The wife sleeps soundly.

‘Wife……’

Frost rolled over, propped his chin on one hand, and stared intently at the deeply sleeping Yuriella.

His hand unconsciously rose, wandering around Yuriella’s round forehead and prominent nose bridge before stopping on her red lips that contrasted with her pale cheeks.

The warmth of the skin, not even touching, tickles up his fingers and burrows into his heart.

The slight movement of her rising and falling chest, the sweet scent of soap lingering, why does it make his heart feel so heavy?

A woman whose existence he didn’t even know a few months ago.

The more he looked at her, the more beautiful she became, and the more curiosity she aroused, completely occupying his mind and heart.

When did he end up giving his heart like this?

Frost’s deepened gaze stopped on Yuriella’s right hand.

On the small wound between her thumb and index finger……

It was the wound he had secretly hidden when Leo was pressing Yuriella with various speculations about the assassin who had sneaked into the Grand Duchess’s chambers.

A wound that occurs from the recoil when gripping something tightly and swinging it hard.

On Yuriella’s hand remained a scar that exactly matched the size of the handle of the sword stuck in the assassin’s chest.

Had she gripped the assassin’s sword?

His wife was a dancer. Blessed by Airy, the most she had held in her hands was a thin silver needle.

That his wife had taken the sword from a skilled assassin and killed him without even letting out a death cry is harder to believe than the soul of Solas Moretti coming to kill the assassin.

‘But why did I hide my wife’s wound so Leo couldn’t see it?’

Was it because Leo might suspect the Grand Duchess of being the Emperor’s puppet?

My wife couldn’t possibly know the swordsmanship of the Imperial Knights.

Only someone who has killed many people can stab an opponent so mercilessly to instant death.

But why did I cover up my wife’s wound at that moment……

Frost frowned deeply.

[It was Solas Moretti who killed the assassin and saved me.]

Yuriella said it was the soul of Solas Moretti that killed the assassin.

[She was this much taller than me, her eyes were green like those tree leaves, and her hair was a burning red color down to her waist.]

My wife spoke as if she had directly seen the appearance of Solas Moretti that no one knew.

[Her complexion was like white paper. White and pale as if she had never been in the sunlight. Her lips were blood-red.]

Even Frost himself, who had gone through countless battlefields with Solas, could only confirm her true appearance at the moment their swords clashed for the last time……

[She was a woman.]

Only the Emperor and himself would know that the former Imperial Knight Commander Solas Moretti was a woman. But how on earth did Yuriella know that?

According to Yuriella’s stepfather Thomas, the wandering medicine peddlers had never left the north. There was no way Yuriella could have had any connection with Solas.

Is that all?

[His Majesty is a meticulous person. When he moves, there’s always some intention. And the end is rarely a pleasant outcome. His Majesty is trying to do something with Plama. For example. To become the master of the demon sword.]

She spoke words that only someone who knows Justin Della Ponti well could say. Even pinpointing the Emperor’s deep intentions that he himself hadn’t even guessed.

[Come with me, to the Imperial Palace.]

The Emperor too had shown an inexplicable obsession with Yuriella from the moment he first met her.

Not content with the absurd suggestion to go to the Imperial Palace together, when Yuriella collapsed, he begged tirelessly to see her face just once every day, without getting tired. Even though his aides and guards pleaded that he should quickly return to the Imperial Palace.

The Emperor is drawn to Yuriella. Without knowing the reason, he showed a sticky obsession like metal drawn to a magnet, unable to take his eyes off her.

He thought only Solas, the Commander whom he personally cut down and went mad with the loss, could make the Emperor look like that.

“Mmm……”

Yuriella stirred and came into Frost’s arms.

She wriggles and nuzzles her face against his chest. Like a baby kitten seeking its mother’s embrace.

Finally finding a comfortable position, a satisfied smile faintly appears on her slightly red lips.

The slightly protruding aegyo-sal under her eyes and plump cheeks were so cute that a gentle curve also appeared on Frost’s lips.

‘Right. What does it all matter?’

