The Winter Queen was indeed a monster with powerful abilities, as the group had initially anticipated.

With a wave of her hand, a blizzard raged, and with a stomp of her foot, sharp ice pillars emerged from the ground.

Martin, who had successfully infiltrated the castle by climbing the cliff, immediately conjured flames upon discovering the Winter Queen, but it wasn’t easy.

The Queen created an ice barrier to block the flames and then calmly summoned her power again.

Even just drawing on her magical energy caused the surrounding temperature to drop to a lethal level.

Feeling the danger, Maximilian hugged himself to maintain body heat and shouted.

“Captain! This doesn’t feel good! We should try to distract the monster with some item and retreat somehow! I don’t think my ability can block this monster’s power, and we’ll freeze to death at this rate!”

Even the insensitive Maximilian could easily sense that the Queen’s magical power was truly transcendental.

Though she appeared as a delicate woman on the outside, this was a monster on a different level from ordinary ones.

Despite his suggestion to retreat, Martin didn’t respond for some reason.

As Maximilian was about to call out to Martin again, who was just standing still in the blizzard created by the Queen.

“Still, it’s lukewarm compared to real snow and ice.”

Martin muttered this and then gripped his halberd tightly.

While frost covered the blade, an image of a person appeared in his mind.

Someone as pure and cool as that frost.

Picturing Yulia in his mind, Martin infused his ability into the halberd.

When it had absorbed enough heat, he swung it.

The blade, blazing like the sun, cut through the snow and ice, rushing towards the Queen.

The Queen tried to block his attack with an ice barrier as she had done with Martin’s first flame, but this time she couldn’t.

Crack!

With the sound of shattering ice, the Queen’s severed head rolled on the floor.

Seeing the situation resolved in an instant, Maximilian, who had been standing behind, ran towards Martin.

“Captain! That’s amazing! To deal with such a powerful monster so easily—!”

Maximilian, who was about to say ‘deal with,’ soon stopped in his tracks towards the captain.

It was because of the flames still fiercely burning around Martin.

Martin tried to withdraw the flames, but it was more difficult than usual to control his magical power.

It was partly because his nerves were on edge from facing the Winter Queen, but there was a more fundamental reason.

The intense longing for the person who had appeared in his mind had shattered his composure, causing his magical power to fluctuate uncontrollably.

Unable to approach, Maximilian cautiously called out to Martin.

“Captain…?”

“Don’t come near until the flames subside. I’ll stay here to cool down the heat. You go outside and inform the members. Tell them we’ve successfully hunted the Queen. And—”

Exhaling heated breaths, Martin continued.

“Tell them to prepare to go to the Imperial Palace immediately to rescue Yulia.”

Night had fallen.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep.

I couldn’t afford to lie down and sleep leisurely when Ernant was rapidly approaching this place.

I had to escape.

The problem was ‘how’ to escape.

First of all, I couldn’t escape through the door or windows.

They would have stationed soldiers 24 hours a day in anticipation of my escape.

Whether through the door or the window, I would be detected the moment I took a step out.

Unable to use my ability, I would be caught without even being able to resist if detected by the soldiers.

I might really have my limbs cut off.

Should I try to break through the wall then?

Thinking this, I quietly went to the wall and tapped it, then let out a long sigh.

From the sound, it wasn’t a wall that could be broken through without tools.

Then should I try going through the chimney from the fireplace…?

No, unless they were fools, they would have blocked the chimney.

The bathroom window was too small to pass through, so where on earth should I escape to?

“Hah…”

A sigh escaped involuntarily due to the hopelessness.

I had considered all sorts of escape methods, but nothing suitable came to mind.

So I was pacing restlessly around the room when I suddenly stopped.

Could there be ‘that device’ in this villa too?

When I stayed at the Schnesthern Marquis’s residence, there was a secret passage in my room.

It was literally a secret passage unknown even to the household servants.

