The emperor arrived at the place where the divine beasts were kept. He confirmed they were all obediently inside, but he couldn’t easily turn away.

“Has anyone been here?”

“No, no one else has come, Your Majesty.”

The knight responded with strict discipline. The emperor read his mind but found nothing unusual.

“Kameli, have you noticed any changes?”

“The knights are checking now.”

The emperor had summoned Kameli on his way to the divine beasts and brought him along. Kameli’s gaze shifted from the building housing the divine beasts to the iron bars.

He approached and ran his hand over them.

“There are traces of an attempt to escape. But since they’re bound, they must have given up quickly.”

“Is that so. It’s inconvenient that I cannot read the thoughts of the divine beasts.”

Kameli inspected the surroundings more thoroughly. During this, he recalled the holy power tree not far away.

“Your Majesty, I’ll go check something quickly.”

He walked rapidly with his long legs to where the tree was. Fortunately, the holy power tree was still in its place.

“……Was the tree always shaped like this?”

Since the tree wasn’t under his jurisdiction, he couldn’t remember exactly, but it looked somewhat awkward.

“Hamel.”

“Yes, Commander!”

“Has anyone visited this place?”

“No one has come!”

“Are you certain? The tree looks a bit different…… Well, if you say no one came, I’ll believe you.”

Hamel nodded vigorously. He was already anxious because he had caused trouble during his recent trip to the North.

He had returned to guard the tree immediately after his disciplinary period ended, and while he might have been absentminded for a moment, he didn’t remember meeting anyone.

Glancing at the tree, it did look different from the one he had been watching, but since trees naturally change a little each day, he didn’t worry about it.

“Yes, I’m certain.”

Although it seemed a bit strange, Hamel kept his mouth shut. Nothing had happened, and if he said anything, he might be disciplined again.

So Hamel looked the other way.

“If you notice anything else unusual, call someone immediately.”

Kameli had some doubts, but he turned away because he trusted his subordinates.

When Kameli returned to the emperor, he reported the situation. He informed him that while the shape of the tree was somewhat concerning, there was no problem with the holy power.

“If someone had broken it, the power would have disappeared, so it’s best to keep an eye on it for now. Just in case, strengthen the security around the divine beasts. It seems there are rats scurrying about.”

The emperor frowned at the scent lingering in his nose as he surveyed the surroundings.

He couldn’t shake off the uneasiness of a scent that felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

“I will carry out your orders.”

“Until the Harvest Festival ends, we must never let our guard down, so consider changing shifts at different times each day.”

“Understood. I will ensure shifts change at different times each day.”

Even that didn’t put his mind at ease.

Recently, he felt that Claire was at the center of everything happening to him.

The emperor returned to the main palace and summoned the Imperial Knight Commander. Esentra from the First Unit bowed his head deeply and couldn’t raise it.

“Have you still not found those merchants?”

“I am ashamed. We tried to find people within the empire based on the signatures on the contract, but no one matched.”

“……Compare them with those in the imperial palace as well.”

“Pardon?”

“With the Harvest Festival happening, everyone is in the imperial palace, so isn’t it the perfect time to make comparisons?”

The emperor immediately thought of Claire. Wasn’t she the one who handed over the airship? He thought she must be involved, even if not directly.

“Investigate when Claire came to the imperial palace, and whether she has ever left the North.”

“Understood. I will gather the information and report back.”

Esentra immediately headed to the knights’ quarters to carry out the emperor’s orders.

Claire couldn’t be left unchecked in her arrogance. She needed to be stopped before her influence completely waned.

‘I should look at the list of participants in the mounted lance competition.’

The emperor stroked his chin leisurely as he sank into thought. He had to prevent her from winning by any means.

He wanted to frame Cedric, whom Claire cherished, with some absurd reason and kill him, but that would be a poisonous action for the emperor himself.

Cedric was still very useful and had earned the trust of both nobles and commoners. The emperor, though reluctant to admit it, acknowledged his abilities. Cedric had handled everything perfectly, from borders to monster extermination, without missing a thing.

