“Is there anything else I need to know, other than the attack on the Mages’ Tower?”

After a long silence, Justin opened his closed eyes and glared at the Empress Dowager.

“No. Nothing. You?”

The hand that had been caressing her son’s cheek gently brushed away the hair that had fallen over his forehead.

“Is there anything else you’re hiding from your mother besides what I’m already suspecting?”

“No. There isn’t.”

Despite the nausea from his mother’s touch, not even a small crack appeared in Justin’s picturesque smile.

“I see.”

The Empress Dowager lowered her hand as if in regret, her gaze shifting to the open terrace window.

“The moonlight is truly lovely.”

Justin followed the Empress Dowager’s gaze and stared at the blood-red moon precariously shining in the pitch-black darkness.

“Indeed.”

After exchanging familiar lies out of habit, Justin’s footsteps quickened as he headed towards the Imperial Palace.

He should have been more careful.

At the very least, he shouldn’t have impulsively approached the Grand Princess today of all days.

He should have just gouged out the eyeballs that couldn’t look away from her.

Who knows what else the Empress Dowager, as capricious and unpredictable as him, would do…

Duke Piguera, Justin’s uncle who had been unable to leave and was on standby at the Imperial Palace, reported to the Emperor that he was still trying to contact the Mages’ Tower, but they were refusing to talk.

“They clearly suspect us. Did Her Majesty the Empress Dowager… do something again?”

The handkerchief Duke Piguera was using to wipe his forehead and temples was already soaked with sweat.

It seemed his impulsive sister had caused trouble again while he was in the midst of covertly working to frame the Grand Duke and Lewis for treason and eliminate them.

It was particularly worrisome that it happened to be the Mages’ Tower Master who had maintained neutrality.

If the Mages’ Tower demands blood and the West prepares for it, all-out war will be unavoidable.

He welcomed the disturbance of balance, but if that tipped the scales in favor of the Grand Duke and Lewis, victory would be difficult to guarantee.

The lords of the West had been scholars well-versed in science and law for generations, advocating for peace and opposing war. They were also reluctant to spend their budget on filling armories and training soldiers like other regions.

But it wasn’t as if they had been acting as the Empire’s balance for free.

Instead of military spending, they had invested an astronomical budget in the Mages’ Tower’s research.

There were even rumors that inside the Mages’ Tower’s research labs, completely cut off from the outside, liquid explosives that could easily blow up an entire castle were bubbling away in small test tubes.

Duke Piguera could bet his precious eldest son’s life that it wasn’t just a baseless rumor.

Even if they were fortunate enough to win, the wounds of civil war would bring equal disaster to all. The fertile granary of the prosperous East would also become a wasteland. Just like Colina Rosa in the North…

“Not yet. It’s still too early.”

The end of Piguera’s voice cracked.

“Thorough preparation is needed. Even if war is unavoidable, we must properly distinguish between those who must be annihilated and those who we should hold hands with. We must seek ways to minimize the damage after the fighting is over, just as much as a strategy to win.”

“Uncle, handle it as you see fit.”

After delegating the negotiating rights with the West and the Mages’ Tower to Duke Piguera, Justin entered his bedchamber.

What did it matter.

Whether war broke out or not.

Whether the Empire burned and everyone died or not.

Whether the forces that had supported him as Emperor fell in the war or not.

The Emperor had only one concern.

“Solas…”

Justin plopped down on the bed and lowered his hands that had been rubbing his throbbing temples to stare blankly at his palms.

[Your Majesty has such beautiful hands. I would believe it if you said they were a woman’s hands.]

In front of Solas who had purely admired them, he had been truly embarrassed of his white and smooth hands without a single small scar.

[My hands are big and ugly like a man’s, and they’re getting uglier and uglier.]

How much he had wanted to tell her that her hands, which returned from the battlefield each time with new wounds, were truly lovely and dear to him.

[Huh? Why are you suddenly crying? Are you in pain somewhere?]

Tears dripped onto Justin’s palms where black magic was rising thickly.

