“It’s well managed. Is the usual tea temperature alright with you?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I’m glad to serve Lady Litania here again. I’m truly fortunate.”

Snow, making an unexpectedly solemn remark, smiled strangely as he poured tea into a cup and handed it to Litania. The white teacup with blue flowers and vine patterns looked familiar.

She took a sip of the warm tea and set it down on the saucer.

It should have been an unfamiliar place, yet this feeling was strangely familiar.

Was it because of the tea Snow served? The fact that she felt more comfortable now than when she was in the Imperial Palace gave her a rather odd feeling.

“Lady Litania, have you looked around the castle?”

“Just the banquet hall. Come to think of it, I should look around the rest before people arrive.”

Litania’s room was well-furnished, but would the other rooms be the same?

First, it was certain there was no training ground for knights to stay and practice. Even if a training ground was to be built anew, they would need a place to stay in the meantime.

She also needed to check on the seventy servants who were said to work here.

‘I thought the wedding would be the busiest affair, but it seems I’ll be busy from now on.’

Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing for people to have work to do, so Litania cheerfully stretched and stood up.

Litania decided to look around the Dragon Castle first, together with Snow.

Besides the central main palace where Litania and Orbis would stay, the Dragon Castle had two separate palaces on either side, and behind the eastern palace was a tall tower.

“Snow. Orbis says there are as many as seventy servants here.”

“Yes. That many people are needed to manage a castle of this size.”

“I see. But…”

Litania looked around and tilted her head.

“It’s past lunchtime, but I don’t see anyone. I wonder where they all went.”

“They might have been instructed to act… inconspicuously as usual.”

“Is that so? But it’s strange not to see anyone at all.”

Even in the Imperial Palace, there were places beyond people’s sight, so if you chose the time and place well, it was possible to move around secretly.

But it was strange not to see a single person from leaving the hall, crossing the garden, and heading towards the separate palace.

As Litania narrowed her eyes and looked around as if searching for a human shadow, Snow threw a question as if to change the subject.

“Lady Litania, have you met the butler?”

“Yes, he was a person with a peculiar impression.”

Simons, was it? He was so expressionless that when she first saw him, she wondered if he was a magically created doll.

Although Orbis was a divine dragon, he had a human-like feel to him, except for being extremely beautiful, but that man didn’t feel human at all.

‘I can understand becoming introverted if you live with only servants in a castle isolated like the Dragon Castle, but…’

It felt different from that. Was it because of the way he looked at things?

“You don’t seem to like the butler?”

“Huh? No. We barely exchanged a few words. And his attitude was respectful.”

Though expressionless, he wasn’t brusque. His appearance was so peculiar that it was impossible to guess his age, but his manner was perfect enough to rival the head servant of the Imperial Palace.

“Is my attitude not respectful?”

“Our Snow is cute.”

Litania gently patted Snow’s head and then took the boy’s hand as they entered the separate palace.

“Oh?”

She was surprised by the bright atmosphere and thorough management of the main palace where Litania was staying, but the separate palace was surprising in a different way.

The separate palace was in a state of disrepair, as if it hadn’t been touched by human hands for hundreds of years.

Old furniture was covered in dust, and only the sound of the wind could be heard through the rough bricks.

It was quiet and desolate, but thankfully not frightening.

If the atmosphere had been gloomy, she would have stepped back in fear.

“This place isn’t maintained at all.”

“It’s not a place you’ll be using, Lady Litania.”

“But the knights will have to stay here, won’t they?”

“The people who will use this place will clean it themselves.”

The knights and servants sent from the Imperial Palace would arrive by carriage late at night.

Wouldn’t it be too much to ask them to clean up such ruins when they would be exhausted from the carriage journey?

‘I should tell Orbis to have the servants clean this place.’

And while at it, she could also check the faces of the servants other than the butler. Come to think of it, all the knights and servants sent by the Emperor were men.

She would need female servants besides Snow to attend to her.

‘I’ll recruit maids later, let’s check the condition of this place first.’

Though very old, there didn’t seem to be any collapsed areas. Should she say it would be usable after a thorough cleaning and decoration? That was the state of the hall, but the rooms might be different.

