Then the elementalists began to kneel before me one by one.

‘Huh? People rarely kneel in this country.’

Here, knights only knelt when swearing loyalty to their lord.

Here, knights only knelt when swearing loyalty to their lord.

Other than that, elementalists, like ordinary people, rarely had to kneel in their lifetime.

“Elemental Palace Lord, I apologize for not recognizing your abilities.”

“The Palace Lord saved my life.”

“Now I understand what the Association President meant. My Lord, I pledge my loyalty.”

‘Huh? What’s this?’

Having nearly drowned and just regained consciousness, I looked at them with bewildered eyes.

They were kneeling and looking up at me with eyes as if gazing upon someone they truly revered.

Beside me, Felix added in a small voice.

“Now no one can question the Palace Lord’s abilities.”

Following that, the elementalists’ loyalty pledges continued.

“We elementalists will serve you as our master from now on, Palace Lord.”

“We apologize for our ignorance, Palace Lord!”

They seemed incredibly moved by my elemental arts that far surpassed their own senior elemental abilities.

I felt somewhat dazed.

‘Well, I didn’t save people to receive this kind of overpowered treatment…’

Felix’s face looked much brighter than before.

And Briton’s face, smiling kindly at me.

“My, it seems my lady has gained more followers.”

Though his words suggested trouble, his expression seemed pleased.

I held Briton’s hand and slowly stood up.

Then I saw the state of the laboratory where I had created the water explosion.

‘There’s not a single thing… intact?’

I could somewhat understand the meaning of the fear mixed with reverence in the kneeling elementalists’ eyes.

“…Looking at it again, you’re truly amazing, my lady.”

My ears grew hot at Briton’s admiring voice.

‘That chair split into eight pieces was surely caused by the flames.’

The same goes for that metal plate torn into four pieces.

And that titanium rod twisted like taffy…

Definitely not my doing…

“Now I truly understand why Duke Guermont wanted to make you his successor…”

“Ugh, Your Highness! My clothes are wet, so I’ll go change.”

“Ah… Yes, you should.”

I quickly walked away from what looked like a terrorist attack site.

***

“The weather is lovely today, my lady.”

After changing into a new dress, I walked through the imperial garden with Briton.

Earlier, there had been a commotion when news of my condition reached the imperial physician.

‘Fortunately, I told them there was nothing wrong except for swallowing a bit of water.’

Though small, I have quite a sturdy body!

“By the way, did you have business at the Elemental Palace?”

“Yes. I stopped by to check on research that might help prepare for the famine.”

Briton smiled brightly at my answer.

“I see. When I heard you were coming to the Elemental Palace, I came to see you with an excited heart.”

“Ah…”

“Because I missed you so much.”

At this straightforward statement, I awkwardly shifted my gaze.

‘He must be this honest because he’s still young and innocent…?’

Somehow, it felt like watching a puppy showing blind love for its owner.

“Thank you for liking me so much, Your Highness.”

I said to Briton.

‘Though it feels strange…’

Even if it’s affection born from an immature, young heart, it’s still grateful when someone genuinely cares for me.

“Why do you say such things, my lady?”

But at my words, Briton stopped in his tracks and instead wore a very disappointed expression.

‘Did, did I make a mistake?’

When he spoke so dejectedly with a face prettier than most women, I suddenly felt guilty.

“My liking you… is only natural.”

Briton’s lips moved as he looked at me.

“When you thank me, it’s as if we…”

A gentle breeze blew, softly rustling Briton’s silver hair.

“Are distant from each other.”

I was dazed looking at Briton’s slightly lowered eyebrows and only came to my senses a few seconds later.

“No, well…”

Briton’s eyebrows moved slightly as if upset.

“That’s just a figure of speech, haha.”

I barely managed to brush it off while avoiding his gaze.

When Briton looked at me with such eyes and admonished me, I felt like a terrible person pushing away a kind child without knowing my place.

“My lady.”

Briton reached out and held my hand.

“I really like you.”

And said to me with a bright smile.

A dazzling halo that made one’s mind spin shimmered behind him.

“Well then, my lady.”

Briton said while holding my hand.

“Now I must find the person who dared to do this to my lady.”

“What… What?”

“There’s no way this fire occurred naturally. Please wait here, my lady. Understood?”

