Unfortunately, the letter that Dietrich had surely sent to the mansion was now in Verheigen’s hands.

Under the dim dawn sky, the dark blue envelope with elaborate silver decorations gleamed elegantly. After staring expressionlessly at the envelope, he slightly turned his head to glance at the woman sleeping deeply in bed as if she had fainted.

She would probably sleep until at least noon after being tormented like that.

Confident that Lysith wouldn’t wake up anytime soon, he ripped open the envelope. The clearly high-quality white letter paper caught Verheigen’s glaring eyes.

After quickly reading the letter, he raised one corner of his mouth in a hollow laugh.

“Not even funny.”

With those words, the letter that the Grand Duke had clearly written himself was torn to shreds in the Emperor’s hands. After carelessly throwing the pieces on the floor, recalling its contents made his blood boil.

「To Lysith Clonair,

First, I hope this address doesn’t startle you too much.

It’s simply a slight revelation of my unhidden feelings.

Secondly, I apologize if the envelope surprised you as well.

It was an unavoidable choice to catch your eye, and I hoped your servants would think ‘it’s a bit concerning to throw away’ and deliver it to your hands.

I assume you haven’t read my previous letter.

However, this letter contains similar contents to the last one, and it’s merely my personal desire or simple suggestion, or rather, a kind of imposition, so I hope you won’t feel uncomfortable.

……

(omitted)

……

Lastly, I hope you understand that our conversation at the imperial palace was my foolish and immature mistake.

Under the blue dawn moonlight,

Dietrich Clonair.」

Verheigen’s reaction after reading the letter could be summarized in one sentence:

This crazy bastard.

It was nonsense from start to finish. Such nonsense that he had never heard anything like it in his life.

After glaring at the already shredded letter pieces as if they were his mortal enemy, he quietly called a servant to clean them up and sat on the sofa to cool his anger.

He had never hated his excellent memory and intelligence as much as now. Addressing her as Lysith Clonair? He must have lost his mind. What angered him at this moment was, of course, because of that madman and the contents of his crazy letter. But more than anything, he feared, to the point of dizziness, that she might waver.

Of course, he knew that she wasn’t ‘Lysith’ now.

But from what he had heard, it seemed the current her retained some of ‘Lysith’s’ emotions and memories to some extent. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to speak so casually about Sylvian Gronevelt, and she wouldn’t have cried when she met Dietrich.

What if she got swept up in that woman’s emotions and returned to Dietrich Clonair?

That would be hell like no other.

He wanted to tie her to his bed or lock her in a small cage, but he had decided not to implement such forceful methods. If he used such means, she wouldn’t embrace him tenderly like now, nor would she act like a hedgehog with its quills lowered.

After quietly catching his breath while sitting on the sofa for a while, he suddenly stood up and headed to the bed.

He saw her clear face, still sleeping soundly in the same sideways position as when he had gotten up from bed. Truly as if she had fainted. Lysith’s quiet breathing instantly dulled Verheigen’s sharply honed nerves.

Carefully lying down beside her and embracing her, he felt the usual sense of peace envelop him.

Her warm body temperature, the body that fit perfectly in his arms, the peaceful sound of her breathing in and out, the steady heartbeat he could hear when he lowered his head and pressed his ear close to her heart.

He couldn’t give up any of it.

Though the person who should hear was sound asleep, he unconsciously opened his mouth.

“……My Lysith.”

It was a weak and thin voice that was hard to believe came from the Emperor of the empire.

“Don’t go. Just stay by my side.”

Since Lysith’s complaint that she kept having dreams of being coiled by snakes when he held her too tightly while sleeping, he had been careful whenever he embraced her. But this time, he simply couldn’t bear not to.

If he didn’t hold her tightly, it felt like she would leave his arms and crumble away like sand.

And his worry became reality when exactly 5 days later, while having lunch together, Lysith brought up that she should probably head back soon.

“……Why not just stay.”

“Who knows what rumors will spread in social circles. Honestly, it wouldn’t be strange if they’re already circulating.”