The scar remaining on his wife’s hand, the words she said about Solas’s soul saving her, the Emperor’s incomprehensible obsession.

What difference does it make if I know the reason or not?

When she’s breathing and living here by my side like this.

Making a nest in my home. Laying her small body on my bed. Folding her tired wings and resting with such a peaceful expression in my arms like this.

I want to protect her. I want to embrace her safely.

I want to become a high and solid castle wall prepared only for her, so that she will never again be threatened or hurt by anyone.

At this moment, Leo is cleaning out the rat bastards hiding in the Grand Duke’s residence to lay the first brick for that wall.

The rat who opened the door for the assassin, and the rats who diligently delivered news of the Grand Duke’s residence to the Emperor and Empress Dowager will not meet peaceful deaths.

And…….

Justin Della Ponti, who will be waiting for him with a meticulous trap prepared far away in the Imperial Palace.

My wife dislikes the Emperor. No, she has blatantly shown her disgust several times.

While that was pleasing, it also greatly bothered him. Because even to dislike someone, you have to keep them in your heart. The desire to erase even that completely boiled up.

It’s an unknown connection, but there’s clearly an invisible string connecting my wife and the Emperor.

Frost didn’t miss the sparks of emotion that flashed and disappeared between his wife and the Emperor even in fleeting moments.

The cold killing intent in those blue eyes melted away like snow at Yuriella’s small stirring. The lips that had unknowingly curved into a smile gently landed on his sleeping wife’s forehead.

“Justin Della Ponti……”

Frost Ielheim’s Adam’s apple moved slowly.

The beautiful Emperor, whom he had only judged as a tyrant to be removed for the sake of the empire’s safety, was elevated to the highest level threat that must be eliminated to protect his precious wife.

*

“Your Majesty. Please retire to your chambers……”

The chief attendant Dario followed Justin, who was heading towards the castle walls, with hurried steps.

Like a daily routine, when night fell, His Majesty the Emperor did not enter his chambers but turned his steps towards the castle walls where Commander Solas had been hung, as if drawn into a dream like a sleepwalker.

“Your Majesty……”

Knowing that his voice wouldn’t reach His Majesty’s ears even if he called out desperately, the chief attendant followed His Majesty again today with wet eyes.

He must be extremely tired after the unusually long cabinet meeting today and dealing with the piled-up work.

The old chief attendant was deeply worried. He wanted His Majesty to retire to his chambers early, at least tonight.

He didn’t want to see His Majesty standing for a long time under the castle walls, wetting his clothes with the morning dew, then going to the training ground that Commander Solas used to frequent and wetting that cold dirt floor with tears again, only to suffer from a cold.

“Chief Attendant!”

The maid Marcella approached Dario, panting.

Behind Marcella, a plump middle-aged woman could be seen, out of breath and panting. It was the woman who used to come and go to Commander Solas’s house, doing the cooking and laundry.

“Did you bring it?”

Marcella nodded and gestured to the woman.

“Sharona. Give it to the Chief Attendant.”

Sharona held out a square wooden box she had been preciously holding to her chest to the chief attendant. It was an ordinary wooden box with no decorations or distinctive features.

The chief attendant let out a shallow sigh. Would the contents of this box be able to comfort His Majesty’s tired heart and make him turn his steps to his chambers early, even if just for tonight?

“You deliver it directly.”

“Me?”

Sharona’s shoulders trembled as she looked at the Emperor’s retreating back in the distance.

“I heard you were seen by him a few times when he visited Commander Solas’s house. He will be pleased to see you.”

“But…… His Majesty…… especially at this time and place, to those who block his way……”

Sharona made a crying face.

The rumor that several knights and gatekeepers who tried to stop the Emperor wandering around the castle walls at dawn had met tragic deaths by the Emperor’s sword had spread widely beyond the inner castle to the entire empire.

“If you deliver that, your son will become an apprentice knight in the Imperial Knights from tomorrow.”

It was one of the few opportunities for a commoner to gain a title if done well.

