Where on earth had Lerrhagen gone?

Hasis glanced at me as I fell into momentary contemplation.

“Why are you looking for Master anyway?”

“Oh, nothing. Just thought of him suddenly.”

“Did Duke Kelliard do something?”

“Huh? Oh, no, that’s not it.”

Come to think of it, Sever hadn’t shown any particular signs since that day. Could it have been my imagination? If he truly knew my identity, he wouldn’t let things pass so quietly. He should at least be testing me again somehow.

“Ugh. It’s complicated.”

Hearing my irritated voice, Hasis briefly lowered his gaze, lost in thought. Since Lerrhagen’s whereabouts remained a mystery anyway, I left the garden without bothering to continue the conversation.

‘Where did he really go?’

I didn’t actually think Lerrhagen would be in any serious danger. That wasn’t why I was concerned. It was simply that he had always been at the Imperial Palace, even when he had nothing to do but loaf around, so his absence weighed slightly on my mind.

‘Besides, why did you choose such a chaotic time to disappear, you wretched Dragon Lord? What if I had an emergency! May you get attacked by a lizard from your own kind while you’re out there.’

I returned to my room while inwardly hurling nonsensical “curses” at him.

The day passed uneventfully enough. After finishing my work with difficulty and returning to my room, something fluttered down in front of me the moment I lay on the bed.

‘A magical message?’

Wondering if it might be from Lerrhagen, I unrolled the tightly wound paper. However, upon seeing the seal stamped on it, my face fell again.

“What? It’s from Viole.”

After interrogating the black mage imprisoned in the underground dungeon—the one I had used in the attempted poisoning of Duke Elvierts—Viole hadn’t visited the Imperial Palace even once. She had only occasionally asked through magic orbs whether the black mage had revealed any new information.

Even then, with words of trust, she hadn’t pressed further about the black mage. Indeed, the shrewd woman would have realized from the moment I used that black mage that she shouldn’t question or interfere with my decisions.

‘But why a sudden message?’

I sat up, leaning slightly against the bedpost, and scanned the message. However, upon reading its contents, I couldn’t help but straighten my back and contort my face.

[Have you been disposing of magical beasts and black mages lately? Over the past few days, heaps of remains presumed to be magical beasts and black mages have been discovered throughout the Arsis Empire and neighboring countries. Is this related to Your Majesty?

PS: Thanks to this, we have an excess of magical beast corpses. If you’d like to research them, I can send some your way.]

“What is this? Magical beasts and black mages?”

This was the first I’d heard of it. While it was true that I had recently ordered special attention be paid to the empire’s security and well-being, even so, if there had been records of dealing with magical beasts and black mages in such large numbers, reports would certainly have reached me.

‘Neither I nor Sever took action, so who handled this? And not just anywhere, but in Arsis and its surroundings… Wait, could it be?’

Lerrhagen?

I didn’t know why this thought suddenly occurred to me. But somehow it did. In reality, there were few beings in this world capable of such large-scale actions, and among them, Lerrhagen was the strongest.

As soon as this thought crossed my mind, I put down the paper and summoned a doll. I needed to contact Viole first to understand the situation.

With this in mind, I cast the communication spell, and Viole greeted me with an obviously artificial friendly smile.

“My goodness, Your Majesty. What brings you here again?”

<What are you talking about? Remains of magical beasts and black mages? Where were they suddenly discovered?>

“Huh? Wasn’t it Your Majesty who did this? I naturally assumed it was you.”

<How busy do you think I’ve been with palace affairs these past few days? Where would I find the time to hunt them down one by one?>

“Well, that’s true. Then what could it be?”

Viole blinked her eyes with a genuinely curious expression. Sitting a little distance from the doll, I let out a long “hmm” before speaking again.

<Where was the most recent discovery of these remains?>

“Most recently, they were found in a place somewhat distant from Arsis. It’s in the southeastern part of the Milf Plains, quite close to the Death Gorge, so we’re investigating the surroundings further.”

<Is there any way to find out who did this?>

“Not particularly. We tried using tracking magic, but it’s difficult. Besides, since they’ve disposed of magical beasts and black mages for us, searching too desperately feels like a waste of manpower.”

A being that the Magic Tower finds difficult to track? Somehow, my suspicions increasingly leaned toward Lerrhagen.

I scanned her message once more. Should I just leave it be and ask Lerrhagen when he appears? No, how would I know when he’ll show up?

