“Ah…!”

Yuriella sighed as she entered the main building of the ducal residence upon returning.

Seventeen coffins were laid out side by side in the spacious lobby, still stained with soot.

Leo, who had been gently covering the ducal flags over the coffins, turned to the ducal couple and wiped his damp eyes with the back of his hand.

“You have returned…?”

Yuriella slowly walked towards the coffins of the victims. On the way, she held the names Frost had told her in her mouth.

‘Theo. Gemino. Eskil. Rose. Martha…’

They were all familiar faces who had become like family before she knew it.

It was no use gritting her teeth, so Yuriella instead buried her face in Frost’s chest and hid her flowing tears.

Frost’s hand gently patting and stroking her back felt so warm that Yuriella’s heart ached.

Even if you’ve encountered countless deaths on the battlefield, you don’t become numb to death. The deaths of those who laughed and cried by my side are always painful.

Even more so if the reason is because of me.

“Because of me… Because of me…”

The target of the undead mercenaries must have been her this time as well.

Whether it was to make up for the last failure or to vent anger at His Highness Lewis’s appearance, the reason was unknown, but this arson and attack on the residence was clearly aimed at the duchess.

They wouldn’t have dared to attack the duke head-on, knowing the clear difference in skill.

His Highness Lewis was currently receiving the highest level of protection, so he was not someone the undead mercenaries could take his life with their meager abilities.

So they tried to make an example of the duchess by killing her while the two were away from home.

‘Because I’m weak… Because I’m weak…’

They must have targeted her because she was weak and easy prey.

Frost gently stroked Yuriella’s back as she sobbed, her shoulders shaking.

“The ones at fault are those who sacrificed innocent lives. It’s not your fault.”

Lewis, who had come down after hearing the news of the ducal couple’s return while tending to the injured in the temporary infirmary, also approached Yuriella and quietly comforted her.

“If sister-in-law blames herself… those who have passed away will be disappointed. They were people whose mission and purpose was to protect and care for sister-in-law. Dry your tears. Right now, just think about… sending them off well.”

Yuriella nodded.

Swallowing the welling tears, only the surging anger remained.

Approaching the lined-up coffins, Yuriella vowed in a low but clear voice.

“I will no longer lose my people. I will definitely make them pay. I will surely exact the price for today’s innocent blood.”

A fierce flame rose in her transparent red eyes, moist with tears.

The passionate spirit of the Flame Knight, who had raised the holy sword Flamma and roamed the battlefield, flowed through Yuriella’s entire body.

The knights and servants who were leaning against the wall, exhausted and injured, unconsciously straightened their backs.

As if the duchess’s flames of anger had spread to them, their eyes, which had lost their light due to loss and fatigue, were newly filled with resolute determination and burned fiercely.

Frost smiled faintly, feeling the air in the lobby change.

Commander Leo and Lewis had bewildered expressions at the sudden change in the duchess’s spirit.

Yuriella vowed before their spirits.

‘…I will not forget the deep wounds and blood I inflicted on the North, and I will surely repay them. I will not forgive them, and I will not forgive myself who was their agent…’

The promise she held in her mouth, tasting blood as she chewed, was as heavy as the blood she had taken.

*

“Have you heard? I heard the duke’s residence was attacked.”

Duke Figueira, who had visited the Swan Palace, sipped his tea and spoke to the empress dowager as if to test the waters.

“According to the captain of the guard, the attackers were already dead, how strange.”

“Is that so? The duke must have made quite a few enemies. To think they would even mobilize corpses to try to kill him.”

Duke Figueira smiled wryly, seeing the empress dowager feigning ignorance.

“At that time, the duke was in the imperial palace. Introducing Lewis Vandelie to the Grand Council of Nobles, giving him a splendid debut on the central stage. The target seems to have been the duchess, but unfortunately, they failed to achieve their goal. The duchess was also out, it seems.”

Ah! Duke Figueira snapped his fingers as if something had occurred to him.

“I also heard that Your Majesty the Empress Dowager drew your sword in front of the Emperor’s Palace and stabbed the emperor’s guards. Asking if the duchess was there. Is it true?”