His true hands that he could never show Solas, the owner of the sacred Flamma.

A very long time ago. The moment he first laid eyes on her from the end of the Imperial Army’s parade, marching in triumph while she looked around like a spectator among the mercenaries.

Justin had felt a burning pain in his heart.

The black magic that had already consumed his heart had writhed madly, sensing the pure flame’s energy tucked away inside the dirty mercenary girl’s armor.

It told him to kill that thing. To extinguish that flame.

And the tender edges of his heart that were not yet tainted pulsed violently inside the young boy Emperor. He had blushed to the tips of his ears.

It said that flame would make him live again. That it might be able to turn him back to his original self.

He couldn’t even remember in what state of mind he had given the celebratory address.

All he remembered was the scrawny girl who looked like a black dot buried in the procession but still captivated his gaze.

“What should I do with you…”

He still craved her, who he had killed but lived, extinguished but still burned.

What was the way to safely steal the flame that had been his but never truly his?

He had to be cautious, having lost her once already.

Justin’s sapphire-blue eyes swirled with a shimmering black light.

Justin got up from the bed, opened the inner chamber door, and walked towards the Flamma mounted inside a glass case.

Opening the case and reaching out to grasp the sword’s grip, the small sparks that had been glimmering like red dust inside the dull blade were abruptly extinguished.

Whoong. Whoong.

The low vibrating sword began to lose its form and transform into a lump of black smoke.

[Flamma is originally a divine flame. It doesn’t have a fixed form like other swords. It can change into various shapes according to the wielder’s ability and will. I prefer the sword form, but sometimes I also use it like a whip.]

Justin closed his eyes.

Recalling how the holy sword wrapped in a red aura had changed into a fireball and a whip in Solas’ hands, he thought of the things she had liked.

The lush rose petals of May. The cumulus clouds that changed into the shapes of delicious food every moment. An abandoned skinny puppy.

The Flamma, a long sword that was plain and sleek except for the wing ornament on the hilt, which breathed fire in battle but was elegant in peace.

The holy sword, which had taken the form of flower petals, then a puppy-shaped cloud, returned to its original shape, undulating blackly without its former light, harboring a deep darkness.

Justin’s eyes, which had at some point turned black up to the whites, slowly returned to their jewel-like blue.

Sweat trickled down from his forehead, flowing along his smooth cheek to his chin.

The Emperor, slightly out of breath, placed the Flamma back on its stand.

“Not yet. Yes, not yet.”

He still wanted to face her as Justin Della Ponti. If he was completely swallowed by darkness, he might not recognize her. He might not be able to protect her.

No. He might tear his own heart to shreds again without even feeling pain.

“Sereno.”

The shadow that appeared without a sound prostrated before the Emperor.

“Go to the East. There is someone you need to find.”

After giving instructions to his first hawk about the person to find and things to handle in the East, Justin secretly sent a messenger to arrange a meeting with Duke Grande.

Not wanting war didn’t mean he would yield the opportunity for a preemptive strike to Frost Ielheim.

“First, I need to separate the two.”

He had to remove Yuriella from the Grand Duke’s side for her to be safe from the threat he couldn’t control.

“That foolish Mages’ Tower Master. How could he bring Solas’ soul to the position of the Grand Duke’s companion.”

The moment Justin first became certain that Yuriella was Solas, he had guessed that the one who made it possible was the Mages’ Tower Master.

He wanted to kiss that bastard’s foot, and also wanted to tear him and the Mages’ Tower to shreds immediately.

It wasn’t hard to understand why the Mages’ Tower Master had gone so far. One could see a person’s heart through their actions, not words.

“Then I too must show my heart through action.”

Justin changed into the attire of a poor nobleman and pulled his hat low before slipping out of the palace alone.

Duke Grande, dazzled by the Emperor’s stunning appearance that couldn’t be concealed even in shabby clothes, spaced out for a moment before belatedly asking the reason he had been summoned.

“What did you call me for?”

Instead of answering, the Emperor tossed an envelope of documents in front of the Duke.

