The emperor was killed by a woman in his bedchamber.

This turned the imperial palace upside down.

It was already maddening that the emperor had died, but the woman who assassinated the emperor was none other than the famous Celiya Brillyon.

Celiya Brillyon.

There was no one in the Empire of Abelon who didn’t know her name.

She was the woman who had made a barely surviving viscount family overflow with wealth.

Everyone praised her as a woman crafted from all the beauty in the world.

The tale of a priest, renowned for his strict abstinence, falling for her beauty, throwing off his robes, and fervently proposing to her was famous.

With silver hair like the Milky Way and skin more dazzling than pure white snow, large doe-like eyes and a warm, gentle personality, she was the first love of countless men.

The imperial court officials knew well that the emperor had his eye on Celiya for a long time.

It was strange that the emperor, known for his fondness for women, would leave alone Celiya, who was said to enchant even men who preferred men.

However, the Brillyon viscount family stood firm and refused to hand her over to the emperor. The reason was that they couldn’t readily give up their adopted daughter, whom they cherished more than their own flesh and blood.

The emperor gritted his teeth but couldn’t say anything. Celiya’s reputation was so high that those who admired her were more numerous than grains of sand in the desert.

If word got out that he had forcibly taken Celiya, his already precarious imperial authority would fall into the mud.

But it was just recently that the viscount family, who had firmly stated they couldn’t give up Celiya, suddenly announced that they couldn’t go against the imperial order and would send Celiya to His Majesty after all.

The emperor was overjoyed at this and bestowed upon the viscount family enough wealth to live in luxury for generations.

Little did he know he would die by the hand of the woman he so desired as soon as he entered the bedchamber.

The dead emperor, Secrete Basileus, could never be called a good emperor even in empty words.

He was synonymous with incompetence. With no interest in his duties and infertile yet obsessed with women, naturally those who supported him were fewer than a handful of sand.

It was problematic from the start that someone without qualifications became emperor. But no one could object.

After all, it was the Three Dukes, called the heaven above heaven of the empire, who had placed this incapable person on the throne.

The reason a small country on the frontier could grow into a massive empire was undoubtedly due to the existence of the three ducal families.

The Servantes ducal family ruling the northern and western territories, the Portman ducal family ruling the eastern territory, and the Gredrick ducal family ruling the vast southern territory with its mild climate year-round.

These three families were the brains of Abelon, its sword, and the de facto emperors.

More than the fact that the emperor was dead, the officials were worried about how the Three Dukes who had endorsed the emperor would react. Surely the news of the emperor’s death would have reached their ears by now.

However, there were also those who saw the emperor’s death as an opportunity.

With various thoughts in mind, the imperial court officials convened an emergency meeting.

Amidst a heavy silence, the oldest bureaucrat among the officials seated around the long table spoke first.

“His Majesty has passed away, so what should we do about this?”

Despite the lamenting voice, there was not a trace of regret visible on the face of the official speaking.

His eyes, like those of an old snake, glinted sharply like those of an opportunist.

“What on earth was Lord Dietrich doing instead of assisting His Majesty? As His Majesty’s closest aide, to discover His Majesty’s passing only after he had already died!”

The old official put on a fairly convincing act of an angry voice. The worried wrinkles around his eyes and his quivering white beard made him appear truly enraged.

The other officials were too shocked to say anything and only exchanged glances with each other.

But their shock was not due to the anger of Tailor, the marquis who had served in office the longest, but because of the content of his words.

Lord Dietrich?

It was an extremely disrespectful way of addressing him. If they truly respected him, they should have called him Duke Calypso, not Lord Dietrich.

This was something they could say only because Dietrich was not present. Dietrich outranked any of the imperial court officials present in this place.

Dietrich, who had become a duke just a month ago, was the only duke apart from the Three Dukes.

But no one objected because his origins were lowly. It was the emperor who had picked up Dietrich on a whim when he was about to be sold into slavery long ago.

Everyone thought he was dull and stupid and predicted he wouldn’t last a year in the imperial palace before being kicked out.

But Dietrich exceeded everyone’s expectations. He mercilessly crushed those who slandered him and clawed his way up from the bottom.

With a natural talent for swordsmanship, he was the only existing Sword Master in the empire besides Balt Portman, the head of the Portman ducal family.

The emperor had begged the Three Dukes to grant Dietrich a dukedom, so in a way, he had risen from nearly becoming a slave to becoming a duke.

While the officials feared Dietrich, known for his nasty temperament, they were even more deeply discontented.

The dead emperor had kept Dietrich closer than anyone else.

They were already displeased that he had given the position of Imperial Knight Commander to someone of such low birth, and now the emperor had gone and given Dietrich a dukedom before dying.

“Isn’t something strange? His Majesty passed away not long after Lord Dietrich obtained his dukedom. Is there anyone here who can say with certainty that Lord Dietrich had absolutely no involvement in His Majesty’s death?”