The empress dowager savored the scent of the lavender tea she had been holding in her mouth and chuckled.

“Brother. Why is Lewis alive?”

“That… I definitely clearly saw the burned corpse with my own eyes.”

“Hmph. Then you should gouge out those useless eyes of yours.”

It was Duke Figueira who had set fire to the imperial consort palace.

How shocked he had been when he received intelligence that the previous emperor had sent a secret letter to Marquis Vandelie, the father of Empress Gelsomina and a grand noble of the West, expressing his intention to depose Justin and appoint Prince Lewis as the crown prince.

“Sophia. If I hadn’t stepped in then and missed the timing, the one sitting on the emperor’s throne now would not be your son, but Lewis.”

It was an attempt that risked his life. And he had wrapped it up neatly.

The emperor had raised suspicions, but there was no evidence. The previous emperor, who had suddenly lost his beloved woman and son, began to waste away.

The secret formula of the poison passed down through generations in Figueira contributed to the illness of the mind turning into an illness of the body. The one who used that poison was Sophia, who could get closest to him.

“Do you think Lewis came back just to have the Vandelie name?”

Duke Figueira frowned at his cold-hearted sister’s gaze.

“Then we should strike at Lewis. Why do you keep touching the duchess? Last time it was the carriage ambush, and now you even set fire and mobilized the city guards. And undead mercenaries at that! I told you to cut ties with them because they’re dangerous.”

“The dangerous one is not them, but the duchess. My intuition has never been wrong.”

Duke Figueira clicked his tongue loudly as if pathetic.

“Because Justin covets the duchess? The dazed fellow. He couldn’t even keep up with a lowly female knight from the streets. And now it’s a dancer who used to wander the streets selling medicine and dancing.”

Once the duke’s grumbling started, it seemed to never end.

“Why is his eye for women so vulgar and frivolous? I wonder who he takes after to be like that. You, as his mother, can’t even control your one son-.”

Bam!

The teacup the duke was about to drink from exploded and shattered, flying into his face and the back of his hand.

“Ugh! Sophia!”

Touching the blood flowing down his face, the duke stood up abruptly, his neck turning bright red.

“Your heavy buttocks are finally moving. Go and find a way to make up for your mistake from 11 years ago.”

The empress dowager gathered the black magic on her fingertips as she glared at the duke. The murderous intent in her violet eyes was piercingly sharp.

“Don’t let your guard down. If there is another mistake… it won’t just be a teacup that shatters next time.”

There were words the duke wanted to retort to his sister who was looking at him with distrustful eyes.

“Lewis’s appearance itself is not the problem. His movements are the problem. Don’t they contrast too much with His Majesty the Emperor?”

The empress dowager’s eyebrows twitched.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I heard the duke is going to hold a public funeral for those who died in this attack. He seems to be planning to make a big show of it to draw attention. There are already many loud mouths talking about the undead mercenaries.”

The duke said that rumors that the smoke rising from the ducal residence was the doing of the imperial family were also spreading.

“Of course, they’re wagging their tongues saying it was the imperial family’s doing to keep Lewis in check.”

The empress dowager, her complexion noticeably darker, bit her red lips with a puzzled expression.

Frost was a child who had his parents’ funeral quietly, refusing all external condolences. She had heard that he had also visited the mourners of the victims of the last northern subjugation of Colina Rosa in private. Why…?

“It wasn’t the duke’s idea. He’s not the type of person to use the deaths of his people as a political tool.”

Duke Figueira sneered, twisting his lips into a sneer.

“It must have come from the mind of our noble Lewis della Ponti, the Emperor’s brother. Isn’t that the reason the previous emperor tried to depose our emperor and appoint Lewis as the crown prince? A genius of the ages! The timber of an emperor who will revive the Eusterra Empire!”

“That’s a story from when he was a toddler on the previous emperor’s knee.”

“It’s not that toddler the duke is pushing. He also saw something in Lewis. The possibility to bet on the North.”

Anyone with eyes couldn’t have failed to see the possibility the previous emperor had seen and the duke’s eyes had also caught.

