The magical beast subjugation had completely ended.

Upon receiving this news, the Emperor wanted Merrien’s group to make their entrance riding white horses.

Ariel waved his hand, asking why he had to do such a troublesome thing, but Merrien persuaded him to follow the Emperor’s wishes.

If the Emperor was truly under Forcite’s mental control, walking directly into a trap would be faster to deal with.

A long red carpet stretched along the path to the Imperial Palace.

“Hooray, long live the Tower Master!”

“Saint Merrien!”

As Merrien’s group led the way with the seven knight orders following behind, the imperial citizens lined up on both sides threw flower petals and cheered.

“Do we really have to go like this?”

But Ariel didn’t even glance at those waving hands toward him.

He didn’t even hold the reins of his horse and crossed his arms, clearly showing his dislike for the current situation.

“You’ve fulfilled the Empire’s long-held wish. It’s been achieved after hundreds of years, so just bear with it.”

Merrien waved enthusiastically to the imperial citizens instead. Deliberately smiling brightly.

“Ariel.”

Not content with that, she called Ariel’s name with her teeth clenched while keeping the corners of her mouth raised.

She should be considered a master of ventriloquism by now.

“Yes.”

After being prompted, he finally raised the corners of his mouth, but.

With his angry eyes unchanged and only the corners of his mouth raised, it looked extremely unnatural.

“Sigh, never mind. Just stay still at least.”

“Yes.”

The corners of his mouth immediately dropped.

Yes, it was better for him to just remain expressionless.

But… Merrien had been concerned about something for a while.

“…Mr. Nes, why are you trembling like that?”

Agnes had been unable to raise his head since their entrance, appearing thoroughly shocked by something.

His hands holding the reins were also trembling. So severely that it was visible in her peripheral vision even when she didn’t want to see it.

Agnes suddenly raised his head and muttered with extremely shaky eyes.

“…Why, why isn’t anyone shouting my name?”

“……”

He had seemed off since the press conference.

He seems to really enjoy receiving attention…

“What, should they be shouting ‘Long live the Dragon’?”

With Ariel’s sarcastic voice as the last thing she heard, Merrien just closed her ears.

And so they entered the Imperial Palace.

On the platform connected to the Emperor’s Palace, the Emperor stood with arms spread wide in a welcoming gesture.

***

‘…Wasn’t this supposed to be just for show and then over?’

Merrien briefly regretted listening to the Emperor’s words.

Merrien, Ariel, and Agnes, too.

The three of them had not only entered the Emperor’s Palace but were now being entertained, led by the Emperor’s hand.

“This is the first time since the founding of the nation that magical beasts have completely disappeared. Haha, to think that the war with magical beasts has ended!”

Although she had first seen the Emperor directly at the previous Imperial banquet, his image seemed somewhat different from then.

Clearly at that time, he had been the epitome of dignity, the Emperor as everyone would imagine.

Now, sitting on the sofa across from them and laughing heartily, he looked as if he had let go of many burdens.

‘…Is he really under mental control?’

No dark energy could be felt from his body like before.

Rather, he simply looked happy, like someone who had fulfilled the Empire’s long-held wish.

Merrien examined his expression while smiling politely, trying to understand his true intentions.

Then she suddenly realized that no one had responded to the Emperor’s words.

Glancing sideways, she saw Ariel on her left with his legs crossed, glaring at his teacup as if he might pierce it.

Agnes on her right still had his head lowered, apparently not yet recovered from his shock.

‘…Judging by the formal speech, he must be talking to either Tower Master Ariel or Dragon Nes.’

And I’m sitting in the middle!

“…Hahaha, it’s truly a wonderful thing, Your Majesty.”

She hurriedly bowed her head, awkwardly placing her hand on her chest.

Only then did these two unhelpful men turn their heads sharply, giving her their attention.

“Can we leave now then?”

“So there will be a celebration banquet?”

Asking completely opposite questions.

The first was Ariel’s, and the next was Agnes’s.

The two glared at each other murderously with Merrien between them.

The air in the drawing room instantly heated up.

