The records retrieved from the storage were as numerous as the long history of the Imperial nation. A faint sigh escaped Ilarid’s lips as she turned the pages one by one to check them.

Was it a mistake to bring so much out of greed? The records not only filled the desk but were also piled up beside it.

There was a bit of stubbornness too. She was determined to find records related to the Empress’s ‘shadow’. The incident of being thoroughly mocked by Cledius was something she didn’t want to recall.

While looking at that snake-like smile, she repeated to herself several times: if you endure once, the next opportunity will surely come.

The opportunity was presented before her eyes, but grasping it accurately was no easy task. For Ilarid, reading, writing, and analyzing were like daily routines, but staring at this kind of material for hours on end was unbearably tedious.

Most of the records, including budget proposals, were all flawless.

‘They must have hidden it properly. After all, it’s something committed by the most noble ones.’

There was a separate reason why Ilarid was so confident. She recalled a story she heard from her mother when she was young.

‘Noble ladies, including members of the royal family, even had secret mistresses called ‘shadows’. Secretly, so that no one would ever know or reveal it outside.’

The nursemaid who heard this was horrified and covered Ilarid’s ears.

‘Madam! How could you say such things to the young miss…’

‘Ilarid has grown up a lot. She’s about to be officially designated as the Crown Princess, can’t I tell her this much? She should know what she needs to know.’

She was truly an open-minded mother. A worried darkness clouded over young Ilarid’s innocent face.

‘Then, what if the person I marry takes a ‘shadow’?’

Limless, who had been quietly observing from the side, audibly closed the book he was reading. Was the mere thought enough to make his irritation rise? A deep crease formed between his brows.

‘Call me right away.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Half kill them.’

‘Limless.’

‘This time, it’s not a joke, Mother.’

Her brother truly looked like he would bury the person alive. And looking straight at Ilarid, he said firmly,

‘I’ll take care of that bastard, so you grab the shadow’s hair. If you let time pass vaguely later, you’ll regret not doing it for a long time.’

On the day Cledius openly brought in Selina and insulted Ilarid, should she have really grabbed her hair? But even if she had, nothing would have changed.

Her dead family wouldn’t come back to life, and Cledius wouldn’t stop his behavior.

‘Look at me, now I’m trying to bring in a shadow too.’

Ilarid chuckled while reading the records. What would Limless say if he saw this? Would he laugh holding his stomach and shout that it feels so good? Or would he sternly scold her, asking if she’s going to become just like that bastard?

She slowly raised her head to relieve her stiff neck. And with her eyes closed, she muttered to herself.

“Anyone will do… Please give me an answer.”

Mother, brother, or even father. She didn’t even hope for a voice coming down from heaven, but if they could appear in a dream and say something, anything. Then at least her stuffy feelings might clear up.

When Ilarid opened her eyes, all she could see was the high ceiling and softly glowing lights. In the end, do you want me to find the answer myself? Her family left her with only difficult choices, without saying a word.

“Your Majesty the Empress, His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”

“Now?”

It was an unexpected visit in the middle of scanning through records. Ilarid’s eyes involuntarily raised.

Before Ilarid’s permission could even fall, the door flung open. Ilarid’s raised eyes immediately furrowed, but soon regained composure.

“Have you been like this all this time, even skipping lunch?”

“I have no intention.”

If we sat down to eat together, I’d end up vomiting everything I ate. She swallowed her words and focused only on the piled-up records without even looking at Cledius.

Surely, as usual, he would try to provoke her by picking on trivial things or scratching at her nerves. At times like this, she had to calmly brush it off as if it were nothing.

An envelope suddenly entered her field of vision. Cledius’s seal stamped on the wax seal was clearly visible.

‘An invitation?’

The ball was still far off, and events like hunting parties were in the latter half of the year. What kind of invitation could it be suddenly? As she watched quietly, Cledius waved the envelope and said sarcastically,

“Are you just going to stare at it?”

“I’ll receive it knowing.”

“I heard the relationship between the mercenary corps and the royal guards is a bit awkward, so I’m planning to host a swordsmanship tournament to foster some fellowship.”

Ilarid picked up the envelope with suspicious hands. So he came to the Empress’s palace in person to deliver an invitation? He could have sent a servant.

“They’ll be fighting together on the battlefield in the future, so shouldn’t they get along well? I’ve even set a generous prize money to make sure the mercenary corps gives it their all.”

Cledius leaned his waist towards where Ilarid was sitting, placing both hands on the desk. His shadow fell darkly over the scattered documents and piles of papers.

Originally, the swordsmanship tournament was like an annual event held on a small scale. Since the Emperor himself awarded the prize money to the winner, it was perfect for making an impression on Cledius.

However, the swordsmanship tournament was usually held between autumn and winter. There was no special reason to move up the schedule.

And there was no need to invite the Empress either. Until now, Cledius hadn’t even given Ilarid a hint about the swordsmanship tournament, let alone an invitation.

Has there suddenly been some change of heart, or if not…

Cledius lowered his voice and brought his lips close to Ilarid’s ear. An unpleasant breath clung to her earlobe.

“The more spectators, the better… I hope you’ll definitely attend, Empress.”

After finishing his words, he disappeared like the wind. Once she confirmed he had left, Ilarid’s body slowly relaxed. Though their relationship was left with only hatred and contempt, she couldn’t help her body from tensing up involuntarily.

The swordsmanship tournament suddenly moved forward. Moreover, with the mercenary corps involved, the scale became larger than usual. Judging by the fact that an invitation was delivered to the Empress as well, there was a high probability that other nobles would attend too.

