“The demon who aided that woman’s heinous crimes has just perished! Capture Marquise Sasha Haberon, who tried to plunge this country into ruin by borrowing the power of a demon!”
Anais, who had always been gentle and quiet, spoke in a low but firm voice, causing even the nobles who had clung to Sasha to flinch.
“Shut up! I’m the Queen! What are you guys doing? Capture the princess!”
But no one listened to Sasha’s orders.
Just moments ago, her own son, Abel—whom she had personally made Crown Prince—had confessed the truth. Not only had Sasha bewitched the Emperor with magic, but had also given him a poison that would make him lose his mind.
Besides, everyone in the room knew that it was because of her threats with the dragon on her back that she became empress and Abel became crown prince.
And the dragon just disappeared.
“What are you doing! This is an order from Her Highness the Crown Princess!”
As Count Arman, who had been supporting Anais, the surrounding knights immediately drew their swords against Sasha, and the nobles who had supported her, began to be captured.
“Ahhh! Let go of me! Let me go!”
In desperation, Sasha tried to use magic to fight off the knights, but whether it was due to the shock of losing Malek’s power, she was unable to resist the armed knights.
Sasha, who was captured and forced to kneel before Anais, called out to Abel, who was standing next to Anais.
“Abel! I am your mother. I am your mother who gave birth to you through terrible labor! How could you do this to me!”
Abel clenched his fists at Sasha’s seemingly innocent cry.
“That’s right. You are my mother, who gave the soul of her one-year-old son to the demon and rejoiced at the thought of her own ambitions being fulfilled.”
“That’s not it, Abel…!”
“You ignored my desperate pleas for mercy countless times. And yet, when I was locked in that room, feeling so lonely and afraid, I sometimes wished even you would come to me.”
“Everything I did was for you! To make you the Crown Prince—!”
“You seem to have forgotten that even when Malek controlled my body, I could still see and hear everything. What you truly desired was not for me to become Emperor, but to rule the empire through me.”
Abel’s words exposed Sasha’s true intentions, shocking everyone present.
Sasha fell into a panic.
“Abel! I was wrong! Please, spare me!”
“Why do you beg me? I am merely the child of a criminal, with no authority. I must also await Her Highness the Crown Princess’s judgment.”
Abel gave his mother a cold glare, then knelt down before looking at Anais.
“Your Highness. Please do not waver out of sentiment and deliver your judgment.”
Anais realized that Abel was willing to face death if it meant ensuring Sasha’s execution.
And many of the nobles who followed her also urged Anais to make a decision.
“His Majesty the Emperor is unwell, so it is only natural for Your Highness to temporarily take over imperial authority.”
“That’s right. And if this situation is not properly resolved, it could become the seed of future rebellion.”
Anais knew that Abel was under Malek’s control, but the other nobles did not.
To them, it seemed that Abel, who had been helping his mother cause this situation until yesterday, had suddenly become attached to Anais.
Anais nodded slowly.
“From now on, as the Crown Princess of the Calais Empire, I will temporarily take over the Emperor’s authority to resolve this emergency situation.”
At her declaration, everyone except the knights who had captured the sinners knelt on the floor and bowed their heads.
“Our priority is assessing the damage and restoring order. Marquise Haberon and the nobles who aided her shall be imprisoned in the underground prison. Prince Abel Aspen is to be confined to his room. The Imperial Guard shall be divided into squads to inspect the palace’s damage….”
Anais calmly gave orders to each person as to what to do.
Those who had been eyeing the “young” and “female” Anais, thinking they could manipulate her, and those who had been anxious about how an inexperienced Crown Princess would handle this dire situation, all found themselves astounded by her unwavering composure and commanding presence.
Only Abel, however, gazed up at Anais with a faint smile.
Although he was unable to prevent the death of the former empress, the satisfaction of having at least protected Anais’s safety comforted Abel’s past.
* * *
Elaine avoided giving Sergey a direct answer when she demanded the truth about what happened 500 years ago, insisting that restoring the ruined imperial palace and ensuring people’s safety had to come first.
However, when Sergey—despite his injured state—fully restored the palace and healed the wounded, then returned to count Lindell’s estate with his servants, Elaine realized she could no longer delay her answer.
