“Oh! You can’t just barge in like this!”

“Stand aside!”

It seemed the knights entered the room to conduct their search. Roelia pressed her ear to what was happening on the other side of the wall and held her breath.

The sounds of hurried movement continued for some time, and Roelia curled her hands into fists. Her palms were damp with sweat, but she could not move.

“My lord!”

One of the knights called out, and Roelia knew immediately who it was.

“Russell.”

She murmured his name softly and then clapped her hand over her mouth in a hurry. She sensed a presence lingering near the wall she was hiding behind.

“Hmm?”

Someone tilted their head near the wall where Roelia was concealed.

‘If a mage came with them, I would have been caught for certain.’

It was fortunate that Silena was royalty. In the Wintergrass Empire, magical power only manifested in those who carried the imperial bloodline. Because no mages existed in the Wintergrass Empire who did not carry imperial blood, mages were a precious and rare resource.

“Nothing here!”

“Where’s next?”

“That, it’s the lord’s own estate, my lord.”

“My own residence cannot be made an exception. Let’s go.”

“Yes, my lord!”

The sound of the knights falling in line and following Russell out reached her. Roelia let out a careful breath and tried to keep herself as still as possible. Pretending to leave and then doubling back to check for anyone in hiding was a tactic of the Wintergrass knights.

Roelia hoped the black-haired man would not be hasty and open this wall.

“Boss.”

The sound of the man’s subordinate calling to him reached her, but the man’s magical power did not stir.

‘Good.’

Sure enough, the door opened again and someone came in.

“Oh! Did you forget something?”

The subordinate spoke up deliberately in a loud voice.

‘What a clever person.’

How much time passed?

The wall that was closed opened again, and the space before Roelia brightened.

“You may come out.”

The black-haired man’s subordinate spoke to Roelia. She rubbed her tingling legs and straightened her back. She moved slowly toward the black-haired man, who was now seated in a chair.

She was aware that his eyes, as though measuring something, did not leave her, but she tried not to let it show.

“Sit there.”

Roelia stood still before the chair placed in front of the man. She noticed his eyebrow rise slightly as he watched her, but she still did not move.

There was no attendant to pull out the chair for her.

The black-haired man let out a quiet breath and made a gesture, and the subordinate who stood quietly behind him pulled the chair out. Roelia accepted his service and sat down, and the man opened his mouth.

“I hear the knights are looking for a traitor. Is that you?”

“A traitor? If anything, the ones who committed treason are……”

Roelia, making no effort to hide her anger, was about to cry out when she stopped herself. He hid her, but she did not yet determine what kind of person this man before her was.

She knew he was from the Astrux Empire, but revealing her identity to someone whose true nature she did not fully know was dangerous.

‘Come to think of it, are the others all right?’

There were people who followed Roelia as the heir to the throne. What became of them? It was against propriety to let her thoughts wander with someone right in front of her, but she could not help it.

Without knowing that the man was watching her shifting eyes, Roelia sank into her thoughts.

“So you’re saying the person they’re looking for isn’t you?”

“……”

Roelia could not answer the man’s question. Anyone could see that the person the Wintergrass knights were looking for was her. She clenched her fist. Her magical power recovered slightly, but not enough to move on her own.

On top of that, the magic Roelia primarily used was fire magic. Movement magic was not something she could cast with any proficiency.

‘Could I escape from here without these people’s help?’

The answer was no.

“Honestly, I don’t care whether you’re Wintergrass’s traitor or not.”

The man dropped a single remark toward Roelia as she deliberated.

“Why……”

“Because I’m not from this empire.”

Roelia studied the man’s face slowly.

“So you really are from the Astrux Empire.”

“Correct.”

The man gave a nod.

“My name is Cal. I lead a merchant company from the Astrux Empire.”

His bearing was far too imposing for a mere merchant, and Roelia was certain that this man called Cal was no merchant. She did not know why he was lying to her, but.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

Someone who would disguise himself and enter the Wintergrass Empire seemed to be a noble of the Astrux Empire at least. The man’s elegant bearing and manner of carrying himself were those of a noble, and a fairly high-ranking one at that.

Under ordinary circumstances, she would have been furious that an Astrux noble set foot in the Wintergrass Empire without authorization, but the situation was different now. She was a fugitive branded a traitor.

“Call me Eli.”

“I’m not interested in your name. What I want to know is why the knights are chasing you.”

‘You. How rude!’

Roelia bit down on her lip and put on the smile she used when dealing with insufferable nobles.

