“What on earth is this……”

Elaina looked ahead as she heard Hister’s voice filled with anger and bewilderment.

Then, she made a relieved expression.

“Liam!”

As Hister called out to him loudly, Liam approached Hister with an embarrassed look on his face.

“Sinclair! Where did Sinclair go!”

“I’m not exactly sure what happened. Even those who went out scouting ahead said they didn’t see him…..”

“What?”

That can’t be. He should have come to save me no matter what. Hister’s fingertips holding tightly onto Elaina trembled slightly.

And it was right at that moment.

“The traitor Hister Butler who assassinated the emperor and incited rebellion, surrender at once!”

The owner of the resounding voice was none other than Duke Heswin.

“The same goes for Lundberg and Rockford! Open the castle gate and surrender right now!”

“Sinclair……”

Sinclair’s name flowed out between Hister’s tightly shut lips.

“Where is Sinclair! He clearly knows that the empress is captured by me……”

“His Highness Prince Sinclair is at the imperial palace.”

Heswin replied in a mocking voice as if to ridicule Hister.

“As you know, Hister, His Highness Prince Sinclair will become the next emperor of Edenbell, no matter what anyone says.”

Hister gritted his teeth with an angry face.

“So how could you think he would take the risk to come to a place like this?”

“……”

“Unfortunately, His Highness is not someone who would act recklessly without thinking of the consequences like you.”

Even upon hearing that Sinclair did not come here to save her, Elaina did not feel the slightest resentment.

She was just relieved.

‘Yes. I must… prevent Sinclair from getting hurt because of me. I can’t watch it happen anymore.’

Everything was fine.

Even if she couldn’t be rescued and died by Hister’s hands, or had to endure things much harder than now…… It didn’t matter.

As long as Sinclair could be safe.

So that he could continue to achieve his goal of becoming the emperor that he had always dreamed of.

Elaina sincerely thought so.

“……”

Hister’s eyes glaring at Duke Heswin and the swarm of soldiers gathered like a hive of bees were clearly filled with murderous intent.

……It was a miscalculation.

Hister had never doubted for a moment that Sinclair would come here to save Elaina. So he never thought it would turn out like this either.

In what way.

By what means can he overcome this crisis?

But unfortunately, nothing came to mind. In a way, it was only natural.

As long as Sinclair was at the imperial palace, Hister was no different than a mouse caught in a trap. It would be even more so if he didn’t care about Elaina’s safety.

“Damn it……!”

Hister, who had been holding Elaina tightly, threw her to the floor with all his might. Elaina let out a short groan and fell over, and Heswin, witnessing the scene, flinched greatly and bit his lip tightly.

“Yes…… That’s right……”

It was after a long time had passed that Hister opened his mouth again with an unpleasant voice. With veins bulging on his forehead, he glared at Heswin with an angry gaze, then suddenly began to laugh like a madman.

Liam, Elaina, and Heswin’s party all looked at Hister with tension-filled faces.

“If Sinclair is going to be like that, there’s nothing I can do either!”

“……What?”

“There will be no surrender. Not for me, of course, nor for Lundberg and Rockford!”

Heswin’s face suddenly stiffened. But Hister continued to shout loudly as if it had nothing to do with him.

“I will not open the castle gate. You will have to stand guard there for at least a few days, unable to do anything!”

Hister’s words were not bluffing. If he wanted to, this castle could function as a fortress as much as he wanted.

Of course, Heswin and the troops would do their best to break through the gate somehow, but even if lucky, it was clear that it would take several days.

“And in the meantime, I……”

Hister trailed off his words for a long time, then slowly bent his knees. Then he roughly grabbed Elaina’s hair that was stuck in the ground.

“I will take the empress and have some fun. A lot of fun.”

“……”

“Don’t even think about blaming me. After all, this is all Sinclair’s own doing in the end!”

With those words, Hister began to walk into the bedroom, dragging Elaina by the hair without looking back.

