“I’ve investigated everyone who entered the imperial palace last night, but found no suspicious individuals.”

“I expected… as much. If someone had infiltrated and done this to me, I would have noticed it first.”

Then what could it be?

My head throbbed for some reason.

Perhaps because the day was almost over, I felt tired from being on edge all day. Of course, too many things happened today.

Ah, that reminds me.

“I’ve decided who will be my fake father. Prepare a warm room. He says it needs to be warm.”

“Already? Who is this unfortunate—”

“Le… Lerrhagen.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Rigan froze. He even gaped open-mouthed, and despite his good looks, it wasn’t particularly elegant, so I said:

“Close your mouth.”

“Hup.”

“Don’t make that sheltered, shocked expression. It’s embarrassing.”

Despite being the most surprised when Lerrhagen appeared, I was now calmly scolding Rigan.

Rigan just blinked, seemingly unable to comprehend how such a thing could happen.

“How on earth?”

“I sent a summoning circle with conditions, and he responded to the summons. Don’t ask more than that, you’ll get hurt.”

“You just don’t want to explain, right?”

“You know it.”

Rigan shook his head, clearly having expected this response.

He didn’t pry further. That appropriate sense of boundaries was why I liked him.

“Anyway, I’ve chosen my father, and tomorrow morning I’ll announce my existence to the Council of Elders. Issue the summons.”

“Understood.”

“They’ll be quite shocked. Should be entertaining.”

Rigan shuddered at the smile on my face.

But I didn’t care. Now that things have come to this, it would be best to get it over with quickly.

Soon, Rigan left the room, saying he had remaining tasks to complete.

Left alone, I surveyed my room.

This room, no, this palace was built after I became emperor, despite the nobles’ opposition.

They protested about abandoning the palace used by the late emperor, but they eventually bowed before my firm decision.

Perhaps because of that, I felt quite attached to this palace. It was purely my domain, untouched by anyone else’s presence.

‘But it doesn’t matter, since I’ll return eventually.’

With that thought, I took a deep breath and climbed onto the bed. The idea that my identity would completely change tomorrow gave me mixed feelings.

Plus, a fake father—

‘From tomorrow, that dragon will have to stay here too.’

Given the watchful eyes of others.

After some contemplation, I tapped the air with my index finger. A small white light appeared. It was a communication spell that could transmit messages to desired recipients.

“My identity will be announced tomorrow. So from tomorrow, you should properly reside in my palace. Of course, I’ll keep your room warm, as you requested.”

Soon the white light disappeared. And after some time—

“Alright.”

I opened my eyes wide at the surprisingly quick and agreeable response. He’s more reasonable than I thought.

Somehow feeling that things would proceed smoothly, I smiled and lay down on the bed.

Of course, it took less than a day to realize how naive that thought was.

* * *

In the quiet night.

The time when most people enter peaceful rest.

Under a pitch-black night sky like spilled ink, a boy lightly landed on a tree branch in the bright moonlight.

The boy appeared to be in his late teens.

With deep red hair like wine-stained locks and ruby-red eyes, he looked around seemingly searching for something.

“Where exactly is it?”

The boy’s face was filled with irritation as he muttered.

After some time, he finally seemed to spot something glittering inside the nearest window, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.

In the blink of an eye, he landed lightly on the windowsill.

“This is it. Why is it so dark in here?”

The boy wondered aloud. After contemplating something, he boldly tapped the window with his finger.

Click.

The window, which had been firmly locked until just a moment ago, opened instantly.

The boy pushed the window slightly and jumped inside, landing lightly.

That’s when it happened.

Clank-clank!

At the sudden sound of chains wrapping around, the boy’s gaze sharpened. His previously nonchalant expression instantly changed as he placed his hand on the sword at his waist.

Shing—

Soon a dazzling blade appeared, and the boy raised his head after deflecting the chains rushing toward him.

“Who—”

But before he could finish speaking, dozens of blades suddenly appeared from nowhere, floating in the air, poised to strike him.

A cold sweat trickled down the boy’s forehead.

It seemed that even the slightest movement would result in him being sliced to pieces.

This was skill that only someone with tremendous ability could wield.

