Olentia had been lying down all day after using too much divine power at once. She needed time to replenish her energy.

But in a moment of brief consciousness, she saw Dimidius. Unsure if it was a dream or reality, she raised herself up, removed his mask, and kissed him. She conveyed her feelings of how scared and difficult it had been without him, and how much she had missed him. She acted in an unreasonable way, filled with such emotions.

This must be a dream. Due to bearing many burdens alone while Dimidius was in Geranium, her longing for him had doubled compared to usual. She didn’t think it was a prophetic dream. Just a mere dream. A dream that would crumble and disappear.

When she barely regained consciousness and opened her eyes, she saw Dimidius from her embarrassing dream. Dimidius was shaking her shoulders and speaking urgently.

“My lady! Are you alright? Have you finally come to your senses?”

Olentia’s head hurt as Dimidius shook her body. She frowned and said to him.

“Don’t shake me. My head is spinning.”

Only then did Dimidius remove his hands from her shoulders and let out a deep sigh.

“I apologize. I got excited seeing that my lady had woken up…”

“How long have you been here?”

“It’s been about half a day.”

‘I was lying down for that long? It must have taken quite some time for Your Highness to return to the Grand Duchy from Geranium.’

Olentia groaned and barely managed to raise her upper body. Using strong divine power certainly seemed to take a great toll on the body. But Pieta had said such nonsense about her having the strongest divine power in the Bonus Empire. Honestly, she had somewhat expected it, but the situation fell short of her expectations.

Olentia held her throbbing forehead and asked Dimidius.

“How did the trial go?”

Dimidius sat on one side of the bed and spoke in a calm voice.

“The trial ended well. With a prison sentence being handed down, the Empress has procedurally become the former Empress.”

Despite the Empress who had tormented him finally receiving punishment, Dimidius remained composed. Of course, he couldn’t see inside him, but outwardly, there seemed to be no emotional fluctuation.

Olentia swallowed hard and looked at Dimidius.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how long the actual sentence will be in the second trial.”

“She’s already lost everything by becoming the former Empress.”

“Aren’t you happy? She tried to kill Your Highness three times – twice in the Grand Duchy and once on the train.”

Dimidius was silent for a moment. She was curious about what he was thinking, but now was the time to wait.

After a while, Dimidius spoke.

“Of course I’m happy. But the Empress’s punishment will be for this one attack on the Grand Duchy, not for the three attempted murders.”

“I suppose that’s because there’s no separate evidence for the other two times.”

“After surviving multiple attacks and threats to my life, I’ve hated the Empress, but now that she’s become the former Empress and is being punished, I feel deflated.”

Olentia could somewhat understand why Dimidius felt disheartened. He must have lived with the drive to expose the Empress’s crimes all this time, but now that it’s over, he probably feels like he’s lost direction.

As she empathized with his mood, Olentia also wore a downcast expression, but Dimidius took her hand wrapped in the blanket.

“By the way, to think that an evil spirit appeared in the Grand Duchy. A few years ago, the Saint drove out an evil spirit hiding in ancient ruins. I wonder why such a thing suddenly happened… My lady, you could have been in great danger.”

‘Pieta said that demons have always been preparing to intervene in the human world.’

She couldn’t carelessly share what Pieta had told her. It was difficult to even convey the terrible fact that such incidents would occur more frequently in the future.

Olentia asked Dimidius, who kept fidgeting with her hand wrapped in the blanket.

“You can just take my hand out and hold it. Why are you doing this?”

Dimidius flinched and then spoke in a serious voice.

“Well, I might unknowingly take away my lady’s divine power. When recovering after using a lot of divine power like now, it’s best not to let our skin touch.”

“Well, then we can just live as we usually do. Your Highness and I rarely have skin contact anyway.”

Dimidius was someone so busy that it was hard to even see his face properly. Left alone, Olentia would embroider flowers or make angry brush strokes on a huge canvas in her room.

By the way, Dimidius didn’t press for an answer to his confession asking her to stay by his side for a long time. She wondered if it might just pass like this. Olentia felt she probably couldn’t give an answer anyway.

Dimidius left the room, saying he would call for a physician. When his heavy presence suddenly disappeared, Olentia felt an inexplicable loneliness. It felt like a chill was entering her bones. Rather, it was Dimidius’s presence that was so overwhelming that she could feel such a sensation.

