Chapter 8

Leticia was honestly surprised. It was different from the shock she felt when Bill told her Aaron had knelt. Sebastian had always treated and spoken to her as if she were less than an insect. She thought his inner feelings wouldn’t change much, even if he learned the truth.

“What exactly are you saying you did wrong?”

“The things that hurt and scarred you… I was despicable and stupid. I want to apologize for that.”

She felt it was strange that Sebastian was so readily admitting to all of it. In the game, he wasn’t like this.

In the original story, Sebastian continued to despise Leticia even after it was revealed she was his biological sister. Their relationship was one of thorough mutual hatred. While Leticia seemed to want to get closer to him in the midst of it, he did not.

‘What’s different? Is it because Isella isn’t by his side yet? Or… is it because he did worse things to me than to the Leticia in the original story?’

“…Those servants. None of them went to prison. And they won’t in the future, either. Since you, the one who incited them, can’t be put in prison, there’s no way they’d be reported.”

“…….”

“Do you know how… scared and in pain I was? Honestly, it probably didn’t matter to you. You hated me. I could have died… and you thought it wouldn’t matter if I did, right?”

Sebastian wanted to lie in response to Leticia’s interrogation, but he knew it wouldn’t work. Shallow lies sometimes provoked immense anger. Though it varied by person, Sebastian judged that Leticia was the type to find such lies offensive.

“Now… it’s different. Back then, I thought caring for you was betraying Mother.”

“Even though you didn’t even believe in Mother’s innocence.”

Sebastian’s shoulders flinched at her cold words. He couldn’t even bring himself to look at Leticia and dropped his head.

“You just… needed someone to take your anger out on for your own sake. Because no one scolded you even when you hit and tormented me.”

She had truly done nothing. There were times she was pushed over while following a butterfly with her eyes in the garden, and times she collapsed after being hit in the back of the head with a stone while walking.

She knew as well. Some were the handiwork of Sebastian and Godfrey, but the rest were done by his servants.

They probably went back to their master and reported it proudly. She could vividly imagine him praising them, saying it made him feel refreshed.

“Do you remember when my head was split open because I was hit by a stone? The scar is still vivid.”

At Leticia’s words, Terdis looked at her with a shocked face. Sebastian said with a flustered expression:

“That—that wasn’t me! It was Godfrey’s servant…!”

“What’s the difference? You guys conspired, and you guys allowed it.”

His mouth shut involuntarily at her cold gaze. Leticia took a step forward with an expression that looked like she wanted to slap him.

“How could I not hate you? If you didn’t want to be family, you should have just sent me to my maternal grandfather’s house. Why did you hate that too?”

Sebastian wanted to say that wasn’t his doing, but he felt it would be useless to say it here.

“When I grow old and die later, I’m going to go to Mom and tell her everything. How you tormented, excluded… and hurt me. Because Mom was the only one of my blood who loved me.”

Tears flowed from sorrow. She tried not to cry, but seeing Sebastian’s face brought back the misery and injustice of that time.

The pain, the loneliness, and even the fear of being alone.

“So don’t act like you know me. Because every time I see you, I remember those moments and it’s painful.”

“Le—Leticia…”

“I’m an adult now. I won’t be victimized like when I was a child. No matter how much you force it, I won’t live as if nothing happened between us. How could I?”

From infancy until age twelve. Excluding her time as a baby, the actual bullying probably lasted about six years. It wasn’t her whole life, but Leticia still felt the pain of those years.

She also wished she could look at them with indifference, but she wasn’t that strong, nor could she become that blunt.

Leticia’s hand, which had been pressing against her chest as if stifled, tightened. Her hand, clenched as if she wanted to strike her own chest, trembled violently.

“Now, I scream just hearing a dog whimper. Do you know that? I used to like dogs. I still do, but… I can’t control it. It’s my body, and my heart! But it doesn’t listen to me no matter what I do! Do you know what that’s like?!”

“Tisha…”

Leticia sobbed as Terdis approached and embraced her. She wished Sebastian would hurt as much as she was suffering. Godfrey, Cesare, and Aaron should too. Only then would she feel a little relieved.

‘But reality will be different!’

They would laugh in her absence and live their lives. As if she were nothing. Treating it as if they simply didn’t have a narrow-minded, pathetic relative.

They were different from her, who would feel pain every time a moment suddenly came to mind. Didn’t they nonchalantly hold a banquet even after that incident with Godfrey?

Sebastian, whom Leticia glared at, was pale as a ghost.

“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would…”

“What didn’t you know? You knew, so you put that doll in the carriage I was to ride.”

His heart sank.

Sebastian’s shallow mind whispered to deny it even in this situation, but Sebastian shook off the temptation.

‘Even if I deny it…’

Who would play such a prank? Only Sebastian, Godfrey, the two of them, and their servants knew such information about her and would pull such a stunt.

“I… I was stupid.”

“No. You probably just hated me. Usually, people don’t care if an enemy or someone they hate is in pain and suffering.”

She was right. Sebastian had only thought about Leticia being miserable; he had never thought about how she would feel it.

Until now, Leticia’s pain had not been his.

To him, Leticia was a presence worse than a stranger, his mother’s murderer, and an outsider. A foreign substance forced into the family.

Sebastian shed tears with a dazed face.

‘I am too late.’

“If you have any shred of consideration for me, please avoid me first. It’s uncomfortable to see your face. I’d appreciate it if you could convey that to the others as well. The items you sent… I’ll return them all soon.”

“The—the gifts, please keep them! I beg of you…”

Sebastian spoke urgently, but Leticia could say this even after seeing his pleading eyes.

“I don’t want to; it’s uncomfortable. We’re strangers.”

If his heart had been something solid, it would have cracked and shattered at this moment. Sebastian realized that a heart could ache like this.

He had apologized sincerely, but he didn’t resent Leticia for saying she hated him even a little bit. Because he had made her that way for a long time.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Leticia.”

Sebastian grabbed his head and bowed. The tears he shed were creating spots on the carpet, but Leticia ignored them.

His pain was not her responsibility. She had spent tens of times more time in tears and pain than he had.

‘So I won’t care. That person is not my family.’

Leticia left the room enveloped by Terdis. Even as the door was closing, Sebastian was looking at Leticia, but only Terdis glanced back.

Meanwhile, the door shut with a click.

***

Leticia stopped abruptly. At this moment, she hated herself for her heart aching even a little at Sebastian’s tears. Even though that man spent countless days tormenting her! While she cried, was startled, and was in pain, he was snickering.

“Ter… hold my hand.”

At Leticia’s spiritless voice, Terdis quickly reached out the hand that wasn’t wrapped around her shoulder and took her hand. Unlike her cold hand, Terdis’s hand was warm.

“I want to get out of here.”

“Yes. Let’s go straight home.”

Soothing her with a soft voice, Terdis led her out of the mansion. Since he had asked for a coachman to be prepared before entering the drawing room where Sebastian was, the carriage would be ready.

Perhaps she had truly consumed a lot of energy while venting at Sebastian; seeing that her movements were different from before, he picked her up in his arms, heedless of people’s gazes.

Leticia didn’t say anything to Terdis. she just stared at him blankly.

“…I’m mean, aren’t I?”

“No. You’re kind. Everyone in our family knows how kind you are. Even the servants praise you so much.”

He spoke as he walked toward the mansion’s front door. Leticia quietly leaned her head against Terdis’s chest. She was tired and desperately wanted to go home.

“I just… want to be a bad person. I don’t want to forgive anyone.”

“Tisha. No more bad things will happen to you. I swear. Because I’ll make it so.”

Leticia smiled faintly at Terdis’s words. Like someone who knew it was a white lie that would never be kept. But his words were no white lie. Because he truly had the confidence to do so.

“It’s true, Tisha. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

At those words, Leticia burst into tears. Terdis hurried his steps anxiously, and a servant already had the mansion’s front door open before they arrived.

Molly seemed surprised to see the crying Leticia, and Terdis’s valet seemed to feel the same. Terdis quickly entered the carriage with Leticia. Their maid and valet also quickly took their designated seats atop the carriage.

“Depart.”

At the voice heard from inside the carriage, the coachman hurriedly started the horses. Molly, occupying the seat next to the coachman, held onto her hat so it wouldn’t fly away and glanced back at Marquis Larqus’s mansion. She saw Sebastian running out belatedly.

‘What’s the use of doing that now?’

She was surprised that the third son of Duke Tesseia’s face was wet with tears, but Leticia’s well-being was her priority.

‘Since he’s a man wicked enough to put a fake dog doll in just because he knew our young lady is afraid of dogs, he must be shedding crocodile tears!’

If one knew how well villains could cry to protect themselves, they wouldn’t be swayed by such tears. Molly knew a servant who had shed fake tears for a handful of copper coins.

Even if those tears are sincere now, he will eventually act for his own benefit. Because those who hurt others were always like that.

So Molly did not tell Leticia that Sebastian was watching and turned her head. The carriage of Duke Lyon was leaving Marquis Larqus.

***

“Ugh, urgh… Blegh!”

Rupert ran to a nearby tree and tried to throw up what he had eaten. But only sour gastric juice poured out; nothing else came. He turned pale.

He had no reason when he transformed into a monster, but when he returned to human form, everything he did in monster form came back to him.

‘Why!’

Encountering a merchant group moving along the road and killing them didn’t matter. Since they saw his form, it would be to his advantage to kill them.

But the problem was that one of them was strong enough to wound his body. After killing all the humans, Rupert had… eaten the one who had wounded him.

“Urgh!”

Feeling nausea again, Rupert threw up once more. Even though it was in monster form, he couldn’t believe he had eaten a human.

He was naked now. After spitting a few times while coughing, he caught his breath and stood up. He was suddenly startled as he checked the color of his hair tickling his cheek.

Rupert’s hair color was dark brown. But now it was a bright gold.

“What?!”

Hurriedly pulling his hair to check the color, Rupert felt his face. But there was no way to check how his face had changed just by touching it.

