“……How foolish. She is in the harem now. Not only can I not enter, but do you think they would let her and me meet?”

Hades spoke in a voice that seemed to barely suppress his anger.

To that, Yanan politely said:

“But for the current Hades, it would be easier to go meet her in the harem than to persuade the Macali Association, in my humble opinion.”

“……”

At Yanan’s words, Hades rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache and asked:

“What benefit is there in meeting her?”

“To be frank, risking my life, it is quite unsightly to see you suffering alone and breaking things on your property for no reason.”

At Yanan’s words about it being unsightly, Hades’ eyebrows rose sharply.

“Ha! Unsightly?”

Over the past few days, Hades had often thrown perfume bottles or statues for no reason or broken tables, so no servants dared to linger near him, and the atmosphere of the private property was becoming increasingly ominous.

Yanan quickly thrust Latifa’s jewelry box at Hades, almost forcing it on him. Hades received it in bewilderment.

“I, in my lowly position, cannot question the Sultan’s wise judgment to offer Frau to the palace. But what I want to say is not that, but about how you pierced her shoulder, Sir Hades.”

At those words, Hades’ hand holding the jewelry box began to tremble slightly. He ended up turning his back on Yanan.

“Leave, Yanan.”

“Though you pierced Frau’s shoulder yourself, Sir Hades, you have not yet completely lost your happiness.”

“No. I have lost it.”

Hades shook his head and said firmly. After a moment of silence, he turned around again and spoke to Yanan as if confronting him, grinding his molars:

“I told her I would guard her back, to trust me. She trusted me. But I almost killed her! What else can she do but resent me?!”

“Did you hear her express resentment towards you directly, Sir Hades?”

“Does she need to say it directly?! She is my Frau, and I’m just an incompetent master who can’t even protect his Frau!”

“Then why don’t you go hear that resentment directly?”

Yanan knelt down, paid his respects, and bowed his head.

“I am certain that Miss Latifa also wants to return to Caleb.”

“……!”

“So I hope you will go confirm that directly. Then perhaps Sir Hades can cool your head a bit and come up with a good plan.”

Hades said nothing, then let out a big sigh and opened the small jewelry box with a clinking sound.

Inside was a single key made of gold. However, its appearance gave more of an impression of being made for decoration rather than as an actual key.

She had been holding it so preciously, I thought there would be expensive jewels inside, but it’s just this ornament.

Seeing that, Hades grumbled as if displeased.

“For a woman’s jewelry box to have so little to see. And she’s supposed to be the goddess of Caleb…!”

“To tarnish Sir Hades’ honor like this, what a great insult. It’s outrageous, you must fill it up.”

At Hades’ voice, which seemed slightly less indignant, Yanan finally relaxed his expression and replied with a small smile.

In the end, Hades clicked his tongue loudly and complained to Yanan in his usual arrogant manner.

“You certainly have no filter with your master. Yanan, you must have about seventy lives. Well, quickly tidy up this place and return. I will grant your once-in-a-lifetime request.”

“Yes.”

Yanan smiled brightly as he got up from his seat and left the bedroom, carrying the scattered linen and broken beam fragments.

Hades put the jewelry box in his chest and pondered for a while, stroking his chin. Then, as if he had thought of a good plan, he raised the corners of his mouth in a smirk and muttered:

“Right. To enter the harem, I’ll need a female accomplice.”

Hades chuckled as he leapt over the large window next to the bedroom.

Outside the arched window, on top of the sand wall, there was a small wooden chest full of soft cloths and something like a water bowl, and inside the chest, a desert fox with pale-colored fur was licking its tail and grooming itself.

A temporary shelter had been set up next to the window due to Caesar roaming around here and there.

Hades grabbed the desert fox by the scruff of its neck and lifted it into his arms.

“You, are you female or male?”

– Kyaang, krung!

The desert fox yelped and struggled, seemingly displeased at suddenly being held by him.

“Unlike that woman, I can’t understand you well, so just be female.”

