Nergal remembered clearly when that nightmare began.

It was back when the two of them were still young, during their time in the Levant Kingdom. One day, Nergal had a strange dream.

In the dream, Ir stood far away in the distance. He shouted at her, asking what she was doing there and telling her to come to his side, but Ir seemed unable to hear him and looked around in confusion. Watching this made him irritated. Who else besides him would be looking for Ir that she’d scan her surroundings like that?

‘I should just go get her.’

The moment he thought he should approach her since she’d probably just wander off and get hurt somewhere if left alone, someone suddenly appeared beside Ir. He couldn’t tell who it was. The face was blurred and hard to see. But he could tell it was a man around Ir’s age.

The instant he realized this, Nergal’s mood soured. At the same time, anger surged through him with an intensity he couldn’t understand. Without thinking, he approached Ir and shoved the man standing beside her. At that moment, his eyes met Ir’s. She wore an expression that seemed to ask why he was acting this way.

That’s when Nergal woke from the dream. After sitting in a daze for a moment, he recalled the contents of his dream and muttered:

“What kind of ridiculous dream was that?”

Even though it was just a dream, he couldn’t understand it. Why had he felt displeased seeing Ir with someone else? He’d even gone so far as to push that person away.

He thought it was just a strange dream, but that very day, another squire from the knight order came looking for Ir to deliver a message.

Since this person was one of the few who looked out for Ir, she greeted him warmly and engaged in conversation. Watching this scene through the window, Nergal felt a surge of emotion. Then he was startled by his own reaction.

‘Me? Why?’

Why was he getting angry just like in the dream?

Even while thinking this, Nergal’s gaze remained fixed on Ir and the unnamed squire. After the man left, Nergal spent the entire day grumbling at Ir over petty complaints.

Similar incidents happened several more times after that.

It was much later that Nergal realized why he felt such emotions. He had been afraid of someone else being by Ir’s side. More precisely, he feared that Ir would trust and care for someone other than himself.

He only learned much later that this emotion was called ‘jealousy.’

Even when Ir lived in the imperial palace while being called a monster, he honestly disliked those who stayed by her side. That’s why he would grumble whenever he saw the 9th Knight Order. Of course, knowing they helped Ir live happily, he never crossed the line. But whenever he saw them, whenever he watched them pass by laughing with Ir, envy burned in his chest.

Needless to say, this anxiety and jealousy only grew after Ir became emperor.

She had already captivated people’s attention before, but now they swarmed around Ir like bees.

Naturally, there were countless men who wanted to become Ir’s consort. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say most unmarried men in the imperial palace felt this way.

Of course, none of them dared to make advances on Ir. Rather, there were none left who would.

‘It was hard work getting rid of them all.’

Even though Ir only ever brought Nergal to her bedchamber, there were still fools who wouldn’t give up their foolish hopes. Nergal knew exactly who they all were. He had to know. They looked at Ir with the same eyes he did. It was easy to recognize his own kind.

They would never know why they were suddenly transferred to positions where they could rarely visit the main palace. Some were sent outside the imperial palace entirely, while others were sent back to their territories. They got off easy. Someone who had tried something inappropriate…

“Gah! Agh!”

Nergal placed his foot on the body of a man writhing in agony at his feet. Then he pressed down hard on the man’s aroused member with the tip of his shoe.

“Aaaaagh!”

The struggling man screamed and trembled violently. Nergal looked at him with disgust. Even while writhing in agony, the man was smiling. His expression showed he was overwhelmed by extreme pleasure, unable to control himself. This was because he had been given a drug that made his body uncontrollably aroused.

Anyone who tried to use such a drug on Ir deserved to die.

Since he was already thinking of ways to eliminate men who approached Ir whenever he got annoyed, he had come up with 318 different methods. Nergal thought it might be good to test five of them all at once while he was at it.

Actually, even without Nergal’s interference, Ir would have been safe. The Holy Sword’s power had grown stronger, and now it could sense not only nearby threats but also poisons and warn Ir in advance.

Still, he wanted to handle all this trash himself before Ir even became aware of it.

For three years, Nergal had put about thirty of his 318 methods into practice. And yet…

The remaining untested methods flashed through Nergal’s mind. Among them, roughly eighteen could be used on Serid.

‘Should I try them out?’

