Ilion sat at the table for breakfast, but his gaze was fixed on the door, seemingly waiting for someone who wasn’t there.

He had spent the night pondering Ravenne’s request to break off the engagement, but no answer came.

No, perhaps he didn’t want to come to an answer.

He had vaguely thought about it. That someday he would have to let her go.

He just wanted to pretend not to notice the passing time.

The happiness he felt for the first time in his life was too sweet and addictive to let go of with his own hands.

It would have been better if he hadn’t known.

He liked the words that seemed indifferent yet showed concern for him. He liked the smile that brightened up as if nothing had happened after being down.

The memory of her holding his hand nonchalantly even after knowing his secret still often brought a smile to his face.

That’s why he was fine even if it was all a lie. To the point where he wanted to drown in that sweet lie and die.

But dreams are meant to be awakened from eventually, and the reality waiting wasn’t a fairy tale.

Hearing the sound of a carriage passing outside the window, Ilion finally took his eyes off the door.

And at the same time, a figure he’d rather not meet if possible entered through the door.

“I’m hungry.”

The trudging footsteps, the clattering chair, even the noisy clinking of cutlery. Every action was full of things that grated on his nerves.

Thanks to her, the already troubled morning became even more unsettling.

“Has Ravenne not returned yet?”

Spinel asked while putting bread in her mouth. Ilion reluctantly responded to her voice, insensitive enough to blow away his worries.

“She came back. And she went out again a little while ago.”

“It’s so hard to see her face these days.”

He didn’t want to agree with her words, but they were true. Lately, it had become increasingly difficult to see Ravenne’s face. Well, now he seemed to know the reason why.

Ilion watched Spinel eating, dropping bread crumbs, and finally managed to speak.

“About what you said last time, that I won’t live long…”

It was a topic he hadn’t brought up since that day.

The reasons were simple.

The first reason was that he didn’t want to talk to Spinel, and the second was that even if he swallowed his pride and initiated, nothing good would come out of it.

“…You said this wasn’t a curse, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then what is it?”

“Why should I explain that to someone who’s going to die anyway? I’ll say it again, I don’t like you very much. I have no intention of helping you.”

Spinel’s response was exactly as Ilion had expected.

“…Is there no way to survive?”

“No. You’ve already missed the time when that was possible.”

“Missed it?”

“Yeah. Well, if it had been about 10 years earlier, who knows. You might have been able to live.”

Spinel shrugged and stabbed a fried egg with her fork. Then she looked at the oozing yolk with annoyance.

“I see. I found out too late.”

Ten years ago.

Just half a year ago, Ilion had no attachment to life. He felt no need to continue living. He was just alive because he was breathing.

For the sake of the family.

Living day by day like that, when he suddenly came to his senses, he was rather waiting for death. After all, death was the only way to be free from the curse of life.

It was truly ironic that the curse placed on him would rather set him free.

But now, to have regrets about the life he hadn’t lived, it was laughable.

“By the way, have you decided where you’ll live from now on?”

“I’m still considering. Ravenne doesn’t seem to want to leave yet.”

“Then you’d better decide quickly. It seems she’s now willing to leave.”

Spinel looked at Ilion obliquely. In her hand was the mutilated egg.

“Your tone is different today. You used to growl at me to leave alone. Have you decided to part ways?”

“…Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Spinel, who had been listening quietly, put down her fork and stood up.

“You didn’t tell her to leave first, did you?”

Her red eyes glared at Ilion fiercely, seeming to have misunderstood his words.

“Ravenne said she would leave first.”

At Ilion’s explanation, her sharp eyes that looked ready to devour him suddenly rounded.

“Ravenne said that? That’s strange. She said she still had things to do…”

“What things?”

“Well… Finding a way for everyone to be happy… or something like that.”

Spinel muttered, recalling a conversation from a few days ago.

A way for everyone to be happy.

Repeating Spinel’s words, Ilion stood up. Somehow, it felt like a period had been put at the end of his long deliberation.

“Then, it seems she has found that way.”

Even knowing that there was no place for him in the ending she was drawing, he could no longer push his selfishness.

Although his life might not be like a fairy tale, he hoped that the happiness Ravenne was drawing would be like the novels she loved.

***

On the day she promised with Artia. Taking advantage of the dawn when everyone was asleep, I used an artifact to teleport near the Imperial Palace.

Ilion might have thought I wouldn’t sneak out if he lifted the ban on going out, but it was his mistake not to have someone watch me until I fell asleep.

Well, I’ll probably get scolded when I return later…

Ah, maybe I don’t need to worry about being scolded anymore?

