For some reason, her clear gaze felt very heavy. Kim Seon-Hyeok began to worry about what Ophelia was going to tell him.

  When she saw him like that, she said one thing. 

  “My body isn’t what it used to be.”
The first thing that came to his mind was the fate engraved onto the blood of the Adenstein House, the curse of early death that caused the previous monarch to die. 

  His heart dropped.

  “Do you feel something wrong with your body?”
Without realizing it, he tightly gripped Ophelia’s slender shoulders. He was shaking so much that his actions were the roughest it's ever been. 

  How could he not tremble?

  Up until this time, Kim Seon-Hyeok had been wandering all over the country as he used everything under the sun as an excuse. 

  Whether it was the Demon King, or the fate of the Dragon Rider, or whatever other excuses he made, the truth was, he had neglected Ophelia. 

  On top of that, she had lost her father recently, and she herself was still burdened by the curse that caused her father to be short-lived.

  You asshole. 

  When he realized what he had been missing while traipsing around the Empire, he blamed himself heavily. He couldn’t raise his head in front of her. 

  “Raise your head.”
Ophelia held his face as she spoke softly.

  “I didn’t give you the position of Grand Duke so that you can bow your head so easily.”
Guided by a careful hand, he raised his head.

  “You are a terrible spouse.”
Contrary to her words, there wasn’t a single hint of resentment anywhere on her face.

  “But that doesn’t mean I want you to be a terrible father.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok looked at her blankly as he processed the unexpected words.

  “What did you just…”
He barely managed to force words out of his mouth, words that even he thought were idiotic. 

  “I said that I didn’t want you to be a terrible father to this child in my womb.”
All thoughts stopped. It felt as if his mind completely blanked out. 

  “Ah…”
Without realizing it, he made a sound that was unknown whether it was a sigh or something else. In that short breath of time, he felt an indescribable complex emotion. 

  “Ophelia, do you mean…”
“Although the child is too small and weak that it’s embarrassing to say it's a new life, this is the child who will lead the Empire in the future. I believe this child will grow much stronger than any other child.”
When he saw her carefully caressing her belly as she spoke, he was overcome by a fit of hysterical laughter. He seemed deranged.

  “Are you saying I’m going to be a father?”
He staggered. Kim Seon-Hyeok questioned her as his legs lost their strength. Ophelia nodded her head in response.

  “The royal mages confirmed it several times already.”
“Ha.”
He laughed once again.

  “This is insane. Me, a father…”
He wasn’t crying nor he wasn’t laughing. He just kept repeating the same thing with an odd expression. Ophelia quietly waited for him to sort himself out.

  Who knows how much time passed like that.

  In the end, after being overcome by so many emotions, only one emotion was left on his face.

  “I really…”
Exultation, an unprecedented joy spread across his face.

  “Ophelia!”
He shouted that single word as he suddenly hugged Ophelia. 

  “You’ll startle the child.”
At first glance, she seemed unaffected, but a smile was on her face. Markedly different from before, her smile was motherly and therefore warmer than ever before.

  That day, Ophelia took her hands off all political affairs and spent the day with Kim Seon-Hyeok. He also forgot the fact that he would have to leave her soon and only focused on her.

  The same happened the next day.

  The couple stayed in their bedchambers and shared the many stories they hadn’t been able to until then. Kim Seon-Hyeok told her everything, every single detail of what he experienced outside as Ophelia quietly listened to everything he said.

  And when he finished, Ophelia calmly told him her childhood and the little things that happened to her. 

  For three days, the couple didn’t part for even an hour. 

  During that time, Seon-Hyeok once again deeply imprinted into his heart just what it was he truly had to protect.

  “I will be back as soon as possible.”
He wanted to cancel the trip to the West, but since he couldn’t do it, Kim Seon-Hyeok could only repeatedly promise to come back quickly. 

  “I would rather you come back unscathed.”
Ophelia only wished for his safe return.