The boy slowly turned his gaze to look in the opposite direction. Tension flowed across his face as he spotted a flickering dark figure there.

However, when the figure slowly revealed itself in the dim moonlight, the boy’s expression subtly changed.

The person who appeared was none other than a child with a doll-like, adorable appearance, wearing pajamas with fluttering frills and lush, pink-tinted blonde hair.

“Who sent you?”

The boy unconsciously murmured as he examined the fully revealed child.

“Is disguising yourself as a child the trend these days?”

As soon as he finished speaking, the face of the child, Estria, hardened terribly.

* * *

Even though I had become a child, my instincts hadn’t deteriorated.

Having experienced numerous assassin intrusions since childhood, I never slept deeply.

Moreover, being in the more vulnerable state of a child now made me even more alert, naturally.

From the moment the intruder approached, I detected the assassin’s presence and deliberately let him into my room to capture him.

However, despite his seemingly careless movements, he proved quite skilled, instantly deflecting my magical restraint.

Even so, he was helpless before the magically created blades.

I sat on the floor, staring at the shocked-faced assassin.

Without a mask, his clearly visible face was undeniably handsome.

No, more than just handsome. He had such finely crafted features that any girl his age would likely lose herself at the sight of him.

‘They sent someone with such a distinctive face as an assassin?’

I felt somewhat puzzled, but recalling how he had deflected my magic, I simply assumed he was sent because of his skill, and spoke:

“Who sent you?”

My voice sounded extremely cold and icy even to my own ears.

However, the assassin remained silent. Instead, he murmured with a face full of questions:

“Is disguising yourself as a child the trend these days?”

At that moment, I completely froze.

‘Does he know my identity?’

I had thought he was just targeting Emperor Estria, but was that not the case? Or did he somehow recognize my identity by chance?

Even Rigan couldn’t recognize me at first glance, yet this stranger I was meeting for the first time had seen through my disguise.

I gritted my teeth. In this situation, I couldn’t let him go.

I stretched out my hand, concentrating magic in my palm. Soon, a long whip that could bind five or six adults materialized in my hand.

The assassin frowned at what I held. I spoke even more coldly:

“If you don’t stay still, you might die.”

And I raised the whip high.

Though it clearly didn’t weigh much, it was surprisingly difficult to lift.

Crack!

But just as I was about to bring the whip down.

The assassin, who had been quiet until now, suddenly raised his head and grabbed my whip with his outstretched hand.

“Ugh!”

In that moment, I was helplessly pulled forward by a force I couldn’t resist. The assassin, now suddenly right in front of me, raised his sword.

‘As a child, controlling materialized weapons is difficult.’

I quickly withdrew my magic and pulled my body back. There was no reason to be caught by such an attack.

I concentrated magic in my hand, intending to grab and twist his sword.

But then—

“Gasp!”

Suddenly, a scream and a thud echoed in my ears.

Simultaneously, a familiar force caught me as I was about to fall backward and gently placed me on the floor.

I blinked.

The force supporting me was quite familiar. It was the same force that had caught me when I summoned Lerrhagen.

When I looked up, sure enough, Lerrhagen was standing in front of me.

And a little distance away, the assassin who had been pointing his sword at me just moments ago was now collapsed against the wall.

“Derd…”

Ah, this name is really difficult to pronounce. My tongue getting twisted, I immediately changed my words.

“Lord?”

Why did he appear here? I told him to come tomorrow, but did he deliberately come early? And why to my room?

Several questions filled my mind at once. However, instead of bombarding Lerrhagen with questions, I first turned my head toward the assassin.

At that moment, Lerrhagen spoke slowly:

“Don’t try to win with physical strength. Just use magic quietly.”

“I’m just not used to this child’s body yet. More importantly, we need to restrain that assassin quickly. He seems to know my identity.”

I quickly created chains with magic.

But watching me, Lerrhagen indifferently murmured:

“There’s no need for that.”

“Yes, there is. I need to find out who’s behind this. At the very least, I need to extract how he knows my identity.”

I couldn’t just leave someone who knew my identity alone. However, Lerrhagen’s next words made me stop what I was doing.

“I’m behind this. And that guy’s identity is my attendant.”