Dimidius secretly attached video stones to their clothes before locking them in the underground prison. He had prepared this in advance, knowing that a day like this would come. The stones were so small, like tiny clothing pins, that only someone with keen eyes would be able to find them.

Now, all he had to do was loosen the security a bit and wait for them to escape.

Dimidius spoke to the assassins, who were rolling their eyes without knowing anything.

“Let’s see if you can still be so proud when the torture begins.”

The assassins flinched for a moment, then puffed out their chests again as if nothing had happened. They seemed to be putting on a false bravado.

Dimidius left the prison where the torture was scheduled to take place and assessed the situation. The Belial Knights would deliberately make mistakes while dragging out the assassins one by one for torture, and the assassins would take that opportunity to escape from the underground prison.

He was used to hiding his body in the darkness. So used to it that sometimes he felt suffocated.

Dimidius suppressed all his energy and quietly watched the underground prison, careful not to make a sound.

How much time had passed like that?

There was a commotion in the underground prison, and he saw some of them escaping. There was no need to wait for all the assassins to escape, so Dimidius stealthily followed them like a cat burglar. The assassins, as expected of well-trained killers, didn’t seem to have much difficulty climbing the steep forest path past the main gate.

To ensure the assassins didn’t notice anything suspicious, the Belial Knights diligently chased after them, and Dimidius also watched them closely from the nearest distance.

Olentia waited in the bedroom for Dimidius to come. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t showing up when it seemed like quite some time had passed.

Olentia jumped up from her seat and said to Podion,

“I can’t take it anymore. I need to go out and see for myself.”

Then, unlike usual, Podion stopped her with a very determined expression.

“Absolutely not, My Lady. It’s dangerous outside.”

“That’s why His Grace must be struggling out there in that dangerous place! You may not see it, but I also have the power to attack.”

The assassins who had broken through the security of the ducal castle must be highly skilled. It was an extremely dangerous situation for such killers to enter the ducal castle, which was like Dimidius’ heart. So Olentia also wanted to be of help to him.

With that in mind, Olentia gathered energy in her fingers again to create a white orb. She ended up revealing to Podion that she had holy power, but it didn’t matter.

Podion opened his mouth in surprise for a moment, then shook his head.

“Still, it’s not allowed. I swore before His Grace to protect your life with my own. Please help me keep that oath.”

She couldn’t attack Podion and go outside, it was truly a difficult situation. Olentia nervously chewed on her fingernails. Bobby always kept them prettily maintained, but they were getting messier and messier.

Podion carefully took Olentia’s hand. His hand was so warm that it seemed to calm her heart a little. As she clung to his hand as if it were her only lifeline, the door flung open and Nicholas, who had been keeping watch outside, came in.

“His Grace has gone to capture the escaped assassins, My Lady. I thought I should tell you.”

At Nicholas’ words, Olentia was startled and her legs wobbled. Podion caught her.

“The assassins escaped from the prison? How could such a thing…”

“I can’t explain in detail, but things are going according to His Grace’s will, so please don’t worry too much.”

Nicholas also seemed to show a quite serious side when the situation was grave. Olentia had no idea what was going on, but she had no choice but to nod.

She couldn’t follow Dimidius, who had gone after the assassins right now.

But it was heartbreaking to have to just wait for him in the safe bedroom.

Olentia plopped down on a chair, dejected, and gripped her hair.

The assassins escaped Belial’s territory in a cargo wagon. Using his demonic powers, Dimidius followed them all the way to the imperial capital. The wagon safely passed through the checkpoint and entered the capital.

What would happen now?

Dimidius couldn’t predict even an inch ahead.

After a while, a suspicious-looking wagon began to leave the imperial palace. No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for a wagon to leave at this late hour. Unless they had taken care of something in secret.

Dimidius went straight up to the wagon and knocked out the person pulling it. Because his whole body was flowing with demonic energy, ordinary people would often faint without him doing much.

Dimidius lifted the black cloth covering the wagon. He had a hunch, and inside the wagon were the bodies of the assassins piled up. They were all dead, unable to even close their eyes properly.

As expected, the empress was a cruel person with no blood or tears. He couldn’t understand how she intended to accumulate such karma.

Dimidius removed the video stones he had attached to the assassins’ bodies and put them in his pants pocket. Whatever was recorded on the stones, it was sure to help tighten the noose around the empress’ neck.

