Various opinions were exchanged chaotically in the room that had been quiet.

Ludovica insisted that they had no choice but to go north unconditionally, as they could not abandon the north either way, while Dietrich opposed this.

Though their opinions were contradictory, each side had valid reasons.

As such, the discussion showed no signs of ending easily.

Amidst those passionately exchanging opinions, Veronica’s eyes fell upon her unusually quiet half-brother.

His expressionless face, as if uninterested in anything, felt in stark contrast to when she first met him.

‘When we first met, his face wasn’t completely devoid of expression at least.’

At that time, he rather openly displayed his obsession with Vivian through his entire being, making it easy to read his true feelings.

However, ever since Vivian left far away, he had been in this state the whole time.

Clearly, he was cooperating with work, so she couldn’t say anything, but that face that seemed to lack emotions sometimes gave Veronica the chills.

When confronting magical beasts or demons, he would stab and kill enemies with his shadow without any agitation, as if he were a machine made for slaughter.

Inhuman attitude and actions.

It was simply surprising that he had thoroughly hidden such aspects in front of Vivian.

Still, from Veronica’s standpoint, his cruelty and violence weren’t all bad.

Just by deploying him in operations, matters would often be resolved smoothly.

Especially when he combined forces with the Mage-Knights, their compatibility was so good that they had even blocked demons more easily than expected at times.

However, if there was one uncomfortable point, it was that they had to be careful not to expose Ren’s identity.

According to what she heard from Vivian, Siegfried was after Ren’s, no, Callys’ body.

He had the ulterior motive of seizing his body, which possessed extraordinary abilities, to instantly become emperor and dominate this land.

Fortunately, he did not currently know the exact whereabouts of Callys.

He would have no idea that Callys was freely moving about like this.

But if during the execution of an operation, Siegfried found out about Callys’ existence…

‘He would immediately try to kidnap him. Without regard for means or methods.’

And if he succeeded in getting his hands on Callys’ body, Veronica would have no way to stop the throne from being taken by Siegfried.

‘That absolutely must not happen.’

Therefore, Ren’s deployments in various operations were minimized as much as possible.

Even when they inevitably borrowed his hand, they made sure he did not take the front lines.

Thanks to that, Ren’s location and existence had not been exposed to Siegfried so far.

However, it was uncertain whether this method would continue to work. Even this upcoming deployment could be called a crisis.

‘Is it the right choice to send him north…?’

In a situation where it was unknown what kind of powerful trap Siegfried had laid this time.

So she wanted to borrow everyone’s strength as much as possible, but Veronica had a bad feeling.

But she couldn’t just leave him here alone either.

When other emergencies arose, it would be Ren who had to handle them at the forefront.

It was truly a dilemma.

At that moment, Ren, who had been apathetic the whole time, spoke up for the first time.

“The Mage-Knights go north. If problems arise here, I’ll solve them.”

Veronica hurriedly tried to dissuade Ren.

“That cannot be allowed. If something goes wrong, Siegfried may discover your existence. It would be better for the princess to stay here, and send the young duke alone to the north…”

Ren cut her off in the middle of her speaking, not caring at all about courtesy towards royalty.

“The north has less sunlight and shorter days. Magical beasts will run more rampant there than other regions, so can a Mage-Knight endure that alone? I don’t think so.”

It was truly a rude remark.

He had been speaking to Vivian with utmost respect, but ever since she disappeared, he had been like this.

‘No matter how much of a hidden prince he is, to dare speak to Her Highness like that…!’

Trian, who stood by Veronica’s side, wanted to behead Ren right then and there.

Still, he had no choice but to endure it with clenched fists. Because Veronica had directly condoned this.

Veronica herself showed no interest in Ren’s attitude.

She only sank into worries that were not easily resolved.

It was difficult to know what the right answer was.

In a situation where all the invasions attempted so far had ended in failure.

Still, the expression of Siegfried, who was in his office, was only serene.

Because even failure was part of the plan from the beginning.

If his opponent were someone else, there would have been no need to deliberately orchestrate repeated defeats, but Siegfried had a good reason for going through such complicated measures.

It was because of one of the abilities possessed by that damn apostle – precognition.

Precognition. An apostle’s ability that was even more troublesome to deal with than the divine power that countered demonic power.

Hundreds of years ago, in the war he waged, Siegfried had already faced apostles.

Unlike now, where it was hard to find any besides Vivian Schmidt, there were over thirty apostles at that time.

They used their precognition to interfere with every invasion he planned.

To crush those cockroach-like apostles, he had no choice but to push through with overwhelming forces each time.

The fortunate thing was that while it was bothersome, doing so allowed him to completely annihilate them.

So during the invasion of the Schneider territory, he had intended to achieve victory in the same way.

Gregory, the second-in-command of the demon realm who could handle the magical beast army.

With him, it was certain that he would completely destroy the enemy and return, whether it was God’s apostle or whoever.

But somehow, his plan had spectacularly burst like a bubble.

‘It must have been the hidden force of Belvedere’s Mage-Knights that played a role.’

