Klaus, who had risen from his seat, approached me with an incredibly eerie gait. Where he passed, black smoke left traces like footprints.

“Yes, that’s right. It’s better to die than to live like that.”

Klaus was wearing a sinister smile.

“It seems I made a mistake in underestimating you. I didn’t expect you to struggle this much.”

“Struggle? Are you referring to what Your Majesty is doing right now?”

Responding to his sudden statement, I looked towards Artia, but for some reason, Artia showed no movement.

Rather than no movement, it was more like… she was frozen. As if time had stopped.

“Yes. For now, rejoice in the victory you’ve achieved. It won’t last long anyway.”

Klaus, who had come close, put his hand on my shoulder and slowly bent down to whisper.

“So, I’ll wish for your happiness. For you, who will lose what’s most precious at your happiest moment.”

With those final words, he disappeared, surrounded by black smoke, with an unpleasant laugh.

“…Ravenne, Ravenne!”

I was startled awake by a strong shaking of my body.

“Your…Grace?”

Ilion was suddenly standing where Klaus had been just moments ago.

“Wh-when did you get here?”

I asked, confused by Ilion’s sudden appearance.

“I arrived just now. What happened?”

It seemed I had been so lost in thought that I didn’t notice people coming and going. Still in a state of confusion, I recalled the earlier situation and explained it to Ilion.

“Suddenly, black smoke rose and…”

“Black… smoke?”

Artia, who was next to Ilion, asked with a worried expression.

“You saw it earlier, didn’t you? Black smoke appeared, and Klaus suddenly got up, and then…”

Artia slowly shook her head at my words.

“He suddenly passed away while talking with me.”

“What?”

Passed away? He was alive just moments ago.

I approached the bed, leaving the two behind. The man who had disappeared with the black smoke was lying on the bed, eyes closed peacefully as if asleep.

But as Artia said, there was no trace of life in him.

I clearly saw him walking on his own feet. That eerie gait and terrible voice were too vivid to be a hallucination.

“Why, why did this happen?”

“I’m not sure either. It happened too suddenly.”

Artia seemed a bit frustrated as she said this. As if she didn’t want Klaus to die like that.

“Ravenne, calm down first.”

Ilion asked again with concern. He slowly met my eyes and placed his hand on my shoulder.

“Calm down and explain slowly. What else did you see besides the black smoke?”

Would he believe the absurd things I said earlier?

Klaus’s words echoed in my mind. The words about losing what’s most precious at the happiest moment…

But seeing his corpse with my own eyes, I wasn’t sure if what I saw was real. No matter how I thought about it, a corpse moving didn’t make sense.

Was it really just a hallucination?

Looking at Ilion, who was worriedly examining my complexion, I shook my head.

“I must have been seeing things because I’m tired. I’m fine now. More importantly, what are you going to do now?”

To my question, Ilion answered while looking at Klaus’s corpse.

“Don’t worry about that. It will take time, but I’ll resolve it gradually.”

***

The gathering to enjoy the last event of the Harvest Festival quickly turned into a meeting to discuss the deceased Emperor and subsequent matters.

I’m not sure what kind of debate is taking place in the room where the nobles have gathered, but for now, I decided to trust Ilion, who told me not to worry.

In fact, there wasn’t much else I could do anyway.

Artia and I left the room and waited silently with Spinel for Ilion’s meeting to end.

It had been an incredibly long day. So long that I couldn’t even remember when I had last eaten breakfast. I didn’t have the energy left to speak due to excessive fatigue.

After sitting silently in a chair for a while, I lifted my head to look at Spinel.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

She was sitting on the windowsill, looking outside.

Spinel, who had regained her mana with Artia’s help, occasionally shot sparks into the sky. She seemed happy about her returned mana.

“I’m watching the sunset.”

When I stood next to her and looked outside with my heavy body, a red sunset was settling over the vast garden.

Once again, the sparks shot from Spinel’s fingertips flew up into the sky, cutting through the boundary between the red sunset and the dim night sky.

For some reason, I stared blankly at the scene that seemed unreal for a moment.

Peaceful and serene. It was a beautiful sight I thought I’d never see again.

Perhaps it was because I finally realized that everything was over. My eyes unknowingly became moist. As I was looking at the sunset with tears welling up,

“Where the hell is that Max slacking off again? That newcomer is really getting out of hand.”

A voice interrupting my contemplation pierced my ears.

“We’re already short-handed, and he always disappears at times like this. Oh, just wait until I catch him. I’ll make him run laps around the training ground.”