Half a day earlier.

As soon as Dimidius entered the Grand Duchy, he heard shocking news. Olentia had collapsed after getting rid of an evil spirit attached to a maid. It was surprising enough that an evil spirit suddenly appeared in the Grand Duchy, but for Olentia to faint…

Dimidius ran up the stairs like a madman and entered Olentia’s room. The physician must have already finished examining her, as he respectfully clasped his hands upon seeing the Grand Duke.

“What is my wife’s condition?”

The physician answered Dimidius’s question.

“She has lost her strength after temporarily using a lot of divine power. I didn’t know the madam possessed divine power. It seems she just needs to rest well and wait until she regains her strength. There are no other problems with her body.”

This is how the people of the Grand Duchy also learned that Olentia possessed divine power.

Dimidius let out a sigh of relief at the words that she just needed to rest well and regain her strength. If she had been physically injured, he felt he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for going to Geranium to attend the trial.

After the physician left the room, now only the two of them remained.

Dimidius was about to take her hand that was outside the blanket but hesitated.

‘I might suck away her divine power.’

It seemed better not to touch her body then. Although that fact was piercingly sad, there was nothing he could do. He could only hope for Olentia to regain her strength.

Olentia, who had lost her strength, just looked like she was peacefully asleep. She was breathing evenly and not frowning.

It would be nice if she was having a good dream.

Dimidius looked at her sleeping face for a long time. He didn’t get tired of watching her, and it was nice that no one was disturbing them.

The reason his heart felt so warm and peaceful was all because Olentia was by his side.

But then Olentia slightly opened her eyes for a moment. She shook her head as if waking up, looked at Dimidius, and slowly raised her upper body.

Dimidius felt like he was seeing an illusion.

“My lady, are you alright now…”

Dimidius froze as he was about to speak. It was because Olentia, with a sleepy face, removed his mask and kissed him right away. He could feel her warm breath between Olentia’s plump lips. It felt like he was having an incredibly absurd dream.

As Dimidius blinked his eyes in surprise, Olentia flopped back onto the bed and closed her eyes. Judging by her wheezing breath, she seemed to have fallen back asleep.

Thud!

The mask she was holding fell to the floor beside the bed, and Dimidius ran his fingers over his lips.

Had Olentia expressed her true feelings? Could he take it as an answer to his words asking her to stay by his side for a long time?

While hope was welling up that she might stay by his side, Dimidius’s mind was conflicted.

He felt afraid of the sad emotions he would have to endure if things flowed in a completely different direction than expected. It had been too long since Dimidius had given up expectations in human relationships. Having expectations meant taking that much risk.

After a long while, when Olentia woke up from her sleep, she didn’t seem to remember the kiss at all. Dimidius didn’t bother to bring it up. Foolishly, he was a little afraid to hear the answer from Olentia’s own mouth.

Dimidius only checked on her physical condition.

A week later.

Olentia, who attended the trial to see Kikozellia’s final appearance after being captured, looked at her screaming self with disdain. Sokol was also present in the courtroom, but his face looked haggard, as if he had aged 10 years.

After the trial ended, Olentia briefly met with Kikozellia at the request of the officials. She glared at Olentia with disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes.

“I could have killed you, but you were lucky to survive.”

Olentia had used her divine power to avoid the enemy’s attack in the forest. Kikozellia seemed completely unaware of this. Well, she wouldn’t be able to imagine it since she hadn’t seen it directly.

Olentia spoke to Kikozellia, who would soon rot in prison for a few years.

“Sister-in-law. Well, I’m not sure how long you’ll be a sister-in-law. I didn’t survive because I was lucky. I saved myself with the divine power passed down in the Armenica family.”

Olentia knew how sensitive Kikozellia was about the legitimacy of Armenica. That’s why she deliberately brought up the divine power.

Kikozellia’s expression changed to surprise, and her hands trembled.

“Don’t say such nonsense. There’s no way someone like you inherited divine power! It can’t be!”

“No matter how much you deny it, it’s useless. I’ve gained amazing power.”

It seemed that this was bound to happen since she became Pieta’s contractor at the age of 12.

Olentia looked at Kikozellia’s ugly, broken appearance and then turned away. She didn’t want to stay in the courtroom any longer.