There was only one reason why he, who couldn’t remember people’s names well, clearly remembered that guy’s name. Because he was determined to kill him.

He said he pushed Merche off the cliff. Into the gaping maw of a monster more ferocious than a basilisk. That weak woman who seemed like she would break if touched.

“…I don’t want to talk about him.”

Merche cut it off sharply and immediately turned back to return to the carriage. Watching her unusually resolute back, Rude silently flashed his eyes.

“Yes, that bastard.”

It was certainty. Seeing Merche act as if she had been stabbed in a sore spot, the damn certainty that it was him surged.

What did he do? What kind of damnable thing did he do and run his mouth about to make her react so sensitively?

– A person with roots in royalty and the six families. Moreover, Magnus Iker, who has enough dominance to make these nobles kneel… Is there anyone more suitable to be the protagonist of the prophecy?

He recalled the man he saw at the meeting.

His arrogant demeanor as if he was already king was quite convincing, but looking at his eyes filled with greed and his behavior, he got a clear sense.

It’s not him, it’s Merche. The protagonist of the prophecy, the one who should become king, should all be Merche.

“‘The position seeks its rightful owner’…”

It was something his birth mother said. His birth mother said it was fate that he, who was thought to be dead and lost, returned to Lupinus Castle.

Something humans cannot dare to defy. That is fate.

Then the fate to become king belonged to Merche.

That position will seek out Merche. No matter how much some fake bastard struggles and tries everything to have it, in the end fate will abandon him.

Then. At the moment that bastard is abandoned, he will bestow death upon that Magnus in the most painful way possible.

With that thought, he twitched the corner of his mouth. One more imagination to ruminate on was added.

“So weak. You faint over something so trivial?”

Werner received medicine from the servant and drank it.

Rena, leaning on one corner of the bed he was lying on, shook her head as she stretched the ends of her red lips upward.

“Really, no matter how much of an illegitimate child he is, you shouldn’t have mistreated him… What’s his name again? Even I couldn’t bear it without harboring a deep grudge.”

“…Get out.”

“Wake up, Werner. You’re the head of the Fondo family. Are you going to give up everything here and just die?”

“So what exactly do you want me to do!”

Crash!

The bowl Werner threw shattered into sharp fragments.

One of them hit a servant, who quickly cleaned up the broken pieces while trembling and bleeding from the cheek.

Tsk tsk. Rena clicked her tongue and took a cigar.

“You need to find a way to survive, what else?”

She didn’t want to help this dull fellow who was just taking out his anger in this situation, but she had no choice.

Since Werner alone knew valuable information, she had no choice but to coax him to find it out, even if it was a bit troublesome.

Casually sitting on one edge of the bed, Rena whispered.

“Think about it. No matter how much that illegitimate prince becomes king, can he easily get rid of a great family like Fondo?”

“……”

“Even if it’s not impossible to push through somehow, the resources and time spent to achieve that would be more precious. That’s what I’d do.”

She pressed firmly under her tongue the fact that Magnus didn’t need to bring down Fondo, and that he just needed to replace Werner, the head of the family, with someone more obedient.

Werner’s eyes noticeably wavered at the sweet whisper.

“Werner. Why don’t you know this simple thing when you usually use your head so well?”

Rena pulled out a plausible bait to tempt him.

“Swear allegiance. Just bow down to Prince Magnus first and swear allegiance, that’s all.”

“…Swear allegiance to that bastard?”

“Have you still not come to your senses? He’s not your family’s vulgar illegitimate child anymore. Now he’s the noble prince who’s about to become king any day now.”

“…For me to that bastard, to such a lowly bastard…”

“Throw away your pride, Werner. Such things are of no help in living. Especially now.”

It was the moment when Werner Fondo’s sky-high nose was completely bent. Rena gleefully watched his fall.

“Want me to tell you about an offering worthy of presenting to Prince Magnus?”

“An offering? Who are you talking about?”

“Merche Venenum. She’s probably a direct royal descendant, but in the end, it’s that child we tried to use and then discarded. Kill her and bring her head to Prince Magnus.”

Werner narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Why Merche Venenum specifically?”

“You know, I can tell at a glance. Who wants to kill whom, who they’re most wary of, things like that. It’s my favorite type of emotion.”

Rena recalled when Magnus first appeared at the banquet.

