“Your Majesty the Empress… Oh my, are you already awake?”

After parting with Lebel, Ilarid had just sat up on the bed after repeatedly falling in and out of short naps for a while. Lynette, who opened the door to the bedroom, rushed towards the bed in shock.

“Surely you didn’t fail to sleep, did you?”

“No, I slept enough. More importantly, would there be records of previous empresses in the imperial archives?”

“There probably are. I’d have to check for details, but… entry and viewing are only possible with the Emperor’s permission.”

Ilarid slightly moved her stiffened lips. Now was the time to use the privilege of the ‘virtuous and wise empress’ she had been pretending to be all along.

“Tell him I want to personally view the footsteps of the previous empresses and feel their wisdom firsthand. He’ll understand. There’s also the charity event coming up soon.”

He’ll probably laugh a lot. He might even tell Selina and mock me thoroughly. But now wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

“Is there any particular record you’d like to check?”

“I need to know everything about how the empress’s budget has been used in the past.”

She needed the intimate records of the previous empresses. If they were truly private records, most would have turned to ashes in the fireplace, but it would be impossible to hide everything. Wasn’t the imperial palace too wide to cover up completely?

For example, the empress’s ‘shadow’.

She planned to temporarily make Lebel her ‘shadow’.

Cledius was a simpler man than she thought. Even if he found out that Lebel was the empress’s ‘shadow’, he wouldn’t be able to deal with a mercenary contracted by the imperial family carelessly.

‘And considering Lebel’s skills, it would be quite painful for him. Cledius is the type to thoroughly use people as long as they’re useful.’

If only this could divert Cledius’s attention elsewhere. If it could at least scratch his feelings a little and make him waver?

Ilarid moved to put this absurd plan into action.

**

In the place closest to the imperial palace, there was a rest area for the imperial guard. In the innermost part of that space, scenes far removed from dignity, etiquette, and formality unfolded.

This place, with comfortable sofas and even high-end delicacies, rivaled the luxurious salons of most nobles. However, while the place and furnishings were high-class, the attitudes of those sitting there seemed far from formal.

The lounge was already filled with the acrid smell of tobacco and the scent of spilled alcohol. Despite Kailem’s order to never drink while on duty, quite a few people comforted themselves saying one drink was fine.

There were imperial guard officers sprawled out with their uniforms and shirt buttons comfortably undone. It was as if one could hear the sound of the people’s taxes melting away.

A rookie-looking member watched his seniors’ behavior with a stiff posture. Worry hung heavily in his eyes.

Is this really okay? It was clear that if their superior, Kailem Western, saw this scene, he would immediately issue a stern reprimand.

“Hey, rookie. Won’t you have a drink?”

“I, I’m fine!”

“If you’re just going to sit quietly without drinking, go out and keep watch. See if the old tiger is coming or not.”

“But…”

“Are you talking back to your senior now?”

“No, sir!”

“Go out and watch carefully, and let us know right away if he comes. If not, you’ll be running laps on the training ground later, understand?”

“Ah, I understand!”

The rookie got up with a frozen body and left the lounge. As soon as he opened the door, a man in a neat uniform appeared.

“Hello, sir!”

The man just gave a quick eye greeting and entered the lounge. He was quite handsome, enough for the rookie to look back once more.

Slightly reddish brown hair and eyes of the same color. If examined closely, he was ordinary, but the atmosphere emanating from his neat and tidy appearance made him stand out.

‘That person is…’

Even a rookie couldn’t fail to recognize the man who had just entered. To be able to face such a famous person up close. As he was staring blankly, his seniors’ angry voices fell from right behind him.

“Aren’t you going out quickly!”

The poor rookie sprang up like a spring and disappeared behind the closed door. Inside the lounge, all eyes turned to the man who had just entered. Someone waved at the man, pointing to an empty seat.

“Hey, our Duke of Icastel has arrived.”

“Shut up.”

The man called Icastel loosened his uniform buttons and plopped down on an empty sofa. Soon, a glass of alcohol was pushed in front of him.

He looked visibly tired. However, the cause of fatigue didn’t seem to be work. A deep sigh fell over the instantly emptied glass.

“Jin. Why are you so depressed these days? If you look gloomy, I’ll have to stick my nose in this glass right away. Do you have any worries?”

“Hey, what worries could this guy have? Duke of Icastel, from a powerful founding family, a worry-free job…”

Jin’s colleagues gathered one by one, offering a few words of comfort.

Jin Katia Gwein Icastel. The eldest son of the Icastel family and the actual head of the family who inherited the duke title. Befitting his splendid name, numerous spotlights were shone on him.

The Icastel family relatives backing Jin and his job as an imperial guard made him stand out even more.

Was it because of the alcohol he drank in an instant? Jin slowly leaned back against the sofa backrest, enduring the oncoming dizziness. His colleagues, who were quite slow to catch on, were still lingering around Jin.

“Besides, you received a medal too. While dealing with those Rosen bastards.”

“Stop talking about that.”

Jin cut off his colleague’s words and raised his arm to cover his eyes. Appropriate pressure created deep darkness over his eyelids.

He knew. The medal recognizing his merits during the invasion of Rosen. It should have been received by the mercenary unit in some corner of the imperial palace, not him.

It was a shameful medal. At home, they praised Jin as the family’s glory, but he didn’t even want to look at the shiny gold decorations.

When that gaudy metal was pinned to his chest, he squeezed his eyes shut. If he could, he wanted to tear it off and throw it on the ground right away.

But Jin had long lost the courage to do so. He could barely endure the oncoming fatigue while lying on the sofa.

As Jin’s silence continued, the topic naturally shifted to something else. Thanks to someone casually mentioning the ‘social season’, everyone started talking about the imperial ball that would be held soon.