It suddenly occurred to him that the hair color of the man he had eaten in monster form was blond.

‘Could it be… can I change into the face of the one I ate?’

If that were true, it was a truly advantageous ability. With this ability, he could infiltrate anywhere… and live anyone’s life by transforming into them.

The being Rupert immediately thought of was Carlyle, but he felt he should look at something bigger.

The Emperor. That idiot who pretends to be a wise ruler with a wife more brilliant than himself by his side despite having no ability!

The existence of Crown Prince Edward is bothersome, but if he can transform into the Emperor, he can kill him anytime. Historically, there were countless crown princes who died after being sent on expeditions to dangerous places.

“Hehehehe… Ahahahaha!”

Rupert became insanely joyful just at the imagination of becoming the Emperor. Those guys might have given him that item with the intention of simply killing Carlyle or the Saintess, but the result was something that could shake a man’s life, the Empire.

He thought about how he could approach the Emperor. He would have to eat someone who frequents the imperial Palace and then consume someone who can contact the Emperor…

While coming up with a plan for that, the most difficult part occurred to him. It was that he couldn’t choose whom he would eat.

When he became a monster, there was only one reason he ate that blond man. It was because he was a strong person, strong enough to wound him. Because consuming him was effective in making himself stronger.

In fact, he had become larger and more powerful than when he first took the monster form. Rupert soon realized that his plan to become the Emperor was impossible.

The Emperor, that guy, had practiced the sword but was a weakling who had never even aimed to be a Sword Master. At best, his only usable trait was his face; he was a man without even the guts to have a concubine or mistress, suppressed by the Empress.

“Damn it.”

He felt the flame of hope he had joyfully kindled turn cold. He thought about running away with this face and living another life, but that was a distant prospect.

Because transforming after swallowing that magic stone wasn’t something that happened according to his will. He could transform when he wanted to, but there were times when his body underwent mutations on its own even when he didn’t think of transforming.

‘And with this, aiming for the Emperor…’

Mocking himself for having a foolish dream for a moment, he thought about what he had to do next. There were only a few hours left until the capital, and he had just found a way to pass through the capital’s gates.

He thought he should take identification tags and clothing from the corpses and change his body.

***

His body was fine, but his heart felt tattered. Sebastian went up to his training room in the capital’s Magic Tower branch because he thought the servants would pester him with questions if he went home.

Originally, lower-level mages weren’t given rooms, but since he was the disciple of the Tower Master, he was specially assigned a training room.

“Hic… damn it.”

He tried not to cry, but tears kept falling as he remembered what Leticia said to him while crying. He knew Leticia had become afraid of dogs after that incident.

‘That girl, she used to like dogs…’

While being afraid of him, she used to hide in the stables and peek at the puppies the hounds had birthed. She didn’t even go close and only watched from afar, but he found that offensive…

“Ah, why was I so mean!”

While he was tearing his own hair out in anger, he met eyes with a face looking at him with pathetic judgment. Sebastian flinched and let go of his hair.

“Ugh, Master?!”

“You have no respect for your hair. You’ll regret it when you’re old? Or does House Tesseia not have a baldness gene?”

“I’ve never seen my grandfather’s face… No! Hair isn’t what’s important!!”

There were portraits of his grandfather in the Tesseia ducal residence, but such portraits usually included the demands of the one who commissioned them. He had never asked his father, Aaron, if his grandfather was bald, so he didn’t know about the hair.

“If that’s not important? Was there another reason you were blubbering?”

At Dominic’s words, Sebastian’s face turned bright red.

“D—did you see?”

“I see it even now. Your eyes are all swollen.”

“It’s—it’s not that bad! I washed my face!”

When Sebastian protested, Dominic nodded as if it were too bothersome to point it out further. This time, he was eating a sugar-dusted donut from a paper bag.

“…What brings you here?”

“I came to check the achievement of my crybaby disciple. Surely you aren’t going to make an excuse that your magic training has been neglected because the surroundings are chaotic?”

“No way! I also realize whose disciple I am.”

Dominic grinned at Sebastian, who was showing a mature side unlike before. He made the paper bag disappear with magic and moved away from him.

“Then let’s begin. Come at me, crybaby.”

He varied his teaching methods depending on the disciple, and Sebastian was the type who learned faster by experiencing it with his body.

“Stop calling me a crybaby!”

Sebastian, who had pulled up his mana to the maximum, shouted while unleashing an attack spell.

***

Returning to the Duke Lyon’s residence, Leticia felt as if she had exhausted all her energy. She should be able to carry on with her daily life as if nothing had happened even after encountering him, but she didn’t want to do anything, she was so tired just from revealing her inner feelings.

Fortunately, Terdis brought Leticia to her room as if handling a fragile glass product and let her rest. Leticia changed her clothes, washed up… and sat on the sofa, dazed.

‘Really… I want to go back to Lyon Duchy.’

Honestly, she couldn’t predict how Sebastian would act afterward. He might get angry that she didn’t accept his sincere apology, he might ignore her words and approach her again, or he might act as if he didn’t see her just as she said.

The problem was that she had to do this three more times. She didn’t know about Aaron since his pride was high, but it seemed like Godfrey and Cesare would also try to meet and apologize.

‘I don’t want to see any of the four.’

How good would it be if they were complete strangers so she could wish for all four to die? But unfortunately, they were blood relatives, and although Leticia wished for them to be unhappy to some extent, she didn’t wish for them to die.

She just wished they were as unhappy as she had been miserable. And she hoped she would never have to face them again.

However, she was the wife of Young Duke Lyon, and she knew she would encounter them at every imperial event and create an uncomfortable atmosphere.

‘This is why I tried to avoid marrying Terdis… but it didn’t go my way.’

She couldn’t help it since she had fallen for Terdis. Instead, her father-in-law, Carlyle, was a good person. She wanted to find meaning in that.

“Tisha, are you still in a bad mood?”

Terdis, who had returned after washing up just like her, asked as he sat next to Leticia. Leticia shook her head.

“No. I’m home. You’re here… and I’m okay now.”

Terdis hugged her tightly as she leaned into his embrace affectionately. He couldn’t express how shocked he was when Leticia said the scar from being hit by a stone still remained.

She was only twelve when she came to the Lyon’s, so it meant she had gone through such things at an even younger age… It was a malice difficult for Terdis to even imagine.

A prank where the fact that it might have been a meaningless prank to them was even more horrific.

Terdis felt an uncontrollable anger at such facts. How could they still unabashedly call Leticia’s name and act like they knew her…

‘I will protect you.’

He thought while calmly settling his boiling insides. Her lack of confidence and her tendency to sometimes not expect anything and try to avoid relationships must be because of those experiences.

Even if they were mistaken, she was still their sister, yet they tormented her like that. He became deeply disappointed in House Tesseia, which he had known as a long-standing knightly family.

If they weren’t confident in raising her properly, they should have sent her to another house. Especially since House Tesseia had the wealth to easily do so.

Moreover, in House Larqus, where there were no other children, they would have raised Leticia as their successor if she had been sent.

Yet they insisted on keeping her and ignoring her being abused… This was no different from trying to ruin Leticia’s life. In fact, wasn’t permitting her engagement to him something a normal family wouldn’t do?

“I’ll… make you even happier.”

Leticia’s eyes widened slightly at Terdis’s words, but she just smiled. She whispered as she took Terdis’s hand: “I’m happy even now. I like having you by my side. …I love you, Terdis.”

It was natural for Terdis’s emotions to overflow at her words. Terdis hugged Leticia tightly and stroked her hair.

“Never mind that, kiss me.”

“I wanted to… but I thought it seemed too intentional.”

For saying that, he was taking her clothes off almost every night. As Leticia recalled that fact and leaned in her lips, Terdis closed his eyes with a flushed face.

He didn’t know why it felt so good every time, as if his heart were melting. Entrusting himself to the ecstatic emotion, he hungrily tasted Leticia’s lips. Wishing this time would continue forever.

***

 

It had been a very long time since Carlyle looked at his wife’s portrait. The reason he kept Hellemine’s portrait so carefully was entirely for his son, Terdis, and not for himself.

As was publicly known, their marriage was nothing more than a political arrangement. Their relationship as a couple wasn’t bad, but it was strictly limited to that. An ambiguous middle ground between friends and colleagues would be a more accurate description—and even then, they weren’t particularly close.

Hellemine was a woman of flamboyant and captivating beauty, and she hadn’t been particularly fond of Carlyle, who appeared relatively plain. She had consented to the marriage only because they had been fiances for a long time and he was Young Duke Lyon.

Knowing this, Carlyle had no intention of obstructing Hellemine’s life. He was even willing to turn a blind eye to her having lovers, provided she did not conceive a child with one.

However, while Hellemine enjoyed parties, she never kept a formal lover. They had a cute son named Terdis, and she tended to try and spend her remaining time with him. Since Hellemine was generally the type to dislike children, Carlyle knew just how much she struggled to fulfill her responsibilities as a mother.

She loved her son in her own way. Perhaps the reason she never took a lover was also for Terdis’s sake? Most children wish for their parents to get along, and feel anxiety when they don’t. Since Hellemine’s own parents were a prime example of such an unstable couple, she had suppressed her desires to the best of her ability.

“I… never used to miss you.”

It was true that Carlyle was shocked and saddened by Hellemine’s death. However, because he believed raising Terdis was his primary duty, Hellemine’s absence didn’t hit him with overwhelming severity at the time. He simply thought, whenever Terdis sought his mother, that his son was missing her.

Since learning that the assassination was Rupert’s doing, however, he had developed a sense of guilt toward Hellemine. She had been killed because she was caught up in the affairs of the Lyon family. Rupert’s actions were his responsibility because he had trusted him.

Carlyle gazed at Hellemine’s portrait. She was depicted as young, bright, and beautiful. Someone who didn’t know her might have said the portrait beautified the subject, but Carlyle, who knew the truth, knew she had been even more beautiful than this.

