“Huu.”

He wouldn’t appear until the main tournament began. He didn’t seem to be a naive man.

“Assign someone to him as soon as he appears when the main tournament starts.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

It felt ominous. It seemed like the things he had been holding in his hand were turning to sand and slipping away. Cesare ran his fingers through his hair.

“……And assign someone to Marian too.”

“Princess Marian?”

“Yes.”

“She’s someone who stays only in the palace anyway. It would be a waste of manpower.”

“Do as I say!”

Cesare said sharply.

“……Or bribe that maid called Rosette.”

“That won’t work. We’ve approached her before and failed.”

“Then plant someone! I heard a new maid has arrived! Approach that woman!”

“She’s an illegitimate child of the Lucerta merchant guild. Her guild master sent her because she was causing too much trouble. I heard the Empress sent her to the princess’s palace.”

“The Empress?”

“Yes.”

So does that mean she’s the Empress’s person?

He thought she might become a good helper if persuaded well. Cesare rolled his tongue inside his mouth.

“Approach that woman.”

“But…… I heard Liebe Lucerta has gone west for guild business. She won’t be back for a while.”

“When exactly!”

“I don’t know the details, but they say she left on the day the fighting tournament preliminaries began.”

“Argh!”

Cesare stomped his foot in irritation. Lucerta, Lucerta. If he poked wrongly, it could become a hornet’s nest. There wasn’t anyone who hadn’t taken money from the Lucerta merchant guild.

“……I’ll meet with the Lucerta guild master.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

Still, it was worth trying.

**

As soon as she confirmed Cesare had gone far away, Marian looked for Abel.

“Abel, Abel! Where are you?”

Abel was hiding in the ceiling with Better. The ceiling pillars of the princess’s palace had enough space for two people to hide. By hiding there and covering themselves with magic, they could conceal themselves perfectly.

Marian’s magic could be felt approaching toward Abel.

She was trying to search for him.

Abel narrowed his eyes. Seeing her looking for him like that somehow made him feel good. When he saw her with Cesare, his stomach had turned, but now she was calling for Abel desperately. Marian’s black hair swayed.

Abel licked his lips.

“Pl-please let me down……”

He couldn’t even hear Better’s voice, who was muttering while turning pale. In Abel’s world, only Marian existed.

Only after confirming that her magic had come near him did he move.

Abel dropped from the ceiling with Better slung over his shoulder.

“Ugh!!”

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Better covered his mouth and disappeared.

“Tsk. So weak.”

Abel clicked his tongue. When Cesare had suddenly barged in, he had slung Better over his shoulder and jumped up to the ceiling, and Better had said,

‘I, I have a fear of heights……!’

Anyway, with the nuisance gone, Abel greeted Marian with a smiling face. She ran to him with a pale face and grabbed him.

“I, I found you.”

“Sorry. I couldn’t hear you. But what’s the matter?”

Abel naturally changed the subject.

“……I think Cesare has noticed something. He connected my disguised identity with me and……”

“Even though we made the necklace fashionable?”

“Even so.”

Marian nodded. He had confirmed yesterday that a line had appeared on her neck that hadn’t been there before. Though he didn’t ask what it was, thinking she wouldn’t answer, it was a dark black line. He could understand why Marian was obsessed with that choker necklace.

‘What happened to you, Marian?’

Marian quickly continued speaking.

“I think we need to kill Ellie.”

“You mean fake her death?”

Marian nodded. Of course, this wouldn’t be the end of it. Cesare was also suspicious of Marian regarding the head butler’s death. What would happen if Cesare caught her?

‘Would he kill me? He would report me to the Emperor. People would label me a witch and put me on trial.’

Those with superhuman abilities like Marian are either monsters or heroes. Currently, the Emperor is presenting her well as a hero, but if her betrayal of the imperial family and the Madrians is revealed, they would turn her back into a monster.

She might even be dragged back to the battlefield.

‘Either way, I die.’

If that happens, would she regress again?

‘What does God want from me?’

Marian bit her lip anxiously. Abel, who had been watching her lost in thought, embraced her tightly. Marian’s eyes widened as Abel suddenly pulled her into his arms.

Her cold body grew warm.

Abel infused Marian with magic mixed with heat.

“I’d rather see you cry.”

“Abel.”

“Let’s go.”

Abel lifted Marian up. She embraced him with a surprised face. He brushed his lips against her cheek.

