Niel returned from the hunting grounds, washed up, and prepared for the next event.

The attendants wiped the moisture from his body.

As the final event of the Founding Day celebration was about to begin, there was no time to rest.

Thanks to the hunting festival ending early today, he could catch his breath.

Although he should have been tired from the events that had continued since morning, his complexion remained unchanged from morning till now.

If anything, he looked even better than usual.

‘Originally, I had planned to take a peaceful, quiet walk in the forest with her, but…’

It wasn’t bad. Watching her smile brightly and stretch her body was also enjoyable.

‘If only there hadn’t been any interferers, it would have been perfect.’

As Niel chuckled and put his arms through the shirt brought by the attendants, there was a knock and his aide entered.

“Your Majesty, I’ve found a suitable person for the matter you mentioned earlier.”

“Ah.”

Niel let out a low exclamation.

After quickly changing, he checked his appearance one last time and asked his aide.

“Where is that person now?”

“In the reception room.”

“Let’s go there.”

As he opened the door to the reception room and entered, a man who had been standing restlessly immediately prostrated himself before Niel.

“Y-Y-Y-Your Majesty…!”

Niel gestured towards the sofa with a gentle voice to the trembling man.

“My, please sit comfortably.”

As Niel sat on the sofa first, the man also sat down, nervously glancing around.

Niel’s gaze swept over the man.

A middle-aged man with black hair and red eyes…

He perfectly matched the conditions Niel was looking for.

The aide handed Niel a document with the man’s personal information.

Niel briefly skimmed through the document and began to speak.

“So you were an actor in a now-closed theater troupe. Then acting shouldn’t be a problem. I assume you’ve heard all the conditions through my aide?”

“Y-Yes, yes, sir!”

“Good. From now on, you will become Baron Serk. You came up from the south with your daughter to enjoy the festival, and then became the Emperor’s benefactor by saving him from a sudden accident…”

He paused for a moment. Even to himself, the story he had made up seemed quite…

“Hmm, not a bad story, I’d say.”

A pleasant smile bloomed on his face for once.

“The story of a benefactor developing into a lover would be quite interesting too.”

He had been thinking for a while that Jella needed a new identity.

Although he had chosen to watch over her as she seemed satisfied with her current identity as ‘Jella Irene’, Yupheon and Cail had unfortunately come to the capital and met her.

Those two would try any means to take her away.

So, before that could happen, he intended to solidify her position and keep her tied to the imperial palace.

“Ah, um… Then when will the script you mentioned…”

“We’ll do it today.”

“W-What? T-Today?”

He was due to make a procession to the capital square shortly after. It would be a good opportunity with many eyes watching.

However, if there was one variable…

“Hayden.”

At Niel’s call, Hayden appeared and prostrated himself before him.

“Do you remember what I asked of you yesterday?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I pray for your mistake, Hayden.”

Niel smiled as he conveyed these cryptic words.

***

Anyway, that’s how Niel became the winner of today’s hunting festival.

I strolled around the square with a satisfied expression, watching people from the imperial palace prepare for the final ceremony of the Founding Day celebration.

That huge grizzly bear placed on top of the large altar piled up in the square was what I had caught today.

“I heard His Majesty hunted that huge grizzly bear?”

“Not just the grizzly bear, they say he caught twenty-seven other animals too?”

“As expected, our Emperor is amazing.”

The people gathered in the square praised Niel as they looked at the game placed on the altar.

‘It’s a bit ridiculous to hear this. When Jella won the hunting competition, they pointed fingers calling her a brutal woman.’

Although I felt a bit sulky thinking about it, I decided to focus only on the good things.

‘One grizzly bear plus twenty-seven other animals, how much is all this worth.’

Since Niel said he would even write a review through the official imperial media, this was not a bad new start for a reformed underworld.

‘The start wasn’t bad, so I think it will run well enough on its own even if I step away.’

I couldn’t stay attached to the underworld forever.

I was planning to leave after opening up new business opportunities for them.

‘From tomorrow, I’ll have them work without me and monitor how well they do. And if they seem to be running smoothly without problems, I should slowly…’

Although the profits earned through the underworld business would be distributed according to transparent accounting procedures, given my performance today, the incentive falling to my share should be considerable.

With that money, it would be more than enough to build a building on my prime land…

“Oh?”

As I was pondering future plans, I saw the faces I had been looking for in front of me.

It was young Lord Amets and Emily!

“Oh my, Lady Clarence!”

I approached Emily and young Lord Amets with an excessively cheerful voice.

“Jella? You haven’t left yet?”

“Ah, yes, well… It just happened. I wanted to see a bit more of the festival.”

