“Leo…”

Ariel regained consciousness. She raised her trembling hand and caressed Leopold’s cheek.

‘It was a terrible dream.’

I’m glad it was just a dream.

Ariel faintly smiled with a pale face.

“Yes, it’s me.”

“I love you. Don’t leave me.”

Ariel spoke in broken sentences and buried her face in his chest. She sobbed for a while.

The warmth of his embrace, his scent, the loud heartbeat resonating in her ears.

Everything that signaled his being alive gave Ariel a sense of peace.

“You’re worrying for nothing. Where would I go leaving you behind?”

Leopold comforted her for a long time until she calmed down. Evan watched silently from the side.

‘Ariel, and His Majesty, they both truly know what love is.’

Evan thought of Liese Willington, who had become his wife.

Just thinking about her conveyed her pure innocence, untouched by any darkness.

‘I will protect you with all my strength.’

Evan Clark clenched his fist.

***

“Richard, evacuate all the servants from the imperial palace. It’s an order from His Majesty.”

“Is something happening?”

“It will soon. Make sure they stay as far away as possible. No matter what happens in the palace, they must not return.”

“Understood.”

Richard sensed the gravity of the situation. He immediately gathered all the servants and prepared to escort them outside the palace walls.

‘Sir Hyle, the mages, and Liese.’

Evan executed Leopold’s orders promptly.

“Sir Hyle, we might need your help. Please, lend your strength to Atlan.”

“Of course, there’s no need to ask so earnestly.”

Evan first conveyed the Emperor’s message to Hyle, who readily accepted Leopold’s request. Evan bowed his head to Hyle.

He felt like kneeling, but his knees were reserved only for his lord, Leopold Diaz.

After leaving Hyle’s room, Evan went to find Liese. She was already in the palace to heal Ariel.

Evan took Liese to the mages.

“What is going on? Her Majesty the Empress severely sprained her ankle and was unconscious.”

Liese walked quickly beside Evan through the palace corridors.

“How did that news reach you?”

Evan responded sharply. Given the situation, security was crucial, and he worried that a servant might have spoken carelessly.

“The Emperor asked me to heal Her Majesty.”

“I see. Liese, we need to stay within the barrier the mages will create. We don’t know what will happen.”

“…”

She thought she had experienced many dangerous situations, but this one frightened her as well.

‘I have something to lose now.’

The situation was entirely different from when she only had to worry about her own life. Now, she had Evan, and both Majesties, who were precious to her.

At times like this, she needed to steel her resolve even more.

Liese’s blue eyes were filled with determination.

Evan, matching her pace, looked down at Liese Willington, who was lost in thought, forgetting to respond.

“Everything will pass without any harm.”

He grabbed her hand suddenly. Liese stopped and looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Of course. I believe so too.”

Liese smiled at him and then continued walking towards the mages’ room.

***

Ariel quickly assessed the situation and changed from her nightgown into her training clothes.

‘I feel the dark energy getting closer.’

The pure evil she had felt from the demonic beasts and Diaton was approaching.

Ariel grabbed the sword on the table and rotated her ankle with a puzzled expression.

‘It’s light.’

She thought it was severely sprained. There was no pain at all.

“My ankle…”

“Liese Willington healed it.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ariel nodded.

There was a reason her body felt light despite being soaked in rain.

“Let’s not get hurt.”

Ariel swallowed her next words.

‘I will protect you so that doesn’t happen.’

She didn’t tell him about her dream. She was worried it might unsettle him.

As she gripped the sword, golden mana enveloped it.

Leopold approached Ariel.

“Of course. I won’t let go of the happiness we’ve finally grasped. So, don’t worry.”

He brought his lips to her round forehead.

Ariel used the means of a contract marriage to keep her by his side, and since their relationship was not ordinary from the beginning, their romantic process was skipped.

‘I had a taste of it briefly in Macglier.’

But that wasn’t enough.

Once everything is over, I will leave with Ariel alone.

“Worry about your own body. Don’t overdo it. Liese Willington and Sir Evan Clark will be waiting inside the protective barrier.”

“…Alright. I will.”

Ariel smiled, but that smile looked very painful.

***

Ariel was sitting at the table in the bedroom, tying her hair up with a ribbon.

Leopold, with his chin resting on his hand, stared at her profile.

Well-groomed eyebrows, jade-colored eyes, a sharp nose, and a concave ear.

‘There isn’t a single place that isn’t beautiful.’

His heart felt ticklish.

A hot determination rose within him to protect her at all costs.

‘So… was it because of psychological shock that she lost consciousness?’

The amount of mana consumed on the way to and from the White territory must have been enormous, yet Ariel showed no signs of fatigue.

Holy power can heal physical frailty, but it cannot restore mana.

That means her mana regeneration speed is fast…

No matter how much he thought about it, Leopold felt Ariel had the upper hand in mana utilization and swordsmanship compared to him.

‘I always wished to meet someone better than me.’

She was right next to him.

“Teach me how to use mana.”

“What are you talking about?”

Ariel, looking at the mirror on the vanity, turned her body towards Leopold.

“I’m curious about the techniques you use.”

“Well, like this?”

Ariel stood up and picked up her sword. The ordinary sword was instantly enveloped in layers of golden sword energy.

As the layers of sword energy shone before his eyes, Leopold stared at the sight in disbelief.

“I can’t believe that’s possible.”

“Well, it’s not that hard. You just need to overlay the sword energy.”

“Show me in detail.”

Leopold stood up. Ariel placed the sword down and stood behind him.

Her thin, white arms wrapped around his thick, solid waist. Her hand pressed firmly below his solar plexus.

Feeling the warmth of her touch through his clothes, Leopold’s face flushed.

‘Damn it. My body is reacting unnecessarily.’

His mana surged greatly with the desire spreading throughout his body.

“Focus on the flow of mana.”

Ariel, feeling the unstable mana waves beneath her palm, leaned her head forward slightly.

Leopold, his face flushed from being caught by Ariel, met her eyes.

“Stop thinking about other things and focus. I’ll guide your mana.”

She sent mana through her palm touching his solar plexus.

It moved past Leopold’s chest to his arm, and from his arm to his sword. Finally, a thin stream of mana flowed into the sword.

Layers of sword energy thinner than a sheet of paper began to accumulate on the slender blade. Layer by layer. Slowly, the compressed sword energy formed a refined mana blade on the sharp edge of the sword.

His eyes widened in astonishment at the sight before him.

“To do it so easily.”

Ariel withdrew her hand, and the mana that filled his body disappeared.

Leopold immediately sent mana to his sword, recalling the sensation of Ariel’s mana flow.

He focused his mana core to draw out the mana thinly. However, the layered sword energy did not form as easily as he wished.

‘Creating thin sword energy is this difficult.’

The sword energy he made was thicker and uncompressed, layered inefficiently.

Uncompressed sword energy would easily break, making it impossible to use in battle.

“Sigh…”

“Yes, that’s how you do it. But of course, you need more practice.”

Ariel, watching from the side, hugged his shoulders and patted him.

‘Damn it. What have I been doing all this time?’

Leopold, frustrated by his inability to create layered sword energy properly, let his arms hang down.

The sharp blade touched the floor with a thud.