“That’s something I can’t tell you. And you’re being rather rude.”

She shot the words at Carlisle, who was still calling her “you” even after she gave him a name.

But Carlisle paid no mind to Roelia’s complaint. He only scoffed.

“Ha! So then, why. are. you. being chased?”

“I said it’s E. li.”

It was as though sparks were flying between the two pairs of eyes locked in confrontation. Carlisle looked straight into Roelia’s eyes, where a firm resolve was plain to see that she would not answer unless he called her by her proper name, and let out a quiet laugh.

“The knights who just left, again……”

“……”

Roelia’s lips pressed shut. She knew the playful man would not harm her, but she could not speak plainly. How was she supposed to say she was the deposed Crown Prince who was due to mount the scaffold come tomorrow morning?

An heir who was betrayed by those she trusted, stripped of everything, and driven out. What imperial heir in the world was ever reduced to a deposed Crown Prince, running for her life?

Anyone who saw her would say there was no greater fool.

The problem was that she was deceived by a half-sister who played at innocence and a fiancé. Seeing only the beauty in the world was her fatal mistake as well. She was a fool not to notice while they prepared their treason.

‘So I deserve to be treated like this.’

Whatever Roelia’s thoughts, the conversation continued.

“Someone the Wintergrass knights would chase must be quite a significant person. Is that why you can’t say?”

Roelia’s gaze shifted at Carlisle’s sharp question. What Carlisle was saying was as good as telling her that even though she was someone suspicious, he would take her in. His attitude was that of a typical Astrux person who could not care less what happened to Wintergrass.

Wintergrass and Astrux were allied nations, but they kept a wary eye on each other. Roelia in particular kept regular watch over Astrux, an empire built on knights.

‘Ah!’

A plan flashed through Roelia’s mind. A brilliant plan to strike back at Silena and Russell, who branded her a traitor.

‘Let’s flee to the Astrux Empire. I’ll bide my time and plan from there.’

Roelia’s eyes turned fierce as she stared at the emperor’s seal on her wrist. The seal that took the form of a stamp in her father’s hands transformed into a bracelet, which was as good as recognizing Roelia as the rightful heir.

The Wintergrass emperor’s seal responds to the one chosen by the divine beast. And she heard the divine beast’s voice and received its power.

‘Ascending the throne without the emperor’s seal?’

That was utter nonsense.

Silena held a coronation, but it was clear she would not be able to establish her authority as emperor. Even if she somehow managed to fake the seal, every citizen of the Wintergrass Empire knew that the emperor’s seal changed its form when it met its true owner.

On top of that, the Eternal Flame, the divine beast’s power, would need to manifest. Whether that was even possible was another question.

‘Impossible.’

Having calculated every card she held, a cold smile formed at the corner of Roelia’s lips.

“I seem to have picked up someone rather out of the ordinary.”

Kuz’s shoulders trembled at the sound of Carlisle’s murmur. Hearing his lord’s voice filled with interest, it seemed there was no chance of suggesting they leave that dangerous woman behind. The look in Kuz’s eyes as he watched Roelia turned ominous.

“My lord.”

“Quiet.”

Kuz called to Carlisle in a low voice, but he paid no attention. There was something he resolved before crossing from the Astrux Empire into Wintergrass.

To consolidate the emperor’s power, he needed to be able to command the Astrux divine beast freely. But for some reason, the divine beast was not responding properly.

Either it responded very faintly, or it did not respond at all.

The emperor’s seal hanging at his neck, the seal said to be connected to the divine beast, never once emitted a clear light, and so even though Carlisle seized the emperor’s throne, establishing his authority was difficult.

‘And yet this thing reacted.’

When he made contact with Roelia, the seal emitted a faint light. Carlisle watched Roelia, lost in thought, and made up his mind.

No matter what it took, he would bring this woman back to the Astrux Empire.

His suspicion that she was the deposed Crown Prince did not go away. No, at this point it did not matter either way. Whether she was the deposed Crown Prince or not, he needed to keep her close and observe how the seal’s power responded.

The emperor or the deposed Crown Prince of Wintergrass was his last opportunity, but if he could not get into the imperial palace, he would have to take whatever bloodline he could get.

‘If she’s not the deposed Crown Prince, she must be a direct descendant.’

She might even be a member of the imperial family who was imprisoned for siding with the deposed Crown Prince. He never heard of any imperial family members other than the deposed Crown Prince and Silena, who now took the throne, but it was obvious enough.

A bastard, most likely.

‘Every empire is bound to have a hidden bastard or two, after all.’