“…I thought I could repay your death by taking Rupert’s head. Though it won’t settle everything, I thought it might make you feel a little better.”

He was beginning the task Aaron had requested. Aside from stopping Rupert from coming to kill him, he had decided to lend his strength to Aaron and the imperial Family to prepare a revenge for her, the Duchess of Tesseia, and Leticia.

It was a massive undertaking, one that could put many people at risk if discovered. But since they had already used Rupert to kill Hellemine, Carlyle had no other choice. This was true for House Tesseia, and it was true for House Lyon.

“Blood vengeance for the enemy. …The blood they spill will be far more than what you shed. I don’t know what you’ll think of this from wherever you are. Since we never spoke much…”

She had found Carlyle dull, and Carlyle hadn’t felt the need to share a deep relationship with a woman whose tastes were so different from his own. They had both lived under the illusion that they would have more time—much more time—together.

Carlyle feared only one thing: that this revenge would become a cycle of blood that might hurt Terdis or Leticia. If Aaron’s plan worked perfectly, the enemies wouldn’t even realize they were being retaliated against… but the world was rarely that kind.

“Please… pray that our children remain safe.”

If it were Hellemine, with that formidable temper of hers, he felt she might just grab a divine being by the collar to make it happen. Surely, she had ascended to a good place.

***

The clothes stripped from the corpses were, naturally, all stained with blood. Out of necessity, Rupert rummaged through the dead men’s belongings to find clean clothes. Unfortunately, there were no spare shoes among them, so he had to pull the boots off the dead and use those.

‘They were a merchant group! How could they not have a single pair of spare shoes!’

Rupert was dissatisfied, but even though it felt disgusting, he had to wear the dead man’s shoes. When he had begun killing the people, the horses the mercenaries were riding had all bolted, but the horses for the luggage wagons remained.

He untied one horse that was looking at him with terrified eyes, saddled it, and set off for the capital. The horse was docile throughout, as if it sensed he was a monster.

‘Do animals sense it? Or is it because it saw me fighting?’

It didn’t matter. It wasn’t as if the horse could speak the language of humans.

He thought he had hurried, but it was completely dark by the time he reached the capital. Fiddling with the identification tag in his pocket, he joined the queue entering the city gates.

Waiting his turn after dismounting, he met the eyes of a soldier. Feeling a needless sense of guilt, Rupert looked away with a nonchalant expression. He turned his gaze toward a blazing torch to avoid being caught glancing at the guard.

…When he was Marquis Debrus, he never had to stand in such lines.

There was no use thinking about the past, but he couldn’t help it whenever he faced such inconveniences. Rupert thought of the pouch of money hidden in his breast.

He was different from the moments when he suffered as a starving vagrant, but he still had an appetite. The thought of having eaten a human still made him feel like he would vomit, but he hadn’t had a proper meal in ages.

Once he crossed these gates and entered the capital, he planned to go to a steakhouse he used to know and eat real food. It would be his last supper before killing Carlyle and Leticia.

‘Then… maybe this disgusting, unpleasant feeling of having eaten a human will disappear.’

He was a man who had thrown away the rest of his life for revenge anyway. He had held a sliver of hope once, but the fact that he couldn’t control this transformation ability had shattered that hope to pieces.

His turn arrived, so he hurriedly pulled out the identification tag. The soldier spoke with a smirk.

“What happened to the merchant group? You’re back alone? You left just yesterday. Did you get kicked out already?”

He hadn’t expected anyone to recognize this face. As Rupert’s expression involuntarily stiffened, the soldier checked the tag in his hand.

“Nick Bolt… that’s correct.”

The suspicious look on the soldier’s face suggested he wasn’t very close with Nick. He remembered the face and name from casual chatting, but he didn’t have a perfectly clear memory of Nick’s features.

‘You stupid bastard! Just let me through! There’s no need to be so thorough!’

Rupert knew what the soldier was thinking: that a criminal who looked like Nick had stolen Nick’s identification.

“Step inside here. We need to conduct an investigation.”

As the soldier spoke while opening a door set into the side of the city wall, Rupert shook his head as if in regret. He could already feel it coming. This sensation was not something he could control.

“You dragged this out too long. …It’s a pity it has to turn out like this, friend.”

“What… AAAARGH!”

A massive, purple-mutated arm gripped the head of the soldier who had blocked Rupert. In an instant, screams rang out from all directions as people scattered.

‘Ah… I want to kill.’

Rupert let out a cackling laugh as he felt his body change. Since his life had already plummeted into the abyss and his brief expectations had vanished like a daydream…

He had to kill as many as possible. To make everyone miserable.

The soldier’s body was sent flying, crashing against the hard bricks, and the giant purple monster roared at those fleeing.

The capital was indeed different from mercenaries guarding against bandits or small merchant groups. The sound of a horn signaling a monster invasion echoed, and soldiers were pouring out.

Toward the monster. To kill the monster he had become.

Rupert leaped toward the soldiers with a joyful heart. It was time for a blood-soaked celebration.

***

It took less than an hour for the disturbance at the East Gate to reach the imperial Palace. The first to be ready after the request for reinforcements arrived was Godfrey from House Tesseia, who had recently become the Knight Commander of the imperial Knights.

As he led his order out of the palace, he realized that his was not the only order heading toward the East Gate.

“Is the damage that severe?” asked Arnold, the Commander of the 4th Order and Godfrey’s senior.

The messenger who brought the Crown Prince’s instructions replied with a stiff face.

“There have already been numerous casualties! It’s a monster over five meters tall that can crush city walls with its bare hands, so be careful!”

“Understood.”

He thought they wouldn’t miss a single monster over five meters tall. The problem was that such a thing was running rampant in the middle of the city.

They set off with grim determination to catch the monster, but upon arrival, the answer they received was that they had lost it.

“It vanished? That massive monster! That makes no sense!”

As Arnold vented his fury on the soldier, the man replied with a frustrated face.

“It grabbed two knights, suddenly swerved into an alley, and… disappeared without a trace! It’s true!”

At this point, they had not yet heard the report that the monster had initially been in human form. This was because the people in the immediate vicinity had been hunted down and killed by Rupert.

Those at a distance hadn’t realized what was happening due to the crowds. In their eyes, it looked as if a monster had suddenly appeared out of thin air within the throng.

“At any rate, since the monster hasn’t been caught, we must search,” Godfrey said.

Arnold’s face hardened at his words. “With a monster like that, we cannot scatter the knights. It would be throwing their lives away for nothing.”

“But… it is strange. Can you not sense anything, Sir Arnold?”

Both he and Arnold were not Sword Masters, but they possessed skill equivalent to one. In particular, Arnold, with his long career as a commander, had an exceptional sense.

“The movements of such a monster shouldn’t be something that can be hidden.”

“For now, we have no choice but to search in groups of five. Instruct the knights not to attack first even if they discover the monster.”

“It would be fortunate if the creature doesn’t attack first, but…”

Arnold groaned and decided to accept Godfrey’s suggestion. Forty minutes later, the Mages’ Order arrived to assist in the search, but they too failed to find the monster.

***

“Hah… blegh.”

Vomiting gastric juice, Rupert coughed. The streets were in total chaos due to the monster’s appearance and the rampage through part of the Eastern district.

He was moving about draped in rags he had stolen after killing a homeless man. Whenever he saw soldiers searching the streets, he ducked into a corner and pretended to beg.

‘Damn it! Why did the transformation wear off?!’

Eating humans was revolting, but this time he had managed to eat two knights. Since they were experts of a completely different caliber than the mercenary who had wounded him, and he had even consumed their iron armor, he thought he would have become quite strong.

However, the transformation had worn off as soon as he finished consuming them. It seemed that after eating humans, the transformation ended.

He wondered if he could kill Terdis if he continued to strengthen his body like this, but he figured it would still be impossible. A Sword Master was a monster in their own right.

It would be nice if he could become strong enough to kill even such a Sword Master, but… he had to risk his life even in the previous battle, just because five knights were mixed in.

Rupert had devoured the corpses of the two most skilled ones, but he still judged that it would be difficult to face Terdis.

This was something he wouldn’t have known if he still possessed his former ‘eyes.’ Because he now had a different brain, he judged it impossible after seeing Terdis’s movements through his past memories.

‘At this rate, killing Carlyle will be difficult as well.’

Duke Lyon would surely be flanked by the family’s best knights. Terdis was the strongest knight in the Lyon House, but he wouldn’t be able to stay by his father’s side at all times. He was the Young Duke himself, after all.

‘Therefore… Leticia. You will have to die by my hand.’

Thinking he would encounter and kill Leticia faster than the knights could pursue him, Rupert stood up. His staggering steps were gradually moving further away from the Eastern district.

***

“A purple monster… you say.”

Because Leticia’s dreams were in black and white, she hadn’t known the color of the monster Rupert transformed into. However, the appearance of the monster testified to by survivors and the accounts of witnesses reminded her of it.

Fortunately, there were survivors among those who appeared dead, and they testified that ‘a blond man transformed into a monster.’

‘But blond… that shouldn’t be Rupert’s hair color?’

She couldn’t rule out the possibility that there were multiple monsters like Rupert. Even if Rupert had turned into a monster, she shouldn’t be certain that he was the only one. If he had been forced into the transformation, it was possible to turn any number of people into such monsters.

Carlyle was able to obtain this information because a request for support had also been sent to Leticia. People had been sent to the Great Temple as well, but the public remembered how she had saved a dying person in the courtroom.

Since it was to save people, Leticia hurried to the scene with Terdis. High priests of the Great Temple were already tending to those still clinging to life.

They saved everyone they could, but some were so severely injured that even the power of High Priest Orlando couldn’t save them.

That the soldier was still breathing was thanks to Orlando’s divine power. Leticia was shocked by the man’s gruesome injuries but decided to focus only on the task at hand.

“Saintess! Can you do it?”

Orlando was already calling Leticia the Saintess. Instead of an answer, Leticia sat down in the space people had cleared for her, her face pale.

The man’s lower body was completely crushed. Leticia squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Goddess. Please… do not take this person.’

