place to intrude, so he excused himself early and returned to his guest room.
After washing up, he flopped onto the soft bed as usual.
But maybe it was seeing Grammi and Layla's long-awaited reunion—
The instant his body touched the mattress, a bolt of lightning seemed to strike his mind. He jolted, then sprang upright in bed!
He'd realized something truly, truly terrifying.
He'd left Magnolia and traveled for over two months without even noticing.
And he'd… completely forgotten to tell Erza.
In his mind, an image formed on its own: Erza's last angry face—lips pressed tight, a stare sharp enough to stab holes through people, and that oppressive "low-pressure" aura rolling off her…
Just imagining returning home only to be locked out again made sleep stop sounding pleasant. He tossed and turned all night.
By the time the darkness outside faded and the first pale light crept into the sky, he couldn't stay in bed any longer. He threw on his clothes and decided he'd wait in the main hall until Layla woke up, then formally take his leave.
The morning air was cool and damp with the scent of grass and leaves, which helped settle his restless mood a little.
He walked along the corridor toward the main house—then suddenly stopped as he passed the garden.
A carefully tended patch of flowers and shrubs had been trampled flat, crushed messily against the ground.
"Hm?" Shane frowned slightly, confused.
He meditated in this garden often.
So he knew the Heartfilia gardeners were diligent to a fault—this wasn't their doing.
And judging by the direction and force of the flattened plants, it didn't look like the work of a small animal foraging at night, either.
Suspicion prickled in Shane's chest. A sharp glint flashed through his eyes as his Clairvoyance quietly activated.
He followed the unnatural trail of footprints inward—past hedges, around decorative stones—until it led to a particular section of the mansion's outer wall.
He looked up.
That spot felt familiar… wasn't that near Lucy's room? A balcony, maybe?
And then—
A furtive figure was clinging to the wall like a lizard, climbing upward with hands and feet.
Shane narrowed his eyes.
Even from this distance, the man's messy black curls were unmistakable.
"Zoldeo?" Shane's alarm flared. "He's still in the estate?"
"What is he trying to do to Lucy?"
Remembering the barely concealed hostility Zoldeo had shown toward Lucy the night before, Shane's danger sense screamed.
No hesitation.
Shane sprinted toward the wall, and a jet-black lasso manifested in his hand.
Whoosh—
The moment he reached range, he flicked his arm.
The lasso snapped tight—perfectly looped around Zoldeo's neck.
Then Shane yanked hard.
"Ugh—!"
Zoldeo didn't even have time to react. His throat cinched tight under an immense force, and suffocation hit instantly.
A short, strangled sound tore out of him as his entire body was ripped off the wall and dragged down from beneath the balcony.
Without wasting words, Shane stepped in, dropped a knee onto Zoldeo's back, and pinned him in place.
Only then did he see it clearly: Zoldeo looked even worse than he had yesterday.
His eyes were webbed with terrifying bloodshot veins. His face was twisted almost beyond recognition, saturated with aggression.
This wasn't normal.
It looked like someone who'd gone off the deep end—like he'd been corrupted. Completely unstable.
Shane frowned, confused, but then decided it wasn't his problem to dissect. Zoldeo was Layla's person; Layla could decide what to do with him.
As he was thinking, the commotion finally drew the attention of the estate guards and early-rising servants.
"What was that noise?"
"Quick—go check!"
Footsteps and anxious voices rushed closer.
A moment later, in the manor's main hall—
Layla had clearly been woken in a hurry. She wore only a loosely thrown-on morning robe, her long hair still uncombed and slightly messy.
She stared at Zoldeo—his arms wrenched behind him and forced to the floor by two guards—her face full of disbelief.
"Zoldeo… what were you trying to do to Lucy?"
"I—I wasn't!" Zoldeo strained to lift his head. The red welt around his neck from the lasso was starkly visible.
He rasped out his excuse, but his eyes darted evasively. "I was just—just worried about Lucy-sama's safety, so I wanted to go up and check! That's all!"
Layla listened to the flimsy explanation, something complicated flashing in her eyes—then her gaze sharpened.
"Zoldeo… the truth is, you felt threatened because Lucy started learning Celestial Spirit Magic, didn't you? That's why you tried to go after her."
Shane, watching from the side, immediately focused up.
Now it was getting to the point.
He wanted to see how Layla would handle someone who had once been close—someone now acting like a stranger.
"If you only wanted the key, I already said yesterday I wouldn't take it back. That's your choice. But—"
Layla's voice turned cold.
"You will never lay a hand on Lucy. That is the line."
As she spoke, her eyes narrowed slightly, picking up on the unpleasant magical residue clinging to him. "And if I'm not mistaken… the reason you've become like this is because you learned some forbidden magic you never should have touched, didn't you?"