“Your Highness, could you recite that motto once more?”

“Of course.”

The Princess recited the family motto she had memorized. She spoke more slowly than before, being considerate of Saena. Following her pronunciation, Saena moved her eyes.

“Do you also know what it means?”

“Yes. Of course.”

The Princess recited its meaning in the Imperial language.

“Only pure-blooded descendant, carry abundant love.

Following the blood oath, you shall embrace the empire.

To preserve pure blood, hold dear those who are friends.

This is what the Covenant keeper shall maintain.”

Saena’s brow furrowed slightly.

Something felt off.

‘The pronunciation and letters seem to not match in some places.’

Naturally, the meaning was also somewhat ambiguous.

However, she had recently learned that in Arlesian, when mirror writing and symmetrical structures are used together, the interpretation can be completely different from what is seen with the eyes.

She wondered if the ancient people could read such structures directly, but Saena hadn’t reached that level yet.

“Hmm. Something bothers me. Would it be alright if I write down that family motto?”

“Something bothers you?”

“The pronunciation and letters don’t seem to match in some places, and the meaning also… But since I’m not at a level where I can read and translate immediately, I think I’ll need some time to analyze it.”

“Hmm…”

The Princess appeared deep in thought.

It seemed this wasn’t just about showing an Arlesian passage.

Saena became curious internally.

“Actually… I wanted your advice because I thought there might be some connection between this motto and imperial succession. Are you saying the meaning itself might be different?”

“…Arlesian sometimes has sentence structures that are like solving riddles, so decoding takes time.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I only recently learned about this grammatical structure, so I’m not very proficient at it.”

“I see. Then…”

The Princess added quietly.

“Could you translate it quietly and tell only me?”

The Princess’s silver eyes looked at Saena with both serious and strict light. It felt like seeing a different side of the Princess who had always seemed just kind-hearted.

“…Yes. I will do so.”

* * *

The Kramer couple returned to their townhouse.

“You worked hard, Darielle.”

“I’m glad things worked out well, Madam.”

Despite what must have been quite tiring, Darielle instead encouraged Saena.

She thought she had chosen her maid well. She wanted to give her some reward but wasn’t sure what would be good.

After Darielle left, Saena and Constantine discussed various things.

“Is it a secret?”

“Pardon?”

“What Her Highness asked of you.”

“Ah, rather than a secret…”

Though she had asked to translate it quietly and tell only her, the Princess later jokingly added that it was fine to tell her husband.

So that meant not to let other imperial family members or outsiders know. It probably also meant she wanted to know the contents first.

“She showed me the imperial family motto, um, I’ll tell you after I translate it. There’s something strange about it.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Then Saena also spoke about what had worried her earlier.

“I wonder if there’s a way to make the announcement that would minimize any harm to Her Highness?”

Why did the Empress assign the investigation to Her Highness…

Though it must be because she trusts the Princess, given how narrow-minded her brother was, she couldn’t help but worry.

“Hmm. That… I’ll look for a way.”

“Alright. Thank you.”

When things had settled down appropriately, Saena went to the study. She began interpreting the Arlesian text she had copied from the arch of the bed in the Princess’s palace.

“This seems to be a symmetrical structure… and this is a multi-sound character…”

She finished checking everything including the mirrored letters using a mirror.

After spending some time, the completed interpretation was similar yet different from what the Princess had told her.

[This is pure blood, abundantly hold your only love.

Pure blood is an oath, it shall embrace the empire.

Pure blood is remembrance, friend, guard your heart.

By keeping this, the Covenant shall continue.]

This was the correct interpretation.

The symmetrical structure “What is pure blood” was hidden in matching pairs and repeated, leading to this interpretation. Also, following the mirrored letters and interpreting in reverse, the meaning changed subtly.

[Pure-blooded only descendant, carry abundant love.

Following the blood oath, you shall embrace the empire.

To preserve pure blood, hold dear those who are friends.

