It could be called the safest place in the already safe imperial palace.

Adelia walked to the Knight Commander’s office while being escorted by Deon.

Like his appearance, Deon was good with words. Not too slick, yet not too stiff. He led the conversation naturally while maintaining appropriate formality.

“Has anything happened to His Highness the Crown Prince recently?”

“Hmm? No, as far as I know nothing happened, why do you ask?”

“He seemed to be in a bad mood today. He’s been working the knights hard since morning, and he’s knocked down about half of them in duels so most are in the infirmary. Even His Highness the Prince ran away saying he would rest today as soon as he saw His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Is that so? I’ll look into it. If I don’t know about it, it’s probably nothing serious. Don’t worry.”

Adelia spoke lightly as if reassuring Deon. Though she didn’t know everything happening in the imperial palace, if there was a reason for Lucian’s mood to be that bad, she couldn’t not know about it.

Adelia walked to the Knight Commander’s office where Lucian was without any particular worry.

While talking as they walked down the winding corridor, a familiar shadow fell before their eyes as they turned the corner.

Deon stopped in his tracks with surprised eyes.

“Greetings to Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Adelia, who had been talking while looking at Deon’s face, also turned her head at his words. There stood Lucian wearing a uniform buttoned up tightly to the neck.

Adelia’s eyes curved as she took a step forward to approach him.

“Your High…ness?”

Before she could finish calling him, Lucian disappeared from that spot in an instant.

Adelia and Deon looked at the place Lucian had left with bewildered faces.

To disappear before even one sentence could be finished…

“Where did…… he go?”

“I wonder?”

They stood there blinking for a long while. Even after checking the Knight Commander’s office, they couldn’t find Lucian that day.

She wanted to ask him why he ran away after the evening banquet was over, but he left his seat as soon as the banquet ended.

* * *

Adelia told the story to Kai with an incredulous face.

When the story ended, Kai opened his mouth with an expressionless face.

“You fought.”

“No!”

“Anyone can see it’s the behavior of someone who’s upset. Either you did something wrong, or that guy did something wrong.”

Kai spoke firmly. Even when Adelia denied it, Kai didn’t change his opinion.

Adelia let out a deep sigh.

“He keeps running away whenever he sees me.”

“Haven’t you run into him during work?”

“His Highness took on the task I requested from His Majesty, and I was hoping to talk to him about that…… but I can only get involved after His Highness completes the work. He’s not even coming to His Majesty’s office because of that work, so there’s no chance to talk.”

Adelia lowered her eyebrows.

At first, she was annoyed at him for unilaterally avoiding her, but now she was wondering what she had done wrong.

From what she had seen so far, and from what she knew in the original story, he wasn’t the type to avoid people without reason.

As Adelia pondered with slumped shoulders, Kai, who had been lying lazily on the bed while talking, slowly raised his body.

Then he settled again next to Adelia who was sitting on the bed. He lay down as if wrapping her with his soft fur.

Adelia closed her eyes with a faint smile. She stroked Kai’s fur that was gently enveloping her side.

Just as she was about to feel touched, knowing it was his way of comforting her,

“Well, that’s your situation. It’s a white mage’s duty to eliminate the dark mage.”

That comment shattered the warm atmosphere.

Adelia’s eyes, which had been forming soft curves, drew suspicious straight lines.

Her gentle, slow stroking stopped, and soon she grabbed Kai’s fur.

“You damn wolf.”

“How dare you grab my fur like that! Let go!”

“Did you have to hit me with facts like that? Would it hurt to show some concern?”

“This is reality, Master! If you don’t want to see the world’s destruction, you need to set aside such personal feelings.”

Kai spoke firmly with a growl-like voice. At his voice that seemed to guard and reject her like when they first met, Adelia loosened her grip on his fur.

The gravity of the situation hit her at Kai’s cold response, when he had always granted her requests and supported everything since becoming her master.

“It’s all gathered information, and since it’s human records, it’s not certain, but my intuition isn’t good. Though it could be records exaggerated by scared humans, my instinct as the Guardian of Light is saying it’s dangerous.”

Kai was resolute. Though he tried not to show it to avoid worrying Adelia too much, the appearance of a dark mage was a serious matter.

The power created from hundreds, perhaps thousands of years of accumulated human malice was something even the Guardian of Light didn’t know exactly. Though he didn’t know why God hadn’t revealed this, he instinctively knew it was dangerous.

“Great power comes with a price. You know that well, Master.”

The price paid just for gaining power wasn’t enough. Having this power meant they also had to deal with the evil energy looming over the world.

“If we don’t stop the dark mage, life won’t exist in this world. It’s not destruction, but it would take tens of thousands of years for new life to sprout again.”

Kai warned of the danger in a chilling tone.

How would a world where all life disappeared be any different from destruction?

The mission to eliminate the dark mage was something she understood well enough to give her goosebumps all over her body.

“I know. I know that. Even without you saying it like that, I won’t just leave him be.”

She had planned to handle the King of Silentium personally even if he wasn’t a dark mage. So the timing had just been moved up.

If he tried to destroy the world, the first thing to crumble would be the happiness of the imperial family.

She had to prevent that at all costs.

‘No wonder he was the final hidden mastermind. Not just a hidden mastermind interfering with the Princess’s happiness, but one trying to erase the world.’

The happy ending of the original story was still what mattered most to Adelia. She had worked to make the ending even happier, but if the world disappeared, there would be no ending at all.

For a moment, guilt washed over her. Thinking her choices had ruined the original story, Adelia shuddered.

‘No, I need to live too. It was an unavoidable choice.’

She realized that if she hadn’t taken the white magic and survived until now, the original story wouldn’t have changed either.

Adelia shook her head repeatedly, trying hard to deny that thought.

If she accepted that too, she felt her mind would collapse.

“Still, it’s fortunate that white magic and the holy sword are in places we can control. The master I chose won’t fall to corruption, and the holy sword’s master is of Arthur’s bloodline so he should be somewhat trustworthy.”

“Right. At least the items imbued with God’s power won’t be corrupted.”

Adelia nodded while letting out a low sigh.

Though her head throbbed thinking about the various ways the future had changed, it was fortunate that unlike the original story, they had prevented the corruption of white magic.

That was Adelia’s last hope.

Though she tried to steady her heart by rationalizing, her eyes shook helplessly at Kai’s next words.

“It would be fortunate if it’s not stolen.”

“The power can be stolen?”

Adelia raised her voice with round eyes. Her eyeballs looked ready to pop out as if she’d been hit on the back of her head.

Adelia looked at Kai with disbelief. Though she sent him a desperate look asking him to say it wasn’t true, the answer that came back was devastating.

“It’s possible. Since it’s borrowed power, not originally the master’s.”

Kai spoke only facts without a shred of falsehood.

Whether Adelia’s face hardened or not, he continued telling the truth.

“When the power’s master dies, the contract with the power ends. We then hide ourselves and wait for the next master. But exceptionally, there are cases where the heart, which is the source of power, is stolen.”