The one who burst into the conference room was Dietrich. Marquis Tailor’s lips trembled in surprise.

“W-why are you…”

“Have I come somewhere I shouldn’t be?”

Dietrich tilted his head slightly with an expressionless face. His indifferent gaze brushed over the faces of the ministers who were trying not to meet his eyes.

“Did you just call me ‘Your Grace,’ Marquis?”

Dietrich stepped into the conference room. With each step he took, the sword at his waist reflected sharp light off the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

Though the sword was clearly sheathed, it seemed as if Dietrich might draw it at any moment and turn the conference room into a sea of blood.

“…Duke Calypso, Your Grace.”

Marquis Tailor finally conceded. After all, Dietrich’s title was that of a duke, and he held military power in the imperial palace.

Even if the title of duke was merely an empty one bestowed by the three dukes as if granting a favor, the fact that he was the commander of the imperial knights remained unchanged.

“You must be busy. What brings Your Grace to the conference room?”

Though afraid of Dietrich, the ministers did not hide their discomfort. After all, Dietrich was their greatest enemy, the one they needed to get rid of first and foremost.

Dietrich disliked beating around the bush. He immediately stated his reason for coming to the conference room.

“I was curious about the ministers’ opinions on the woman who assassinated the emperor.”

Dietrich naturally took a seat in the highest position in the conference room. His movements were as smooth as flowing water.

“How could we let that woman live so brazenly? This is clearly an act of deception against the imperial family.”

One minister voiced his opinion loudly.

His words were condemning Dietrich’s current actions. It was an attempt to place responsibility on Dietrich and put him in a difficult position for not killing Celiya.

Dietrich’s gaze turned to the face of the minister who had spoken.

“The deception is what you all are doing right now.”

The ministers were dumbfounded by Dietrich’s direct words.

“W-what did you just say?”

“I was the one who prepared the funeral for the assassinated emperor, and I was the one who imprisoned the woman who killed him.”

Dietrich paused for a moment and scrutinized the faces of the ministers. The ministers in the conference room were like snakes desperate to devour him.

Not a single one of them was an exception. If the three dukes hadn’t been backing him, Dietrich would have long since killed all those who interfered with his plans, and then some.

In any case, they were good at reading the room. Dietrich’s lips parted as he stared impassively at the thick faces of the ministers.

“What exactly have the ministers done?”

“!”

The jaws of the insulted ministers trembled.

“You asked for our opinions, yet you insult us like this?”

“…Opinions?”

Dietrich sneered. With his eyes not smiling at all, he raised one corner of his mouth crookedly and added:

“Since when has a stabbing attack been called an opinion?”

The ministers, hit right where it hurt, pretended to look elsewhere to avoid Dietrich’s gaze.

Dietrich found the ministers pathetic. They eagerly badmouthed him when he wasn’t around, but in front of him, they became mute as if struck dumb.

“I hear voices asking to release the Angel of Brilliance outside the palace. As a subject, I simply cannot ignore such words.”

“!”

The ministers’ eyes shook violently. What Dietrich was saying now meant that he would keep Celiya alive instead of killing her.

Marquis Tailor took the lead.

“Are you openly saying you’ll cover up the crimes of the woman who assassinated the emperor?”

“…Crimes?”

Dietrich looked down at the marquis with a dry gaze.

“If there are any crimes, they belong to those trying to profit from His Majesty’s death. Who knows? As rumors outside the palace suggest, someone in the palace might have used that woman to assassinate His Majesty.”

“Your Grace! Are you suspecting me now?”

“I didn’t mention anyone by name, Marquis.”

Dietrich stood up. The reddened face and neck of Marquis Tailor, flushed with indignation, came into Dietrich’s view.

“That will be all.”

Dietrich left the conference room without lingering. After he left, the room was filled with the voices of ministers cursing Dietrich.

* * *

Dietrich hadn’t been able to bring food to Celiya for two days already.

Unable to leave his post due to the emperor’s funeral, Dietrich didn’t even have time to catch a wink of sleep.

Even while working, he was concerned about Celiya. Though she wouldn’t starve to death after two days of fasting, it was difficult to distinguish between night and day in the underground prison.

Two days might feel like a week to a prisoner.

Visiting the conference room as soon as the funeral ended was to publicly announce that Dietrich wouldn’t kill Celiya.

Outside the palace, there were countless men who admired her. Men who had seen Celiya even once, or who had a history of courting her, were doing their utmost to save her somehow.

Dietrich found them curious. That they could love that woman, called the Angel of Brilliance, so much.

−Didn’t you know? That’s all just a name made up by foolish men.

