“Ah, Your Majesty… That’s…”

In that moment, even the Duke of Hamilton, who was usually good at thinking on his feet, couldn’t answer right away and stammered.

“I was feeling unwell and lost consciousness, so I got lost and wandered off. Hahaha…”

It was nonsense to anyone who heard it. The Emperor was frowning, about to point this out.

“Oh, it’s a horn flute!”

The tactless Third Princess Luibel called out in an innocent voice.

The Duke of Hamilton discovered the horn flute slightly sticking out from under his sleeve and hastily covered it up, startled.

But Luibel and Christine had already witnessed it.

“It looks just like the horn flute used to summon monsters!”

“M-monsters, you say?”

This time, Orent raised his voice in surprise.

“The Prince of Luenhart once told me about the horn flute. He said if you imbue a horn flute made from a monster’s bone with mystical power, you can summon monsters.”

Luibel brought up the story of the Luenhart Prince, whom she had recently been interacting with, her cheeks blushing pink.

“Prince Anselot seems to know everything. He’s so amazing.”

Luibel added in a shy voice.

Though she had recently awakened as a Swordmaster and was being watched, she still had the appearance of a naive princess, blushing as she talked about the man she liked.

Orent, who had been wary for a moment that she might know something and was speaking this way, relaxed and admonished her.

“This is hardly an appropriate topic to discuss in front of His Majesty.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

Luibel apologized, coming to her senses with a start.

“It’s just that recently my head has been so full of thoughts about Prince Anselot that I…”

“Hold on.”

At this point, Christine, who had been silent the whole time, parted her lips.

“I find that story very interesting, Luibel.”

“What? Are you talking about Prince Anselot? He is as kind as the sunlight shining down on a spring day, and like the lush grass and flowers of a summer day…”

“No.”

Christine cut off Luibel’s praise of Anselot, which could have gone on endlessly, and stated what she truly wanted.

“I mean the story about the horn flute.”

“Oh…!”

Luibel clapped her hands together, a look of belated realization on her face.

“You mean the horn flute that summons monsters?”

She then squinted her eyes and spoke about the horn flute.

[This is the timeline separator]

The suspicious item I purchased from the Dark Guild as a formality to set a trap for elder brother Orent and Duke Hamilton proved very useful.

I waited for the moment the Duke arrived at the Imperial Palace and used the to stir up a breeze.

Thanks to practicing adjusting the wind strength in the vacant lot the night before, I was able to easily stir up just enough wind to blow off the Duke’s wig.

And while his attendant let go of the gift box he was holding to rush to the Duke, I swapped out the contents of the box.

Everyone was so focused on the Duke of Hamilton’s shining bald head and wig from the rumors that I was able to quickly succeed with the plan.

The providing stealth and the increasing movement speed were also crucial helps.

Naturally, the item inside the box was the horn flute that Anselot had discreetly taken from inside the Duke’s bedroom.

Afterwards, I was able to escort Mother there at just the right time to match the movements of Duke Hamilton and elder brother Orent, all thanks to the mini-map.

The mini-map showed not only the locations of places, but also the people moving above them.

It was no coincidence that Mother, who had been the youngest princess of the previous Emperor, took the throne over all her elder brothers.

Mother was quick-witted and exceptionally capable.

Mother, who realized from the few clues I dropped that Duke Hamilton was suspicious, instructed the knights to investigate the horn flutes.

The knights discovered a secret space in Duke Hamilton’s bedroom and confiscated a large number of horn flutes.

A considerable number of used horn flutes were also found.

Mother summoned the Imperial Palace’s item appraisers to examine the horn flutes.

Among them, the that had summoned the was discovered, and they began investigating its connection to the lakeside incident as well.

Anselot played a major role in the knights being able to find Duke Hamilton’s secret space.

‘Since you’re giving a bribe anyway, why not do it properly?’

‘You’re quite greedy. Not even planning to proceed with the scenario.’

Despite saying that, Anselot granted my request.

He infiltrated among the Imperial Palace knights to find the secret space.

I was curious how Anselot was able to blend in so easily with the knights, but he wouldn’t reveal that much.

‘The rest is up to Mother now.’

Now that I’ve given all the hints, Mother will uncover the remaining truth.

Mother is a capable person, so it won’t be long before all the truths I’m curious about are revealed.

As the sky turned a deep red, I stood on the Imperial Palace’s walking path, looking in the direction of elder brother Orent’s Second Prince Palace.

Due to the commotion that occurred in just half a day, many people from the Second Prince Palace were taken away by the Imperial Palace knights.

I gazed at the Second Prince Palace, which felt desolate, lost in thought.

‘Is it really related to the system administrator?’

Seeing that the was found in his bedroom, it was hard to think it wasn’t related to Hezen.

But Orent and Duke Hamilton seemed too sloppy to be the system administrator himself.

‘Perhaps someone close to them.’

Chak, chak.

The sound of footsteps that were not my own echoed.

‘And now that I’ve openly meddled, they’ll definitely show up.’

A long shadow was cast behind me.

“What a strange thing.”

A man’s voice full of displeasure was heard.

