“You can wait in the reception room until Bruno’s investigation is finished, Your Grace.”

Damian, seated in the reception room led by the servant, cast his gaze out the window.

Why did it feel like the imperial palace was trying to detain him for a while?

Damian took out a memo from his pocket and unfolded the crumpled paper.

It was a very shabby memo with just two syllables written on it.

However, with those two syllables, Damian could understand what his brother-in-law wanted to say.

Blake had no goodwill towards Damian, so there might have been literal insults, but for now, it was clearly meant to notify that he had re-entered the empire.

Considering he left a memo for Damian, his brother-in-law probably went to Eriel.

Especially if he sent the memo knowing Damian’s schedule to enter the imperial palace.

Of course, they had increased the number of knights for security at the duke’s residence after the kidnapping, but for Blake, a few such knights would clearly be of no concern.

He could go through the main gate, but that would leave another trace, so someone like him wouldn’t do that.

Damian, who had momentarily furrowed his brow, sat on the sofa.

Tilting his head back to look at the ceiling, Damian’s blue eyes moved slowly.

His hair was unusually disheveled.

“Even if he’s eccentric, he’s definitely reliable when it comes to Eriel.”

With the eccentric person he could trust most with Eriel and Lucy having entered the duke’s residence, what remained was the imperial palace.

Damian, blinking calmly, recalled Charles’ report.

“The church, huh…”

Crossing his long legs as he sat, Damian wiggled his shoe.

“It’s not right to use such a talented person who’s worth a hundred just as a guard for the duke’s residence.”

Damian put down the memo on the table, holding a fountain pen in his hand. Then he drew an X over the ‘i’ in the word ‘idiot’ written on the memo.

It looked like he had roughly drawn a single diagonal line across both syllables of ‘idiot’, but the remaining diagonal line to complete the X was drawn only over the ‘i’.

To those unfamiliar, it would look like Damian was pointing out the rudeness of Viscount Borghese in his reply.

Knock knock.

“Your Grace. The investigation is over. His Majesty is calling for you.”

Damian, who had been waiting in the reception room, stood up.

Let’s leave this side to the eccentric one, and start with Bruno himself.

“Viscount Borghese sent me a memo through the imperial palace. Give this to the Viscount’s subordinate who brought the memo.”

The servant who received the memo moved his lips with an awkward smile.

“Well… as you know, Your Grace, I’m not sure if the Viscount’s subordinate is still in the imperial palace.”

“If you call out outside, he’ll come.”

“Pardon?”

Damian, who had given the answer, moved into the corridor, leaving behind the servant’s bewildered face.

“Ah, um… that. Yes, understood!”

*

“Actually, I’m a genius!”

Eriel froze at Lucy’s exclamation.

Genius.

She knew it, but…

If that’s the case, maybe having her read political science like Damian would have been the right education for Lucy. But…

Eriel unknowingly furrowed her brow.

No matter how smart Lucy was, there was nowhere for her to showcase it.

Would Lucy be able to live as Lucy in this situation?

She didn’t want to teach a child not even 10 years old to revere a husband she didn’t even know, for the sake of a husband whose face she couldn’t see.

She just wanted to give her a life where she could laugh when she wanted to, study what she wanted, and eventually marry someone she liked regardless of family… That’s the kind of life she wanted to give her.

But Eriel could realize that when the child’s genius far surpassed the ordinary, the situation changed a little.

If she learned like that, she would want to showcase it.

But then… where and how would Lucy display her talent?

While Eriel was thinking about Lucy’s future, Lucy quietly moved to the side of Eriel’s vision.

Subtly tugging on Blake’s sleeve, Lucy whispered to him.

“Uncle, shall we play marbles?”

Blake nodded as he glanced at Eriel, who was deeply lost in thought.

*

“Rae.”

Eriel called out to Blake, who had been concentrating on playing marbles with Lucy for a while.

Green eyes were reflected in the clear glass marble. A color similar yet different from Eriel’s shone inside the marble.

“Yeah?”

Blake, who had aligned the marble with his finger, responded to Eriel’s call.

Slowly straightening his bent back, Blake smiled with satisfaction.

“Wow. Uncle. You said it was your first time playing marbles today, so why are you so good at it?”

Lucy’s marble had gone completely out of bounds.

“There’s nothing your uncle can’t do.”

Hearing Blake’s answer, Lucy shook her head as if thoroughly disgusted. Just as Lucy was about to turn her head sharply to complain to Eriel.

