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Only two people occupied the spacious conference room at Peril Castle.
“Marquis Crombell left Peril Castle in peace. He said he’ll formally issue his surrender as soon as he returns to his estate.”
“Oh… That’s… That’s good.” Charles’s eyes began to leak tears. “When my father wakes up… he’ll be happy, right?”
“Of course, Young Lady…” Count Keiros sighed under his breath. He won, but the victory hurt. The family was still collapsing without its patriarch, and the mysterious dealings between Joshua and Marquis Crombell left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth.
I should have just retired and spent the rest of my years fishing. He looked at Charles and shook his head. The Pontiers were already out of the water; what they needed right now was a pillar to rely on.
“More importantly, Young Lady… I heard something…” Count Keiros changed the subject with a little smile. “You gave Baron Sanders the family insignia?”
“Ah…”
“What do you think about him? If I remember correctly, giving someone the family insignia means that you want to spend the rest of your life with them…?”
“Oh? Is that what it means?”
Charles hadn’t said a word; the voice came from the doorway. Count Keiros and Charles spun around with confused looks on their faces.
“Sir Cain! And Icarus!”
“Oh, uh…” Cain smiled and scratched his head. Icarus was glaring at him. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
“It’s okay. What brings you two—?”
“I apologize for troubling you so early in the morning, but I have something urgent to tell you, Young Lady.” Icarus’s hands were pressed together in apology.
“It’s not rude at all.” Charles smiled and shook her head. “I’m more than happy to see you. You are our heroes.”
“Yes, of course!” Cain pounded his chest. “Even if our master hadn’t ordered us, we would still help the Young Lady!”
“Are you sure about that, Sir Cain? Your words might come back to bite you,” Icarus jabbed.
“What?!” Icarus seemed to have hit Cain right in his white knight complex.
Charles tried to hide her laughter behind her hand. “I always get the feeling that you two are great friends?”
“Great friends?” Cain and Icarus said at the same time. “Who?”
“Oh! I remember the saying: love and hate are two sides of the same coin.”
“Grrr! That aside, Young Lady, was Count Keiros correct? Is it true that you feel something toward the master?”
Charles answered his straightforward question with a bright, unworried smile. “With the Avalon Empire at peace, Baron Sanders is the most eligible bachelor in all of Igrant.”
“Wha….” Icarus and Cain couldn’t hide their surprise.
“Just joking.”
“Hah…” Icarus sighed in relief.
“Of course… Baron Sanders’s ambition aside… I am a woman before I am the head of my house.” Charles watched Icarus’s reactions with great interest. “I gave it to him when we were kids because he didn’t even want to look me in the eyes.”
“Ah.”
“But now… Now I don’t even understand my heart. He’s such a good man—or should I say he’s godlike, too glorious to touch.”
“Of course. Our master is not called the War God for nothing.” Icarus poked Cain in the side with a smirk as if Icarus was the one being praised.
“I agree.” Charles nodded firmly. “Of course, the question is whether or not I can afford to think about dating or love right now. Don’t worry about that, though. I won’t take him from you right now.”
“Young Lady…” Despite Charles’s playful tone, Count Keiros could see what was really going on. Thousands of eyes were judging the young princess’s every move; the Count couldn’t begin to imagine how much pressure that placed on a woman who wasn’t even twenty years old yet. It made for a rather delicate atmosphere. “Hmmm. Oh, by the way.” Count Keiros looked back at Cain and Icarus. “What was it you wanted to tell us?”
“Ah. Master told us about them.”
“Who?”
“The traitors. Count Cox. How they’re going to be dealt with.”
“Hmm…” Count Keiros cast a careful glance in Charles’s direction. Cox and the Princess’s relationship was hardly a secret.
“The master instructed me to cut all of their heads off.”
“S-Sir Cain?” Icarus grabbed his arm, just as confused as Count Keiros, who just sat there with his eyes wide open.
It was a brutally simple solution.
“Sir Cain, we need to talk—”
“But before that, he told us that we should always seek Princess Charles for advice, as this is family business. That’s why we came to see you.”
Icarus sighed. The cat was out of the bag, so all that was left was to see how Charles responded.
“Take care of it,” Charles finally said. “Traitors are traitors. No matter how much we trusted them before, we must avenge those who died.”
“Young Lady…” Count Keiros stared at Charles, astonished by her cold, unhesitating judgment.
Then, even more shockingly, she bowed her head to Icarus and Cain.
“Y-Young Lady!”
“It’s fine. Icarus, Sir Cain, can I ask you for your help?”
Cain and Icarus glanced at each other.
“O-Of course.”
“Princess, you don’t need to do this.”
Despite their protests, Charles remained bowed for a long moment.
When she finally rose, her ruby eyes were steady and tranquil. Charles had taken the first step toward becoming the “Steel Empress.1”
He thought the sky was going to collapse, but the abyss gave way to a peaceful plain.
The small mountain of corpses was gone, as were the ugly sores on the ground. All of them had been consumed by the 8th Lesser Demon World, Infinite Hell.
A pattern flickered on Joshua’s fingers for just a moment. It resembled the Dullahan’s head, proof that he had subjugated the Lord of Dullahans.
[That power originated from a demon.]
Joshua admired the quiet break of dawn as Lugia spoke.
[That pattern as well—the Blood Moon. That pattern is something I could never duplicate. It came from an angel—a fallen angel, one of the most powerful with the biggest and most numerous wings. Comparable to the demon king, but a little different. Only Michael, the finest warrior amongst the angels, was capable of challenging them; it was Michael who put down his rebellion and ended his plan to achieve godhood.] Lugia hovered along beside Joshua. [That angel lost his four wings and took refuge in the demon realm. The demon king took him in, but…] The spear hummed. [Then he betrayed the one who had taken him in, stole his power of total control, and then fled. He is the only being known as a traitor in both heaven and hell.
[At his strongest, he can take on two demon lords simultaneously. But even worse, he has total control—otherwise known as total destruction.]
“That means…”
[Now that symbol appears on you. What could it mean?] Lugia continued to muse. [It looks as if the total control symbol is sealed for some reason—but if you could somehow wield it, you’d be godlike.]
“What does this angel call himself?”
[Lucifer, the one who steals light.]
As soon as Lugia uttered that word, the spear was filled with a bright red light. When it faded, the spear was transformed into something else entirely.
Lugia had fulfilled the conditions for its second awakening.
ED/N: Oh no, now Charles has a chuuni nickname too. ↩️