It was late at night, but the emperor’s office was brightly lit. A white-haired servant entered with hurried steps, carrying a letter.

“Your Majesty, a letter has arrived.”

After reading the letter, a wicked smile spread across Jonathan’s lips.

‘Things are progressing smoothly. Excellent!’

He immediately picked up a quill and began writing a letter. Shortly after, Jonathan handed two envelopes to the servant and spoke.

“Send these right away.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

The servant’s eyes widened in surprise as he checked the names on the envelopes. One was addressed to Tate, and the other to Onyx of the Ashmore Information Guild.

For a moment, the servant was very curious about the contents of the letters being sent simultaneously to the two at such a late hour, but he quickly dismissed his curiosity. It was one of the abilities he had developed from his long life in the imperial palace.

“And prepare the Imperial Guard.”

“The Guard… you say?”

Do not question, and even if you do, do not ask. This had been the elderly servant’s long-held principle, but this time he couldn’t help but ask. It seemed dangerous events were about to unfold.

Displeased by the servant’s question, Jonathan’s eyebrows twitched as he answered.

“Yes. There are reports of suspicious movements by malicious groups taking advantage of the turbulent political situation.”

“Oh my… Such a thing…! Yes, I will obey your command, Your Majesty!”

Malicious groups! Suspicious movements! Were they plotting treason in the darkness of the late night?

The servant, vividly remembering the peasant revolt in the south five years ago, had to shudder at the chill of sweat trickling down his spine.

Jonathan smiled maliciously as he watched the servant’s retreating figure hurrying away.

“Some things are inherently malicious and suspicious. Like vermin.”

His eyes glinting in the light resembled those of a demon. Hm, with a satisfied smile, Jonathan rose from his seat.

He intended to lead the Guard himself. It was the moment to pull out the thorn that had been bothering him all his life, and he couldn’t miss it.

“I should be able to sweep them all away at once with this opportunity.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Onyx’s office. Tracking the kidnappers was not easy, and the atmosphere was gloomy. Just then, as sighs mixed with groans filled the room.

Knock knock knock, with the sound of knocking, the door opened and a guild member entered, handing a letter to Onyx.

“A letter from the emperor, sir.”

“The emperor?”

Onyx took the letter with surprised eyes. Veronia and Killian, who were with him, also looked quite surprised at the emperor’s letter arriving at such a late hour.

After finishing the letter, Onyx put it down and said,

“It’s a request to look into the situation at the Oaks mansion, where Prince Tate seems to be up to something.”

“Tate at that burned-down mansion?”

“Why is the emperor requesting this of you?”

Veronia and Killian asked with wide eyes. Onyx rubbed his face, which showed a troubled expression, and slowly opened his mouth.

“…That’s how it is.”

He then revealed his visit to the imperial palace just yesterday. He told them that the empress dowager he met at the emperor’s dinner invitation was actually his birth mother, and that the emperor had demanded his cooperation using this bombshell of a fact as leverage.

As Onyx continued his story as if recounting a third person’s tale, Veronia asked with a worried expression.

“Onyx, are you alright?”

“Me? Why wouldn’t I be?”

Onyx asked back, as if Veronia’s question was unexpected.

“But… you found your birth mother.”

“Birth mother… Right.”

“…”

“As I told the emperor, nothing changes just because I found my birth mother, even if that birth mother happens to be Her Majesty the Empress Dowager.”

Veronia’s heart ached as she watched Onyx shrug as if everything was fine.

In the original story, Sandra was executed by rebel groups consisting of commoners and nobles, like other imperial family members. And Onyx only learned much later that the deceased Sandra was actually his birth mother.

‘He had never received love or even met his mother, but Onyx’s affection for the executed Sandra was considerable.’

That’s why he sought revenge against Killian, who had overthrown the former imperial family and ascended to the throne, and thus became the villain of the original story.

The original story had long since derailed. Sandra was still alive, so Onyx wouldn’t harbor ill will towards Killian, dreaming of revenge.