“Please, do control the emperor. And Your Majesty, don’t act rashly either. You two are too emotional, that’s the problem.”

Duke Figueira left the empress dowager’s drawing room with a satisfied expression.

Although she was his sister, he had trembled and lost face as an elder brother more than once or twice in front of Sophia, who had learned black magic from a young age.

Earlier, he had almost shown her his shaking and lost his dignity again.

But as befitting the master of the historic East, he had given the empress dowager proper admonishment and advice to control the emperor.

“I greet Your Grace the Duke.”

Carina, who was coming towards him, bowed to him in greeting.

Duke Figueira’s gaze lingered on the young saint candidate with vivid bruises and wounds and on Cassandra Cabeza.

His illegitimate daughter sold by his late father to Count Cabeza of the North, and a black magician with higher skill than Sophia.

‘Why did Sophia torture them?’

His sister was always deep in schemes and kept many secrets, so there were many things she didn’t tell him.

Duke Figueira tilted his head, looking back at the two women entering the empress dowager’s drawing room. But soon he shook his head and stepped forward.

Later. It was a problem to think about later. Duke Figueira hurriedly left the palace, thinking that stopping the nobles from joining hands with Lewis came first.

The empress dowager was deep in thought with her eyes closed even when she heard Cassandra and Carina enter and greet her.

Opening her eyes slowly after finishing her thoughts, Cassandra Cabeza and Carina Pioni came into view.

The empire’s top black magician, her half-sister, and the saint candidate with unprecedented sacred power who had touched black magic herself out of love for the emperor.

The empress dowager’s gaze swept over the two women kneeling.

‘Can they be trusted?’

Sophia mocked herself. I can’t even trust my own flesh and blood, how can I trust others?

A gentle smile that looked as if it had been painted appeared on the empress dowager’s red lips. They couldn’t be trusted, but they could be used.

“Why are you doing that? Sister, sit comfortably. You too, Carina.”

Cassandra and Carina sat on the chairs the empress dowager offered with bewildered expressions.

“Sister. Isn’t being a court lady difficult?”

“It is difficult. I’m just grateful that you cleared up the misunderstanding and took me in as a close court lady.”

Cassandra smiled affectionately, making her eyes moist.

“Carina, your bruises haven’t faded yet. Your wounds haven’t healed well either.”

If she called a priest and healed her with sacred power, it would have been cleanly fixed, but out of spite, she had left her alone, and this was the result.

“You look terrible. I’ll call the palace healing mage now.”

“No. I acted in a way that would be misunderstood and disturbed Your Majesty’s mood, so I am taking these wounds as a warning. I am grateful for your words alone, Your Majesty.”

“I have no one to trust but sister and Carina. I was angry thinking I had been betrayed. I’m really sorry. Something like this won’t happen again.”

Cassandra and Carina looked at the empress dowager with puzzled faces.

What other scheme was she trying to concoct, starting with such a sickeningly sweet voice as if coated in honey?

“Since it’s just between us, I’ll speak comfortably. You both must know that His Majesty is excessively obsessed with the duchess.”

When the empress dowager mentioned the duchess, the two women unconsciously stiffened their backs.

“Isn’t it strange? The child who acted as if there was only one Solas in the world now only looks at the duchess. Why on earth?”

Cassandra moistened her dry lips and gave an awkward smile.

“A butterfly flying to a beautiful flower is just the way of nature, Your Majesty…”

“Yes. I admit she’s pretty. But there are many more beautiful women. So why that wench Yuriella of all people?”

Even the Duke of the North, who never paid attention to women, is devoted to his wife. So much so that he kicked the emperor in the head for coveting his woman.

“Justin also knows why I fell into a coma. But he doesn’t even glance towards the Magic Tower. All the coma patients are there. He thinks Solas’s soul isn’t there. His thoughts must be right. I… I made a mistake.”

Cassandra gulped as she watched the empress dowager gradually approach the answer.

“Then where, in what form, and with whom is Solas now?”

The cold violet eyes lingered on Cassandra and Carina’s eyes in turn.

“Why do I keep thinking the duchess is Solas?”