“Excuse me, customer?”

“Ah…”

Only when Jella called him for the third time did the customer finally snap back to attention.

“Today is moving day, so things are a bit chaotic. I apologize, customer. Now, what did you say you needed?”

“Eye color…”

This customer who had come looking for medicine to change eye color was none other than Arne, who had taken possession of a nobleman’s body.

Nobles are unnecessarily fixated on things like bloodlines, obsessing over hair and eye colors that symbolize their families.

Despite being merely the bloodline of inferior and base humans, Arne was quite irritated that people kept noticing the dissonance in his hair and eye colors, breaking his illusion.

For this reason, he had waited for Jella’s pharmacy to open and was the first to visit, seeking the eye color-changing medicine he had discovered in the newspaper advertisements.

And then he happened to discover the chalice here.

There was no doubt.

The golden gleaming object in the moving box earlier was definitely the sacred artifact he had used to drain people’s life force.

‘Why does this woman have the chalice?’

Arne glanced at Jella’s face as she enthusiastically explained about her new medicine.

As he absentmindedly listened to her explanations about this medicine and that medicine, he suddenly realized that this woman looked somewhat familiar.

Carefully examining her face, Arne realized when he had encountered her.

“This is Sister Jella Irene, introduced by Disciple Damian.”

“Pleased to meet you, Sister Jella. ”

“…Ah, my eyes! ”

“What’s wrong, Sister?”

“Your Holiness is so beautiful that my eyes are dazzled.”

She was the woman who had reacted unusually slowly to his enchantment, unlike other disciples.

At the time, he had been momentarily perplexed, wondering if his powers weren’t working, but as it turned out, this woman had been so entranced by his beauty that she had frozen, causing her to react more slowly than others.

He remembered that the oath ceremony using the chalice had been interrupted when Yupheon arrived.

‘So this woman must have stolen the sacred artifact during that confusion.’

Arne’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Jella.

He was certain that she had no idea what the chalice was and had simply stolen it because it looked valuable, taking advantage of the confusion.

Judging by her nonchalant reaction when it spilled out with her moving items.

Contrary to Arne’s assumption, Jella did know the chalice was a sacred artifact. However, she hadn’t made a fuss when it fell to the floor because she had already tested its durability by hitting it with a hammer several times and knew it wouldn’t be easily damaged.

‘I must retrieve the sacred artifact!’

If he could get the chalice back, he could drain people’s life force again.

That would make it much easier to find his stolen heart.

With this thought, Arne slowly rolled his eyes to look at the stairs leading to the second floor.

If the woman were alone, it might be different, but there were too many burly, rough-looking men helping with the move.

Arne’s body still couldn’t properly use its strength.

However, one fortunate thing was that this body had a lot of money, and with that money, he could command many people.

Enough to easily dispose of an ordinary pharmacist like the one before him.

‘Hehehe. I’ll send an assassin when this woman is alone.’

Pleased with the thought of retrieving the chalice, Arne happily made his evil plans while purchasing every medicine Jella recommended.

Thanks to this generous customer who bought everything she suggested, Jella’s face also beamed with delight.

***

The Emperor’s office.

Niel was sitting at his desk reviewing documents, as usual.

Recently, he had been spending extremely busy days.

Occasionally, rumors spread among the court officials that His Majesty was skipping meals and not getting enough sleep, causing them to worry about him with one heart and mind.

But whenever this happened, Niel would gently smile and dismiss their concerns, saying he was working within reasonable limits and they shouldn’t worry.

At a glance, Niel appeared no different than usual.

He treated his aides with a kind face and always spoke gently with a smile to the head chamberlain and servants.

However, when everyone had withdrawn and he was left alone.

“…”

The loosely upturned corners of his mouth hardened, and the gentle smile that had rested on his face suddenly disappeared.

“What you sought to gain by breaking our engagement and raising a rebellion against me…”

“Ah, could it be.”

“Did the noble Duke Alpenhayer covet the throne?”

