The ground beneath creaked. An overwhelming darkness lay heavily.

It was instinct. Something was approaching.

Charlotte was not the only one who felt that presence.

“Your Majesty! Please move back. I will escort you from now on!”

Katarina and the guards drew their swords. That resonation began at the envoy’s palace.

“Something is coming. Lower yourself, Your Majesty!”

Heavy rain poured. The crimson hair was weighed down, soaked with rainwater.

Charlotte looked into the darkness.

Far away, the darkness wriggled.

The noises buried in the rain sound became gradually clearer. What gathered with a rustle was a horde of insect monsters.

“Insect monsters!”

Spiders crawled out from the darkness.

Starting from the north, that resonation grew louder, and white spider webs lay in the path where the oneeyed spider passed.

As the rain melted the spider webs, white poison mist rose like a mirage.

“Your Majesty. Dodge. Someone, take His Majesty into the palace!”

(This is a time separator.)

Tap tap.

Outside, the rain became rougher.

“Tsk.”

Benjamin Visennov put down his quill.

“Can’t you get a handle on your work?”

Benjamin pulled a cigar from the side table. As he lazily closed his eyes, his senses began to blur.

It’s hard to concentrate like this.

Benjamin dismissed it, waving his arm and covering the documents.

“Shall we call it a day?”

“Has dinner time passed?”

“Yes. I’ll order something light for dinner.”

“That’s fine. What about the Empress?”

“She’s not in her place right now. She’s outside somewhere… ah, I’ll send someone.”

Benjamin narrowed his eyes. Because of the rain, other noises were drowned out.

“……Your Majesty.”

“I felt it too.”

Soon, he scowled as if possessed by a demon.

“Some scoundrel is again rampaging in my palace.”

It was only felt late because of the rain. His eyes narrowed menacingly.

“I need to go out and see their faces.”

“It’s the north, where the envoy is.”

Dark magic surged. How dare they crawl into a place they should not.

Benjamin leaned on the windowsill. His gaze fixed on one spot.

“Those scoundrels are somewhere…”

Benjamin leaped down that way.

Insect monsters surrounded Charlotte and her party.

“Even if they are lowranking, they are monsters. Be careful not to touch their webs.”

Charlotte fell helplessly. She only scraped the bare ground.

“Spiders?”

“A hybrid of spiders and caterpillars.”

Charlotte blankly stared down at the ground spider monster.

“All insects are lowranking monsters. The rain is like poison to them, so the poison will be neutralized.”

“Why from the northern palace…”

“We will check once this is resolved.”

Charlotte frowned.

‘Squeak’

A baby wolf bit Charlotte’s finger.

“You bit me?”

Charlotte stroked its white fur, and the wolf licked the tip of her finger with its little mouth.

“My child, I know you’re scared, but I’m more fragile than you.”

Sap dripped.

Charlotte took a dagger from her sleeve.

It was a piece of jewelry that had been tied around the handle with embroidery. It was about the size of a finger joint.

“Ahh…….”

The spider, fluffy with down, snapped its legs.

Snap. Snap.

Something scratched beneath the ground.

“Charlotte, come back.”

Someone whispered by her head.

“Oh. Can’t you move?”

“You…….”

“Why do they keep crawling up from the ground? They crave life since they were chased underground after the Ancient Agreement.”

They disappeared from sight.

Benjamin, having taken off his overcoat, covered Charlotte with it.

“Cover yourself, Charlotte.”

Charlotte was pulling the overcoat that blocked her view, but Benjamin overlapped his hands.

“You’ll get all wet because of the rain.”

“Ah…….”

“I never thought I’d see you like this again.”

Charlotte looked up at him as she sat there.

Her vision was blurred by the rain.

Charlotte collapsed as if crumbling down.

(This is a time separator.)

The ground beneath.

The very edge. Where everyone sleeps.

The beginning and the end of the boundary area, the start and the end of the Ancient Agreement.

There, joint by joint, a skeletal figure approached.
They shifted their gaze, and the bony mouth clicked shut.

‘Who is it.’

‘Who.’

‘Who is it?’

‘Who came here.’

‘Did you come down?’

The view was obstructed.

Someone hid Charlotte.

She felt a hand pulling her as if something was severed.

(This is a time delimiter.)

“It’s a bug. A bug. Ah! I hate spiders the most. It’s disgusting. Horrible. There’s fuzz on its legs. I’ll burn all that fuzz off. Ah!”

Tatante looked down on my attendant with disdain.

“Ah! A larva… Ah!”

“Can’t you be quiet for a bit?”

The attendant who was trampling the monster’s body cried out with annoyance.

“Ah! Isn’t this a desert ground spider! What did the bastards from the southern continent bring?”

“They said there shouldn’t be any noise in this delegation, but it seems like you are the one making that noise? You hate bugs so much for being a forest tribe, tsk tsk, I don’t know where that will get you. It’s not like the tribe’s dignity.”

“Ahhhh!”