Just as Niol was about to rise from his seat, Delia quickly stood up and obediently followed Kaiel’s command.

Kaiel grabbed her hand and quickly led her out of the conference room.

Delia hurriedly followed behind him, and as soon as she saw the door close behind them, she burst out.

“Kaiel……! Why, why! Why did you drag me out like that?! We have to finish the negotiations! Do you know how important this is?!”

Kaiel frowned.

“Important?”

“Yes!”

He glanced back at someone inside the conference room with a cold look and replied.

“Negotiations are for when both parties want something. I don’t want anything from them. That meeting was pointless.”

Delia stared at him with a bewildered expression.

“No, that’s not true. You don’t want anything? Think about it! What about Tranade? What about the people?!”

“You.”

“Yes, me too! But it’s for everyone’s benefit if we negotiate, right?”

Kaiel’s expression softened slightly.

“It’s for your benefit too.”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Kaiel sighed and spoke in a low voice.

“Delia. Let’s go back to Tranade.”

“No. I won’t go.”

“……”

“Kaiel, I’m saying I want to stay here. It’s my decision, my will.”

Her stance was firm.

Kaiel’s expression shifted into something indescribable. An expression she had never seen before, an expression she had never even imagined on his face.

It wasn’t quite a frown, nor was it a scowl. It wasn’t as cold as his usual stoic expression, nor was it as pained as a wounded person. It was an ambiguous expression, a mixture of emotions that she couldn’t decipher.

Why did her heart skip a beat at the sight of his complex expression?

Just as Delia was about to say something, a familiar sound rang in her ears.

Ding.

[Plausibility score has increased by 30 points.]

[Analyzing cause……]

[Cause analysis failed.]

[Unregistered emotion detected in the target.]

What was that?

Delia blinked in confusion at the unfamiliar notification, then snapped back to reality at the sound of Kaiel’s voice.

“……Delia.”

‘It’s not fair to look at me like that.’

Delia tried to suppress her weakening heart and put on a bold face, meeting Kaiel’s gaze.

“I’m sorry.”

“Are you serious?”

Delia nodded her head heavily a couple of times and smiled. If only he knew how shaky that smile was.

Just as Kaiel’s lips parted to speak,

“Your Grace……!”

A servant suddenly came running up to them, his face pale. Kaiel frowned, as if annoyed by the interruption.

“I’m busy. Later.”

“Th-That’s not it, Your, Your…… I think you need to see this.”

Still holding Delia with his body, Kaiel turned his head slightly as the servant took something out from his arms and handed it to him.

It was a letter, or rather, a small note.

“I found it.”

At those words, Delia felt her hands grow cold.

‘Found it? Found what……?’

Delia tried to grasp the situation as she saw Kaiel’s face harden as he received the letter.

An ominous feeling crossed Delia’s mind as she tried to recall what could have happened at this point in time.

Perhaps because of the changes in the flow of events after she decided to help Lady Rant, something hadn’t happened yet, something that should have happened much earlier in the original story.

If Kaiel had ordered someone to find something, it could only be one thing.

The person behind Lady Rant’s lapocia poisoning!

“Delia. Go inside.”

Before Delia could even open her mouth after realizing the situation, a cold command fell upon her like a bolt of ice.

Delia couldn’t bring herself to move.

“I……”

“Go inside.”

The face that had made her heart sink a moment ago was gone, replaced by a cold gaze as he gave her a short order.

Apart from her heart aching for a different reason, Delia was worried about what Kaiel would do if she turned away now.

But she still had a small amount of certainty.

‘He won’t kill the Empress. Because Lady Rant is alive. Because I made it so.’

“……I’ll go in first.”

Delia bowed deeply and returned to the conference room. Behind her, all was silent except for the quiet rustling of clothes as Kaiel straightened his attire.

“Where did His Grace go, and why are you alone?”

“Did you two…… have a fight?”

“Ah, no, we didn’t.”

The once quiet conference room began to buzz again. Perhaps because most of them were old, they seemed to be excessively interested in the young couple’s lover’s quarrel.

Of course, there was no such thing as a lover’s quarrel. Delia was only worried about what Kaiel was doing outside.

As everyone began to speculate about her, Niol quietly beckoned her back to the seat beside him.

Niol whispered in her ear.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know either.”

Just then,

Bang!

