The day before arriving at the capital, Latil, Hyacinth, and Carlein gathered to discuss how they would appear at tomorrow’s war council to corner the impostors.

The result of their brainstorming was this:

First, Hyacinth, as a foreign emperor, would lay the groundwork by thanking the Sadi envoy who attended the war council.

In doing so, he would highly praise the existence of the ‘Special Envoy Sadi’, complimenting him in every way, creating an atmosphere where they couldn’t easily label ‘Sadi’ as an odd one when he appeared.

“They will definitely be flustered and try to evade your appearance, pretending not to be surprised.”

At this point, it splits into two. If they speak as if they know about Sadi, Hyacinth would say, ‘I brought Sadi along,’ and then Latil would step forward.

If they insist they don’t know about Sadi, Hyacinth would suggest they listen to Sadi’s story, and Latil would step forward.

Either way, Latil would conceal her face with a cloak upon her appearance, and Carlein would also appear wearing a cloak.

“Then, Rean and the fake will try to extract information from you.”

“I will listen, then suspiciously push the two of them into the corner.”

“Then they will get flustered and try to push you to be the odd one.”

“At that time, I will take off my cloak and shout out, ‘Of course, you wouldn’t know! Because you’re not me!’ Like this.”

“I will also take off my cloak at that point.”

People who saw this would whisper and get flustered, but the proxy official, as agreed beforehand, would step in and guide the conversation, saying that Latil is clearminded and definitely not a black magician. Carlein would also testify that Latil is the real one.

“They will refute this time as well. Naturally.”

“Then, I will speak about you. When you were absent due to illness, in fact, you were with me discussing matters related to the black magician.”

As she scrutinized the last letter Tasir sent, Latil nodded.

“If Hyacinth refutes, saying ‘How can you believe the words of someone from another country?’, Tasir would step in at this point and ask to talk about what happened between the two of us since we often went on dates. Of course, he will take my side no matter what I say.”

When people fall into confusion, Latil can drive in the final nail. Even if things go wrong, she wouldn’t be chased out unilaterally like before. If things go well, she might even get recognized as the real one.

After the discussion, Hyacinth went to bed, but Latil, touching her blanket without a reason, went outside the camp and hugged her knees.

Looking at the stream that seemed about to break, Carlein approached and sat next to her.

“By tomorrow, you’ll reclaim your original position.”

“It might not go as planned.”

“But at least you’ll be able to sleep in the palace.”

Latil stirred the stream water with her finger. The waterway was quickly broken with a small movement. Watching this, Carlein cautiously asked.

“Will you reveal that the Queen Empress is involved in this?”

Latil took her hand out of the stream. As the water flowed again, Latil watched it and sighed.

That was the problem.

When she first left Karisen, she kept thinking about Aini’s words, but as she got closer to Tarium, all she could think about was her mother.

Hyacinth had revealed his face and progressed with the situation, so there was no way he could avoid being involved. But her mother was different.

Her mother had hidden her face and proceeded with the situation, so if Latil, Hyacinth, and Carlein kept their mouths shut, her mother could be considered uninvolved in this.

So she had no choice but to worry about whether to reveal or cover up that her mother was an accomplice. And the conclusion Latil reached was…

Looking glum, Latil answered.

“…No.”

“Do you think Prince Rean will remain silent?”

“Anyway, Hyacinth was the one who involved my mother in this. He should stay quiet. He must.”

The day of the decisive battle finally arrived.

When Hyacinth attended the war council, Latil also entered, mixed in with the Karisen delegation. Everything was going according to plan.

They worried if they would be asked to take off the cloaks, but fortunately, no such request was made, perhaps because Hyacinth was nearby.

‘I’m returning to my place now.’

Walking across the marble checkered floor, Latil, who stood amongst the delegation, clenched her fists tightly under her cloak to avoid glaring too much at her mother, who was seated in the emperor’s seat, and her brother standing next to her.

Though she had interrupted the meeting midway, all who were to gather had already gathered, but none paid attention to her as they were all staring at Hyacinth. Not yet.

“I heard you came a long way to express your gratitude, Emperor Hyacinth.”

“Yes. Thanks to the special envoy sent by Emperor Tarium, a possible quarrel during the banquet was avoided. Thank you.”

“I heard the rumors, but it was really true. But you didn’t have to come personally.”