After closing the eyes of all the corpses who couldn’t even blink, he quickly left the scene. If he was spotted by the imperial guards, there would be trouble.

The morning sun rose without her getting a wink of sleep.

Olentia’s face was haggard, with dark circles reaching down to her lips. Her nails were a mess from biting them, and her hair was tangled.

Seeing her like that, Podion was particularly restless.

“My Lady. Please don’t do that and try to get some sleep. If you keep this up, I’ll be scolded by His Grace.”

There was no way she could sleep not knowing what had happened to Dimidius.

Olentia shook her head blankly and coughed out a raspy cough. Somehow her body felt chilled too.

“Are you unwell? I’ll call the doctor right away.”

At Podion’s words, Olentia spoke firmly.

“My condition isn’t what’s important right now. Sir Podion. I’m just a little startled and tired from not being able to sleep.”

So she wanted to see Dimidius soon. Even if he turned his back on her, as long as he returned safely, it would be fine.

Tears welled up in Olentia’s eyes.

Around the time Nicholas came in and told Olentia in a bright voice,

“His Grace has returned! My Lady!”

At those words, every hair on her body stood on end and her heart raced like crazy. Olentia ran out like that, down the stairs, past the first floor hall, and out to the main entrance. She had never run so fast in her life. She ran almost without breathing properly, and her heart soared as she ran.

Seeing Dimidius walking towards her past the fountain, Olentia ran to him and embraced him. She hugged his large body with both hands and shed sorrowful tears.

Dimidius froze for a moment, unable to do anything. Only Olentia was tightly hugging his waist.

For a moment, it felt as if time and space had stopped and only the two of them existed. Olentia raised her head to look at Dimidius’ mask. She tried to see the pretty red eyes behind that mask.

Then Dimidius raised his hand and wiped away Olentia’s tears. Olentia shivered slightly and said to him,

“You’re not hurt anywhere? You’re okay, right?”

Dimidius slowly nodded. His low voice poured into Olentia’s head.

“Why on earth are you crying? Were you that scared last night?”

‘You’re such a fool for not knowing why I’m crying.’

Olentia hesitated for a moment, then spoke honestly to him.

“I was worried about Your Grace all night, wondering when you would come, if you were hurt. I was so anxious that my heart felt like it shriveled up.”

Then Dimidius took a deep breath. She couldn’t see his expression because of the mask, but she could definitely feel that he was surprised.

Olentia tightly grasped Dimidius’ hand and transferred holy power to him. He must have used demonic power during the night, so he would certainly need holy power.

Dimidius fidgeted his hand, looking particularly flustered.

“I didn’t know that you… would worry about me so much, Lady.”

Olentia led him by the hand into the ducal castle, saying,

“You’re my husband now, anyway. I can’t help but worry. So did you find the assassins who had escaped?”

“Yes. I found them. But they were already dead.”

The surprised Olentia paused for a moment, and in that time, Killen and all the Belial Knights rushed to Dimidius.

Killen approached Dimidius and asked,

“Did you find the item?”

Dimidius nodded, then went up to the office with Killen. It seemed they were doing something important that she didn’t know about.

She wanted to spend more time with Dimidius, so her heart sank endlessly when he left. She wondered if he really didn’t think about her at all.

Seeing the saddened Olentia, Podion hesitated for a moment, then approached her closely. His warm brown hair fluttered softly in the breeze.

“His Grace must be busy with something, so please don’t be too discouraged. My Lady.”

Even hearing his kind words didn’t make her feel better. Olentia went up to her room, drooping.

Bobby was in the room. She looked at Olentia’s condition and spoke in a tearful voice.

“I heard there was a big incident last night, so I was very worried. The knights guarding the servants’ quarters told us not to leave, so I couldn’t even go to you, Miss.”

Olentia hugged Bobby with a blank face. She wasn’t hugging Bobby, but maybe she herself needed someone’s embrace.

Bobby patted Olentia’s back and said,

“Are you alright? What on earth happened that your complexion is so poor?”

She had gone through a whirlwind of emotions while waiting for Dimidius to return. She was afraid of losing him, felt lonely as if she had been left alone, and realized that longing was mixed with affection.

‘Do I really… His Grace?’

Olentia uttered in a hollow voice.

“I think I might violate the contract.”