“No, no. No one needs to protect me. I will manage on my own, so don’t ever do such a thing again!”

Ermendillin stared at Felio with a firm gaze.

“And this is not a request but an order as the Empress.”

She said it quite seriously, but Felio just continued to smile. He seemed almost cocky by now.

“Don’t you like it?”

“What?”

Ermendillin glanced at Felio, wondering if she misheard him, but seeing his brazen smile, it seemed that she had heard correctly.

“Didn’t Her Majesty the Empress save me first?”

“Me?”

“Even if I asked you not to, would Father remain silent when he sees you getting punished?”

“How is that related to this? You almost died, Sage.”

“And Her Majesty the Empress did not return to save Valrest and me in the end, did she?”

“Well… We couldn’t leave only you two…”

“Do not order me to perform actions that even Her Majesty the Empress cannot do. In the past few months, Her Majesty has not been that kind of person.”

Now that Felio said this, Ermendillin had nothing to say.

During everyday conversations, there were subtle gaps, and in serious situations like this, it was impossible to win against him in an argument.

“Her Majesty the Empress. Even if you command, I cannot accept that command. I will protect Her Majesty the Empress as many times as necessary.”

Felio didn’t go home yesterday.

After reporting the situation to Henri, who visited to check on his condition after receiving treatment from Louise, Felio headed to Roberto’s house.

He had healed the physical wounds, but since he hadn’t changed his clothes or taken a bath, Felio looked quite pitiful.

“What kind of state is this!”

As Roberto rushed out almost in a fit of surprise, examining Felio here and there, Felio, who had been holding back his laughter since his arrival, burst into laughter.

“Ha, hahaha. Ahahahaha!”

“??”

Seeing him laugh like a madman after suffering such a miserable state, Roberto suddenly recalled a recent memory.

“Is this related to Her Majesty the Empress again?”

“That’s right! This time, I protected her! I did! I protected Her Majesty!”

“Ugh. What happened this time? Did hundreds of assassins attack at once?”

The fact that the son of the late Duke François, who caused a commotion, might be involved in this incident was temporarily sealed as confidential.
Within the country, information about Leopold and the threat of the enemy country Prionten loomed over the nation’s borders, spreading bad news.

“I can’t tell you the details. You should understand.”

“Is it classified? Well, I get the gist. Judging by your appearance.”

Quick-witted Roberto went into the room without further inquiry and came out with his clothes.

“Wash up first and put this on. Solve that appearance of yours before Alicia comes. If not, she won’t even listen to a word.”

“If I wash up, you’ll listen to me?”

“Yes. I really don’t want to hear it, but I’ll listen because I’m worried you’ll start dreaming of retaliation if you go around talking and end up dead.”

And soon, Roberto regretted those words deeply.

Exactly how many hours had passed listening to Ermendillin’s story?

“You gave artificial respiration to a child who might have contracted a contagious disease!!”

“And last time, while riding a carriage, you directly comforted a crying woman on the road!”

Feliol, due to Ermendillin who had almost stopped breathing in the carriage, wanted to return to the palace immediately at the time, but Ermendillin got off the carriage and comforted the lifeless woman.

“Even yesterday, you came back and saved me again when I could have escaped alone! The Empress returned to save a mere commoner!”

Answers to the question asked by Roberto some time ago, “Why?” were already numerous.

Some were reversed due to excessive excitement, but the story didn’t seem to end.

“I’m different, completely different! I’ve never seen such a person since I was born!”

“What kind of person?”

“A person I can’t understand at all! I can’t understand at all, so I’m more curious! I can’t take my eyes off!”

“Hmm. It does look quite different from what has been known so far. Especially surprising that you returned when it was so dangerous yesterday. Still, since she’s a curse sorceress, she might have put on a decent act…”

“No! It’s not like that! Is it because I can’t recognize that much? If the Empress’s curse magic had been delayed even for a second, I would have died, let alone the Empress. A soldier we missed was about to strike a sword behind the Empress’s head. It would have been easier to understand if it was acting. But it’s not acting, it’s the Empress’s sincerity, so I can’t understand it.”

“Aren’t you just seeing what you want to believe?”

To calm Felio down, Roberto asked with a slightly dry tone.

“Yes. That’s right. I’m seeing it the way I want to believe.”

After his words, Felio, calming down his excitement, awkwardly smiled, lowered his head.

“I’m different from you, completely different! I’ll believe even if the Empress says she has nothing to do with my mother’s death. No, I could believe even if the sky had two suns tomorrow!””What? You’ve become a complete fool?”

“Yes. A fool. Because I can’t calculate anything when I stand in front of the Empress. I’m just a fool.”

Felio, looking down at his palm in silence, tried hard to recall the sensation he felt during the day.

Ermendillin’s slender hand that gently touched his hand felt smaller and warmer than he thought.

At that moment when his tears were wiped away by that hand, Felio thought he wanted to die just like this.

He wished that moment would never end forever.

His answer that he would protect her as many times as necessary was quite pleasing to Felio, who looked at Ermendillin with a proud smile. However, in contrast, Ermendillin’s face stiffened.

“Protect me as many times as necessary? Do you think I’ll have to get stabbed again?”

“Yes. Isn’t it already the third time? There’s no guarantee there won’t be a fourth time.”

The assassination attempts described in the novel are eight times. It’s not certain that the fifth time will be the end, considering the many changes from the original.

The reason it stopped at eight assassination attempts was because Ermendillin was cursed and died.
It is uncertain how many more murder threats I will face until I come out of the palace and hide.

And what if I lose Feliol because of those threats?

Even the mere thought seemed to stop my heart.

“Gongja, I am not a person worth protecting.”

Although we’ve become close recently, now is the time to keep our distance.

After all, my life has already ended once.

In the original work, Feliol is just a supporting character, and there is no need to involve him in such a miserable fate.

“Do you know what everyone calls me? The immoral Empress, that’s me. There’s no reason for you to protect me. I understand that I seemed different lately. But I just couldn’t bear this disgusting violence and malice any longer, so I pretended a bit.”

Ermendillin looked at Feliol with her own determined gaze, but Feliol just lightly laughed it off.

“Gongja?”

“Empress. You do know I’m considered the empire’s greatest genius, right?”

“Huh?”

Talking about being a genius in this situation. Ermendillin’s forehead naturally furrowed in disbelief.

“To tell such lies with a face that seems so sad you’d die, you’re not foolish enough to be deceived to that extent.”

‘You, you really…’

Moisture inadvertently appeared in Ermendillin’s purple eyes.

Feliol unconsciously raised his hand to wipe away the tears trying to fall from her eyes.

And at that moment, a palace guard notified them of Valest’s visit.