“You’re finally back.”

It was a statement that seemed out of place, but Aiger swallowed a faint sigh and nodded.

He no longer wondered what the emperor had been trying to say in his final, rasping moments.

He was alive, and he would continue to live.

And she would be by his side.

The moment his gaze met her emerald eyes, looking up at him, Aiger suddenly felt an overwhelming happiness.

Since birth, he had never known what happiness was.

Some people said they could feel happiness just by taking a leisurely stroll. But even such simple joys were something he had never once experienced.

He had lived just to survive, struggling only to avoid death. In all that time, happiness had never been a part of his life.

Yes. Happiness was not an ordinary thing.

It was something that made his fingertips tingle and his whole body shudder, something truly special, like this moment.

So… there was no way he could go back to before he had tasted it.

Aiger slowly removed his hand from Raylin’s cheek and, with a relatively clean cloth, carefully wiped her face.

As if the touch tickled, her eyes curved into soft crescents. Seeing this, Aiger wished that every moment of Raylin’s life would be spent with him.

She was his happiness.

“Raylin.”

Even the way her name rolled off his tongue felt precious, and Aiger smiled.

The feelings he had kept buried in his heart overflowed, impossible to hold back any longer.

“I love you.”

It was not love at first sight.

But as time passed and everything changed, he had reached a point where he could recognize her instantly, no matter where she was.

“I love you.”

The world he had lived in, once painted in dull grays, had become blindingly bright ever since he met her.

“I love you.”

She had taken his hand when the ground beneath him seemed ready to collapse.

She had leaned on him without hesitation.

And now, she was simply here with him.

He was happy.

So happy that his heart ached and his chest felt tight, Aiger found himself unable to do anything but stand there before Raylin.

So she moved instead.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight embrace.

“I love you. Me too, I feel the same.”

As if embracing the entire world, Raylin held him close and confessed her feelings.

“I never knew why I had turned back time.”

Was it for revenge? When she had died at Catherine’s hands, she had felt regret and resentment. And when Catherine had met her own miserable end, there had been a sense of relief.

But long before Catherine had fallen, Raylin had already been focused on Aiger, who had stood against the emperor, blocking her path.

Nothing else really mattered.

All she had wanted was for him to be safe, for him to achieve what he desired.

“But now, I can say it with certainty.”

Raylin loosened her arms from around his neck and, looking into his deep blue eyes, smiled as if on the verge of tears.

“I turned back time to meet you and to be with you.”

They smiled at each other with identical expressions.

Everything had truly come to an end.

Raylin squeezed Aiger’s hand and, with a radiant smile brighter than ever, spoke.

“Let’s go home.”

He smiled back with the same expression and grasped her hand in return.

“Let’s go home.”

***

The sun rose, and the imperial capital bustled with life as people went about their daily routines. For the first time in a long while, the city was brimming with energy.

The martial law that had been imposed across the capital at dawn had been lifted.

Children, filled with excitement, ran around, burning off their boundless energy. Adults, who had been holding their breaths and limiting themselves to the bare minimum needed to survive, finally greeted each other with smiles.

However, the conversations exchanged between people were not just cheerful and lively.

“My goodness, did you hear the news?”

“Oh, of course! As soon as the martial law was lifted, my wife went to check!”

“Oh dear, what a mess this all is. Even the noble lords were taken away, my goodness.”

“Hmph. The most exalted of all, the emperor—well, not the emperor anymore. Anyway, they say he was the one behind everything. What could the nobles have done differently?”

As the two conversed, a few more people joined in, their chatter growing louder.

“The one who deserved divine punishment was not the crown prince but the emperor.”

“Hey, watch your mouth! He hasn’t officially ascended the throne yet, but he is still our emperor!”

The story spreading throughout the capital was not just a rumor—it was an official proclamation from the imperial palace.

