“Hey, you… don’t misunderstand. This is just because I was flustered by how slow you were being….”

Nigel babbled incoherently, his ears turning bright red with shame.

First, he was embarrassed by how his lower body had suddenly lost function and shriveled up weakly. Second, the fact that it happened in front of Kasha, who had been Leon’s lover, filled him with humiliation.

Because of that, he failed to notice that Kasha’s expression was strangely calm.

“Ah, I see, Your Highness. Then I will step out for a bit, so when you are… ready, please call for me again.”

Having said that, Kasha quickly got out of the bed before Nigel could respond.

Nigel, facing a major crisis, didn’t even notice her leaving the bedroom. He seemed to be hurriedly trying something, but it likely wouldn’t yield much result.

‘The Maseki or curse won’t have any effect on me anyway.’

Kasha muttered to herself as she opened another door connected to the bedroom.

Kasha had encountered several people related to the Maseki until now.

The most representative was Leon, and he had gone through numerous crises together with Kasha while suffering from the curse of lust.

In the process, she naturally realized something. The power of the Maseki and its curse manifested a bit differently when Kasha was the target.

Leon had once said,

‘Even when the lust from the curse was raging, the moment I touched you… especially when my desire became rough enough to unknowingly break you, I felt the lust rapidly subside. Of course… even in those moments, my pure desire and longing for you remained the same, and became even clearer.’

It was likely the same reason Anthony couldn’t readily lay hands on Kasha in the greenhouse.

When they faced each other in the battle at Gillistin Castle, he had grabbed Kasha’s neck as if to break it, but let go unusually quickly. He was probably startled that the Maseki’s power wasn’t working as usual.

‘Is it because the Maseki’s raw material is a part of Gilrote’s body?’

Gilrote was Karnak Gilliesus’s manservant who had made a type of slave contract with him. Perhaps the vow residing in Gilrote’s body was preventing harm to Kasha, a descendant of Karnak. That was her speculation.

The reason she took the risk of following Nigel to his bedroom was because she pinned her hopes on that fact.

Leon letting her go was also because he knew better than anyone that the curse of lust couldn’t substantially harm her.

Of course, there was one more very important reason she took the risk of coming all the way here.

‘I need to find the first Maseki, Honor.’

This bedroom where the crown prince spent the most time had the highest likelihood of Honor being hidden.

From the beginning, Leon had wanted to either ambush Nigel or start a rebellion to directly confront him. However, if they did so, the sharp Nigel might hide the Maseki somewhere it could never be found.

So Kasha chose the method of making him let his guard down by pretending to be weak, and slipping into his vile nest.

While Nigel was out of it, Kasha carefully opened the door and entered the next room. Then she soon inwardly cheered.

The place was like a secret museum for the imperial family.

Under the magic stone lamps illuminating the dark room with a blue glow, marble pedestal cases covered in glass were lined up. And inside them, treasures of the empire with a long history were displayed for all to see.

A precious sword with ancient letters engraved on its sharply honed blade. A golden scabbard made to wear that sword at the waist.

There were even spine-chillingly delicate statues made with mother-of-pearl decorations and carved from large jade. Each and every item was of immeasurable value.

Moreover, even tapestries depicting the most outstanding moments of achievement of successive emperors in intricate embroidery hung on the walls.

But there was one item that particularly caught Kasha’s eye even in the crown prince’s treasure trove. It was the magnificent crown flaunting a majestic appearance.

The beautiful crown, engraved with the same laurel pattern as the folding fan gripped in her hand, was lavishly decorated with all sorts of gems like a ruby and diamonds larger than a child’s fist.

Among them, one red jewel in particular, adorned alongside several rubies, drew her gaze. Its mysteriously shimmering color and crude form without any craftsmanship.

At the same time, the magic detector in her dress pocket showed an unusual reaction.

In that moment, Kasha’s heart began to race wildly. Exhilaration and tension simultaneously ran down her spine, and her body trembled with an unbearable chill.

‘That’s Honor. No doubt about it.’

A long time had passed since she had the Maseki snatched away right after unsealing it before the regression, but she could recognize it at a glance.

Her original sin. Her karma. And now, the only possibility she had to grasp in order to not be dragged out of this world without any countermeasures.

