Arriving at the room on the top floor, Olentia quickly caught her rough breath. It seemed that her lack of regular exercise was showing as even her heart was pounding.

The room was as bleak as it could be. There was not a single proper piece of furniture, and books were piled up haphazardly on one side. Moreover, the portrait of the former Grand Duke James Belial was placed alone near the wall. It seemed that it was not being maintained, as there was a lot of dust around.

Olentia was startled as soon as she arrived in the room and saw the portrait of James Belial. It was because his sturdy jaw, straight and neat eyebrows, and sharp eyes were too similar to Dimidius. It was like seeing him in her prophetic dream, and like facing him when he took off his mask the night before. It was truly astonishing.

‘They look exactly like twins……’

Only then did she understand why Dimidius had such a hard time watching the play during the masquerade festival in the Belial estate. It must have been disgusting to see the actors who looked just like him portraying a loving father and son relationship. She thought that Dimidius might have some negative feelings towards James Belial.

After looking at James Belial’s portrait for a long time, Olentia asked the head butler.

“Can you tell me why the two of them had a bad relationship?”

A brief, quiet silence passed.

The head butler seemed to be choosing his words.

Only after a while did he slightly bow his waist and answer.

“I apologize, but it is not something I can speak about, my lady.”

It seemed to be a similar reason to why he did not mention the reason most of the portraits were burned while climbing the stairs earlier. She understood his feelings of not being able to easily talk about Dimidius’ past. Dimidius must have kept it a tight secret all this time, so it was only natural.

But did that mean she had the right to ask Dimidius directly?

They were just in a 5-month contract relationship after all.

Olentia nodded her head with a resigned look and then walked around the room some more. A worn-out notebook caught her eye where books were piled up. Olentia absentmindedly opened the notebook and looked at the neat handwriting.

‘What on earth is the content of this?’

Inside the notebook, it was written how much stronger his power became day by day. Not only physical strength but also political standing and business achievements were recorded in detail, and if the person who wrote this was James Belial, it was quite surprising. Because suddenly everything improved vertically in a good way. What on earth happened to him?

If this was true, James Belial must have been a man of tremendous ability or luck.

Feeling somehow creepy, Olentia put the notebook back down and said to the head butler.

“Please keep it a secret from His Grace that I came here today, head butler.”

Head butler Alfred nodded with a benevolent smile.

“You don’t have to worry about that, my lady.”

Returning to the imperial palace, Legalis looked at the empress who had visited the Crown Prince’s Palace with a worried face. The empress was examining the Crown Prince’s entire body.

“Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay?”

Legalis nodded his head indifferently. His mind was filled with only Olentia. He had bribed a maid at the Grand Ducal Castle to keep Podion away from Olentia. The maid clearly said that Olentia and Dimidius did not share a bedroom. She said that they usually don’t even face each other and live separately, so it seemed that their relationship was more like a planned performance than a truly loving one.

But why was Olentia only taking Dimidius’ side? Was there something he was missing? Legalis felt his anger boiling up and said to the empress.

“Mother. You said you planted spies in the Grand Ducal Castle? How many are there?”

The empress pressed her hairpin with a momentarily startled face. She always had the habit of tying her long hair up.

The empress looked around the room, knowing that no one was there except her son, and said.

“About 4. Why do you ask?”

“Because I want to join your plan, mother.”

The empress looked at Legalis with surprised eyes for a moment. It was because Legalis had not been interested in dealing with Dimidius until now. He had said that there was no need to pay attention to the half-demon that people disliked.

The empress spoke to him with a highly sensitive face.

“I’ll take care of it, so you stay out of it. It’s dangerous.”

“I will help you, mother. I also have someone to recommend when assembling assassins.”

“Why are you suddenly following my intentions?”

At the empress’ question, Legalis raised the corners of his lips. His stiff face only smiled with his mouth, creating a completely bizarre expression. But Legalis did not notice the strangeness at all and said.

“Because I want to kill and get rid of Grand Duke Dimidius Belial now.”

“What really happened to you at the Grand Ducal Castle? What happened that made you like this!”

The empress looked at Legalis, hitting her chest in frustration. But he had no intention of honestly telling her about Saint Daphne’s prophetic dream, so he just smiled slyly.

