Saena smiled brightly and hugged Yuri.

Thanks to him, the time needed was greatly reduced.

* * *

They quietly returned to the imperial capital.

After confirming the necessary information in the Western Tower, Saena had one more thing to check, so she headed back to the Imperial Library.

Worried it might be dangerous, she brought Yolly along.

— What, the Imperial Library?

Of course, she had brought him along after canceling his materialization and had only just now released him again.

And Saena could immediately understand what Duke Aberdeen meant about it being more comfortable to always keep them materialized.

She had to constantly focus to control the feeling of power circulating inside, and sharing sensations felt awkward.

Like losing privacy? Somehow it felt quite uncomfortable thinking about sharing every single action and movement with Yuri.

Especially when she was with Constantine or sharing intimate skinship, just imagining having his materialization withdrawn and being together felt incredibly uncomfortable.

It seemed Yolly felt the same way, as he stretched like a beast freed from its cage and briefly shook his body.

— Why are we here now?

“Hm?”

— What are you looking for this time? Wasn’t the existence of female emperors already discovered?

That’s right. Saena had been searching through historical materials to discover the existence of female emperors in Macfeyden’s imperial history.

‘There were female emperors up until about 300-400 years after the empire’s founding.’

But at some point they disappeared, and only male emperors were produced.

Now everyone takes it for granted and thinks the proof of succession itself points to princes, but…

‘What if that wasn’t the case?’

This time Saena searched through imperial history books rather than genealogies. After roughly searching through several volumes, she was able to find what she wanted.

‘Hebeta…’

Though rare, she could discover that the time when the line of empresses was broken coincided with when the Hebeta system was established.

‘Could there be an influence from the mistranslation of the family motto?’

Saena began this investigation because she wondered if the current Hebeta system might have originated from the mistranslation of the family motto, especially the difference in interpretation of the first line.

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

The meaning changed drastically depending on the position of ‘only’ and ‘abundantly’.

[Pure-blooded only descendant, carry abundant love.]

In Saena’s interpretation, ‘only’ modified love, but in the current imperial family’s meaning, ‘only’ modified descendant and it said to carry love abundantly.

This was similar yet very different.

Though she wasn’t sure why the family motto had been passed down this way, the current imperial family’s motto strangely seemed to encourage and promote promiscuity.

While both were based on love, the current imperial family’s motto felt somewhat lighter. It was an interpretation that seemed to explain why the current system of proving succession after physical union originated.

The expression ‘hold dear those who are friends’ also seemed to support the casual Hebeta system.

But if Saena’s interpretation was correct, the core of the imperial family motto was ‘only love’.

Suddenly, she remembered the play she saw at the Kramer territory festival.

‘Aki learned about the emotion of love from Mac and his daughter. That’s why he returned from the spirit realm.’

Though she wasn’t sure if the content of that play was true or false, it was certain that ‘love’ was the core of the imperial family motto.

‘It’s inherited only to those who love…!’

She could understand why the proof of succession hadn’t appeared for the prince. It didn’t seem likely that he had any loving feelings for any Hebeta or woman he had been with.

‘There’s no specific mention of gender…’

In conclusion, it seemed the Hebeta system was created as the incorrect interpretation of ‘hold dear those who are friends’ and as a way to exclude women from the position of emperor evolved.

But the essence of the imperial family’s covenant was ‘love’.

The reason they had been able to maintain succession so far was probably because physical intimacy became emotional intimacy and affection developed between them, though this didn’t seem to be what Achelion originally intended.

It was like proof that those who cannot love others are not qualified to inherit the power of protection.

‘…Then does it not have to be the prince specifically?’

They said the family motto is recited during the Hebeta ceremony. But there’s no such procedure when a princess marries.

‘Is that where the difference occurred?’

Saena saw a possibility.

Though she would have to wait and see if this possibility could sprout and grow, she felt like she had caught at least a glimpse of an answer to a problem that had seemed unsolvable.

* * *

— There’s someone ahead.

“What?”

— Hmm, the aura is faint so not an Oathkeeper but seems to be a Borrower, is it the prince?

“Eh?”

They had just come out of the Imperial Library.

Saena hurriedly looked around and ducked behind the building, slipping into a side alley. It was the kind of narrow passage that no noble would ever use.

— What’s going on, why are you acting like this?

“Shh.”

Saena crouched in that gap and watched toward the library.

The prince, who had come with many knights and servants in tow, stationed one knight at the entrance and went inside the building. To anyone watching, it clearly looked like he was blocking the entrance to conduct a search.

Could he be looking for her?

No, even though it was before the announcement, she thought he would show some restraint, but to act so rashly…

‘What does he want with me?’

She thought he was truly beyond help.

— What’s going on? Hey, don’t tell me he’s doing this to look for you?

Saena silently backed away without answering. When they reached an unpopulated area, she asked Yolly to take her to where the carriage was.

— What the hell is this about? Why are you hiding? You’re not Darielle.

Come to think of it, Yolly… hadn’t seen the prince’s abnormal behavior.

Every time she met the prince, it had been in situations where she couldn’t bring Yolly.

Saena briefly explained the situation.

“He once told me to cancel my marriage to the Duke and come to him.”

— What? That X-ing XXX bastard said what?

Though she was startled by his sudden anger and cursing as he raised his energy, Saena soon remembered that only she could understand Yolly’s voice.

They say even the king gets cursed behind closed doors, so the prince was nothing.

“But seeing him do this to Darielle now… well, I suspect he thinks his inability to inherit is due to problems with the women, so he’s looking for women with stronger spirit power.”

It was an accurate guess.

And hearing this, Yolly snorted.

— What nonsense! He’s completely clueless!

Though the insults against the imperial family were getting more intense, since others couldn’t hear them anyway, she didn’t bother stopping him.

— You know what?

Yolly paused for a moment, tapping his tail. He seemed lost in memories.

“Hmm?”

— The prince never succeeded in inheriting.

“…What?”

— Even until I reached middle age, he never became an Oathkeeper. So it’s better to give up from the start.

“……”

Though she had suspected to some degree, when Yolly put it that way, Saena felt dazed.

“…Uh, no, then what happens to the empire? What happened to the empire back then?”

— Well, it steadily declined into ruin.

“……”

She felt not just dumbfounded, but utterly deflated.

“Perhaps the information we discovered this time might actually be fortunate.”

There had been a slight anxiety about whether this was the right direction, but after hearing Yolly’s words, even that completely disappeared.

Saena quickly left the Imperial Palace and headed to the townhouse.

She went to Constantine’s office and explained what she had learned and the possibilities for the new empire.

“…I see.”

Constantine also seemed quite troubled.

“Anyone would be a better choice than Prince Gillian. But Her Highness the Princess is already excellent.”

“That’s right. Her Highness will do well.”

They believed the Princess could become a new candidate for emperor.

Of course, it would be useless if Her Highness didn’t want it, but perhaps she had something in mind when she asked Saena about the false oath.

Saena also shared with Constantine about what happened with the Princess.

“Hmm, then it might be good to temporarily withhold the announcement about the Prince.”

In reality, due to his status as a member of the imperial family, they couldn’t impose too severe a punishment anyway. Then, making his very existence meaningless by pushing him all at once might be the more definitive method.

If the announcement was delayed, the Prince would become more confident about his position and act even more arrogantly than now, but…

‘Still, it would be a shame to let it go completely.’

Shouldn’t they give him at least one gift that would make him burst with anger?

Constantine smiled slightly sinisterly.

* * *

Currently, everything around the Prince was in complete chaos.