The soldier, grumbling to himself, disappeared into the distance, and my tears also retreated.

Praying that the soldier named Max would safely run his laps around the training ground, I turned away from the window.

Just then, the door opened and Ilion entered.

“Did the meeting go well?”

“Well, more or less.”

Ilion’s expression looked very tired as he said this.

“Let’s head back for today. You must be very tired too.”

At Ilion’s suggestion, I turned towards Artia.

“Saintess, let’s go together. There’s no reason for you to stay here anymore.”

“No, I…”

Just as Artia was about to refuse, I took her hand and said,

“We promised, didn’t we? That I’d help you escape from here.”

Hearing my words, Artia bit her lip and lowered her head. Then, with a slightly choked voice, she thanked me.

“…Thank you, Ravenne.”

As if it was overwhelming to express all her emotions in words, she repeated her thanks for a while with her head bowed.

***

“Miss!”

As soon as we arrived at the mansion, Lily threw herself at me and hugged me. It was enough to make me lose my balance for a moment.

“What have you done this time? I heard you were imprisoned in the Imperial Palace, and the Duke returned after just 5 days of entering the palace saying everything would be fine, and I thought I might never see you again…”

Lily, who was hugging me, started crying out loud as her emotions welled up.

“Lily…”

“I can’t serve you anymore, Miss. My heart really can’t take this!”

Looking at Lily’s face, her eyes were already swollen. Not just her, but the other people in the mansion also looked unwell, as if they had been through a lot of emotional stress.

I gently separated from Lily and bowed my head to the people looking at me.

“I’m truly sorry for causing you all to worry. I have no words to express my apologies, even if I had ten mouths.”

“Ah, Miss. What are you doing now?”

Lily was startled and waved her hands.

“P-please get up. How can you bow your head to your subordinates?”

“That’s right. Please get up, Miss. We all understand why you made that choice.”

“…Sebastian.”

“The master explained everything to us. So please raise your head.”

“When you say he explained…”

I trailed off and looked at Ilion, who was avoiding my gaze and clearing his throat.

“Yes, everything. So, if anything, we should be thanking you.”

“I haven’t done anything worthy of thanks. In the end, I only caused trouble for everyone.”

If anything, I should be the one thanking them. Despite causing trouble for everyone, they all tried so hard for my sake.

“Yes. Of course, you should be scolded for jumping in there alone without saying anything. But apart from that, we thank you, Miss. We’re so relieved that you’ve returned safely.”

Saying this, Sebastian bowed his head to me respectfully. Following him, the people of the mansion one by one bowed their heads to me and expressed their gratitude.

At that moment, the tears I had been holding back suddenly poured out.

The times when I pretended to be okay, to be unbothered, while secretly being anxious alone, flashed through my mind.

To be able to return here again, to meet these people again… I had wished and prayed for it more desperately than anyone.

The home I finally returned to felt so warm and cozy that it seemed like all sorts of emotions were melting away.

Those melted emotions flowed out as tears, and perhaps because of Lily’s hand occasionally patting my back, the tears wouldn’t stop for a long time.

***

A soft bed and warm sunlight. It was such a peaceful morning that even the birdsong waking me up was lovely.

“Are you awake, Miss?”

“Yes.”

“We should go for breakfast.”

At the mention of breakfast, I, who had been lying down for a long time, got up with my body creaking from muscle pain.

After battling with the screaming muscles, I sat in front of the mirror, and a stranger was looking back at me from inside the mirror.

Who are you?

“Y-your eyes are very swollen.”

As I stared intently at the unfamiliar face, Lily said with an awkward smile.

“Will they go down before breakfast?”

“I think that might be difficult.”

“……”

As I silently let out a deep sigh, Lily asked curiously.

“You’re acting strange, Miss. You usually don’t care about your appearance.”

Feeling like I had been hit right on the mark, I scratched my head.

“Well, you know, there are days when you want to look pretty.”

“…Hmm, but today isn’t any special day?”

“That’s true.”

I quickly agreed and nodded. Indeed, Right I would have brushed off even having my hair combed, saying it was bothersome.

“Um, Lily. What do you think are my charming points?”

Lily, who was combing my hair, paused and looked at me.

“Charming points?”

“Yes.”

At my question, Lily started pondering deeply, her brow furrowing. No, was that question so difficult that it required such deep thought?

Finally, after a long, long deliberation, Lily blurted out one thing.

“Um, that you’re lucky?”

“……”

Is, is that even considered a charming point?