Edmund was sitting on the sofa in Ariadne’s office, still holding his side. He wasn’t feeling that much pain; he thought that was more like a feeling that his ribs were broken. He associated her strength with the blow and just reacted; he forgot for a moment that he, too now, was more powerful than before.

Eliza entered the room with her white hair blending with her white clothes. The blue details on her clothes, which showed the contour of her body, gave her an air of nobility that she hadn’t had before. Eliza walked towards Ariadne, who was on her desk, and saluted her right after she attended to Edmund, indicating a shift in their relationship dynamics.

‘You can’t just do whatever you want, Edmund. It took two months for me to heal you. Don’t you realize what you have been through?’ Eliza lifted Edmund’s shirt and touched the area of the bruise.

‘It hurts a little, and I know that if it weren’t for you, I would still be on that bed, and I do not know for how long.’ He looked at his injury.

‘You are fine; fortunately, it's just a bruise.’ She put her two hands on top of the area, and a glow came out of it.

‘See, peasant? You were just being dramatic.’ Ariadne raised her voice.

‘What? Didn’t you see that you pushed me to the side when I held your arm?’ Edmund's voice was tinged with anger, the tension between them palpable.

‘You are not ‌cured, Edmund; you need more time.’ Eliza continued to heal Edmund.

‘Did you listen to what she said? You are not ‌fine. You will fight against me on a more equal footing in the future. I don’t know about your sword. You need to see that.’ Ariadne continued to write on her tablet.

‘On that, you are right. Even with the crystals, it was just too much for the sword; I need to think of a way to make it more efficient.’ Edmund held her chin while thinking.

‘Yes, do that; don’t you fight against Her Highness like this for at least I say so, ok?’ Eliza slapped him on the arm before getting up and walking towards Ariadne.

‘I know you have my word. We are going only to have light training sessions.’ Ariadne smiled at Eliza.

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‘Thank you, your highness; if you excuse me, I have things to do at the hospital.’ Eliza saluted and turned around, walking to the door.

When Eliza left the office, Edmund stood up, walked to Ariadne’s desk, and sat on a chair right before her. She looked at him with curiosity as she fanned herself.

‘What is the next move?’ Edmund crossed his arms.

‘This was when the kingdom merchants came here and talked to me before the ceremony. That is going to happen later on today.’ She continued to fan herself as she relaxed in the chair.

‘Interesting, but you want to know where the next dungeon is?’ He smiled while looking into her eyes.

‘Well, I want to know; I had forgotten about this.’ She closed her fan and tapped the desk a few times.

Edmund got up and walked to a wall on the side of the door. On the opposite side, he suddenly stopped and pointed at a map on the wall. Ariadne had no idea what he was doing; she couldn’t see; it was too far.

‘Right here.’ Edmund raised his voice.

Ariadne took a deep breath, looked at him, and tapped the desk a few more times as she continued to look at Edmund.

‘Ah! Sorry.’ Edmund got the framed map on the wall.

He walked back, put the framed map on Ariadne’s desk, and put his finger on top of a point on the map. Ariadne widens her eyes and looks at Edmund with a puzzled expression.

‘There?’ Ariadne crossed her arms.

‘Yes, on the Markaz kingdom.’ Edmund nodded to Ariadne.

‘We established quite the relationship because of trade, but we are in no position to go anywhere, and I wonder what's inside that dungeon.’ Ariadne lined back on her chair.

‘I, too, wonder; the first dungeon is a kind of training dungeon; that is why the inside had golems, but this one has monsters, and the city's layout is too. I have no idea.’Edmund shrugged his shoulders.

Edmund didn’t know what was inside those dungeons because, in the memories he had from the hero, someone told him that the other dungeons were different each time, so he just didn’t know.

‘I think I was expecting too much. There is no problem. When we are ready, we will go there. You have my word, but before that, I need to talk with the king of Markaz in person.’ She started to fan herself.

‘Well, I have something.' Edmund tapped the desk a few times.

‘What? It is useful?’ Ariadne leaned forward, full of curiosity.

‘It is a piece of armor the hero didn’t bother to get because he thought it was useless to him, a complete moron.’ He face-palmed.

‘What piece of armor?’ She leaned back again with a disappointed look.

‘I don’t know. There is no word for what it was; he thought that was useless.’ Edmund shrugged.

‘What a shame. When the time comes, we will speak more about it; now, you are free to do what you do all day.’ She waved her hand to him while fanning herself.

‘I have work to do, so I’m leaving.’ Edmund turned around and walked toward the door.

Just as he touched the door handle, it opened, and Edmund saw a group of Shafran and a maid directing them to enter. He gave away room for them to pass through; Edmund didn’t care to look at them, and the moment they entered, he got out of the office.

‘Now let’s think about it to make it more efficient.’ Edmund spoke to himself as he walked away.

The maid outside Ariadne's office raised her eyebrows, seeing him walk away talking to himself. As the new personal maid in charge of the duchess, she needed to get used to strangeness because now she was the personal maid of the goddess Ariadne.