Every priest, priestess, and mana-sensitive individual there felt the massive divine power surging within her as it took on a will of its own to heal the man’s body.

In an instant, a great light poured over the man’s entire body, and his nearly mangled form began to be restored. Fearing Leticia might fully heal the man without any sense of moderation, Orlando quickly advised her.

“Saintess! Saving this man’s life is enough! Other clerics can handle the rest of the treatment, so…”

Leticia nodded. The scene resembled a war zone, but fortunately, it wasn’t a situation where casualties were pouring in.

If it were a battlefield, treatment would have been prioritized based on how vital the person was to the war effort or how many lives needed saving.

Luckily, there were only three people who required Leticia’s help. Once she succeeded in securing their lives, the clerics of the Great Temple took over the rest of the healing.

Since she was using divine power without any formal training, the consumption of energy was significant. As she staggered, Terdis swept her up into his arms before anyone else’s hand could reach her.

“I believe it is best for my wife to rest now.”

No one was brave enough to object to Terdis as he spoke with an air of unapproachable authority. High Priest Orlando was also in the position of waiting for the Pope to arrive, so he judged there was no need to needlesly provoke Young Duke Lyon.

“Of course. You have worked hard, Saintess. I hope the Goddess’s blessing stays with you…”

Terdis gave a short bow in Leticia’s stead at the ritualistic parting words and turned away. Watching the duchy’s escort knights and attendants withdraw, Orlando swallowed a sigh of regret.

It was truly a power that should be used for the world. A precious and noble power that shouldn’t be bound to a single family.

‘But how can we overturn a marriage that has already taken place?’

For now, he had appeased the situation by saying the marriage certificate would be annulled and that the Pope would attend the ceremony to give his blessing… but he couldn’t hide his uneasy heart. Seeing the Young Duke so hostile toward the Order… depending on the situation, it felt like they might have to wage war with the Lyon House.

‘Surely it won’t come to that?’

They were the Order, and the opponent was a ducal house. If the Pope persuaded the Saintess and it worked, it would end with him blessing the wedding and reconciling.

High Priest Orlando checked on the condition of the injured with these thoughts. The treatment for those who could be saved was finished. Now that there were no more critically injured, he could breathe a sigh of relief.

***

Aaron felt relieved as he saw Terdis helping Leticia into the carriage. He had rushed out upon hearing she had been called to treat the injured.

‘She probably doesn’t know anything yet.’

While it seemed excessive for the Order to hold onto her for a year, performing the role of a Saintess surely wasn’t something that could be done without any training.

If he had his way, he wanted to prevent Leticia from doing the work of a Saintess. He knew it was a sacred role, but using power blindly for an unspecified majority was no easy task.

Ordinary clerics receive a salary from the Order, but there was no such thing for a Saintess. A Saintess was merely provided with an allowance or maintenance fees according to the Order’s standards. Even that was managed by attendants, and the Saintess herself rarely handled money.

The Order’s logic was that money was secular and a Saintess, being close to God, should keep her distance. Given that Leticia had two ducal houses backing her, that wouldn’t happen, but people were unpredictable.

Furthermore, Aaron thought that Leticia, being young and inexperienced, might make a rash or impulsive choice.

‘The possibility that she might choose to take refuge in the Order to avoid me or our family isn’t zero. Even as the wife of Young Duke Lyon, she cannot completely separate her life from our duchy…’

If she proposed becoming a Saintess on the condition of a complete break from House Tesseia, the Order would likely accept it for the time being. It was obvious they would later use various excuses to force a reconciliation and try to use House Tesseia through her.

Terdis, who had sent Leticia into the carriage first, glanced toward where Aaron was. Despite his disguise, he had noticed Aaron was hiding. Seeing him give a slight bow of acknowledgment, it seemed his identity was completely compromised.

‘He… won’t tell Leticia.’

Terdis immediately entered the carriage. Aaron watched with a pained face as the carriage departed without delay.

He had failed to cherish his only daughter and had made her miserable through foolish jealousy. Therefore… this current feeling was his own doing.

He couldn’t leave the spot until the carriage of House Lyon had completely disappeared.

***

“Are you okay?”

Leticia shook her head at Terdis’s question. She had tried her best not to look at the man’s lower body, and while High Priest Orlando had tried to shield her view with his own body, the sight had been too much to handle. To be honest, she considered it a miracle she hadn’t fainted right then and there.

‘Oh, goodness.’

Leticia looked into Terdis’s face, praying that the scene she had witnessed would simply fade away. She had used her divine power because she desperately wanted the man to live, but she wasn’t even sure if she had done it correctly.

“It was just… all of it was so scary. Ter, are you okay? You saw it with me.”

“I’m… well, it’s not as if I haven’t seen such sights before when visiting villages ravaged by monsters.”

It was a relief her stomach was empty; it would have been even more horrific if she had vomited on the victims or the scene. Molly, who had been watching over her, carefully observed Leticia and spoke up.

“You haven’t eaten anything all day. Would you like something? I brought some snacks from the duchy.”

“No. I can’t.”

She wouldn’t die from not eating for a day. If she got hungry later, she could eat then. Since Leticia refused, Molly didn’t press her further.

Leticia was afraid.

“That monster… could it really be him?”

“We need to gather more information. A monster that conspicuous will eventually be caught. You don’t need to worry.”

Her concern was that if the monster was Rupert, he might attack Carlyle or Terdis. She knew Terdis was the male lead and a Sword Master, but she didn’t have a practical sense of just how strong he was.

“Ter, if things get dangerous… could you promise me to run away without thinking about anyone else? I’m so scared something might happen to you.”

Terdis’s eyes widened slightly at Leticia’s words, and then he let out a laugh.

“Tisha. If that monster runs into me, he’s the one who will have to run away.”

“But…”

“He’s hiding. If he were stronger than the capital’s knights, he wouldn’t have felt the need to hide. Since he ultimately vanished after fighting the knights at the gate, he probably isn’t that strong.”

The worry was that he was hiding somewhere only to attack weaker victims again. The capital generally had good security and was prepared for monster appearances, but a monster like this was a different case.

“It’s okay. Don’t worry. I won’t get hurt, and I won’t die.”

Terdis smiled and pulled Leticia into his arms as if he had just heard something truly amusing.

“I will never let you have a reason to worry about me.”

‘I hope so, but…’

Despite his reassurance, Leticia’s heart continued to flutter with anxiety.

***

He was watching Rupert as he slinked into the back alleys. Since the magic stones they were using were still in the experimental phase, it was only natural to verify if the effects were manifesting correctly.

“This is truly an effect beyond expectations! His Highness will be pleased!”

The Emperor’s joy was synonymous with his own master’s joy, for his master was devoted to that Emperor.

In truth, they hadn’t expected Rupert to push his way into the capital so quickly. Nor had they imagined he would be foolish enough to clash head-on with the Capital Guard and cause such heavy casualties. They had expected Rupert to roam the provinces, building his strength until he achieved a certain level of power before heading to the capital.

It was a failure of the plan; in their rush to gain his trust, they hadn’t properly explained the usage of the experimental magic stones.

‘The monster’s strength is greater than I thought, but… it’s not enough like this. Duke Carlyle and the Saintess are both protected by the Young Duke, that Sword Master.’

Moreover, if push came to shove, House Tesseia would join the fray, and someone like Rupert would surely be torn to shreds in an instant. That would be a great pity for an experimental subject who had achieved such success.

“There is truly great potential here… I should contact him to get permission to use additional drugs.”

Using them would mean the subject wouldn’t survive past the day, but hadn’t he already thrown away his life for revenge? If he was going to die anyway, it would be a mercy to let him succeed in killing his targets first.

Whistling with delight at the mere imagination, he headed toward the street where his lodgings were located. Since he needed to use a crystal ball to communicate, he couldn’t very well make contact on the street.

The thought of seeing the subject, empowered even further by drug-induced mutation, on the scene already made his heart race with anticipation.

***

Edward was nursing a massive headache due to the monster that had suddenly appeared. The Emperor had pretended to be enraged by the casualties among the people and had ordered Edward to resolve the issue.

This was business as usual, but… the monster he thought could be killed off within a few hours had surprisingly failed to reappear.

‘Was the report that it was five meters tall a mistake?’

In the capital of the Luendal Empire, buildings of three to five stories were common. Therefore, if it hid between buildings, it might be out of sight for a while—provided it could avoid the gazes of the residents. However, the creature remained unseen despite hours of searching.

While collective hysteria or hallucinations were possibilities, the wounds on the survivors and the state of the broken city walls supported the witnesses’ testimonies.

He didn’t intend to let the day pass without a resolution. If such a monster appeared among the people again, the casualties could be far worse than today. He had already lost skilled knights and soldiers. The only reason the damage hadn’t been worse was the excellent response from the Capital Guard at the East Gate.

Edward glared at the map in thought. The map was marked with the locations where the monster had been spotted.

‘It appeared at the gate… moved this way. And this was the last sighting.’

Bloodstains had been found around there. It was strange that no traces had been discovered yet, despite more than 80% of the Eastern district having been searched.

‘I thought that even if it returned to human form, it would be naked or covered in blood… Is that not the case? Or does it have an accomplice who brought it inside a building?’

The soldiers were only searching the streets. He wanted to consult Cesare, but Cesare was currently out in the field as a precaution. Rather than sacrificing the lives of many knights to bring down the monster, it was a wiser choice to send the one person who could surely kill it.

He didn’t think Cesare would lose. He knew Cesare’s capabilities well.

“What do you think this monster’s goal is?”

“Its goal? Perhaps it was someone who turned into a monster by mistake while trying to enter the capital?”

“A monster’s goal is usually to kill or eat people. Haven’t the bodies of the two knights witnessed being taken by the monster still not been found?”

Witnesses testified that after seeing the monster walk between buildings, the residents and those hiding didn’t dare peek out the windows. They only alerted the soldiers long after the monster had vanished. A few even testified that the monster had dragged the knights’ bodies away or hunched over to bring them to its mouth as if to eat them.

