I was about to ask joyfully if they had completed the X-2 operation.

At a glance, the number of knights deployed to X-2 and the number of knights remaining now were almost identical.

No matter how excellent the Charliee Royal Knights were and how outstanding the shadows of Galonde were, it was impossible for all of them to survive without a single casualty.

Moreover, above all, their return was far too quick. It was temporally impossible to eliminate Kyle Letius so quickly and bring back the contract between the duchy and the empire.

“… Where is Natasha?”

Above all, Natasha Asthart was not visible among the group.

She, who would not have participated in the battle, was the only one missing from the group.

When Sieghart asked Sir Dante in an anxious voice, Sir Dante hesitated, unable to speak easily.

Sieghart became uneasy at the sight of Sir Dante, who was rarely tense.

“Speak.”

“……”

“Tell me in detail what happened to Natasha Asthart and why only you survived!”

The excited Sieghart asked again while gripping the other’s shoulder tightly. Though they weren’t trapped inside a building, his loud voice kept echoing in the night sky.

All the allies stiffened upon seeing Sieghart Asthart’s forceful side. Unlike the ominous rumors, the man had always been kind when facing them, but seeing their leader’s angry appearance for the first time made their knees weak.

It was the same for Sir Dante. His Adam’s apple could be seen bobbing. The sound of him swallowing was clearly visible, buried in tension.

“… The princess…”

Sir Dante finally opened his mouth.

“… The princess entered the emperor’s bedchamber alone.”

And he revealed the cruel truth.

“… What?”

Sieghart asked back in a trembling voice. The story Sir Dante told was somewhat confusing and difficult to accept.

Natasha Asthart, she went into the emperor’s bedchamber alone.

“Explain in detail. Don’t waste time and summarize as much as possible.”

Sieghart demanded an explanation from Sir Dante, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“The exit door, which would be the entrance for us, was tightly closed. It seemed specially designed to only open from the inside, as it was an important place. We were in trouble because the door wouldn’t break easily, as if imbued with divine power.”

Sir Dante, who hadn’t even gauged where to start explaining, decided to explain briefly from the very beginning.

“The princess said she would step forward, and she placed her hand on the door. The door that wouldn’t open no matter how many times I tried, opened immediately at the princess’s touch for some reason. So we safely entered and wandered the corridor.”

He deliberately omitted Cayena’s story since he was told to avoid wasting time.

“And when we tried to open the door that would be the exit for us and the entrance for the emperor, the princess volunteered to open it first. We didn’t refuse either. It was obvious it would be the same this time, as it was designed to prevent anything from being done from the inside.”

Sir Dante’s mouth closed momentarily as he was about to tell the next part of the story. However, the impatient Sieghart didn’t urge him on. As if he could predict how shocking the other’s story would be.

“… The princess opened the door easily this time as well. It opened smoothly even though she didn’t seem to use much force. And she looked up for a moment.”

“……”

“We told the princess that we would search the inside first in case of any unforeseen situations. However, the princess wouldn’t come down.”

Sieghart closed his eyes tightly as he anticipated the last part of the story. Because he could guess what that reckless woman had done.

“And… she went up and closed the door. The last thing we heard was the princess’s voice ordering us to go to the center of the imperial palace to help the duke.”

The story Sir Dante told matched exactly with the man’s anxious prediction, without a single discrepancy.

The reason the woman could easily open the door imbued with divine power was probably because the man had used the authority granted only to the Knight of Honor for Natasha Asthart that day.

He had heard occasionally. When the sword of the Knight of Honor is depleted, there are rare cases where its power is transferred to the target.

She must have used that divine power to open the first door.

The second door, which reportedly opened more smoothly than expected, was likely unlocked from the start. Natasha, who had used the power before, would have clearly felt the difference between the two.

Instinctively judging it to be Kyle Letius’s trap, she foolishly went ahead alone.

It was useless to blame others when it was her very nature. Natasha Asthart was the one who arbitrarily went up and closed the door, so what would change by blaming Sir Dante in front of him?

