“Your Grace!”

As soon as Damian entered the western outer palace, Charles jumped out as if he had been flung from inside.

“About what Your Grace ordered me to investigate. Count Scala. However, his range of activities wasn’t as wide as expected, so there wasn’t much to investigate. He mainly goes to church, or stays at his mansion. He occasionally visits the club, but it seems he only stopped by briefly because of Bruno. Everyone around him unanimously says he’s devout.”

“…The church?”

“There were a few imperial faction members among the church staff, but most seemed to attend because of the location close to the mansion. I also investigated inside, but there weren’t any special events different from other churches.”

“Did the nobility faction or others not attend at all?”

“No. It’s a church that all the nobles living nearby attend.”

“I see. What about the abdominal stab wound?”

Damian paused for a moment, lowering his gaze to around Charles’ waist.

“Pardon? …Ah, yes! It’s fine. It wasn’t a deep stab, so there’s no problem.”

However, contrary to his words, Charles’ posture was slightly slumped, different from usual.

“Rest. For the time being.”

“…Pardon?”

Damian lightly placed his hand on Charles’ shoulder.

There was no conversation. The passing blue gaze was the last.

Charles, who had been following Damian’s back with his eyes, opened his lips but quickly bowed to show respect.

*

“Damian.”

Damian, who had entered the palace immediately after receiving Charles’ report, bowed at the Emperor’s call.

The Emperor, standing in front of a large window, looked at the scenery beyond without even glancing at Damian.

“Yes.”

“That battle we went to together when I was the Crown Prince.”

Recalling the cruel battle, the Emperor slowly blinked and turned his gaze to Damian.

“I still vividly remember you blocking my front and fighting against those many enemy soldiers.”

The isolated Crown Prince and Duke.

The Empire’s knights were rushing with fire in their eyes to save the Crown Prince and Duke, but the battlefield was a place where one could lose their life if they were distracted for even a second.

“You alone received dozens of swords all at once.”

As the Emperor spoke, Damian also recalled the events from more than 7 years ago.

It was the moment when they thought they had finally arrived, riding horses and crossing a wide river.

An arrow shot by the enemy from the bushes lodged in the Crown Prince’s shoulder, and another arrow flew into the body of the horse the Crown Prince was riding.

Even though he raised his shield to block the arrows, the Crown Prince’s horse was already writhing in pain, raising its front legs high, and the Crown Prince, with strength draining from his shoulder, let go of the reins.

The scene of the Crown Prince’s body being thrown into the air and falling into the river water appeared very slowly in Damian’s eyes.

There was no choice.

What kind of duke would let the Empire’s Crown Prince be swept away by the river?

Damian also plunged into the swirling river water.

The current was so strong that they quickly drifted away from the knights, but fortunately, Damian was able to grab the Crown Prince.

In the urgent situation, the Crown Prince, breathing heavily, could barely rely on Damian’s arm without even opening his eyes.

Fortunately, as they moved from the upper to the middle reaches of the river, the current weakened.

Taking advantage of the slowed current, Damian safely brought the Crown Prince out of the river.

However, as soon as they came out of the river, they were faced with dozens of enemy soldiers.

The fact that the middle reaches of the river were already in the heart of enemy territory was waiting for them.

“Your swordsmanship was excellent. In my lifetime, I’ve never seen anyone use such swordsmanship in actual combat except for you. Even as time passes, it will be very difficult to find a knight more outstanding than you in this empire.”

The battle where he had defeated dozens of enemy soldiers relying on a single sword and returned safely.

Inadvertently, the knights attacked from the front and Damian from the rear, resulting in victory, but due to that day’s events, a deep scar remained on the Emperor’s shoulder.

“Not at all. There are already many excellent knights in the empire.”

He wasn’t one to be stingy with praise, but it was an unexpected compliment.

Was it to console him because of Bruno? Damian, alert to the sudden talk of the past, listened carefully to the Emperor’s words.

“Bruno saved your mother. In your stead, Damian.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“A debt of gratitude often clouds judgment. Are you alright with sending Bruno as the Lion of the Eastern Continent?”