At my hastily made-up excuse, Emily genuinely rejoiced and grabbed my hand.

“That’s great, Jella! I was so disappointed thinking you had just left.”

I also laughed along with her, “Haha,” while glancing at young Lord Amets standing beside her.

“But who is this…?”

Actually, at first, I almost didn’t recognize that it was young Lord Amets.

‘He said he suffered a terrible ordeal, and he looks awful indeed.’

Young Lord Amets had bruises all over his handsome face, and both his wrists were tightly wrapped in bandages.

The fact that he didn’t cancel his date with Emily even in such a state… I secretly paid my respects to his outstanding missionary spirit.

“Oh right, this is young Lord Amets I mentioned before. He got a bit hurt last night when he encountered some thugs. You’ve heard, right? About those vicious thugs who’ve been attacking the heroes in the capital lately.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve heard.”

As I nodded vaguely, Emily introduced me to young Lord Amets.

“Young Lord Amets, this is Lady Jella Serk, the Baron’s daughter who helped me with my debutante.”

Young Lord Amets recognized me and asked in a perplexed voice.

“Uh, weren’t you selling flowers on the street not long ago…?”

“Selling flowers?”

“Ah, my family is poor, so I sell flowers, medicine, and all sorts of things.”

At my answer, young Lord Amets wore a somewhat dizzy expression.

“What are you two planning to do now?”

“Today is the day when all three heroes are gathered. So we’re going to see that. It’s a rare opportunity.”

“What a coincidence, I was just about to go see that too. Let’s go together. Hoho.”

Just as I was pretending to be oblivious and trying to forcibly tag along on their date…

“Jella.”

Cail spotted me and approached with a bright smile.

“So you were with young Lord Amets.”

Cail’s blue eyes slowly moved towards young Lord Amets.

“Hiiiiieek!”

A strange cry burst from young Lord Amets’ mouth.

“M-Miss Emily. I, I, I, I don’t think I can accompany you any further today as I’m not feeling well.”

“What? But you said you were fine just a moment ago?”

“I-I’m sorry. Then I’ll be…”

Eventually, his complexion rapidly deteriorated, and leaving only those words, he fled in a flash.

“Wait, young Lord Amets…! Let’s go together!”

I watched with sad eyes as young Lord Amets ran away and Emily chased after him.

Once again, I lost young Lord Amets because of Cail!

‘This is definitely because of Cail! The atmosphere was good until just now, but he ran away as soon as Cail appeared!’

Whether he knew his fault or not, Cail was smiling brightly while looking at me.

“Why do you keep interfering…!”

“…Have I interfered again?”

Cail asked, hesitating.

Just as I was about to hesitate, thinking he might turn into a gloomy puppy again, he smiled with a not-at-all dejected voice and said,

“Then I have no choice. I’ll take responsibility today too…”

“Pretty one!”

But soon, a voice from across interrupted his words.

Yupheon was waving his hand with a broad smile towards us.

He was still in the same attire I had seen him in at the hunting grounds.

‘Why… did he bring that?’

I narrowed my eyes and looked at the bow and arrows in his hand.

Suddenly, I remembered the strange behavior these two had shown at the hunting grounds today. The way they had followed me and Niel around without actually hunting.

“Is there still something left to hunt?”

“Yes, maybe?”

Yupheon grinned while stroking his bow and arrows.

“……”

Somehow, I felt it would be better not to exchange any more words with Yupheon.

“His Imperial Majesty the Emperor is arriving!”

Just then, the sound of drums and trumpets announcing the Emperor’s arrival was heard.

People cheered in unison to welcome the Emperor’s procession.

Thanks to that, our attention was also drawn in that direction.

As always, Niel was proceeding towards the altar in an open-top carriage, wearing an elegant smile.

When Niel spotted me and his smile deepened, exclamations poured out from around us.

Just as I was trying to ignore his smile with clouded eyes…

Suddenly, I felt sharp presences on both sides of me.

Yupheon and Cail each placed their hands on their bow and sword hilt, looking up at the sky.

I followed their gaze and looked up.

Then, I noticed an object that looked like a black dot high up in the sky.

“Aah!”

“Be careful, Your Majesty!”

“Th-The sky…!”

Some woman was falling straight down from the sky.

‘Huh? Straight down?’

Before I knew it, I instinctively rushed forward and caught the falling woman.

‘W-What’s going on?’

As I blinked in confusion, someone pointed at the woman in my arms and shouted.

“Th-The Saint…!”

What? Saint?

I quickly looked at the woman in my arms.

“It’s the Saint! It’s Saint Yuria!”

“Saint Yuria has been resurrected!”

Gasp! It really is Yuria?