  “As quickly as possible, as safely as possible. I’ll remember it.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok knelt down and bowed his head to place his cheek on Ophelia’s stomach. 

  “Daddy’s leaving, so behave yourself.”
He might’ve said it, but he must’ve still been embarrassed over it because his face turned red. However, seeing how the smile stayed on his face all throughout, he must’ve been really happy. 

  “Then, I’ll be going now. Take care, Ophelia.”
With that farewell, he flew off on Devon. After flying over the Imperial capital several times, he disappeared into the western sky.

  Ophelia stood there blankly as she stared into the sky, watching the griffin until it turned into a black dot and then completely disappeared. 

  ***

  Kim Seon-Hyeok moved like a madman. He summoned Atiya to help Devon fly as he tried to lower himself as much as possible so that he could reach Mangsk as quickly as possible. 

  They literally were flying like the wind.

  His efforts continued even after stopping at Mangsk to pick Marek up.

  “Huff, let’s slow down a bit.”
The flight was so violent that even the Sword Star, a superhuman, made painful sounds. However, Seon-Hyeok didn’t slow down in the slightest.

  As a result, they were surprisingly able to leave the eastern region and reach the southern part of the central region of the continent in two weeks.

  “That port city over there is Iberia’s Granado.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok only slowed down when Granado was in their eyesight as he turned to speak to Marek.

  “I don’t care whether it’s Granado or whatever, let’s just land.”
Completely tired from two weeks of flight, Marek looked much more exhausted than he did on the day of the ceremony of succession. 

  “I was just about to land.”
He grinned as he had Devon slowly descend.

  Before the griffin fully landed, Marek jumped to the ground. He really wanted to get off Devon’s back.

  “Tsk, he should’ve waited a little longer. How much faster is he going to land?”
Marek gritted his teeth when Seon-Hyeok muttered as he scolded him.

  “After this is over, I will never go anywhere with you again.”
“So be it. I won’t be going anywhere after this either.”
Marek shot back when Seon-Hyeok gave a blithe answer.

  “On our way back, I will return by boat, even if it’s by myself.”
“Do whatever you wish.”
While they were bickering pointlessly, the Iberian people rushed over to them. From amongst the crowd, an elderly man dressed splendidly appeared. 

  “I received a message saying you would be coming, but I didn’t think you would arrive so quickly.”
It was Diego Velazquez, now a Grand Duke of Iberia.

  “I was in a rush…”
“Even if you rushed, it’s only been two weeks since we received the message…”
Diego Velazquez replied as if he found it absurd, but Kim Seon-Hyeok merely shrugged his shoulders and didn’t explain further. 

  “Well, please, why don’t you come in first. You got here so suddenly so we’re not quite ready yet, but I’m sure you’ll still be able to rest and recover from your journey.”
The Grand Duke of Iberia had been shaking his head when he suddenly discovered Marek. The Grand Duke looked at him quizzically.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever met the person you came with?”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m…”
Just as Marek was about to introduce himself, Kim Seon-Hyeok interrupted him and blocked him.

  “Let’s do the introductions later. Let’s go inside first.”
When Seon-Hyeok stepped forward like that, the Grand Duke of Iberia was no longer interested in Marek.

  Even though they didn’t have much of a connection in the past, Diego Velazquez had treated Kim Seon-Hyeok respectfully. Now that Iberia had become a territory of Adenburg, Diego Velazquez was even more careful in his attitude now.

  He treated Seon-Hyeok as if he was a superior.

  Well, that wasn’t completely strange. Even though they had the same title of Grand Duke, Seon-Hyeok was the husband of the only monarch of the Empire. If Velazquez were to offend Seon-Hyeok, there was always the possibility that he would not get help from the mainland should he ever need it. 

  Since Iberia had decided to become a territory of the Empire in order to escape the evil influence of the Holy Kingdom, that was a situation they had to avoid at all costs.

