Inside the gently rolling carriage.

‘Damn it. I should have run away then.’

Yuria anxiously bit her lip.

‘It’s best not to entertain useless thoughts. Find my heart from them. I hope you can prove your worth this time.’

She was irritated. Why did he ask her to find it? He could have found it himself.

But even while thinking this, Yuria could only awkwardly laugh and answer that she would definitely find it.

‘By the way, what on earth did those people do?’

Yuria recalled the faces of the three male protagonists of this world one by one.

What did they do to make Arne, who was the master of this world, end up in that state, and how did they come to possess his heart?

And most perplexing of all…

‘How am I supposed to retrieve it from those who tore out even a god’s heart? I can’t do it. Absolutely can’t.’

But if she continued to fail to prove her worth, Arne would surely kill her.

Her bitten lower lip turned pale white with pressure.

‘I should watch for an opportunity and escape.’

Last night, Arne had shown her how he absorbed people’s life force.

It was too horrifying.

Having lost his heart and divinity, he was using people’s life force to sustain his power.

Even creating a religion was a means to steal people’s life force.

He said that the life force of young women was particularly powerful.

‘If I make a mistake, I’ll have my life force drained like those women.’

The carriage finally stopped.

The place Yuria had come to under Arne’s pressure was none other than the temple in the capital city of Yetrisha.

Arne had unilaterally informed Yupheon of the meeting place and time to set up an appointment.

Yuria desperately hoped that Yupheon would ignore Arne’s letter.

‘Just in case, I should keep this handy.’

She carefully held the poison she had sprayed on Niel close to her chest as she got out of the carriage.

“Greetings, Saint. It is an honor to escort you here.”

The prime minister of the Yetrisha diocese greeted her.

“I heard there was an unfortunate incident with His Majesty Emperor Alpenhayer.”

“Ah, yes…”

“Please don’t worry too much. This is a sacred area where even the emperor’s soldiers cannot intrude. His Holiness the Pope arrived quite some time ago and is waiting for you.”

“Q-quite some time ago?”

Yuria asked in a startled, frightened voice.

However the prime minister interpreted her reaction, he gave a kind laugh and reassured her.

“His Holiness will protect you from the Alpenhayer Imperial Family, so please don’t worry too much.”

“….”

Yuria couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge his words.

“From here, you must go alone.”

The prime minister guided her to the back garden where Yupheon was waiting.

Yuria hesitantly stepped inside.

She could see a man crouching under a tree in the distance.

Rustle.

Yuria, who had been walking quietly, inadvertently made a sound.

The crouching Yupheon, who had been sorting through something, suddenly raised his head.

“Yuria?”

His golden eyes, praised by many as beautiful and sacred, curved gently.

“Wow, it really is Yuria.”

He smiled broadly, dimples forming on both cheeks.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you.”

But the moment she saw his smiling eyes glittering wildly.

With a gasp, Yuria immediately fell to her knees and begged.

“P-p-p-please spare me!”

She didn’t even think of using her enchantment power.

Those eyes gleaming with killing intent belonged to a man who had never loved her.

Just like Niel Alpenhayer, this man had never fallen under her enchantment.

“Hmm, don’t worry. I’ll spare you.”

Yupheon smiled and picked up one of the metal pieces neatly arranged on the ground.

It was a small dagger about the size of a palm.

“I-I thought you said you’d spare me!”

“I won’t kill you, I won’t. Just going to cut your ankle so you can’t run away…”

“Kyaaak!”

Yuria quickly sprayed the poison she had brought.

Hissss…

The poison corroded Yupheon’s face just as it had damaged Niel’s face.

But it was only for a brief moment.

Yupheon’s face immediately recovered.

“…!”

Yuria’s eyes widened in shock.

Even she, who had been the saint of Arne, the former main god who governed life, didn’t have such power. Not even when Arne’s power was at its peak.

Her plan to paralyze Yupheon’s vision with poison and escape had failed completely.

He was a man she could never defeat.

Realizing this, Yuria prostrated herself before him again and begged.

“Please, please spare me.”

Faced with the inescapable fear of death, Yuria pleaded with tears and snot running down her face.

“I, I didn’t come here on purpose, they made me, said they’d kill me if I didn’t, waaah…”

“Oh, how pitiful.”

Yupheon twirled the dagger in his hand and spoke in a sympathetic tone.

“I really won’t kill you. Actually, I don’t care what happens to a life like yours.”

Then he smiled kindly and comforted her.

Of course, it was a lie.

“The one I need to meet is not you, but your master.”

Yupheon intended to kill both Yuria’s master and Yuria herself.

“M-master? Who do you mean…”

“Arne.”

His voice suddenly turned cold as he pronounced the three syllables.

“He’s the one who brought you here, right?”

“…!”

Yuria looked at him with a startled face.

“I wasn’t sure, but I’ve been smelling his disgusting scent on you for a while now.”

Yupheon smirked and tapped Yuria’s face with the dagger.

“Yuria, would you take me to Arne?”

***

“But is it okay to speak so carelessly to the emperor?”

On the way back after delivering the medicine to Niel, I casually asked Cail.

“It’s fine. I am not subject to the Alpenhayer Empire.”

Cail answered in a calm voice.

After my death, the Shunaibel Imperial Family collapsed, and I heard that Cail had left for the abandoned northern lands where the kingdom of the Hersha clan once existed.

And there, he gathered the scattered clan members and established an independent power.

‘This is also different from the original story.’

The Hersha clan.

They were descendants of the ancient dragon Helasio’s blood, who fell along with the first emperor of Shunaibel when he sealed Helasio.

Most of them scattered and became bandits or slash-and-burn farmers, while the ruling class of the clan, called the ‘successors,’ all died or became slaves.

That was about 300 years ago.

During those long 300 years, Cail became the only surviving successor of Hersha.

However, in the original story, his setting as the successor of the Hersha clan was only briefly mentioned as a device to kill the dragon.

The original Cail never left for the clan’s old lands, nor did he gather the scattered clan members to build power.

He simply stayed by Yuria’s side and reached a happy ending.

Anyway, for various reasons like these, the three heroes—Niel, Yupheon, and Cail—each with their own independent powers, were said to maintain equal relationships…

“Still, it’s better to be careful with your words.”

I felt concerned for no reason.

This is the emperor’s domain, and what if something goes wrong because of speaking that way?

“If it’s your order, I will follow it.”

His calm response was not much different from how he was five years ago.

Suddenly, I was curious.

Cail, are you… happy now that you’re different from the original story?

Ignoring the question that had risen to my throat, I said to get rid of him:

“I have other business to attend to, so you should go back first.”

“I will accompany you.”

“No. I’m going to meet young Lord Ametsu. Don’t interfere this time.”

Contrary to my expectation that he would resist, a seemingly pleased smile appeared on Cail’s face.

Looking at that suspicious expression with narrowed eyes,

“Your information is outdated, Jella. I heard that young Lord Ametsu met an assailant last night and can’t even get up.”

“Again?”

Good heavens, how long has it been since he was injured by an assailant?

“How do you know that?”

“I’m now a member of the criminal organization, so I’m well-informed about this kind of information.”

He smirked as he replied.

I couldn’t help but let out a groan.

‘Really, why does that timid young Lord keep getting injured by assailants?’