“I received an invitation to Grand Duke Ratean’s party.”

“So? Don’t tell me you want to go there?”

Though Lucas’s voice turned cold, Elise steeled herself and said,

“I want to go.”

“Ha! You want to go there? You? With what face?”

Lucas’s face turned red as he shouted.

“Do you know what kind of rumors are circulating out there? The ones that reached the royal palace are just a part of it! When I went outside, there were some incredible rumors going around! They say there’s not a single man in a high position in Kingteren who hasn’t warmed his body with your heat!”

“Your Majesty, surely you don’t believe all those false rumors? Even if everyone slanders me, you should be on my side.”

“Those rumors need to be reasonable for me to want to take your side! Do you know what I heard today?”

Lucas roughly grabbed Elise’s arm and pulled her close. His hot breath brushed against the tip of her nose.

“I heard on my way here that even my knight slept with you, Elise. I heard that the knight I trusted didn’t leave your bedroom all night!”

“Your Majesty! That’s all…”

“Aren’t you curious about where Hunter Trenton is?”

“Why would I be curious about him? He’s Your Majesty’s knight. Please let go of my arm, it hurts.”

“You should still be curious. He might be the father of the child in your belly, isn’t that too cold?”

“This child is Your Majesty’s!”

“Hmph!”

Lucas let go of Elise’s arm as if throwing it away.

“I’ve locked him up in the underground dungeon. I’ve also hired a very skilled torture expert. It will be quite a sight starting tomorrow. Instead of the party, how about going to the dungeon to enjoy that spectacle? You’ll hear something better than the boring music played by the band.”

Elise felt the blood drain from her face.

Hunter Trenton. How heavy would his lips be? How much torture could he endure?

No matter how she thought about it, he didn’t seem like he would sacrifice his life for her. It seemed his mouth would open even before the torture blade touched him.

The party wasn’t the issue.

Seeing Elise turn pale, Lucas laughed loudly.

“Filthy wench. To think I trusted someone like you and brought you into the palace. If I had known it would be like this, I should have married Roxi. Everything’s ruined because of you! You know? Everything’s a mess because of you alone!”

Elise was frightened by Lucas laughing like a madman and screaming. As she staggered backward, Lucas widened his eyes and raised the corners of his mouth.

“Where are you going, Elise? You know what you’re good at. At times like this, you should seduce me, embrace me, and comfort me seductively. Hm? Come here, come here and do what you did for other men!”

Elise turned around and fled. Lucas didn’t follow, but his maniacal laughter clung to Elise’s back. And mixed with that laughter, Roxiana’s green eyes followed along.

Even after returning to her room and locking the door, the trembling didn’t stop.

Her stomach cramped severely. It seemed something was wrong with the baby, but she couldn’t call a doctor. If the child came out of her body without any preparation, that would truly mean death.

Elise clutched her stomach, collapsed, and groaned, calling for Ranian. She called and called for Ranian, who had left his post to kill the Baron and Baroness Elven.

Ranian responded to her call when the dawn light was bright and the abdominal pain had disappeared.

Elise looked into the green eyes that contained only herself. Because Ranian was her only ally here, she clung to his arms and whispered.

“Bugs. My Bugs. Please, for my sake, kill Hunter Trenton in the underground dungeon.”

Ranian smiled.

“Yes, master.”

Within a few hours, a story that a monster had attacked the underground dungeon and torn apart a trapped knight made the royal palace noisy. Everyone was in an uproar trying to find the monster that might be hiding somewhere, and all were trembling with fear, but only Elise was calm.

‘That’s right, I have Bugs. You know what, Roxi? Your lovely brother is now my slave. You probably don’t even dream of it. You’re probably looking for Ranian every day. But Ranian is gone, Roxi. There’s only Bugs who only looks at me and loves only me.’

A smile finally returned to Elise’s lips.

+++

Roxiana opened her eyes with a start.

It seemed she had a very bad dream, but she couldn’t remember the content. Even though she had escaped the dream, her heart was still pounding painfully.

Feeling a heavy sensation on her chest, she looked down to see Floyd’s arm resting there. After staring blankly at the thick, tanned arm, she quietly turned her head to gaze at his face, turned towards her.

Floyd, who had been sleeping on a steel bed without blankets due to the unpredictable flames, was finally able to sleep on a soft bed with blankets like others after sharing a bed with Roxiana.

