‘No. Nothing like that. Why on earth did you growl at His Highness the Grand Duke? This is the Grand Duchy. If you want to be loved as a puppy here, shouldn’t you be nice to His Highness?’

[Why should I receive affection from that guy? The Celestial Horse War ended not too long ago. I absolutely detest anyone with demon blood flowing through them.]

Mentioning the Celestial Horse War made it even more certain that Pieta was a god.

Olentia carefully said to Pieta:

‘His Highness the Grand Duke didn’t tell me in detail, but it seemed he needed my divine power, which is opposite to demonic power, to maintain human form for a long time.’

Then Pieta scratched his head with his front paw. The sight was so cute it felt surreal.

[Yes. Aren’t you afraid of living with someone who could become a demon?]

If divine power was needed to maintain human form for a long time, then as Pieta said, it meant he could become a demon. When Dimidius goes berserk, his back twitches as if demon wings are about to sprout, and he growls like a beast.

What if Dimidius really can’t stop the rampage and becomes a demon?

Dimidius would never be able to live in the Bonus Empire. People are already afraid of him for having demon blood as a half-demon, but if he becomes a real demon, he would surely be targeted for execution.

‘I think His Highness the Grand Duke wouldn’t harm me even if he became a demon. Somehow I just feel that way.’

It might be a foolish belief. Maybe I’m just showing off that I’ve gotten a bit closer to Dimidius. But Olentia didn’t want to think about the situation of Dimidius becoming a demon. She would continue to transmit divine power to prevent him from going berserk.

By the way, what should she do about Dimidius’s request to stay by his side for a long, long time? In a few months, she could be free from the contractual relationship, but she had received such a troublesome request.

She was still confused, unable to properly identify the source of her feelings, and felt she needed more time.

[This is the timeline separator]

For the first time in a while, I had a vivid dream.

Evil spirits with black forms swarmed from the northern forest of the Grand Duchy. They were monsters with sticky fluid flowing all over their bodies, spewing black smoke. They were the minions of demons.

The evil spirits easily climbed over the huge walls of the Grand Duchy and devoured people with their wide-open mouths. People were attacked by the evil spirits without even being able to scream. Ominous dark clouds gathered in the sky, and an unimaginably strong wind raged.

All of it was a disaster brought by the evil spirits.

In this terrible and opaque situation, Olentia appeared, holding a white light. Olentia stood boldly in front of the evil spirits and created a white sphere by gathering energy.

“Aah!”

Olentia woke up from her dream with cold sweat all over her back. The dream was so shocking that she even screamed out loud.

It was early dawn, so Bobbie wasn’t around, and only Pieta, who had climbed onto the bed, was staring intently at Olentia.

The eyes of the puppy Pieta looked very deep, making it feel real that they contained a great being inside.

Olentia looked at Pieta while exhaling roughly.

“I had a prophetic dream about evil spirits appearing. The minions of demons, I mean!”

Then Pieta rolled around on the blanket and said as if it was no big deal:

[That’s right. After the long-lasting Celestial Horse War ended with little gain for either side, the demons have always been preparing to intervene in the human world.]

If so, this was an enormously big deal.

But why was Pieta so calm about it!

Olentia grabbed Pieta’s body tightly and said:

“Then what should we do? We can’t just let the evil spirits have their way!”

[That’s why your power is important. Why else would I be by your side? You fool.]

“Why are you doing this?”

[Because you possess the strongest divine power in the Bonus Empire.]

It was nonsense. Olentia laughed in disbelief.

“I’ve just awakened to divine power. With His Holiness the Pope and the Holy Maiden around, there’s no way I could be the strongest.”

[If you don’t believe in your own power, you’ll remain at that level. But I don’t think you’re someone with such a small capacity.]

Pieta’s words were appreciated. To be chosen by a god was a glory for the family. But Olentia was still only afraid. Even with Pieta as a witness, she still felt like an insignificant person.

Olentia fiddled with Pieta’s soft front paws and asked:

“Is there no way to prevent evil spirits or demons from coming to the human world?”

That would be the only way to possibly confront demons or evil spirits.

Pieta wrinkled his nose, made a serious expression, and sent a mental message:

[Unfortunately, only the demons would know that. If there were a demon who stood by humans, they might know a way……]

Demons were originally vicious things. But as Pieta said, there was no way there could be a demon who stood by humans.

