“Well then, I think you’ve had enough of a verification. You felt it too, didn’t you. That something is different.”

“……”

“It’s time to decide, Lionel.”

The woman stepped closer as though telling him to come to his senses, and blew a breath against his ear. He shuddered at the chilling sensation, and the hand that slowly traced the curve of his ear in what seemed like teasing was terribly sticky.

“Decide. Will you hold me?”

“……!”

D*mn it. Heat rushed to his face. This was not a dream. It was reality. That absolute ruler who seemed like she wouldn’t die even if he shot her with the magic gun had been cursed. She was dying. And so she needed him, needed his help.

D*mn it all.

“Will you make the contract? Say something.”

“I.”

“Yes, Grand Duke.”

He tried to reclaim his reason. This was not a bad opportunity.

He had caught that woman’s weakness.

If the curse was truly real, that woman would have to cling to his feet to receive his help.

He could make her regret it to death.

Make her regret that choice, bitterly and thoroughly.

“If I, you.”

And that woman.

“If I help you.”

“Hm?”

He looked into the clear eyes watching him and was swept up in an impulse he could not avoid. The kiss that had felt nothing but sweet had made the words spill out.

“If we make a contract, the price for it. Will you truly give me anything?”

“Good, I promise.”

The voice that had said it would give him its life came back to him. It wasn’t even funny. If he could give up so easily and kill her just like that, yes. He truly would have done so by any means necessary.

But Elizabeth, it was a life that child had given. Was it not wrong to let it fall like this? Was that not something he could not permit?

A little more miserable, more, more.

‘You should die in a moment like that.’

So it was not now.

“I will decide what price you receive.”

“Wasn’t it naturally my death?”

“How foolish, there are far more miserable things in this world. What is it, why are you looking at me like that? Do you think I’m doing this for your sake!”

“…… Well, if that is the Grand Duke’s wish.”

Iberis, eyes briefly wide with surprise, nodded as though telling him to do as he pleased, and reached into a pocket dimension to pull out a contract.

A brief cool silence settled.

If he signed that thing radiating bright light, he would truly be actively cooperating in eliminating the curse.

Holding that woman here.

‘D*mn it.’

That arrogant woman.

When each of their names was inscribed on the contract and bright light colored the surroundings, Iberis let out a small sound and curved her eyes.

“I forgot one thing.”

Something felt ominous. What was it? Why that expression?

“What? What did you forget.”

The emperor, who had been watching him with a strangely persistent gaze, whispered in a low voice.

“There are three more men of the Oracle besides you.”

“……”

In that moment he felt as though something had struck him hard on the head. What did that woman just say? That there were other men?

He stared blankly, and the face of the woman whispering with a shameless expression was smooth. Her lips had also swollen plump from being bitten and sucked at just moments ago.

“You look dazed. I said I would give you my first, not that I would give you everything. So you should have checked carefully before making a contract. And.”

“…… You. You deceived me……”

“Strange. Why that reaction?”

“What?”

His enemy whispered gently to Lionel, who wore a blank expression.

“I asked why you’re angry. Is it a problem that there are other men?”

Toying with him as he stood frozen.

“If you’re not jealous, there would be no reason to be angry at all.”

Saying it as though telling him he had fallen into a trap.

“Isn’t that right, Lionel?”

* * *

A quiet room.

After the Grand Duke, consumed by fury, had swept out with his cape billowing behind him, Iberis slowly sank into her seat as though the strength had left her.

“Ha. Puhaha!”

Since she had summoned him as though officially invited to the social season, she had to find the whereabouts of the remaining three of the Oracle and conclude the contracts before then.

After that, well, it would be a beastly time.

Whether that time would wound the mind of an Iberis who had never known humiliation, or gift her with a time that was unexpectedly not unpleasant, she did not know, but for now the start was not bad.

“Your Majesty.”

A rough, large hand like a boulder wrapped around her shoulder as she sat. When she looked up, she saw Sirak wearing an expression that said he was upset enough to die. She smiled.