‘To eat people… if that were the case, it would be safer to target those coming in and out of the city rather than entering the city itself.’

Edward didn’t think the monster lacked intelligence. It had clearly tried to pass through the city gates in human form. Though things had gone awry when it was discovered by the soldiers, it was the plan of someone with a mind.

He connected the marked dots with a line. Thinking only in terms of direction…

‘It seems to be heading toward the district where the high nobility reside.’

It was a troubling thought.

***

He had never lived in that mansion. His father had left that mansion upon his remarriage and set up residence elsewhere. Even that had been for the sake of Carlyle, who had become the Duke.

Nauseatingly so.

How grand and wonderful the capital mansion had been when he first visited after turning ten. He had thought countless times about why he couldn’t live there, why he couldn’t be the master of that mansion. His father had been very firm about it, and his mother had looked at Rupert with an apologetic expression.

‘If your father were still the Duke, I wouldn’t have been able to marry him, Rupert. You will become a Marquis. Isn’t that also wonderful?’

She was the daughter of a Viscount and had been married before. While she was insufficient as a Duke’s consort, Rupert didn’t think those conditions were impossible to overcome—especially since his older brother, who seemed so average and earnest, appeared quite plain.

‘Why can’t we compete? I can win against a brother like him!’

At the time, he thought that with the childish arrogance of a boy. He didn’t realize that Carlyle, who cherished his younger brother, was losing to him on purpose. Neither Carlyle, nor his father, nor his mother knew that this would turn into poison.

“F-Father… please forgive me for ending the family line with me. But this… you brought this all on yourself.”

His mother, who had worried about him until her final breath… she knew what kind of person her son was.

‘Rupert. Do not be needlessly greedy. You wouldn’t have been satisfied even if you had become the Duke anyway…’

He had pulled his hand away as she gripped it tightly in persuasion. His mother was the kind of person who, seeing her son’s greed, wondered if even the Marquisate should be returned to Carlyle.

“Perhaps that boy would be better off earning his living through labor.”

“He is our son! The child of a noble cannot live by coarse labor! Besides, even if I do not bequeath the title, Carlyle will look after him. He will ensure the boy doesn’t go astray…”

Their mistake was thinking Carlyle could do what they themselves couldn’t.

Foolish father… Mother…

Rupert still resented them, but he loved them at the same time. After all, they had finally made him a Marquis before they left. In return for that affection, Rupert had never taken any overt actions while they were alive.

But now, he wondered what it would have been like if this were happening while they were still alive. Would they have stopped Carlyle from trying to punish him?

He had been truly foolish; even after Hellemine died like that and Terdis turned out as he did, he hadn’t thought Carlyle would try to kill him. Because he was a kind-hearted brother. He had believed that even if the truth came out, Carlyle would eventually be unable to punish him and would instead send him abroad with money in hand.

Because he thought he was a soft and good man.

But… he was Duke Lyon. Once he realized the truth, he had struck him down and cut him off without hesitation. Rupert had judged Carlyle as someone unfit for the position of Duke, but he had been wrong.

He had made the wrong judgment in every choice. As he walked through the darkening streets, suppressing his body that was trying to turn into a monster, he felt it even more clearly.

He shouldn’t have swallowed that magic stone. Although the seizure had been delayed because he had devoured two people, his body was trying to transform regardless of his plans.

He had been relieved when he first became a monster and his body returned to normal, but as he felt the knights he had eaten today becoming one with him inside, he realized.

This next time would be his final appearance as a human.

If he devoured a human one more time, it felt as if he would never return to being a human again. He had no evidence, but the feeling was overwhelming.

‘So… Carlyle or Leticia. I must kill at least one of them.’

Since it didn’t seem like his mother or father would help him, he had no choice but to pray to an evil god. Mumbling the name of an evil god forbidden by the Temple, Rupert looked toward the street where the entrance was beginning to appear.

The entrance was guarded by soldiers. It was a street where vagrants or suspicious-looking individuals couldn’t even enter in the first place. As Rupert began to approach, the guards immediately frowned and prepared to block his path. He sneered at them.

‘They don’t even know they’re at the place where they’ll die.’

Then again, who knows the place and day of their death? No one knows. Because they don’t know, they can run toward the end. Into the darkness.

Right now, it wasn’t dark yet as the sun hadn’t set, but that was their future—just as it was Rupert’s own.

Rupert walked toward the guards with a shuffling gait and let go of what he had been suppressing. Soon, a sharp scream rang out from where the street began.

***

Theresa’s portrait was hanging on the wall of Leticia’s office. Although she was only the wife of the Young Duke, there were some minor duties that fell to her, and she had been given an office for that purpose. In fact, she had considered the bedroom or the couple’s parlor, which she saw often, but since she sometimes did embarrassing things with Terdis there, she settled on the office.

‘It would be embarrassing to do that in front of mother’s portrait.’

Leticia stared blankly at the portrait with that thought. Looking at that gentle smile made the shock from the Eastern district feel as if it were gradually fading away.

‘Are those people safe?’

Their lives were saved, and the other clerics took over the rest of the treatment. So, she thought they would be treated to the point where they could move perfectly, though some scars might remain. If they had been a noble, further treatment would have followed, but she didn’t know if that was the case. She hadn’t asked much about the patients.

Terdis was with Carlyle. She had heard it was to discuss the affairs of the fief, but seeing how he specifically wanted her not to be present, it seemed like it was related to that man, Marquis Rupert Debrus.

‘So that monster really is Uncle Rupert…’

Just as a scream was heard from afar, a surge of ominous feeling washed over her. It was an indescribably ill-fated sensation, so Leticia looked around and hurriedly moved away from the spot.

KABOOM!

Walls and windows shattered, and fragments flew everywhere. Beneath the collapsing ceiling, Leticia watched with a pale, terrified face. A massive, purple-discolored hand punched through the spot where she had been, fingers extending to claw and sweep away everything inside.

Leticia looked down with horrified eyes as long, black, curved nails tore through the carpet and left deep gashes in the floor. Because of her recent ‘premonition,’ she had taken refuge deep inside the room, and thanks to that, she had managed to escape the hand’s reach.

‘…What? I can see it?’

The echoing voice made Leticia’s heart race. Unlike before, she wasn’t entirely without weapons. She still had the protective brooch, a magic tool that protected her body. The magic stone had been replaced, and it could still be used once.

And…

‘One never knows what might happen in the world, so I shall give this to you.’

There was Dominic, who had suddenly appeared yesterday, saying strange things and tossing her a man’s ring. It was a magic tool called the Whip of Fire.

“I have no reason to receive such a gift.”

“It’s something you’ll want, though? The gifts I give aren’t some flimsy cheap things. Besides, that’s not a stupid thing that actually starts a fire, but a magic tool that delivers an ‘attack that feels as if one were seared by fire.’”

He meant that even if she swung it inside the house, it might damage the furniture, but nothing would catch fire. She had been suspicious since it was a gift that dropped out of nowhere after she had returned all the gifts from House Tesseia… but she had no choice but to accept it after Dominic later gave this warning.

“You’re not taking it? If you don’t, I won’t take any more commissions from House Lyon.”

Leticia still had that magic tool. When the thick man’s ring entered Leticia’s palm, it became a cute, thin thread-ring with a tiny gem.

The ‘premonition’ that had just given her a firm command was exerting its power once again, telling her to prepare with the magic tool.

At this, Leticia let the Whip of Fire dangle. The long, red whip looked as if it were made of flames and would set the surroundings on fire, but in reality, only the floor touched by the whip was slowly being singed.

『…Where.』

In her terror, she swung her arm wide at the ‘premonition’s’ firm command. Even though she had it, she had never properly practiced with it, so she worried the whip might bounce back at her. But that didn’t happen. It was clear that magic for that had also been cast on it.

As the massive purple hand withdrew and the monster lowered its head to press its bare eye against the hole in the office wall, the whip slashed across its eyeball.

『…AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!』

A piercing scream and howl erupted. To Leticia, it felt as if thirty minutes had passed, but everything from her taking cover, the wall breaking, to her swinging the whip happened in a mere twelve seconds.

From the moment that massive body cleared the duchy’s wall, the knights must have been in pursuit. She could hear the sounds of fighting, indicating they had arrived.

“…….”

Holding her breath, Leticia retreated to a corner where the ceiling hadn’t collapsed and felt her heart thumping.

“Tisha!!”

At some point, the shouting stopped, and Terdis leapt through the large hole in the wall. His sword was drawn, but he looked relieved upon finding Leticia.

“You’re safe. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Y-Yes… I’m fine.”

Leticia nodded, putting the whip away. Belatedly, the office door burst open, and the escort knights poured in. Terdis quickly handed Leticia over to them.

“Escort her to a safe place.”

“Yes!”

“T-Ter! Where are you going?”

Terdis also wanted to stay with her as she called out with a desperate face, but only by catching the creature now would Leticia and his father be safe.

“I’ll be back soon.”

She didn’t have an ominous premonition. That was likely why she was able to let Terdis go. While Leticia watched with lingering eyes, Terdis leapt back out through the hole in the office wall.

Leticia looked after him with regret and then glanced at the spot where her mother’s portrait was. Even in the midst of this, Theresa’s portrait was safe and unscathed. It seemed to be thanks to it being hung on a solid wall, away from the light coming through the window.

Since it was a dangerous situation, she couldn’t take the portrait with her. However, before leaving the room, she lowered the curtain over the portrait and moved on.

Please, please… let the people fighting outside be safe.

***

The reason his reason, which he thought had evaporated the moment he transformed into a monster, returned was when he saw the building illuminated by lights. It was a place he had envied. And… it was obvious where the Young Duke would reside and where his wife would use.

The reason he had crossed the Lyon Duchy’s garden to that spot was thanks to constantly reciting the intense desire to kill ‘Leticia’ in his head.

‘If I go there, I can kill Leticia!’