However, Celiya herself seemed to dislike the men who loved her. A flash of contempt seemed to cross her face for a moment.

As she said, the men clinging to unrequited love did appear pathetic in Dietrich’s eyes.

‘Well. It works out well for me.’

Thanks to that, it seemed he might be able to get Celiya out of prison soon.

Dietrich planned to keep Celiya by his side and use her ability as needed, in exchange for getting her out of prison.

‘She must be on edge after missing meals.’

Dietrich immediately headed towards the underground prison where Celiya was, bringing well-toasted bread, soup with more meat than usual, fresh fruit, and water to drink.

“……”

But as soon as he entered the prison, he felt an ominous presence.

Dietrich quickened his pace. The prisoners sitting hunched in their iron cages reached out towards the source of the delicious food smell.

“H-hungry… W-water…”

But as soon as they saw the face of the person carrying the food, the prisoners froze in place. Dietrich walked towards Celiya’s cell as if he hadn’t seen them.

As he entered the depths of the prison, instead of a foul odor, the scent of hyacinth flowers wafted through the air. A scent he had smelled before.

‘It’s that woman’s ability. There’s no reason for her to use it while alone…’

It couldn’t be. Someone must have intruded while he was away preparing for the emperor’s funeral.

Dietrich was running before he knew it. Ominous thoughts flooded his mind.

He hadn’t come to the prison at all for two days due to the emperor’s funeral. Even if the prison was strictly controlled, there might be foolish individuals who thought they wouldn’t be caught by him.

Wherever they went, there were always those whose curiosity overtook their brains and made them do stupid things.

When Dietrich arrived at the innermost part of the prison, the scent of hyacinth was so strong it made him dizzy. The acrid smell of blood mixed with the floral scent.

Clank.

Dietrich set down the dishes of food on the floor and searched for Celiya. His impatient gaze turned towards a half-open iron cage and a man inside it.

Dietrich’s breath caught as he recognized who the man was.

The man, exposing his lower body and staring blankly with dull eyes, was one of Dietrich’s direct subordinate knights.

How could one of his own knights do what the guard had done? And taking advantage of his absence, no less.

Dietrich was truly enraged. He grabbed the knight’s shoulder forcefully and threw him out of the iron cage. The man collapsed lifelessly like a marionette with cut strings.

Dietrich checked on Celiya. She was huddled in a corner of the wall, gasping for breath.

Whether she had coughed up blood or not, blood was thickly smeared on the floor of the cage and around her mouth.

Celiya had her eyes closed, tightly gripping the uniform she wore to try and maintain her fading consciousness. Dietrich approached Celiya, who was breathing with difficulty.

“Who is it?”

Celiya emitted an even stronger hyacinth scent on guard. The scent was so strong that Dietrich furrowed his brow, feeling as if he might suffocate.

Suddenly, with a cough, blood spurted from Celiya’s mouth. The red liquid stained Dietrich’s collar.

Dietrich looked at Celiya, who was coughing up blood, with an indescribable expression.

“…It’s me.”

At the sound of Dietrich’s voice, the hyacinth scent that filled the prison completely dissipated. Celiya forcibly lifted her eyelids, which kept trying to close, to confirm if it was really Dietrich.

A handsome face filled her blurry vision.

A chuckle escaped through Celiya’s teeth at the face that seemed to pity her.

Was it because she felt foolish for feeling relieved at the sight of Dietrich? Or perhaps she just found the situation amusing.

She had numbed the senses of the man who tried to violate her through the hyacinth scent, so if she had strangled him, the knight would have died without being able to resist.

The reason she spared him, at the cost of her own lifespan, was because she wanted Dietrich to see this situation with his own eyes.

If she had killed the knight, Dietrich would never have trusted her. Even though Celiya was the victim, he might have accused her of being the perpetrator instead.

So she took a gamble. Whether Dietrich would trust her, or believe his long-time subordinate knight who was exposing his lower body.

Celiya’s eyes began to close drowsily. She had waited too long for Dietrich, who might never have come. Having eaten nothing for two days, she felt intensely resentful towards him.

But he came. He cast aside his own knight and came to her. Celiya was not unaware that Dietrich intended to use her.

So Celiya also decided to use him. Whether it was sympathy, pity, or whatever, it didn’t matter.

‘So this is… self-defense.’

Celiya grasped Dietrich’s collar and spoke haltingly.

“You said… my life belongs to you.”

“……”

“You’re… late…”

It was a very feeble strength. Instead of removing the hand pulling at his collar, Dietrich simply looked at her.

As Celiya’s eyelids drooped closed, the hand gripping his clothes fell limply.