Litania began to climb the stairs of the separate palace with Snow.

The stairs were in a state that had received many traces of time, and while the railings were sturdy, some of the decorative carvings were cracked or fallen off.

“Lady Litania, take my hand.”

“Thank you, Snow.”

As Litania was carefully stepping up the stairs, Snow extended his small hand to her. Despite being smaller than her, perhaps because he was a boy, Snow was surprisingly strong.

The boy effortlessly took Litania’s hand and safely led her to the upper floor.

“It seems they haven’t used it at all for a while.”

“Probably because there was no one using it.”

Are all the servants housed in the main palace?

‘But why build a separate palace that won’t be used? Who built this Dragon Castle?’

Although it’s called the dragon’s nest, Orbis couldn’t have been here since the beginning of time.

Looking around the long-abandoned castle, questions only piled up.

If it was a space not used at all, it would be good to just demolish it and secure a view, but Orbis had deliberately left the unused separate palace standing.

As if he knew in advance that this place would be used later.

‘Is it because he’s a dragon, with a different perspective from humans?’

Upon reaching the fifth floor of the separate palace, a long corridor could be seen stretching out. Seeing the narrow, long windows lining both walls, this seemed to be the passage leading to the tower she had seen earlier.

“Snow, let’s go this way.”

“Lady Litania, there’s too much dust there. You should call a servant to clean it.”

“I need to see how dirty it is before I can assign the cleaning.”

There’s nothing more irresponsible than giving instructions to handle something without knowing its condition.

Litania wanted to finish checking the state of the eastern tower as well.

Of course, curiosity about finding the meaning of this old separate palace and tower also played a part.

‘The tower is even darker.’

Perhaps because the windows were small, the light coming through them felt like a dim illumination.

Faded murals and hieroglyphs could be seen carved along the walls of the staircase. They felt just like magical incantations, fascinating Litania.

Only the sound of the two climbing the stairs and the wind tapping on the stone walls as it passed through the old windows echoed.

“Oh?”

Litania discovered a large door blocking the stairs leading to the 8th floor.

The dark brown door, seemingly made of oak, looked as solid as if it had guarded that place for hundreds of years.

There were heavy iron seals on the edges of the door, and it seemed that once opened, the old metal fixtures would make a creaking sound.

Litania gently pushed the door, but it didn’t open, perhaps locked. It didn’t even budge enough to make a creaking sound.

“Why is there a door here?”

“To prevent people from going up, perhaps?”

“But this is an unused tower, isn’t it?”

The surface of the door had natural patterns created by water droplets settling over many years, and delicate carvings and patterns were engraved on the doorknob.

Letters similar to the hieroglyphs seen while climbing the stairs were visible. Could they really be magical characters? They looked somewhat mysterious.

“I wonder what’s up there.”

“Lady Litania, I think it’s best not to be curious about what’s above.”

“Hm, why?”

“It’s a restricted area, isn’t it?”

Restricted area?

Litania examined the old door, but there was no such sign or engraving anywhere.

‘Does this thing that looks like magical writing mean it’s a restricted area?’

Litania tilted her head.

“Snow, how do you know that?”

“Umm.”

The boy mumbled, averting his gaze as if troubled or embarrassed. Unlike his usual cheerful manner of speaking, Snow’s voice lacked confidence.

“…Just because. If it’s locked, it’s usually a sign not to enter, right?”

“It could be broken from old age.”

“That’s… you can tell by looking. This is clearly intentionally locked.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s dangerous!”

Snow grasped Litania’s hand strongly as if to restrain her. Somehow, his attitude seemed full of certainty.

However, that certainty was not confidence, but rather like a warning from someone facing something ominous.

“Don’t go, Lady Litania. If you make a mistake, you might not be of this world anymore.”

“Is this tower so dangerous that it could be fatal…”

Litania couldn’t understand why Snow was so scared, but in a place untouched by human hands for hundreds of years, it wouldn’t be strange if the stairs beyond the door had collapsed.

Since she had no way to open the locked door anyway, Litania turned her steps away.