Originally, Felio wasn’t a noble who paid much attention to the lives of the common people. Naturally, he fulfilled his duties as a magician and a vassal, but he was never someone who sincerely empathized with the pain of others and acted upon it.

So, he couldn’t understand Ermendilin’s actions. Among the people she couldn’t go too far to help, there was a boy who had stabbed her, and unbeknownst to Ermendilin, there was Valier who had provided information about the orphanage to Duke Fransoir to kill her.

If it were the previous Felio, he would have looked at such actions of Ermendilin as foolish and mocked her with a cynical gaze. But now, he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t simply ridicule her actions that he couldn’t understand. The life and death of the Empress of the Empire and that of a girl couldn’t be of the same magnitude.

Felio was just an ordinary noble who usually had such thoughts. However, the woman he loved was someone willing to sacrifice her life for that girl. So, no matter how foolish and stupid her actions seemed, he couldn’t blame her. It was also a glimpse of Ermendilin, whom he fell in love with.

She wouldn’t be able to abandon Ferdale, and she wouldn’t be able to turn away from Helen’s mother captured by Ermond. Perhaps the day when they could run away alone might never come. Perhaps he might have to linger by her side with a feeling that could never be repaid for a lifetime.

“Lifetime, a lifetime…”

Those despairing words that seemed like a sentence of death somehow lingered on Felio’s lips, and he silently tried to utter those words.

“Lifetime. The word ‘lifetime,’ right.”

A faint smile appeared on his face, filled with anguish.

After recovering to some extent, Ermendilin spent a lot of time in the prayer room, quietly organizing her thoughts. Heather received some treatment, and although there were no specific charges, she was released.

Initially, Ermendilin thought of making her a maid, but she changed her mind.

“I’m thinking of sending her to the orphanage. She’s still young, isn’t she? I want her to receive an education.”

Felio, thinking that it would be better for her to live as a maidservant to the Empress than to receive an education, accepted her decision without any objection.

And Ermond.

Although Helen didn’t know where she was held captive, based on what she witnessed, it was almost certain that her blood was preparing a massive curse magic towards Trevian.

“How cruel a magic is she preparing to kill so many people?”

Thinking about the shock the young girl received, Ermendilin was filled with anger, and her head seemed to explode literally.

“Why kill so many people just to complete a curse magic?”

Even if she had heard about the disappearance of several soldiers crossing the border in Henri’s office, she didn’t expect it to be related to this.

“Yes. It wasn’t that long ago that Trevian found stability in the Empire. It said it had a long-standing conflict with some country…”

Ermendilin felt resentful of her past self, who thought of the original work as boring and just skimmed through it.

“It can’t be left alone. It will continue to target me. No, would it be fortunate if it only targets me? Looking at the scale of the curse, it’s clear that it’s not just targeting me.”

Having promised Heather to save her mother, Ermund needs to find Ermond, but his traces have disappeared around the capital for a long time. Moreover, Felio made such a dangerous remark.

“No matter how perfect I’ve planned the escape plan, it seems better for me to personally lure him near the border…”
‘No matter how perfect the escape plan was, it seems I lost Ermond. Rather, I should directly lure him to a place near the border…’

Felió, who was growling, suppressing the emotions that seemed to boil over at any moment due to missing Ermond, looked at Ermeldin and trailed off.

However, Ermeldin could instantly understand his words.

‘Lure him? That dangerous person? We really can’t just leave him alone. I need to handle it on my terms somehow.’

“Ah! I just want to live! Now that I’ve become rich, I just want to live! Why do problems keep piling up like this?”

At that moment, when she was not praying but rather pouring out resentment towards the gods that Ermeldin had incarnated into, Noktavius found her.

“Your Majesty, may I have a moment of your time?”

Ermeldin, who had something to ask, greeted him with hesitation.

“Of course! I actually had a question!”

“Hehe. I see. Then, I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”

Noktavius, who entered the prayer room with a leisurely gesture, first knelt and began to pray.

Although Ermeldin was in a hurry, she couldn’t disturb the prayer of the Grand Minister and, instead, kneeled down and waited for his prayer to finish, glancing at him.

“What is it that you want to ask me?”

Finally, as his mouth opened, Ermeldin immediately asked.

“You heard it from Arvian, right? I mean, I’m not this woman.”

Ermeldin, who expected to hear the answer she had been contemplating for months, smiled brightly and waited for his answer.

“Yes, I know.”