Lars was in an extremely good mood thanks to Elysia not disappearing even after more than a week.

Though Elysia seemed flustered since this was her first time staying in this world for over a week, she welcomed his visits with bright smiles whenever Lars brought her bouquets and gifts without fail.

Because of this, Lars made visiting her after finishing his government duties the highlight of his day.

He was truly excited.

Every time he watched white-faced Elysia’s expression change constantly while smelling the fragrance of bouquets, his heart raced unbearably.

“…Phew.”

So today too, he was heading to the Crown Prince’s Palace to give her flowers and gifts.

Since she was scheduled to become Claes’s consort, she resided in the Crown Prince’s Palace. Therefore, aside from Karad, there was no one within the Crown Prince’s Palace who could harm her. Only his political enemies could withstand Claes’s wrath.

But.

“Hahaha. How pathetic. Even being revered as Elysia, she’s no different from other Elysias. She’s just the same breeding vessel!”

“They say another oracle came down? Right. I knew it. Like the first oracle, that absurd revelation telling us to make some Elysia the Crown Prince’s sole consort and consort to the other princes couldn’t be true!”

Shameless people were forcibly dragging Elysia out of the Crown Prince’s bedroom. He couldn’t see the Crown Prince’s Palace maids and servants anywhere, and young ladies and lords were spouting vulgar words while grabbing the crying Elysia’s arms and throwing her to the floor.

“What the hell are you doing!”

Finally, sparks flew from Lars’s eyes. When his anger-filled voice echoed thunderously through the corridor, they released Elysia’s arms with panicked faces. Then Elysia, her long black hair swaying, rushed into Lars’s embrace.

“Sob. Ugh, huuu…”

Rage flickered like flames in Lars’s eyes as he held the sniffling Chohee.

“It’s okay, Elysia. It’s okay.”

He set down his gift and gently stroked Chohee’s back to comfort her. But his gaze was directed at the young ladies and lords who had been excitedly dragging Elysia out moments ago.

“You’ll need to properly explain what this is about.”

Lars growled and ground his teeth.

“If you can’t do that, I’ll have all your heads. I’m currently acting as Crown Prince Claes’s representative, so dying by my hand is no different from dying by Brother Claes!”

Then the young ladies and lords turned pale and clamped their mouths shut. Lars was absolutely not someone to take lightly. While Second Prince Karad had an inferiority complex toward his brothers and was easily manipulated with words, Lars was evaluated as someone who could have become Crown Prince if not for Claes.

“We, we… only acted according to the oracle.”

When one young lord barely managed to squeeze out those words, a voice that seemed to agree came from behind.

“Right. They did nothing wrong. If anything’s wrong, it would be the false oracle and Elysia’s lewd body.”

“Brother Karad…”

Lars turned around sharply with keen eyes. Unlike usual, Karad approached them with a completely confident expression.

Then he bowed his head and whispered to Lars.

“How does it feel? Learning that Elysia is just a simple breeding vessel?”

“…What did you say?”

Lars glared at him while grinding his teeth. But his arms around Elysia didn’t loosen, so Chohee was still under his protection.

Seemingly annoyed by Lars’s attitude, Karad twisted his lips. It was completely different from his usual dissatisfied demeanor.

“I said breeding vessel. The Elysia you love so much is nothing more than a breeding vessel for the three of us. Didn’t you know a new oracle came down?”

“Brother… Have you lost your mind? Don’t you know that once an oracle comes down, even if another oracle descends, it won’t contradict the first one?”

Only then did Karad’s face crumple slightly. Duke Serow hadn’t told him this much. He had to somehow avoid suspicion that the oracle was fabricated.

“That’s not my concern. What I want to say is that the oracle came down again like that. High Priest Altair received it directly, so go check.”

‘High Priest Altair… Isn’t he Duke Serow’s lackey, Brother Claes’s political enemy?’

Moreover, there were stories that he was so power-hungry that the other high priests banded together to banish him to a provincial temple far from the capital. Lars looked fiercely at Karad and spat out his words.

“High Priest Altair has never received an oracle even once until now. But after being banished to the provinces, he received an oracle that contradicts the previous one?”

Karad felt anxious. Lars was absolutely not someone who would let this slide. Since he was more politically astute and experienced than him, it seemed impossible to deceive him with talk of oracles.

‘D*mn.’

How was he supposed to make Elysia his breeding vessel slave with such a sloppy operation? Karad gritted his teeth and forced a smile as he answered.

“Right. As a high priest, isn’t it possible for him to receive an oracle anytime? Even though he’s a high priest banished to the provinces, he still has the qualifications to receive oracles.”

At those words, fury blazed in Lars’s eyes. He gritted his teeth and continued speaking, chewing each word.

“If this oracle proves to be false, I absolutely won’t let it slide. And I’ll punish all the young ladies and lords who came to the Crown Prince’s Palace trying to drive out Elysia. This is punishment for acting on their own and trying to harm Elysia when the oracle wasn’t even reported to me.”

“That…”

The young lords stirred restlessly. This was different from what Karad and Duke Serow had promised. The young ladies trembled with pale faces and cried out.

“This is different from what was said…”

“Different from what?”

Lars was certain at this moment.

This was definitely an operation Karad had planned with Duke Serow to reduce Elysia to just his breeding vessel. Stroking the black hair of Chohee who was trembling in his arms, he pressed clearly.

“Who promised what and how? Don’t tell me Duke Serow and Brother Karad made some promise to drive Elysia from the palace?”

Then the corridor instantly fell silent. The young lord whose core had been hit turned red in the cheeks. Since everyone remained silent, Lars spoke once more.

“I’ll give you a chance here. If you reveal who planned this operation, I won’t punish at least that person. Now, speak honestly.”

The young ladies and lords only watched each other’s reactions. That was because Karad was sending murderous glares from behind Lars. Lars turned his head again to look at Karad.

‘Even so, to fabricate an oracle… He won’t easily confess. I’ll need to uncover this over time.’

“Then I’ll assume everyone agrees to being punished. Elysia, let’s go to my palace for now.”

Lars wrapped his arm around Chohee’s slender shoulders and burned each person who dared to lay hands on Elysia into his vision. Most of the young ladies were those who had caused trouble from ardently admiring Claes, and most of the young lords were lower nobles from humble families.

‘I absolutely won’t let this slide.’

Watching Lars walk away like that, Karad felt anxious.

‘You just need to ask for an oracle that makes Elysia fall to being the three princes’ breeding vessel, not an oracle to make her a consort.’

He wanted to punch Duke Serow’s smug face for saying that. Thinking it was a good plan, he had followed his words and made all the guards withdraw from the bedroom and had the young ladies and lords drag her out…

This was completely different from his expectations.

‘Lars doesn’t seem like he’ll back down like this. Rather, if we’re caught, we’re caught… I absolutely can’t just sit still.’

Karad forcibly swallowed the groans that rose to his throat. Perhaps following Lars’s orders, the royal guard came and arrested the young ladies and lords. Then several young ladies looked toward Karad with sorrowful expressions while crying streams of tears.

But he turned away from that and walked toward where Lars had gone. Since Elysia would be staying at the Third Prince’s Palace, it would be somewhat easier to somehow dismiss the guards and make her serve as his breeding vessel.

‘I absolutely won’t make this generation’s Elysia my wife. Absolutely not…’

And he would banish her from the empire.

‘Just wait, definitely…’

His eyes blazed with heat.