After resting for a while, Rue had to digest her first schedule as the Emperor’s fiancee today. Of course, Hayden would always be with her. But before that, she had to choose the engagement ring. It was a problem because she received so many, but she still had to show one as a ring that would go down in history.

Rue’s fingertips brushed over the ring. There were many rings with a deep history that had escaped from the royal treasury and returned through this recent incident of the attempted assassination of the Emperor.

There were rings that had been passed down to previous empresses and rings that Hayden’s mother had received. Hayden had taken care of all of them, but Rue had already made up her mind.

“I’ll go with this one.”

She was holding a clear, sparkling stone on her left ring finger, a stone that was either a pure watercolor or a hazy sky color. Above all, it was the same color as Hayden’s eyes. When she looked closely, she was reminded of him.

“Yeah, shall we go?”

He had said that he would handle anything that happened. It was darkest just before dawn. To grow from a young sage to a true sage, she had to go through such trials. However, Rue’s heart was heavy in one corner.
“I can’t just stand by. I can’t leave everything to Hayden.”

It’s already the second time. Doing nothing and just standing still until the third time arrives would be foolish, and, above all, it was something Rue’s personality couldn’t tolerate.

Hayden probably won’t say anything. She firmly resolved herself and took his hand. The door opened, and a bright light poured in.

The southern part of Caleta was still burning with a monster wave that hadn’t erupted properly in hundreds of years. Thick smoke lingered everywhere, and the crops waiting for harvest were engulfed in the raging flames.

This monster wave in Caleta was unprecedentedly strong. It was a natural consequence. The Imperial Knights, who had so far considered the magicians and divine beings Melphios had barely scraped together as monsters and fought against them, had never experienced a real monster.

Even Carlos, who had taken the initiative to subjugate them, was grinding his teeth. As soon as one place was subdued, swarms of monsters poured out as if mocking him.

Hurrying to move there and resolve it, when dealing with the problem, monsters popped out again from another place.

It was endless. The Imperial Knights were just fighting, believing in the Emperor, but their expressions showed their surprise at the appearance and numbers of the ‘devils’ significantly different from what they had experienced at the wall.

“Follow the Emperor!”

“The Empress is watching!”

Carlos, who had long believed he had completely taken control of the south as much as sitting on the throne for hundreds of years, was inwardly grinding his teeth.

Vaguely, he felt the new energy of a young sage. She had been here for a while. It was annoying but not unpleasant. Rather, unknowingly, he was searching for that energy, not knowing where it was.

Once again, he wanted to look directly into the eyes that stared at him so sharply. Now, it was difficult to meet those eyes that controlled Rue completely unless Carlos invaded Rue’s dreams in a way other than before. In fact, even if they met again, it would only make him frustrated inside.

“Ack!”

“Here, wizard! There’s an injured person!”

Knights were falling everywhere. Carlos frowned and stepped forward.

After all, meeting Rustica Genesis again wouldn’t make sense because she had completely lost her mind due to the last bloodline of the Bella Empire. Unless Carlos invaded Rue’s dreams in a way other than before, it would be difficult to meet those eyes that controlled Rue completely. In fact, even if they met again, it would only make him frustrated inside.

‘Still, I thought she was quite smart. Whether it’s brainwashing magic or what kind of nonsense that guy tricked her into…’

Carlos thought as anger swelled up and slaughtered the monsters. The sight of messy bodily fluids pouring out was disgusting. But he couldn’t cut off thoughts about Rue.

The magic on Rustica Genesis was already complete. The magic implanted through her eyes met the curse and worked properly when she was dispatched to the Caleta region as a Calsa magistrate.
His life is connected to Rustica Genesis’s life, and he also has control over her mind. So, Carlos just needs to help her regain consciousness.

“Ugh, aaaaah…!”

“Snap out of it! This is what the Emperor is doing!”

As young knights exclaimed in horror at the melting monsters, senior knights nudged them. Well, the sight of things melting without a sound wasn’t pleasant, but Carlos’ method was to completely destroy the disgusting ones.

‘But why, why did it turn out like this, Rustica?’

He was foolishly asking a question whose answer he already knew.