“My son… started hanging out with the young Marquis Percell at some point. I told him he seemed to have a bad personality, but no matter how much I tried to stop him, he wouldn’t listen…”

Delphine quietly listened without adding any unnecessary words.

“But from one day, the child started acting strange. He grew thinner and thinner, and couldn’t sleep due to nightmares…”

“…”

“The most decisive moment was after he visited the duke’s villa. One day he came running with a pale white face and shouted.”

The marquis, as if recalling that day, imitated his son’s tone with a blank expression.

“‘I saw it! I saw it, father! This empire is rotten to its core…!’ he said…”

To its core, huh.

What on earth did the young marquis see at that villa to make him lose his mind and shout like that?

The marquis’ voice, tinged with madness, continued to echo through the cool spring evening air.

“And that very night, the child disappeared. Others say it’s a runaway or a missing person case, but I know.”

The marquis clutched his head in anguish and cried out.

“It was the duke! They kidnapped and murdered my son! That day, my son must have witnessed something there!”

“…Please calm down, my lord.”

Delphine soothed him with a sympathetic face as he thrashed about.

The marquis gasped for breath, his face streaked with tears.

“I tried to uncover the truth myself, but even His Majesty stepped in to stop me… There was nothing more I could do.”

Delphine nodded as if she understood completely.

He has a wife and other children.

He also has people in his domain to take care of, so it would be difficult to dig deeper into a case involving the emperor and duke of the empire.

As Delphine nodded in understanding, the marquis soon took something out of his pocket and handed it to her.

It was an old diary with fingerprints here and there.

“My son wrote this. …Strangely, all records of his interactions with the young marquis had disappeared, but this alone remained. Please accept it.”

It was practically an heirloom.

As Delphine hesitated, wondering if she should accept this, the marquis said in a trembling voice.

“Every night, every night my son appears in my dreams. Begging me to uncover the truth.”

“My lord!”

Unable to hold on any longer, he collapsed weakly to the floor.

Delphine quickly knelt down and patted his thin shoulders.

Dirt got on her newly tailored white dress, but it didn’t matter.

“Please, please accept this. Take it and…”

“I will accept it.”

Delphine quickly replied to him as he sobbed, shaking his entire body.

“I will surely uncover the truth, so please don’t be so distressed, my lord.”

“Thank you, my lady. Thank you…”

He kept bowing his head and kissing the back of her hand, who was young enough to be his daughter.

No matter how much she tried to stop him, saying he shouldn’t do this, it was of no use.

As he regained some of his senses, he stared blankly at Delphine’s soiled dress hem and muttered.

“…Come to think of it, you’ve always been different from other nobles, my lady.”

“Lord Humphreys…”

“Now that I say it… I really liked that about you.”

A clear tear rolled down his gaunt cheekbone.

“Please, please resolve the injustice done to my son…”

Delphine grasped his thin hands with burning emotion.

Then she promised the father who had lost his son with determined eyes.

“I will, without fail.”

A few days later, taking advantage of Ioan’s absence from the mansion, Delphine visited the La Rouge headquarters.

Of course, she was holding the old diary she had received from the marquis.

“…What’s this?”

“I received it from Marquis Humphreys at the palace party a few days ago.”

The La Rouge headquarters.

Today, Belly, Rin, and Marian were all present.

Sitting in the old wooden room, Delphine briefly reported to them what she had heard from the marquis.

“It’s certainly suspicious. What on earth did the young marquis see at that villa, Belly?”

“Well…”

Muttering softly, Belly opened the diary Delphine had handed over.

The diary was torn in places, and conversely, there were papers that seemed to have been torn from other books inserted here and there.

Thud.

As Belly opened the diary, a piece of paper that had been inserted fell out.

Delphine carefully picked it up.

It was an old piece of paper. As if it had been hastily torn from some book.

“It’s the language of the Northern Continent.”

Belly immediately said upon seeing the letters on the paper.

…The Northern Continent?

All books from there were banned within the empire.

Especially if a noble possessed one, it could greatly offend the emperor’s sensibilities.

