Prince Klein sighed heavily, shaking his head gently, and stared at Latil with his bright blue eyes. They were clear, beautiful, and slightly mad. They were as clear as the sky on a sunny day.

Suddenly, Latil thought. The sky was said to be so vast and deep that no one could know its end. The same sky was reflected in the eyes of Prince Klein. Was it because of this that she couldn’t understand the vast and deep thoughts inside the prince’s head?

“Klein.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I find you truly fascinating.”

“Your Majesty….”

“Someday, I’d like to delve into your mind. Truly.”

“You speak very boldly. You are straightforward.”

“I am?”

‘What about my words?’

Klein laughed, squinting his eyes as if he interpreted a nonexistent compliment as a compliment.

Latil stared at him, gave his broad shoulders a couple of pats, and left the harem. She could not understand 90% of what he said, but she knew that Klein was upset for some reason.

After returning to her room, Latil ordered the court officials to send gifts to both Callein and Klein.

“Do you mean Prince Klein?”

“He seemed quite upset.”

“All the other consorts are probably upset as well.”

“Klein is a foreigner, and he is also the consort with the highest status.”

There was a possibility that he was a spy sent by Hyacinth, but regardless, his external status was that high. Besides, his character was also arrogant and full of pride. It seemed better to save his face, even if they couldn’t spend the night together.

“Oh, Count Sable. One more thing.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“It’s about… Callein.”

“Yes.”

“Could you investigate his past?”

“Is there something suspicious?”

“No, it’s not that.”

He seemed to have a lot of experience with women. Besides, it was a bit strange that he kept saying he knew from the past.

Latil hesitated to say it, but she felt awkward to describe the reason in detail, so she just asked him to investigate.

“I will thoroughly investigate.”

However, the court official interpreted Latil’s hesitation in his own way, smiled as if he found it cute, and left the room.

‘Uh… It seems like he thought something severe.’

Latil was taken aback by the court official’s smile, raised her hand to stop him, but decided it would be even weirder to explain, so she let him go.

‘Whatever, what if he misunderstands?’

Latil scratched her head and went into the bathroom. As she stepped into the tub and started playing with the foam, making snowmen, there was a frantic call for Latil from outside.

“Come in.”

As she gave the command and rose from the tub, a maid came in and kneeled.

“What’s the matter?”

When Latil asked, the maid reported with a desperate face.

“Your Majesty. It seems like you urgently need to go to ‘The Lion’s Palace’.”

‘The Lion’s Palace’ was a nice way to refer to small houses. Houses for the dead. And under the houses, the bodies of past emperors and their spouses were buried.

“What happened?”

Latil immediately asked as she got out of the tub. If she needed to go there at this time, it had to be something bad. The maid’s expression said as much.

“Someone has defaced the house of the previous emperor with black dye!”

“Defaced?”

As expected, it was a massive incident. The maids who were bathing Latil let out small screams. Latil grabbed a towel as if snatching it, hastily dried herself without even donning a bathrobe, and hurried out.

‘Defacing the tomb of the previous emperor?’

It was unthinkable. Latil quickly got dressed and ran out, running to the front of ‘The Lion’s Palace’ in one breath.

As Latil approached the palace, she stopped abruptly to catch her breath.

From the outside, ‘The Lion’s Palace’ looked like a small, beautiful, and peaceful bungalow. However, that peaceful bungalow was hideously covered with black paint.

From up close, it looked like a random group of lines, but from a distance, it looked like a ‘V’ with a ‘_’ under it.

“What an insolent bastard!”

Latil clenched her teeth in anger.

“Who is in charge here?”

As soon as Latil asked, two soldiers from the 1st guard squad, responsible for the area, hurriedly approached. Their faces showed fear of possibly receiving severe punishment for this incident.

“When did this start happening?”

Latil asked, contemplating whether or not to punish them. If there was even a slight chance of them being responsible, she intended to punish them severely.

“It happened during the brief period of guard change.”

“The change of guard was at 6 a.m.”

“Was there nobody here during the shift change?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. The post is vacant for about 7 minutes.”

“Who was the previous guard?”

Upon Latil’s question, another soldier sprung forth from behind the two who had been taking turns answering.

“It was me, Your Majesty.”

“Was this graffiti here when you were on guard?”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Any signs of suspicious individuals?”

“There were none.”