Sharona looked at the small wooden box in her hands. Was this item worth that much?

It was a chance for her youngest son, who idolized Commander Solas, to become a member of the Imperial Knights he had dreamed of. Whether she met the Emperor’s sword or not, the chief attendant would keep his promise.

Sharona firmly grasped the wooden box and ran to the Emperor.

“Your Majesty!”

A cold sword came to rest on the neck of the woman who dared to block the Emperor’s path.

With all strength drained from her body, Sharona sat down, not even realizing she had dropped the wooden box, and said her last prayer to the goddess with her eyes tightly shut.

But the Emperor’s sword did not harm her.

When she slightly opened her eyes, she saw the Emperor, who had already thrown his sword to the ground, kneeling on one knee in front of her, staring intently at the opened wooden box.

The Emperor’s hand very slowly, as if handling something that would break if touched, approached the golden cravat that was half protruding from the open wooden box.

“This…… why……”

A cracked voice wet with emotion trailed off, lingering in the air.

Sharona, who had been blankly looking down at the Emperor’s blue eyes brimming with tears, hurriedly prostrated herself.

“Co, Co, Commander Solas…… cherished…… this, Your Majesty.”

“Solas…… kept this?”

Sharona tightly shut her eyes as she saw the Emperor’s pale hand holding the golden cravat tremble slightly.

“Yes….. The Commander kept it close and cherished it so dearly during his lifetime…… We were going to bury it with him, but his body mysteriously disappeared and only strange rumors circulated-.”

Sharona cut off her words, seemingly out of breath with fear, and pressed her forehead to the ground, trembling.

Commander Solas was a traitor personally executed by the Emperor. She had moved her lips to say she was going to bury the belongings of such a person. Her teeth chattered, thinking the Emperor’s sword might fly at any moment.

But the Emperor just blankly stared at the cravat in his hand, unable to take his eyes off it.

“Cherished…… it?”

“Yes……! When retiring to bed, he would always take it out and look at it once…… with a satisfied expression all over his face, he would touch it for a long time……”

“What is this…… Just, this……”

“He said it was…… the most precious. More than any treasure, more than any medal…… He was delighted, saying he had received the highest reward a knight could receive……”

The Emperor suddenly stood up and strode away.

As the chief attendant had hoped, the Emperor immediately headed towards his chambers.

But instead of laying his tired body on the bed, he opened the door to the inner room and collapsed right on top of the glass case stored inside.

The black demonic energy enveloping Plama leaked out even beyond the glass case, but Justin didn’t seem to notice at all.

[Ugh. Your Majesty. Let me do it. The cravat, please give it to me.]

Solas, who had returned from the war against the barbarians threatening the border, was covered in wounds all over her body. For the owner of the holy sword to be injured to such an extent meant the war must have been that fierce.

Justin personally disinfected Solas’s feet that had festered from not receiving timely treatment, applied medicine, and untied the cravat from his own neck to use as a bandage.

The Emperor still can’t forget Solas’s expression when he looked up, intending to scold her for coming back so injured.

Her pale skin that hadn’t received light was unusually flushed red. Her green eyes, more vivid than emeralds, were shyly yet unable to hide her joy, sparkling freshly.

He had to sweat profusely to suppress the desire to pull her cheeks and kiss her right then……

“What is this……”

The woman who had coldly rejected the seat beside him even when he had pleaded that he would gladly offer the empire at her feet if she wanted.

‘You cherished just this thing so much……’

The trace of Solas that he couldn’t find even after searching the entire Imperial Palace like a madman came to the Emperor like that.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t even a trace of Solas.

It was just a small object the Emperor had given returning to him again.

So it felt more bitter and painful than joyful.

It felt like the feelings he had sent to her had returned as an empty echo.

‘Why did it turn out like this? Why are you no longer by my side? Why did you reject me?’

The deadly poison coiled around his heart, jealousy and suspicion, made his head boil as it traveled through his blood vessels.

‘Frost Ielheim.’

Yes. It’s because of that man.

That man was always the problem. Then and now, always.