“I’m fine with it.”

“Is that so? …I see. I was needlessly worried.”

The Emperor nodded and turned his gaze back to the scenery beyond the window.

Damian, who had been looking at the Emperor’s profile for a moment, slowly bowed.

What was reflected in his golden eyes was the scenery in the mirror.

Damian thought that perhaps too much time had passed to say he knew the Emperor well.

As a friend during the Crown Prince era, as a subject during the Emperor era.

But somehow, the years of friendship had faded.

Damian knew this was all the Emperor wanted to say.

The Emperor’s profile, not turning back and with lips that no longer opened. Damian considered mentioning Eden’s story but decided against it.

Perhaps even that wouldn’t be very good for the Emperor’s mood.

‘A debt of gratitude often clouds judgment.’

The Emperor’s wavering could be felt in the sentence.

Someone must have told him that Damian’s existence was dangerous.

They must have said that it wasn’t right to leave Damian like this, holding crude evidence of rebellion.

Of course, it wasn’t wrong. Rationally speaking, the Emperor should have detained Damian.

One might wonder if the Emperor himself had become shaken in order not to shake the entire imperial faction.

A wavering mixed with an unspoken warning that next time, if something like this happens again, he won’t let it slide the same way.

However, if that was all, Damian wasn’t too worried.

Even if someone fabricates crude evidence again, he wasn’t afraid of detention.

He was innocent, and he also intended not to just sit by if such things happen again.

But if that wasn’t all.

If the Emperor was truly shaken and doubting him…

Damian’s face hardened as he bowed.

It would be good if it was just a momentary wavering like a passing breeze, but the doubt and check that had already sprouted could not return to a time when they never existed.

Count Scala…

He felt the need to investigate the deeply rooted imperial faction nobles within the empire.

Who, and how much, had filled those 7 years when Damian was away from the Emperor’s side?

“Today is the last day of Bruno’s investigation, so let’s talk again after his investigation is over.”

Damian briefly replied to the Emperor’s words and withdrew.

*

“Your Grace.”

As soon as he came out into the corridor after finishing the audience, a servant walking from the opposite side bowed his head.

“Viscount Borghese Blake left a message.”

“Viscount Borghese? …Had he entered the imperial palace?”

When Damian asked the servant, the servant shook his head.

“No. He said he left a message at the imperial palace after hearing Your Grace’s schedule to enter the palace today.”

Damian nodded and received the message from the imperial palace servant.

The reason for leaving a message at the imperial palace rather than the duke’s residence.

Blake is such an unpredictable character that it could just be for fun. But it was certainly Blake who lured Eriel to the club… so there might be a reason he left a note.

Damian unfolded the note.

Damian, who had taken a sharp breath, closed his eyes tightly.

“Ha…”

He who had raised his head from the note, glared at the empty space.

“Ha…”

Damian, who sighed once more, put the note in his bosom and rubbed his face repeatedly. Although he didn’t say it out loud, Damian felt like he could utter vulgar curses right now if he wanted to.

*

“Hmm… Is this the place?”

A handsome man exuding an unusual aura walked around the mansion of the Duke of Genova. His jet-black hair fluttered in the summer breeze above his snow-white face.

Dressed all in black, he was absorbing all the light around him, but he walked with a bright smile, seemingly in a good mood for some reason. His attire, which paid no attention to the hot summer weather, was particularly eye-catching.

“This is it.”

The man’s voice, talking to himself, was as soft as the playing of a harp.

His blinking green eyes were like a swamp embedded in them, with such a distant color that once you fell into his eyes, you might be completely engulfed.

When his shiny black shoes reflected the sunlight with a ‘tap-‘, the man’s steps stopped.

It was rare to see nobles walking on the street without a carriage under the warm sunshine, but he stopped halfway along the wall of the duke’s mansion.

There were no carriages around him, nor any servants. Not even a servant holding the common parasol.

The man looked around.

After confirming that there was no one on the street, the man smiled once and smoothly climbed over the duke’s wall.

His long legs disappeared in an instant.