Click.

  Perez’s three colleagues pushed each other’s backs and the door closed.

  "Sigh."

  I looked at Perez, trying to sublimate the boiling anger into a deep sigh.

  In one day, dark circles formed under his eyes and his cheeks became slimmer.

  This was unrivaled beauty that shone, but I didn’t like it at all.

  "Perez."

  When I call him softly, his red eyes look up at me.

  "A contractual engagement is also a definite contract. But who are you willing to break the marriage?"

  Perez, who was silent for a while, said with a seemingly expressionless face.

  "Tia, I’m afraid there will be something wrong happen to you."

  It was a simple remark, but I know it’s his true feelings.

  "If you break up with me now, you’ll be in a lot of trouble. Everything you’ve planned will be a piece of paper."

  "I know."

  Perez replied calmly.

  "But it’s better than you get hurt."

  "So really only because you’re afraid something wrong happens to me?"

  Perez nodded.

  I sighed softly.

  Then I approached Perez’s face and I sat and looked him in the eye and asked.

  "You think I’m funny?"

  Without realizing it, a very dreary voice came out.

  I won’t grab him by the collar because he’s sick, but I’m literally pissed off.

  "Why do you make me a person who hides in fear of the Empress?"

  Because Bate, who had obtained the information, moved right away, Lombardy’s knights came out of the open meadow and found Perez, so he could barely survive.

  If I had been unlucky, Perez and I would have died in the meadow without anyone knowing.

  To be honest, it was scary.

  When I was losing my mind because of the poison, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to open my eyes again.

  However, that does not change.

  "The first day we met in the woods of the Imperial Palace. I told you. ’I’ll help you.’"

  "……I remember."

  "Then answer me, Perez. If you were me, would you just let go of my hand for this reason?"

  His red eyes shook slightly at my question.

  "……No."

  "So do I."

  I said, straightening up his disorganized shirt, sweeping his head back.

  "So don’t make me a person who breaks my promise because you’re afraid of the Empress."

  What it’s like to have someone after my life with this.

  In the meantime, I learned a little bit about how Perez had lived.

  My mind has become rather stronger.

  "I’m not going to leave you alone in this mud."

  Perez’s brow was wrinkled.

  He slowly reached out and hugged me at my waist.

  Sorry, grateful, and affection for the act that doesn’t even hold me hard.

  Those things that were mixed all over were handed down.

  His wide back in the badly crumpled shirt looked so lonely, I hugged him as tightly as I could.

  "I need to hug you, so bear with it even if it hurts."

  At my words, Perez’s low laughter vibration was transmitted throughout my body.

  The last time I hugged him like this on a horse, I had to feel the blood flowing through my fingertips.

  I opened my eyes slightly and confirmed that nothing was on my hands now.

  I hugged him as hard as the relief that filled my mind.

  Then Perez said half grumpily, uncharacteristically.

  "If something wrong happens to you, I’ll destroy them all."

  "What kind of joke do you make so harsh?"

  I laughed and messed up Perez’s hair.

  But he didn’t answer and hugged me closer and rubbed his face like a child.

  * * *

  A maid from the Imperial Palace ran to announce to Empress Rabini, who had just finished getting her hair done.

  "Lord Lombardy visited the Palace."

  "I’m not ready yet, so tell him to wait."

  Rabini looked in the mirror and said leisurely.

  "What a rude man. He didn’t reply to my letter properly and just came to the Palace."

  Empress Rabini was also aware of the news that Gallahan Lombardy had returned from Cheshire to Lombardy’s mansion.

  She immediately sent a letter inviting him to the Empress’ Palace, but he had yet to reply, so she was about to send someone again.

  "I wonder if that child gets caught up in it."

  It was an accident that Florentia happened to be with Perez.

  It seemed that the Lombardy state was still kept it secret, as nothing was said.

  Gallahan, who was her father, might have known.

  "Gallahan is a timid man, so I’ll give him everything he can."

  The maid said cautiously to Rabini, who murmured so leisurely.

  "Well, Lord Gallahan Lombardy entered the Imperial Palace, not the Empress Palace, Empress."

  "Now…… What did you say?"

  "L, Lord Gallahan Lombardy is now visiting the Imperial Palace and have a meal……"

  Empress Rabini jumped up from her seat.

  A bad feeling ran down her back.

  "Dress, bring the dress now!"

  Rabini, wearing her dress and heading for the Imperial Palace, shuddered with a sense of deja vu.

  This has happened before.

  The day when Lulak suddenly visited the Imperial Palace became the guardian of the Second Prince and many things began to twist.

  Sure enough.

  As she approached the patronage of the Emperor’s Palace, she heard a loud laugh.

  "Haha! I didn’t know you were such a good talker!"

  "How can it be right to say that the prosperity of the Cheshire is all thanks to Your Majesty, hahaha!"

  Even this is the same as that day.

  Like men who have lived like brothers all their lives, whenever they’ve been out there.

  Gallahan and Jovanes are talking in a friendly manner.

  Empress Rabini grinds her teeth.

  Gallahan is not Lulak.

