"How could I have prepared for this! The centuries-old wish of the entire elven race... how could it be shattered so easily! Aaaahhh...!"

"Captain of the Guard. Take her away. There seems to be much I need to hear from that woman."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Sefiroth, screaming, was seized by the guards and dragged away.

Vanessa, looking at the Dark Elf's desperate wails, fell into a moment of thought.

'To be so completely manipulated by a single sorcerer... how could this happen?'

Who could she hold responsible for this situation?

If she had to ask, it would be the previous Emperors who failed to recognize the dangers of sorcery in time, as well as Vanessa herself.

Until now, the danger of a single sorcerer was thought to be on par with that of a hypnotist, at worst.

But here, a sorcerer infiltrated the military as an aide, and over an extended period, cast spells on the entire legion. To think she even created a synthetic lifeform powerful enough to potentially destroy the Imperial Palace...

'I must admit, I underestimated the danger of sorcerers.'

Compared to wizards, sorcerers were fewer in number. As a result, the information about them was as rare as that about dark magicians.

What was known, however, was that sorcerers had extremely poor mana efficiency.

The medium for sorcery was the mana altered by a person's intense emotions. The conditions for obtaining that mana were stringent, and the amount of altered mana that could be harvested from a single person was limited.

Because of this, sorcery was generally seen as a one-time technique for someone seeking revenge after having their life completely destroyed. They would hone their skill throughout their life to avenge their enemy.

But to think that the sorceress would gather altered mana from the lives lost in war to use for her magic...

There was no greater evil than this.

She must have thought she was carrying out revenge on behalf of the entire elven kingdom. Yet, the civil war had long since ended, and the elven kingdom, which had been subject to harsh regulations from the Empire, was now gradually improving relations with the Empire, moving from a puppet state to a principality.

'A monster born of war...?'

To think that a sorceress as powerful as this could be born from war.

It was a novel idea that no one had ever considered before.

And now, there was one more reason to suppress war. The Empire would have to rethink its foreign policy dramatically. Vanessa already felt a headache coming on just thinking about it.

"Aslan Vermont."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Aside from myself, Reinhardt, the guards, and you, there is no one else who witnessed what happened today. Therefore, this matter will be classified, and it is prohibited to speak of it. Do you have any objections?"

"No. There are no objections. It would be problematic if the power of the sorcery were to become widely known, so I will absolutely follow your orders."

Aslan Vermont immediately bowed his head in compliance.

Vanessa, looking at Aslan with a displeased expression, couldn't hide her discomfort.

"So. Are you ready to answer the question I asked earlier?"

"Yes? What do you mean?"

"I asked how you felt about daring to look at and touch the skin of the Empire's supreme ruler."

"..."

Aslan’s face stiffened at those words. His pupils shook violently, and cold sweat began to trickle down his back.

He had not only seen the Empress' body—something no one had ever done—but he had actually touched it? That was beyond a major crime.

This unprecedented incident left even Vanessa unsure how to react, and she fumbled for a response. But on the outside, she showed no sign of it, merely staring at Aslan.

'If it weren’t for Aslan Vermont, I would either be dead by now or weeping with blood on my hands.'

Of course, she knew how serious the situation had been. If things had been left unchecked, the sorcery would have taken over her body, and she might have become a puppet to be toyed with. It wouldn’t have been strange if her heart had simply stopped and she had died.

Internally, she had already forgiven Aslan, but she couldn’t help but wonder what kind of excuse he would come up with.

'I’m sure he’ll try to make an excuse, saying it was an emergency...'

A brief silence followed.

Vanessa soon regretted it and let out a sigh.

'Why am I being so petty?'

What would she gain from cornering her life-saver like this? There would be nothing but obvious excuses. What was she even expecting from him? She felt embarrassed by her own expectations.

Just as she was about to retract the question, thinking it was better to forget about it, she was interrupted.

"What I just said..."

"It was very soft and smooth."

"...?"

"Your Majesty's skin was just as beautiful as it seemed, and the touch of it in my hand..."

"W-What! What are you saying about the Empress' body now?!"

Aslan’s words came spilling out in a flustered, heated tone, and Vanessa couldn't hold back. She lunged forward and covered Aslan's mouth.

Aslan, bewildered and with an embarrassed expression, couldn’t seem to understand what had just happened.

The Empress, feeling her face burning red, didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"You asked me to express my thoughts..."

"You have no remorse, do you?"

"Of course not. If I could go back, I would make the same choice and save Your Majesty again."

"...If you express your loyalty so boldly, I can’t say anything."

