Meanwhile, right after Iella left the imperial family’s viewing area.

Helios held a crystal glass in his hand, listening as her footsteps, which had gradually quickened after she lifted the curtain and left, soon turned into a run. The faint trace of her presence quickly faded and became inaudible.

Only then did his attention turn to the person who remained.

“Could it be that you’re worried about Duke Calver?”

“……”

“It’s all visible in your face, Uncle.”

Helios, who had slowly closed and opened his eyes once, threw out words with a sarcastic tone.

The reason why Chase, who had stood up as if there was no reason to stay here now that the match was over, was standing still was obvious. He couldn’t not know.

Because he was thinking the same thing.

Only, Helios didn’t do the foolish thing of showing his own vulnerability first like Chase. The moment you show weakness, the opponent will immediately dig in and bite your neck.

In this bleak and cold imperial palace, where everyone is obsessed with tearing each other apart anytime, anywhere, that should never be forgotten. To avoid being bitten, one had to bite first.

Like himself now.

“Your Majesty doesn’t seem particularly different.”

But d＊mn it, he and Chase had quite a lot of similarities. Just as Helios noticed his thoughts, he also knew Helios’s thoughts well. Instead of answering, Helios tilted his glass.

On the surface of the rippling liquid, sunken red eyes flickering with vulgar jealousy were reflected. He swallowed it. The hand holding the glass had veins bulging on the back, so tense was his grip.

Chase, who had been staring at the arched doorway through which Iella had left, glanced at Helios from the corner of his eye, let out a short sneer, and then said.

“I’ll ask just one thing. What exactly was your reason for calling me to attend the opening ceremony?”

“I remember telling you. If you don’t remember already, that’s a serious problem.”

“…I’m asking what your reason was for calling Ailexia too, besides that reason.”

Helios quietly rotated the glass in a circle. The round ice cube in the half-depleted drink hit the glass, making a clear sound.

“Isn’t it strange? Treating him the same as others would be more discriminatory for him.”

“What.”

“What could he be worried about.”

“……”

“No. Why did she suddenly start worrying about Calver?”

Helios, who had been looking at the ice with lowered eyes and an indifferent expression, turned his gaze to Chase. His face hardened as if he had grasped the intention behind Chase’s words.

Helios pulled up the corner of his mouth and drove in the wedge.

“There have been major changes at the secondary palace recently, Uncle.”

“……!”

“I thought you already knew, but judging by that reaction, I guess not. I don’t know what you’ve been doing or where that you don’t even know this news, but….”

Chase didn’t even listen to all of Helios’s words before storming out. Helios turned his gaze forward as he listened to the hurried footsteps leaving. The rest of his interrupted words flowed quietly.

“…now that you’ll find out, you won’t remain foolish.”

With a sneer, he stared at the arena where Aster had been standing one last time before swallowing the drink in his glass in one gulp.

‘Is the hostage all that remains now?’

Eventually, he put down his glass and stood up, turning around. His face was shadowed by the backlight.

However, his bl＊＊d-red eyes shone brightly, filled with intense possessiveness, eerily vivid.

* * *

Iella continued to visit the tournament venue every day after the first day of the swordsmanship tournament. It was to support Aster.

It wasn’t because of guilt. She had promised not to feel that way. She just thought that her responsibility for his participation in the tournament wasn’t entirely absent. Iella wanted to be of help, however slight, to him who was doing this for her.

In the process, she had anticipated the stares of others. It wasn’t much to endure criticism when Aster was doing the same for her. She wanted to cheer loudly for him.

But due to potential confusion and danger, that was impossible. Wearing a robe and pulling the hood down tightly every time she came to the arena was an extension of that. She didn’t know how Ailexia’s presence would affect the crowd.

‘He might become gossip material associated with Ailexia.’

Iella didn’t want to cause any more harm to Aster. She couldn’t let the praise and admiration he had earned through his bl＊＊d and sweat become mere fodder for gossip.

‘But I didn’t want this either….’

She suppressed a sigh that was about to escape and glanced to the side. Like déjà vu from the first day, Helios and Chase were each keeping their places. This situation had been repeating for days now.

