Deep, dark eyes held the divine beast in their gaze from a distance, its strange light pulsing with an eerie glow. Then, as though drawn by some invisible pull, his attention shifted to the woman prostrated on the stone path.

A cold wind brushed his cheek and stirred the man’s hood. He pulled it down low, but the sharp line of his nose could not be hidden. Below it, a keen jaw came into view.

The man sat on the terrace of a tavern with a clear view of the square, looking down at the scene of collective madness. A sneer played at the corner of his mouth.

Bloodstains carved into the white ground. And spread before the feet of Wintergrass’s new prospective ruler, silver hair soaked in blood.

‘What a pathetic display.’

If she was truly a traitor, they could simply kill her. The deliberate effort to concentrate all malice on the deposed crown prince was distasteful.

The man, Carlisle, curled his lip.

“The new emperor of Wintergrass puts on quite the ridiculous show.”

His cool, cold voice scattered into the air. The wind shook his hood again, and behind him a single shadow drew near.

“What in the world is that supposed to be?”

The voice sounded somewhat flippant. Carlisle answered in a low tone.

“They’re calling it a rite of atonement.”

“A rite of atonement…? Well, that’s quite a grand name for a rather ugly sight.”

Just then, a group of men crowded into the table beside them. Kuz naturally picked up his cup and slipped in among them.

“Something good happened today, so let me buy a round.”

“Free drinks are always welcome!”

Their faces were already flushed before they even sat down, and they did not regard the unfamiliar young man with dark skin with much suspicion.

“What in the world did that woman do to make the whole country carry on like this? And what’s with all the disgusting head-banging?”

Loosened by the free drinks, the men’s mouths opened freely.

“She put a curse on the divine beast and made it fall asleep. They’re punishing the witch who prevented the divine beast, the very pillar of this nation, from awakening!”

A man puffed up his chest and shrugged as he boasted.

“That criminal assassinated the late Emperor for her own greed and cursed the divine beast. That’s why even though the new Majesty holds the right of succession, the divine beast won’t wake!”

‘Wrong.’

Carlisle inwardly scoffed at the man’s words. The conditions required to awaken the divine beast were two.

The right of succession, and the divine beast’s own choosing.

The fact that the divine beast would not wake right now was as good as saying that none of the imperial bloodline holding the right of succession was worthy of the divine beast’s choosing.

‘What in the world happened inside the Wintergrass imperial palace?’

Carlisle’s curiosity pressed on, but there was no one to answer that question.

“Shouldn’t they just kill her right now then?”

The man answered Kuz’s question with a swagger.

“And who would take responsibility if the next divine beast fails to awaken? The nation’s guardian deity fell asleep because of that traitor, so they have to punish her until she makes it wake!”

“Seems like it’d want to wake up even less after being treated like that……”

Nobody paid any attention to Kuz’s sour reaction. They were already well accustomed to this kind of “event,” where every misfortune was heaped onto a single woman.

Suddenly, one of the men slung an arm around Kuz’s shoulder.

“But the fact that you don’t know any of this means you’re probably not from Wintergrass. Are you a foreigner too?”

“Ah, well. Something like that.”

Kuz quietly averted his gaze.

Wintergrass invited an unusually large delegation to mark the new ruler’s coronation ceremony. A legitimate opportunity opened to visit the heart of Wintergrass, which had long maintained a conservative foreign policy.

Delegations carrying suspicion, expectation, and sinister intentions, along with merchant companies looking to strike it rich, poured in from every corner of the continent. Kuz was among one such merchant company.

Though of course, not with the pure purpose of congratulating the new emperor.

“My companions are calling me over there! I’ll be off then…”

Kuz slipped free from the men’s clutches like a slippery eel and clicked his tongue.

“That’s nothing but a performative punishment.”

“Kuz.”

“Isn’t it though?”

A reproachful voice reached him, but Kuz only tilted his head and scoffed.

“Why bother with something like that? And for weeks at that.”

“We haven’t even gotten into the imperial palace yet. Don’t say anything that’ll draw attention.”

