“How do you remove the gag?”

The knights flinched and began looking at each other.

“Your Majesty. I’m sorry, but dark magic is caused by spells……”

“I know all that, so just tell me how to remove the gag and you can all wait outside.”

However, the knights shook their heads, saying that was impossible.

“I will guard Her Majesty, so follow the empress’s orders.”

Only after Heris added her support to my opinion did they reluctantly hand me the key that could unlock the gag.

“Your Majesty. If anything happens, please pull this cord on the side. You must call us, you absolutely must.”

They emphasized several times that I must call them before finally leaving the underground dungeon.

“Your Majesty. I’ll stay behind……”

“Heris. Don’t leave my side at all. Keep holding my wrist to prepare for any unexpected situations.”

So I took the key from the knight and went behind Delian to remove the gag in his mouth.

The gag fell from his mouth with a thud.

“Where have you been all this time?”

Rembro let out a hollow laugh.

“Are you curious about where I’ve been?”

“No, it was just a question out of courtesy. I thought I should ask at least one question like this since we used to be family. So where did you learn dark magic?”

Rembro straightened his back.

“Why, are you afraid I might have used dark magic on my brother?”

“You didn’t.”

At that, the corners of Rembro’s mouth turned up.

“Just because I didn’t use it on my brother, you think I won’t use it on you? Is that why you came here so fearlessly!”

At his outcry, I slowly approached him.

“I’m not interested in why you attacked Rubert or why you returned to the Gellions Empire. I came because I was curious about how many times you used dark magic in the Gellions Empire and whether you left any traces.”

Rembro burst into laughter at those words.

“So you do have fears after all.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he lowered his head and then looked up with raised eyes and began muttering something toward me.

Then something long and black began to writhe and move around my neck.

“Your Majesty!”

It was just as Heris was about to remove her hand from my wrist in surprise.

I grabbed Heris’s wrist firmly.

“Your Majesty!”

I looked at Heris as she called out repeatedly.

“It’s alright.”

With those words, the black thing that had been writhing around my neck made a sizzling sound as if burning, then turned to smoke and disappeared.

“What… what is this……”

Heris was shocked and repeatedly felt my nape where the black object had been.

Watching that scene, Rembro seemed confused and muttered something once more.

But the result was the same.

After several attempts, he finally seemed to accept that his sorcery didn’t work on me, and let out a weak laugh.

“At this point, isn’t the world just on your side?”

I remained silent.

“Why… this is all because of you, so why are you standing there so well-dressed with your back straight!”

Despite being bound, Rembro thrashed about wildly and shouted at me.

“Why do you get to take everything! Rubert fell for your tricks too, right? Our father! Brother! Leila! Masipacius was thrown into the gutter because of you!”

Rembro, who had tired himself out from shouting, bowed his head deeply and caught his breath.

I slowly approached him.

Then I met his eyes.

“I gave you all plenty of opportunities.”

Rembro slowly raised his head.

“It was you who didn’t take them. Even animals get angry and try to reclaim what’s theirs when it’s taken away. Isn’t it worse than an animal’s mindset to try to take everything from me and then tell me not to do the same?”

Rembro looked at me with blank, soul-drained eyes, as if he had nothing to say.

“I… tried to take what’s yours?”

“See? You’ve forgotten everything you did and are only blaming me.”

I moved away from the dazed Rembro.

“I’ll put the gag back on him.”

Heris picked up the gag that had fallen to the floor and put it back in Rembro’s mouth.

I pulled the cord to call the members waiting outside.

“The wavelength of the dark magic this person used has been stored in a jewel, so send it to the relevant investigation team. He still hasn’t talked about whether he used dark magic in the Gellions Empire, so continue the investigation.”

The knights shouted, “Yes!” at those words.

After leaving the underground dungeon, I couldn’t help but be shocked when I saw Heris’s wrist.

“Oh my, Heris! Your wrist… wasn’t it painful?”

Heris seemed to realize only then that her wrist was red and swollen, and she was startled.

“Oh my. What happened to my wrist?”

“I must have unconsciously applied force. I’m so sorry, what should I do?”

“It’s fine. It didn’t hurt at all. By the way, Your Majesty. What happened in the prison earlier… should I keep it a secret?”

I nodded.

“Detrian already knows so it’s fine, but please be careful not to reveal it to Lord Delian… and to Rubert as well.”

“So Lord Rubert doesn’t know either. I understand.”

Heris didn’t ask me anything more.

“By the way, are you busy these days? I’m sorry for making you so busy because of me……”

“It’s fine. I’m feeling energized at the thought of seeing His Highness in two months.”

“Sometimes I think you like my baby more than Detrian does.”

“His Majesty the Emperor is just too worried about Your Majesty. But when I see him always talking about what gender His Highness will be, whether the child will hate onions like him, I think his affection for His Highness is also great.”

While chatting with Heris, we had reached the front of my room, and she said she needed to go to work and headed to her office after saying goodbye.

When I entered the room, I saw Detrian with a face full of worry.

“What? You were here?”

I was surprised to see him and approached, and he sprang up from his seat like a released spring and examined my body all over.

“Are you hurt anywhere? I heard that bastard used dark magic, are you in pain? What about your belly? Is your belly feeling heavy or uncomfortable?”

I nodded to indicate that I was fine in response to his barrage of questions.

“If you were going to worry this much, you should have come with me.”

“…I thought you wouldn’t be able to say everything you wanted to if I was there. So, do you feel better now?”

“Yes. And Rembro will probably talk about what he did this evening.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”

Detrian sighed and then pulled me into his arms.

“Now you really need to rest. You’re having trouble even moving around……”

“Yes, I really need to rest now.”

As I had expected, that evening news came that Rembro had answered the palace’s questions about where he had learned dark magic and whether he had left traces in the Gellions Empire.

Based on his statement that he had cast dark magic on trees and animals near the cabin to monitor people approaching him, the palace dispatched knights to cut down and dispose of all life forms affected by dark magic.

I didn’t hear about Rembro’s final fate.

I didn’t want to hear it.

Lying in bed with the feeling of having completed my final homework, I felt an inexplicable sense of emptiness.

Lying in the silence, all the events that had happened until now flashed by quickly like turning pages of a book.

Many things had happened, and some people whispered that I had sent many people to prison and taken this position.

But I usually quickly forget such whispers because there are so many good words from the good people around me that overwhelm them.

Nevertheless, when bad things like this happen, those sharp words of people seem to engulf all my thoughts as if they would devour me.

As I was sighing, I felt the movement of new life in my belly.

Endlessly wiggling… no, at this point, was the baby kicking to tell me not to think unnecessary thoughts?

Whatever the case, feeling that warmth of life, I fell asleep as if fainting.

The next morning when I opened my eyes, the morning sun greeted me as if nothing had happened, and Mylene and Frill were finishing their usual tasks.

Seeing this peaceful moment, I could realize.

The final period of my long, long fight had been marked.

Now, it seems only happy things remain.

But about two months later, I would realize once again.

That this was a huge misconception on my part.

That a truly terrible time of pain and endurance still awaited me.