She liked seeing Floyd’s face sleeping with a peaceful expression. Looking at that face that seemed free of worries, Floyd’s comfort was contagious, and Roxiana’s heart also became peaceful.

Feeling his warm breath on her cheek, she was about to close her eyes and try to sleep again when she suddenly remembered something and opened her eyes again. Then she carefully opened her mouth and whispered softly.

“Ifrit.”

The wind spirit ‘Jinn’ had told her that the king of fire spirits was inside Floyd. Roxiana had never met a spirit king before, so she hadn’t thought to speak to the fire spirit king said to be inside him. It felt like a being she shouldn’t address carelessly.

But now, unable to find Ranian no matter how much power she used, she wanted to rely even on a ‘king’. Even if the spirits couldn’t find him, perhaps the king of spirits could help?

“Ifrit.”

There was no response, so she called once more. Suddenly, Floyd’s body temperature seemed to rise, and she felt an unbearable heat, causing her to sit up abruptly. She had never felt hot when touched by Floyd’s flames before, so the heat that felt like it would burn her skin was disconcerting.

At that moment, the otter that had been sleeping under the bed jumped up. Roxiana reached out her hand, worried the otter might burn up in the heat that even she could barely endure, but fortunately, the heat disappeared cleanly at that moment.

The otter, as if nothing had happened, padded over lightly and climbed onto Roxiana’s shoulder. While Roxiana was worriedly watching the otter, Floyd, who had been asleep, was slowly raising his body.

Sensing movement and turning around, Roxiana was startled to see Floyd’s eyes.

Floyd’s eyes were tinged with red.

Floyd, who had been staring blankly at Roxiana’s face with an expressionless look, grinned. It was a smile that the usual Floyd would not have made.

“Roti.”

The voice was the same as Floyd’s. Roxiana swallowed hard before asking.

“Ifrit?”

“Yes. I am Ifrit, the king of kings who rules over the spirits of spirits!”

For a moment, heat spread out again, but when the otter exerted force, the heat disappeared cleanly. The otter was staring at Floyd, or rather Ifrit, as if he was pathetic, but Roxiana didn’t notice this.

Ifrit snorted at the otter and then lightly grasped Roxiana’s chin, turning it this way and that to examine her.

“You’ve grown a lot.”

“…Do you know me?”

“Of course I do. Long ago, I was the one who granted your mother’s request to save you when you were dying.”

At the word ‘I’, the otter stared intently, and Ifrit wrinkled his nose and corrected his words.

“We did.”

“By we, you mean…?”

“The kings. Who else do you think could have saved a life if not a king? The high-rank spirits? They don’t have that kind of power.”

“Then can the spirit kings even revive dead people?”

“Of course not. We can breathe new life into a body whose life is fading, but we can’t revive someone who’s already dead. So if you’re thinking of asking us to revive your family, forget it. We can’t do that.”

“I wasn’t planning to ask that…”

“Then that’s fine.”

It was hard to get used to seeing hurtful words being said so casually with Floyd’s face. Roxiana realized anew how gentle and polite Floyd had been to her.

“So why did you call? Are you bored?”

“It’s not that… I was wondering if you could find Ranian for me.”

“How could I?”

Ifrit pointed to his own chest as if dumbfounded.

“I’m trapped in this body. I entered thinking it would be interesting, but I didn’t know I’d be assimilated with the soul and unable to escape. If I had known this would happen, I would never have entered. Who would have thought that I, Ifrit, the king of kings, would be trapped?”

Roxiana heard the otter snort, but she thought she must have heard wrong.

“If you’re trapped, does that mean you can’t leave that body until Floyd dies?”

“That’s right. Things have gotten terribly complicated. But still.”

Ifrit gazed at Roxiana as if she was cute and lightly pinched her cheek.

“I’m glad I was able to save you when you were about to die. I don’t know how things are turning out, but.”

“So even the king doesn’t know.”

“Just because I’m a king doesn’t mean I know everything.”

“Then do you not know where the other spirit kings are?”

Ifrit smiled strangely.

“Well. They might be very close to you. They might be so close that you’d be shocked if you knew, so look carefully.”

The wolf that had risen unnoticed and the eagle outside the window were quietly glaring at Ifrit, but Ifrit continued speaking.

“When that demon god tried to descend here. The kings took a big hit trying to prevent that. Me and the other guys too. I was relatively better off because I’m the king of kings, but the other guys needed bodies to enter temporarily to recover. So they’re probably inside some bodies recovering their strength.”