Maili, a female knight in a leather cuirass, let out a long sigh.

This “punishment” had already been going on for four weeks. That meant four weeks passed since the emperor of the Wintergrass Empire, the late sovereign, returned to the gods’ embrace together with the divine beast.

“A whole month since the divine beast, guardian deity of the empire, disappeared.”

Carlisle murmured quietly, his eyes never leaving the ceremony that continued to unfold.

The divine beast, symbol of imperial authority, shared its fate with the emperor and served as the medium through which magical power could be manifested as magic.

The special power held by Wintergrass’s divine beast was the Eternal Flame.

Summoning the divine beast that could wield the Eternal Flame, counted among what were called the powers of the gods, and standing alongside it was tantamount to placing the emperor on the same level as the divine.

The absence of the divine beast, guardian deity of the empire, was an enormous problem. Enough to shake the very foundation of the nation and threaten the imperial throne.

That was why Carlisle needed to come to Wintergrass as well.

The Astrux Empire, the other empire where a divine beast existed, was in a similar situation.

“A strange thing indeed.”

Carlisle let out a faint laugh, his fingers tapping the table at a steady rhythm.

Despite the fact that the most important seat in the nation sat empty, no one in this empire seemed to care about that matter.

Or perhaps someone deliberately made the deposed crown prince their plaything in order to conceal the absence of both the divine beast and the emperor.

His assessment made, Carlisle gestured toward Kuz, who was clicking his tongue.

“Let’s go.”

Carlisle’s voice cut through the noise of the crowd, low and intense. It was only two words, but the refined quality of his pronunciation made people’s eyes move.

Yet the man already turned and was walking toward the exit.

“Huh? Boss! Don’t leave me behind!”

Kuz called out plaintively and came running after him. Maili, who had been walking close at Carlisle’s heels, made no effort to hide the exasperated look in her eyes.

“What, you? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Is it not possible for you to be a bit more sharp and clever as an attendant?”

“Look, not everyone needs to be clever. If I’m dumb, you can be smart. So now, my feelings……”

“Kuz.”

Carlisle called his name in a low voice, and Kuz’s expression changed.

“Yes, sir.”

The playful look in his eyes vanished somewhere, replaced by a blank face as though coated in wax. Maili watched Kuz reveal his true nature with a single summons and shook her head.

“I think we might be able to stir up something a bit more interesting.”

Carlisle pulled his smooth lips into a smile and stroked his chin.

‘The Red Flower of Longing.’

That was what brought Carlisle all the way to this Wintergrass Empire.

According to the late Astrux emperor’s prophecy and various ancient texts, it had to be the magical power of the Wintergrass imperial family, who commanded the fire divine beast.

So Carlisle intended to get his hands on Silena, the next emperor who would have been born with the deepest magical power. By whatever means necessary.

But watching the grand “rite of atonement,” his thinking changed.

‘Perhaps this will make things easier.’

The deposed crown prince in her fallen state might be a better choice than Silena, surrounded as she was by excessive guards.

‘And what Carpes is doing is getting on my nerves as well.’

The shameless face of Russell Carpes, who had been putting off the audience date again and again, surfaced in his mind, and his mood soured on its own.

Since setting foot in this Wintergrass Empire, not a single thing had been to his liking.

“That one will be different.”

Carlisle muttered to himself without realizing it. His eyes curved as he confirmed Roelia rising, steadying her trembling body, and pressing her lips to the top of Silena’s foot.

“Please speak.”

Kuz’s voice reached him, and Carlisle was able to pull himself free from the contemplation that held him.

“Go and find a way to meet the deposed crown prince.”

“Understood.”

“Don’t miss a single rumor about the deposed crown prince. Investigate everything and bring it back.”

“Yes, sir.”

Carlisle knew Kuz would move without hesitation at his command, even at risk to himself, but he added the words deliberately. It was his way of saying to gather every piece of information that might otherwise be missed.

Kuz, who caught the hidden meaning in Carlisle’s words with sharp precision, disappeared from the spot. Maili stepped into the space Kuz left behind and approached Carlisle, who had fallen into thought.