“E, Erina.”

“What is it?”

Peiron felt a chill at the sight of Erina’s bright smile.

Somehow, her innocent smile while wishing for death reminded him of Rose asking to kill Erina.

“Why……”

“Hey, Peiron. Do you want to hear Rose’s story?”

Hearing Erina’s question before he could think of anything else, he nodded stupidly.

Erina swallowed the sigh that was about to burst out and raised her hand to stroke his cheek.

“Then, kneel down.”

“……What?”

“If you’re really that desperately curious, it shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

Erina wondered how far the proud Peiron would go for such a petty curse.

She didn’t care whether he knelt or not.

She was simply curious to see how much he would give up for Rose.

Peiron bit his lip hard and averted his gaze.

Erina sneered at his behavior and turned away.

Then a thud echoed through the reception room as something hit the floor.

“Pl, please, tell, me, Erina……”

His once-rigid pride crumbled miserably in the face of ridiculous love.

Erina felt a rush of emotions and could only let out a hollow laugh.

She turned around and looked down at Peiron kneeling before her.

His desperate eyes were trembling.

Really, how pitiful.

“You’re curious about what Rose is trying to do, right?”

Peiron nodded hastily.

“The fairies’ ultimate goal is the destruction of the world. Do you know what this means?”

“That, can’t be……”

“She’s trying to kill everyone, Rose is.”

“That, can’t be true.”

“The alliance of small kingdoms claiming to serve the fairy descendants is working to help Rose destroy everything.”

“That can’t be true!”

Peiron denied her words with an uncertain tone as Erina stated it again.

“That’s why they’re trying to kill me, who was chosen by God.”

Peiron’s eyes shook greatly.

Erina smiled brightly at his silence, contrary to his previous denials.

It was clear that Peiron knew everything.

He knew exactly what Rose was doing to kill her, yet he came begging to be told the truth.

“You, you knew Rose was trying to kill me, didn’t you?”

Peiron rolled his eyes, avoiding Erina’s gaze.

He was an incredibly ugly man.

“You’re amazing, you. Really, amazingly disgusting.”

Peiron couldn’t utter a word in response to her malicious words.

Peiron’s head gradually lowered towards the floor.

Erina leaned down and whispered in his ear.

“Did you try to kill me too?”

“I, I……”

Peiron raised his head to protest at the dark question that didn’t match her calm tone.

But he couldn’t continue when he met Erina’s murderous gaze.

Peiron learned for the first time today that golden eyes could shine so coldly.

Erina straightened up and looked down at him again, saying,

“Rose probably said she’d kill me and take the mana stone mines.”

One corner of her mouth rose slightly.

“But she can never have them, even if she dies.”

Seeing Peiron’s lips move as if wanting to ask why, Erina tapped his face and answered.

“Because she’s a descendant of fairies cursed by God.”

It must have been quite a humiliating gesture, but Peiron couldn’t react at all.

Erina hurriedly left her seat to get away from him, whom she never wanted to see again.

Peiron could no longer call out to Erina.

[This is the timeline separator]

The death of Connie greatly shook the kingdoms of Tula and Trumto.

Connie was in charge of liaising with Trumto and coordinating differences between Trumto and Tula.

With the disappearance of Connie, who had been communicating with Sereni and relaying information to Trumto, the two kingdoms were in disarray.

Moreover, Sereni, who had been close to Connie, remained silent to messages from both kingdoms.

When Sereni, who was essentially the financier for both kingdoms, became unreachable, the seemingly solid alliance began to crumble.

As a result, both Tula and Trumto experienced considerable hardship.

Even when they tried to smuggle mana stones more discreetly, somehow it was always discovered and ended in failure.

On top of that, the Asilaum Empire, aware of this, put more pressure on them, causing military and economic difficulties.

The biggest problem for the two kingdoms was that more and more nobles were voicing opposition to turning their backs on the empire.

The Kingdom of Smale, which had been forgiven and accepted by the empire, was thriving with the power of mana stones.

Nobles who heard news of Smale repeatedly opposed and protested the king’s decisions.

They believed it was reckless to keep attempting smuggling when they should be begging for forgiveness from the empire as soon as possible.

However, the royal families and high nobles of Tula and Trumto refused to yield.

Cracks began to form in the bond between Rose, Tula, and Trumto.