Designed for the marquis’s family to escape in case of enemy invasion, such secret passages were usually prepared in every noble’s mansion.

So if this was a villa built for the royal family, there must surely be a secret passage here too.

The problem was where it was hidden…

“Hmm.”

I first took down the landscape painting hanging on the wall.

Usually, there would be a handle hidden behind such paintings that would open the passage when pulled.

But unfortunately, there was nothing behind the landscape painting.

I then examined inside the fireplace and even pushed the dressing table hard to the side.

I even moved the bed slightly to check around it, but couldn’t find anything.

“Sigh… What am I doing in the middle of the night…”

A sense of futility washed over me as I was moving furniture around, sweating profusely at a time when I should have been sound asleep.

Moreover, my shirt had become damp with sweat.

After irritably throwing off the sweat-soaked shirt, I opened the wardrobe to take out a new one.

Just as I was about to slam the wardrobe door shut.

“…?”

Something strange caught my eye inside the wardrobe.

After putting on the new shirt, I examined the inside and outside of the wardrobe again.

It was indeed strange.

From the outside, it looked like a large wardrobe that could easily fit dresses.

But the inside was cramped even with just shirts hanging.

A wardrobe with different insides and outsides.

As soon as something occurred to me, I knocked on the inner wall of the wardrobe.

Thud, thud.

It sounded hollow.

Having finally figured out where the secret passage was hidden, I immediately tried to pry off the inner panel of the wardrobe with my hands.

Sure enough, behind the panel was a passage large enough for a person to crawl through.

The sound of waves crashing against the bow was particularly pleasant to hear today.

Ernant hummed a tune while gazing at the night sky visible through the cabin window.

With the ship sailing smoothly with favorable winds, they would arrive at the island within two to three days.

And upon reaching the island, he would finally be able to reclaim what he had momentarily lost.

His faithful sword, Yulia.

Of course, in the past, he could have Yulia’s heart without having to try particularly hard.

Even without making much effort, Yulia would bring her loyalty and love to Ernant on her own.

Because Yulia’s heart had remained constant for quite a long time, Ernant had believed.

That only he could possess Yulia’s heart.

But it was a delusion.

Perhaps having grown fond of him while fighting together, Yulia’s gaze had been directed towards Martin at some point.

Ernant believed it was just a momentary whim, that she would return soon, but Yulia didn’t come back.

No matter how many beautiful dresses he gave her or how kindly he treated her, he couldn’t recapture Yulia’s heart.

But now that rebellion was over.

Since he couldn’t turn her heart with gifts or kindness, Ernant was now thinking of using his last resort.

Yes, he should have done this from the beginning. He had been too lenient. Being lenient made her look at someone like Martin.

Justifying his actions like this, he quietly called out in his mind.

The name of the one he would soon reclaim.

Yulia.

A name that rolled softly on the tongue when spoken aloud.

Yulia, the owner of the name, had silver hair as soft and smooth as her name.

The memory of her training intently with her transparent, shimmering silver hair flowing in the sunlight was still vivid.

At the time, he didn’t realize how beautiful it was.

He had only thought it foolish, wondering why she was sweating unnecessarily while training when she was already an Awakened One.

Only after losing that radiance to Martin did Ernant realize.

How beautiful and brilliant a thing he had lost.

“Your Majesty, are you asleep? There’s urgent news.”

The aide’s urgent voice came just as Ernant was deeply absorbed in thoughts of Yulia.

Feeling slightly irritated, he opened his eyes.

“What is it? If it’s not urgent enough to disturb my personal time, I’ll throw you into the sea.”

“I apologize. But it’s about Duke Habicht.”

“…Martin?”

Ernant muttered the name of his hated brother and immediately let out a cold sneer.

“Did he finally die while hunting monsters? I hope it’s that kind of news.”

“No, he’s alive. He… killed all the imperial guards dispatched to the north and is rushing towards the imperial palace.”

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.