The banquet of laughing, chattering nobles was as splendid as ever. The garden dinner party was attended by the faces of the imperial capital’s most prominent nobles, who were exchanging all manner of information.

As the great ladies confirmed one another’s presence with glittering jeweled fans, someone dazzlingly beautiful drew all eyes at once.

“My, whoever could that be?”

Among those murmuring about who this brilliantly arrived person could be, a noblewoman famous for her wide connections greeted him loudly and offered information to those around her.

“Who do we have here! Kaian. It has already been over a year since you went to study in the Kingdom of Eiram, and you have finally returned to the empire?”

“Countess Sandra. It has been a long time. I suppose I must put an end to my wandering now. Looking around outside, I was terribly homesick for the Lagrien Empire.”

“My! Look at this one. Don’t you miss calling me Auntie? And now you’re putting this much distance between us already? How disappointing.”

The man offered a warm smile to the countess, who spoke with a pout, and winked with one eye as he made light of it.

“Haha. Wonderful. You have no idea how much I missed the countess’s warm greeting. I did not receive an invitation, so I came along with this friend of mine here. I hope that is all right.”

“Oh, goodness. Of course! If I had known you were back right away, naturally the invitation would have gone to you first of all. And I was so delighted by the surprise guest that I didn’t even manage a proper greeting. I’m sorry, young Lord Saruan.”

“Not at all, my lady. If I can serve as this friend’s invitation, would that not be an honor in itself?”

The heir of House Saruan. The sight of him patting the shoulder of a young noble with a wide social circle and whispering made the nobles’ eyes gleam. To be a friend of that person’s was no ordinary thing.

And the most extraordinary thing of all was, as ever, the appearance of that unfamiliar guest.

The sight of the young man returning the warm welcome of the noblewoman with a gentle smile left the young lords of the same s*x and the young ladies of the same age unable to hide their blank stares.

“My goodness, what……”

“What is this? Is he a sculpture?”

How could a person look like that?

The man was that beautiful.

His golden hair shimmering and glowing brilliantly under the bright sun was so vivid it seemed as though he had been blessed, and his skin, white and fine as snow, looked as clean and soft as that of the current emperor, who had once been called the Snow Princess.

And that was not all. His features were as flawless as a sculpture without a single blemish, the corners of his lips curved up gently, and his eyes, a vivid orange like citrine, sparkled with warmth. Everything about him was excessively charming.

Such a beautiful face, and a tall stature and well-proportioned figure to match. One might say the man was like a work of art that someone had crafted with great care.

The people who had all stopped for a moment at the man’s arrival soon began talking noisily, as though coming back to their senses.

Kaian, of course. Who else would bear that name? It was the Marquis Tessa household.

“Oh my, then could that be the famous……”

“Yes, it is indeed the young lord of Marquis Tessa’s household. Oh my. He has become even more beautiful than a year ago. I nearly didn’t recognize him……”

“Hmm, but I heard that Marquis Tessa adopted a son…… He resembles the description of the late marchioness, who was once called the flower of the social season, so closely that it strikes me as strange.”

“Hehe, you don’t know the half of it. There is a rumor that the marquis missed the late marchioness so terribly that he adopted the one who most resembled her. And the marquis is famously very fond of young Lord Kaian.”

Even as scattered talk about himself spread around him, the expression on the man’s face, smiling like a painting, did not change.

He exchanged gentle greetings with the noblewomen who approached him with interest, and blinked.

“Pleased to meet you, young lord of Marquis Tessa’s household.”

“Likewise. Coming back after so long, the very air of the empire is truly sweet.”

A favorable atmosphere spread in no time. The nobles who had been stealing glances one by one surrounded the man in a circle.

“Is the marquis keeping well? He has not been showing his face at banquets much lately.”

“Marchioness Letra, thank you for asking. My father has been so absorbed in hunting these days that he has no mind to hold banquets at all.”

The young ladies flushed at the sight of easy, unhindered conversation flowing despite it being his first social outing in a long while.

“Do you, remember me? It has truly been a long time.”

“Ah, Lady Lucied. Of course I remember. Was the last time we spoke at the Marquis Satortel household’s banquet?”

“That’s right! Oh, goodness. Kaian, how have you become even more beautiful than the last time I saw you?”