The atmosphere was so fierce that something seemed about to happen at any moment.

“Stop, stop it.”

You’ll destroy the Imperial Palace at this rate.

Merrien gently pushed back the two chests with both hands.

These two were clearly more dangerous than magical beasts.

And the strong bodies constantly moving closer were overwhelming. If they wanted to fight, they should go somewhere private and fight between themselves.

‘They got along relatively well during the magical beast subjugation, so why are they acting like this here?’

Even if they didn’t get along, their behaviors were identical.

Why do I feel like a mother raising two children? Sigh…

Merrien clutched her throbbing forehead.

Meanwhile, the Emperor calmly picked up his teacup and savored his tea.

Perhaps he thought this was normal for a Tower Master and a Dragon, or maybe part of his mind was malfunctioning for some reason.

Seemingly unaffected by their behavior, he leisurely took a sip of tea and waited for the drawing room to quiet down.

When it finally became silent, he put down his teacup without a sound and spoke again.

“With such joyous news, shouldn’t we hold a celebration banquet tomorrow? I’ve been preparing since receiving the message.”

Traditionally in the Debereu Empire, when there was a cause for celebration significant enough to stir the entire empire, such as victory in a long war, it didn’t end with the grand entrance of the key figures; a magnificent celebration banquet would be held the very next day.

Since this subjugation had completely eliminated magical beasts, it was undoubtedly a joyous occasion for the entire empire… the Emperor elaborated at length.

Shadows gradually formed on the faces of Merrien and Ariel, who had known nothing about this.

“That’s wonderful news, Your Majesty.”

In contrast, Agnes immediately smiled, showing one of his fangs.

After running away for years because of the Second Prince, Forcite, he could now appear before the nobles and show off his impressive self.

That prince would also be at the banquet, giving him a chance to put him in his place.

“I’m dying from exhaustion…”

“Ah, of course, I’ve prepared banquet attire in advance.”

“Come in-”

Before Ariel could finish uttering his harsh words, the Emperor snapped his fingers, instructing the servants outside to enter.

The head servant and several maids entered in a line, carrying attire and accessories for the three of them, evidently having waited for this moment.

“…T-Tower Master. This is the attire His Majesty the Emperor instructed us to prepare.”

The head servant presented the attire to Ariel, stammering. He was even sweating, afraid of what Ariel might do.

Ariel, who had seemed ready to leave at any moment, surprisingly remained still.

Instead of looking at his own attire, he stretched his neck toward Merrien’s direction.

“…What are you doing?”

“It’s pretty.”

Then he smiled with satisfaction.

His blue eyes turned toward the Emperor for the first time since entering the drawing room.

“Then, I assume you’ve also prepared rooms for us to stay in the palace?”

“Of course, Tower Master.”

***

“Ugh, I’m tired…”

As soon as Merrien entered her assigned room, she sprawled across the bed.

After sleeping on a hard bed for just two weeks, lying on a soft mattress made her mind hazy.

It felt like her body would be sucked right in.

“I heard there would be a banquet, but I didn’t know it would be held tomorrow.”

On the way to the palace, a knight commander had mentioned that a banquet would be held, so she was mentally prepared, but she had no idea it would be so soon.

And not only that, but as part of the Debereu Empire’s tradition, the palace would even provide custom attire and accessories.

‘I thought Ariel would overturn this, but why was he so quiet?’

Merrien hugged a pillow to her chest.

Come to think of it, he had looked at her attire and smiled with satisfaction.

Well, it didn’t matter, but suddenly a thought occurred to her.

‘…Will Forcite come too?’

She hadn’t seen Forcite since the noble council. There had been no letters either.

The Emperor also knew from that trial that he had been completely controlled by Forcite.

But earlier in the drawing room, the Emperor didn’t mention Forcite at all.

‘…Has it really ended just like this?’

All the gates were destroyed, and no more magical beasts could enter the Empire.

There was no dark energy felt from the Emperor. That means there’s no mental control on the Emperor either…

Then why hadn’t the Emperor imposed any punishment on Forcite?