“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! We found out! The reason why the Grand Duke suddenly ordered to empty the entire mansion−.”

Aaron, the captain of the Imperial Knights, rushed into the reception room of the Grand Duke’s residence, out of breath.

“Aaron.”

Justin shook his head to stop Aaron and put down his glass of wine on the mahogany table decorated with gold carvings.

“Get out.”

The Grand Duke’s busy hands, about to uncork a new bottle of wine, and Dolman Grande’s hands, neatly cutting cheese slices to serve His Majesty, also stopped at the same time.

“Pardon?”

The Grand Duke looked at the Emperor with a blank expression.

The Emperor, who was sitting leisurely with one arm resting on the sofa armrest as if it were his own house, frowned his beautiful brow and gave the order to the host father and son again.

“Do I have to say everything twice in this house? Get out.”

“Ah… Please… have a comfortable conversation.”

The Grand Duke grabbed his son by the scruff of the neck and scurried out of the reception room.

A fortnight ago, when Yuriella collapsed on the field.

The Emperor would barge into the Duke’s residence and spend time there, persistently inquiring about Yuriella.

The Duke, who had abandoned his illegitimate daughter before she was born and had only recently brought her in, had almost nothing to say.

To please the Emperor, whose mood had turned unpleasant, the Duke had to spend his days in a daze like a dried corn on a heated iron pan.

As he left the corridor, Dolman approached the Duke and whispered.

“Is His Majesty really interested in that Yuriella? Everyone is whispering about it. It’s only been a few days since the wedding ceremony, but he doesn’t return to the Imperial Palace and spends more time at our house than at the separate residence the Grand Duke prepared, all because of that Yuriella.”

The Duke looked at his successor’s head as if it were pathetic.

The wounds caused by being kicked by the Grand Duke’s feet had disappeared, but the lump of rock in that head seemed unmoved, he clicked his tongue.

“It’s because of me.”

“Pardon?”

“His Majesty has come to see me.”

Dolman tilted his head as if he couldn’t agree.

“I saw His Majesty’s eyes at the wedding. They looked like the eyes of a man in love.”

“The Empire overflows with beautiful flowers. Would His Majesty even spare a glance at an insignificant weed that bloomed in the wastelands of the North?”

“Does love discriminate between people or time? It thunders in any sky, and strikes like lightning at anyone. I’m telling you, His Majesty had the exact face of someone struck by lightning. The lightning of love called Yuriella!”

Seeing his son speaking with conviction, raising his right index finger high, the Grand Duke wanted to smash his son’s head even harder than the Grand Duke did.

“I became the Grand Duke’s father-in-law. I became the Grand Duke’s backing.”

The Duke gritted his teeth and told Dolman the answer, as if teaching a child who was learning to speak for the first time, word by word.

“It means I am a very, very important figure that His Majesty has no choice but to pay attention to. He is pretending to care about Yuriella to deceive those around him and to investigate me. Because the Grand Duke is just a scarecrow without me. Do you understand?”

Dolman nodded his head. But his eyes were busy rolling left and right, as if he didn’t understand at all.

“I thought if His Majesty’s heart was stolen by Yuriella, it’s a pity we sold Yuriella to the Grand Duke too quickly. Isn’t being the Emperor’s brother-in-law higher in rank than being the Grand Duke’s brother-in-law?”

“Tsk-tsk. Yuriella is nothing. The reason the Grand Duke accepted that lowly thing as his consort, and the reason the Emperor frequently visits my house. It’s all because this father is such an immensely important figure. You should know that.”

“But what did Sir Aaron find out? Oh! Could it be that the Grand Duke is trying to use black magic? Calling that dark mage−.”

“Please think! Think!”

The Duke shouted, pounding his own suffocating chest with his huge fist like a stone hammer, as if frustrated, instead of his son’s head.

“Now is a more sensitive time than ever. Moreover, with the Emperor nearby, would that clever bastard do something that could be used against him? Would he call the dark mage he couldn’t even summon when his own life was in danger?”

“No, I… Since the Grand Duke emptied his residence and is controlling entry and exit−.”

“It’s because of me!”

“Again?”

“Yes. That too is because of me. Why would it be?”

“Well… Because you are such an important figure to the Grand Duke?”

“That’s right! He’s trying to look good to me. He must have felt guilty about smashing my successor’s head in my house last time. It’s awkward to apologize, and if he just lets it go, he’ll be worried that I won’t help him. So he’s showing sincerity.”

“How is that showing−.”

“He’s trying to make a show of taking care of her alone by keeping people away! Look at me! A son-in-law prostrating even at the in-laws’ fence, begging for forgiveness!”