An unexpected failure.

However, Siegfried had absolutely no intention of stopping here.

Because precognition allowed one to see fragmentary scenes of the future, it seemed omnipotent, but in fact, there was one fatal weakness.

Namely, that one could not know the exact timing of when events would occur.

Unless one could obtain clues to specify the timing within the future scene they saw, it was impossible to figure out the precise time.

Siegfried planned to properly exploit this limitation.

When humans were intoxicated with victory in battle.

The very moment their trust in precognition reached its peak, he would completely paint their faces with despair.

For that, he did not mind small sacrifices at all.

Still wearing the mask of a prince while processing documents, Siegfried unknowingly let out a vicious smile.

At that moment, his adjutant approached him and held out something. It was a secret letter from the nobles who followed him.

He immediately tore open the envelope and examined its contents.

The senders were each different, but the contents were all the same.

It was a complaint under the guise of concern about the current situation where Veronica’s position was solidifying.

Even though it was news about the princess who was his check, Siegfried did not show any sign of agitation.

As if it were a trivial matter, he brought the paper to the candlestick on the desk.

The fire that flared up devoured the letter, and soon only ashes remained where the letter had been.

Certainly, as the nobles were concerned, Siegfried’s position had been gradually becoming ambiguous as of late.

It was because more and more people were supporting Veronica as she stopped the incidents he instigated.

The current situation where his own actions had rather become shackles on his ankles.

He was also aware of this, but did not pay much attention to it.

Soon, ‘that’ would return to his hands.

The only key that would instantly make him emperor.

No matter how much Veronica struggled, it was an existence she absolutely could not win against.

‘Leonie Schmidt. As long as the wedding with that woman ends safely…’

If only that happened, Callys von Agrian would fall into his hands.

Upon hearing the news that the Lord had awakened, Melphis hurriedly took me somewhere.

A place quite far from the dragon village. There were several waterfalls flowing there.

Melphis picked me up and floated in the air.

Heading to where all the waterfalls began, there was a building that looked like a palace.

It was similar to what I had seen in the human world, yet clearly different in form.

The scale was so much grander that it would not be strange if a giant lived there, and the flowers blooming between the stones that made up the palace caught the eye.

“Is this where the Dragon Lord is?”

“Yes, Vivian. The building is much larger than the village, right? It’s because the Lord does not prefer human form. Since the dragon form is inconvenient to be in the village due to its size, the Lord is usually here.”

Listening to Melphis’ explanation, I quietly rolled my eyes and looked around.

The more I looked, the more bizarre and mysterious the place was.

After a short tour, Melphis spoke to the dragon guarding the front of the palace.

I carefully stayed close to Melphis’ side.

After he said something, we quietly waited in place for a short while.

“The Lord has commanded you to enter.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the huge door creaked open.

Seeing it move automatically without anyone touching it, it seemed magic was used.

I followed Melphis inside without leaving his side.

Soon, we could see the Lord’s figure.

The Lord was even more gigantic than I had imagined. I thought Melphis was majestic when I saw him, but the Lord was beyond that.

The figure was like a mountain.

Melphis tightly held my hand as I tensed up at the huge stature and authoritative impression.

“I pay my respects to the Lord.”

Bowing in greeting with a dignified tone, Melphis set an example that I also followed astutely.

The Lord’s reply came immediately.

“Yes, Melphis. I heard you went to the human world, but you returned sooner than expected. I was told you brought a companion?”

“Yes, that is correct. This is my companion.”

The Lord looked down at me for a moment. That gaze, as if observing, felt somehow meaningful.

“So, why have you come all the way here? There seems to be a reason.”

“Yes, Lord. Actually, there is a favor I wished to ask, so I shamefully came to visit.”

“That favor is related to that companion, isn’t it?”

“Your guess is correct.”

I waited nervously for the Lord to open his mouth.

‘If we can’t get the Lord’s help, coming all the way here will be for nothing. We must somehow find that temple and obtain the holy sword.’

The moment I swallowed my saliva, a faint smile spread across the Lord’s face.

“A dragon’s companion is the same as kin to us. If your true companion needs help, I should naturally lend a hand.”

At the positive answer, I discreetly sighed in relief. Melphis immediately brought up the main point.

“Thank you, Lord. We are looking for a certain temple…”

“Stop.”

When the Lord suddenly cut him off, both Melphis, his great-grandson, and I were startled at the same time.

“Why are you doing this?”

To Melphis’ question, the Lord’s eyes slowly narrowed. Soon, he answered in an angry voice.

“Did you not properly hear what I just said? I said I could help a true companion.”

“What do you mean…”

The Lord’s eyes shone sharply as he threw a pointed question.

“Is that child really your companion? It doesn’t seem so to my eyes.”

Thud.

It felt as if my heart had fallen to my feet.

‘What is this… How… To be exposed so absurdly?’

After barely grasping my rapidly beating heart, I examined the Lord’s face.

As it was a dragon’s face, it was not easy to read his expression, but I could clearly tell.

A distinct anger could be felt from him.