“……”

Verheigen, who was actually the one who had spread the rumors in social circles, kept his mouth shut.

It was already mid-August, and even he thought he had kept her too long under the pretext of investigation and treatment. Well, the nobles already knew the reason for this lengthy stay.

From Lysith’s perspective, who couldn’t grasp what rumors were circulating while living luxuriously in the imperial palace, it seemed better to leave soon.

Though he understood this logically, the thought of her leaving instantly sank his mood.

He wished she would consider this place her home. When he stopped eating due to his suddenly lost appetite, her clear blue eyes blinked in confusion and met his gaze directly.

“You’re not going to eat more?”

“……Right.”

Was she perceptive, oblivious, or pretending to be oblivious?

Even under Verheigen’s sullen gaze, Lysith tilted her head with an expression of complete ignorance and cut into the meat that had been served as her portion.

And of course, naturally, Lysith was desperately pretending not to know.

If she said something like ‘Are you feeling disappointed?’ here, who knows how much longer she’d be kept in the imperial palace.

Among the four men, she had now conquered three. The remaining one was the most difficult opponent.

It was good that she had taken the regretful man route as initially planned. However, when it came to actually celebrating that, it felt a bit awkward, and in terms of difficulty alone, he was the hardest man to conquer.

She wanted to check the previous letter she had received, but couldn’t find it when she looked. She vaguely suspected that Verheigen had probably thrown it away.

‘If I ask where the letter went, he’ll just tell me not to look at such things……’

Why their relationship was like that was still a mystery.

Unless the person involved told her directly, she couldn’t know. Thinking back to what Diana had said before about how even the nobles didn’t know the reason, she suspected something might have happened when they were young, but……

Anyway, after spending lunch time exercising her acting skills, Lysith was now awkwardly smiling in front of His Majesty the Emperor, who was expressing his displeasure and irritation with his whole body in front of the carriage.

“Why in such a hurry. Just stay another month……”

“The mansion has been empty for too long.”

“Who am I supposed to sleep with?”

“You sleep well alone anyway.”

“……”

Seeing Verheigen pouting like a child, Serul standing beside him looked like he was about to be sick. Seeing that face, Lysith struggled to swallow her laughter.

‘I like it when he acts like this with his handsome face.’

It seemed inevitable since they had been friends since childhood, regardless of how he looked.

More importantly, it was absurd for the Emperor to come out to see off a lady who was just returning after a brief stay at the imperial palace. Since they had been standing in front of the carriage for 10 minutes already, Lysith broke out in a cold sweat.

She thought first that rumors would probably spread heavily, whether she knew it or not.

Lysith was trying to leave the imperial palace like this partly because of her sense of crisis that she might be cursed with happiness, but also because of the quest that was making her wait as if she didn’t need to be in the imperial palace right now.

[Sub Quest Complete!]

‘LV.8 – Try Having s*x in the Bathroom!’

Clear!

[Next Level Sub Quest will be given!]

[Calculating Situation……]

[Loading next level sub quest……]

21/100%

It had been 5 days since she completed level 8, but the loading was still stuck at 21 percent. This contrasted with how the next level quest had been given immediately after about a day in the past.

After checking the loading window that showed no signs of increasing, Lysith dismissed it.

“I really should go now. Besides, the autumn hunting festival is coming up soon……”

“Ah, right. The hunting festival.”

At Lysith’s words, Verheigen let out a brief exclamation as if he had just remembered, then smiled and added a comment.

“I’m going too.”

“What?!”

Before Lysith could open her mouth, it was Serul, who had been standing like part of the background, who screamed.

“You’re going to the hunting festival?”

“There’s no rule saying the Emperor can’t attend.”

“Are, are you aware of your position?”

“If I wasn’t, I would have quit long ago.”

How can you quit being Emperor? No, and you’re not a crown prince anymore.. After not attending for several years, why suddenly now…… Ignoring Serul’s grumbling and sickly pale face, Verheigen finally quietly let Lysith go as she smiled and said she really needed to leave now.