Shuher closed the distance between himself and Ibnel as if to pressure her. As he approached, she had no choice but to step back.

But even that was blocked by the bookshelf, leaving her with nowhere to retreat.

He completely blocked her escape route, then leaned one arm against the bookshelf as he looked down at her.

“This should make it clear to you. That there’s nothing you can do here. So don’t do anything. Don’t struggle to change anything. Just do as I say.”

Ibnel maintained her silence to the end even as he spoke harshly. But she did not avoid his eyes.

Shuher grew angrier at her lack of even the slightest reaction.

If she had just bowed her head before him and rebelled by asking why he was doing this, he wouldn’t have felt this dirty.

Instead of actively threatening her, he decided to do nothing, and that was for this purpose.

To completely isolate her, and to make her acutely feel the helplessness of being unable to do anything.

That way, Ibnel would feel more miserable.

“Instead of wasting time on useless things like this, think about how to use your abilities. Your value only extends that far. Don’t forget that you’d already be dead if it weren’t for that ability.”

Leaving those sharp words of warning, Shuher turned to leave the library. But belatedly, Ibnel’s voice was heard.

“Did you ask what I felt after reading those books?”

He stopped at those words and turned to face her.

Ibnel was staring directly at him with eyes that showed no fear, just like when they first met. And this time, she approached him first.

“I’ll admit it. As Your Majesty said, I didn’t know anything. And…”

Though countless thoughts filled her mind, facing Shuher’s hostility, only one line came to her.

“I realized once again that just being a person of Aodin is a crime in Karies.”

For a moment, ripples appeared in Shuher’s eyes. As if he had been caught off guard.

That she would say those words, and so calmly at that.

“After reading those books and hearing Your Majesty’s words, I have no choice but to admit it.”

Ibnel felt calmer as she did not deny that those past events were unrelated to her.

She couldn’t turn back time anyway. The past events didn’t become nonexistent.

But if she remained trapped in that past, she wouldn’t be able to do anything, as Shuher said. She wasn’t standing here to live as a puppet that only moved as he wanted.

“And this time too, Your Majesty is mistaken. Only I can determine my own value.”

Shuher showed a twisted smile at that confidence.

“You seem to be greatly mistaken about your situation. Ah, is it that you want to turn a blind eye to reality by thinking that way? What you’re doing is just hypocrisy.”

“It seems that Your Majesty is the one who is mistaken right now.”

Ibnel gave him the same words she had given to Demil before. He wouldn’t understand the meaning anyway, but she had no intention of correcting that as well.

“No matter what Your Majesty says, I will do everything I can.”

Shuher left the library, leaving her declaration of war behind. But her words admitting that her very existence was a crime continued to ring in his ears.

“Haa…”

As soon as he completely disappeared, Ibnel’s legs gave out and she collapsed right there. Though she had spoken boldly, her tension had reached its peak.

Strangely, dealing with Shuher always left her drained. Perhaps because he showed his hostility more openly than anyone else.

“Maybe I should have just endured it.”

She had tried not to do anything to irritate him as much as possible, but what was that pride for.

Ibnel ruffled her hair and began organizing the scattered books. As she did so, her inner thoughts spilled out.

“Why does everyone I meet keep misunderstanding? What am I supposed to change?”

She returned to her room right away, feeling so mentally exhausted that she just wanted to fall asleep quickly.

“My lady, it’s Lia.”

“Come in.”

At that moment, Lia came to visit, and seeing her for the first time today filled Ibnel with joy. She had been worried about how well Lia was adjusting.

“How’s the work? Are people giving you a hard time?”

“It’s not as difficult as I thought. At the duke’s mansion, I served you alone, but now it’s not like that.”

“That’s what worries me more.”

She wanted to keep Lia by her side all the time, but realistically, that wasn’t possible.

Knowing Ibnel’s thoughts, Lia spoke in an even more spirited voice.

“It’s better than I was worried about.”

“That’s good to hear, but actually, I’ll be leaving the palace for subjugation.”

“Really?”

As Lia expressed concern, Ibnel comforted her.

“It’s alright. This is something I was prepared for. So I’ll be busy for a while. There’s a lot to prepare.”

“You just focus on the preparations, my lady. I’ll work hard in my position too.”

“Alright.”

Hearing Lia say that, she was able to feel a bit more at ease.

After tending to Ibnel’s bed and leaving, Lia looked down at her hands that had become calloused from working nonstop all day.

‘Thank goodness. That my lady didn’t see.’

She couldn’t bring herself to tell what had happened today. And after hearing about the subjugation, she wanted to ease her worries as much as she could.

That was the best she could do right now.

After deciding to go on the subjugation, Ibnel’s life changed completely. She moved busily, feeling like every minute and second was not enough.

She had made such a bold statement in front of Shuher, and she didn’t want to be treated as an unnecessary existence, so she wanted to prepare even more thoroughly.

She trained physically at dawn, practiced horseback riding in the morning, and practiced shooting in the afternoon. When all that training was over, she went straight to the library to study about the subjugation location and magical beasts.

The destination was a domain called Perti, located in the northwest of Karies, where one of the families granted power, the Perti Count family, was guarding a forest where magical beasts appeared.