Honestly, he was confident. No matter how skilled a knight Serid might be, he couldn’t defend against every type of underhanded scheme. And right now, Nergal felt he could execute the most perfect method to eliminate Serid without a trace—and make it painful too.

“Haah…”

While choosing his favorite method among them, Nergal let out a long sigh and rubbed his face with both hands.

He could do it. But he wouldn’t.

Not because Prince Serid was innocent. Nergal hadn’t lived his life thinking he should spare the innocent, and he had always believed the best choice was to eliminate irritants before they became problems.

So Serid should be eliminated too. But…

The image of Ir sparring with Serid while smiling flashed through Nergal’s mind. When had he last seen Ir look so happy?

Nergal could do everything for Ir, but there was one thing—swordsmanship—that he couldn’t help with no matter how hard he tried.

“Why can’t you do this? You’re good at much harder things.”

“How is swordsmanship the same as accounting!”

“Aren’t they both about using your head?”

Under the pretext of sparring, Ir would push Nergal around and mutter in bewilderment.

If he devoted entire days to sword practice, he probably wouldn’t be completely hopeless. But he was someone who had to spend all day on prime ministerial duties, and maintaining his current physical condition was already miraculous. Besides, even if he dedicated himself to swordsmanship, he would never develop the ability to match Ir.

That’s why whenever problems arose in the provinces, Ir would rush out with the Holy Sword like lightning. She seemed to want to swing her sword that badly.

But that was only possible right after her coronation—now that the empire was stable, such opportunities no longer existed.

How delighted she must have been when Serid appeared at such a time.

Nergal sighed again and organized his documents. There was only one reason he didn’t eliminate Serid from the imperial palace.

‘Ir would be heartbroken.’

Since Serid’s arrival, Ir had been spending each day with great joy and vitality. He didn’t like Serid, but he enjoyed seeing Ir happy.

Then he remembered Serid eagerly following Ir up to her bedchamber again. His imagination began to take flight once more.

If Ir continued to summon Serid like this, and if someday Ir bore his child and made that child the heir, then kept Serid as her consort always by her side…

‘Maybe I should k*ll him after all?’

An heir would be fine. It was necessary, and if Ir wanted one, she should have one. Nergal could truly love that child too. Because it would be Ir’s child.

But not Serid. The empire needed an emperor and an heir, but a consort… wasn’t really necessary, was it?

Nergal was considering which of the eighteen methods for eliminating Serid he could execute most quickly when:

Knock knock.

At the different knocking pattern from Ishin’s, Nergal looked up.

Anyone coming to see him now must know his mood wasn’t particularly good. So it had to be one of two things: either someone foolishly brave, or someone with urgent business important enough to seek him out immediately.

“Come in.”

After he spoke, a man entered shortly after. Seeing him, Nergal’s face brightened for the first time all day. Before the man could even greet him, Nergal stood and approached him.

“How did it go? What did they say?”

To Nergal’s urgent question, the man immediately replied:

“They said they’re waiting for you to come check if everything is completed.”

Nergal’s face brightened even more at the man’s answer.

“Good work. You may go now.”

After the man left, Nergal hurriedly organized his desk and left his office. Those who had been chatting outside were startled to see Nergal emerge suddenly and quickly pretended to work. Without sparing them a glance, Nergal shouted toward Ishin:

“Tell them I’m going on a business trip starting today! I’ll be back in a few days, so handle things while I’m gone!”

***

Ir headed to her watchtower with Serid. Since they had spent the entire day sparring at the 9th Knight Order barracks’ training ground and washed there, her hastily dried hair was still damp.

But neither of them paid any attention to such things, giggling as they conversed.

“So you know pirate swordsmanship too?”

“Of course. I even infiltrated them secretly and played pirate for several months to learn it.”

The two had become comfortable enough to speak casually with each other.

“I thought it seemed barbaric but practical… I’d like you to teach me that tomorrow.”

As they entered the room while chatting, a table laden with food and alcohol greeted them.

Since they had been coming here for dinner for several days now, the maids had thoughtfully prepared everything in advance today as well. At Ir’s gesture, the maids closed the door and left. Once their presence faded, Serid sat in a chair and said to Ir:

“By the way, how long are you going to keep Prime Minister Nergal in suspense?”