Honor, the first of the three Maseki, was finally before her eyes.

She hastily approached the glass case containing the crown and opened the lid. The crown’s appearance under the lid that opened unexpectedly easily was dazzling. Kasha picked it up with trembling hands.

‘He made a crown to wear at the emperor’s coronation ceremony before the emperor even died. Plus, he intends to embed the Maseki in it?’

It was just the kind of idea Nigel would have.

He probably planned to look down on everyone while proudly wearing the crown embedded with the Maseki that made him emperor.

It was also his scheme to keep the Maseki under perfect security so no one else’s hands could touch it.

Kasha, barely suppressing her pounding heart, stroked the Maseki embedded in the crown with her fingers. The Maseki, disguised as an ordinary ruby, emitted a subtle light as her fingers touched it.

‘Finally.’

Less than 12 hours remained until the promised time with the demon Gilrote.

Having found only one out of three, the situation was still daunting. But it was also the moment when the tedious pursuit over the past several months was finally bearing fruit.

As Kasha was looking around, pondering how to take this out, that moment came.

Bang!

“What the hell are you doing? About earlier—”

Nigel, who had entered the room while tying his robe, froze the instant he saw Kasha.

“You, you— Right now what—”

Eyes wide open, Nigel realized her fingers were precisely grasping the Maseki on the crown, and he contorted his face as if dumbfounded.

“Ha. I see. So that was your goal from the beginning.”

Twisting his face into a furious smile, he approached Kasha slowly without taking his eyes off her, like a hunting dog that had caught the scent of its target.

It was a situation where she was truly driven into a corner, but strangely, she wasn’t afraid.

In a peculiarly heightened state of awareness, she had the fleeting thought that she seemed to hear shouting from afar.

“You presumptuous wench.”

Toward Nigel who seemed genuinely astonished, Kasha calmly smiled.

“Presumptuous, you say. I wonder who’s saying that to whom.”

“…What? Have you finally gone mad?”

“Gone mad? Me? Not you?”

“This ill-mannered bitch, really—”

“Seeing what you’ve done while holed up in here, how long has it been since you properly received the curse of lust?”

“……”

Nigel glared at her with eyes boiling with rage.

“Now that you’ve experienced that terrible curse firsthand, even you’ll have to admit it. How firm a person Leon, whom you tried so hard to break, is. He is a noble person that the likes of you can never imitate no matter what you do.”

This space symbolizing the absolute power and wealth the imperial family had accumulated. Standing with both feet firmly planted in the blindingly golden room, Kasha declared,

“You… you all… cannot break us.”

Although her own parents had lost everything by falling for your schemes, and her past self had repeated the same mistake, it would no longer be the case.

That they would no longer be treated as disposable parts used and discarded according to your needs. That they wouldn’t be crushed and perish helplessly under your feet without being able to rebel.

Even if she had to die in this room without a trace or abandon this life to keep her promise with the demon, she intended to fight till the end.

She would never tremble and cling to some unknown god like in her previous life.

“……”

Kasha gripped the folding fan in her hand along with the crown even tighter. The bloodstain dyeing the expensive silk cloth ached to the bone, as if it had flowed from her severed neck on the guillotine before the regression.

Recalling the chilling end of someone who couldn’t choose anything, who would have clung to anyone and wailed just once more for another chance, strength filled her eyes even more.

“But this crazy bitch—”

On the other hand, from the moment she mentioned Leon’s name, Nigel’s eyes turned bone-chillingly cold.

“You… I guess you don’t care about your life anymore?”

When Kasha didn’t flinch even at the threat, he played a different hand.

“The lives of those you tried so desperately to protect… are you going to just abandon them now too?”

Leon, Eve, Margaret, Daril, Count Lyuschino. The good people Nigel would think of in his sinister mind to control Kasha.

But thinking of them actually made Kasha feel strength in her stomach.

‘Well… thinking a pushover will stay a pushover to the end is the mistake of guys like you.’

With an icy face, Kasha raised the crown in her hand high.

“Well. If you lay a hand on even one of them, I’ll smash this Maseki to pieces right now. Really… would that be okay with you?”

Look forward to it. The small but powerful reversal prepared for you by the pushovers you’ve trampled on without a care until now.