Even after all the events had concluded, Melissa couldn’t leave her seat for a while.

When she was wearing plain hunting attire, she didn’t realize it, but the adorned princesses were somewhat tolerable to look at. No, to be honest, the woman had a strange charm that kept catching Melissa’s eye.

“It’s bothering me.”

Throughout her life, Melissa had never failed to attain what she desired. Overflowing wealth since birth, power, beautiful appearance, exceptional intelligence, and even swordsmanship.

Moreover, she had an inborn tenacity, so she achieved whatever she set her sights on, no matter the circumstances.

She began practicing swordsmanship at a young age due to her competitive spirit with Kai. At that time, being a prince or a man wasn’t important.

Her parents, who never lowered their heads in front of others, couldn’t lift their heads before Kai and his father.

That angered her, irritated her, and made her hate Kai for no reason. So she studied like crazy and honed her swordsmanship to flatten his nose.

However, as the time spent wielding the sword increased, it felt like the sword had been her destiny from the beginning.

For a while, no one touched Melissa’s competitive spirit. Somewhere along the line, Kai became not a target to defeat but someone she wanted, someone she wanted to hold.

She wanted to be the only woman he embraced. She was confident that there was no one else beside herself who could stand beside Kai.
Even as beautiful princesses flowed into the imperial palace like flowers, Kai paid them no attention. However,

“Purple Horned Lizard…”

The face of the woman who smiled brightly while holding the purple horn remained unforgettable. Although there might not have been anything special between them, the fact that Kai looked at her again was crucial.

“Sen.”

As Melissa whispered, the bodyguard who silently guarded her like a shadow approached. He was a tall and massive man, but he moved silently, as light as a breeze.

“Yes, Lady Melissa.”

“Look into Stella Oblet from Amalun Kingdom. Find out what she usually does and if she has ever met Kai separately.”

When the emperor’s name was mentioned by Melissa, Sen, who was slightly surprised, quickly composed his expression as usual and nodded. There was no trace of Sen when Melissa stood up.

Melissa relaxed her serious expression and headed to Kai’s quarters. As she boldly entered the emperor’s quarters, she felt intense envy, jealousy, and awe from the noble young ladies and princesses who looked at her.

Enjoying their gazes that struck her whole body, Melissa unhesitatingly opened the thick curtain covering the entrance to the spacious quarters.

“Kai.”

Kai, who had turned around, was wiping the blade of his sword. In this hunting festival, over a hundred monster heads were cleanly severed by the longsword he wielded.
Drenched in warm blood, Kai looked more like a beast than an emperor. Melissa loved even that aspect of Kai.

When Kai sensed Melissa’s presence, he glanced back briefly before returning his focus to sharpening his sword.

It was nice that he accepted my entrance as if it were nothing special. Melissa considered it a privilege that only she could enjoy.

“Do you always do it yourself? Without being asked.”

Melissa approached, asking in a friendly manner.

“It’s more convenient for me to do it. What’s the matter?”

She didn’t want to share this time of conversation with anyone else. She couldn’t allow the shadow of another woman to touch Kai’s beautiful eyes.

Melissa, pretending indifference, was planning to casually mention Princess Stella, who won in the Rose Hunt.

However, the moment she noticed a handkerchief tied to Kai’s sword sheath, the trivial question vanished like smoke. It was the first time she saw a handkerchief tied there since the sword sheath was always at Kai’s waist.

“What is that…?”

Melissa tried to ask as calmly as possible, but her voice unintentionally revealed her surprise.

Kai, noticing the difference in Melissa’s tone, turned around, understanding what she was curious about, and replied.

“A handkerchief.”

Kai’s voice revealed no emotion.

“Who gave it to you? Did one of the princesses embroider it?”
Melissa asked casually on purpose. Until now, Kai tying someone’s handkerchief to his sword sheath had not mattered.

The handkerchief formally attached at the beginning of the Hunt disappeared at some point, and Kai didn’t search for it anymore. But today was the last day of the Hunt.

In other words, Kai had been tying that handkerchief to his sword sheath from the first day of the Hunt until now.

“Perhaps?”

Melissa felt a bit relieved at Kai’s deep answer, but strangely, her heart felt uneasy.

“This time, it’s been tied for a long time, right? What kind of handkerchie
Melissa felt as if she were walking on thin ice as she asked. If she heard another rejection from Kai, she felt like she might fall into the icy surface.

“Sekulus’ blood is on it.”

“Ah…”

There was a small amount of poison in Sekulus’ blood. Come to think of it, the red-stained handkerchief seemed to be sprinkled everywhere. What she had initially thought to be a red flower embroidered from a distance turned out to be Sekulus’ bloodstains.

Melissa, now understanding why Kai told her not to touch it, finally smiled brightly.

“I can handle this level of poison. No worries.”

Melissa didn’t want to worry Kai, so she refrained from touching the handkerchief any further. It turned out it had been attached to the sword sheath until now.

It was nothing but a forbidden item that would disappear into the blazing flames the moment she stepped out of this place.

“Oh, by the way, you’ll give me Sekulus’ fangs, right?”

Melissa asked as if it were obvious, and Kai pointed to the box he had placed on the table with his chin.

A bright smile once again appeared on Melissa’s face
Thinking of the confident smile she had while handing over a poorly folded handkerchief, Kai’s question about what she was thinking brought a fleeting, sweet smile to Melissa’s lips as she glanced at the closed drawer.

Upon returning to Verudura Castle, Stella exhaled in joy as she looked at the sprouts that had grown rapidly during her absence. In just
As soon as they arrived at Verudura, Stella, without changing her clothes, stood for a while and inspected the crops as if she had remembered something.

“Breen, where is that pouch?”

“Oh! It’s right here!”

When Stella asked for something, Breen immediately understood and pulled out a pouch from the luggage.

The three people who remained in Verudura looked at the pouch Breen brought with curious eyes. There was a sound of something hard inside the pouch.

Their curiosity was soon satisfied. Stella took out purple lizard horns from the pouch and gave them each as a gift.

“It’s the horn of a purple horned lizard. I hunted them myself, so I brought them. It’s a gift.”

The three people, receiving the horns in their hands, were so surprised that they couldn’t close their mouths.

The horns on their palms were slightly different in size, but they s