The man truly had to blame himself. It was wrong to let her choose to be torn apart from him as she wished, not wanting to break the woman’s will and goals, and fearing to be hated for doing so.

“… I’ll go.”

Therefore, the one who should rectify this incident was Sieghart Asthart himself.

The man decided to go out himself to find Natasha.

Sieghart stopped in front of the exit with the rest of the knights.

Ignoring Sir Dante’s worry that they might not be able to open the door without Natasha, he grabbed the doorknob.

As soon as he pulled the doorknob, it fell off helplessly. When the man’s foot struck the floor, this time the door fell off weakly.

“……”

Sir Dante dared not ask about how Sieghart managed to open the door.

Because he had simply broken it.

“I’ll go in now.”

Sieghart just calmly said he would enter.

Sir Dante, who was about to climb down the ladder saying he understood, was soon stopped by him.

“I’ll take care of this side. You return to the imperial palace and take care of the remaining knights. If there are none, bring the contract between the duchy and the empire. We’ll handle things here.”

“B-but…”

Sir Dante, who had been looking at the other worriedly, soon closed his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut. In any case, he who had failed to protect the princess had no right to speak.

“Understood.”

Sir Dante, who had come to his senses, immediately accepted the man’s order. Soon, he led the knights back the way they had come.

Sieghart, left alone, slowly descended the ladder.

While crossing the passage, he felt Natasha’s warmth. Though the man had never observed her situation, it was as if he could see the woman’s movements when she had stayed here and when she had left.

It was when he finally grabbed the ladder on the opposite side.

‘Sir Dante, I have a favor to ask.’

‘Take the knights and go back as is. Go back and help Sieghart. I mean, escape from here right now.’

Natasha’s desperate voice penetrated his ears.

‘I won’t run away.’

The man’s hand gripping the ladder tightened.

‘I won’t let go of you.’

Soon, the man’s legs stepped on the bottom of the ladder and climbed up.

‘So let me hear it.’

He slowly climbed up and finally placed his hand on the door.

‘Those words you’ll tell me…’

The tightly closed door soon opened, and a beam of light that squeezed through the gap brightly illuminated the darkness.

“… How did you predict that we would come?”

Instead of answering Kyle Letius’s question, Natasha asked back.

As if he hadn’t expected an answer in the first place, the man calmly accepted her defiance. Rather, he raised the corner of his mouth slightly as if her question was interesting.

“Cayena, that wench, it was quite suspicious when she handed me the tea.”

“……”

“Just in case, I examined the tea and found it was laced with sleeping pills. Not poison but sleeping pills, isn’t that quite fishy?”

Kyle Letius, who found him suspicious, says he thoroughly searched the room.

Then he discovered traces of someone intruding into the secret room and hurriedly devised a plan.

“So I was going to kill all the bastards who would intrude here—”

“……”

“Why did only you come, so anticlimactically?”

Even though there was no way Sieghart would have sent just the woman willingly.

“The door is closed, so even if reinforcements come, they can’t invade inside. You all return to the corridor and help the knights. Sieghart, that damned bastard, will obviously be running rampant.”

“Yes, understood, Your Majesty!”

After confirming that the secret door was tightly closed, Kyle soon sent away the surrounding knights.

At last, only the two of them remained in the room.

Kyle approached Natasha closely and sneered as he patted her shoulder.

“What should I do with this woman.”

“……”

“I’m grateful that you sacrificed yourself to come before me.”

The sticky voice slowly crept into Natasha’s ears.

“Sieghart Asthart, that damned bastard, once he’s determined to take revenge, he won’t let go of his target. Now that I’ve belatedly realized that bastard’s revenge, the Letius Imperial Family will lose in this war.”

Kyle Letius’s hand groped Natasha.

“However, if you’re here?”

The thick fingers caressed the woman’s slender waist, and soon the owner snatched away the sword hidden at her waist.

“If you’re here, there’s no way I’ll lose this war. Natasha Asthart.”

The sword Sir Dante had gifted to the woman soon fell to the floor.

“You’ll be the sacrifice for that bastard.”