That became a threat to the emperor, and each time Cedric successfully completed his assigned tasks, the emperor grew more anxious.

Even though he was an illegitimate child of a grand ducal house, he was currently the Grand Duke of Monteroz.

‘If he won’t stand on my side, it would be better to get rid of him.’

Or if not that, then make him a useless card.

As the emperor was thinking of ways to inflict injuries without being obvious, a good idea came to mind.

❖ ❖ ❖

I safely returned to the barracks, washed my body in warm water, and changed clothes. I wore long gloves because of the wounds on my arms.

“The emperor might find it suspicious, so I’ll summon Serina, who’s staying at the residence.”

“The airship is complete, so it should be fine, right?”

Cedric nodded. Since it was confidential information, it couldn’t go through imperial hands.

Even if I called a messenger, my father would get his hands on it. So I gave a letter with a written message to a bird.

“It’s fortunate that we can rest properly for a day.”

“Well then, shall we continue our conversation from earlier?”

Cedric sat in a chair and stared at me. I eventually told him that I had met Zeno and visited where the divine beasts were staying to make contracts with them.

“……You made contracts, with all four of them?”

I slowly nodded. Cedric’s gaze moved to my neck.

He abruptly stood up from his chair, grabbed my chin, and turned my head in different directions, checking for any marks.

“Your Highness? The contract method was different, and it wasn’t a complete contract, so it wasn’t like with Zeno.”

I reached out and grasped his face.

“……Is that so?”

“Look, it’s clean without any marks, right?”

At my words, Cedric nodded. Seeing his softened face, I wrapped my arms around his neck and lightly kissed his cheek.

“Tomorrow, I should have tea with Isabelle. Oh! I met Lady Yerenica, and she does seem to be the daughter of a priest.”

“Is that so?”

I continued talking while hanging onto Cedric.

“Yes, so I asked for her help. I asked her to help release the binding after rescuing the divine beasts.”

“Did she agree?”

“I got a promise that House Shalom wouldn’t be harmed. She went there on my father’s orders, but she didn’t want things to go wrong.”

“That’s fortunate.”

“We just need to get through the remaining competition safely. But what my father said is bothering me……”

“It will be fine. Even if something happens, healers will come, and you have me, wife.”

With my healing ability, I could simply heal Cedric. But if he got hurt, wouldn’t he still feel the pain?

“Still, it’s better to be careful.”

Cedric stroked my back as if everything was fine. I buried my face in his embrace and closed my eyes.

“How about taking a full day of rest without thinking about anything else?”

“That sounds good. Then tomorrow, I’ll read a book while having tea with Your Highness.”

Book?

Ah! I remembered the book I had forgotten. I had found the book I was looking for, but collapsed as I turned around, and then didn’t have a chance to mention it due to other events.

“Rien and I went to town and found a book about divine beasts. It was written in an ancient language, so I think others hadn’t discovered it.”

“……Can you read ancient languages?”

“Somehow I learned how. Rien must have brought the book.”

“I’ll tell her to bring it tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

Cedric picked me up and headed to the bed. It wasn’t as soft as the bed at the mansion, but it wasn’t bad.

“Making contracts one after another must have strained my body. I’m getting so sleepy.”

“I’ll stay by your side, so you can sleep.”

Drowsiness washed over me with the rhythmic patting on my back.

I sought sleep in Cedric’s arms. It seemed like I could sleep deeply for once without worrying about oversleeping.

“Your Highness, please rest well with me, just for today.”

“Alright. I’ll try to rest well without thinking about work.”

Ahem.

However, our leisure didn’t last long. Sir Kaven cleared his throat and made his presence known at the barracks.

Cedric carefully got out of bed and went to the door. I barely managed to open my eyes, which refused to open easily, using my forehead muscles.

“……What is it?”

“Your Highness. It seems you need to come out urgently.”

Cedric grabbed the tent flap and turned to look at me.

“I’ll reluctantly give in. Go ahead.”

Cedric couldn’t take his eyes off me for a long time at my languid voice.

As I watched Cedric reluctantly leave the barracks with Sir Kaven, I couldn’t resist my closing eyes and fell asleep.