Not long after, Philen brought some news.

“I heard the inspection team had an accident!”

The blocks I accidentally touched came tumbling down. The Duke, who was listening to the report, stacked the blocks one by one again.

“Tell me the details.”

The Duke nodded slightly as if to say continue. Philen resumed his report.

“It’s said that an abnormal magic amplification phenomenon occurred while passing through the teleport. The bodies are being recovered by the imperial side, and the teleport has been immediately closed.”

The Duke let out a deep sigh. The date of the founding festival was two weeks away, and with the sudden closure of the teleport, the Duke had to depart immediately.

“I’ll have to prepare right away.”

At the Duke’s words, Philen immediately left the room. The Duke, who carefully put me down on the floor, spoke up.

“It’ll be difficult for you to come to the capital this time. Because we have to go without using the teleport.”

“Do you have to go to the capital directly?”

“Yes, it would be a burdensome schedule for you.”

With only two weeks left, everyone would be traveling on horseback. I knew that a young child like me would only be a burden on such a schedule.

‘If I can’t go this time, when will I be able to go to the capital?’

Sighs kept coming out. Perhaps seeing my expression full of disappointment, the Duke gently stroked my hair and said,

“Instead, there’s a birthday celebration for Prince Oxtail next month, I’ll take you then.”

“Okay!”

If so, it was actually even better.

Rather than simply going to the capital, if it’s officially attending an imperial banquet, the chances of meeting the Crown Prince would be even greater.

Returning to my room, I explained the whole situation to the silver snake. Fortunately, the silver snake seemed to understand the unavoidable situation.

[Really? That’s too bad! What a pity!]

‘Why does your face not look sorry at all……’

Putting aside the suspicious attitude of the silver snake, I flopped down on the bed.

‘So that’s why no consequences appeared.’

Since the original story hadn’t changed, there were no consequences for me to receive.

I thought I could prevent that accident just by changing the date of returning to the capital or stopping Daiban, but that wasn’t the case.

Then suddenly a question arose. Both in the original story and in the current situation, it’s said to be an accidental incident, but……

‘Was it really an accidental incident?’

[This is the timeline separator]

The Duke’s preparations for the capital trip were finished in an instant. The next day at dawn, we were all at the main gate to see off the Duke.

“Dad, do you have to come back quickly?”

“Yes, I’ll be back soon.”

After giving the Duke a tight hug, I looked around.

‘As expected, they’re going on horseback.’

Horses were much faster than carriages for travel. Since I wasn’t going along, it seems they chose to move quickly on horseback.

‘But where’s Daiban?’

Michael was there, and Clemens was there too, but Daiban was nowhere to be seen.

“What about Daiban?”

“Seems he couldn’t get up.”

Clemens answered with a shrug. Michael, who hadn’t even looked in my direction, only said ‘Haven’t seen him since last night’ when Clemens asked.

In the end, the Duke and his party had to set off without seeing Daiban.

We stood at the main gate until the Duke’s figure was no longer visible in the distance.

As we were about to turn back, I saw Daiban running from the back gate.

“Diane!”

Daiban called out to me urgently. Clemens and Michael, who spotted him, scolded him.

“Father just left. Where have you been?”

“Where have you been running around?”

Daiban bent over and caught his breath first, having run from afar. I was also curious about where he had been since dawn.

Daiban spoke to me first without preamble.

“Squirt, it wasn’t me! I didn’t do anything! I’ll explain everything!”

“What are you talking about? What do you mean you didn’t do anything?”

“What nonsense is that again?”

Clemens and Michael frowned. I immediately realized what he was so anxious about.

I quickly grabbed Daiban’s hand as if snatching it.

“Daiban, you didn’t forget we were supposed to play today, right?”

“Huh?”

“Diane, with me first……”

As Clemens called me, I quickly replied.

“Later, elder brother!”

Michael looked at us with disinterested eyes for a moment before going straight up to his room. Worried that Daiban might say something unnecessary to Clemens, I quickly brought him to my room.

“Daiban, how could you try to tell elder brother all that!”

As soon as we entered the room, I scolded him before I knew it. I don’t know where such courage came from.

It seemed to be out of an urgent feeling. Daiban also seemed to realize his mistake just now and couldn’t say anything.

I let out a deep sigh and sat down on the bed.

I could see dark shadows under Daiban’s eyes.

Come to think of it, Michael said he hadn’t seen him since last night.

“So where have you been since dawn?”

“Ah, I was briefly around the teleport……”

“Why there?”

Daiban’s gaze was still fixed on the floor.

“Why there?”

“To find evidence.”

“Evidence?”

Even if you looked, nothing would have come out anyway, but you stayed up all night from last night to dawn looking for that?

“Why?”

When I asked again, Daiban opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I didn’t cause the accident this time. It really wasn’t me, but to say that, I need evidence……”

“So you’ve been wandering around the teleport since dawn?”

I couldn’t help but sigh. No wonder Michael said he hadn’t seen Daiban since last night.

As I sighed, the shadows on Daiban’s face grew darker. I quickly spoke up before his misunderstanding could dig even deeper.

“I know too.”