The Perti domain was characterized by not having high mountains, but having terrain made of solid rock. There were also canyons and deep valleys here and there.

While at it, she also filled in the gaps in her knowledge about this world. Fortunately, reading and writing were not a problem at all.

The training with Demil was also going more smoothly than expected. At first, she struggled to the point of muscle pain, but now, after a few days, she had gotten a sense of it.

He just focused on teaching, which was actually a big help. Of course, that didn’t mean they had become close or friendly.

The same was true for the knights she met almost every day.

Since they had lost the bet, they didn’t openly say anything, but they completely ignored her and treated her as if she didn’t exist.

As she spent such busy days cutting even her sleep, she hadn’t met Shuher since their encounter in the library.

From her perspective, that was quite fortunate.

In the meantime, she quickly adapted to life in the imperial palace. At the same time, hearing people’s contemptuous whispers became so familiar that it was now a part of daily life.

“It’s already this late.”

Ibnel checked the darkened window outside and stretched. Then she got up from her seat and left the library.

When the books in the library were not enough, she would go to the library like now to find the necessary materials. In her hands were two books.

Since Emil had said she could freely use the books in the library, she now carried them around as if they were her own.

“I want to know how the subjugations in the Perti domain have been so far.”

She wanted to know detailed information like where and how many magical beasts had appeared, how many troops there were, etc., but she couldn’t find such materials.

It didn’t seem like the knights or Demil would willingly tell her if she asked either.

As she dragged her body that had been overworked all day long to the palace, she happened to run into Shuher.

“Ah…”

Since it was their first meeting since that day, an awkward silence fell for a moment. To be precise, only she felt that way.

Ibnel couldn’t pretend not to know when their eyes had met, so she spoke first.

“It seems you’re coming from the office.”

Shuher entered the palace without any particular response, and she followed behind him awkwardly, inwardly regretting having spoken up unnecessarily.

Ibnel didn’t want to mingle words either, so she was going her own way, when unexpectedly, he spoke to her.

“Where are you going?”

He asked this because he saw that she wasn’t going to her room at this late hour.

“Ah, to the library. There’s some material I want to find, but it wasn’t in the palace library either. So I’m going to check if it’s in the library again.”

“The palace library should have pretty much everything.”

Shuher said that as if puzzled. Because it was no exaggeration to say that all the books and materials in the world were gathered there.

“It’s about the Perti domain. I want to know how subjugations were carried out in the past.”

“That’s not in the library either. Because it’s material that shouldn’t be disclosed externally.”

It was confidential material that included top secret information such as defenses against magical beasts and the domain’s military strength, so it was natural that she couldn’t find it.

“Ah, is that so?”

Ibnel couldn’t hide her disappointed expression. But since she was told it was something an outsider like her shouldn’t see, she had no choice but to give up.

“Then there’s nothing I can do.”

As she was about to return to her room, Shuher, who had been silent for a few seconds, opened his mouth.

“Follow me.”

“Pardon?”

As she just stood still, he turned around and looked at Ibnel.

“Didn’t you say you needed that material?”

Belatedly realizing that he meant to show it to her, she hurriedly followed behind Shuher. And for the first time, she set foot on the top floor where his personal space was located.

Indeed, there was no sign of anyone, and somehow even the air felt heavy.

The place they arrived at was another office in the imperial palace.

“Sit there and wait.”

Ibnel carefully sat down on a sofa on one side. It was clearly more cluttered than where official state affairs were handled.

“This should do.”

Ibnel received the documents he had brought and was about to check the contents when she hesitated.

“Is it really alright for me to see this? You said it was material that shouldn’t be disclosed externally.”

“It’s not like you have anyone to blab to anyway.”

When Shuher hit the nail on the head, Ibnel was momentarily at a loss for words. So she deliberately spoke in a more brusque voice.

“Ah, then there’s no problem at all. The only person I talk to is Lia.”

And without hesitation, she opened the documents and quickly read through the contents. Inside were all the information she had been looking for, densely written.

Ibnel soon forgot that Shuher was even there and focused on the documents as if she would be sucked in.

He watched her for a while and then opened the book she had been holding without much thought. Soon, his face as he turned the pages showed a hint of surprise.

Inside were traces of Ibnel’s diligent study. She had even supplemented parts where explanations were lacking with her own notes, showing at a glance that she hadn’t just studied superficially.

‘Is this what she meant by doing what she could do?’

He naturally recalled what he had heard about her recent activities from Emil and Demil. That she was going in and out of the library and training grounds every day.

“Can I take this and look at it?”

When Shuher nodded readily, Ibnel couldn’t help but voice the doubt she had been holding.

“Why did you really show this to me? There must be another reason besides what you just said.”

From her perspective, he was definitely not someone who would move for something that didn’t benefit him.

But that was rather what Shuher wanted to ask.

“Then why are you going to such lengths? You would fulfill your role just by telling where the core of the magical beast is.”

“I don’t want to just hide behind others. It doesn’t suit my personality either. And I told you before. That I would do everything I can. This is for my own sake anyway.”

Ibnel had no other grand reason. She was just making her own path as she had done so far.