He tried to focus on the target just as the mage had instructed. He had reminded himself over and over again to kill Carlyle and Leticia—preferably Leticia.

But the guards of the Lyon Duchy were as clever as the capital’s guards—no, even more so. Perhaps because rumors of his appearance in the capital had already spread, they threw smoke bombs and took cover as soon as they saw him.

Smoke bombs for mere guards. Isn’t it laughable?

This was only useful against humans; it was completely useless against Rupert, who was five meters tall, as it only obscured his vision. They must have provided it to the guards knowing that.

The guards, who were no match at all, retreated, and well-trained knights appeared. Rupert moved. If he spent even a little time dealing with them, Terdis might appear.

Even if it wasn’t Terdis, the Lyon Duchy was teeming with high-level experts on par with Sword Masters. Thus, he had to hunt Leticia before they swarmed him.

The knights couldn’t stop Rupert as he turned and moved. Leaving behind shouts that were close to screams, he ran like mad and reached the place where he saw Leticia.

He thrust his fist toward the silhouette of a woman visible through the building’s window, but he caught nothing. Just as he lowered his head to check the broken room, a sharp tip of flame seemed to tear through his eyeball.

That pain! He screamed at the agony. It would have been great if he could have collapsed the building and killed Leticia right then, but the knights attacked him.

At that moment, he felt a killing intent that made him shudder. Though it was well-concealed, his instinctive senses were warning him.

At this, Rupert fled, accepting the attacks he received. Fortunately, the strongest among his pursuers went inside the building, and only the rest tracked him.

‘I was so close!’

He had missed her when she was within arm’s reach. His final wish, his hatred, was at the brink of bearing fruit.

But as if fate wouldn’t allow it, he missed. Not only that, one of his eyes was torn, so he couldn’t see forward with it.

He was enraged, but now wasn’t the time for anger. A chilling killing intent was tracking him as if it had turned around.

“Rupert Debrus!!”

He flinched and reacted to the mention of his name, even though he had lost his reason. He felt a killing intent he had never felt before in the eyes of his familiar nephew.

Because he had become a monster rather than a human, he could feel the aura billowing from the boy’s entire body. It was the aura of mana controlled by a Sword Master.

“After my mother, you’re trying to kill my wife as well?! You truly are a man who knows no remorse!”

Terdis. This formidable brat.

He would never know how much Rupert had envied him. Perfect bloodline, a father’s devoted love, the talent of a Sword Master, a brilliant brain, even a beautiful appearance… he had everything Rupert wanted.

That Terdis was approaching, radiating killing intent from his entire body. Since he only remembered the nephew who had shown him unstinting affection, he widened his yellow eyes in surprise.

The next moment, he recalled the fact that he had caused his mother’s death.

He hadn’t intended to kill Hellemine, but the poison he had unleashed to harm Carlyle and Terdis had led to her death. He had even shed tears at her funeral, but in truth, he had been laughing while witnessing Carlyle and Terdis’s grief.

‘Ah… yes, I killed your mother. Isn’t this just like the beginning of a cheap adventure novel!’

Flickering reason and a fierce urge to kill intersected. If only he could kill him… if only he could kill and consume him, he could become incomparably stronger than he was now.

『…Die for me, Terdis.』

Terdis’s eyes narrowed, not expecting an answer since he was in the form of a monster. His uncle was a selfish man until the very end.

“You are the one who should pay for your crimes.”

Pay for crimes? For what? He was merely trying to reclaim the opportunities he had missed through effort. He had believed that all those challenges and blood-tears of endurance deserved applause.

Hellemine’s death was merely an unavoidable occurrence in that process. Like an ant crawling into a gap in a screw and accidentally getting crushed…

But in this form, he couldn’t persuade his nephew, nor could he unburden his heart. Just as Rupert was about to open his mouth to sneer at him…

『AAAAAAAAARGH!』

Even in this form, it was difficult to track his movements. Green blood, like sticky mucus, was pouring from his severed massive arm.

“I hope death does not bring you peace.”

No answer could come to the frighteningly whispered voice. This was because his massive head had been severed and was rolling on the garden floor.

This couldn’t even be called a fight. If a gardener had witnessed this, he would have described the monster collapsing after two flashes.

The monster hadn’t had the chance to attack him, nor the room to flee.

Terdis waited to see if the monster would return to human form, but the corpse with its neck and arm severed did not change back into a human shape.

A knight who approached carefully observed Terdis’s mood and spoke.

“It will take a lot of manpower to move this out of the duchy.”

“It would be best to enlist a mage’s help. …Calling a mage from the Magic Tower would be good. They’ll want to investigate that.”

He didn’t know what his father thought, but Terdis had no desire to bury that man in the family graveyard. He even felt it would be better to take the corpse to the Magic Tower and let them research it to their heart’s content.

“I will inform the guard of the monster’s intrusion and death. They seem to still be searching…”

“Right. Set up guards here and control the onlookers appropriately. Be on guard against anyone trespassing on the duchy’s grounds.”

“Understood!”

People were already gathering to see the dead monster. A five-meter-tall monster moving would have been conspicuous enough. For now, it was just the people of the Lyon Duchy, but after a while, people from other noble families nearby would also try to have a look.

As Terdis turned and moved toward the building, someone was stealthily approaching the monster’s corpse. He was dressed exactly like a soldier of the Lyon Duchy.

‘I knew it would come to this! He should have taken it slower, eating people and getting stronger!’

Fortunately, he had received permission from the higher-ups, and the drug to be injected was in his breast pocket. It was no wonder the Sword Master had turned away, as things usually die when their heads are cut off…

‘But there are exceptions to everything.’

He passed the remaining massive arm and approached near Rupert’s heart. The heart he felt with his sense was definitely stopped, but it was fine since five hours hadn’t passed. Their experimental subjects had shown good reactions within five hours.

In an instant, three ampoules he had prepared were plunged deep enough to reach the heart. The amount of drug injected wouldn’t even be a handful, but the effect would be lethal.

He turned and fled to avoid being caught in the aftermath himself.

***

The soldier who fled in an abrupt turn drew the curious gaze of only a few people. They followed his movement briefly with their eyes but didn’t find it particularly suspicious, assuming he either had an urgent bathroom break or had forgotten an instruction from a superior.

The first person to sense the anomaly was Terdis, who was walking back toward the mansion. Although his mind was filled with thoughts of how much Leticia might be worrying about him, he sensed it.

The massive, stopped heart of the monster had begun to beat again. The moment he realized this, he drew his sword and dashed back toward the creature.

“GET BACK!!!”

As he shouted, hundreds of sword strikes were sucked into the crowd like a storm. This wasn’t an attack on the monster, but Terdis’s proactive strike. He was moving to sever the thousands of tentacles that had begun to surge out from the monster’s undulating, massive body.

“Aaaargh!”

The onlookers who had gathered to gawk at the creature fled in terror. The tentacles, shredded by the Sword Master’s strikes, thrashed like gasping fish on land. In some cases, the tentacles managed to pierce through people before his blade could reach them, but they were quickly cut down by his following strikes.

Though they had avoided immediate fatal wounds, those who suffered puncture wounds collapsed. They were unable to move, having had their life force and blood drained significantly in that brief instant.

“Pull out the wounded! Assist the Young Duke!!!”

Fortunately, skilled knights were already nearby. Some rushed in to drag the paralyzed victims away, while others formed a defensive perimeter against the tentacles.

This freed Terdis to move. Realizing he no longer needed to protect the civilians, he dove into the center of the nest of tentacles and advanced toward Rupert.

However, Rupert, who had lost even his former monstrous shape, split his body—now a mere mass of flesh—wide open to reveal a giant maw. It was a move intended to swallow Terdis whole.

That fierce craving was born of a raw desire that suppressed even basic survival instincts.

The person Rupert had truly envied was Terdis. To consume him and take everything he possessed was Rupert’s most primal urge.

It was a primitive will that he hadn’t even consciously realized, but it was nothing more than that.

Terdis, who had lived a life he once considered cursed despite being born with superior talent, hadn’t just desired power; he had refined himself. While his growth was a path paved by his longing for Leticia, his journey to becoming a Sword Master had never been smooth.

Only the masters who taught him and the knights who watched him train knew the truth. He had reached a point of destruction and started over from scratch at least six times.

And finally… he had crossed the wall that everyone yearned for and brought forth the light. It was a process similar to a mage manifesting light at their fingertips for the first time.

A trail of dazzling light slaughtered the mass of flesh. It was as if he refused to allow whatever it was trying to swallow or give birth to.

Though Rupert failed to absorb a single member of the Duke’s household thanks to Terdis’s interference, something was still writhing and forming inside the flesh.

The sword strikes cut its throats and pierced its hearts. He snuffed out the lives of three or four heads, but the remaining creatures tore through the flesh and burst out.

He caught a glimpse of about nine of them, but his sense confirmed twenty-six. These winged creatures scattered in all directions, seemingly seeking a way to survive.

But it was futile.

Terdis began by tearing the wings of the ones furthest away, causing them to crash to the ground, before pursuing the others. The knights of the Lyon Duchy swarmed and attacked those that had fallen.

imperial Knights, who had been searching for the monster outside the walls, were now entering the grounds, clearly having heard the sounds of battle.

He pursued them desperately. The direction they were flying in was exactly where his father and Leticia were taking refuge.

***

“The noise isn’t dying down…”

Carlyle glanced anxiously at the wall with the window. His escort knights had advised him not to stand in front of it, so he didn’t approach, but he kept shifting restlessly in his seat.

Naturally, one of those fighting outside was his son. Though he was an adult, he had only just come of age, and Carlyle felt as though his heart was rotting away from worry.

Leticia, sitting across from him, seemed to feel the same, as she couldn’t take her eyes off the window. Her hands gripping a cushion were white from the tension.

The escort knight looking out the window for them had nothing to say. The area where the Young Duke and the other knights were fighting was quite far from here, making it impossible to see with the naked eye. Scattered shrubs and large buildings further blocked the view.