Elaine took a deep breath, holding a cup of warm tea that Courbet had offered her at the table in the dining room where everyone was sitting.
“If you’re worried about them hearing, I’ll send them all away.” Sergey offered.
“No, it’s fine. I think they have the right to hear this too. In a way, they’ve suffered for 500 years because of me.”
Though Sergey preferred to speak in private, Elaine considered the servants’ feelings as well.
“First, I should start with what I overheard in Malek and Molly’s conversation.”
Even Sergey, who was generally indifferent to human names, remembered “Molly” clearly.
After all, Sasha was Molly’s descendant, and thanks to that, he had been able to glimpse parts of what happened 500 years ago.
“That’s right, Molly! That witch conspired with Malek to put you in danger! I told you over and over back then to be careful of that witch!”
Sergey had repeatedly warned Lancer to beware of Molly, as he had always found her gaze disturbing.
“I remember. And I was keeping a close eye on her, too. She was talented, but… I guess I could say she had an excessive competitive streak.”
“Competitive streak? More like an inferiority complex! She was just envious and jealous of anyone better than her!”
Elaine gave a wry smile.
After saving Molly, Lancer tried to nurture her talents properly.
However, Molly’s deep-rooted hatred of men makes it difficult to communicate Lancer’s true intentions.
It wasn’t easy to reveal that Lancer was disguising his gender, and knowing that Molly had almost been victimized by men in the past, Lancer chose to keep the distance. Lancer never imagined that decision would lead to Rabes being put in danger.
“One day, Molly brought a man and introduced him as a great foreign wizard. From the first moment I saw him, I had a strange feeling—something about him felt eerily similar to Rabes. …That man was Malek.”
“Don’t tell me that I’m similar to that guy because it makes me feel bad.”
“I’m sorry. But I think it was the unique aura of dragon magic. Anyway, Molly’s relationship with him seemed unnatural, so I started following them in secret from time to time.”
That’s how Elaine discovered that the so-called “great Wizard” was actually a dragon and that Molly mistakenly believed Lancer was ‘an old pervert obsessed with young men’.
“Then I overheard Malek and Molly plotting to seal Rabes. They were planning to seal him using me, who had Rabes’ magical core.”
“If you heard that, you should’ve told me immediately!”
Elaine smiled faintly and shook her head. The problem wasn’t just preventing Rabes from being sealed.
“Malek said that if he fails to seal Rabes, then the dragons will step in themselves. And in that case, they wouldn’t just seal Rabes—they would destroy Rabes.”
“Hah! As if they could—”
“No matter how strong you are, could you withstand a combined attack from several dragons?”
Sergey couldn’t say anything else. Even without visiting the dragon realm, he knew there had to be dragons stronger than him out there.
“So, what did you do?”
“I couldn’t let Rabes be destroyed. So… I pretended not to know Malek’s true identity and approached him just as he wanted.”
Then Lancer confessed his secret love and asked Malek if he knew any spells to extend lifespans. In response, Malek taught Lancer a spell—one that was supposedly for extended lifespans but was actually designed to seal dragons.
Since Molly mistook Lancer for a perverted old man, Malek also failed to suspect Lancer. It was almost too perfect of an opportunity.
“And I modified the sealing spell a little bit. Instead of making it eternal, I made it temporary.”
“So the spell Malek recited before he died wasn’t a mistake….”
“That’s right. That’s the original order.”
Sergey chuckled as he recalled Malek, who had been treated as a dragon with a memory problem even though he had memorized the correct spell.
Since Elaine had already reclaimed the magic core, the sealing attempt had failed—but Malek, unaware of that, must have been utterly shocked.
At the same time, the thought sent a chill down his spine.
If Elaine had been even slightly late in retrieving the magic core, he would have been trapped in that small egg, suffering forever.
“I figured 500 years would be a tolerable wait for you, and by then, the dragons would lose interest. That way, when my contract with you expired, you could awaken from the seal and live freely.”
“If you even calculated that our contract would be canceled… Does that mean you knew I would consider you a traitor?”
Elaine silently nodded.
“What if I had taken back my magic core from you immediately?”
“I knew you wouldn’t do that….”
“What?”
“Because Rabes is kind and soft-hearted.”
The demons looked shocked at those words, but neither Sergey nor Elaine noticed their expressions.
* * *
Awww he’s adorable