‘How do they always appear as if they’ve been waiting, even though I sit in different secluded spots every day?’

Although the imperial family’s seats were prime locations, Iella had no intention of watching from there. That meant she had no intention of watching with Helios or Chase.

So she sought out the most inconspicuous corner seats among those assigned to nobles. Since most people crowded toward the front seats to get a better view of the matches, there wasn’t much to worry about.

Until a servant sent by Helios suddenly appeared beside her.

It wasn’t just once or twice. Even when she changed seats repeatedly and finally crossed over to seats given to commoners, somehow the servant found her. And took her to Helios’s side.

This continued even today, the last day of the preliminaries!

‘I guess the one fortunate thing is that the two of them don’t fight….’

After pondering for a moment, Iella shook her head slightly. It didn’t seem particularly fortunate. They might not be fighting verbally, but the atmosphere was savage and unbearably cold. It felt like the silence was even more frightening.

Meanwhile, they kept talking to her, which drained her energy in real-time. Eventually, she reached the point of avoiding their gaze or ignoring them by drinking beverages and water at the slightest hint that they might speak to her.

She couldn’t have dreamed of doing this before, but it seemed that a new fear had overshadowed her fear of them.

At that moment, the crowd’s cheers grew louder. From the sound, several times louder than in previous matches, Iella naturally realized that this was Aster’s match. Now everyone erupted in excitement rather than criticism during Aster’s matches. And for good reason.

Competing alone every day, always the last match with long waiting times, one hand bound behind his back, and even his vision covered with thick cloth as penalties. Yet despite all these adverse conditions, he ended matches with a single stroke, showing amazing skill.

There would be no one who could not be excited about that.

‘Ah, except for the two people beside me.’

Their gazes were so devoid of excitement that it was doubtful whether they were properly watching the match. It was truly puzzling why they came to watch the matches every day if this was their attitude.

Iella stopped trying to understand them and focused on the match. The knight who had been standing facing Aster lifted his foot from the ground.

The knight, seemingly having analyzed Aster from previous matches, didn’t rush straight at him but quickly launched himself to the right. It was the direction of Aster’s bound hand. Perhaps because he had placed in the top 10 in the pre-tournament competition, his movements were quite fast.

“It’s over.”

But there was no upset. The knight moved silently to target Aster’s back, but Aster deflected the attack with a single stroke while simultaneously launching a counterattack.

As Helios had predicted the moment he saw the knight’s movement, Aster once again ended the match with just one light movement.

Huge cheers filled the arena.

Iella smiled faintly when her eyes met Aster’s as he looked at her while pretending to scan the audience, then quickly erased the smile.

Chase stared intently at that momentary glimpse.

* * *

Entering her room, Iella carelessly threw her robe onto the sofa and sat down with a thud. As she tilted her head back and stared blankly at the ceiling, she recalled what Helios had said earlier.

[“From tomorrow, wouldn’t it be more convenient for both of us if you just came straight here?”]

Though it sounded like he was suggesting an opinion, to her ears, it sounded like he was telling her to come on her own without causing trouble. Since she had been desperately hoping that they wouldn’t look for her starting tomorrow, it might have sounded distorted due to her guilty conscience.

‘But what’s certain is that they’ll continue doing so.’

Iella let out a small sigh. It would be nice to know the reason, but they didn’t seem inclined to tell her. She just erased it from her mind. She didn’t want to dwell on something that wouldn’t lead to a conclusion no matter how much she thought about it.

‘The matches only have a few days left anyway. After that, I’ll return. I’ll just stay quiet.’

Having reached a simple conclusion, Iella got up and went to the bedside table.

Vanessa had been especially busy lately preparing to leave the secondary palace together when she returned to her original body. So they had agreed that if there was a message to deliver or news from Nix, she would put it in the first drawer.

The drawer had sorcery cast on it so that only she and Vanessa could open it, so security wasn’t a concern.

‘It would be nice if there was news about Ailexia from Nix.’

Thinking that, she opened the drawer to find an unopened letter envelope and a folded note inside.