After Vivian left, Melphis focused on unlocking the seal of the holy sword as promised.

In fact, there had been no significant progress so far.

About two months had passed in the human world, but not in the dragon realm.

In this place where time flowed differently, only a day or two had elapsed.

So it was natural that there was no noticeable change.

Of course, it wasn’t that Melphis hadn’t made any effort just because there were no results.

As soon as she left, he had begun investigating to obtain information about the god.

Only a few hundred years had passed since the god disappeared.

He too had seen the god once or twice when he was young, but unfortunately didn’t know much.

From a young age, he wasn’t the type to take much interest in beings other than himself.

So he tried to get information from older dragons who might have had contact with the god… but this too ended in failure.

The original reason the god visited the dragon realm was to meet the Dragon Lord.

Most dragons, except the Lord, had never even spoken to the god.

So afterwards he tried searching through old records, but it wasn’t a very meaningful action.

“Ah, this is troublesome.”

Melphis sighed deeply as he stared at the holy sword.

When the seal is broken, the purple jewel in the sword’s hilt shines brightly.

However, the jewel still had a dull color. It seemed quite some time remained until the seal would be broken.

Melphis grew impatient. He knew Vivian was waiting for him.

He had told her to return to the human realm trusting him, but he worried about bringing the sword later than when it would be needed.

‘If it’s later than expected… she’ll be disappointed in me.’

He didn’t want that.

Of course, given Vivian’s personality, he knew she wouldn’t blame him even if he brought the holy sword late.

She probably wouldn’t even get angry if he intentionally came late.

She would blame herself for leaving the dragon realm trusting him.

Still, Melphis didn’t want to create even the slightest possibility of being hated by her if he could help it.

He had somewhat given up on forming an imprint with Vivian to become true companions, but that didn’t mean it was okay to earn her hatred.

So he had been dedicating himself solely to unlocking the seal on the holy sword without even sleeping since she left…

But there didn’t seem to be any solution other than waiting for it to naturally unlock.

‘Even if I ask the Lord, he remains silent…’

In Melphis’ opinion, the Lord clearly knew how to break the seal.

However, for some reason, he didn’t seem to want to reveal it to him.

It wasn’t strange, since it was the same when they went together with Vivian to ask about the temple.

“It’s frustrating, so frustrating.”

He lay spread-eagled on the temple floor in resignation.

He wanted to quickly break the seal and bring the sword to her. Then she would thank him with a pretty smile…

Though only two days had passed here, Melphis already missed Vivian.

He missed her even more because the moments they spent together in the dragon realm felt like a dream.

However, not seeing an answer to the current situation was maddening.

Slightly tired from lack of sleep. Melphis was about to close his eyes briefly when he suddenly sat up.

She might be waiting for him even at this moment.

But that’s when it happened.

“Melphis.”

Only he and the Lord knew the location of the temple. So he could tell who was calling him without looking.

Melphis turned around with a sullen expression. There was the Lord, who seemed to have come in a hurry.

“What is it? I thought you weren’t interested in the holy sword.”

“…The flow of demonic energy entering the human realm has just completely stopped.”

“…!”

Melphis stood up in surprise at the Lord’s sudden statement.

The only route for demonic energy to enter the human realm was through portals created by demons. So if the Lord’s words were true, it meant all the portals had disappeared.

The only being that could create dimensional passages connecting the human and demon realms was the king of demons.

As it took considerable power to create and maintain a continuous connection to another dimension’s world, it was impossible for anyone other than Belial, the strongest among demons.

In other words, if the portals were closed, it meant there was no longer a need to expend power maintaining them.

This also meant that Siegfried, who had weakened, would regain his original strength.

The reason why he suddenly changed his mind after maintaining the portals for over a decade didn’t require much thought to understand.

‘It means he’s fully prepared to dominate the human realm.’

Melphis tried to immediately get up and head to the human realm where Vivian was.