Lost in thought for a moment, I suddenly noticed the postscript at the bottom and let out a laugh.

<But what’s with this postscript at the bottom?>

“Oh, that’s in case they might be useful for research. Normally I’d never hand over such things, but we currently have so many specimens that it’s honestly a bit overwhelming… I mean, not overwhelming, but sharing is a virtue, right? Sharing is good. Just trying to help Your Majesty?”

<It seems they’re taking up too much space for storage. Forget it, I don’t need them. You do the research and just give me the compiled reports.>

“You’re really taking the easy way out. The Duke does his research personally.”

Clicking my tongue at her comment about taking the easy way out, I raised my head again when Sever’s name suddenly came up. Sever does what personally? Researching magical beasts?

<What do you mean by that?>

“Ah… well. How should I put this.”

<I can see your eyes darting around, so answer sincerely.>

“Ah, please don’t tell him I told you this. Understood?”

<Speak.>

“Actually, Duke Kelliard once helped us deal with magical beasts in the past. At that time, he instructed us to send the remains to his residence, and since we weren’t the ones who captured them anyway, we did send them.”

He requested the remains of magical beasts?

‘Wait a minute. Magical beasts leave traces of magical energy for some time even after being disposed of. Tracking other magical beasts through tracking magic would be child’s play. If they were tracking, they would naturally start with the capital, the most important part of the empire… So, did they discover traces of magical beasts in the capital?’

Recently, I had one encounter with magical beasts where I came into close contact with them and even committed the atrocity of completely obliterating them.

If Sever had truly taken those remains for tracking, he couldn’t have failed to discover that location.

‘Come to think of it, the people of House Kelliard were proficient in tracking magic.’

As soon as this thought occurred to me, I pressed my forehead. I couldn’t believe I’d only realized this now. It was my mistake to think there would be no major problems if I silenced the Knight Order, the security forces, and the victims.

That incident, which had been roughly covered up as an explosion accident, was something I could have easily resolved through Rigan even if Sever knew about it. However, I hadn’t considered that he might be able to track that location through the magical beasts.

‘No, no matter how skilled House Kelliard’s mages are in tracking magic, they couldn’t easily identify my or Lerrhagen’s magical energy. They’re weaker than I am.’

But still, the possibility wasn’t entirely absent.

‘Argggh!’

Screaming inwardly, I glared at Viole through the projection for no good reason. If such a thing happened, she should have reported it to me immediately instead of keeping quiet!

<You’re really going to be in big trouble with me soon.>

“What? No, what did I do so wrong? Besides, it wasn’t just me at that place… Ah, no, that’s not what I meant. Anyway, anyway, I didn’t do anything wrong…!”

However, I ended the projection spell without listening to the end of Viole’s words. I couldn’t help but marvel at her state of conscience, complaining about why only she should be punished when others were present too.

‘But did Sever really track me down that way? Because the magical energy residue there was similar to mine? But Lerrhagen greatly overturned everything afterward. Is tracking still possible to that extent?’

The more I thought about it, the more my heart pounded. Anxiety and indescribable emotions kept mixing in.

‘So, does Sever really know my identity? Or is he deliberately stepping back to observe me? Either way, it’s irritating!’

Unable to stay still, I got out of bed. However, no matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t find an answer.

It was impossible to go to Sever like this, and even if I summoned him to test him, wouldn’t that just give him an opportunity to confirm his suspicions?

‘If he really knows my identity, why is he keeping quiet?’

An emperor becoming a princess—what greater weakness could there be? Even if Sever had no intention of using this to intimidate me, his complete silence only made me more anxious.

‘Seriously, why does everyone around me manage to annoy me in some way?’

With that thought, I shook my head. And just as I was turning around—

“Huh?”

“Is everything alright?”

“Lord?”

My eyes widened at the figure that appeared before me. While it wouldn’t be unusual in my office, he rarely showed himself in my bedroom without notice.

However, what shocked me even more was his “appearance.”

“Are you hurt?”

I gaped at the red blood staining his shirt. Was Lerrhagen coming to me injured? *The* Lerrhagen?

Even taking into account that he was far from a neat person to begin with, his current appearance was excessively disheveled. Fortunately, he didn’t appear to be torn or stabbed anywhere, but the droplets of blood adorning the slightly open collar of his shirt were utterly out of place.