“Two weeks! Still no? Then even just one week…”

“……”

“Hey, young people these days are too much. Don’t you know to respect your elders?”

Duke Rosedale grumbled.

“You’re too young and healthy to call yourself elderly.”

“I am old so come work.”

“I refuse.”

“Have you ever seen such a cold-hearted person.”

Duke Rosedale changed targets and spoke to Saena.

“Then what about you…”

“Pardon?”

“I’ll kindly teach you combat methods. It’s easy once you learn.”

“……”

Um, combat?

Saena smiled awkwardly.

“Sigh, this person’s Guardian Spirit isn’t a combat type.”

Constantine sighed and told Duke Rosedale.

“…Not a combat type?”

“She didn’t receive training from childhood like us either. Of course she can’t kill even a rabbit, let alone demonic beasts.”

“……”

“Unless you want to make me a widower before I can enjoy newlywed life, let’s stop here.”

“…Tch.”

Duke Rosedale backed off while grumbling.

But Duke Francis beside him seemed unable to let go of his lingering attachment as he asked.

“Could we see your Guardian Spirit?”

“My… Guardian Spirit?”

When Saena looked at Constantine, he nodded and summoned Morev behind him as if to show off. Then Duke Francis summoned Halcon and floated him behind himself, and Duke Rosedale also summoned Canis beside him.

Seeing that, Saena finally summoned Yolly.

‘Come to think of it, I gave you too undignified a name compared to other Guardian Spirits.’

Isn’t Yolly too cute compared to names like Canis, Halcon, Caligo, etc?

—I like it. If you like it and I like it, what else matters?

‘That’s good then.’

Yolly took form and stood beside Saena.

His silver-gray fur rippled like flickering flames.

Seeing that appearance, Duke Francis’s jaw dropped.

“Well well, you say it’s not a combat type but it looks quite fierce.”

Duke Rosedale commented while looking at Yolly.

From what she heard, the two dukes were just waiting for their sons to grow up, so they really seemed to hate subjugation duties.

Finding their appearance somehow cute and funny, Saena couldn’t help but smile.

—This bastard!

Suddenly Yolly roared and launched his body then.

—Whoosh!

With a thwack sound, something white went flying.

“…Erenhorn?”

—What’s with that pervert? Why was he trying to lick you?

Looking closely, it was flying with its tongue sticking out. Seems it was approaching with its tongue out when Yolly hit it.

“……”

Well. I’m not sure how to explain this.

Instead of making excuses herself, Saena turned around to look for its owner. She saw Duke Aberdeen approaching from afar with an embarrassed expression.

“…As soon as we meet, I have something to apologize for, madam.”

“Your Grace. It seems you need to keep Erenhorn’s tongue better contained.”

“Haha… Right.”

With the arrival of the last Oathkeeper, it was time to start the meeting.

“…Are you sure it’s not a combat type?”

“……”

Meanwhile, Duke Rosedale still couldn’t let go of his attachment after seeing Yolly’s violence(?).

* * *

Though in ruins, it was a strangely warm place.

There was a huge circular stone table and ten stone chairs surrounding it. Some chairs remained in intact form while others didn’t, so everyone chose and sat in ones that were still somewhat suitable for sitting.

The Four Dukes’ meeting.

No, it should now be more accurately named the Five Oathkeepers’ meeting.

The central topic was naturally ‘the Prince’.

Not only did he try to disgrace the new Oathkeeper, but he also attempted to touch Duke Aberdeen’s sister. This was an issue that absolutely couldn’t be overlooked.

“Still, he is the only prince…”

Duke Rosedale mumbled uncertainly.

“Try imagining if it was your daughter the prince tried to touch instead of Floria?”

Duke Aberdeen sneered in response.

“……”

“Sigh, even so, we have no alternative. What about the empire?”

Duke Francis pressed his hand to his forehead.

While the protective power guards the empire, the Four Dukes fight their whole lives to maintain stability in the borders.

If that power were to disappear…

They didn’t even want to imagine.

“Is he really of imperial blood?”

Duke Aberdeen suddenly asked while scratching his chin.

Saena was shocked at the outrageous statement questioning the Empress’s chastity, but she was surprised again when neither the speaker nor listeners showed any change in expression.

“I cast an illusion on the prince, you see? And it worked too well.”

Duke Aberdeen continued his explanation.

At the masquerade ball, Constantine and Lucas had rounded up all the young men who were about to commit crimes here and there in their aroused state.