The quiet door burst open as if it had been ripped off its hinges.

“Gasp.”

“Your, Your Grace……?”

The people who saw Kaiel gasped in unison. He had his usual expressionless face, but most of them could sense it.

‘It’s dangerous.’

Even Delia, who was used to his various emotions, felt her heart drop at the sight of his face.

‘He’s furious……!’

The conference room fell silent as if doused with cold water. No one dared to even breathe. Some even covered their mouths with their hands and sat up straight.

‘What is he doing? Is he crazy?!’

‘I thought he’d calmed down a bit, but I was wrong!’

The gazes of those who had been exchanging silent glances and observing the situation finally fell upon the three of them.

The Crown Prince and Princess, and Delia.

Niol let out a small sigh and spoke in a stern voice.

“Duke Tranade. That was rude. This is not the place to be expressing your personal feelings.”

“Your Highness’s proposal.”

Kaiel spat out in a voice as cold as ice.

“I accept.”

The atmosphere in the conference room shifted once again. No one could easily intervene as the situation unfolded in an unpredictable manner.

The most bewildered of all was Delia.

He went from refusing to accepting just like that?

What did finding out who was behind it have to do with accepting this proposal?

Delia looked at him with a confused expression, but Kaiel only briefly met her gaze before leaving the conference room.

“……”

“……”

Silence remained in the wake of the quiet but intense storm that had just swept through the room. There was no doubt that something was wrong with Kaiel.

Just as Delia’s mind began to race, a cheerful voice rang out beside her.

“Well done. Let’s conclude the negotiations here. It ended smoothly.”

The people in the conference room inwardly shook their heads as they looked at Niol, who was smiling brightly.

‘It wasn’t smooth at all!’

Ashlene quietly pressed her slender fingers against her throbbing temples.

Delia quietly pushed back her chair. Noticing that she was about to get up, Niol blocked her way with his arm.

“Are you going to look for him?”

Delia’s eyes answered yes, and Niol shook his head.

“It’s dangerous right now. Wait a little while.”

He was referring to the enraged Kaiel. Niol, who had grown up with him, would know better than anyone the destructive power of his anger.

Kaiel Ceder, though always cold as ice and silent, was like a hurricane when someone crossed the line he had drawn.

Just as the world falls silent before a storm, and just as the world is left in disarray after a storm passes,

Delia gently pushed Niol’s arm aside and stood up.

“It’s alright.”

She knew better than anyone how dangerous an angry Kaiel Ceder could be. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen him angry before. That’s why she was fine.

Delia tried to leave the conference room to find Kaiel, but Niol blocked her way again.

“It’s not alright.”

Delia was momentarily taken aback by Niol’s firm stance, but the situation quickly escalated like wildfire.

Screams of maids began to ring out from outside the conference room.

“This is bad. I have to go!”

“Delia……!”

Delia ran out of the conference room.

“What’s going on?!”

“Miss……!”

Without even waiting for a response, Delia almost thanked Kaiel for his immense generosity all this time at the sight that unfolded before her eyes.

It was a scene so devastating that it made her realize how much Kaiel had been holding back.

Maids and servants were running around frantically in the hallway. Through the commotion, she could see white powder and chunks of plaster scattered across the floor.

A couple of statues that had adorned the hallway of the main palace were damaged beyond recognition.

Next to them stood a statue missing its head and one arm. It had originally been a statue of a girl holding a book in one hand and a flower in the other. Now, it was barely holding onto the flower with its remaining hand.

The common denominator between the broken statues was that they were all pieces the Empress had been particularly fond of.

“Did His Grace do this?”

A servant standing nearby couldn’t even answer out loud and just nodded his head repeatedly.

Delia was about to get a sense of the situation in the hallway and go look for Kaiel when she heard a loud crash behind her.

“……”

A long, elegant metal candelabra that had been hanging on the wall was bent and broken, like the back of an old woman.

“Oh, my! Her, Her Majesty, the Empress, cherished this……!”

A maid who had been diligently polishing the candelabra that morning cried out in horror.

The way the candelabra was crumpled and the statues were smashed showed how tremendous Kaiel’s strength truly was.

Of course, Delia was aware of the strength she had set for Kaiel. However, the strength she had seen so far was already overwhelming, so she had never even imagined anything beyond that.