He hugged me tightly and rested his chin on my head, murmuring quietly.

“But if I make even the slightest mistake and fail to protect you, I think I’d regret it more than sending you away.”

“I know what you mean.”

If the situation were reversed, I would have tried to send him away too.

I patted his back, then narrowed my eyes sharply and lifted my head abruptly.

Carl barely avoided bumping his chin against the top of my head and blinked his eyes.

“So you’re saying you don’t mind being separated from me forever?”

“That’s…… even if I had been honest from the beginning, you would have said you wouldn’t go anyway.”

“Of course. How did you know?”

“There’s no way I wouldn’t know you.”

Carl snorted. Feeling somehow seen through, I felt embarrassed yet mischievous and pouted my lips.

“If you knew, you shouldn’t have tried to send me away in the first place. How ridiculous, really.”

“I know. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“What if I had really believed what you said and gotten hurt? What were you going to do then?”

“I trusted you. That just as I did, you would also notice my lies and sincerity.”

“You’re always good with words anyway.”

I clenched my fist and punched Carl’s side. Then Carl made an exaggeratedly pained expression and bent his waist.

“I think my ribs are broken.”

“How funny. Don’t exaggerate.”

“Yes, master.”

I glared at his cheekily smiling face, then suddenly became curious and asked.

“Did you tell my grandfather and uncle too?”

“Not yet.”

“Then let’s tell them together and find a solution. If we combine our strength, we can solve it.”

I grabbed Carl’s hand tightly and spoke firmly. Come to think of it, the demon hadn’t been summoned yet.

We still had a chance.

To set everything right before things happened.

Carl and I looked into each other’s eyes and nodded. Our clasped hands became even more solid.

***

Carl and I together told grandfather and uncle about the investigation journal.

The two listened seriously, then became furious and contorted their faces when they heard that heretics planned to offer me as a sacrifice.

“Those d*mn bastards dare to……”!

“Father, it seems we must make a decision.”

Uncle declared coldly to grandfather, angry as fire.

“It makes no sense for a nation’s sovereign to believe in heresy. Her Majesty the Empress and His Highness the crown prince should also know this fact.”

I flinched imperceptibly. I understood what uncle’s words were pointing to.

To depose the heretic emperor and have the crown prince ascend the throne early.

Perhaps Carl’s parents also wanted to show the registry to the empress with this in mind.

“Then I’ll meet with Her Majesty the empress first.”

“What if they refuse to cooperate with us?”

Carl had been quietly listening to the two’s conversation before asking sharply.

“The relationship between the emperor and empress is not very close. Especially since the emperor has been keeping his own son in check, the possibility of them rejecting our extended hand is extremely low.”

I suddenly recalled when I was attending to the crown prince and going in and out of the imperial palace, the emperor suddenly barged into his son’s office and got angry.

The father-son relationship didn’t look normal indeed. The emperor was wary of the crown prince, and the crown prince resented such a father and tried to stand up to him without backing down.

“Still, as you said, preparing for contingencies wouldn’t be bad either.”

Grandfather patted Carl’s shoulder and the conversation concluded.

While the two approached the empress, I decided to keep myself as safe as possible.

Of course, since I hated doing absolutely nothing, I thought about how to prepare for those contingencies.

‘The best thing would be to expose the emperor and high priestess’s true faces in front of the people.’

No matter how absolute the emperor’s power might be and difficult to touch, if the people don’t want him, he’s bound to lose power.

The people of Hersen believing in the sun god Solaris would never stand by and watch a heretic emperor.

‘But how do I get those two in front of the people?’

They were the emperor and high priestess no less.

I was pondering ways to gather these people in one place when they couldn’t be easily summoned, and an unexpected opportunity came.

“Miss, there’s a letter from the imperial palace.”

I received the envelope Mandy handed me and checked the contents inside. Soon my eyes widened round.

‘Grand prayer meeting……?’

The imperial palace and Central Temple were joining forces to hold a public large-scale prayer meeting to conclude this year.

It said they would open the temple to accept participants regardless of social status, and that nobles receiving invitations must attend.

‘Wow, anyone can see this is suspicious. What’s with this sudden year-end prayer meeting?’

Grand prayer meetings themselves were events held often, but usually the timing was early in the year or around the founding festival, never at year-end.

I wasn’t the only one thinking there seemed to be scheming behind this, as grandfather and uncle opposed attending.

“Even if we go, only we two will go. You all just rest at home.”

“Right, there’s no need for the whole family to move around troublesomely.”

But unfortunately, the situation didn’t flow according to the two’s wishes.

The imperial palace unilaterally announced the list of grand prayer meeting attendees, and the Diart family’s and my names were brazenly listed.

No, are you gangsters?

This way, refusing to attend becomes quite difficult. When it’s already been announced to the public that we’re going, what excuse could we make to get out of it?

If we’re not careful, it could become grounds for attack and make the situation worse.

‘Thinking differently, the emperor and high priestess will both come to the grand prayer meeting.’

It wouldn’t be bad to use their rigged game as we please.

If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it — there’s a reason that saying exists.

Having organized my thoughts that way, I immediately went to find grandfather.

“Grandfather, did you meet with Her Majesty the empress?”

“Yes, Her Majesty and His Highness decided to join forces with us. They decided to hold a court meeting and use the registry and investigation journal as evidence to drive out His Majesty the emperor and the high priestess.”

Fortunately, the empress and her son chose to step forward actively instead of stepping back.

I waited obediently for grandfather to finish speaking, then carefully expressed my opinion.

“How about exposing those two’s actions at the grand prayer meeting?”

“At the grand prayer meeting?”

“Yes, if we reveal their true nature in front of the people, it’ll be hard for them to slip away shamelessly later.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

I presented another opinion I had prepared to grandfather, lost in thought with his arms crossed.

“And when the temple is opened, how about finding the holy sword hidden there?”

So that even if things go wrong, we can reseal the demon.

Grandfather listened attentively to my words and slowly nodded.

“Yes, it would be good to do as you say, Shailyn. There’s nothing bad about finding the holy sword in advance. Exposing them at the grand prayer meeting and then convening a court meeting is also a good method.”

“Right?”

I smiled proudly, and grandfather gazed intently at me before making a worried expression.

“But will you also attend the prayer meeting? Just make an excuse that you’re sick and skip it……”

“If everyone attends except me, how could I just stay home anxiously?”

I couldn’t be the only one to skip when both my family and the person I love were all going.

“While grandfather and uncle expose His Majesty and the high priestess, I’ll look for the holy sword with Carl.”

Since the exposure itself could proceed without me, it seemed better for me to provide different help then.

Grandfather held his head and fell into deep anguish. It seemed he couldn’t easily give permission because he was worried I might be in danger.

After groaning for a long time, he opened his mouth with difficulty and said.

“If Duke Celsior accompanies you instead of you going alone…… do that.”

“Yes!”

I answered vigorously and smiled brightly. I was happy that I could also do something for my precious people.

No matter how the future turns out, I hope they stay as safe as possible.

***

The morning of the grand prayer meeting dawned.

I neatly dressed in a sky-blue dress with a cape-like top.

Since it was a prayer meeting and not a party, the other family members’ attire was also generally subdued.

While grandfather and uncle prepared the exposure, they finally shared information about the heretics with Dain and Deborah too.

The two briefly expressed hurt feelings about keeping this matter secret until now, but soon firmly promised to lend their strength.

Thus we all rode in a carriage together toward the Central Temple.

When we arrived, the front of the temple was already bustling with countless crowds.

Even in the complex space where nobles and commoners were mixed together, I immediately found a familiar face.