The self-loathing that started with my unconscious thoughts of Ilion felt like it would dig through the earth and pierce the inner core.

“Is this the time for such thoughts? You’re about to go rescue Artia now.”

I slapped my cheeks a couple of times to escape these useless thoughts, urging myself on.

I’ve experienced all sorts of unlikely events in my life, but nothing was as thrilling as causing a new incident.

Especially in the sense that there’s no turning back if I fail.

Hoping the cool dawn air would calm my racing heart, I took a deep breath.

Then I rummaged through my pocket and set up the artifact I had brought on the castle wall. It was an explosive artifact with a timer. This should be enough to make a small hole in the wall.

It was now 4 AM, and there were about 2 hours left until sunrise.

At that time, I had to safely meet up with Artia.

To catch up with the urgently passing time, I hurried towards the entrance. Fortunately, a grocer’s cart was waiting there.

As I was quietly trying to sneak in behind the cart, an observant guard caught me.

“Wait, where is a maid coming from at this hour?”

If they were going to let people in anyway, I wish they had let me in too.

This place was also full of unnecessarily diligent people. Work should be done moderately, roughly, sloppily.

“I was running an errand.”

“An errand? At this time at dawn?”

“Yes.”

“For what?”

“Well… Lord Dimitri ordered me to bring something for the head maid. I’m a bit late because I had to go secretly without Miss Laura knowing.”

As I hesitated and made excuses as if unsure whether I should say this, the soldiers nodded as if it was something they already knew.

“That man is still infatuated with Laura, I see.”

“No matter how you look at it, it seems hopeless, he should know when to give up. What is he trying to do by sending a maid at this hour?”

“Who doesn’t know that? You must be having a hard time being caught between them.”

Fortunately, they let me in without much suspicion. They even encouraged me.

“Well, what can I do? It would be nice if things work out, right?”

After responding appropriately to their conversation, I quickly entered the palace.

Since I wasn’t currently disguising my face with magic, there was a big risk of my identity being exposed if I wasn’t careful.

Of all things, they don’t sell artifacts that change appearance because of the risk of crime or something.

Because of that, even relying on the darkness, I had to avoid encountering people as much as possible.

Carefully observing my surroundings, I headed towards the warehouse I had visited with Michael.

It seemed no one had visited the warehouse since that day, as the items I had left were still there.

I picked up the item I had been eyeing among the objects scattered in the box.

When I explored the Imperial Palace with Michael, not all of the plan was formulated from the beginning.

Above all, the soldiers guarding Artia’s room were the biggest obstacle.

The main concern was how to get them away from Artia’s room. Preferably as far away as possible.

While I was struggling to come up with a good idea, my eyes fell on the leftover fireworks from an event.

The loud sound and smoke produced when fireworks explode were good for attracting people’s attention. It could easily lure away the guards in front of the door.

At the same time, it would also cover the noise of the bomb I had installed on the castle wall before entering the Imperial Palace. It couldn’t be more perfect. It was fortunate that the event had been cancelled.

I filled my pockets with fireworks and headed towards Artia’s room first.

Then I carefully rolled a lit firework to the end of the corridor.

Soon, with a bang!, cloud-like smoke billowed up.

“W-What’s that! An explosion?”

“Cough, cough. What’s with this smoke?”

As I expected, the soldiers guarding Artia’s room were the first to rush towards the source of the sound and look around.

The two people were in confusion due to the smoke filling the corridor, and in that gap, I quickly ran through the shortcut towards the farthest place from Artia’s room.

Like Hansel and Gretel, I ran around various parts of the Imperial Palace setting up fireworks, and the installed fireworks went off one by one with time differences.

And as I hoped, the soldiers on guard duty in the Imperial Palace were unable to gather their wits and ran here and there.

“Where is it? Where did it go off this time?”

“The east side of the second floor?”

“Didn’t it go off in the central building earlier?”

While their attention was completely fixed elsewhere, I hurried towards the castle wall I had promised to meet Artia at.

When I arrived, running on the dirt road hidden in darkness, fortunately, the artifact had done its job. The small hole that had been made seemed sufficient for a person to pass through.

“Has Artia already gone outside?”

Seeing that no one was there, it seemed she had already headed outside through the hole.

I too quickly threw myself into the hole to meet up with her.

As I was crawling out of the ground, grunting, I saw an unfamiliar shoe standing on the ground in front of my eyes.

It looked too big to be a woman’s, it seemed like a man’s at first glance…

“Saintess…?”

With an ominous feeling, I slowly raised my head.