“You’re clearly a player… Why are you interfering with the flow of the system? Like a bug.”

Listening to the muttering that sounded like he couldn’t understand, I slowly turned around.

There stood a man with a familiar face, staring at me intently.

, the assistant to Second Prince Orent.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The one who handed the horn flutes to Hezen and manipulated the saint of the Taal Kingdom to force a strange oracle.”

“Tsk.”

He clicked his tongue briefly. In that moment, the letters above his head changed.

, Manager of the Brillante Branch

“I am Sedrick, the manager of the Brillante branch. You can call me the System Manager.”

He bowed elegantly to me.

“Of course, there won’t be any more moments for you to call me anything. It seems this round of play has failed.”

“Why did you do such things?”

I raised my voice at him as he readily revealed his identity.

“All your actions put people in danger. And giving the horn flutes to Orent and Duke Hamilton has nothing to do with advancing the scenario!”

“Because Prince Orent had a rival dynamic with Hezen, the real player.”

He answered, frowning deeply as if the mere thought irritated him.

“That idiot kept seducing the female characters instead of properly advancing the scenario, so I needed something to stimulate him.”

“What…?”

“So I gave Prince Orent the horn flutes. I thought if Orent’s reputation rose, the player would be stimulated and put more effort into advancing the scenario.”

“…”

In other words, the system administrator had been thoroughly moving with a single purpose.

‘Ensuring the scenario progresses smoothly is also part of their role.’

The smooth progression of the scenario…

The things he had done were not much different from when they tried to kill me for Hezen’s awakening, all for the damn order of the system.

“For such a petty reason…”

In the midst of the confrontation with him, the flow of the surrounding air suddenly felt strange.

“Eliminate her.”

The moment Sedrick parted his lips.

The slowly flowing air seemed to turn chilly.

“Eliminate .”

“Eliminate .”

“Eliminate .”

People with murky gray eyes charged at me.

[It’s dangerous, Player!!!!]

Along with the warning from the system window, my vision flashed.

[SYSTEM] Switching to automatic battle mode.

[SYSTEM] Activating the skill .

[SYSTEM] Your movement speed is temporarily increased by +500%.

As it switched to [Automatic Battle Mode], a skill I hadn’t used was activated.

In the blink of an eye, my body automatically dodged the attack.

“Hah, huh…”

Exhaling rough breaths, I turned my head to see deep marks of attack where I had been standing just moments ago.

I had seen Hezen use skills before, but this was the first time I used a skill after becoming a player myself.

A skill icon appeared before my eyes along with an explanation.

Skill

Continuous effect: Movement speed increased by +500%

Time remaining: 4 minutes 52 seconds

Cooldown: 5 hours 59 minutes 52 seconds

was essentially a one-time use skill due to its long cooldown. I had to settle things in the remaining 4 minutes or so.

“A mere Herald interfering.”

Sedrick muttered in an unpleasant voice, glaring at the system window.

[B-but it’s the Player! Not a bug…]

“Judging whether something is detrimental to the order of the system or not is my job as the administrator.”

“If this is the order of the system, then I’ll shatter it.”

I glared at Sedrick and drew the sword at my waist.

“Oh, those are quite bug-like words.”

As I confronted him, new janitors began to gather one by one. At Sedrick’s gesture, they charged at me again.

Red targeting icons appeared above their heads.

It was the effect of [Automatic Battle Mode] recognizing them as enemies and attacking.

My body swung the sword toward those marked with the red targeting icons.

The function of automatically blocking enemies without having to pay special attention was convenient, but the situation couldn’t be resolved this way.

There was no end to the number of janitors rushing in.

‘Endlessly charging in… Huh?’

I flinched.

I paused, my eyes widening. I had spotted a familiar face.

“Elder sister Elizabeth…?”

Elder sister Elizabeth, with gray eyes like the others, charged at me without recognizing me.

My body tried to attack elder sister Elizabeth.

I quickly disabled [Automatic Battle Mode].

[SYSTEM] Disabling automatic battle mode.

Then, instead of attacking elder sister Elizabeth who was rushing at me, I dodged.

[Player!!!!!]

“As expected. The hearts of humans are so weak.”

Sedrick sneered at me.

He must have deliberately turned elder sister Elizabeth into a janitor to make me hesitate.

Anger surged toward Sedrick for using such a despicable tactic.

“This isn’t weakness.”

The desire to protect someone was never weakness. Rather, it was the heart that could become the strongest in the world.

‘I can’t fall for such a dirty trick.’

I opened my inventory and took out a book.

It was the purchased from the Dark Guild.

‘Those with faith above a certain level become janitors and move according to the administrator’s orders.’

Anselot said that those manipulated by the system administrator all had high levels of faith.

‘Then I just need to lower their faith.’

I read a passage from the open Bible.

“In the beginning, the Creator divided the light and darkness and opened the world!”

[SYSTEM] Using .

The system notification sounded immediately.

I raised my head with a triumphant expression.

Then I looked at the system notification window that appeared before my eyes.

[SYSTEM] The faith of the people in the area has decreased by −1.

What? Only by 1?