  “As you asked, I gathered information on the final battle between the Warrior and the Demon King, but since some time has passed since that day, I’m not sure if the Warrior would still be at that location.”
It was for that reason that when Kim Seon-Hyeok asked Velazquez to investigate the whereabouts of the Warrior before he left the Empire, Velazquez had gathered surprisingly detailed information in a short period of time. 

  “This is enough for now. Thank you.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok expressed his gratitude appropriately when he read through the report that was full of details on the size of the troops mobilized in the last battle and how that battle progressed. 

  “Are you really entering the Demon King’s lands?”
The Grand Duke of Iberia let out a small sigh when Kim Seon-Hyeok gave a small nod.

  “I would like to stop you, but I doubt you’d listen.”
“It’s not like I’m going because I want to.” 
At those words, Diego Velasquez quickly glanced around before lowering his voice.

  “These days, the atmosphere of the Central Alliance is very strange. No, to be more precise, the mood of the Holy Kingdom isn’t very good.”
Kim Seon-Hyeok put down his spoon and waited quietly for Velazquez’s next words.

  “The Holy Kingdom doesn’t seem to have the will to fight against the Demon King any longer.”
“If it’s as I heard, then they’ve restored at least one-quarter of the recovered western region. It wouldn’t be too strange if they ended the war now. Of course, that’s only if the Demon King allows that to happen.”
Diego Velazquez smacked the table lightly with his hand.

  “That’s exactly it!”
When Seon-Hyeok stared at him blankly for his unexpected behavior, Diego Velazquez explained, flushing.

  “According to the intelligence, it seems like the Holy Kingdom and the Demon King have agreed to some kind of secret agreement.”
What on earth is he talking about?

  Unintentionally, Kim Seon-Hyeok sat up in his seat.

  Divine power and demonic energy were opposites. They were natural enemies that devoured each other. It was impossible for Kim Seon-Hyeok to understand how those two powers entered a secret agreement with their adversary.

  “It can be said that the frontline stalled for a while because there was a great deal of troops mobilized in the war and there was also a great deal of damage on the part of the Demon King. So it doesn’t make any sense that there hasn’t been a single dispute so far. Perhaps not the side of humans, but at the very least, the demons should be agitated and chomping at the bit to tear into the humans. So isn’t it strange that there hasn’t been a single trouble anywhere?”
Diego Velazquez continued to talk as he gestured at Seon-Hyeok to retake his seat.

  “I took my doubts and looked into it. And I have finally come to a conclusion.”
“And you concluded that there was a secret agreement between the Demon King and the Holy Kingdom?”
As if he had been waiting for this very question, Diego Velazquez nodded.

  “That’s exactly it.”
He had one more thing to say.

  “I don’t know the details of their agreement, but I’m sure the Central Kingdom Alliance had to pay a hefty price for taking a quarter of the western region as their own.”
The eyes of the elderly politician who had endured the pressure of the Holy Kingdom while protecting the city-states looked Kim Seon-Hyeok straight in the eye.

  “You, the Indomitable Grand Duke, will most likely be a part of that price.”
When he heard that, Seon-Hyeok remembered the message that had been delivered to Mangsk.

  “Then, the aid they requested from me is…”
“Most likely a trap.”
By this point, Kim Seon-Hyeok couldn’t even be angry.”
“Ha. I knew the bastards of the Holy Kingdom were insidious, but I didn’t think it’d be this much.”
“And now you see why Iberia was willing to bow at the feet of the Empire to try to break free from the Holy Kingdom.”
Diego Velazquez chimed in when Seon-Hyeok began to curse the Holy Kingdom. 

  “Since it’s a trap meant to capture the Indomitable Grand Duke Drachen, it won’t be a normal trap. Just thinking about how insidious and deadly the trap they laid give me goosebumps. 

  Although Kim Seon-Hyeok hadn’t responded to the message from the Holy Kingdom, by now, rumors of his journey to the West must’ve spread. If Diego Velazquez’s guess was correct, then it was obvious that the Demon King must’ve laid a trap and was waiting for him. 

  “So, what’re you going to do now? Are you planning on heading West even knowing that it’s a trap?”