Olentia clutched her pounding chest tightly. After imprisoning the Empress who tried to get rid of Dimidius, now the entire Bonus Empire was in danger. This felt too powerless. No matter how much she thought about it, she had no confidence in facing those tremendous evil spirits.

[This is the timeline separator]

“They say they’ve caught Lady Kikozellia! No, I guess we don’t need to call her ‘Lady’ anymore.”

Even seeing Bobbie’s happy face, Olentia couldn’t easily smile. Having had such a tremendous prophetic dream, she felt like she was walking on thin ice.

Seeing Olentia’s unhappy expression, Bobbie comforted her:

“She was still your sister-in-law, so you can’t be entirely happy, right?”

“Well, I can’t deny that. Where did they catch her?”

“They say they caught her at Geranium Train Station. Looks like she was planning to run far away.”

Kikozellia was truly foolish. Of course, if she had succeeded in killing Olentia and left no evidence, it would have been her victory.

But the world wasn’t so easy.

Olentia didn’t dare to leave her room for fear of running into Dimidius in the Grand Duchy. She still hadn’t found the words to answer him.

But staying only in the room was too stifling.

Olentia reluctantly said to Podion, who always escorted her with a rigid posture:

“Could you go find out where His Highness the Grand Duke is?”

Podion looked at Olentia with a puzzled face.

“Why are you asking that?”

“Don’t ask, just go find out.”

Only then did Podion bow to her and leave. If Dimidius was still in his office, she thought she could comfortably go out of the room. Dimidius was almost a workaholic, so he was likely to be stuck in his office.

A moment later, Podion returned to the room.

Podion told Olentia with a bewildered expression:

“His Highness the Grand Duke left early this morning for Geranium for Her Majesty the Empress’s trial. Didn’t you know that?”

It was truly an embarrassing moment. To Podion, it must have looked like the couple’s relationship was very bad.

Olentia coughed into her fist and stood up.

“Right. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know the trial would be set this early. Maybe it’s because Her Majesty the Empress’s case is receiving so much attention.”

Avoiding Podion’s puzzled gaze as much as possible, she walked down the corridor. Coming to a place where bright sunlight was streaming in felt much freer and better than staying in the room. Since Dimidius had gone to Geranium, it would take quite some time for him to return.

But suddenly, a maid blocked Olentia’s path. The maid’s complexion was pale blue, and her eyes were bloodshot. What on earth had happened?

Olentia grasped the maid’s shoulders and asked kindly:

“Are you sick somewhere? Should I call a doctor for you?”

But no matter what she said, the maid didn’t seem to hear her words. She just stood still like a corpse and then suddenly grabbed Olentia’s neck. Such strong force burst from the small body that Olentia was momentarily stunned and couldn’t do anything.

Sticky fluid flowed from the maid’s body and black smoke emanated, just as in the prophetic dream.

Evil spirit. A minion of demons.

They were the vicious things sent by demons to the human world.

Just as she was about to lose consciousness, Podion cut the maid’s hand with his sword. Thanks to that, she was freed from the strong grip on her neck, but she was still confused.

“My lady! Are you alright!”

Podion pushed Olentia back and pointed his sword at the monstrous-looking maid.

“What on earth is that?”

“It’s an evil spirit. It seems an evil spirit has possessed the maid’s body. So it’s not your problem to solve, but mine.”

She never dreamed she would face such a situation just hours after having the prophetic dream.

Olentia stood in front of Podion and created a white sphere by gathering energy. Then she threw that sphere at the evil spirit clinging to the maid’s body.

The servants in the corridor were busy screaming and running away from the horrific incident, while Olentia tried to keep her mind straight.

She was the only one here who could drive away the evil spirit with divine power.

Thanks to throwing the sphere, the evil spirit came out of the maid’s body. The evil spirit was much larger than expected, and it writhed as if in pain where it was hit.

Olentia didn’t miss that opportunity and emitted an intense white light from her entire body, sending another white sphere flying. Being unfamiliar with attacking, she had to eliminate it in one strike. Now Dimidius wasn’t by her side.

With the white light and sphere Olentia emitted, the evil spirit made a monstrous sound and then vanished. Only black ashes remained in that place.

Olentia staggered from using too much divine power at once and eventually collapsed. Podion, who was standing next to her, caught her falling body.