Thanasis clearly remembered the Princess of Nirnberg, who looked about nine years old.

The Princess of Nirnberg, who was just turning five, was a mysterious girl with pale blue hair uncommon in the Apentina Empire and amethyst eyes.

And the unique ability she had possessed since birth.

‘Our child can purify magical power, Your Majesty.’

This was the reason why the turbid magical power was purified and reduced his pain whenever Reniel was nearby.

Thanasis had always struggled with the forcibly absorbed magic stones.

He was an artificially created fire ability user.

Perhaps because of this, his ability was always difficult to control, and every time he used it, he felt his lifespan shortening due to the turbid magical power.

And the side effects and pain that would appear at some point after using magical power.

Thanasis vividly felt that the magical pain had disappeared since coming here.

At first, he thought it might be because of the medicine Reniel brought.

He thought there was no one who could purify magical power after the Princess of Nirnberg disappeared.

He thought he was just hallucinating that he was fine while not actually being fine, intoxicated by painkillers.

If not that, he thought they had obtained sedatives effective for calming magic and were feeding him little by little.

But to think that this Reniel was actually the Princess of Nirnberg.

Thanasis finally felt the peculiar energy coming from her ring.

Something was overlaid on it so that it could not be detected at all when one didn’t know.

But now that he knew, it was leaking magical power, albeit extremely faintly.

Thanasis, who had been pressing Reniel’s neck, loosened his grip when she tried to get up.

“Are you going to kill me?”

“…No. I gave you a choice.”

“Is that really a choice?”

Reniel looked at him, a bit bewildered that he thought he had given a choice when he had said it was either leaving together or death.

“What? You think I’ll be safe if I just leave you be?”

Yes. At least for one year, you’ll be safe.

Reniel swallowed those words and grabbed Thanasis’s hand that was holding her neck.

Perhaps because she was trembling but pretending not to as she met his eyes, Thanasis didn’t find her pushing him away that bothersome.

Rather, he only thought that if he applied too much force, her delicate neck might break even in this moment of pretending to be a man.

Somehow it felt strange.

There was no way she wouldn’t dislike being touched by a man.

Thanasis looked at her with a sigh.

“Um, but Your Highness.”

“What.”

“I’m having trouble breathing.”

Thanasis then realized he was sitting on top of Reniel and slowly got up.

“I can burn you anytime as long as you’re in my sight. Of course, if you scream, the knights will come. But will you be alive until then?”

Although Reniel looked as if she wasn’t afraid of Thanasis’s warning, it was impossible not to notice that she was trembling in fear even in this darkness.

“I have no intention of screaming. I’m a little less scared now.”

Reniel said so, still afraid but as if trying to hypnotize herself.

However, even her speaking voice was trembling, causing Thanasis to laugh inadvertently.

“Take off the ring.”

“What? Why? Are you interested in this ring?”

“Do you think I’m blind? Take it off now.”

At Thanasis’s command, Reniel was contemplating what to do. If she took off the ring now, she would return to her female form.

It seemed her being a woman had already been discovered though.

She soon sighed and said.

“Alright.”

“And give me the ring.”

“That’s not possible.”

When Thanasis raised one eyebrow, she quickly added.

“What if someone discovers I’m a woman while I’m not wearing the ring?”

“…”

“What will happen to me then? I’m the head servant, and the master’s most cherished servant, so I’d probably be executed for the crime of deceiving until now. Don’t you pity me, Your Highness? I’ve been the one taking care of you and treating you all this time.”

Of course, part of it was a lie.

What Felix cherished most in the world was power. Because that’s how he could properly take revenge.

Because the price Felix had paid to reach his current position was so great, he didn’t trust or cherish people.

He just mechanically gave opportunities and habitually kept trustworthy people around him.

“Just take off the ring for now. I won’t ask you to give it to me.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.”

At Reniel’s word “cooperation,” Thanasis unconsciously flinched.

The last time she had asked for cooperation, she had broken a flower pot on his head.

Whoosh!

“Eek!”

When he suddenly burned all the flower pots around, Reniel screamed in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“Reassurance.”