“Ah… Yes.”

Dolman the Rockhead felt skeptical. But since his father is always right, he nodded his head vigorously and glanced back at the reception room where the Emperor was.

.

.

Upon hearing the information Aaron had brought, a glint flashed in the Emperor’s blue eyes.

“Casandra Cabeza?”

It was quite a familiar name to him.

“Is he planning to perform a soul summoning ritual?”

Aunt, the Empress Dowager’s half-sister. The dark mage aunt whom Uncle Samuel, Duke of Figuera, obtained the copper mine development rights and sold to Count Cabeza, a commoner in the North.

The aunt who was despised by the Figuera family for being an illegitimate child was treated as a punching bag and trash by Count Cabeza as well, perhaps.

“I will immediately dispatch the knights to raid the Grand Duke’s residence, Your Majesty.”

“It’s a golden opportunity. The Grand Duke has dismissed all the knights and private soldiers, so the Grand Duke’s residence is empty. I will catch the scene of the dark magic ritual at once, and put Frost Ielheim on the burning pile of firewood along with the wicked dark mage!”

The Emperor was lost in his own thoughts, not even giving Aaron a glance.

“He’s that desperate.”

Desperate enough to personally summon the dark mage he himself imprisoned in a cave.

Desperate enough to make the reckless move of driving the Emperor away to perform that summoning ritual.

Was that woman someone he was so desperate for, Frost Ielheim?

The emotion that followed the surprise was strangely a sense of betrayal.

For whom did Solas Moretti have to lose her life?

To be so distracted by a mere illegitimate child of lowly origin, a dancer at that.

Then came a strange displeasure of having the initiative taken from him.

He was just contemplating how to spirit Casandra Cabeza away.

Since none of the renowned doctors, mages, and priests of the North could wake the Grand Duchess, an alternative was needed.

But he was considering whether the sorcery wielded by the dark mage would harm the Grand Duchess’s body or soul.

“Your Majesty. Please give the order−.”

“Leave it.”

“Your Majesty…!”

“Isn’t the Grand Duke’s heart that cares for his wife lovely?”

“…Your Majesty. To let this good opportunity just−.”

“I have something to verify.”

There were only two occasions when Justin faced Yuriella – the day they first met and danced upon arriving in the North, and the day of the wedding ceremony.

It was also those two times when his entire body and heart were unable to move an inch in front of her vivid red eyes, as if captured in a hunter’s net.

He felt that if he saw her one more time, he would understand what this feeling was.

“Your Majesty. If you allow… We will record in detail the circumstances in which the Grand Duke brought in a wicked dark mage, secure witnesses, and strongly punish him later−.”

“Pretend it never happened.”

“Pardon?”

“Block the ears of those who heard, and cover the eyes of those who saw.”

If the fact that he used black magic to bring back a soul is revealed, Yuriella will not be safe either. Based on precedent, she will probably be burned at the stake along with her husband.

“Your Majesty! It’s a good opportunity to execute the Grand Duke without shedding blood, so why−.”

“Should I be the one to stop your mouth?”

Suddenly, a sharp sword adorned with splendid jewels pierced Aaron’s chest.

“…!”

The tip of the blade that penetrated the armor made of rare monster skin and touched the bare flesh stung.

If he spoke one more word, his heart would be pierced right through by the beautiful sword of the imperial family.

“…I will follow your orders. I will block the ears of those who heard and cover the eyes of those who saw. I, too, will keep my eyes tightly shut.”

The Emperor roughly threw the sword away and plopped back on the sofa in a loose manner. The sharpness that had been in his eyes disappeared as if it had never been there, replaced by a nonchalant look.

“Keep yours open. So that when that woman opens her eyes, I can go and see her.”

He had the desire for his to be the first face her red eyes would hold when her pink blonde lashes opened and slowly revealed them.

Since the Grand Duke took the initiative with Casandra, that moment would belong to Frost.

After all, he was that woman’s husband. The right to be close was a privilege granted only to him.

But.

Wouldn’t I also have my own privileges?

I am the Emperor. The master of the Empire, and the master of the Grand Duke.

No matter how much he is the lord of the North, my cousin is also in the same boat as a dog that must come running when the Emperor calls.

“I will return to the Imperial Palace. Make preparations.”

“Pardon? Ah, yes!”

Sir Aaron’s face lit up brightly. It was the order he had been waiting for the most.

“I will prepare right away!”

Justin got up from his seat and went to the window. The fresh summer breeze wrapped around his brilliant golden hair and passed by.

Now that his capable aunt had stepped up, Yuriella would be able to wake up.

He could no longer stay here. Now, he had to return to the Imperial Palace.

