“Y-Your Holiness…”

Demian’s voice trembled.

Not just his voice. His hands, feet, and entire body were shaking under the intense pressure.

“Why is this woman’s face circulating in the capital of Alpenhayer?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Didn’t I tell you to take care of it so that it wouldn’t catch my eye because it’s disgusting?”

“I-I’m sorry!”

Thud!

Demian fell to his knees in front of him, hitting the floor.

As a result, the documents he was holding scattered and fluttered about.

It would be quite a hassle to reorganize them, but at this moment, those documents weren’t important.

Saint Yuria, who once came to this world and suddenly left.

Everyone thought Yupheon liked that woman. Even the close priests who served the Pope in the Great Temple thought so.

But only one person, Demian, knew that wasn’t the case.

Pope Yupheon Arne hates Saint Yuria. To the extent that… he would take out Yuria’s portrait to curse it whenever he was in a bad mood!

“Sorry? For what?”

“F-for letting the disgusting face circulate and catch Your Holiness’s eye…”

“Oh, so you know it’s your fault?”

As Yupheon said, there was a tiny bit of Demian’s fault here.

It was Demian who had leaked Yuria’s portrait.

But he had no choice.

“P-please forgive me just this once. This all happened in the process of carrying out the mission Your Holiness gave me…”

Demian mumbled, asking for forgiveness.

Shortly after arriving in the imperial capital Yetrisha, Yupheon noticed unpleasant energies swirling in the air.

While investigating this, he learned about a cult group worshipping Yuria and ordered Demian to find out more details.

In the process, Demian stole Yuria’s portrait, which was carefully stored in Yupheon’s curse box, to infiltrate the cult.

The cult members cherished and carried around copies of Yuria’s portrait that Demian had stolen and offered, and it seemed some careless, stupid fellow dropped it on the street.

If you observe the copied portrait closely, you can see faint spots that look like holes here and there. These were traces of curses.

To add, portraits of Niel and Cail were also in that box. Demian was glad his own portrait wasn’t in there.

Even though the curse was just Yupheon using the portraits for target practice when he was in a bad mood, his superior’s expression at those times was chillingly frightening, as if he might slaughter someone.

“So, was there any achievement from leaking the disgusting portrait?”

Yupheon asked, crushing Yuria’s portrait under his shoe heel.

“Ah, yes, well… It seems to be just a gathering of lunatics. Can you believe they say they’re going to resurrect the Saint?”

“What?”

Yupheon paused and his expression hardened.

“How can they resurrect a dead person? From the start, their worship of the Saint as a god was suspicious. It just seems like an ordinary cult, so you probably don’t need to pay much attention to it…”

After Demian rambled on about his thoughts, he picked up the fallen documents, neatly placed them on the table, and left.

Click.

When the door closed he was alone in the room again.

“…Even if you can’t resurrect the dead, you can bring back someone who ran away.”

Yupheon muttered in a monotone voice, looking down at Yuria’s crushed face.

His gaze, as if looking at an insect, didn’t even contain contempt.

Contempt is for people. Not for insects.

“Yuphe, if you come to my bedroom tonight, I’ll tell you Jella Shunaibel’s weakness.”

“Don’t worry too much. Once that woman dies, this world will be peaceful and you’ll have me.”

“Don’t you want to see Jella Shunaibel writhing in despair?”

Nevertheless, the urge to find and exterminate that insect who had dared to escape enveloped him.

‘Yes, I want to see it, Yuria.’

Yupheon’s expressionless face, looking down at Yuria’s portrait, slowly curled into a smirk.

‘You, writhing in despair at her feet.’

Then my Jella would praise me, saying I did well.

Because Jella, from a very young age, hated insects terribly.

The young her, who seemed fearless of anything in the world, was terrified of insects and hated them, so I always stepped in to catch the insects for her.

At those times, she would clap her hands with sparkling eyes.

Even though I had only caught a few insects, it was a bit embarrassing but not unpleasant to be praised as cool by her, who had opened up my world.

Yupheon’s eyes softened as he recalled a moment from the past.

So, Jella. Just wait a little longer.

That flea-like woman who ran away, the worm-like bastards trying to ruin the world you’ve built, the fly-like guys hovering around you, I’ll exterminate them all. For you.

***

Boom!

With a thunderous noise, one side of the old building’s wall crumbled, and dust billowed like clouds.

“H-hic?”

“In-intruder!”

Cail looked at the people fleeing in surprise with cold eyes.

Whoosh!

A sudden gust of wind slammed the wide-open door shut with a bang.

The people who couldn’t escape in time fell on their bottoms.

“Ugh!”

“P-please spare…”

The terrified people sobbed and scooted backwards while sitting on the floor.

[Wow, look at this! Seems like these guys were trying to summon Yuria!]

A black dragon the size of a fist shouted as it flew around inside the old building.

Cail glanced at the altar-like left wall.

The geometric pattern drawn on the fluttering flag was clearly the same as the one on the paper Jella had picked up on the street a few hours ago.

And the large frame and suspicious incense placed in front of it.

Cail glared coldly at Yuria’s portrait inside the frame.

In an instant, with a flash of light, the frame shattered, and the portrait inside began to burn.

Startled people screamed and desperately tried to open the closed door.

It was then.

“W-wait a moment. A-aren’t we acquaintances?”

