A dog with a collar around its neck was wagging its tail at someone else while its master stood right in front of it.

Seidon could never tolerate such a thing.

And no one knew better than him how to train an insolent dog that failed to recognize its master.

“Larine Ontuevi.”

At the light call, Larinne turned her head away from Winterd and looked toward him.

A strange sense of satisfaction filled him, as though a possession had returned to the place where it belonged.

“Answer.”

“……”

He deliberately let the knife he had been holding fall to the floor.

The sharp clang of metal striking marble cut through the air, and the conversation around the table came to an abrupt halt.

“What are you—”

“Bring a new one.”

Seidon issued the command while looking straight into the pair of blue eyes glaring fiercely at him.

Her expression twisted with humiliation.

Only then did Seidon feel as if blood were finally rushing through his entire body.

“Your Majesty. This is not appropriate behavior in a gathering where honored guests have been invited.”

“Why? Can’t you do it?”

Seidon rose from his seat and walked toward Larinne.

Under the watchful silence of everyone present, he suddenly grabbed the chin of her maid, Chardi, who had been standing behind her.

A fragile cry pierced the air.

“Your Majesty!”

“Go and bring a new one.”

It was a threat—if Larinne did not obey, Chardi would not be spared.

“L–Lady Larinne!”

The moment Larinne saw Chardi’s pale face trembling with tears, she immediately rose from her seat.

Winterd moved to stand as well, but Larinne quietly placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

She had no intention of letting an unrelated person become further entangled in this.

“Don’t lay a hand on someone who has nothing to do with this.”

She spoke sharply before turning and walking away.

Watching her leave, Seidon curled his lips into a faint, crooked smile.

“To think you still have your pride even now. How laughable.”

It was far from the attitude one should have toward a fiancée.

***

Servants belonging to the imperial palace stayed together in a separate residence built as an annex.

It was also the place where rumors spread the fastest and power struggles never ceased.

Having once served as a maid in the Eastern Palace, Larinne knew that place better than anyone.

That was why she could not simply send Chardi back to the dormitory.

If she did, the girl would surely be harassed all night.

Such was the life of a servant who attended a master looked down upon by others.

“Are you feeling a little better now?”

Larinne gently patted Chardi’s back as the girl finished crying and asked softly.

“Lady Larinne, I’m sorry. Because of me…”

“It’s fine. I’m alright, so don’t cry.”

In the Eastern Empire, it was rare for someone of higher status to treat a servant kindly.

Perhaps because of that, Chardi’s eyes quickly filled with tears again.

“But still… His Majesty was truly too much today. It’s not as if you were the one who brought up breaking off the engagement. You were only being courteous to the envoy from the Kingdom of Lirmen for the sake of diplomatic relations.”

“Today’s incident really isn’t a big deal.”

Larinne answered calmly.

Compared to the contempt she had endured throughout her entire life in the Eastern Empire, today’s humiliation was nothing more than a single grain of sand.

She had long been drifting in the middle of a desert.

After her homeland was destroyed in war and she was found floating down the river by Seidon’s mother—

Grains of sand called “contempt” had begun to accumulate.

One by one, they piled up.

Those grains became a small mound.

The mound grew into towering dunes.

And eventually, they formed a vast desert.

In an endless sea of sand, what difference would one more grain make?

There was nothing left to grieve over.

Her tears had dried up long ago.

“Hurry and go inside. Curfew’s almost here.”

“Is it already that late?”

Unlike other days, on Friday nights the head steward and head maid gathered all the servants in the annex.

For the past year, while preparing an escape with Pellet, Larinne had worked tirelessly to grow accustomed to this schedule.

Even without looking at a clock, she could roughly tell the time.

When the lights on the top floor of the annex suddenly lit up brightly, it meant the head maid had begun preparing for roll call.

Just then, the bell from the annex rang twice in short succession.

Chardi’s eyes widened like a startled rabbit’s as she hurriedly brushed the dirt off herself and stood up.

“Lady Larinne, I think I should head inside first… You’ll take a little more walk before coming in, right?”

“Yes. I’ll come in soon.”

After sending Chardi back to the annexe, her eyes still swollen from crying, Larinne made her way towards the abandoned temple where the earthen mound lay.

In the moonlight, she spotted the desolate gravestone.

‘Maybe I should have made it a little smaller.’

If she escaped from here with Pellet and the others, they would likely have to wander from place to place until they found somewhere to settle.

A stone slab the size of her palm could become a burden during a long journey.

Even so, she didn’t want to leave it behind.

She knew better than anyone how lonely it was to be left alone.

‘Before leaving, I should find a way to make it portable.’

Larine crouched down to retrieve the gravestone—

Then suddenly noticed something strange about the earthen mound.

“…This.”

Someone had dug into the grave.

***

Against the backdrop of the night sky, where desert sparrows flew back to their nests, Libehi Winterd wandered outside.

He stopped and thumped his chest a few times.

“Something stuck?”

