Going back in time, after Niel led the imperial knights to the underworld and returned.

Cail slammed Tenes onto the floor and said.

‘This man reeks of a very disgusting smell.’

‘Smell?’

‘The smell of Niel Alpenhayer.’

Despite Cail’s explanation, I still couldn’t smell anything from Tenes, but I could tell that he had some connection with Niel.

Come to think of it, Niel was originally Tenes’s guest.

‘What? You were Niel Alpenhayer’s spy?’

‘N-no, how could, no, that’s not it, I am, uh, uh, uh, wronged……’

Tenes waved his hands, claiming he was wronged.

Then Yuphe, who was peeking out and watching, suggested to me in a gentle voice.

‘Shall I help?’

‘Hmm……?’

For a moment, I couldn’t understand what he meant and tilted my head to look at him.

Yuphe took Tenes away to an empty room, saying he would have a brief conversation with him, and soon returned with a bright smile. Along with a sobbing Tenes whose face had turned pale.

I don’t know what conversation they had in there, but Tenes quietly confessed the truth.

‘I, I really didn’t want to do it, Sister. But Lord Niel forced me to stay here and act as a spy. I’m truly wronged. Huuung.’

No wonder Niel seemed so certain that Yuria was hiding here.

‘Tenes, you piece of trash. I told you to live a good life, but now you’re even spying? You really choose to do only the worst things?’

What followed was a time of punishment.

Afterward, I deliberately leaked mixed information of truth and lies to Tenes and let him run to Niel.

It was to divert Niel’s attention in the direction we wanted.

The plan was simple.

Load a ‘fake Yuria’ onto Yuphe’s carriage returning to the imperial palace to attract the guards’ attention.

While Yuphe argues with the imperial guards who want to check the ‘fake Yuria’s’ face, ‘real Yuria’ and I infiltrate the imperial palace through a different route.

The imperial palace was where I used to live.

Unlike in the original work, after Niel ascended to the throne, he preserved the imperial palace I had used without tearing it down, so the various passages I knew remained intact.

So if we could safely infiltrate past the guards’ eyes, it wouldn’t be difficult to reach the northern forest.

The problem was who would play the decoy role to lure the imperial guards……

‘Why must I play this role?’

Damian was selected as today’s decoy.

‘I can’t do it! I nearly died earlier trying to evade the imperial knights! And now you want me to impersonate the saint? Isn’t the saint currently wanted for attempting to assassinate the emperor? Absolutely not! This time, I might really get caught and killed!’

Damian firmly refused, saying he absolutely couldn’t do it, but there was no one else to replace him.

Yuphe’s role was to carry the ‘fake Yuria’ in his carriage through the main gate.

Cail was too large in build, and all the underworld organization members were too rugged.

‘Should I tell them you’re the one who shot the arrow at the emperor? Or will you quietly be the decoy?’

‘How could you threaten me like that……!’

In the end, Damian, unable to resist Yuphe’s threat, had to disguise himself as Yuria by wearing a blonde wig and changing his eye color with a potion I made.

After covering himself from head to toe in priest’s robes, he looked suspicious to anyone who saw him.

‘Aren’t we asking something too difficult of Damian?’

‘Don’t worry. He’s better at running away than anyone else. Even if he gets caught, he’ll escape well.’

‘If I get caught, I’ll publicly declare that this is all because Holiness has a perverted f*tish for dressing me up as a woman.’

Damian growled at Yuphe, who was speaking in a cheerful voice.

In fact, Damian seemed to feel more shame about cross-dressing than fear of becoming a decoy.

Anyway, we finished our preparations and arrived in front of the imperial palace.

The security in front of the imperial palace was unusually tight.

There had been recent appearances of those threatening the emperor—such as mysterious figures attempting to assassinate heroes, the saint who failed to assassinate the emperor and was now wanted, and the mysterious person who shot an arrow at the emperor and fled……

‘Somehow, they all seem like people I know.’

Thanks to leaking information that we would infiltrate the imperial palace with Yuphe tonight, the guards were checking everyone entering one by one.

I hid with Yuria a short distance away and watched as Yuphe’s carriage, elaborately decorated with the Holy Nation’s emblem, passed through the main gate.

“There will be an inspection.”

