In a dimly lit room with drawn curtains, several crows perched here and there, tilting their heads curiously.

The red eyes of a monster remained fixed on one wall.

Behind that wall, in a hidden room, Young Marquis Caiman was speaking with someone through a communication device.

“…I cannot find the fragment of Lumen’s heart. It seems to have vanished completely.”

His voice was tense.

This was not a friendly chat, but a report to his master.

“I believe Calliphe Offensa has hidden it. With the help of the Grand Temple, it wouldn’t have been difficult for her.”

―That makes sense.

The voice from the communication device sounded relaxed.

Though there wasn’t a trace of anger, Caiman remained tense.

He knew from experience that when dealing with this person, appearances could be deceiving.

“I apologize. But please wait just a little longer. I will definitely recover the second fragment.”

The first fragment was what Caiman had entrusted to his confidant Henrik.

And the second fragment was what he had used when casting black magic on Marquis  Offensa.

The black mage Lumen, like contaminated beings such as monsters, had left behind a core when he died.

A substance of condensed corrupted magic.

This object, originally whole, had been forcibly broken and divided.

Into the central core and peripheral fragments.

‘If I had used the core instead of a fragment, even that old man wouldn’t have survived and would have died immediately.’

The core was the most essential part of Lumen’s heart. Naturally, it contained much more powerful energy than mere fragments.

But its whereabouts were unknown.

When that person had obtained Lumen’s heart, only the core had been missing.

‘Anyway, I need to recover the second fragment now. Before Calliphe and the Grand Temple use it to expose me…!’

―Calm down, Young Marquis.

The voice came seemingly reading his thoughts.

―Even if they discovered the secret of the second fragment, what could they do about it?

“Pardon?”

―They have no way to prove your connection, do they? You can just cut off the tail and be done with it.

“Ah…!”

Right. In his confusion, he had momentarily forgotten.

Caiman had never personally executed black magic in preparation for such situations.

He had others do it for him.

All according to that person’s advice.

Truly an impressive individual.

Someone in the same position as himself, but far more prepared to shine.

Feeling both kinship and respect, Caiman bowed his head.

“I showed you an embarrassing side of myself. I apologize. But we still cannot let our guard down…”

Caiman had obtained information that Calliphe and Lynen recently visited the Magic Tower.

“Calliphe is definitely plotting something. It’s also suspicious that she suddenly applied to participate in the harvest festival when she had shown no interest before.”

―It’s worth keeping an eye on.

The voice from the communication device calmly advised.

―But don’t forget to be patient and look at the bigger picture. As befits the future Marquis Offensa.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The communication ended.

Caiman pondered the enigmatic advice.

“As befits the future Marquis…”

As the soon-to-be master of the Marquis’s house and the Magic Tower, he had no need to personally handle minor matters.

“Right. I have more important things to do.”

Those preparations couldn’t be entrusted to just anyone.

But whatever Calliphe was planning to do at the harvest festival, anyone could interfere with that.

Caiman immediately summoned someone to act in his stead.

“Haha, Young Marquis. I’m truly delighted that you sought me out first. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Viscount Gallard.”

A noble supporter of Caiman who had consistently shown disdain for Calliphe since the grand meeting.

“I understand you recently recommended a trainer to teach griffin riding to Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

“Ah yes, that’s correct. I selected the most excellent person I know.”

“Then I assume you can easily get an audience with Her Highness.”

“Of course!”

Caiman smiled at him.

“There’s something I need you to do.”

* * *

The carriage approached the imperial palace.

Lynen extended his hand toward Noah.

“We’ll arrive soon. Time to give it back.”

“Okay.”

Noah reluctantly returned the image device to him. It contained training footage of Calliphe riding a griffin.

“She’s amazing.”

“Indeed.”

“Can I ride one too?”

Finding the excited child adorable, Lynen smiled slightly. He unconsciously stroked Noah’s hair lightly.

“Instead of a griffin, I’ll let you ride a magnificent horse.”

“A horse…!”

Noah’s cheeks flushed pink. The child nodded eagerly.

The carriage soon passed through the palace’s main gate and approached the Crown Princess’s separate palace.

Lynen’s expression subtly hardened.

He recalled what Allen had shared about the monster incident yesterday.

“The holy knights from our Reparatio Grand Temple and the knights from House Ortega jointly conducted a thorough reinvestigation of the village where the monster incident occurred.”

“And did you find anything?”

“No, Lady Calliphe. Unfortunately, there were no new peculiarities. Except for just one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“We discovered traces of someone, presumably from the Special Monster Division, entering the village to retrieve the cores. But…”

“…”

“The traces of them leaving the village were cut off midway.”

“Cut off? If they were carrying lots of monster cores, their load would have increased, so there should be more traces, not less.”

“Yes. But they disappeared.”

Allen furrowed his brows, seemingly unable to believe the investigation results himself.

“Almost like they evaporated.”

‘Evaporation, huh.’

Lynen had experienced such a case firsthand.

When the paroled criminal Dovion was annoyingly following him around. He had tracked a member of the Special Monster Division.

‘Back then, the guy also disappeared, seemingly evaporating into thin air.’

He lost track of him near the imperial palace.

When Lynen heard Allen’s report, he had one guess about why the Special Monster Division could “evaporate.”

The purpose of this visit to the imperial palace was to confirm this.

Of course, it was also to help Noah meet the Crown Princess.

“We’ve arrived.”

Lynen lifted Noah by the waist and helped him out of the carriage.

In front of the Crown Princess’s separate palace.

The palace’s head butler, who had been notified of his visit from the main gate, bowed politely.

“Welcome, Your Grace. It’s been a while since your last visit.”

“I apologize for coming without notice.”

“Not at all. Her Highness the Crown Princess has been wanting to see you. Please come in.”

Lynen took Noah’s hand.

“Let’s go.”

“…”

Noah pressed his lips together, looking extremely tense.

Despite Calliphe’s instruction to just pay respects and leave, his expression showed determination to protest.

‘If they meet like this, the atmosphere won’t be good.’

After thinking for a moment, Lynen said:

“It seems wrong to meet Her Highness the Crown Princess for the first time empty-handed.”

“Ah…?”

“We should prepare some flowers. Head butler, would that be alright?”

“If it’s Your Grace’s request, certainly.”

At the head butler’s signal, a maid approached.

“I’ll guide you to the greenhouse garden.”

“Y-yes.”

After making a bouquet, the maid would bring Noah back to Lynen.

After temporarily parting with Noah, Lynen eventually arrived at a spacious training ground.

‘Where is Her Highness the Crown Princess?’

Just then.

“D-Duke! Move aside, it’s dangerous!”

“…?”

Looking up, Lynen discovered a griffin descending fiercely toward him. Lucilia, who should have been controlling the beast, barely held onto the reins with her legs dangling in the air.

“I said move, Duke!”

“Screech!”

The griffin, with its sharp beak, looked ready to impale Lynen.

Lynen stared at the creature and silently sighed. That such a method would occur to him so readily—was he becoming more like Calliphe?

“It’s dangerous! There’s no way to stop the griffin!”

“There is a way, Your Highness.”

He aimed at the rapidly approaching griffin and quietly pulled back his fist.

“My fist.”

“…Huh?”