This is what the Covenant keeper shall maintain.]

It was similar yet different from the meaning the Princess had told her.

Looking at the differences in interpretation, Saena discovered something that bothered her. While this was somewhat intuitive, she felt the need to verify it properly.

* * *

The next day.

Saena headed to the Imperial Library.

Thanks to her past life, if there was one place in the imperial palace whose structure Saena knew best, it was this place.

Though the Imperial Library was within the palace, it was located almost at the outskirts, and since she had already obtained an entry pass at fifteen due to her studious nature, she could enter and exit quietly.

After carefully entering, she headed straight for the imperial history section.

The imperial genealogy and history were essentially the same as the empire’s history, so they were well-managed as complete collections, and even non-imperial family members could read them.

Like with regular families, sensitive content was probably kept separately in a secret archive.

Saena took out several volumes from the front of the more than ten volumes of imperial genealogy books, placed them on the reference table, and began examining them quickly.

‘…Hmm. It’s ambiguous.’

Saena continued searching.

As she examined the genealogy more closely, she was able to discover something.

‘Yes, the name…’

And as she moved past volumes five and six, Saena closed the books. There was no need to look further.

‘I wonder if there’s a way to check this in more detail.’

Saena pondered for a moment before returning to the townhouse.

“Constantine.”

She sought out her husband’s office.

“Could I go to the Western Tower?”

Since the Western Tower was in the Northeast Territory and required using a warp gate, she needed his cooperation. This was especially true given how sensitive the contents inside were.

Constantine raised his eyebrows at the unexpected request.

Though Saena could use the warp gate alone, she was currently hiding her status as an Oathkeeper, and Constantine wouldn’t likely allow her to travel alone anyway, so she asked.

“May I ask why?”

“Well, I want to know something about the early emperors of the empire. Specifically, the first 400 years or so.”

“Does it have to be done now?”

“Yes. I think so.”

At her sudden need to know about the early emperors, Constantine asked if it was absolutely necessary now, and when she confirmed it was, he didn’t question further.

They went to the imperial palace as quietly as possible and took the warp gate to the Western Tower.

Constantine led her to some floor.

“I haven’t read them myself so I’m not sure. But most things are arranged chronologically, so it should be around here.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

— When it comes to the Western Tower, I’m more of an expert than your husband, you know?

Yolly chimed in.

Ah, right, Yuri had actually settled here to do research.

— Not here. Better start searching from one floor below.

“……”

But Saena couldn’t tell Constantine “He says it’s not here” after he had kindly guided her, so she just smiled brightly.

“You must be busy, you don’t need to stay with me.”

“But isn’t it too quiet?”

“I’ll be fine with Yolly.”

Seizing the moment, Saena called out to Yolly.

Constantine made a somewhat displeased expression at this.

— Hmph!

Yolly quickly noticed his expression and showed his own displeasure by twitching his tail.

“…Whatever the reason may be, when you’re done—”

“Yes, I’ll let you know after I find what I’m looking for.”

He left the tower somewhat reluctantly.

— Talk about being possessive, how clingy.

Dragging the grumbling Yolly along, Saena went down one floor.

“Stop complaining and tell me where the archives are.”

— What exactly are you looking for?

“I don’t want to look at records about past Kramer family heads, but rather records about the emperors and imperial family they served.”

— Hmm. That’ll vary by family head. While the meticulous ones would have classified and written things down properly, some just scribbled like they were writing a diary.

“Ah, so I’ll have to look through everything?”

Four hundred years meant how many generations already? Compared to other noble families, ducal families had shorter terms between family heads due to being the Oathkeeper, so there were especially more.

— Just tell me what you want. I might know.

“Well. Actually…”

Saena explained to Yolly what she was looking for.

— Ah, that. No big deal.

Yolly transformed into Yuri with a whoosh, then went around the shelves pulling out books one after another. After pulling out about ten books and placing them on the central table, he said,

— Looking through these should be enough.

“—Thank you!”