A dragon’s virtue is to hide their true identity while playing their games.

But Waraticas didn’t seem interested in hiding anything at all. Whether she acted like this only in front of me or everyone else didn’t matter.

She just seemed insane. I wondered if she even realized that her eyes had shifted midway through our encounter.

“...Ugh.”

My entire body was cramping, muscles twisting painfully. I had forced myself to stay upright, resisting the pressure she exerted on me.

What surprised me more than the pain was the ridiculous fact that she had tried to crush me to that extent. It was one thing to intimidate a person with sheer presence, but to make it difficult to even move? That was no ordinary feat.

It wasn’t common for someone’s presence to paralyze another person. It required more than just mental fortitude, atmosphere, or circumstances. Yet Waraticas had managed to do it simply by looking at me. Even the maid standing far behind had collapsed under the pressure.

“Well, I got through it…”

She said she’d return, so I suppose my response wasn’t bad.

The treatment had been decent, and considering she apologized at the end, it seemed Waraticas was satisfied with how things went. This was just the beginning, though.

I closed my eyes, trying to think of how I should handle our next meeting.

“…What?”

The edges of the minimap flickered red.

When I checked, I noticed two gray dots and one red dot approaching my location. The red dot was slightly ahead, with the two gray dots following closely behind.

“...”

I focused on the situation.

The gray dots moved past the palace staff without slowing down, while the staff either stood still or moved aside to avoid them. Whoever was coming, they weren’t walking alone and clearly had a high enough status that even palace staff had to make way for them.

A person who didn’t wander alone. Someone who moved around the palace without question and had the authority to visit a prisoner at will.

It wasn’t hard to make an educated guess.

Given that Waraticas had only brought one maid with her, I could take this assumption further.

“A high-ranking noble?”

My guess was that this was a noble with a grudge against me, someone from the Empire’s upper echelons.

It could be a general I had fought before, but they wouldn’t have had enough time to reach the capital yet. My group had traveled as fast as possible, using the Phlegethon for instant travel, and it had still taken four days. Counting from the day Andrei attacked the camp, only seven days had passed. Even at a normal speed, any generals would still be on their way here.

That meant this was likely a noble. If they were accompanied by two attendants, they probably believed their power rivaled that of the emperor. If those attendants weren’t servants but guards, this person might even be considered dangerous.

*Click.*

The doorknob turned without hesitation.

As soon as I saw the man enter, I was sure this was indeed a high-ranking noble. He was a slender man, about my age, with neatly slicked-back hair and adorned with jewelry embedded with red gems. His clothes were bright red, and his face was flushed, almost like he was perpetually angry.

“...Are you Viktor?”  
“...?”  
“Show some respect. I am Duke Theodore Offenstadt, leader of the Imperial faction.”

His tone was pompous, his voice deliberately lowered, and he raised his chin as if trying to look down on me.

I had seen his type often in the kingdom—a noble who wanted to appear more important than he was.

“Oh, you must not know. The nobility in the Empire is divided into two factions: the Imperial faction, which I lead, and the Aristocratic faction. The Imperial faction is currently in control.”

So, Theodore Offenstadt.

I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with the name. He was one of the dukes from the Aristocratic faction and had occasionally appeared in strange in-game events. Didn’t he try to confess his love to the emperor at one point?

I glanced at the maids following him. They wore the same type of badge as the one on the maid who had accompanied Waraticas earlier.

“It means I am the closest voice to His Majesty,” Theodore said, clearly trying to impress me.

Considering that the emperor’s maids weren’t reacting to his words, it seemed he wasn’t lying. The fact that he was the leader of the Imperial faction and had sought me out suggested my actions had affected him in some way.

It was hard to believe someone like him could be the head of the Imperial faction. It showed just how little interest Waraticas had in governing.

“Well, I came to see what all the fuss was about, but you don’t seem like much.”

I didn’t know if he was talking to me or just muttering to himself. Either way, I remained seated, watching him calmly.

There was no reason for Viktor to bow to a noble who only boasted about his title and status. A man like Theodore, who wouldn’t even dare draw a sword, didn’t warrant fear.

“I heard you were captured quietly. Did you plan to come to the Empire?”  
...Had he figured it out?

“Then again, it wouldn’t be surprising to be enchanted by His Majesty’s charm.”

...Just nonsense.

