Lyan and Degan imagined that Reskal hadn’t spent a very informative and pleasant time with Empress during the day.

Anyway, it was fortunate that the relationship between the two was good.

It was grateful that Empress loved not some irrelevant human. Above all, they were thankful for being a genuine companion.

It was insufficient, even raising a toast until the day when they retired from the imperial guard.

Lyan forcibly restrained herself from humming a song that seemed to come out naturally.
I wanted to quickly share this good news with Serben. Serben, who had been depressed due to being demoted to a frontier knight and was even more upset by a strange order that prevented him from approaching the Empress, had no idea of my information.

I was in a very joyful and happy state following Reskal.

“I should tell him to prepare something delicious since we have to raise a toast tonight.”

Once all the instructions were finished, Degan moved first.

“I will send three shields to Delarta. We can start tracking the sorcerer’s whereabouts from now on.”

“Do that.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Until the moment Degan left the office, Reskal’s hands were diligently moving, signing and stamping.

As soon as these annoying tasks were done, he could see the Empress.

“Uh, um… Th-that…”

After carefully removing Lysilia’s underdress, Rivet swallowed nervously.

Lysilia had turned to face the mirror.

Despite trying not to look, it was impossible to ignore the pattern slightly visible outside the underwear.

“Uh, Empress… I mean…”

Rivet could understand what Ivet wanted to say.

The quick-witted Ivet must have thought her mark had disappeared.

“The mark has returned.”

When Lysilia spoke indifferently, Ivet was startled.

“Yes, yes. It’s very clear… I don’t think I can say it disappeared, Your Majesty. But why would they write such an accusation in the temple? I can’t understand.”

“In the temple, they might have believed it was true.”

“Oh, I see. Ah…? But then there must have been a reason, right?”

“Because the mark did disappear once.”

“It disappeared and came back. …Ah, then, Your Majesty… You thought the mark disappeared and left the palace…?”

Ivet’s expression darkened. Seeing that tears might well up, Lysilia turned around and held Ivet’s hand, trying to comfort her.

“Yes. I thought I was a fake.”

“No, there’s no way! Your Majesty, you’re like the first companion to the Empress, raising birds! Especially with Lord Ren following you… Just seeing that, it’s definitely not true!”

“Yeah. I didn’t know the facts that Lady-in-Waiting and Pippy knew. Maybe I was pretending not to know.”

Tears welled up in Ivet’s eyes.

“Empress… In that case, is it because of your feelings towards Lady Pielion…?”

“No.”

Lysilia stared silently into Ivet’s eyes.

She wanted to read Ivet’s feelings right now. However, there seemed to be some other condition for the feelings to be visible.

“In that case, fortunately… …Uh? Eeh?”

Ivet made a strange noise, apparently very surprised. Belatedly realizing her mistake, Ivet urgently covered her mouth with one hand.
“Oops, sorry… No, that’s… very, very strange… What’s that…?”

“Empress Cartahena had lost the mark. That’s for sure. Lady Pashaard, the marchioness, knew about it. So, the temple must have known too.”

“I understand that. But, when you say, Your Majesty, that the Empress is not the Empress… Ugh, huh? No, not this…”

Ivet seemed to be futilely trying to erase the strange sounds that unconsciously came out. In the process, she seemed to be ready to slap her own cheek.

“That was known in Pielion too. That’s why a sorcerer was hired. A sorcerer from Trinidad created a spell to restore the mark, and that’s probably why I’m here.”

“That you’re here…?”

“I mean, I became the Empress. A prophet from the Delarta Small Kingdom who lived without any connection to the Empire.”

“What? …Eek!”

Ivet started to make strange noises as if she were very surprised. It seemed she was so surprised that she made such sounds.

“Are you okay?”

Lysilia patted Ivet’s back.

While unable to stop making the strange noises, Ivet seemed embarrassed.

“No, eek, you don’t have to, eek! I’ll be okay soon, eek! No, not okay… eek!”

“Don’t say it immediately. I brought it up because there’s no reason to keep it a secret from Lady. But I don’t intend to announce it to everyone in the palace, but Lady is my person.”

“Oh, your words are too embarrassing, eek! …Ah! I’m fine now!”

The strange noises stopped, and Ivet, with her eyes sparkling, looked at Lysilia.

“I guess you’re still surprised, Empress! Oh, can I keep calling you Empress? If you want another title, please let me know. Oh no, does that mean Empress became Empress with the power of magic? Did Lord Ren and the Emperor know about it? Am I right?”

“Yes. I tried to hide it, but it was useless.”

“Ugh, this can’t be happening! I’m witnessing such a surprising, mysterious, and utterly amazing event right by your side! I can’t believe it!”

Ivet did not seem to care about the fact that Lysilia was not Empress Cartahena.

“It seems all the talk about the first companion was true! Unbelievable! Not that I can’t believe what Empress said! It’s just an investigative talk! Anyway, it’s too incredible!”

Ivet grabbed the hem of Lysilia’s sleeve and shook it back and forth. It seemed like a gesture that would come out unconsciously when she was excited.

“The more I think about it, the more amazing it is. Changing your body! My goodness, it’s a bit scary too. If magic is such a great power, how terrifying must Trinidad be? I heard that the sorcerers chased away to Trinidad were all nonsense. Why would sorcerers with such terrifying powers be chased away to such a remote place? Isn’t that strange?”

Ivet said it when she went that far.

As if in response, a black shadow appeared in the air.
The black shadow deepened, instantly turning into a passageway.

And from that passage, someone appeared.

Holding the answer to Ivet’s question.

“We were not expelled. We left on our own.”

Someone walking out from inside the passage lifted a deeply pressed hood.

Unknown black patterns were densely drawn on the exposed skin. The only clean parts were the two eyes.

Looking at Lysilia with those eyes, the person then nodded.

“Greetings to the Empress of Eliaiden and the master of birds.”