The officials were as quiet as mice. Some among them nodded, seeming to agree with those words. Shaping public opinion to his liking was Marquis Tailor’s specialty.

Although he didn’t openly accuse Dietrich of being the culprit, given the circumstances, it seemed difficult for Dietrich to escape this situation.

Though he was known as the emperor’s mad dog for being such a loyal subject, Marquis Tailor intended to subtly frame him as the culprit by holding him responsible for failing to protect the emperor.

None of the officials gathered here liked Dietrich. They all thought a dukedom was far too much for someone of such low, slave origins.

Dietrich had snatched away a juicy piece of meat that could have fallen to any of them, so they intended to mercilessly tear into him and back him into a corner.

The corners of Marquis Tailor’s mouth turned up slightly.

As he took the lead in setting the direction, public opinion flowed exactly as he wanted.

“…I agree with Marquis Tailor’s opinion. Isn’t it strange indeed? It’s been barely a month since the Imperial Knight Commander was given a dukedom, and now such an unfortunate incident has occurred.”

Baron Nason, who was usually close to Marquis Tailor, expressed his agreement.

“Lord Dietrich was not only the Imperial Knight Commander but also His Majesty’s closest aide. As the one who knew His Majesty better than anyone else, we cannot rule out the possibility that he was the culprit who assassinated His Majesty.”

The old official boldly spoke aloud the thoughts that others had only been thinking. He could say such things because there was no one to object and only those who agreed.

“Of course, we’ll need to thoroughly investigate the details.”

Although he didn’t definitively state that Dietrich was the culprit, he left open the possibility that he could be. It was a statement that could have endangered his life if one of Dietrich’s blindly loyal subordinates had witnessed this scene, but the officials’ attitudes were cold. They had something they were relying on.

At that moment, the black curtain, which was certainly closed, fluttered greatly.

For a moment, the officials’ hearts sank, wondering if someone had overheard what they had said.

One official closest to the window stood up and roughly pulled open the curtain. But there wasn’t even a shadow of a person behind the curtain.

“…Upon closer inspection, the window was open.”

The meeting room where the officials were gathered was on the 5th floor. What brave soul could jump from such a height?

The officials, thinking their suspicions were unfounded, resumed their discussion.

None of them knew that Dietrich’s adjutant had overheard their words and silently departed.

“By the way, what happened to the woman who assassinated His Majesty?”

* * *

“L-Lord Duke! You called for me.”

The imperial physician’s heart raced at the sudden summons from the Imperial Knight Commander, notorious for his violent temper.

Dietrich glanced briefly at the physician’s face before wordlessly starting to walk ahead.

The physician walked, trying his best to muffle his footsteps so as not to upset Dietrich’s mood. Perhaps because Dietrich’s legs were so long, the physician was already sweating profusely just from trying to keep up.

Eventually, Dietrich stopped at the underground prison where only those who had committed serious crimes were incarcerated.

“Go in.”

The physician wondered if he had done something wrong, but he couldn’t recall committing any mistakes no matter how hard he tried to remember.

“Lead the way.”

At Dietrich’s command, which left no room for questions, the physician swallowed hard and walked into the prison.

“Ugh…!”

The physician retched at the rotten stench that hit him as soon as he entered. The dimly lit prison was lined with iron cages no different from animal cages.

The iron cages, barely large enough for one person to lie down in, were secured with thick iron bars and multiple locks. Inside, prisoners lay limp, as if they had given up on life, waiting for their impending death.

“Keep going forward.”

At Dietrich’s order, the physician endured the stench and walked for a long time, using the torches on the walls as his guide.

When they reached the innermost part of the prison, for some reason there was no foul odor at all.

In the innermost iron cage lay a woman of dazzling beauty, all alone. The physician stared at her with wide eyes.

Although he had never seen this woman before, he could immediately recognize who she was.

“Examine her.”

After uttering these brief words, Dietrich unlocked the padlock on the iron cage with a key. Then he pushed the physician into the cage.

‘This person is… Celiya Brillyon.’

She was a woman famous for her beauty. There was probably no one more famous than her in all of Abelon.

There was even a joke that the wealth men who fell in love with Celiya at first sight had given to the Brillyon family was enough for all the people in the capital to live in luxury for life.

Seeing her in person, he could immediately understand why.

Ethereal silver hair and skin so white and translucent that you could see the veins beneath. Lips red like a crescent moon.

After confirming that Celiya was unconscious, the physician blatantly looked her over, from her thin clothes to her collarbone and legs.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and examine her instead of staring.”

It was Dietrich’s voice from behind that snapped the physician out of his daze.

“Ah, yes…!”

The physician hurriedly bent down to examine Celiya.

He carefully rolled up one of Celiya’s sleeves and checked her pulse at the wrist. A moment later, his face turned pale.

“L-Lord Duke…”