Hades spoke to the desert fox arbitrarily like this and tapped its head.

“We’ll be going to see your master soon. Are you happy? Tsk, you look just as disobedient as your master.”

Would it be a misconception to say that Hades’ voice sounded excited like a child?

Under the full moon shining brightly without a halo, the desert night was falling over Caleb’s private property.

**

The outer walls of the harem palace, with its domed roofs generously using rounded curves and its walls and corridors arranged in an orderly manner, were so beautiful that it naturally evoked admiration.

Standing for a moment in the corridor and looking beyond, there were minarets (spires) and obelisks, and even the eaves and arches below showed sophisticated beauty by drawing elegant lines.

“Wow. It’s so much bigger and more magnificent than the Empire.”

“I see it every day, so it’s all the same to me. I want to see the Empire’s palace!”

After her shoulder injury had improved considerably and she was allowed to walk a little, Latifa was on her way with Asti to meet the Sultan, leaving the harem palace.

“Look, it’s the Imperial. They say she’s Hades the General’s Frau?”

“Her skin is really pale. Isn’t that a skin disease at that level?”

Around them, girls who looked like students were whispering about Latifa.

The harem palace, known as a male-free zone, was quite a unique place.

Not only was it a place where concubines and princesses lived together, but there was also a ‘madrasa’, called a girls’ school, and it was a fairly systematic educational institution equipped with etiquette, musical instruments, dance, and even meditation classes for girls.

It was said that most of the girls from prominent families in the Grand Bazaar received their education here.

Moreover, Iota’s sword dance class was always so full of people that there was no room to set foot in.

“But I think the Golden Princess of Iota is prettier.”

Latifa’s face darkened at the mention of the Golden Princess from nearby.

‘It seems my half-sister Aris is also in the harem palace. I wonder if Brenda is with her too?’

Aris and Brenda probably don’t know the desert language, so Latifa was worried about how well they were adapting to this unfamiliar life.

‘I hope they’re doing well. If I could meet them, I could at least teach them the desert language.’

As she was worrying about them, Asti smiled mysteriously and asked, pulling Latifa’s hand with her chubby hand:

“Latifa.”

“Yes?”

“Do you have a man you love?”

Frozen for a moment by the sudden direct question, Latifa couldn’t say anything.

“Eh. You don’t? How can you not when you’re older than me? Oh my.”

Puffing her cheeks in dissatisfaction, Asti suddenly twirled in place, swirling the skirts of her gorgeous dress. She also shook her hair, flicking it with her fingers.

“How about it? Am I pretty? Do you think you’ll fall for me?”

“Yes. The princess is pretty no matter what she does.”

“Hehe. That’s good then. Let’s go quickly!”

“……?”

Saying that, Asti pulled Latifa again and ran across the beautiful back garden, while Latifa could only tilt her head in confusion, not understanding what was going on.

Asti, leading Latifa, pattered quickly through the complex palace with her small, short feet, and even after passing through seven gates and leaving the harem palace, she didn’t stop running.

“Phew. It’s tiring. Father usually takes a walk in the back garden at this time. Let’s go that way.”

The place she took Latifa to was the courtyard of the back garden where royal guards and personal guards were standing in line.

Despite the intense sunlight and heat of the desert climate, there were beautifully arranged springs, fountains, and gardens everywhere, blending naturally with the surrounding plants, showing an unparalleled restrained beauty.

The place was surrounded by several white pillars, with plant vines intertwined above creating natural shade, and large yellow and orange flowers blooming in abundance, climbing down the pillars.

“Father!”

Asti fearlessly pushed through the gaps between the royal guards and immediately jumped into the Sultan’s arms.

“Oh, my little sugar candy!”

Giggling and rubbing her face against the Sultan’s beard, Asti looked very happy.

The Sultan, too, unlike the solemn expression he had shown at the trial a few days ago, had the face of a kind father no different from ordinary people. He lifted the princess up or tucked her under his arm and spun her around.