As Duke Grande picked up the envelope and pulled out the documents inside, he also glanced around in wonder. How was such magic possible?

Although there were quite a few patrons bustling about in the tavern the two had entered, no one noticed their presence.

The tavern owner and cook didn’t see the exceptionally handsome man casually entering the kitchen to bring out alcohol and snacks.

It wasn’t a barrier, nor an illusion.

Hypnosis…? He had never heard of such a thing being possible.

The uneasiness of having joined hands with an existence beyond his control rose, but. As the neatly organized diamond mine ownership transfer documents finished coming out of the envelope, his worries and concerns completely evaporated.

“Your Majesty. This is…?”

“I want to exchange them for the iron mines the Duke owns.”

Duke Grande just gaped, looking at the documents once, then the Emperor once. Then the documents once more, and the Emperor again.

And pushed the envelope back to the Emperor with a regretful click of his tongue.

“The iron mines are my property, but upon marriage, I handed over all management to the Grand Duke.”

From the management of the workers in charge of iron ore mining to the entire process of smelting and steelmaking, to the completion of weapons and daily necessities. Knights and administrators dispatched from the Grand Duke’s household were watching over every stage with eagle eyes.

“If I try to swallow something I can’t digest, my head will roll off first, Your Majesty.”

A deep reluctance could be seen in the thick hands that couldn’t let go of the envelope.

“What you will give me is not the registration rights. The blueprints. Blueprints of all the iron mines the Duke owns will suffice.”

“Pardon? Why the blueprints…?”

“Wouldn’t it be better for you not to know? You’ll need to at least feign a convincing look of surprise later to avoid suspicion. And save your precious neck.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do as you command.”

Justin picked up the liquor glass and downed it in one gulp. He also swallowed the afterimage of the “Iron Wall of the North” who had come with his uncle-in-law Gideon Ielheim to pay respects to the former Emperor in his childhood.

The liquor lingering in his mouth was bitter.

Had he wanted the Duke to get angry and storm out of his seat? Had he expected him to at least draw his ceremonial sword and point it at his neck?

“The Duke will be safe. She will need her shell of a father’s prestige from her parents’ home to comfortably settle by my side.”

Duke Grande blankly watched the Emperor leave, stirring up a cold wind, and quietly placed a hand near his heart. His brows furrowed at the stinging pain.

Was this also some unknown sorcery the Emperor had cast?

Or was it the shame sent by the knight of the past whose memory had already faded?

The thick hand covered in calluses tightly crumpled the envelope of documents the Emperor had left behind.

*

“It’s so high…!”

Even craning my neck all the way back, I couldn’t see the end of the Mages’ Tower. It’s really huge…!

[Dirt keeps getting in my mouth. Yuriella’s hair keeps hitting my face.]

Airy, who had been hiding in my hair, shook her small face and grumbled.

“Is it uncomfortable for you? I could have come alone.”

The Grand Duke took off his cloak to shield me from the fierce dirt winds and looked at me worriedly.

And he glared fiercely at Sir Nectan, who had come to greet us at the West’s teleportation magic circle gate in place of the Mages’ Tower Master.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. After the attack, we have strengthened the barrier more than usual.”

Sir Nectan apologized to us several times, saying that they had temporarily closed the magic gate connected to the outside in order to reinforce the barrier.

“Didn’t you catch the suspects?”

“We did catch them, but they are exercising their right to remain silent.”

“Bring our experts. We have skilled individuals who can make even those under the Silence spell open their mouths.”

“No. It’s alright.”

“Modesty is not a virtue in urgent situations. Bring as many as you need.”

“That’s not it…”

Sir Nectan’s expression as he hesitated and frowned was unsettling.

“A total of thirty coma patients died from an unexplained self-detonation. The doctors and mages caught in the explosion were severely injured. But…”

“But?”

“All the doctors and caregivers in charge of the self-detonated patients turned out to be from the North.”

What was in Sir Nectan’s eyes was clearly suspicion.