It was slow, but noticeable enough for the Asilaum Empire to see.

The one most troubled by the shaking of the two kingdoms was none other than Rose.

“Ah, damn it.”

Rose felt like she was going crazy with the situation constantly deteriorating, even though she barely had enough time to focus on recovering parts of the prophecy.

Peiron, who had found the ancient book, was sitting around singing about love, and Belodi, who had handed over the Tetenia herb, suddenly came to protest.

Somehow, she had found out that the Tetenia herb would be used to make poison.

Rose had just managed to convince Belodi, who demanded the Tetenia herb be returned immediately, that it was just a rumor and sent her away.

It was clear that Erina had instigated people around Belodi to inform her.

She had been desperate to ruin Rose’s plans ever since the fake Muang herb incident.

As the situation worsened, Rose tried to contact Tula and Trumto, but communication was not properly established.

In the last contact she barely managed, she ordered them to shake the empire, but they refused, saying the situation was unfavorable both internally and externally.

Rose kept trying to contact them and pressed them.

But all that came back were cries.

Thanks to the growing discord between the two kingdoms and Rose, Sandes, who had gained some leeway, was able to meet with Erina at her request.

The place where the two agreed to meet was a newly opened cafe in the capital where Erina had once met with Rose.

Now popular and loved by many nobles, it was fully booked, and just as they were about to look for another place, the cafe owner gladly offered a seat to Erina.

Erina thought it was because she owned the mana stone mines, but that wasn’t the case.

It was because the cafe owner was someone Erina knew.

On the day of her appointment to meet Sandes, when Erina arrived at the cafe, she was greeted by none other than Belodi Anzle.

“Lady Anzle?”

“It’s been a while, Countess Medelia.”

Belodi greeted Erina warmly and moved to the room she had personally reserved.

“Was Lady Anzle the cafe owner?”

“Yes, that’s right. Officially, it’s said to be run by my father, but I’m actually managing it.”

“That’s impressive, my lady.”

“Not at all. It’s a business I started to clearly show my qualifications to my strict father in order to inherit everything without fail.”

The place Belodi guided her to was the innermost room.

It was clearly separated from other areas and seemed to be the place where security was most emphasized.

“This is the room we offer only to the most precious guests of the cafe.”

“Lady Anzle.”

“Actually, I really wanted to apologize and thank you.”

“To me?”

“I heard everything from Tanya.”

Erina had told Tanya everything about Rose, hoping that Tanya would relay it to Belodi.

It seemed that Tanya had told Belodi everything, just as Erina had intended.

“Actually, after the auction at the Borbom Marquis’ house, I had many fights with Tanya and we grew a bit distant.”

It was probably after Tanya’s judgment was clouded by Rose’s ability.

“Then one day, Tanya came to me crying and told me. She said we were all being deceived by Lady Asila.”

Erina could tell from Belodi’s dark expression what she wanted to say.

“After hearing that, I went to see Lady Asila, but seeing her keep making excuses, it seems the herb I gave her has already been used.”

“Lady Anzle.”

“I’m truly sorry, Countess.”

Belodi bowed her head deeply and apologized.

Erina approached her, held her shoulders, and made her raise her head.

“It wasn’t something you wanted, my lady. There’s no need to apologize.”

“But……”

“You didn’t do it knowingly.”

“Still, I feel so uneasy knowing that what I gave could have caused you harm, Countess.”

“Don’t worry, nothing will happen, my lady.”

Belodi felt a strange sense of relief at Erina’s strong words.

Belodi had been shocked when Tanya told her that the herb she had given to Rose was used to make a deadly poison.

The Tetenia herb was sold for patients with severe injuries.

She was very uncomfortable with the fact that such an herb was used to kill people.

So when she saw Erina’s name on the cafe reservation request, she quickly made the reservation using her authority.

It was to meet and apologize under the pretext of a reservation.

“Thank you, Countess.”

After thanking Erina, who was trying to brush off her burden lightly, Belodi tactfully moved, seeing Sandes standing in front of the room, having come to meet Erina.

“Then I hope you have a pleasant time at our cafe.”

“Thank you for your effort with the reservation, my lady.”

As Erina thanked her, Belodi closed the door of the room with a somewhat lighter heart and disappeared.