At first, Elise did not recognize the man who opened the door and entered.

White hair and a gloomy gaze, dark circles under his eyes and dry lips, an icy gaze and pale skin.

“In April last year, I picked up something very interesting near the Ider Palace. I picked it up thinking it might be useful in many ways, but it took longer than expected due to its stubbornness.”

Even as Retrochica explained this, she did not recognize the dangerous-looking man standing quietly beside him.

“I taught this child everything. It was difficult to change the magic power this child uses into magi, but after that, he learned very well. With his many talents, he will faithfully carry out orders as Elise’s slave.”

“Slave… my slave?”

“Yes, a slave loyal only to Lady Elise. Only Lady Elise will be reflected in this child’s eyes, and only Lady Elise’s voice will be heard in this child’s ears.”

If those words were true, there could be nothing better.

A dark magic slave loyal to my words, knowing only me.

Could there be anything more useful in the world?

“Retin, you did this for me…!”

“His name is Bugs. It means insect, Bugs. Lady Elise’s insect.”

“An insect for me.”

Seeing Elise’s eyes fill with joy, Retrochica smiled with satisfaction. And he added.

“Who would have known? That King Victian IV’s youngest son had magical talent.”

Boom-!

At that moment, the sound of the sky collapsing was heard. The joy and relief rising in Elise’s chest shattered against the collapsed sky.

Elise held her breath and stared at the white-haired man standing before her. She examined the man with doll-like eyes devoid of any warmth.

‘What is this nonsense?’

She thought she had misheard.

But upon closer inspection, Lanian’s face was clearly visible.

The deep brown hair, the intelligent eyes with a hint of mischief, the lively cheeks and moist red lips were gone, but it still seemed to be Lanian.

‘No, no… Lanian… how…’

The sight of Lanian standing before her was more shocking than the undead members of the Franche royal family.

‘It’s a lie… How can a person change like that?’

It was an unbelievable transformation. Both externally and internally.

Now, not a trace of the kindness and gentleness Lanian had shown in Ider Palace could be found.

“You don’t need to be afraid, Lady Elise.”

Retrochica said, seemingly misunderstanding Elise’s reaction.

“This fellow doesn’t even remember that he was Lanian Franche. He is just Bugs now, and the meaning of his life is only Lady Elise.”

Elise blinked.

Tears rolled down Elise’s cheeks.

This time, they were real tears.

“Lanian…”

She called his name without realizing it, but Lanian showed no reaction.

“Heh heh. Hehehe. Do you pity this fellow? He was going to die anyway.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

If he had died, and thus turned into an undead, she wouldn’t have felt this way. It was strangely painful that the living Lanian had lost all his previous self and become something new.

“There’s no need to pity him. If you pity him so much, Lady Elise can cherish him. After all, this fellow only wants to see you smile, so he’ll be overjoyed if you smile when he does well.”

“…”

“Lady Elise. I heard you met Roxiana Franche in Kanta this time?”

At that moment, Elise came to her senses as if doused with cold water.

“Do you want to return this fellow to that woman?”

Elise recalled Roxiana smiling at her that day. She vividly remembered the humiliation, anger, hatred, and various other emotions she felt at that moment.

She also recalled her determination to do anything to make Roxiana wail.

The tears stopped. There was no longer any trace of regret or longing in Elise’s eyes as she looked at Lanian.

“No, Retin. No. Really, it’s the best gift.”

Retrochica smiled.

“You’ll feel that way more and more in the future. Why don’t you try calling him?”

Elise shook off even the slightest remaining hesitation and opened her mouth.

“Bugs.”

Then Lanian moved his gaze to stare at Elise. His tightly closed dry lips moved.

“Yes, master.”

Master, he says.

After shaking off the guilt, only ecstasy remained. To think that Lanian Franche would call me master.

A smile spread across Elise’s lips.

“Come here, Bugs.”

Lanian did so.

“Lick my feet.”

Lanian followed the order. Elise giggled.

“Good boy, Bugs.”

Lanian couldn’t answer as he was busy following Elise’s orders.

Elise overlaid Roxiana’s image on top of Lanian’s prostrate form. Thinking that it was Roxiana bowing down and licking her instep, her chest swelled with cruel joy.