‘Is there a need to make it bigger?’

When an event gets bigger, attention gets dispersed. In that complex and chaotic tournament, relatively smaller matters tend to get buried without much notice.

Ilarid opened the drawer under the desk and took out a letter opener to open the invitation envelope.

Compared to a knife used as a weapon, it was rather blunt, but her letter opener was sharpened as if it could cut someone down in one stroke.

She tore the envelope in one go, as if slashing an enemy’s throat.

She needed to sit quietly under the curtain and examine each of their intentions one by one. After confirming the time and place, she crumpled the invitation and threw it into the trash can.

‘I’ll attend as you wish.’

Once again, a headache came on. She wanted to break the habit of relying on medication, but when small pains accumulated, it became difficult to concentrate.

There was one more thing to worry about. At least until the swordsmanship tournament, she had to read through all these materials.

Did one have to sharpen their edge and become sensitive to survive? Even peaceful survival was a blessing. Ilarid endured the heavily oncoming pain and reached for the painkillers in the drawer.

Cledius’s invitation was also delivered to the mercenary corps. Lebel’s face crumpled upon seeing the invitation neatly placed on a luxurious silver tray.

“What? A swordsmanship tournament?”

Lailo and the other mercenary corps members were equally displeased. As if it wasn’t enough being busy training new members and conducting separate drills, now they had to be mobilized for a palace event.

Although there was a pretext of fostering fellowship, they guessed it was merely a facade.

Pretending to be generous by including them in their festival and saying they want to be friends. Grumbling complaints erupted from here and there.

“I don’t know what guts they have to include us. Are they determined to get beaten up?”

“Logically, it’s offensive to even compare those noble dandies with us who’ve been rolling around in actual combat for years! This is a battle of pride. If you can’t do it with swords, bite them with your teeth if you have to.”

“…That’s beastly.”

“No, Luth. We need to face this head-on for our honor. Honestly, they’ll probably set up the tournament to their advantage. It’s obvious they’ll just quietly place a spoon on a fully set table.”

Amidst the grumbling, Eddie quietly scanned the contents of the invitation. His expression filled with surprise as he counted with his fingers.

“Wow, look at the prize money. It’s enough to put aside honor and pride, isn’t it?”

“Eddie, you little thing. Is money important right now?”

“It is important! With this much, we could probably custom order a good weapon.”

“In a man’s heart, you know, there are times when something more important than money burns like a flame. That time is now! All members of the Rikas Mercenary Corps! Charge in with all you’ve got!”

Lailo seemed to have already made up his mind to participate. A few members whose morale had suddenly risen roared energetically following Lailo.

Seeing them burning with enthusiasm like that, participation was almost as good as confirmed. Eddie, watching them, sighed and looked at the captain. Lebel’s furrowed face had already somewhat relaxed.

“Captain. Surely the royal guard bastards won’t come at us holding a grudge over the last incident, right?”

“They won’t do such a thing.”

Lebel folded the invitation in half. If the high-ranking officials saw, they would be furious that a lowly person dared to handle His Majesty the Emperor’s invitation so carelessly, but no one was watching and it was merely a piece of paper after all.

Cledius would not make the cowardly move of pitting many against one, if only for the sake of pride and the image of the royal guards.

Perhaps it’s to recover the fallen morale of the royal guards, or to establish a foothold to curb the momentum of the mercenary corps. When they announced the recruitment of new members, they must have been surprised that more people gathered than expected.

On the surface, the opponent was the royal guards, but in reality, it was facing off against Cledius.

If that was the case, they couldn’t afford to lose even more. Lebel’s blue-gray eyes began to burn from the bottom up.

**

On the day of the tournament, an inexplicable excitement along with tension hung over the palace.

Jin’s face was quite dark as he headed towards the square. Although they had made thorough preparations, wasn’t it a secret order from His Majesty the Emperor?

Kailem had told him that it didn’t matter if they failed, that there was a contingency plan, but what if something went wrong and they were caught?

One of his colleagues patted Jin’s shoulder and said in passing,

“Why, feeling guilty?”

“Because this isn’t exactly a normal act.”

“There’s nothing we can do about it. It’s an order.”

Some officers, while checking the condition of their swords, boasted loudly about teaching the mercenary corps a lesson. Among them were those who had been humiliated at the tavern during the festival.

“…Still feeling sore about the disciplinary action?”

“If only I hadn’t drunk, those mercenary nobodies would have been finished in one go.”

“That premise of ‘if only I hadn’t drunk’ is something you could have controlled with your own will, isn’t it?”

The implication was that it was your fault for drinking and causing trouble. The weight of truth was quite painful. At Jin’s heavy and accurate words, the officer pursed his lips and swallowed his curses.

‘That damn Icastel bastard. He thinks he’s so great and noble.’

But it was true that he was great, and in front of the name of that magnificent Icastel family, one couldn’t act rashly. The officer quietly grumbled to himself and followed the others.

The training ground where the tournament was to be held was busy with servants making preparations. They dampened the ground slightly with water to prevent dust from flying, and set up a canopy to create shade where the Emperor and Empress would sit.

Ilarid arrived at the appointed place first. The servants and laborers who were preparing stopped their work and bowed in greeting.

“You’re working hard. It seems I’ve arrived first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”

The only one in the palace who always moved about 10 minutes earlier than the set time was the Empress. The servants knew this fact, so they had prepared the Empress’s seat first.

Just as Ilarid was about to take her seat, a loud noise was heard from somewhere.