“……I’m sorry for coming without warning.”

“Not at all. You came quickly, though. Merry only came to ask a moment ago and went back up.”

“Ah, that’s because…… I was already on my way before I heard the answer.”

Ines grew embarrassed as she spoke and gave an awkward laugh.

Killian seemed to smile faintly in response, then asked in a serious voice.

“Are you certain you’ll be all right? I don’t mean to underestimate you, but the state of a prisoner after interrogation is not a particularly pleasant sight.”

It was the same question Merry had asked above. Understanding why both of them were worried, Ines nodded without any sign of impatience.

“I really am fine, Killian. I promise. At the very least, I won’t be in the way.”

Even if the inside was truly a sight she could not bear to look at, she was confident she would not scream or tremble with fear.

But Killian’s expression grew worse at Ines’s promise. He looked as though he were swallowing a sigh, then finally let it out.

“Ines. What I’m worried about is not you being in the way. It’s you. I’m afraid you’ll be shocked by the sight.”

“……Ah.”

Ines was certain. Her face right now must look a little dim.

“Still, I understand your resolve. ……In that case, don’t leave my side, and if there’s something you truly cannot bear to look at, say so immediately. Promise me, Ines.”

At Killian’s gentle but firm insistence, Ines nodded without meaning to. Only then did Killian’s expression lighten slightly. Though he still looked troubled.

“Merry. Stand by outside.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Merry bowed with crisp posture, gave Ines a bow as well, then stood straight against the wall beside the door.

The inside of the prison, entered behind Killian, carried a different air from the corridor. Darker, damper, and sharply metallic.

If this had been the twenty-two-year-old Ines Rupert who had not yet lived through the future, the oppressive air alone would have drained the color from her face and set her trembling. And seeing the figure slumped in the chair at the center of the room, she would have been on the verge of fainting.

But the Ines of now only widened her eyes slightly at the blood-tinged air, the grim atmosphere, and the wretched state of the prisoner.

“Ines. Are you all right……”

Killian, who had turned back to check on her with concern, was the one who looked mildly surprised.

“I told you I was fine.”

Ines smiled faintly and nodded, and Killian could not hide his bewilderment as he said, “……So you did.”

He watched her carefully for a moment, and when it was clear that Ines truly was all right, he let out a rueful laugh.

“Were you surprised that I wasn’t frightened?”

Killian being flustered was genuinely rare, and Ines, now rather enjoying herself, asked with a playful note. Killian shrugged.

“Very much so. Interrogating a prisoner is something even seasoned knights are reluctant to do.”

“Hmm. It certainly isn’t a pleasant sight.”

“……You may be the only princess in the world composed enough to make jokes in a situation like this.”

Ines gave a small laugh at Killian’s murmur.

By then Killian had set aside his worry entirely and guided Ines further inside.

Besides Killian, Ines, and the prisoner, there was one more person in the cell.

“……”

The man, about half a head taller than Ines, had a gentle-looking face that would have been quite mild if not for the long scar crossing his cheek.

“Hmm……”

At Ines’s gaze, the man looked at Killian with an expressionless face. Ines looked at Killian as well, and he introduced the man for her.

“This is Noah. Also a member of the Ikalante Knights, and he cannot speak. He is skilled at interrogation, so I have borrowed his expertise for the moment.”

When Killian finished, Noah gave a brief bow of his head.

She had thought him simply taciturn, but he could not speak at all.

Ines gave a smile that was warm without being excessive and offered a small nod.

“It’s a pleasure, Sir Noah. I’m Ines Rupert.”

“……”

“I won’t be in the way, so please don’t mind me.”

Noah seemed to look at her for a moment, then glanced away. It might have been acknowledgment, or it might have been the particular awkwardness of someone not comfortable with people.

Of course she had no intention of taking issue with it, so Ines stepped back one pace.

“Has he said anything?”

“No. Even with the intensity raised considerably, he hasn’t opened his mouth.”

Ines looked at the prisoner slumped as though unconscious with cold eyes.

The one who had dared to bring harm to Rupert was the one in a wretched state.

‘……I looked on the way in too, but he’s definitely not a face I’ve seen around the Emperor.’

In the roughly half a year she had spent imprisoned deep in the imperial palace before her death, Ines had seen a few of the Emperor’s close associates. But none of them had the same face as this sorcerer.

Those who practiced sorcery, which was punishable by death simply for contact in the current age, were extremely few.

‘Since sorcery was being used back then too, I thought he might be someone I’d seen among them……’

She had not expected everything to go smoothly, but the disappointment was unavoidable.

Since she had no memory of this person, the only thing left was to find out through interrogation and investigation.

“Does he have family?”

Ines asked, looking at the sorcerer, and Killian paused briefly. But only briefly.

“According to our investigation, he is an orphan. The surrounding imperial soldiers believe the same, so he is either truly an orphan or has thoroughly scrubbed his background.”

“……Which do you think is more likely?”

“The probability of him being an orphan is low. People who refuse to speak even under t*rture are usually either protecting someone or holding a conviction more precious than their life, and this one doesn’t appear to be the latter.”

“So you think he has family.”

“Most likely.”

Of course she did not expect the sorcerer to open his mouth and point directly to the Emperor. The Emperor was not that careless. That was also why she had not told Killian outright that the Emperor was behind it.

Just then, a scream tore through the air.

“Aaaargh!”

Ines flinched reflexively and turned her head to see Noah lightly gripping the sorcerer’s wrist.

“Hah, hah!”

It looked like he was barely holding it at all from the outside, but the sorcerer was gasping with bloodshot eyes.

“I already told you. I hate Rupert. That’s why I did it, cough, that’s all!”

The sight of him screaming in a voice already completely hoarse was enough to make anyone’s brow furrow. All the more so for someone who knew it was a lie.

“Ines. He doesn’t look like he’ll talk anytime soon, so we should probably go. If there’s any news, Noah will let me know, and I’ll tell you right away.”

“……All right. And thank you. For letting me come down here.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Ines swallowed a sigh tinged with frustration and turned to leave. Or tried to. If only she had not caught sight of Noah about to press a thin needle into the sorcerer’s arm at that exact moment.

“Sir, wait……!”

At Ines’s urgent call, Noah stilled his hand.

“Ines?”

Unable to answer Killian’s puzzled question, Ines walked slowly toward the sorcerer. Sensing something in her manner, Killian did not stop her but fell into step beside her like an escort.

Ines stopped two steps away and looked quietly down.

“……What do you want.”

The sorcerer, who had been glaring at Ines, followed her gaze. It had come to rest on his wrist. More precisely, on the pentagonal birthmark on the inside of his wrist.

“……”

Ines looked at it with wavering eyes. She remembered that mark clearly. Not only was the shape unusual, but the moment she had seen it was so vivid in her memory because of the helpless anguish she had felt then.

‘Draw her blood. She carries a mage’s child, so the princess’s body must hold at least a trace of the mage’s essence.’

‘……Yes, Your Majesty.’

A masked man who had answered the Emperor’s command in a strangely hoarse voice, then grabbed Ines’s arm and drove a needle in.

On that man’s wrist too, there had been a pentagonal birthmark exactly like this one.