“They say you need strength even to cry.”

Abel took Marian to the dining room. After seating her on the table, he rummaged through the kitchen. It had long since become his domain, and his movements were practiced and sure.

In less than ten minutes, Abel handed Marian a salad bowl.

“I had some steamed potatoes. It’s potato salad. Eat.”

Abel pulled out a chair and sat in front of her. Marian stared at the salad bowl. The rich aroma of potatoes wafted up. It was a salad made with mashed potatoes, boiled eggs, seasoning, and steamed corn. For something completed in such a short time, it was full of care.

Marian scooped up a spoonful and put it in her mouth.

Since she started taking supplements, her appetite had increased.

Marian filled both cheeks with salad like a squirrel. With her cheeks puffed up like balloons, she chewed and swallowed the salad. It was nutty and sweet.

Her anxious heart calmed down.

Marian swallowed what filled her mouth. One spoonful, two spoonfuls, three spoonfuls.

Marian’s shoulders trembled slightly. Abel was right. Tears fell in drops. Whether it was because she had gained strength after filling her stomach, or because her heart had melted from Abel’s thoughtfulness, she wasn’t sure.

Marian sniffled messily.

Abel smiled and wiped her tears with his hand.

“Are you crying because it’s too delicious?”

“……Yes. I guess so.”

Marian took another big mouthful. Abel grabbed her nose and shook it gently.

“Meeting another man and crying.”

“……It won’t go wrong, will it? We won’t get caught, will we? I won’t die because of this, will I?”

Marian’s voice was full of moisture. Abel stroked her cheek.

How could he disappoint Marian with a face like this? Abel smiled and kissed her cheek. Her face, crying with a reddened nose, looked as innocent as a child’s.

Only Abel should know this face.

He really couldn’t stand seeing her cry in front of other men. So he thought he should make sure Marian wouldn’t cry. Abel whispered softly.

“That’s impossible, Marian. I’m here. Nothing will happen.”

Marian nodded. She wanted to believe what Abel was saying. She wanted to believe that nothing would happen.

Marian filled her mouth with salad again. As she was chewing it, Abel said,

“He’ll die soon.”

Her blue eyes, brimming with tears, opened wide.

“Cesare Madrian will die soon, so what are you worried about, Marian? He’s a traitor, and the Emperor will kill him. Just like how he and his grandfather butchered Drake and me in the past.”

Cesare was different from childhood.

He treated human lives like flies. He despised Drake just as he despised Marian.

‘You northern barbarian. Do you think you’re the same as me? I am clearly a central noble, and you are of northern barbarian blood!’

On the day House Drake met with misfortune, Cesare was beside his grandfather. Abel still remembered the look in Cesare’s eyes as he looked down at him that day. The one who sat proudly on horseback, shooting arrows.

The one who hunted fleeing people was a demon in a child’s disguise.

Abel wiped the corner of Marian’s mouth.

“Nothing will happen to you.”

Marian nodded.

It seems Abel had cast a spell. Both this salad and Abel’s words seeped into Marian like magic.

**

Meanwhile, Vanessa was lying comfortably on the sofa.

“So, there isn’t just one or two maids named Ellie?”

“Yes. There are twelve maids with that name in the capital. Three of them work in grand noble houses.”

The family’s informant bowed his head before Vanessa. She rubbed her thumb across her lips.

“Deal with them one by one.”

“Pardon?”

Vanessa stroked her stomach, which still showed no signs, with a cruel smile.

“They’re causing stress for my child.”

Vanessa shrugged her shoulders lovingly like a child.

“It’s a precious child. What if something goes wrong? So I need to eliminate things that stress me out. What if that maid, that Ellie I don’t even know the face of, is carrying Cesare’s child?”

“What?”

The informant’s eyes widened.

“Are you saying that maid is another mistress of Duke Madrian?”

“How could you not know that? Aren’t you an informant?”

Vanessa asked irritably. The informant touched his forehead.

If he had been unaware of such high-level information all this time, it would be a problem. Especially now that Vanessa was pregnant!

“……I know about all the women Duke Madrian has met, but there was no maid named Ellie among those who entered the ducal residence.”

“What then.”

Vanessa let out a hollow laugh.

“Is he having a one-sided crush?”

“Well……”

“That doesn’t matter. There’s still reason to eliminate the maid named Ellie.”

Vanessa laughed refreshingly.