They gathered them all in one room, including the prince.

Then they cast an illusion, but surprisingly,

The prince got caught in it just as easily as anyone else and showed quite a disgraceful display.

Initially, it was just an illusion to keep them from leaving that room, making them all stay entangled until the next day. Though cast with vengeful intent toward the prince, why did it affect him too?

Of course, since there would be no meaning to revenge if he enjoyed the illusion, they later specifically released only the prince. Thanks to that, unlike the others, he must have had a nightmarish evening.

“It shouldn’t work on imperial family members.”

Finding it too strange, Lucas tried casting it on the princess as a test(?) when she was distracted, but it didn’t work on her at all.

So isn’t that even stranger?

Something seemed definitely off no matter how you looked at it.

“Ah, maybe it didn’t work because they’re the successor?”

“What? Didn’t you just say it worked? What are you talking about?”

Everyone wore confused expressions.

“No, I mean Her Highness the Princess, not the Prince.”

“…What?”

“Her Highness the Princess wasn’t affected.”

“Didn’t you just say it was because she’s the successor?”

Everyone asked in confusion at these contradictory statements.

“Yes. It seems we might not need the prince after all? I think Her Highness the Princess has inherited. I could feel the energy.”

“Her-Her Highness the Princess, you say?”

Dukes Francis and Rosedale couldn’t hide their surprise.

“No, how could this be…”

“Are you certain? Her Highness the Princess really…?”

Since this was a situation they had never seen or heard of before, everyone was busy asking questions in disbelief.

‘…She succeeded!’

Meanwhile, Saena brightened. She couldn’t contain her joy at this long-awaited news.

“It’s entirely possible.”

Feeling it was now alright to reveal to others, Saena opened her mouth.

“The second emperor was also a female emperor.”

“…What? You mean Emperor Aidra?”

“Yes.”

She summarized the necessary parts of the explanation she had previously given to the princess and explained it again to the dukes.

“Huh… Could it be…”

“The Hebeta system is actually diluting imperial blood and weakening the protective power.”

Saena spoke again about the correlation between when the Hebeta system emerged and when female emperors disappeared. She then added more reasons why the Hebeta system needed to be abolished.

“The empire’s protective power clearly weakened after this period. External invasions became more frequent, and the overflow of demonic beasts increased. This evidence can be found in the actual numerical data.”

Saena had materials she had found, compared, and organized from various historical records. She recited the figures she could roughly remember.

The princess hadn’t heard this data. Because she had compiled it after their meeting.

After meeting the princess, Saena had searched through various historical records just in case and was quite surprised herself to discover these results.

“That means the blood shed by the four ducal families doubled after that system.”

Constantine added, as if responding to Saena’s explanation, though his tone was clearly cynical.

“Hah–!”

“Is that right?”

The other dukes’ expressions suddenly turned very sour.

All this hardship they were enduring was actually added on by the imperial family?

They had been living while reluctantly accepting all this suffering as their fate as Oathkeepers, but it turns out they could have had half the burden?

Even just halving it! They could have reclaimed their daily lives.

Instead of a life of subjugation after subjugation after subjugation, they could have done subjugation while occasionally visiting the capital, and sometimes even going on vacation!

Though they understood they should accept it since they lived relying on the protective power flowing through imperial bloodlines, they couldn’t help feeling wronged.

Especially Dukes Rosedale and Francis, who had suffered relatively longer (being older), wore particularly aggrieved expressions.

Not all dukes disliked the capital’s glamorous life (they just didn’t have time for it).

“Ha! How much we’ve endured and watched because there was only one prince!”

“You’re saying it was all pointless?!”

They had thought it strange that only the imperial family had such a complicated succession method, but to think there was such a secret.

“He even tried to touch my sister. The daughter of a ducal family who bleeds every moment for the empire.”

Lucas added darkly.

“Will you let this pass just because he’s of imperial blood? It was my sister this time, but next time it could be Rosedale’s daughter, couldn’t it?”

“Nonsense! Such a thing must not happen!”

Not just Duke Rosedale but also Duke Francis, who also had a daughter, were outraged together.

“Of course my family is precious, but I had many concerns since it was an issue involving the empire’s peace. But now it seems we don’t have to see that prince’s inadequate behavior anymore, huh?”

“It seems so! Let’s immediately request verification from Her Highness the Princess, complete the successor verification ceremony, and raise her to Crown Prince.”

The meeting ended successfully.

A wind of a new era was blowing.