The guard captain stopped Yuphe’s carriage.

Click.

The carriage window opened.

“What’s the matter?”

Yuphe, sitting inside the carriage, asked in a languid voice.

“I apologize, Your Holiness Pope Yupheon. We have intelligence that subversive elements will infiltrate the palace tonight, so I need to briefly check inside the carriage.”

“Are you saying you want to check the pope’s carriage?”

Suddenly, Yuphe’s face froze coldly.

Unlike the always gentle emperor, the pope’s gaze, looking down with icy eyes made the guard captain hesitate a little.

“I’m sorry. I’ll just quickly check……”

“Aaargh!”

At that moment, the opposite window opened, and with a scream, Damian was thrown out.

Rubbing his sore bottom while glaring at the carriage, it seemed Yuphe had pushed him out the window.

Although his face wasn’t visible because he was covered from head to toe in priest’s robes, the guards keenly recognized his features.

“Blonde hair and purple eyes……!”

Damian jumped up and started running in the opposite direction from where Yuria and I were hiding.

“Catch him!”

The guards chased after the fleeing Damian.

Thanks to that, this area became quiet.

‘Now’s our chance.’

I exchanged glances with Yuria, and taking advantage of the commotion, we entered the imperial palace through a small hole a little distance from the main gate.

We hid in the darkness and stealthily moved toward the northern forest.

***

News that a suspicious person had been caught trying to infiltrate the imperial palace was also delivered to Niel.

‘It’s a trap.’

He had already noticed when Tenes came to see him.

Given her personality, she wouldn’t have carelessly leaked information to Tenes.

So Niel pondered.

Whether to pretend to go along with her trap or not.

He also knew where she would be heading after infiltrating the palace.

In the past, he had learned from Yuria how to cross dimensions.

‘There’s a cave in the northern forest of the imperial palace. There’s a dimensional gate there.’

It seems she ultimately intends to send Yuria back to where she came from.

After slowly closing and opening his eyes, he looked up at the empty space and murmured in a low voice.

“……Heyden.”

Hearing his call, Heyden knelt before him and bowed.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Go to the northern forest right now. And there……”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

After giving instructions to Heyden, he headed to the western prison of the imperial palace.

Meanwhile, at the western prison of the imperial palace.

‘Even though I’ve lost my power…… to suffer such humiliation at the hands of mere humans!’

Arne, captured by the guards and imprisoned here, felt indignant and incredulous.

“Even Pope Yupheon has abandoned you. He said to dispose of you as we see fit.”

“His Majesty will interrogate you personally, so wait.”

At those words, Arne’s ears perked up.

‘The emperor……’

Isn’t he the ruler of the humans who divided and shared his heart that his cursed servant had stolen?

‘This is an opportunity.’

Unlike Yupheon, who freely used holy power or Cail, who used dragon power through a contract with Helasio, the emperor was an ordinary human.

So, if he could get close enough, he could easily retrieve his heart.

Until now, approaching the emperor had been impossible, but this was rather fortunate. In this situation, he would pretend to be docilely captured, and when the emperor approached, he would reclaim his heart.

‘Hehehehe. Such foolish humans. The moment I retrieve my heart, I’ll make them terribly regret inflicting such humiliation on me.’

Not long after, the emperor appeared with his knights.

“This is the suspicious person who tried to infiltrate the imperial palace today.”

The guard captain explained to Niel, who was scanning the prison with an expressionless face.

“Blonde hair and purple eyes……”

Niel glanced at Arne’s face, who was tied to a crude wooden chair, and walked toward him.

‘Hehehehehehe. Come closer, human emperor!’

Arne waited for Niel to come a little closer.

Just a little.

Just a little closer.

A little more.

Finally, his steps stopped in front of Arne.

But……

‘It’s not there?’

A confused look flashed across Arne’s face. He couldn’t sense his heart’s energy from the emperor.

‘That can’t be! They definitely divided and took my heart!’

At that moment, Niel grabbed the back of his head with rough force.

A smile slowly bloomed on Niel’s face, which had been expressionless since entering this place.

“You’ll do nicely.”

“……?”

As Arne made a dumbfounded expression at his sudden words.

Niel whispered elegantly with curved eyes.

“A criminal who will become a sacrifice in place of Yuria.”