Leonie handed me over to the knights with restraints on my wrists.

She bid farewell with a relieved expression and disappeared. She seemed quite pleased to have caught me.

Afterwards, I was dragged away, treated no differently than a criminal.

With a blindfold over my eyes, I couldn’t even tell where I was being taken.

All I could hear were the footsteps of the knights.

With my abilities taken away, there was truly nothing I could do, so I quietly followed their orders.

I was furious at my own incompetence, but without any means to resist, I complied obediently.

That was the best I could do.

By the time the blindfold was finally removed, I was already locked inside a dense iron cage.

The space reeking of musty mold seemed to be located deep underground, where sunlight couldn’t reach.

As soon as the knights disappeared, I surveyed my surroundings.

Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any guards posted in front of the prison. It appeared I was the only prisoner as well.

“…Is anyone there?”

My cry echoed alone in the cold space. There was no response.

‘I’m scared…’

The only light came from the gas lamps hanging on the walls.

Even those were flickering, making it uncertain when they might go out.

The dust-covered floor, which hadn’t been cleaned in who knows how long, proved this place was rarely visited by people.

The thought of being left alone in such a space filled me with terror.

However, I soon gathered my wits. This was no time for such thoughts.

‘Pull yourself together. They say even if you’re captured by a tiger, you can survive if you keep your wits about you.’

Right, at least there’s no tiger in front of me right now, is there?

The moment I thought that.

Suddenly, someone appeared out of the darkness.

I held my breath at the figure who emerged without making a single footstep.

Golden hair that shone brilliantly even in the dim light caught my eye. Soon, I saw the face of a man smiling leisurely.

Eyes with a tinge of green observe me chillingly.

It wasn’t difficult to recognize him. It was Siegfried. Or more precisely, Belial, the King of Demons.

I tensed up at his appearance, of all people.

Being alone with a demon like this was extremely dangerous. There was a possibility of being brainwashed.

There were several conditions for a demon’s brainwashing.

One of them was that it had to be in a place without sunlight and few people around.

In other words, if he intended to do so now, I would be helpless to resist.

Fortunately, I was wearing a defensive artifact around my neck, so I could block it once…

‘But not twice.’

As long as I was trapped in this iron cage, there was no way to escape, so to Belial, I was already like an insect caught in a spider’s web.

Of course, the spider was Belial.

‘This is not good…’

I tried to back away from the iron bars.

However, due to the cramped prison interior, I soon hit the wall.

Siegfried continued to stare at me expressionlessly as I cowered in fear.

“Vivian Schmidt.”

“…”

I remained wary, shrinking back at the sudden call of my name.

“You’re surprisingly docile in your confinement. I thought you’d easily escape using the ability you use for kidnapping.”

“…I’m not the culprit. Of course, I don’t have such an ability.”

“Well, I think differently.”

Ack!

Siegfried suddenly thrust his arm through the iron bars and grabbed my neck with one hand.

I struggled to break free from his grasp, but it was useless.

In the cramped prison, there was nowhere to run, and his hand could reach me wherever I went.

He lifted me into the air, then suddenly let go. I fell to the floor with a thud.

Looking down at me slumped on the ground, he raised the corner of his mouth in a sinister smile.

“The reason you’re not using your ability, or rather can’t use it, is because of this, right?”

He pointed at the restraints.

“…”

Instead of answering, I glared at him.

“That expression… means I’m right. Has the god really been resurrected?”

God? What was he talking about?

I didn’t know what misunderstanding he had, but I kept my mouth firmly shut for now.

“It must be troublesome for the god. The apostle they just prepared has been captured by me so easily.”

His incomprehensible remarks continued.

“That’s why I’ve told them countless times that humans won’t do. What good is giving them strong power? They let their guard down around family and ruin the greater cause like this.”

By ‘family’, he must mean Leonie. No matter how hard I tried to understand, it wasn’t easy.

I wondered who this ‘god’ was that he kept mentioning.

However, I instinctively felt that if I revealed I didn’t understand what he was saying, it would become dangerous.

“What do you intend to do to me?”

Hiding my desire to run away in fear, I instead took a strong stance.

However, Siegfried didn’t show the slightest reaction to my sharp voice that I had uttered with all my strength.

“Intend? What other intention could there be in capturing a criminal who has shaken the country? I simply want the culprit to receive due punishment. I’m pondering what punishment would be fitting. Execution, for instance.”