Retrochica let Elise indulge in ecstasy for a while, ordering Lanian to do this and that.

Eventually, Elise kicked Lanian’s waist with her foot and asked.

“How can I use this child to become the Crown Princess?”

“This child will behead anyone for Lady Elise. First, let’s deal with Engis Braisa, a strong candidate. After her disappearance, if it becomes known that Lady Elise is pregnant with the Crown Prince’s child…”

“The Braisa family will be busy searching for their daughter, and with the Crown Princess position empty, I’ll have a chance to take that place. The Crown Prince seems to have stronger paternal love than I expected.”

Elise turned to look at Lanian, who was still prostrate.

“Bugs, look at me.”

Lanian raised only his head to stare at Elise. For a moment, she felt those glass-like eyes were eerie, but Elise ignored that feeling and said,

“Can you take care of Engis Braisa for me?”

A drawn-on smile spread across Lanian’s lips.

“I’ll bring that woman’s head for you, master. Anytime.”

Three days later.

Lanian brought Engis Braisa’s head before Elise.

While she welcomed Engis’s death, seeing her head was not pleasant. So Elise thought that next time, she should just order him to bring a finger instead.

+++

The head was severed. The severed head rolled and stopped at Roxiana’s feet.

The monster named Ogre continued to move even after losing its head. Although its accuracy decreased due to not being able to see, there was still strength in the arm wielding the huge club.

Robert, who was standing next to Roxiana, kicked away the rolled head.

“The knights of Torkan are impressive.”

“Indeed.”

While staying in Torkan, she learned various things about monsters as well.

That among the monsters appearing from various rifts, there are those with similar appearances, aggressiveness, and intelligence that form groups. That they are given names like Ogre, Minotaur, Goblin, etc. for distinction. That there are also unnamed monsters that appear only once or twice and never show up again.

The monster called Ogre doesn’t form large groups, but each individual is quite strong and tends to lead smaller monsters.

Roxiana had heard about Ogres before.

-“They’re incredibly big. I heard some are three times bigger than humans. That’s why more than half of the holy knights who went on the subjugation mission this time died.”

It was a story told by Lanian, who was very interested in monsters, holy power, and magic.

The Ogre, which had caused the death of more than half of the subjugation force usually consisting of about 30 knights and 200 regular soldiers, was not able to exert its full strength against the knights of Torkan.

The knights’ movements were precise, sharp, and strong.

They beheaded it to deprive it of vision, avoided attacks to penetrate inside, tore its chest, and before the wound could heal, reached in to pull out the heart. Once the extracted heart was torn to shreds, it was over.

“The vitality of monsters is remarkable. To think it still moves even with its heart removed.”

Robert, too, had only fought against humans before and was seeing monsters for the first time, so he couldn’t take his eyes off the dazzling and desperate battle scene unfolding before him.

Then, as if suddenly realizing something, he said,

“Princess, you’ve seen enough now, so please retreat to the rear. It’s dangerous.”

“Well, it doesn’t seem dangerous to me.”

Robert glanced in the direction of Roxiana’s gaze. There was Floyd.

Floyd enveloped in a massive flame.

The flames surrounding Floyd’s body did not burn a single strand of his hair, but they seared the skin of any monster that came near. Monsters just approaching Floyd’s flames would scream in agony and visibly weaken. If they touched the flames, they would die screaming terribly.

‘Monsters die just by touching the flames.’

Roxiana stared at the flickering flames around him.

‘The problem is that the Grand Duke can’t perfectly control those flames.’

The flames protected Floyd but did not protect the other knights. She had witnessed several times that even when Floyd tried to send flames in a direction that seemed dangerous, they didn’t move according to his intentions.

The clever monsters did not approach Floyd and attacked knights who were far away. Fortunately, the experienced knights cooperated to behead the monsters and extract their hearts.

Roxiana gently moved her fingers.

Wind gathered at the tips of her fingers and then disappeared.

‘If the Grand Duke’s power can handle monsters, perhaps my power can too.’

Roxiana had recklessly joined this subjugation mission wanting to test this. However, not wanting to endanger everyone with a hasty attempt, she was observing how Floyd, who had similar powers, dealt with the monsters.