“……Huh?”

“This accident, I know it wasn’t you either.”

“H-how did you know?”

“Just, Daiban made a promise with me, right?”

To be honest, it would be a lie to say that Daiban didn’t come to mind when I first heard the news. But I quickly shook off that thought.

‘Because he made a pinky promise with me.’

I didn’t think Daiban would have broken that promise and done it. At my words, Daiban just opened and closed his mouth.

“You said you’d keep the promise you made with me. So I know. That it wasn’t something Daiban did.”

“……You really believe me?”

“Yes.”

Daiban quickly became docile. I took this opportunity to emphasize to Daiban again.

“But you were about to tell elder brother earlier, you shouldn’t say that.”

I continued speaking with a stern expression to Daiban, who was just nodding silently.

“Elder brother will worry a lot, you know. You don’t want your family to know about that incident either, right? We said it’s a secret just between the two of us.”

“A secret just between the two of us……”

[This is the timeline separator]

The biggest event on the day of the founding festival was the festival held throughout the capital and the banquet inviting the leaders of high society.

Given the scale, the banquet was held in the Diamond Hall, the largest hall in the imperial palace.

However, the atmosphere inside the banquet hall was far from bright.

The entire inspection team sent to Hesera had died. The news spread throughout high society in an instant.

“How could such an accident happen, there has never been such an accident among the side effects of teleportation, has there?”

“They say it was a magic runaway accident, but I couldn’t find any record of such an accident anywhere.”

“Well, so I was thinking……”

One person who liked to spread gossip gathered the attention of those around and quietly spoke up.

“Who has a tight grip on Hesera right now?”

“Why are you suddenly asking that? Of course it’s Duke Crustel, isn’t it?”

“That’s right! Moreover, aren’t there some among that family’s young masters who have a very close relationship with the current incident?”

“No way……”

People’s eyes wavered. It was impossible not to know.

If one didn’t know that the Duke was raising those infamous twins, they might as well be called a spy.

“Besides, why do you think the Duke is raising those children? It must be his intention to hold them in his grasp and shake them as he pleases.”

“Then did the Duke do all this…!”

At that moment, a quiet silence had settled around them for some time.

Everyone was so tense, wondering who it could be.

‘Gasp!’

The nobleman who had been eagerly gossiping gasped as he saw the face of the subject of his gossip.

Having been caught red-handed by Cailius, he cleared his throat and moved away.

Philen, who had been staring at his retreating figure, said disinterestedly,

“It’s Viscount Ashwood. He’s always been talkative. He has a history of fraud and his conduct isn’t particularly good. However, he currently enjoys considerable favor from the Empress as he stood by the current Empress Amelia’s side until she reached her current position.”

Those who had been talking with the Viscount were in a similar situation. They all looked as if they had no idea the Duke would come to this banquet.

Cailius spoke as he moved away,

“Don’t mind it, we don’t have time to waste on small fry.”

Although it was a bit irritating, there was no leisure to deal with such things at the moment.

He was planning to visit only Baron Vasco’s territory tomorrow morning for the investigation of the incident, and then depart immediately for Hesera.

The purpose of visiting the Baron’s territory was to investigate the accident that had occurred then.

He wanted to ignore the Baron’s territory and leave at dawn, but the purpose of coming to the capital today was not only to have an audience with the Emperor but also to ascertain the truth of the accident and reopen the teleport.

‘Tsk.’

Cailius clicked his tongue inwardly.

Due to the unexpected accident, the teleport connecting Hesera and the capital was closed, causing disruptions to various schedules.

Above all, the biggest disruption was that it would take a full month round trip to travel to and from the capital.

Considering that he had to come and go at least once a quarter mandatorily, it was undoubtedly a huge loss.

Especially after Diane said this, it was even more so.

‘Dad, do you have to come back quickly?’

At that moment, the servant guarding the entrance to the banquet hall shouted loudly.

“His Majesty the Emperor, Her Majesty the Empress, and His Highness the Prince are entering!”

The murmuring voices subsided. Even the music that had filled the banquet hall fell silent.

As people all stepped back, a path from the entrance of the banquet hall to the center was revealed.

Emperor Fraser appeared wearing the most luxurious dark robe. Next to him stood a young woman with a graceful smile, Empress Amelia, who was said to be receiving the current Emperor’s favor.

In the Empress’s arms was a young prince about 2 years old. The child laughed brightly, receiving the gazes of the nobles all at once.

The Emperor, spotting Cailius, showed a good-natured smile.

“Duke Crustel! How long has it been!”

“Your Majesty.”

Cailius’s lips also curved into a smile. The sight of them approaching each other happily was no different from meeting a long-unseen friend.

“It’s always disappointing to only communicate by letter! You’ve granted my wish to attend this time!”

“I should have visited you first before Your Majesty said so.”

The scene looked so friendly that the onlookers had to reassess the relationship between the Duke and the Emperor they had been thinking of.

Only their close aides knew the circumstances of the two.

Among them, Philen, who knew the meaning of the Duke’s smile, felt a chill on the back of his neck.

‘He looks like he wants to rip out his tongue.’