And at the same time,

“No!”

The Marquis charged at Cardel.

Just when his enlarged body leapt up nimbly to pounce on Cardel, a purple light shoved him away.

The Marquis, driven into the floor, staggered back up when Evolaine drew her sword.

It was a sword unlike any she’d drawn before—one they’d never seen.

“…Evolaine?”

Her irises and hair, dyed a deeper purple than ever before, showed she was on the verge of her second awakening.

“What the hell did you do?”

She definitely wasn’t at this level when they’d seen her recently. It shouldn’t be possible to raise one’s abilities this much in such a short time.

“Give me the powder.”

Rather than asking what happened, resolving the current situation came first.

When Cardel handed Evolaine the powder pouch, the powder began sparkling the moment it touched her.

Then the Marquis started rampaging. He charged at Evolaine with excitement on an entirely different level than before, but the problem was that his scales had also turned purple like Evolaine’s.

‘Don’t tell me it was an awakening accelerant.’

Just like Evolaine was affected by the powder, the Marquis was also affected by it.

Because they both wielded Kelic’s power.

Now that things had come to this, outside interference was impossible.

Only Evolaine could stop the Marquis.

Because Kelic could only be stopped by Kelic.

Evolaine, having drawn her sword, leapt high and mounted the Marquis.

His face was at the tip of her sharply honed blade. Close enough to touch, yet not quite touching.

Evolaine reflected in the eyes of the Marquis, whose monster transformation had progressed.

Evolaine, now fully an adult, pointing her sword at him from above, wore an extremely complicated expression.

Though her demeanor was calm, she couldn’t hide the sorrow leaking from her eyes.

They say the eyes are the window to the soul.

All the emotions Evolaine felt were contained in her eyes.

And the Marquis could see all of it.

“……”

“……”

Kelic’s power, dyed purple, rippled from the sword’s tip.

The moment Evolaine tried to bring the sword closer to the Marquis, Kelic’s power was absorbed by him.

“…!”

‘The Marquis is reacting to Kelic.’

That meant if close combat continued, Evolaine would be at a severe disadvantage.

The only thing Evolaine, relatively weaker in strength and power, could rely on was Kelic’s second awakening.

But if the Marquis absorbed Kelic’s power during battle, far from achieving her second awakening, she might instead have her power stolen and die.

When Evolaine stomped on his shoulder with her foot and pushed forward with all her might, the Marquis was shoved back.

Using that momentum, Evolaine retreated backward to put distance between them.

“Evolaine?”

“……”

If close combat was impossible, she needed to fight at a distance where he couldn’t steal Kelic’s power, or she needed outside help.

Like a mage, for instance… But there were no mages among the people here right now.

Cardel was a Magic Swordsman. Astrian was seriously injured and, while a swordsman, wasn’t a mage who could use magic power.

The Emperor, too, had merely been active as a strategist in his youth—he had little experience directly jumping into battle with a sword.

Then the only one left was that woman…

The moment she confirmed the woman’s face, Evolaine’s eyes widened.

She never imagined that woman would be here.

“…Mother?”

“……”

She was someone Evolaine had searched for countless times.

While frantically collecting information about the Marquisate of La Voletta to defeat the Marquis, it was none other than the Emperor who had told her about this woman.

The mistress the Marquis had brought, saying he had someone he loved. Evolaine’s biological mother.

“I’ve watched Nailik my whole life, but that was the first time I saw him with eyes so in love.”

The Marquis had truly loved his mistress. Though the family’s opposition was fierce because she was a woman of unclear origins, the Marquis had even sworn before the Emperor that he would marry her no matter what.

“Your Majesty, what do you think is the strongest power in the world?”

“Well. Isn’t your power the strongest?”

Kelic was powerful enough to turn humans into war machines—could there be anything stronger?

But the Marquis had burst out laughing at the Emperor’s words.

Saying there was something far stronger than that.

“Then what is it?”

“The power of love, Your Majesty. Nothing in this world is stronger than love.”

“You’re really a lovesick fool. Do you like Miss Winter that much?”

When the Emperor spoke teasingly, the Marquis answered with an embarrassed face.

“…Yes.”

Ceril Winter was reflected in his eyes.

Only her.

It was the moment one person became his entire world.

“I can’t even bear to think of a world without her now. I can’t even imagine it.”

“Quite the romantic.”

“That’s why I brought her before Your Majesty.”

When the Emperor said the image of the Marquis speaking cheekily was vivid and spoke lost in memories, Evolaine thought the Emperor’s face looked truly sad.

The feeling of missing an old friend.

Evolaine thought she’d never missed anyone.

The Marquisate was a target to avoid, and the Marquis was the same.

She thought her mother was dead, and even if alive, she was someone resentful to her.

So there was no reason to miss anyone.

But after hearing the Emperor’s story, she thought it was quite different from what she’d known.

The Marquis and her mother had truly loved each other.

But the Marquis married the current Marchioness instead of her mother, and her mother ultimately gave birth to her and disappeared.

‘Come to think of it, His Majesty also said the Marquis became a recluse from the time he married the Marchioness.’

Was the Marchioness involved? But the Emperor had said the Marchioness also liked the Marquis very much.

That was because she was the Empress’s half-sister.

‘If the Empress pushed for her sister’s sake, the Marquis might not have been able to refuse.’

He tried to marry her mother, but the family’s opposition was fierce, and in the midst of that, a good marriage prospect came in—how could they miss this opportunity?

Surely from the family’s perspective, it was fortune rolling in. But…

Evolaine gazed at her mother again.

Ceril Winter. A Gypsy. A being who could use sorcery.

This was exactly why the Marquis had tried to marry her.

Not just love, but a perfect being with the power to control him.

Kelic’s power could be suppressed by sorcery.

Like Cardel, if a Magic Swordsman’s magic compatibility matched Evolaine’s, they could suppress Kelic, but sorcery was on another level.

They could completely control Kelic.

In fact, she’d heard the Marquis had nearly gone berserk many times in his youth, exposed to years of war.

Ceril Winter, whom he met in the midst of that, would have been a companion destined to be inevitably connected.

When Evolaine called Ceril “Mother,” a sheep tattoo appeared on Ceril’s neck.

A sheep with horns grinning with a grotesque expression. It was a crest symbolizing a demon.

She had made a deal with a demon. To turn back time, a forbidden technique.

To meet Evolaine and save the Marquis.

With her own life as collateral.

Ceril looked ready to cry at any moment. Both Evolaine and the Marquis were reflected in her pale blue eyes.

A daughter who must point her sword at her father.

There could be no sadder scene anywhere.

Evolaine gripped her sword again.

The reason she was at the banquet hall was because the Marquis was here.

In other words, she was here to stop him, knowing what kind of act he might commit.

‘If I can just interfere with the Marquis absorbing Kelic, I can subdue him.’

Even if she couldn’t completely block it, if she could slow the speed, she could buy enough time.

“Mother, please stop the Marquis.”

“……”

Ceril tried to answer Evolaine’s request, but only her mouth moved—no voice came out.

The demon was interfering with her.