“Come to think of it… Jin, didn’t you say you have a younger sister?”

“Oh, really? Why am I hearing this for the first time?”

“This guy terribly cherishes his younger sister. He cherishes her so much. He doesn’t even let us see her face.”

“She’ll be coming out to the imperial ball too, right? Isn’t it time for her social debut?”

“Stop it, set your sights on someone you can actually reach. She’s in the same line of work as us. You know that only female student who entered the military academy with top scores this time?”

As soon as the colleague finished speaking, the lounge suddenly fell silent. Everyone focused their gaze on Jin, who was leaning back on the sofa. With dozens of eyes concentrated on him, Jin had no choice but to sit up.

“That, that student is your sister?”

“The name gives it away, doesn’t it? ‘Cecilia Gwein Icastel’.”

Admiring sighs followed. It was a glory to the family like no other. An imperial guard officer and top of the academy.

Moreover, when the military academy allowed female students to enroll, they drastically increased the difficulty of the exam. Curiosity about Cecilia, who proudly took the top spot even in that situation, was rising when one of the colleagues interrupted, breaking the mood.

“Ugh, but isn’t it a bit off for a woman to be a soldier?”

“Why? It’s a result she achieved through her own efforts.”

“What’s she going to use it for? Let’s say she barely graduates from the academy and gets commissioned. Who’s going to use a female soldier? Maybe if they put her in an office job. Anyway, it’s just a waste of taxes…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. The reason was that Jin, who had been sitting on the sofa, suddenly jumped up and rushed at him. The colleague who was grabbed by the collar in an instant barely breathed out while coughing.

“You, what did you just say?”

Sensing Jin’s ominous mood, his colleagues hurriedly put out their cigars and quickly got up.

“Quick, stop him! When that guy’s eyes turn, he doesn’t care about anything!”

But Jin was much faster than those trying to stop him. He grabbed the guy’s collar and pushed him against the wall. It must have hurt quite a bit, but maybe because his mouth was still alive, the colleague glared at Jin and spat out.

“What’s wrong with this bastard suddenly! Did I say something wrong? Who would want a soldier for a wife? They want a virtuous lady who’s good at supporting her husband!”

“What do you know!”

Everyone froze, including the colleagues who had gathered around to stop them and the one grabbed by the collar. It was the first time they had seen Jin shout so loudly. The faint red light mixed in his brown eyes began to flicker and burn with anger.

The name Cecilia Gwein Icastel was a great guilt for Jin.

Cecilia, a younger sister without a drop of blood relation.

Rosen was her hometown, and also where her birth father was. The place where her childhood friends and other connections existed.

The fact that he had been deployed to Cecilia’s hometown kept weighing on Jin. He even received a medal, didn’t he? It was a family pride and a personal shame at the same time.

Since that day, he couldn’t bear to face his younger sister. But the coward who couldn’t refuse the medal or even offer a proper apology just raised his voice at others.

“What on earth is going on here!”

With a bang, the lounge door opened. Kailem Western, the figure most feared by those inside, was standing there with a deeply furrowed face.

Jin glared at the opponent pushed against the wall and shoved him aside. There was a loud noise of someone stumbling and falling.

The relaxed atmosphere in the lounge quickly returned to a tightly disciplined state. However, they couldn’t hide the messy carpet, disheveled uniforms, and the faint smell of alcohol.

“I told you to maintain proper conduct even in the lounge. And I clearly said alcohol was absolutely forbidden. Did you take my words lightly?”

“We’ll be careful!”

The response echoed so loudly it seemed like it could unify the Western Continent soon. Kailem clicked his tongue and scanned the personnel in the lounge.

“Jin Katia Gwein Icastel.”

Kailem quietly gestured for him to follow. Was he going to reprimand Jin for what he had just done? Jin straightened his disheveled uniform and left the lounge.

As soon as the lounge door closed, the members tried to put strength in their trembling legs. And they rushed with glaring eyes towards the rookie who was fidgeting near the door.

“Hey, rookie. If you were on watch, shouldn’t you have tried to stop him somehow?”

“I tried to stop him with my life on the line. Senior, could you stop Captain Kailem?”

“What are you talking back for when you did nothing right?”

“Hey, it’s fine. The tiger captain is gone, so come here and have a drink too.”

The rookie hesitantly accepted the drink offered by his senior. The alcohol poured by a drunk person to make someone else drunk spilled on the floor, wetting the glass and hand. Someone laughed loudly, saying why spill the expensive alcohol, lick it up.

The lounge was once again filled with the smell of alcohol.

In the room Jin entered following Kailem, several other officers were already gathered. They were all figures corresponding to the elite of the imperial guard, including Jin.

Jin looked around with a puzzled expression. Soon, Kailem’s characteristic low and strict voice was heard.

“It’s an order from His Majesty the Emperor. It’s top secret, so everyone be careful with your words and actions.”

“Yes, sir!”

“In a few days, a swordsmanship tournament will be held.”

It was an unexpected statement. In the Western Continent, the sword was almost an obsolete weapon. As new weapons were repeatedly invented and produced, hardly anyone used them except for those performing special missions like mercenary units.

However, most of the imperial guard officers were nobles, and they had been trained in swordsmanship separately from childhood under the pretext of etiquette education. Nominal sword training remained in the imperial guard’s training as well.

‘At least these people should be able to inflict a wound or two on him.’

In Kailem’s following solemn voice, there was a hint of hesitation. But the imperial guard officers, including Jin, didn’t notice his faint hesitation.

“Your opponents will be the mercenary unit, and the target is… the leader of the mercenary unit.”

A single wound. That would be enough.