Harry, who had been dragged along by the collar into this late-night stroll, clicked his tongue in response.

“I agree that it wasn’t a very pleasant dinner.”

“It was thoroughly unpleasant.”

“Setting that aside, why would you abandon the empty room where we painstakingly set up a soundproof magic circle, just to insist on receiving the report outside? At this hour of all times!”

“Why? The atmosphere’s nice. Doesn’t it refresh your mood?”

“What use is a good atmosphere when it’s just two gloomy men?”

Winterd let out a faint laugh and recalled what had happened in the banquet hall.

“Don’t lay a hand on someone who has nothing to do with this.”

To think someone could speak such painful words in such a beautiful, gentle voice.

Winterd rubbed the left side of his chest and smiled bitterly.

The sight of those small shoulders, bearing the weight of everyone’s mocking gazes, kept flickering before his eyes.

Among all those people—

How could there not have been even one person who stepped forward to help her?

She had walked away, looking as though she might break at any moment, yet without accepting anyone’s help.

There had been something painfully familiar about the sorrowful way she endured everything alone.

‘As if no one could even reach out to take her hand.’

His crimson eyes, now cold and still, turned toward the corridor that led to the southern palace. There was still time before midnight. Yet for some reason, even knowing it would be improper, he wanted to visit a little earlier.

Turning his steps toward the southern palace, Winterd finally brought up the real matter.

“So, Harry. The thing I asked you to investigate?”

Having already given up trying to understand the whims of his lord, Harry lightly flicked his fingers and cast a spell.

A neatly organized report appeared.

“Currently, the number of survivors appears to be fewer than thirty.”

“Less than expected.”

“It seems they have been the target of several massacres. Even among other minority groups, there’s a general feeling that people would rather not get involved with them.”

“Is it related to what happened at the banquet today?”

Harry, who had been present there as well, naturally recalled what he had witnessed.

He wasn’t particularly shocked.

He had long since seen the depths of those people.

Which was why they had taken his only blood relative as a prisoner.

Harry, who harbored personal resentment toward the nobles of the Eastern Empire, felt nausea rising within him.

“Most likely. As you saw, it hardly looked like the relationship of an engaged couple. Even a pet dog wouldn’t be treated that way.”

“It did seem rather one-sided.”

“Apparently, just last week—the very day we arrived—there was a knife fight at the Grand Temple. There were casualties as well.”

Who exactly had the right to call others barbarians?

Those who committed acts that defied all human decency without hesitation—weren’t they worse than beasts?

Winterd swallowed a scoff.

“Still, it saved us time in many ways. All the surviving members appear to have residences within the capital.”

“Usually, when minority groups are captured as prisoners, they’re scattered throughout the provinces to prevent the seeds of rebellion from taking root. Yet they haven’t even bothered to pretend.”

“Are they foolish?”

“They’re arrogant.”

Winterd already knew that arrangement stemmed from arrogance—the belief that even if you all joined forces, you would never so much as scratch the imperial throne.

And he also knew that the lives of Larinne’s remaining people were meant to serve as the leash used to control her.

“Are the Lemen the only prisoners gathered in the capital?”

“Yes. Most of them are doing menial work at government offices or within the imperial palace.”

“So they’ve practically laid the stage for them to gather and scheme.”

Winterd’s eyebrow twitched upward.

“It seems the imperial family doesn’t even consider the possibility that the Lemen might have secretly formed an organization.”

“What about their current movements?”

“We haven’t been able to confirm that yet. Your Excellency, you haven’t forgotten that we’ve only been in the Eastern Empire for a week, have you?”

“Tsk. You’ve grown rusty.”

“That’s quite a blow to my pride.”

Teasing Harry, whose expression had soured, Winterd continued walking.

Before they knew it, they had reached the southern palace.

The light in Larinne’s bedroom was out.

“Harry, admit it. You’re definitely rusty.”

“Pardon? Impossible. If nothing else, I’m confident in the accuracy of my information.”

As if unable to accept it, Harry sent a bird made of mana toward the darkened bedroom.

After a short while, the bird returned from its reconnaissance and perched on the back of Harry’s hand, relaying what it had seen.

“See? I wasn’t mistaken. It seems she went out for a walk.”

“At this hour?”

“Perhaps she’s unsettled because of what happened at dinner. Let’s see… it says she went that way. …Hm?”

At the tip of Harry’s confidently extended finger, a suspicious figure appeared.

From the path leading toward the back of the imperial palace, a man was sneaking out while cautiously looking around.

It was the direction of the abandoned Grand Temple.

“Just looking at him, he’s suspicious.”

“Shh.”

The moon was unusually bright tonight, making it easy to see the man’s uniform even from a distance.

Perhaps he had been digging—his shoes and sleeves were covered in dirt.

Noticing Winterd’s gaze lingering on the dirt for quite some time, Harry asked casually.

“Someone you know?”

“…Unfortunately.”

In the darkness, the eyes of a black serpent gleamed with k*lling intent.