Why would the young marquis keep such an item between the pages of his diary?

“Belly. Can you read these letters?”

“Of course.”

Taking the paper from Delphine, Belly slowly began to read its contents.

It was a strange old tale, seemingly part fairy tale and part myth.

“In ancient times, when the universe was just created and life was beginning to stir.

A time when the boundaries between heaven and earth, good and evil, and gods and humans were more blurred.

Taking advantage of this chaos, one curious god and one greedy demon descended to the mortal world.

The first thing the god who came down to earth did was to love humans.

He cherished and loved a beautiful woman, and had a daughter with her.”

At that moment, Marian, who had been quietly listening to the story, yawned loudly and muttered.

“Strangely, I always get sleepy when I read books.”

“…Don’t interrupt and keep listening, Marian.”

As Rin chided her through gritted teeth, Marian quickly shut her mouth.

Belly began reading the book again.

“However, human lifespans are limited, and the woman the god loved soon reached the end of her life.

Greatly saddened, the god soon left the earth and returned to his original place.

But the god’s child, who was half-god and half-human, loved humans so much that she remained on earth.

She pitied the humans who couldn’t escape their primitive state, so she found mysterious crystals buried in the ground and shared her half-divine power with them.

Based on this power, humans escaped their primitive state and finally became closer to the image of gods.”

“Yawn…”

“Marian.”

“It’s almost over anyway.”

Belly quickly said.

It was only a single page, so the content wasn’t long.

He hurriedly read the rest of the content.

“On the other hand, the first thing the demon who came down to earth did was to tempt humans.

He sought out the most desperate human on earth and whispered in their ear.

The thing you want most, if I give it to you, will you give me…”

The story was cut off there.

Delphine, who had been listening quietly, gave a brief impression.

“…It’s a myth.”

Although it was a myth she was seeing for the first time, the content itself was familiar.

Stories of gods who loved humans stealing fire from heaven to share, or having demigods with human women, were common in this empire as well.

It seemed that similar myths were passed down in the Northern Continent as well.

“…I wonder why the young marquis was keeping this in his diary?”

Belly, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up.

“This seems to be a myth about the origins of Fossum and Aurum.”

Delphine and the others opened their eyes wide.

“What are you suddenly talking about? Explain a bit!”

At Marian’s urging, Belly slowly explained.

“If we interpret the ‘mysterious crystal’ in this story as Fossum, and the ‘mysterious power shared by the god’s child’ as Aurum…”

“…!”

“And if we interpret ‘became closer to the image of gods’ as being able to use magic, it makes sense.”

Marian stroked her chin, making a sound of understanding.

Delphine also expressed her admiration.

“The emperor and Veritas charge Fossum with a strange power extracted from human lives instead of Aurum, right?”

“So the young marquis really did find out a secret about the empire and was killed for it.”

Delphine and Rin said in succession.

A way to clear the marquis’s grievance was in sight.

Unconsciously excited, Delphine exclaimed loudly.

“The young marquis was killed after visiting the Percell family’s villa. There must be some secret hidden there!”

Belly nodded as if agreeing with her conjecture.

However, unlike Delphine, his expression was as calm as could be.

“The Percell family’s villa is in District 1. …We still can’t move large forces within that central barrier.”

“That’s right.”

Marian, who was leading La Rouge’s forces, pondered with a serious face unlike before.

“You don’t know how vicious that bastard Pryde gets even when we just approach the barrier.”

The three of them soon began a heated discussion in front of her.

“First, we need to lure Pryde out of District 1.”

“To do that, we’d need to use some kind of magic…”

“Even so, it’s dangerous to deploy all our forces.”

After a long discussion, they soon reached a conclusion.

“Whatever Duke Percell is doing at the villa, he’ll soon move to find another sacrifice.”

“That’s our chance.”

Belly declared with a very solemn face.

“We need to approach carefully. …This is a golden opportunity to uncover the secrets hidden in this empire.”

Delphine sat up straight, tense from the suddenly heavy atmosphere.

The truth.

What she had longed for so much was now within reach after a long, long journey of wandering.