~Sleep well, my baby. The birds in the front yard and the lambs on the hill are all asleep. The moon sends silver and golden beads through the window this night. Sleep well, my baby.~

Her voice was so soft it was closer to a whisper than a song, but since the night was already quiet, it was easy to hear.

For Aiger, it was the first time in his life hearing a lullaby meant for children. But her singing voice wasn’t bad.

That said, it didn’t make him sleepy either.

As soon as he thought, As expected, this is a failure, he heard Raylin’s voice again, sounding slightly distant—perhaps just his imagination.

“Your Highness, are you asleep?”

He didn’t bother answering, No.

He didn’t want to see her looking disappointed and flustered, and besides, his eyelids felt too heavy to open.

Since he hadn’t completely lost consciousness in sleep, he didn’t realize—

That the stiffness in his body, which had been rigid every hour, every minute, every second, was slowly unraveling.

Raylin quietly chuckled as she saw the emotions ‘drowsy’ and ‘sleepy’ appear beside Aiger.

Naturally, she reached out and gently brushed back the strands of hair that had fallen over his smooth forehead.

Even the fiercest and most fearsome beasts in the world became gentle when they slept.

Aiger, who was always on edge, finally had softened eyes—if only at this moment.

Raylin began singing the lullaby again.

~Sleep well, my baby…~

As he felt her song fade into the distance, Aiger let out a breath that was closer to true ‘sleep’ than he had experienced in years.

Though he hadn’t fallen into a deep slumber yet, the drowsiness lingering around him was noticeably stronger than before.

With his eyes closed and his breathing steady and calm, Raylin sat beside him and continued singing in whispers for a long time.

In a dim, cold cavern that had never once felt the warmth of sunlight, a faint but persistent light and warmth had begun to seep in.

***

“Hey! Whoa! Move it back a little more!”

“Listen, how many times do I have to tell you? We’re short on lumber here!”

“Shouldn’t we move the schedule up a bit? Since the ship construction is progressing faster than expected, we could save on security costs…”

In a large territory by a port slightly removed from the empire’s capital—

A massive ship, so large one had to crane their neck to see its full height, was nearing completion.

As expected of those who made the sea their livelihood, harsh curses flew freely, and voices were raised in frustration and anger. Yet, beneath it all, every single person was fueled by their passion and hopes for a brighter future.

Among them, a particularly noteworthy group stood out.

“How is it?”

At the center of this group was Duke Theron Lucart. Surrounding him were the ship’s future captain, the lead shipbuilder, the manager overseeing the workers, and the Greuga Duchy’s representative, the largest investor in this vessel.

At the careful inquiry from the lead shipbuilder, Theron responded briefly.

“We won’t know until we put it in the water.”

“Well, yes, that’s true… but it should be perfect at this rate.”

His stammering didn’t exactly inspire confidence, but those present were already used to it.

The worker manager sighed deeply as he patted the shipbuilder’s shoulder, watching Theron’s unwaveringly straight back ahead of them.

“You’d think he would have adjusted by now, but he still hasn’t.”

As he said, it had been some time since Duke Lucart, Theron, had left the capital and personally come to this port city to oversee ship construction and trade routes.

Theron had left the capital just a few days after Catherine’s shocking request to break their engagement.

Because of that, his last meeting with Catherine—one that had been somewhat refreshing, mostly irritating, and mildly baffling—had long since been pushed to the back of his mind.

In『Re.Vil.Bre』, he had stayed in the capital the whole time.

Had that been the case, he would have heard all about Catherine’s house arrest and, despite that, her trip to the gladiator arena in pursuit of Kertan.

Naturally, Catherine’s completely different course of action would have piqued interest, and their romance would have begun in earnest.

However, due to Raylin’s request, Roir persuaded Theron, preventing such an event from occurring.

Of course, mere words were not enough to persuade Theron, the Duke of Lucart, one of the empire’s powerful pillars, to leave the capital.

“I urgently request your help, Duke Lucart. We have received intelligence that the lord of that region has been amassing dirty money in exchange for allowing the use of the port.”

Roir continued, his expression grave and serious.

“We do not know how long he has been committing such crimes, nor how much he has accumulated. We would like you to investigate this matter personally.”

“If that is the case, we should organize an investigative team…”

“Of course, we have already dispatched one. But the lord is so cunning that we have been unable to catch him in the act.”

Had Roir stopped his story there, Theron would never have come all the way to this reeking territory.

However, lowering his voice, Roir spoke of something entirely different.

“This is merely a pretense. What I truly wish for you to investigate is something else…

The Elixir of Immortality.”

Even upon reconsideration, it was an utterly absurd notion.

Had those words not come from someone of Greuga, Theron would have immediately taken offense and left, deeming it blasphemous nonsense.

Theron turned to Greuga’s representative and spoke.

“Any word from Greuga?”

“None, sir. Would you like to send a message?”

As expected, this representative knew nothing.

No, rather, since he had been dispatched to investigate the corruption of the local lord, he was likely only aware of the surface-level justification used to conceal the true objective.

Theron only gave a slight nod at his response, having had no expectations to begin with.

It seemed he would need to contact Roir Greuga directly.

With the ship construction progressing ahead of schedule, his time here was running short.

To be precise, he had only a few days left.

Once the supporting structures were removed and the ship successfully launched, he would use the accumulated evidence to oust the corrupt lord and return to the capital.

Yet, despite his efforts, he had found almost no clues regarding the so-called ‘Elixir of Immortality.’

And even the ‘almost’ was a mere suspicion, nothing concrete. There was no clear connection to immortality.

After all, the disappearance of people—especially commoners—was not an unusual occurrence.

The only suspicious detail was that a disproportionately high number of the missing were children…

But rather than being linked to the Elixir of Immortality, it seemed far more plausible that a human trafficking market had emerged in this territory, located a fair distance from the capital, to serve the vermin seeking slaves—a practice outlawed by imperial law.

In the end, he would likely have to report that he had found nothing of substance. However, if he could obtain even a shred of information from Greuga before leaving, he could extend his investigation a little longer.

Theron methodically organized his thoughts as he gazed at the ship—a vessel that, though incomplete, would soon become the largest trade ship in the empire’s history.

Beside him, the responsible overseer and manager, growing increasingly uneasy, swallowed dryly.

Even the Greuga representative, standing a step away, was just as tense.

Though he held full authority from Greuga to handle matters here, that did not grant him the right to sit beside the Duke of Lucart.

“Duke Lucart will personally investigate. Make sure to assist him well.”

Roir’s voice, smooth and persuasive, echoed like a phantom.

He had delivered an order that no one could refuse, smiling with a face that, at first glance, appeared good-natured and friendly—but, to those who knew better, exuded the cunning of a fox.

Had he been tasked solely with overseeing the construction of the largest ship in history, which incorporated all manner of cutting-edge technology, and managing the trade routes, he would not have had to endure this suffocating scrutiny from Duke Lucart.

“Is this all you have uncovered?”

“Yes. It seems they are protecting one another from within.”

The corruption surrounding the port’s lord and his close associates had been completely exposed within just a few days of Theron’s arrival.

It was not that the lord was incompetent—it was simply that Theron was far too capable.

Ask a hundred people, and all would agree.

Even so, Theron did not reprimand the investigator.

Still, the fact that the matter he had struggled with had been resolved so swiftly left a lingering discomfort.

As the tense atmosphere stretched between the three of them, the same pressure spread to the nearby workers, who instinctively began whispering among themselves.

The murmurs gradually subsided, and soon, an oppressive silence filled the air, making it almost difficult to breathe.

Just as that silence threatened to become unbearable—

“Let’s call it a day.”