  After standing behind the corner and comforting herself a few times, Rabini entered the patronage with a big smile.

  "Your Majesty, have you been here? I ran at once to hear that a welcome guest had arrived."

  "Oh, here comes the Empress."

  Emperor Jovanes said with a slightly cold smile.

  The appearance of the Empress is not so welcome.

  She said to Gallahan, who stood up from his seat.

  "It’s been a long time. Nice to meet you, Lord Gallahan."

  The Empress held out one hand with a smiling face.

  It was to receive polite greetings from Gallahan.

  But Gallahan did not hold the hand.

  He looked briefly at the back of Empress Rabini’s white hand with cold eyes, which was completely different from her smiling face, and said with a smile.

  "Yes, it’s been a while since I saw you, Empress."

  It was an insult.

  He does not have the decency to take on the Empress’ hand.

  But Gallahan was still standing with a smile.

  If you’re going to get angry, let it out.

  Empress Rabini’s long eyelashes trembled with anger, but the Emperor was not on her side.

  Jovanes tapped Gallahan’s shoulder affectionately and said.

  "Gallahan, didn’t you say you were busy and you had to get up now?"

  Gallahan secretly took his breath before answering.

  And he smiled helplessly and bewitched the words he had prepared.

  "Yes, I have to look after Cheshire and Lombardy, so I’m busy every day."

  As expected, Jovanes responded to the remark.

  "Right Cheshire, but should you care about Lombardy?"

  "Wouldn’t I have to put face signs on Lombardy’s vassals now?"

  The meaning of what Gallahan said was clear.

  Jovanes asked again in surprise.

  "Hmm? Did the Lord of Lombardy make a decision on the succession?"

  "Nothing has been officially announced yet."

  Gallahan shook his head.

  Lombardy doesn’t make an announcement about succession until after discussions are over inside and everything is completely decided.

  But the Empress and the Emperor don’t know much about it, and Gallahan intended to exploit the gap.

  He intended to be a shield for a while until Tia took over as the successor.

  "But it’s true that there’s no such thing as a succession without me."

  At Gallahan’s words, Jovanes nodded.

  "That’s true. Viese is said to have been kicked out of the family."

  Jovanes’s gaze, which says so, turned to Empress Rabini.

  The reason the Empress supported the eldest son, Viese, was because it was an overt thing everyone knows.

  "Then I’ll go, Your Majesty."

  Gallahan greeted Jovanes politely.

  Then he turned around and stood before the Empress.

  "Thank you for your letter, Empress."

  "I did. I didn’t get a reply, so I was worried that the letter might have gone somewhere else."

  Empress Rabini said with a stiff face and a forced smile.

  "As I said, I’ve been very busy lately. But I’ll make sure to answer your letter, so if you have any questions, please call me."

  "What’s that……"

  "Leave my daughter alone."1

  Gallahan added, curling up the corner of his mouth quietly.

  It was a warning about what happened in the Lombardy meadow.

  At the end of his speech, Gallahan made a light bow to Empress Rabini before passing by her.

  "Oh, Gallahan, I have to go outside the Palace, so let’s go together!"

  Emperor Jovanes also followed him.

  Rabini, who was left alone in the patronage of the Imperial Palace, was unable to move for a while.

  * * *

  The end of autumn.

  A hunting competition hosted by the Lombardy family is approaching.

  Perez’s fellow trio, who are staying at Poirak Palace, was also excited about the hunting competition.

  "I heard compared to Ivan, Lombardy’s hunting competition is so big and magnificent that it cannot be compared to any other place!"

  "Then, will I see that Lady Lombardy again?"

  "Wow, that Lady is so…… I’ve never seen anyone scarier than His Highness."

  Steely shuddered at the question Tedro threw.

  It was because he remembered her ordering everyone to leave with a cold face.

  "Because she’s that kind of person, what a gentle wolf-dog our Highness is?……"

  "Hmm."

  Tedro smacked Steely’s side.

  Perez was checking the blade of the sword himself right next to him.

  However, Perez did not seem to mind even though he must have heard the term ’wolf dog’.

  Still, his calm gaze was focused only on the blade.

  Because he knows that such an appearance of Perez is rather a behavior when he’s in a good mood.

  Steely was relieved and threw up a topic that would interest Perez.

  "Your half-brother, who is not good enough. I heard he has got more than ten of his henchmen participating in this hunting contest."

  "What? Ten people?"

  Lignite was surprised and asked again.

  "Oh, I guess that’s why he talks about it every time he goes to banquets. He’s going to win this Lombardy hunt, beating our Prince. What do you think about those words, Your Highness?"

  Steely asked Perez with a mischievous smile.

  Then Perez replied with an expressionless face.

  "By the end of this hunting competition, no one will be curious about who won it, but what does it matter?"

  "Oh, well."

  The Academy trio giggled, exchanging glances.

  Sring! Swoosh!

  Perez, who put his sword in the scabbard, stood up and said.

  "Let’s go."

  Perez was at the forefront, followed by the trio.

  The destination is where the Lombardy family’s hunting competition will be held.

  It was the ’Forest of Madman’, an area where monsters frequently appear.