Elaina was dragged like a dog without even properly reacting or screaming.

Yet, she desperately fumbled around her chest.

To make sure the hidden shard of the vase was still in place.

……As Elaina and Hister quickly disappeared from sight, Heswin, who was standing guard in front of the castle wall, quietly closed his eyes in anger.

Then he opened his mouth in a cracked voice.

“Is there still no contact from His Highness?”

“Yes.”

As soon as the question was thrown, a man standing right behind Heswin whispered in a small voice close to his ear.

“But…… it will be soon. He’s not alone, but with Sir Rex and Sir Schuler……”

“……”

“Duke Heswin, I know very well what you are thinking…… but now we have to wait. Didn’t His Highness tell us to do so?”

Instead of answering, Heswin let out a heavy sigh.

Heswin could not watch Elaina being treated like that with an indifferent heart. Especially now that he knew what kind of person Elaina was to Sinclair, it was even more so.

‘No. It’s not time yet. I have to endure. As His Highness said……’

Heswin, clenching his fists tightly, fiddled with the horse’s reins with a slightly pale face.

He looked at the balcony several times, but Hister, who had already disappeared, did not show himself anymore.

Not knowing what was happening inside, all Heswin could do now was to pray with all his heart.

Please let Sinclair infiltrate the castle safely without any trouble.

Also, let Elaina endure as much as possible.

“……Let’s check the formation again. It won’t take long according to His Highness’ words.”

Heswin, who closed his eyes tightly and opened them, quietly gave an order to the man, and the man nodded as if he understood.

“Damn it, how much more time are we going to waste here?”

The voice of a soldier filled with dissatisfaction was echoing through the quiet underground waterway.

“This is all because of that rat-like bastard prince. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have had to stand guard in a place like this.”

At his annoyed comrade’s words, the soldier standing guard with him chuckled.

“But in a way, this might be better.”

“Why?”

“Duke Heswin is leading the troops in a confrontation in front of the castle, right? Of course, they won’t be able to capture this castle in an instant, but you never know what will happen in human affairs.”

“……”

“We can just spend some time here roughly, and if the situation gets bad, we can escape through the underground waterway just like that bastard prince did.”

In a way, this could be even better for us. The soldier blurted out without much thought, blowing on the tips of his dirty fingernails.

“……Are you saying that our Crown Prince will be defeated?”

“No, that’s not what I meant……”

The man waved his hands with an embarrassed expression.

……Among Hister’s soldiers, there were those who had been with him for a long time, but there were also quite a few who had little to no loyalty, like the man who just blurted out something useless. The reason was simple.

Hister had hastily led them here without even grasping what political intentions his gathered soldiers had.

“If that’s not what you meant, then what did you mean! You’d better speak straight!”

“I was just thinking of the one-in-a-million chance! That’s all it was……”

And it was right at that moment.

The soldiers arguing suddenly flinched at the same time, as if on cue.

“……Wait a minute.”

The soldier frowned and raised his hand as if to stop the movement.

“Didn’t you hear a strange sound just now……”

The soldier couldn’t even finish what he was trying to say.

Instead, he just fell backwards with a dagger that flew from ahead piercing his forehead.

“It, it’s an ambush!”

The remaining soldier, quickly grasping the situation, drew his sword and shouted with all his might, but it was beautifully foiled.

Because Sinclair, who was drenched in water, had already pounced on him.

“Ugh, urgh……!”

With an unpleasant groan, the sound of a vertebra snapping rang out. Thus, the soldier became a corpse and rolled next to his comrade without even being able to scream properly.

“……Schuler, Rex.”

“Yes.”

And Schuler and Rex, drenched in water just like Sinclair, slowly revealed themselves.

Slowly raising his head, Sinclair looked ahead with blazing golden eyes. Then he gave them an order.

“I will take the lead. You must follow me and move as quickly as possible.”