He said so and stepped back with his arms folded. Then he looked at her as if he could burn her at any time.

It didn’t seem difficult to actually do it when looking at Reniel’s male form.

What courage would be needed to burn an enemy? Just kill them and that’s it.

However, when Reniel sighed as if she had no choice and took off the ring.

“…”

He thought it might be difficult to kill her.

The purifying energy flowing from her when she took off the ring was considerable.

It also felt like the turbid magical power was naturally being cleansed just by being in the same space as her.

Her long hair, though seeming unkempt for quite some time, still flowed like water, cascading down beside her peach-colored cheeks.

“Can I bring in what I left outside the door?”

She said so while trying to put the ring back on. Then Thanasis reached out his hand.

“Give me the ring and bring what’s in front of the door. That way you won’t run away.”

Reniel knew that this lower area wouldn’t be visible to the knights on the upper stairs due to the structure of the staircase.

“Let me put it in my pocket and go. I can’t be discovered in this form anyway.”

“…Alright.”

“Thank you for your understanding.”

She said so and walked briskly to open the door. Then she picked up the things she had left below with both hands and placed them on the table.

Thanasis, who had followed behind, closed the door and looked at her.

It was strange. When she was a man, he thought her body was lean yet quite toned. It just seemed boyish compared to the knights’ bodies.

But when she returned to being a woman, her body was curved to the point where she couldn’t hide being female.

Her femininity showed through even in men’s clothes.

Moreover, perhaps because of the sweet fragrance that wafted strongly every time her hair rustled and brushed against her shoulders, Thanasis felt like he was constantly becoming dazed.

“What did you bring?”

“Well… A first aid kit to treat Your Highness’s injuries and food. By the way, this food is the veal steak I was moved by when I ate it for dinner.”

“A servant gets served veal steak?”

“Ah, I now eat exactly the same as what the master eats.”

Thanasis wondered if she might really be favored by Felix.

“Why? Does he know you’re a woman too?”

“Ah, no?”

Reniel waved her hands excessively in denial.

Thanasis looked at her suspiciously.

He also knew that the suspicious Felix wouldn’t keep a woman around him.

‘That monster even keeps women at a distance.’

He remembered his mother once complaining like that.

And Reniel tried so desperately to pretend to be a man, which made him even more suspicious.

Of course, he decided to confirm for certain that she was the Princess of Nirnberg.

“I want to check the mole below your chest.”

“…Do you know how that sounds right now?”

“Just lift your clothes.”

Reniel recalled how Thanasis had fallen for Felix in the original story as she gently grabbed her clothes.

She pulled out the short shirt from above her pants and slowly lifted it.

Then Thanasis pressed a nearby switch to turn on the chandelier.

As the room suddenly brightened, Reniel squinted, unable to adapt to the light.

And in that moment, Thanasis lifted her clothes further and chuckled.

There were two moles dotted below.

“But do I have moles below my chest?”

Reniel was hearing this for the first time. So she couldn’t understand Thanasis’s behavior.

She even thought he might be doing this because he mistook her for someone else.

“I don’t know.”

Thanasis stepped back as if he had lost interest. Then he smiled with a strange expression and said.

“Let’s leave together.”

He said so, certain that Reniel was the Princess of Nirnberg.

He knew his fiancée had moles below her chest because they had exchanged physical measurement reports before.

“If I leave with Your Highness, will I die?”

He was thinking of returning her to her parents.

Then his unstable constitution would also stabilize, and the imperial family members who feared him and treated him like a time bomb would acknowledge him.

And daringly, he could take perfect revenge on Felix Le Pelique who had kidnapped him.

“No.”

Thanasis said so with a smile that didn’t hide his ambition.

“If you come with me, you won’t regret it. I’ll make you live happier than you are now.”

He felt strange, as if he was proposing to her again like he did when they were young.

Back then, it was just something he did at his parents’ insistence because they were young.

Now it felt different from back then.

As Reniel hesitated to answer.

There was someone listening to all the conversations behind the door.

It was Ianathas.

He saw Reniel’s female form through the door crack and was equally certain that she was the Princess of Nirnberg.