“The Young Duke will be fine.”

“I… I suppose so.”

Carlyle spoke while stealing a glance at Leticia. Remembering that he was the elder and should appear composed, he tried his best to maintain a calm expression.

Leticia, who had been staring toward the window with a face full of worry, suddenly made a strange expression. Her eyes, as if she had realized something, turned to Carlyle, and she suddenly stood up and pulled his arm.

“Leticia?!”

“Father! Get up! Quickly, this way…!”

There was no time to feel joy at the fact that Leticia had called him “Father.” Her expression was so grave that Carlyle stood up in bewilderment and headed for the door. The escort knights followed them in a flurry.

“My Lady, what—?! Aaaakh!”

The window shattered as giant bee-like creatures with sharp stingers flew in. Though they were “bees,” they had wings like hummingbirds and each one was roughly the size of a human.

“Urgh!”

Since there was no time to draw weapons, the knight closest to Carlyle blocked one with his sheathed sword. Not only did the scabbard dent, but a dark purple liquid dripped over it—it was clearly poisonous.

“There’s more than one!”

“Get His Grace and the Lady to safety!!”

Two, then three… A fifth creature broke through another window of the secondary office one after another. The escort knights threw open the door and pushed Leticia and Carlyle into the hallway.

Fortunately, Carlyle’s escort knights were exceptional. Along with Leticia’s own guards, they were able to hold their ground without being immediately overwhelmed.

“How dare you!!!”

That was all they needed to do. While the escort knights bought time with their backs to the hallway door, Terdis leapt through the broken window and mercilessly cut down the monsters.

In an instant, the wings of four were shredded, the waists of two were severed, and the limbs of a third were sent flying. There wasn’t even time to look away. The escort knights blocked the desperate attacks of the remaining two and stabbed them.

Just as the knights were about to breathe a sigh of relief, Terdis pushed past them and lunged toward Leticia and Carlyle.

“Terdis—!”

Carlyle, who had been glad to see his son running toward him, flinched as a streak of sword light grazed past him. A monster that had burst through the hallway wall to impale Carlyle was engulfed by the strike and torn into several pieces.

“Father.”

“O-Oh…”

‘I’ve trained in the sword too,’ Carlyle thought, but the idea quickly vanished. He glanced behind him and watched Terdis, who had approached, remain on high alert.

“There are still two left.”

“I see.”

‘He is strong.’

Carlyle looked at Terdis with a face mixed with relief and awe. He had celebrated his son’s achievement, but a Sword Master was indeed a being beyond his full comprehension.

‘More importantly… Leticia seemed to sense the attack first?’

Carlyle’s escort knights were highly skilled, and there were even those among them expected to cross the wall of a Sword Master in their middle age.

Yet, Leticia had noticed an ambush that even they hadn’t sensed, and she had tried to get him to safety seconds before it happened.

‘Is this also an ability that appeared after becoming a Saintess?’

He didn’t know the details, but he had heard that those who become Saintesses are granted abilities suited to the nature of their god. It was said that these didn’t appear all at once, but rather one by one.

The first was dreams related to danger, and the second appeared to be the ability to specifically sense danger.

‘I heard it varies depending on the god that granted the divine power… I wonder which god blessed Leticia.’

While Carlyle was lost in thought, Terdis, who had been scanning the surroundings, lightly flicked his sword and sheathed it.

“…Both of the remaining ones are dead. It seems to be the work of the imperial Knights.”

The presence was different from the Lyon family knights he knew. Since they were the only outsiders currently on the Lyon Duchy’s grounds, it was certainly the imperial Knights.

“Is that so… That is a relief.”

Carlyle replied as he looked down at the monster’s carcass. The form—a bee’s torso, hummingbird wings, and a human head—was hideous beyond words.

Terdis could find traces resembling Rupert in it, but Carlyle frowned as if he didn’t realize it immediately.

“To create such a thing… Madmen.”

“Father.”

He wondered if he should say it. Since the things dead here were merely what had burst out of the corpse, one could argue they weren’t Rupert. There were many of them, not just one.

However, the giant monster that had spoken something akin to words was undoubtedly his uncle, Rupert.

“Father…”

The expression on Terdis’s face was enough. Carlyle flinched and looked at the mangled carcass lying like a pile of bricks against the wall.

“……Foolish.”

It was hard to tell if he was cursing Rupert or himself for failing to recognize his half-brother. Carlyle shook his head and looked at Leticia and Terdis with a gentle expression.

“Let us move elsewhere.”

He appeared composed, but Leticia sensed that he was grieving. She also understood that as Duke Lyon and the husband of Hellemine, he would never let that sadness show on the surface.

Terdis seemed to feel the same, as he quietly followed his father. Outside, the sounds of voices checking for more wounded were loud, as if the battle had ended long ago.

***

Godfrey was inspecting the monster’s remains. He had been able to finish quickly because Cesare had come to help. Cesare looked toward the main building of the Lyon Duchy, which wasn’t far away, and turned his back.

“I shall be heading back now.”

“Already… sir?”

Godfrey had thought Cesare might at least greet Duke Lyon, as he had last time. He even thought Cesare might take the chance to see Leticia’s face.

However, Cesare spoke with a stoic face.

“I am not the person in charge here. Since we have confirmed the monster is dead, notifying the Emperor, the Empress, and the Crown Prince is the priority.”

He had only come as “support” for the knights who had been dispatched first; he hadn’t come to take command. Cesare spoke as he started walking.

“You convey that to Sir Arnold.”

“Understood…”

Because he was an older brother but also felt like a father figure, Godfrey couldn’t stop Cesare. Cesare stole a glance at Godfrey before leaping over the broken wall of the duchy to exit.

Godfrey scratched his head awkwardly. Since Cesare was acting this way, he felt like a villain for trying to use this incident as a chance to greet Leticia.

‘Brother Cesare probably doesn’t want to miss the chance to greet Leticia either. So… him leaving first must be out of consideration for her. Should I do the same? Is it not the time yet?’

While he was contemplating, Sir Arnold approached him. He looked relieved that the incident had ended without his knights being injured. Anyone who had seen the wounded in the Eastern city district would feel the same.

“Why the long face? We must apologize for unavoidably trespassing on the grounds and offer our greetings to Duke Lyon, so lead the way.”

“Me, sir?”

Godfrey’s expression became sour at the matter-of-fact tone. At this, Arnold grinned. Although he was the Commander of the imperial Knights, Dukes were difficult to deal with.

“Your sister married Young Duke Lyon, did she not! Who else but you should offer the first greeting! I’m counting on you!”

“Yes, well…”

Duke Carlyle Lyon was famous for being amiable, so it wouldn’t be hard to strike up a conversation. He had seemed like a good person when he was with Cesare last time, too.

Godfrey hid his nervousness and walked toward the main building of the Lyon Duchy with Arnold. He silently hoped Leticia wouldn’t find his presence unpleasant.

***

Cesare’s report was reassuring, but the fact that a mutant monster had attacked again could only lead to fury.

There were several people in the audience chamber. Only the Emperor and Empress, the Master of the Magic Tower, Jean the imperial Mage, Duke Aaron Tesseia, and their trusted ministers were present.

“…How long must we tolerate such atrocities!”

It was the Empress who was holding back Aaron, who looked ready to storm out at any moment. She wanted more caution. Regardless of the fact that what they planned to do was no easy feat, it was a dangerous undertaking.

As the Empress looked worried, one of the ministers spoke up cautiously.

“Since we still have no physical proof or evidence…”

“There is such deep suspicion, yet you ask for proof? Who will take responsibility if my daughter dies in the meantime?”

The reason he could raise his voice like that in front of the imperial couple was likely because he was Duke Tesseia. The Emperor desperately wanted to see the face of Duke Lyon, who might at least be able to calm Aaron down, but that would be impossible for now.

A monster had invaded his mansion’s garden. Moreover, since he and his daughter-in-law had been the targets, his position wouldn’t be any different from Aaron’s.

When the Emperor looked at the Empress as if to tell her to say something, she spoke with a worried face.

“It is not a decision to be made lightly. This matter certainly requires severe punishment… but please consider the weight of this action.”

“Your Majesty. They have already attacked the Crown Prince. We were able to cut them down because we realized it beforehand, but think about what it is they ultimately want.”

“Hmm…”

“Good grief.”

The person who expressed irritation first at the Emperor and Empress’s lack of a definitive answer was Dominic, the Master of the Magic Tower. Although his goals differed from Aaron’s, he decided to help Aaron without hesitation once it was confirmed that the person he was tracking was cooperating with the Sachsen Empire.

“Do you really need their permission? You’re the one stepping forward, and I’m the one opening the magical gate for teleportation. What does it matter if that piddling imperial bloodline continues or not…”

“Watch your mouth, Tower Master! You are in the presence of His Majesty!”

One of the ministers shouted this, but Dominic scoffed. Although the Magic Tower cooperated with the imperial family, they were a separate power.

“In the end, you’re just going to pretend you don’t know because it’s not your business. Are you going to wait until the fire reaches your own feet before you jump?”

“Tower Master. Do not speak so recklessly! This matter could turn into a major war if things go wrong!”

When the Empress, unable to watch any longer, shouted this herself, Dominic continued with a smile.

“Did those bastards worry about the risk of war when they attacked the key figures of this country several times? Even if they’re caught, there are two other kingdoms in between, so they act like that thinking it won’t lead to a full war.”

“But… what the Duke is requesting is different! That could immediately become the spark for war! I also pity the tragedy of the two Ducal houses, but…”

“Your Majesty.”

It was a quiet and low-pitched voice, yet as soon as he spoke, the audience chamber fell silent.

The Empress, meeting those burning deep blue eyes, swallowed her words with a flinch. It was as if his eyes were revealing that his thoughts weren’t much different from the Tower Master’s.

“It was not a tragedy. It was my ignorance… and ultimately, a mockery. I have lived for twenty years in my own foolishness.”

“Duke. We were all deceived. You must not think of it that way.”