He spoke smoothly while wearing an expression that anyone could see had ulterior motives.

“I never committed any such crime.”

“Sure, keep insisting that. The witnesses and evidence will tell a different story.”

“It’s all slander! All fake evidence!”

“That’s right, all meticulously prepared by me to have you arrested.”

“…”

I bit my lip. As expected, it seems Siegfried was indeed the one who had prepared the witnesses.

“Don’t look so unjustly treated. It pains me to resort to such complicated measures. Having you as the god’s apostle is troublesome in more ways than one.”

He mocked me once more with a satisfied expression, then turned and left.

When Siegfried was completely out of sight, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Thank goodness. I’ve survived for now…’

I was certain he would try to brainwash me, but for some reason, he didn’t.

‘Could there be some reason for this?’

My intuition spoke to me. It was related to the ‘god’ he kept mentioning.

Suddenly, I recalled what Dietrich had said. He said my ability seemed to be divine power.

The very power that, hundreds of years ago in the distant past, the god was said to have personally bestowed upon favored humans.

‘Is Siegfried making the same misunderstanding as Dietrich?’

Given his use of the term ‘god’s apostle’, it seemed likely.

The ‘god’s apostle’ probably referred to the priests of the distant past.

‘Does this really mean I’ve received power from a god?’

Come to think of it, the possession itself seemed impossible without the power of a transcendent being.

I thought that perhaps Dietrich’s words could be right.

However, the origin of my power wasn’t important right now.

‘By now, Ren must have noticed that I’ve disappeared.’

I needed to contact him quickly.

I caressed my earlobe.

Fortunately, the knights who arrested me mistook the communication device for an earring accessory, so I was able to keep it.

“Ren, can you hear me? Ren!”

No matter how much I tried to communicate, I couldn’t reach him. It seemed this place was a special prison.

‘This is bad. Ren will be worried…’

I sighed.

How did the situation end up like this?

Until this morning, I was happy that things were going well, but it seems that was all my misconception.

‘Pull yourself together. This is no time for this.’

I had to figure out a way to escape from here somehow.

I thought hard about whether there was a way to remove the restraints.

But time passed without any progress.

To make matters worse, the lantern outside the bars went out, perhaps having run out of fuel.

And so, amidst unresolved worries, the prison gradually grew darker.

The news that the serial handsome man kidnapper had been apprehended by Siegfried soon reached Veronica’s ears.

“So, who did they say the culprit was?”

The serial handsome man kidnapping case was one Veronica had been investigating for a long time. The sudden news of the culprit’s identity being revealed was undoubtedly cause for celebration.

However, Veronica couldn’t be purely happy.

It was because all the effort she had poured in for so long had ultimately come to nothing.

Of course, she didn’t show this outwardly.

Maintaining her usual calm demeanor, she waited for Trian’s answer.

“Well…”

Veronica felt uneasy at Trian’s hesitant response.

“It’s alright. Go ahead and tell me.”

“…They say the culprit is Vivian Schmidt.”

The Imperial Princess’s eyes widened at the familiar name. It was strange. She had certainly suspected her at one point.

‘No, was it just to that extent? I had almost been certain she was the culprit.’

She had dismissed her suspicions because the circumstances made it impossible for her to be the culprit… Veronica was filled with confusion.

“I apologize, Your Highness.”

At that moment, Trian bowed his head deeply with a guilty expression.

“It’s all because of me that you believed she wasn’t the culprit, isn’t it? It seems I must have missed something that day.”

“Trian.”

“It’s my fault. I have dared to burden Your Highness.”

“Don’t blame yourself. If you missed something, anyone else would have missed it too. You’re not at fault.”

Veronica closed her eyes for a moment and mentally organized the events that would unfold from now on.

Herself, who had boasted about catching the culprit but failed, and Siegfried, who had apprehended the culprit as soon as he joined the investigation.

It was obvious who would be in the Emperor’s favor.

‘Can I make up for this?’

Veronica wasn’t confident.

It was a complete defeat.

She had been striving for the throne for over a decade, only to be tripped up by such an absurd incident.

A bitter smile spread across her lips.

Suddenly, she became curious. What on earth was the purpose of committing such a ridiculous crime?

“Where is Vivian Schmidt imprisoned now?”

“It seems she’s been confined in the deepest level of the underground prison in the Imperial Palace.”

Veronica rose from her seat. To go meet Vivian.