There was no way he had uncovered my intentions. I had momentarily felt startled for no reason. He was just talking nonsense.

“If the emperor herself came to see you and yet you’re still sitting here, she must not have been impressed.”  
“...”  
“...Hey. Are you ignoring me?”

He stepped toward me, his short legs moving with exaggerated strides that didn’t suit him at all.

“I’m offering you an opportunity that will never come again, to a man who will spend the rest of his life living in obscurity.”

Something about him reminded me of Andrei. Theodore spoke with a strange confidence, as if his words were the truth.

“You must have enjoyed yourself in the kingdom, surrounded by incompetents. But in the Empire, men like you are a dime a dozen.”

It was like watching someone delude themselves, imagining they knew everything. His tone, brimming with undeserved self-assurance, was all too familiar.

“The emperor may have been disappointed in you, but if you swear loyalty to me, I could arrange a position for you.”

And there it was—crossing the line.

...I mentally apologized to Waraticas. Maybe calling her crazy had been premature. Only someone like Theodore truly deserved that label.

Even as a prisoner, I couldn’t believe he was treating me, the commander of a rival nation, with such disdain.

“I can pay you well. You may even ask for whatever else you desire.”

Interestingly, the maids who had come with him were still the emperor’s maids. Which meant this conversation could easily reach the emperor’s ears.

I didn’t know why Theodore was provoking me, but I had no reason not to use this situation to my advantage.

As he leaned in closer, I stood up from my chair.

“Theodore, was it?”  
“...What?”

Confronting him with strength wasn’t necessarily the smartest move, but I had just done the same with the emperor earlier. It only made sense to maintain the same stance now.

A soldier who was overly polite to his enemies wasn’t worth much.

As I took a step forward, Theodore recoiled in surprise. The maids, who clearly had no intention of intervening, discreetly moved aside to give us space.

“You’re just a prisoner, what—”

He retreated as I advanced, his words losing their weight. I kept stepping toward him, pushing him back until his back hit the wall.

“What are you doing? Stop him! Someone stop him!” Theodore cried out in panic, but the maids remained passive, watching as if they hadn’t heard him.

*Thud.*

The room wasn’t large, and soon his back was pressed firmly against the wall.

I moved closer, until I could have reached out and touched him.

“What... What are you…”

I placed my hand on his left shoulder, leaning in just enough to make eye contact.

Since he could be a future competitor of mine, it was important to leave a lasting impression.

“Hiiik.”  
“You’re alive only because of your betrayal.”

Before I could apply any real pressure, Theodore hastily wriggled out from under my grip.

“How dare you defy me! You’ll regret this!” he shouted, grabbing the door handle in a hurry and sputtering out the obvious threats.

“You should hope we don’t meet again,” I added, just loud enough for him to hear.

“Ugh…!”

With a final yelp, he bolted out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

The maids who had observed the entire exchange gave me a polite bow before following him out.

*Click.*

After the door closed, I sat back down, waiting for whoever would come next. Now that the leader of the Imperial faction had made a move, it was only natural that someone from the Aristocratic faction would soon approach me.

---

There was a problem.

The sun was setting, but no one else had come to see me.

Theodore didn’t seem like an especially complicated figure, but he had been a variable nonetheless. Considering that both Waraticas and Theodore had visited me, the Aristocratic faction’s lack of response was unexpected.

“The Aristocratic faction has become too weak.”

It seemed the faction had weakened far more than I had anticipated. I had expected them to be on the back foot after their failure in the northern war, but this was worse than I thought.

Without the emperor’s direct involvement, I had assumed that the Imperial faction wouldn’t be able to expand its influence so aggressively.

But from the fact that Theodore had

 tried such a poor excuse of an attempt to recruit me, it seemed that the Imperial faction, despite its messiness, had managed to consolidate its power under the emperor’s name.

The difficulty had just ramped up.

Though it wouldn’t be as hard as dealing with the tightly-knit nobility of the Ruth Kingdom, securing my position here wouldn’t be easy. I would likely have to contend with someone like Theodore, who already had a strong grip on power.

As I mulled over my next steps—

*Knock, knock, knock.*

There it was again, three deliberate knocks.

Could it be?

*Click.*

“I said I’d return, didn’t I?”

Just as I had suspected, Waraticas had come back, bringing her maid along with her.

It hadn’t even been a full day. What kind of crazy standard was she trying to set in my mind now?