“The imperial family will be considered not involved in this matter. As of today, I shall pass my title of Duke to my son Cesare, and everything that happens hereafter will be…”

The Empress squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t let Aaron de Tesseia abandon his family and turn his back on the country. His revenge wouldn’t just be directed at the Sachsen imperial family.

“Your Majesty, please grant permission.”

“Empress! This matter is too dangerous! If things go wrong, the continent could be engulfed in war!”

Even the Emperor, who was easily swayed by her words, knew the danger, but the man gripped by the hatred before them seemed to have no intention of changing his mind.

“He is Duke Tesseia.”

The total military power of the Tesseia House exceeded 30% of the Empire’s military power. Even that was a figure excluding the family heads Aaron and Cesare, so their power alone was enough to sweep away the Sachsen Empire.

“Your Majesty…”

At the sound of Aaron calling him again, the Emperor had an irritable look in his eyes. Just as Cesare was a friend to the Crown Prince, the Emperor had also spent his childhood with Aaron.

“Since they’ve done what they’ve done, there’s no way they won’t know it’s us. But just as those bastards did… leave not a single piece of evidence! Do you understand?”

“I shall keep that in mind.”

Aaron replied, bowing even deeper before the Emperor. The Emperor looked at Aaron with eyes filled with worry and pity.

“This will not make your sadness go away… but I hope it helps.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Aaron slowly rose. At the sight of him turning away, Dominic smiled, thinking it had finally begun.

He didn’t share the same enemy as Aaron, but he too had a blood price to pay. He believed that helping with this matter would reveal the target or allow him to track them.

The Emperor sighed as he watched Aaron and the Tower Master move away. Although he was a tall man to begin with, his presence was still like a great mountain.

‘This shouldn’t lead to war… but I’m concerned about what happens afterward.’

He stole a glance at the Empress beside him. She seemed to feel the same way.

“They will finish it without any trouble.”

“They have to.”

Otherwise, they would have to take away the title of the family with the greatest military power in the Empire. As usual, he sent the ministers out and grumbled to the Empress.

***

He couldn’t see Leticia’s face, which he had looked forward to. It was because she had left to look after those who were in critical condition among the wounded.

Godfrey hid his disappointment and exchanged greetings with Carlyle. Arnold hadn’t played a major role, but he seemed satisfied just with the fact that his knights were safe and that he had become acquainted with Duke Lyon.

Carlyle agreed to let them take most of the monster’s remains. Some were secured to be sent to the Magic Tower, but nowhere among them was there any effort to collect them for a funeral.

He called Terdis and the knights and instructed them to remain silent about the possibility that the monster might have been Rupert.

It was a monster that had attacked the Eastern district of the capital. No good would come of revealing that such a being was a relative of the Lyon Duchy.

As the knights withdrew, Terdis carefully observed Carlyle’s complexion. From the moment his mother Hellemine was murdered, Rupert was nothing more than his enemy, but his father’s position could be different.

“…Will you be okay with that?”

When Terdis asked, Carlyle seemed somewhat surprised and looked at his son with pride. Although he was a grown man, he gladly stroked his son’s head. Given the situation, Terdis didn’t pull away either.

“I have to be okay. I am Hellemine’s husband, after all. That fellow…”

Carlyle’s face clouded, perhaps because he recalled the final image he didn’t really want to remember.

“He chose the path he wanted and paid the price. It was a natural consequence, so I do not wish to be sad about it. I only feel pity for those who were sacrificed in this matter.”

Quite a few people had died due to Rupert’s greed. Carlyle intended to think of that whenever his heart ached because of this. He believed he also shared responsibility for that sacrifice due to his own foolishness in trusting someone who shouldn’t have been trusted.

“Understood.”

At Terdis’s answer, Carlyle nodded. He thought about giving Terdis a hint about Leticia’s ability but decided it would be better to save it for later.

“…Comfort Leticia well. She also went through a lot today.”

“Yes.”

Watching Terdis bow and withdraw, Carlyle stole a glance outside the window. Because it was late, the moon was already dipping in the sky.

‘Those children will be fine, right, Hellemine?’

“Excuse me, Master. A guest has arrived.”

When the butler hesitated in front of the open door, Carlyle turned his head. The butler wasn’t alone. A familiar face was visible behind him.

Seeing the determined expression on the mage’s face, he realized the time had come.

“Let him in.”

Carlyle gestured for him to enter, and the butler closed the office door after the mage went in. Since the commotion outside was also gradually dying down, the quiet night had arrived.

***

His morning was far from pleasant. While his pack of mages seemed delighted at having secured “meaningful data,” to him, the only thing that mattered was the success of the mission.

‘What is it about that one girl! Why haven’t they been able to kill her yet!’

Randolph had endured the nausea of dealing with that woman, and even after ascending the throne, he had refrained from taking a fiancé or even a mistress, all for the sake of this goal. Yet, her “research” still failed to yield the results he desired.

It was all because of those bastards in the Luendal Empire.

‘Useless wretches, not worth the coin I pay them!’

He had provided the finest assassins, and his mages had supplied magic stones that should have ensured the best outcome. If they were still failing, he was certain information was leaking somewhere.

In the past—back in his father’s time—certain operations had been successful. Although they had killed the Duchess instead of Duke Lyon, and the power of the Tesseia family hadn’t weakened as much as expected, it had been a satisfactory result compared to the investment.

Since becoming Emperor, Randolph had grown anxious, unable to grasp a single significant victory. Their neighbors, whom he had once looked down upon, were growing, and the Luendal Empire still secured the largest number of Sword Masters on the continent.

It was only natural, given that their country was the largest and offered the best treatment, but it never failed to irritate him.

‘That young, arrogant Edward will inherit that kingdom!’

Randolph’s face contorted savagely as he recalled the blonde Crown Prince he had occasionally encountered at international summits.

“My Emperor… you are furrowing that handsome face again.”

The woman, with crimson hair flowing down to her waist, boasted an alluring beauty. Although the gazes of all the knights and attendants were fixed on her, Randolph did not look back. He even savagely swatted away the hand reaching for his face.

“Nina! Your mages have failed again! How do you intend to take responsibility for this?”

“Responsibility? You already knew it would be difficult with a Sword Master by her side.”

Even in the face of the Emperor’s fury, she didn’t so much as bat an eyelid. It was no surprise; she had known him since he was a child. Having served as the mistress to the previous Emperor, his current behavior looked like nothing more than a tantrum to her.

Randolph glared at her with loathing, but Nina merely shrugged as if she couldn’t help it.

“It seems you are in a foul mood. There is nothing to be done. …I shall visit you again next time, my Emperor.”

She departed with a coquettish smile, but Randolph snapped his head away. The only reason he tolerated her was because of her magical abilities and knowledge.

This country, shrunken by wars with neighboring states, needed something extraordinary. Once the attendant confirmed that Nina, the Imperial Mage, had teleported back to her tower, he spoke.

“You must never have a child with that woman, Sire.”

“Do you think I am an idiot! I have no intention of lying with a crone who only has the shell of a youth!”

His father might have been tempted by her outward appearance, but Randolph did not have a strong enough stomach to be intimate with a woman over two hundred years old. He merely allowed her to call herself his mistress because he couldn’t afford to let her go.

‘……Your Majesty…. Your Majesty!!’

From far down the hallway, a voice desperately calling for him reached his ears. Knowing that no one in the palace would dare raise their voice so urgently unless it was critical, Randolph irritably ordered the doors to be opened.

An attendant, face flushed red as if his breath had reached the top of his head, fell to his knees before him.

“Your Majesty!”

“State your business. It better be a catastrophe, or be prepared for the consequences.”

‘I’ll have your head.’

It felt like it might actually improve his foul mood. However, at the words the pale-faced attendant uttered, Randolph ended up drawing the sword of an escort knight and beheading the man himself.

The news he delivered was something he could not bear without erupting in fury.

‘Who on earth did this!’

***

“When we arrived, it was already like th— Aaakh!”

Unable to contain his rage, Randolph’s blade cut the throat of the tomb keeper. As he ordered the rest to be killed, the knights slaughtered every guard and servant protecting the Imperial Tomb.

Amidst the carnage of blood and screams, Randolph trembled, unable to take his eyes off the horrific sight before him.

It was revenge.

The body of the previous Emperor had been dragged out and torn into thousands of pieces, then mixed with the similarly shredded remains of a monster. It was done so that no one could distinguish which bone belonged to the Emperor.

Had his ostentatiously decorated coffin not been dragged out, and had they not mockingly left behind a single foot wearing a golden shoe, he wouldn’t have even imagined the Emperor’s bones were in that mess.

To make matters worse, they had poured a green, foul-smelling monster fluid over the bone fragments caked in monster flesh. That vivid green color brought one thing to mind.

‘Tesseia….’

It seemed those bastards had finally noticed the “prank” his father had pulled. But to commit such a despicable act!

“I will kill them this instant—!!”

“Your Majesty!”

The knights noticed the anomaly and rushed forward. With his sword still in hand, Randolph realized the air around him was shimmering—something strange was happening.

It was a teleportation circle. Centered around the two grand buildings of the tomb, three massive magical gates for teleportation opened, and knights with drawn swords began pouring out.

‘Oh, shit…!’

It was a trap. They had calculated that if they desecrated his father’s body, he, as the son, would come to see it personally.

The man at the front had red hair and cold grey eyes, but Randolph guessed those weren’t his natural colors. The hair and eyes were likely altered by magic. The symbol of the House of Tesseia was, after all, silver hair with a blue tint.

Randolph’s finest knights—the best in the Sachsen Empire—were swept away and lost their lives. In the chaos, Randolph didn’t even get the chance to feel terror. It felt as if a hot flash of light had pierced through his abdomen.

“Cough….”

“I hope your father screams when he sees you crawling into the underworld.”

He trembled at the cold whisper. The vivid hatred in the man’s eyes seemed to freeze his very blood.

“Farewell.”

His head was severed from his body, which had already been cut in two at the waist.