“He’s been getting on my nerves lately. Flies that get on your nerves can be squashed and killed. I just realized that now.”

Legalis’ blue eyes were clouded with turbidity.

The empress, who came out of the Crown Prince’s Palace, felt something strange. She was only curious as to why Legalis had changed so coldly.

The empress immediately summoned Dexter to the empress’ palace. In the guest room, Dexter politely clasped his hands together and said to the empress.

“I found the passageway, Your Majesty the Empress.”

The empress, who heard from Dexter about a good passageway to infiltrate the Grand Ducal Castle, smiled brightly. Although it was a short period of time, she thought that Dexter had been doing his job quite well.

The empress asked him something else.

“Do you know what happened to Legalis at the Grand Ducal Castle?”

Dexter noticeably panicked and wet his dry lips. His small eyes rolled around.

“Speak honestly.”

Only then did Dexter hesitate a little and open his mouth.

“It seems that there was a quarrel with His Grace the Grand Duke. I saw red marks on His Highness the Crown Prince’s neck. They were handprints.”

“What? How dare he do that to the Crown Prince of this country!”

The empress hit the desk hard and stood up from her seat. She wanted to get rid of Dimidius right away. She had planted spies to get rid of him and waited for the right time, and now it seemed to be the time to put it into action.

Dexter, seeing the empress’ anger in front of him, was at a loss and bowed his head deeply.

“And, and His Highness the Crown Prince seemed to be quite close with the Grand Duchess.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I saw them meeting separately and talking.”

The empress recalled the appearance of Olentia Armeniaca, who had become the Grand Duchess. The woman next to Dimidius at the founding anniversary ball was a beauty with clear golden eyes.

Was Legalis, who had complicated relationships with women, now interested in even a married woman?

The empress thought it should never happen and gritted her teeth.

Dimidius, who had been watching the closure of the north gate and the raising of the castle walls, finally returned to his office. He couldn’t keep watching forever. There must be a mountain of documents piled up in the office that needed to be processed.

Arriving at the office, Dimidius said to Killen, who was busy working.

“What about finding someone with holy power? How is it going?”

In fact, for more than a month, he had hardly paid attention to that matter. Because Olentia was by his side, and her presence felt too peaceful and safe.

But now he thought he should find someone with holy power as soon as possible. It seemed that he could settle the contract relationship a little earlier.

However, Killen scratched the back of his head and said with a troubled face.

“We haven’t found anyone yet, Your Grace. Most of them are priests…… I think it would be better to try to find someone who uses healing power to make money in the shadows.”

Dimidius nodded.

“That way would be faster. Tell them I can give them the compensation they want.”

It would take quite some time to calm the demonization to the point where it could be done with just fantasy grass or holy tools. Until then, someone with holy power was definitely needed. The demonic power circulating in his body had to be sealed with holy power.

Killen, who was given the heavy task, answered that he understood, but couldn’t hold back his curiosity. He carefully asked Dimidius.

“By any chance…… did something happen with my lady?”

Dimidius froze for a moment and gripped the document folder tightly. The document folder was already half-bent by his strength.

Killen smiled awkwardly, thinking that he had asked for nothing.

“Haha! I think I asked something unnecessary. Please take a look at the work, Your Grace.”

Only then did Dimidius release his strength, smooth out the crumpled documents, and say to Killen.

“I won’t give my heart to the lady anymore.”

Killen thought it was his illusion that it sounded sad.

Olentia spent her time drawing pictures or embroidering. Immersing herself in other activities like that seemed to make her think a little less about Dimidius. Come to think of it, she had said that she would show her works to Crown Prince Legalis and his friends. But they were kicked out early.

What a relief.

As Olentia picked up the brush and painted on a huge canvas to the point where her wrist hurt, Bobby approached and said.

“Miss. What’s going on with you these days? Huh? You have to tell me so I can know.”

Olentia was haphazardly painting black paint on the canvas and gave a hollow laugh.

“Haha! His Grace the Grand Duke has been avoiding me lately. So I’m in a bad mood, and I’m trying to avoid him too.”

Since he was ignoring her, she was going to ignore him too. She thought it would make her feel a little better, but it didn’t. Rather, it felt like sinking into a deeper swamp.

She kept wanting to see Dimidius, and she hated herself for wanting to see him. This situation seemed too unfair.