Briton’s eyes curved kindly once more, but somehow it sent chills down my spine.

***

After sitting in the Palace Lord’s office at the Elemental Palace for a while, Felix knocked and entered.

“Did your date with His Highness the Crown Prince go well?”

“…Is the investigation complete?”

Instead of answering Felix’s question, I deflected with a question about the fire investigation.

Felix nodded once and began reporting about what had happened earlier.

“Well… At first, we thought it was just fire Elementalists’ powers going out of control, but after hearing testimonies, that wasn’t the case.”

“What do you mean… that wasn’t the case?”

I suddenly remembered what Briton had said.

“There’s no way this fire occurred naturally.”

“We found traces that weren’t from elemental fire, so we consulted the Justice Palace and Alchemy Palace. They found fire-triggering chemicals in the laboratory.”

“What?”

“Someone had installed devices to spread the flames. Here in the Elemental Palace.”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise.

Then that fire incident… wasn’t just a simple accident?

“The Justice Palace Lord and Alchemy Palace Lord will be here soon…”

“Arineeeel!”

“Arineeeel!!!”

Before Felix could finish speaking, two people burst through the door.

Anes Rockwell, the Justice Palace Lord with pink twin-tails.

And Baron Rockwell, the Alchemy Palace Lord with purple hair.

The ones who were Aunt Annie and Uncle Burnel back in Galnem village.

“I can’t believe such an outrageous thing happened. We must root them out and crush them with the law.”

“Fight bombs with bombs. Leave their punishment to the Alchemy Palace, Elemental Palace Lord.”

Seeing the Alchemy Palace Lord and Justice Palace Lord snarling dramatically, Felix flinched and looked away as if he’d seen something unseemly.

But having already thrown away their dignity at the fact that I had been in danger, the two continued spitting curses at the culprit.

“Without the Emperor’s or the Military Minister’s permission, those who create and possess explosives face death by hanging. Those who use explosives to harm others also face death by hanging. And I’m preparing to establish a law… called the Arinel Protection Law. Anyone who harms Arinel will face at minimum death by hanging…”

“What?”

I grabbed Anes’s shoulders with both hands and shook them as if to bring her to her senses.

An Arinel Protection Law, how could that even be possible…

“Though I disapprove of everything else Anes does, I support the Arinel Protection Law. We’ll create an execution machine with concentrated scientific technology for swift executions.”

“That’s not necessary at all!”

An execution machine, how horrifying!

After raising my voice to calm the two who seemed possessed with excitement, I let out a small sigh.

“Well… I appreciate that you’re so worried about me, but could you first tell me what happened?”

“Ah.”

“Ah.”

They catch on so quickly.

Baron, the Alchemy Palace Lord, spoke first.

“Right. Ahem, according to our investigation, someone who knows alchemy definitely planted the bombs. And they must be unregistered. Officially registered alchemists leave tiny marks whenever they create something with alchemy.”

Baron showed me the bracelet he was wearing as he spoke.

There was a pattern of regular markings in the gold thread of the bracelet.

“This is an alchemist’s fingerprint – every alchemist has their own unique fingerprint-like this. But no matter how much we searched, we couldn’t find this person’s fingerprint anywhere.”

Anes continued after Baron’s explanation.

“The Justice Palace investigated the palace entry records. There weren’t any particularly suspicious records, but a foreign merchant entered three days ago. When we checked with the Foreign Affairs Department, the records didn’t match. That means a suspicious person entered pretending to be a foreign merchant!”

Though barely two hours had passed since the incident, the two seemed to have investigated very quickly.

“Damn it!”

“Damn iit!”

Like the twins they were, they both clenched their fists simultaneously and spoke with blazing eyes.

“How dare they do this to the Elemental Palace?”

“How dare they try to burn down Arinel’s Elemental Palace?”

“Such reactionaries.”

“Such traitors.”

The two shouted in unison.

“Death by hanging is the answer!”

Hmm… Just hearing about it made me feel like my neck was tightening.

Anes continued.

“Arinel has done great service by foreseeing the coming famine in the country. She’s a talent among talents that this country can’t afford to lose.”

“Right, and the fact that they caused the fire precisely when Arinel came to the Elemental Palace means we have to accept that they were targeting Arinel.”

“They…?”