“…Anessa.”

“Why? Come to think of it, it was wrong to mess with Mirmode. Why did I harbor such greed? Like…”

Anessa, who had been staring fixedly at the Crown Prince, turned her sharp gaze to Melodia.

“As if she had some holy revelation. Yes, Melodia. Why did I follow your words? I don’t understand. Hearing that command to attack Mirmode… it was too sudden and strange.”

In response to Anessa’s words, the Crown Prince, infuriated, pounded the table with his fist.

“Melodia didn’t manipulate us!”

“Well, I wonder. If Melodia hadn’t incited us, would we have made such a handshake and gone after Mirmode on our own? Think about it, brother. I took on the risk, and you tried to drive away Sien Mirmode by tormenting him, all because of Melodia and you.”

The voices between the Crown Prince and the princess grew louder. Melodia sipped her tea, maintaining a subtle smile on her lips.

“Huh…”

Breathing quietly, waiting for the Crown Prince and Anessa to calm down, she lowered the teacup.

Even Anessa, who had intended to attack Melodia with a graceful attitude, flinched.

Soon, Melodia, who had been examining the Crown Prince’s expression by his side, lightly tapped him on the shoulder as if comforting him.

“Yes, it turned out that Sien Mirmode couldn’t be handled.”

Feeling an inexplicable calmness in her touch, the Crown Prince suddenly blushed at the mention of ‘Sien Mirmode.’

“Yes, Melodia.”

“It’s a pity. Still, you did well, Your Highness.”

Melodia closed her eyes and smiled brightly.

In fact, Anessa’s words were not entirely wrong. The reason he had tried to handle Sien Mirmode. It was all because of the saint, Melodia, whom he had fallen for at first sight.

Because she said that Sien Mirmode must be dealt with, Anessa and Yoter’s upper echelons had tried to capture Mirmode. It felt worthwhile even in the midst of everything failing after hearing Melodia’s words.

‘Everyone said it was strange to interfere with the Mirmode family as a family inspector, but even though everything failed, it feels rewarding when I hear Melodia’s words.’

As Anessa, Melodia’s touch comforted him, and he briefly spoke while holding her hand.

“…Melodia.”

“Yes.”

“I feel like you’re the only one for me.”

Ignoring the princess’s gaze, who seemed bewildered, to him, who was being sold off to another kingdom, his beloved woman was more precious than a foolish tool, his younger sister.

Melodia, the saint, was his first love, and she was the only woman he wanted to pass on the position of Crown Princess. Gazing at Melodia with overflowing affection, he spoke shortly.
As their intertwined hands separated, Melodia looked at him.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, then, as we talked about before, the engagement…”

Melodia chuckled briefly, shaking hands gently.

“I, now, must depart on the Path of Light.”

“Melodia? Are you really leaving? Saying you’re going on the Path of Light and not planning something else?”

“Yes, Your Highness. That’s correct.”

The phrase ‘heading for the Path of Light’ meant walking towards the Lux Coast, located at the southernmost tip of the empire.

A long time ago, it got its name because there was a dark world enveloped in dim light near the coastline of Lux, which was essentially closer to delusion than reality.

Nowadays, saying ‘walking on the Path of Light’ referred to constantly walking and pilgrimage along the coast of the southernmost part of the empire, giving grace to the imperial citizens.

Because of this, it was sometimes called the Pilgrim’s Path rather than its formal name, the Path of Light.

Although it was a pilgrimage site visited by popes, saintesses, and archbishops, most of them went there shortly before retiring, around the end of their careers.

It was extremely unusual for a young saintess to visit the Path of Light. The Crown Prince frowned at such an unprecedented move.

“Why are you already leaving for the ‘Path of Light’? You’re still young. You can leave after getting married.”

Suddenly, Melodia’s eyes, which were gentle and lovely, turned cold.

The expression change was so rapid that the Crown Prince was taken aback.

However, as if all that coldness were false, Melodia spoke gently, lifting the corners of her mouth.

“Your Highness and the Pope, there’s something I must find on the Path of Light.”

“Something to find?”

“Yes. If I find ‘it,’ Your Highness, I am sure that you will ascend to the throne without any restraint from anyone.”

The Crown Prince, hearing her words, bit his lip.

Since meeting Melodia, everything seemed to work out well when he listened to her.

Although he had suffered a setback in the case of the Mirmode family inspector, he thought, ‘I made a mistake for Melodia, and she did nothing wrong.’

It seemed that Melodia thought that she had to restrain Sien Mirmode, even though he was just a ten-year-old.

“Yes, then, when you return, we…”

“Yes. Okay. Let’s get married. I’ll say it when I safely return.”

She held her hand up to the Crown Prince’s cheek, speaking affectionately.

It was a quite simple proposal.

Melodia wasn’t smiling. However, to the Crown Prince, who had fallen deeply in love, everything about her seemed lovely.

Anessa looked at the lovers with a cold, bitter gaze.

‘It’s not funny.’

Despite losing everything in the end, how shamelessly they behaved like a lovey-dovey couple.

His mood strangely soured.

‘Why did Melodia want to restrain Sien Mirmode?’

Although Sien Mirmode was outstanding, he was still a child.

Melodia, who was pure and virtuous, was trying to involve herself in his bloody hands. Why would she do that?

A moment of doubt arose.

But suddenly, like sudden carsickness, it felt uncomfortable. Melodia, who noticed Anessa’s uncomfortable expression, smiled affectionately and spoke.

“Anessa, your head must be hurting a lot. Rest.”

Unable to continue thinking as she said, Anessa leaned back on the sofa, massaging her throbbing forehead.

Why did the temple side want to eliminate Sien Mirmode?

Anessa, the Crown Princess, wasn’t the only one who harbored doubts. Matthias Mirmode, who had solved all these incidents with Sien, was the same.

Inside the office of the Duke of the Mirmode family, Matthias looked down at his desk and whispered.

“In the end, is it the Crown Prince’s involvement with the temple that caused this incident?”
“Yes, that’s correct. Yoter Upper, the Temple, and the Crown Prince. You could say it’s a collaboration of these three. However, it’s questionable why the Crown Prince and the Temple had to get involved.”

“They must have tried to tarnish our family.”

“But…”

“Yes, it’s too much. It was an excessive act to try to tarnish the Mirmode family just for that reason.”

After confirming a report stating that Matthias had successfully killed all the aides from the Elder Council who received bribes from the Crown Prince, he smiled with satisfaction.

As expected, the assassins he personally trained had never made a mistake.

“But come to think of it, I guess there’s no need to ponder on the reasons.”

“Why?”

“The fact that both the Temple and the Palace attacked my daughter at the same time…”

Matthias’s eyes narrowed. His fingertip pointed to the map laid out on the table.

In the center of the map were the Palace and the Temple.

His fingertip landed right in the middle of the Palace and the Central Temple.

“If I eliminate both of them, it should be enough.”