There was no way the demons would leave Vivian, the apostle of god, alone.

Moreover, the weapon needed to face them was still here.

She might be in mortal danger while he hesitated here.

As soon as that thought occurred, his feet moved first.

But then the Lord suddenly grabbed Melphis’ shoulder.

“Wait.”

“Let go. You weren’t planning to help break the seal anyway. I need to go to her…”

“I’ll help.”

“What?”

Melphis asked back, wondering if he had misheard.

He hadn’t shown any sign of helping for the past two days, so what was this sudden talk?

But the Lord’s eyes were dead serious.

“She’s a child my old friend asked me to help. I too want to help if possible. However… in exchange for breaking the seal, there’s a condition.”

“…What kind of condition?”

Seeing the Lord’s worried expression, Melphis naturally realized.

That there was a reason he hadn’t given any help so far.

He waited tensely for the Lord to open his mouth.

Finally, the day of the Crown Princess’s investiture ceremony dawned.

‘In the end… it came to this.’

I had hoped to meet Melphis before today, but life doesn’t always go the way you want.

‘Will I be able to get through today safely…’

The first major imperial event since Siegfried started to quiet down.

Being such a symbolic day, both Veronica and I were worried that Siegfried might cause some trouble.

‘I hope this is just needless worry…’

Perhaps my anxiety showed on my face, as Ren whispered softly beside me.

“It’s okay, Lady Vivian. That’s why we prepared hard.”

Yes, he was right.

We had made many preparations for today.

We doubled the usual security within the imperial palace and set up barriers around to prevent monsters from entering.

Right below where the event is being held, we stationed experienced knights and mages ready to fight at any moment should demons appear.

Ren and I were also on standby with them.

We also limited the number of nobles invited to minimize damage in case of an emergency.

We even required those coming to bring escorts.

Escorts were generally prohibited from entering events hosted by the imperial family, so this was quite an exceptional measure.

That wasn’t all. Ludovica and Dietrich were also planning to participate in the event.

On the surface, they were attending as representatives of House Belvedere, but their real purpose was to prepare for a demon attack.

In other words, we had made the best preparations possible.

‘Still, I can’t help feeling anxious.’

I wished we could have not held the investiture ceremony at all or proceeded without inviting anyone.

But that wasn’t possible.

Though we scaled down the ceremony because of Siegfried, paradoxically, it was because of his existence that we had to hold this event.

After all, the empire was still under constant invasion by demons, and the imperial family needed to show they were intact.

In such a situation, officially announcing the heir held great significance.

‘That’s why the emperor and Veronica are trying to hold the event even in an abbreviated form.’

Politics was truly a headache.

There were too many factors and variables to consider. Even understanding Veronica’s choices was overwhelming for me.

‘Just thinking about demons is enough to make my head split…’

It was then, as I was lost in thought. The sound of wind instruments announcing someone’s arrival began to spread from upstairs.

“Looks like the nobles have started entering.”

When I whispered softly to Ren, he nodded.

The event begins after all the nobles have arrived. Meaning soon. So we couldn’t let our guard down from now on.

I continued to listen carefully to the sounds from upstairs.

After the trumpet sounds continued for a while, the arriving nobles were announced.

Several nobles were called, and Dietrich and Ludovica’s names were heard in between.

It seemed they had safely entered the hall.

‘About 10 people have arrived now, I guess. Veronica said she invited 14 nobles for sure.’

But something was strange.

I thought the announcements would end soon and the event would start, but the nobles’ names kept being called.

The number of people who had entered so far exceeded thirty, but the trumpet sounds showed no signs of stopping.

“Ren, did I hear wrong? Haven’t more people arrived than were invited?”

“No, Lady Vivian. You heard correctly. 33 people have entered so far.”

It wasn’t just me who was bewildered, as the knights and mages around us were also murmuring softly.

It was certain. An unexpected problem had arisen.