“Ahaha, thank you. But I think that is a remark I ought to be making to you, my lady. It seems coming back to the empire was worth it, for my eyes are so pleased by such beautiful people.”

“Oh my!”

Every time that feather-smooth smile spread, the noblewomen exclaimed in admiration with shining eyes, and young lords of the same age were just as busy coming up to speak to him.

Kaian, the young lord of Marquis Tessa’s household, was an adopted son, but his reputation was good and he was set to inherit everything from the family as the official heir, so there was nothing to lose in forming a connection with him.

But no one knew.

That this man with his dazzling smile had no fondness for this gathering at all, and had shown his face in the daytime for the first time in a long while in order to obtain information about someone.

And so, when the conversation had gone on for quite some time.

Kaian opened his mouth in a passing tone.

“By the way, Countess Sandra is someone close to Her Majesty the emperor, and yet it seems Her Majesty is not in attendance.”

The easy atmosphere stiffened slightly. It was a moment later that the nobles, exchanging glances, began to speak cautiously.

The emperor, Iberis.

Any topic concerning her was not one that could be brought up easily. But lately the nobles’ interest in the emperor had been running high. It had already been three days since that woman, who had been flawlessly perfect to a frightening degree, had stopped making public appearances.

“Well, lately Her Majesty the emperor……”

“I heard that yesterday Her Majesty even missed the noble council. And from what I understand, it has been ongoing ever since the Grand Duke’s audience, isn’t that right?”

The nobles’ voices dropped even lower.

It was well known that the master of the North, Grand Duke Ires, was on bad terms with the emperor.

After rumors spread that he had suddenly accepted the emperor’s invitation, he had come to the imperial capital unofficially, but his movements were fully exposed when he stopped by the Central Temple to confirm something before departing.

It was after that when the reliable rumor spread that even that ice-cold man was set to attend the social season by the emperor’s command.

But the amusing thing was that the emperor’s movements had gone quiet after that. The ruler of the empire had, unexpectedly, been a sovereign who showed herself before everyone quite often.

“She had been so perfectly without gaps all this time, hadn’t she? To a frightening degree.”

“Could the rumor that something significant happened between the two of them really be true? The story of the Grand Duke visiting the temple after the audience has already spread far and wide.”

“Surely nothing is wrong with Her Majesty…… The other party is that Grand Duke. Was he not said to be someone who rivals Her Majesty the emperor in martial ability?”

“The truth is something no one knows.”

Once the Snow Princess.

Now the emperor of blood.

‘She is a person of fearsome power.’

Kaian let a faint smile form and then fade.

He was not a high-ranking noble entrusted with important duties, and was still only the heir of his family, so he had never had an audience with the emperor up close.

But even having seen her from a distance, the presence was overwhelming.

A sovereign with a dazzlingly beautiful face and appearance like a fairy, yet one who could take your head if you stood there staring blankly, captivated by that outward appearance. A fearsome ruler.

Even now that it had been revealed that the Empress Dowager had been a cruel Grand Witch, there were many who feared the current emperor more than that Grand Witch.

Truly a great deal of blood had been shed.

“One must truly be careful. In the imperial capital, the words you let slip can spread like a wave at any moment.”

The sight of her smiling brightly while rooting out those who had tried to kill her, those who had colluded with the Empress Dowager, those who had cursed the imperial household, and cutting them all down still remained as a source of terror for the nobles.

Even now, no one dared to speak at length about the emperor, Iberis, in a place where she was absent.

The golden-haired man listening to that conversation, Kaian, smiled outwardly and thought.

‘As I suspected.’

There is a problem with the emperor.

A shadow fell over those vivid, deep orange eyes, clear as a sunset.

* * *

With a rough cough, the temperature in the room dropped sharply. The chilling sound of ice cracking and splintering spread, freezing the walls and floor of the lavish bedchamber and even the elegant canopy bed.

Regrettably, the relief gained from the contact with Grand Duke Ires had lasted only a few hours. After that, the wretched pain continued again. The curse, the curse, the damned curse!

“D*mn it all……!”

“Your Majesty.”

Along with an anxious whisper, something shattered roughly in the grip of the head lady-in-waiting Maria’s hands. With a crack of breaking glass, the heat of fire magic that had been forcibly contained spread outward, and the air of the room that had been freezing grew hot and stifling.

“Are you feeling somewhat better?”

“Yes, Maria. You’ve worked hard.”