Vanessa let go of Aslan and felt the heat in her face linger, not going away.

'How can he look so unaffected? I’m dying of embarrassment, but he looks so casual about it.'

"Huh. You all look exhausted. Get out of here."

"But, Your Majesty..."

"The imperial family will take care of the aftermath. I’ve already received more than enough help from you. If I take any more, the dignity of the Empire will be at risk. Go and rest, and perhaps wait for your reward."

"Yes. I will do so, Your Majesty."

Aslan nodded, and just as he turned to leave, Vanessa suddenly remembered something and grabbed his arm.

"Ah. I think I forgot to thank you..."

She quickly pulled her hand back, feeling embarrassed, unsure of where to place her now suspended hand.

"I... thank you. When I assigned you the secret guard duty, I never imagined it would lead to something like this. Thanks to your composed and sacrificial actions, not only I, but many lives were saved."

"It’s nothing. I was just doing what I was assigned to do. Please don’t feel like you owe me anything."

"..."

Aslan smiled faintly and turned away, leaving with his group.

Vanessa watched them leave, and once they were out of sight, she let out a deep sigh.

"Tchaaahhh..."

Vanessa immediately splashed her face with cold water and groaned in regret.

'What kind of reaction was I expecting from Aslan?'

She had saved her life, and she should be grateful, but now she found herself feeling frustrated by how nonchalant he was about it.

Aslan’s reaction, void of any remorse or embarrassment, felt like a knife to her chest.

'Does Aslan not see me as a woman?'

"Damn it. What was I thinking?"

She was already married to the Empire, so she had never even glanced at another man. But the strange fluttering feeling she felt inside, while not entirely unpleasant, was something she couldn't quite shake off

"Damn it. I can’t remember a thing."

Inside the carriage heading back to the mansion, surrounded by the children who had fallen asleep from exhaustion, I couldn’t sleep at all as I searched through the fragments of memories that remained in my mind.

I couldn’t remember a thing. I couldn’t recall what it felt like when I touched the Empress’s chest!

I remembered that it was a perfect size, just about the right amount for my hand, and perfectly shaped—but the sensation of it, the feel of it, had vanished like it was never there.

So when I had to give a comment on the Empress’s body, I was left with no choice but to come up with something that sounded good, throwing in some nice words to make it sound pleasant.

I was losing my mind!

Was the situation so urgent that it didn’t stay in my memory? But that doesn’t make sense.

I’ve never been in a situation where I forgot something like this. Such a rare, almost never-to-happen-again experience in the history of the Empire, and now it was gone, like it never happened.

I felt so disgusted with myself that it nearly brought tears to my eyes.

"Yuria. Good job. It must have been sudden, but you handled it excellently..."

"Hhhng..."

Yuria, sitting across from me in a proper posture, looked like she was awake, but it turned out she was asleep with her mask still on.

After running around all night until her shoes were worn out, it was no wonder she had fallen asleep from exhaustion. I decided not to wake her.

"Mmm, mmm... delicious cookies..."

"Ah, no... Aslan, if you get hurt... ugh..."

Just as I was about to stand and adjust my position, I realized I was being held in place, my legs and arms wrapped up tightly by strong hands, unable to move.

Charlotte had mana exhaustion, and Yuria had been healing the wounded undead army, which had drained her stamina.

If I remained still, the children could sleep peacefully without waking up.

If that was the case, I’d bear this discomfort without complaint and returned to my awkward position.

"Silvia. How are you doing?"

"I'm not injured, but... Master, what were you thinking? You tried to face that monster alone?"

"I’ve got a god on my side, haven’t I? I believed it would work out somehow."

"...

[The evil god, 'Kali,' regrets missing the perfect opportunity to respond to your belief.]

Silvia’s face still showed irritation, as if she wasn’t pleased with my answer. She turned her head slowly away from me and closed her eyes.

"Master, really... sigh. No, I shouldn’t say this to you. I’ll just get some rest."

"Hey, you can’t sleep now. What if we’re attacked?"

"It’s fine. I’ve set up a barrier around the carriage. If there’s any disturbance, it’ll wake me up to respond."

"...

Ah, she had a plan.

In that case, I guess it was fine for her to sleep.

...But the moment I thought that, I sensed something strange.

"Wait a second. You said you put a barrier around the whole carriage? But didn’t you say before that the barrier could only be small enough for two people to fit in? How could you fit the whole carriage with it?"

"...Ah."

At that moment, Silvia’s eyes snapped open.

Her face began to flush deeply.

So this little rascal had been lying to me?