‘If I have to go. Shouldn’t you come too?’

Justin began to contemplate ways to summon the Grand Duke to the Imperial Palace. What would be the justification he absolutely couldn’t refuse?

And soon, a justification that would make his mother, Empress Dowager Sophia, startle came to mind with ease.

Under the Emperor’s golden eyelashes, cruel yet beautiful, his blue eyes smiled sweetly.

“I will go ahead and wait for you, brother.”

*

Frost was wiping Yuriella’s small face, who was sound asleep, with a damp towel when her pale cheek bothered him, so he gently stroked it with his fingertips.

Feeling the warm temperature, he was relieved.

How long had it been since they met? Why was he so anxious that this woman might never open her eyes again?

“Yuriella.”

By the time he turned his urgent steps after confirming that Yuriella’s body was intact in the bedroom, the grand hall where the summoning ritual was being performed was already empty.

The dark mage had disappeared, leaving only traces of blackened circles and stars, and the remnants of the summoning ritual.

Small candlesticks toppled by the fierce wind, broken windows, and shattered pieces of glass.

And there was another trace left there, not by the dark mage.

The green light lingering on the fluttering curtain.

The trace of green light starting from the center of the pentacle star extended beyond the broken window to the high sky.

‘Is it Aery’s doing?’

It was an unexpected appearance of a disturbing factor.

He had set up a tight barrier around the Grand Duke’s residence, filled with the power of ice, to prevent Casandra’s escape.

But what use would it be to the wind that knows no bounds?

“But why…?”

Could it be Aery’s independent action?

In a situation where Yuriella is unconscious like this, can the spirit of the holy sword move independently of its owner’s will?

Frost had no way of knowing.

Among the four holy swords that protect the continent, only the Ice Sword Iel does not reveal the appearance of the spirit, called the sword’s soul, to human eyes. It is said that only the first owner saw that spirit.

Even to Frost Ielheim, who was chosen by Iel in his mother’s womb and is said to be the most outstanding among the successive owners of the Ice Sword, the holy sword did not show its form.

People consoled him. They said the soul of the Ice Sword is as cold as its name, keeping a distance even from its own master.

But he didn’t care.

Whether the spirit of the holy sword he had never possessed was good or bad, whether it was convenient or inconvenient to have it. He couldn’t judge because he didn’t know, and had no reason to be envious.

When the crimson firebird circled around Solas, he was just relieved to find out that the sacred flame was a cool fire imbued with refreshing energy, after worrying that its owner might be burned by the bird’s flames. He wasn’t envious.

The small salamander scurrying on the palm of that unlucky Magic Tower owner was just a small fragment of the original soul, like Aery now. Even when he learned that its true form was a tremendous being, he wasn’t particularly surprised.

He didn’t feel competitive, hoping that the spirit of Iel would be greater than that.

Historical records of the Ice Dragon, the spirit of Iel who reportedly walked shoulder to shoulder with the spirits of other holy swords and roamed the continent of Yustera in the era of myths and legends when the Goddess still remained on earth, are virtually nonexistent.

Only the mural of the Ice Dragon carved on the wall of a deep cave in the icy Zenis Mountains allows us to guess the size and appearance of Iel, which is said to have boasted a majesty enough to cover the castle.

Whether the appearance of the Ice Dragon in that rock engraving was an absurd exaggeration or not, Frost remained indifferent.

The Ice Dragon, which reportedly disappeared with the death of the first owner, never revealed its form to the world again. And like the previous owners of the Ice Sword, he thought he would never have a chance to meet the spirit of his holy sword in his lifetime.

But now, if Frost had the spirit of Iel by his side….

For the first time, Frost regretted not being able to meet the spirit of his holy sword. Quite a lot, at that.

If the Ice Dragon were by his side, he could ask if Aery was moving of its own will.

If the spirit of the sword only responds to the will of its owner, then it would have been Yuriella’s will that took Casandra away.

If that’s the case, why…?

Could it be that she… doesn’t want to come back…?

*

“Ack.”

Casandra’s vision flashed yellow.

This Knight of Flames really intends to kill me.

The dark mage shuddered at the languid murderous intent in the emerald eyes.

That indifferent expression a cat would make when it loses interest in a toy it was playing with and tears it apart half-heartedly.

The blue murderous aura emanating from Grand Duke Ielheim felt rather human in comparison.

Casandra thought and thought again, shedding tears and snot, trying to save the little time left for her.

What would stop this brutal hand? What would be the right answer?

“Ack… know… where… the holy sword Flamma… is…!”

The brutal hand that was squeezing the dark mage’s larynx and trachea abruptly stopped.