Someone pleaded, grabbing Cail’s trouser leg.

“You remember me, right? Th-this afternoon, please, sp-spare my…”

Cail’s eyes narrowed slightly as he turned his head reflexively.

‘This person is…’

It was Young Lord Amets!

The clingy man who was with Jella this afternoon!

‘He touched her shoulder with those hands. He was invited to her house…’

The moment he realized this, an uncontrollable impulse surged within him.

[Hey, hey. Calm down, calm down. You’re excited now.]

The black dragon, who had astutely noticed his inner state, flew over to restrain him.

“…Right. I’ll try to control myself.”

Cail curled his lips into a smirk and took a step towards Young Lord Amets.

[Huh? Hey, hey! Cail! Your eyes look strange now!]

However, unlike his smiling lips, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a smile in his blue eyes as he gazed at his familiar acquaintance.

[Your eyes are crazy now! You’re not controlling yourself at all…!]

“Aaaaarghhhh.”

Soon after, Young Lord Amets’s scream echoed throughout the entire building.

***

The last day of the Empire’s Founding Festival dawned.

‘Sigh, I was planning to approach Young Lord Amets again today.’

Yesterday, thanks to Cail, my plan to approach Young Lord Amets had failed.

‘But Emily’s meeting with Young Lord Amets is this evening, and the event ends before that. If I move quickly, it should be fine.’

On this last day of the Empire’s Founding Festival, a hunting competition will be held from early dawn until dusk.

They say the festival will culminate in building a large altar in the square, offering the biggest game, and praying for the eternal glory of the Alpenhayer Empire.

I frowned as I opened the wardrobe to roughly prepare to go out.

There were no suitable clothes for the hunting grounds.

“Well, it’s not like any suspicious characters will appear anyway, so I’ll just wear anything…”

It was then.

Thump, thump, thump!

“S-Sister! Please come out quickly!”

Felitz knocked on the door, making a fuss.

“What’s the matter?”

“His Majesty has sent a carriage!”

“Huh?”

Blinking my eyes, I came out to see people from the imperial palace standing in front of a carriage.

“These are items His Majesty is sending to Miss Jella Irene, who will be performing guard duty today.”

There was not only a carriage but also hunting clothes and weapons.

“Please be deeply grateful for His Majesty’s benevolence.”

I almost felt annoyed at the imperial servant’s words, as if he was the one bestowing the gifts, but the moment I saw the items in the box up close, such feelings melted away.

‘My goodness! These decorations, aren’t they all jewels? How much would this all be worth if I sold it?’

I smiled brightly and hugged the box.

“Yes, yes, please tell him I’m very grateful!”

I quickly went up to my room, put on the expensive clothing that Jella Irene’s body was wearing for the first time, and came back down.

The clothes Niel sent fit my body perfectly, strangely enough.

The fabric clinging to my body was truly a work of art.

‘But isn’t this the fabric used only for the emperor’s clothes?’

I tilted my head, but without thinking too deeply, I went back down and got into the carriage.

“Wow…! I-I’ve never ridden in a carriage like this before, Sister!”

Felitz sat across from me and exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh, right! Sister, have you heard the rumor?”

“Rumor?”

“They say that Young Lord Amets met with a terrible fate last night.”

“What?”

As I blinked in surprise, Felitz let out a sigh of relief.

“Phew, fortunately, it wasn’t Sister’s doing.”

Seeing my glaring eyes, he quickly added.

“No, there’s a rumor among people. They say the villain who only assassinates heroes has now extended their hand to innocent nobles.”

“No, I’ve never laid a hand on innocent nobles!”

Of course, I wasn’t the villain assassinating heroes either.

Anyway, this was a big problem. I was planning to follow Young Lord Amets this evening and raid that strange religious group…

“But thinking about it again, this is serious.”

“…?”

“It seems there might be another villain besides Sister, what if they appear today? What if they interfere with our request?”

“I’m telling you, I’m not a villain!”

While listening to Felitz’s nonsense, the carriage came to a stop.

As the carriage door opened, the first thing I saw was Niel smiling brightly and extending his hand to me.

“Welcome, Miss Jella.”

Out of past habit, I was about to accept his escort reflexively but then hesitated.

An ordinary pharmacist doesn’t receive the emperor’s escort when getting out of a carriage.

“Hello, Your Majesty. Thank you for sending such a precious carriage.”

I gave Niel a perfunctory commercial smile, then ignored his hand and hopped out of the carriage.

Then, I extended my hand gracefully towards Felitz, who was afraid to get out alone, having ridden in a carriage for the first time.

“Here, Felitz. Your hand.”

“Yes, Sister!”

Felitz took my hand and carefully stepped down from the carriage one foot at a time. But then he lost his footing.

“Eek!”

“Be careful.”

As Felitz screamed like a girl and staggered, I quickly grabbed his waist with my other hand, and he blushed at my powerful appearance.

“Thank you, Sister. I’d be in big trouble without you.”

“Well, it’s nothing much.”

I smiled contentedly and patted Felitz’s shoulder.

Niel, who had been awkwardly holding out his hand towards me until then, slowly withdrew it and looked closely at Felitz’s face.

“It seems he’s a cherished subordinate.”

Although he said it with a gentle smile, why did it sound so ominous?