“…Huh?”

Lucy pointed at Eriel.

“It’s a baby dragon!!”

Once again, a large shadow fell behind Eriel.

As Eriel turned her head, a figure wrapped in a cloak jumped in from behind Eriel with a whoosh.

“Kyaa- mmph.”

Eriel’s scream was muffled by Blake’s hand.

“Did my brother-in-law already reply?”

“Yes.”

Eriel, lowering Blake’s hand, furrowed her eyebrows deeply.

“You notified Damian too? But you didn’t tell your sister? I mean, you exchange letters with Lucy, and you exchange letters with Damian too…”

As Eriel spoke with a hurt tone, Blake unfolded the memo he had received from his subordinate and held it up in front of Eriel’s face.

“Idi… ot?”

Eriel muttered softly.

“No, …ot? Why did Damian send ‘ot’? More importantly, you, did you send ‘idiot’ to my husband?”

Eriel’s voice turned sharp.

The handwriting for ‘idiot’ was Blake’s, and the handwriting that had drawn an X over it was her husband’s.

Judging by how forcefully it was drawn, it seemed Damian was quite upset too.

“Yeah.”

“Hah…”

Eriel rubbed her forehead.

It felt like her surroundings were filled with nothing but people who made things difficult.

“Ot…”

Blake tilted his head as he tore up the memo.

“Sis, do you know about the Church of Therios?”

“The Church of Therios?”

Eriel frowned.

“That’s a bit of a strange place. Why the Church of Therios?”

Blake grinned at Eriel’s bewildered face.

Eriel was smart in a different way from Blake. In the way of inferring people’s thoughts and making judgments.

When they were young, Blake thought Eriel had different eyes from him.

He thought she must be able to see some mysterious flow between people to be so certain without seeing it.

“What’s strange about it?”

So Eriel often figured out things that couldn’t be discovered through ordinary investigation, without even having to exert much effort.

While Blake had to ask many questions to find answers, Eriel could often figure things out with just a few questions.

Eriel said it was because she didn’t just look for answers in the replies, but it was an aspect Blake couldn’t understand at all.

“God… Ah.”

Eriel rolled her eyes as she recalled Damian’s reply.

“Therios…”

Eriel was lost in thought for a moment before opening her lips.

“The people who go there believe that God actually exists. They think God always comes down to the human world and stays with them. Of course, if you say it like this, it might just sound like the thoughts of devout people.”

Blake listened attentively to Eriel’s words.

Lucy, who had somehow approached Eriel’s side, also started listening to her story.

“But they really communicate. Not just receiving God’s revelation or grace. For real. So it’s not the God we generally know. If you go up, there will be someone who calls themselves God.”

“Really? When I investigated, it just seemed like an ordinary church. There wasn’t even anyone like a cult leader claiming to be God.”

“They don’t spread such doctrines to everyone. From the outside, and even inside, it doesn’t seem strange at all, just people praying. But there was a nobleman who spoke a bit strangely. It’s been so long that I don’t remember who it was.”

Blake, nodding his head, leaned his upper body back on the sofa.

“Why do these idiots hide like this? I guess they know they’re idiots too?”

“…Idiots? Right, yes. Rae!! How could you send a memo calling my husband an idiot? Your sister loses face. Really! Huh? And to Lucy…”

Eriel continued talking while grabbing onto Blake, but Blake let Eriel’s nagging slide with a grinning face.

*

“Count.”

The aide who had been waiting for Count Scala hurriedly approached him.

There were no servants even walking in the corridor located in the outer reception room.

“Bruno is also being interrogated in the reception room right now.”

“How did it go?”

“He showed the investigator the letters he exchanged with you, but as expected, the handwriting doesn’t match at all, so it should be fine. Most of the content is meaningless too. Rather, it might become evidence to definitively prove him a criminal.”

Count Scala smirked.

“Good. Don’t forget to catch him alive on the way to becoming the Eastern Lion.”

“What should we do about his wife and son?”

“Kill them.”

Count Scala answered without hesitation, then slightly tilted his head.

“No. Leave that son alone just in case. Bruno has outlived his usefulness, so who knows. We might need to set up a puppet in one of the empire’s ducal houses.”

“A puppet? Yes, understood.”

Count Scala nodded and gripped his leather gloves tightly.

“If only the Duke of the Empire were gone…”

Count Scala’s eyes were completely consumed by madness.