“Why do you make that face?”

Sirak’s jaw clenched hard.

“The Grand Duke behaved outrageously any number of times. How did you endure it all? Now that the contract is concluded, please do not endure any further insolence. If necessary, I will draw my sword.”

The one who had sent out killing intent any number of times, having had a terribly hard time holding back his anger.

The Grand Duke must have known all of it. And yet seeing him disregard it to the end, that temperament of his was truly something else.

“The Oracle…… did you confirm it?”

At Sirak’s question, Iberis smiled, recalling that intoxicating sensation. The Oracle was the Oracle. The heat that had spread without a single unpleasant moment, that arousal that had been almost forcible, thinking of it now was rather unpleasant, but.

“I confirmed it.”

She could smile because of the Grand Duke’s reaction.

Because thinking of how he had come charging in like an animal let off its leash, only to be more horrified than she was, was quite amusing.

He had an unexpectedly endearing quality that didn’t suit him.

“It wasn’t bad.”

“Is that…… so?”

“Yes. Leave the Grand Duke be.”

Thinking of that suspicious nature of his, he might well be heading to the temple right now to confirm the truth of whether the curse was real.

He was not an easy man, but the provocation had worked splendidly.

“Let me go over it again. Lionel is indeed the subject of the Oracle. It could not have been wrong from the start. You brought the right person, Sirak. Well done. It was right to leave it to you.”

“…… Yes.”

Thinking of the blue-black haired man who had issued a warning until the very end, saying she would make him regret being drawn into this, and then disappeared, a small laugh escaped her for some reason.

“But Your Majesty.”

“What? What is it you’re worried about now?”

Iberis naturally leaned on the knight’s hand and rose from her seat.

She tilted her head at the expression that looked somehow forlorn despite having done his work well, and Sirak let out a deep sigh and muttered in a disgruntled voice.

“I apologize for repeating myself, but you are still too lenient with that man. Will that not become a problem?”

Ah, so that was the problem. She let out a small laugh. She patted his chest soothingly, and the sight of him willingly bending down and leaning into it was quite natural.

Their relationship had always been like this. Too close to be called a simply cold relationship between sovereign and subject, yet without the stickiness to be called something more.

“There is a connection from the past, so it can’t be helped. What I received was considerable, after all.”

“But Your Majesty. Thinking of what lies ahead……”

He had to hold Iberis.

“Still……”

A man who hated her that much.

“Puhaha!”

Iberis burst out laughing.

“I understand what you’re worried about, but.”

Iberis, checking on her body which had improved considerably, laughed loudly and stroked the large knight’s chin the way one would tickle a puppy.

“What useless thoughts. Do you think that if that man runs wild without mercy, I would collapse without being able to do a thing? This emperor, Iberis?”

“I did not think that……”

Watching him unable to bring himself to protest and bow his head deeply, the image of him from long ago came to mind anew.

“Sirak.”

“Yes.”

“My gentle knight.”

“…… I am not that. But I am certainly Your Majesty’s knight.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The battle slave bought by a young princess who had struggled to protect even herself. A slave abandoned from a fallen nation.

But one who in truth carried the bloodline of the wolf therianthrope. Now remaining as the emperor’s right hand, the second most powerful in the empire.

“Tell me. Whose are you?”

One who could be trusted even unto death.

“I am Your Majesty’s.”

“Yes. Do not fill yourself with useless thoughts. That is not good.”

“…… Understood.”

Hers.

Only Iberis’s.

“Now, move. Don’t worry and prepare to bring the next man. There is not much time.”

Her eternal sword that would not betray her.

She thought she could tell what the emotion was that flickered in those eyes from time to time, but she chose not to look into it.

An emperor could not belong to any one person alone.

“Do you understand, Sirak?”

“…… Yes, Your Majesty.”

The therianthrope knight who had received his orders bowed his head like a beast that had learned submission, and answered with faithful loyalty.