Thinking he was an extraordinary figure at first glance, she had carefully observed everything about him, but there was one place where Magnus’s gaze flowed to once in a while, even though he pretended not to. That was Merche Venenum.

“The prince knows. Who is most likely to threaten him. That’s why he wants to kill her.”

Just looking at Venenum’s actions of hastily fleeing Fondo’s main territory not long ago, the answer was clear.

Despite having no reason to flee, why did she leave in such a hurry?

She was certain. Prince Magnus had met Merche Venenum.

He must have warned or threatened her when they met. Telling her to get lost and live as if dead forever. Even without seeing it, that scene was vividly imagined.

“Merche Venenum… Offer her as a sacrifice.”

“Our poor Werner. I trust you won’t walk into danger by trying to maintain your pride even after I’ve spoon-fed you this much.”

“……”

Werner closed his mouth without responding.

It was horrifying to have to kneel and swear allegiance to the illegitimate child he had treated as less than trash, but as Rena said, there was no other choice.

He glanced at Rena.

For a woman he always thought was playing in the palm of his hand, for the first time he felt that her head was quite useful.

The suggestion to offer Merche Venenum as a sacrifice was also plausible.

Although not as much as Magnus, she clearly had significant dominance, so there would be no existence more irritating in the eyes of that vulgar illegitimate child.

For a long time after that, Rena chattered about various things to calm his complicated and tangled emotions.

As Werner’s anger finally subsided and his body relaxed languidly, Rena casually yawned and asked as if bringing up an insignificant topic.

“About King Iker. You said he gave different gifts to the heads of the six meritorious families, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Aquila got a ship the king cherished, Fondo got several cities near the sea, and the others… what was it again? I think you mentioned it before.”

Unbeknownst to Werner, he had a ridiculous aspect of liking to brag about his meager knowledge.

Sure enough, he began to recite what he knew as if showing off, having fallen into the trap.

“A portrait for Ardor, armor for Venenum, the northern snow mountains and cities for Lupinus, and a book for Sano. Among them, what Fondo received would be the most precious, whether in terms of its intrinsic value or material value.”

“The others are all fine, but don’t you think it’s too meager for Sano? Just a book? What are they supposed to do with that?”

“It may seem that way if you look at it superficially. Even so, since it was written by the king himself, if they wanted to sell it, it would be valued highly.”

“…Is that so? As expected, Werner knows a lot.”

Written by the king himself. So you’re saying it’s a book personally authored by King Iker?

Rena spat out the cigar that was already more than half burned to ashes and crushed it on the floor.

She had already abruptly raised her body that had been glued to the bed.

Without even looking back, she turned her back and left the bedroom humming a tune.

“Prince Magnus. I swear lifelong loyalty to you as the master of Aquila.”

Magnus casually looked over the figure of the woman prostrated at his feet.

“Faster than I expected. Congratulations. You’re the first to come to me and swear allegiance.”

“Is that so? It seems everyone else has quite poor eyesight… It’s so clear to my eyes.”

“Your flattery is decent, but I dislike wasting time. Get to the point, Lady Aquila.”

There’s no way she rushed here with such greedy eyes just to swear allegiance.

The woman’s coy eyes looking up at him were strangely excited, and even her cheeks were flushed with a strange anticipation.

“Shall I? Actually, I’ve brought some information that Your Highness would be very pleased with.”

Rena raised her head, stretching the corners of her eyes long.

“Your Highness. You’re looking for the last sacred object, aren’t you?”

The moment Magnus turned to look at her, a thrilling ecstasy enveloped her entire body.

This is it. This must surely be the treasure that prince truly desires.

Rena lowered her body even further and spoke cunningly.

“If someone with such excellent intelligence as Your Highness, who has already obtained two of the three sacred objects, couldn’t find it, doesn’t that mean it’s hidden that much more thoroughly?”

“So. Are you saying you know what I couldn’t find?”

“I don’t know where the sacred object is hidden. But I do know where the key that will tell you the location is, Your Highness.”

“Where is it?”

“Sano.”

Sano. Magnus repeated it with his lips. Rena, with her head lowered to the floor, satisfactorily took in the sight of Magnus like that.

“What kind of key is in Sano? I’ll need an explanation for why you’re so certain about this as well.”

“During his lifetime, King Iker distributed different gifts to each of the six meritorious subjects, and to Sano, he gave a book he wrote himself. Your Highness, why do you think he gave only Sano such an insignificant book?”