‘……Somehow, I’m envious.’

Latifa stood still, receiving the curious gazes of the royal guards, looking at them with envious eyes.

She had never had such an affectionate time with her father.

She only saw his face three or four times a year, and even then only when participating in official events.

Moreover, recalling the image of the Empire’s emperor who became increasingly dissipated with alcohol and pleasure every time she saw him, Latifa became a little depressed.

“Father, I love the new doll so much! You know, I think she’s even prettier than Iota’s Golden Princess! You said you’d give her to me, right?!”

Asti, who had been having a good time with her father for a while, suddenly pointed at Latifa and said. Sultan Rashid looked up at Latifa, smiled gently, and gestured for her to come closer.

“Yes. Hades’ Frau. Come here too. It’s too sunny over there. Once the desert heat rises, it doesn’t subside, so be careful.”

Latifa politely gave a desert-style greeting and approached him.

Rashid, smiling gently at Latifa with his eyes, stroked Asti’s chubby cheeks and asked her:

“My sugar candy. Would you call Ruhan for me?”

“Okay! Brother should be in the Prince’s Palace!”

At those words, Asti blushed slightly and ran out as if she had been waiting for this.

“Hades’ Frau. Is your shoulder injury alright?”

Rashid invited Latifa to sit next to him and moved the surrounding royal guards a little further back.

“It’s getting better thanks to your care.”

“I sent you as a maid to Karina Palace and ordered them to take good care of you, but to become our Asti’s doll, I don’t know if I should say that’s fortunate or not. Hoho.”

“Princess Asti treats me too well, more than I deserve.”

“Hmm. You haven’t learned the desert language systematically. How curious. Curious indeed.”

Rashid, with a large turban wrapped around his head and a large emerald ear cuff on one ear, stared intently at Latifa and then mentioned how curious it was.

Under his intelligent eyes that seemed to see right through Latifa, she unconsciously flinched and shrank back.

“The grace and calmness that emanate from you are too much to have been acquired in a short time. You must have been of noble birth, educated in such ways from childhood, without a doubt.”

“……!”

Latifa was inwardly surprised but maintained her composure and quietly kept her mouth shut.

“However, for someone who held a high position, you match the temperament of the arrogant Hades too well. It doesn’t add up. That’s why it’s curious.”

At Rashid’s words, which instantly pierced through the essence of Latifa, who had been the insignificant 17th princess, she felt her heart sink.

“But whatever your status was, your empire has now fallen. I may not know your empire well, but I knew it was like a rotten peach, exuding a sweet scent while letting dark rotten water flow underneath. So don’t consider it unjust that it was trampled. It was a fate you brought upon yourselves.”

It wasn’t a threat, nor was it a harsh tone, but Rashid’s eloquence carried a strong force that made one feel intimidated for no reason.

‘So this is the charisma of the desert emperor.’

“I heard that Hades is having quite a hard time trying to get you back. He’s running around in all directions, they say.”

In a place where everything was unfamiliar, the name ‘Hades’ was now the only thing not strange to Latifa. Just hearing that name brought a small sense of relief to Latifa’s heart and made her smile.

“Ah… I heard from Princess Asti.”

“But the palace isn’t such a bad place to stay, is it?”

“……”

“I don’t know how you caught Hades’ eye and came to the Grand Bazaar, but I don’t think it was voluntary. This place is too intense for an Imperial like you to stay.”

Every word of the Sultan was imbued with the dignity and wisdom of royalty.

He seemed to resemble the calm and gentle Ruhan while simultaneously reflecting the strong image of Tarek, truly appearing like a leader of all people.

“That’s the Ignite bracelet I gave to Hades.”

Noticing the bracelet on Latifa’s wrist, Rashid’s eyes sparkled as he asked her:

“Our great general Hades Caleb is a man among men. He lacks nothing except for his personality, no matter where you put him. Are you two perhaps in a loving relationship?”