[The beast who sat upon the throne of the previous emperor sought immortality for his own gain and, in the process, subjected the people of the empire to unspeakable cruelty. He attempted to frame the crown prince for treason and dispose of him, but after a fierce battle, the beast and all those involved in the experiments were eliminated, and all missing persons were returned home.]

While the detailed experiments involving the elixir of immortality and the final battle where the emperor lost his humanity were not disclosed, this was more than enough.

The former emperor was soon to be erased from the imperial lineage, and his crimes would be broadcast across the entire continent.

Upon hearing the news, the family members of the missing wept. A burly man, who had lost his daughter, returned home for the first time in ages, sobbing until he collapsed into sleep.

Other grieving families also expressed their gratitude to Aiger for keeping his promise while mourning their lost loved ones.

The effects of Aiger’s open and public proclamation were not limited to commoners. The nobility was in turmoil as well.

“The marquis was telling the truth all along.”

“My God, the emperor—no, he’s not even an emperor anymore—how could that monster have done such a thing?”

The testimonies of those who had returned from being missing spread like wildfire. Regardless of their faction—whether they had supported the nobles, the emperor, or remained neutral—they all bowed deeply to Aiger, who had executed the former emperor.

Furthermore, they began rooting out the vile rumors and slander about Aiger, which had been maliciously spread by the previous emperor and the House of Sillion.

Even the temple, usually reluctant to interfere in worldly matters, condemned the former emperor’s crimes with remarkable severity.

“The wrath, fury, and divine punishment of the gods are not simply black suns, lightning strikes, or localized tsunamis. It is the crown prince himself, who has vanquished the wicked.”

The words of the high priest, who rarely involved himself in secular affairs, carried an impact beyond expectation. Even those who never visited the temple applauded the former emperor’s immediate execution without trial.

The day the imperial palace’s tightly sealed gates were thrown open and the knights and soldiers glared with renewed vigilance, the empire was finally freed from the grasp of the beast tainted by madness and obsession.

***

“Is this the end of it?”

Roir rubbed the dark circles under his eyes and asked. Beside him, Arian, buried in documents, lifted his head.

“As far as I know, yes.”

“Good. That means Sillion is completely finished.”

The House of Sillion, which the emperor had deliberately nurtured as a disposable pawn, had collapsed. The sudden death of the previous marquis, the disappearance of his original heir, and the current marchioness’s death had sealed its downfall.

Of course, given the vast influence the family had accumulated, untangling all its affairs required additional time and procedures. As a result, Roir and Arian had been working through the night.

“Ugh. No matter how much we dig, something new keeps coming up. I’ll keep looking for a while, just in case.”

“Yeah, this is turning out to be more troublesome than expected.”

“Fortunately, those who worked in Sillion Manor provided thorough testimonies, which sped things up a little.”

The people whom Catherine had tormented—either to the brink of death or to a state where death would have been preferable—had long since discarded their loyalty and caution regarding their next employment.

Arian had squeezed every bit of information out of them in exchange for a small sum of money and some words of consolation.

“Tch, both the former and the current lord of Sillion—no, I suppose they’re already dead, so the previous and pre-previous? Anyway, both of them were despicable human beings.”

“And that’s why things ended up this way. So, even if you don’t live virtuously, at least maintain a shred of decency.”

Roir’s words, whether a warning or advice, made Arian nod before he clicked his tongue and took off his glasses, grumbling.

“More importantly, why am I the one handling all this? I’m exhausted! I’m just a simple mage who deals in buying and selling information. Why am I being dragged into cleaning up the affairs of an entire noble house?”

“Because you’re the best informant in the empire. And you were quite skilled at uncovering everything Sillion and the former emperor tried to hide.”

“Well, of course, I am the best in the empire…”

Arian had been about to argue further, but at Roir’s casual remark, he simply pouted in dissatisfaction.

“You got paid, too.”

Roir narrowed his eyes as he looked at Arian.

“I heard you took quite a bit of money from Raylin as well.”

“Don’t look at me like that! I swear, it was fair compensation for my work! And I didn’t even ask for it!”