He kept remembering her words as she looked at him languidly with half-closed eyes.

Was breaking the engagement and raising a rebellion all for the sake of that throne?

“Ha, haha.”

Niel laughed coldly and crushed what he was holding in his hand.

Bulging veins appeared on the back of his hand as he barely managed to control his emotions.

Since that day, he had not met Jella.

He had received reports that her pharmacy was opening today, but that was all.

He hated Jella.

He disliked her.

Terribly, he disliked her.

He had been like this for a long time.

Since he learned that she had been planning her own death.

From that moment, he had hated everything about the woman he had loved.

“The dragon will open its eyes again in the body of one of Shunaibel’s descendants. Isn’t that fortunate? That the villain we must defeat is just that one woman, Jella Shunaibel.”

Long ago, when Yuria had whispered that in his ear.

Ah, so that’s why.

Niel felt that one question he had been unable to answer for a long time was finally being resolved.

So that’s why she…

He remembered it was around the time she was under pressure from the previous emperor to proceed with their marriage.

She had killed all her relatives and ascended to the throne.

He remembered the criticism poured upon her at the time and how she had silently endured it.

So, that unexpected bloodshed that had stained her name had also been her own arrangement for her death.

To prevent the dragon from awakening in the body of another Shunaibel descendant.

For the eternal peace of those who would live on this land.

The nobles had opposed her actions, but they were afraid of being purged by her, so they only whispered behind her back instead of speaking openly.

In that atmosphere, Niel had visited her and criticized her actions for the first time.

“It was a cruel measure.”

“Cruel?”

She had irritably thrown a document from her desk at him.

It was a document containing the corruption of the rotten imperial family.

It detailed the malicious acts her dead relatives had committed in the name of Shunaibel.

“The cruel ones were those who have already become food for crows.”

“…Even so, executing even the young princes and princesses was excessive.”

Princess Ameli, the youngest daughter of the previous emperor, was only fourteen years old.

How cruel the deceased princess had been in life, what sacrifices her subordinates had suffered—none of that mattered to the people.

People only responded to the sensational truth that Jella had killed all her relatives, even the young ones, and seized the throne.

“So?”

“Your Majesty.”

“Let’s say I went too far. So what about it?”

He had thought it was well-intentioned advice for her.

He might have been a bit disappointed that she didn’t accept his advice.

“…Are you trying to become a tyrant, Your Majesty?”

He had said such things without knowing her intentions.

After learning the truth through Yuria, only then did Niel belatedly realize.

At that time, she had been only sixteen years old.

Everyone had forgotten because her actions were never those of a sixteen-year-old, but she too had been a minor.

From that young age, or perhaps even much earlier… she had been preparing for her own death.

Whenever he recalled this fact, Niel hated her, hated the people she had tried to protect, hated the fate that had driven her to death, and hated himself for saying such things to her without knowing and for failing to prevent her death despite everything.

He hated it terribly.

“…”

Niel suddenly felt tightness in his chest and loosened his cravat.

But the constricting feeling in the corner of his heart did not improve at all.

He slowly rose from his seat. The crumpled document caught his eye.

His eyes twisted slightly as he realized he had failed to control his emotions again.

But he had no desire to straighten out the crumpled document.

After staring at it quietly, Niel turned and walked outside.

The knights immediately tried to follow him, but Niel stopped them.

“No need for an escort. I want to rest alone today.”

Everyone was pleased with the Emperor’s declaration of rest, as he had been suffering from overwork recently.

Since the Emperor possessed martial skills no less than those of most knights, and often went on secret outings with his identity concealed by a magic stone bracelet, everyone withdrew without protest.

The sun was gradually setting.

Niel’s aimless wandering through the capital streets suddenly came to a halt.

He raised his head and looked at the small two-story building across from him.

A low sigh escaped between his lips.

Through the transparent glass of the first floor, he could see her smiling brightly.

He hadn’t intended to come here, but his feet had unconsciously led him to her.

Just like when he was a young boy who always followed the princess.