But that didn’t mean the setting of his extraordinary affection for the birth mother who gave birth to him had disappeared.

‘He says he’s fine, but he’s actually not.’

Others, and even Onyx himself, didn’t seem to realize it yet, but Veronia, who had read the original story, knew all too well.

Onyx’s affection for Sandra. But she wasn’t in a position to readily acknowledge it, so there weren’t many words of comfort she could offer.

“Even so, suddenly meeting your mother must have been emotionally complicated…”

“Yeah, well… A little? I suppose.”

Perhaps he felt uncomfortable talking more about his birth mother. Onyx put on the eyes of a capable information guild member again and got to the main point.

“As the emperor said, Prince Tate might be plotting something, or it could all be the emperor’s scheme. And there’s a very high chance that our Jediel is involved in that scheme.”

Everyone listening nodded at Onyx’s summary.

“We should go there to verify which it is, regardless.”

“With full preparations, of course.”

Veronia, Killian, Onyx, and Yassen rose from their seats.

[This is the timeline separator]

‘We clearly agreed to scrap that plan, so what the hell is going on?’

Tate sat in a carriage running through the dark streets of the capital, his expression somewhat tense. He was reading again a letter he had already read several times.

[Tate, I know about the enormous thing you’ve done. You must have done it simply to please Mother.

But you’re wrong. Nia Lampert, Drea Chancellor’s fiancée, is our sister Veronia, who we thought was dead.]

He couldn’t believe it no matter how many times he read it. Veronia is alive! Hadn’t he seen her charred corpse with his own eyes five years ago?

‘Then was it all fake? If she hid with such an elaborate ruse, why did she get engaged to Killian again? Wait… Then is that child actually Killian’s? What… What on earth is going on?’

Questions without answers followed one after another. Tate collected himself again and continued reading the letter.

[So the child you’ve meddled with is our niece. She’s part of the imperial family.

I hope you’ll resolve this matter immediately. If you harm one of our own, neither the people nor I will be able to forgive you. Even if you are my dear younger brother.]

Dear younger brother my foot! Tate crumpled the letter with both fists after finishing it.

“What nonsense is this! Damn it!”

Tate’s face flushed red and blue. He knew it was a moment when he needed to maintain his composure more than ever, but it was hard to contain the boiling rage.

He had made such a plan. It was a plan he had made with Sandra.

‘The grief of losing a beloved child is too unbearable for me to feel alone. I must have revenge on Chancellor Drea, who goes around shamelessly pretending to be righteous!’

‘Mother…!’

‘Only then can I somewhat quell this resentment. Only then will I have the face to see our Caspian even after I die. Tate, won’t you help me a little?’

‘…Of course, Mother. I will help in any way I can.’

So they made plans step by step. The plan was to kidnap the little boy who would soon be Killian’s son while Killian was away from the capital.

But it was when the plan was becoming more concrete. For some unknown reason, Sandra withdrew the plan. Not only that, she wouldn’t even meet Tate.

Heartbroken by Sandra’s sudden change in attitude, Tate briefly considered carrying out this plan alone afterward. And for a moment, the desire to take revenge by pinning everything on Sandra reared its head.

But he decided to drop it. It was because facing Duke Drea alone was too burdensome.

‘So I clearly insisted on canceling the plan several times! These bastards!’

It seemed the guys from the dark guild Kalmadi, where he had initially placed the request, had acted on their own. He recalled their strong objections when he said he would scrap the plan.

‘They must be trying to trap me and extort money.’

His clenched teeth tightened. It wasn’t hard to guess that they would demand several times the originally promised amount in exchange for cleaning up tonight’s mess and keeping their mouths shut. The thought of the money he would have to fork over to these ruffians gave him a headache.

‘His Majesty won’t sit idle either. I dread to think how much he’ll torment me using this weakness as leverage… It’s horrifying just to imagine.’

Whew, a pained groan escaped involuntarily.