“I’m not interested.”
The Emperor looked baffled.
“……Is it because you saw the jewel first? Come to think of it, Lady Rachel Ingrave isn’t here today either. She should be able to come out now.”
Nathan saw the young lady’s back twitch as she walked away.
Only then did he realize that the “jewel” the Emperor was referring to was Rachel Ingrave.
The Jewel of Olsher.
For some reason, the title suited her remarkably well.
She truly had a dazzling appearance, like a jewel.
“…….”
……It was a completely pointless thought.
So what if a highly suspicious woman happened to be beautiful?
“Your Majesty. Preparations for the execution are complete.”
At the executioner’s report, the Emperor’s playful eyes changed.
His expression had become dignified in an instant.
“Then I’ll see you afterward, Young Lord.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Nathan moved to the place prepared for him.
His biological father, the Duke of Valencia, was waiting there.
“You’ve come.”
“…….”
Nathan silently looked at his biological father before turning his gaze away.
Soon, the executioner’s voice rang throughout the entire square.
“Bring out the prisoners!”
Pooooow—
At the deep sound of the horn announcing the beginning of the execution, a tremendous roar erupted from the citizens surrounding the execution platform.
“Waaaaaaaah!”
“Wooooooo!”
Amid the mixture of shouts and jeers, the prisoners were dragged out.
Caé Savanio, her hair disheveled; Wayne, whose body was so battered that it was difficult to find a single uninjured spot; and Paris.
“…….”
Among them, Nathan’s gaze settled on Paris.
The fake heir repeatedly scanned the nobles’ seats, and upon confirming that there was only a young nobleman beside the Marquis and Marchioness of Ingrave, he began hurling curses at Rachel Ingrave.
Of course, the words were drowned out by the deafening roar, so few people would have heard them.
“…….”
It wasn’t because he remembered what had happened in prison.
Nathan simply disliked the fact that, unlike Caé Savanio, who looked resigned, and the motionless knight, this man still looked relatively fine.
Nathan casually flicked one finger.
Thud—
“Ghk!”
Struck by an invisible force, Paris’s body bent ninety degrees at the waist.
As Nathan watched the fake heir being dragged away with unfocused eyes, his expression relaxed slightly.
The Duke, who had witnessed the entire thing right beside him, wore a peculiar expression.
“……What did you just do?”
“I didn’t like how stiff his neck was, so I made him bow.”
“…….”
In the meantime, the Emperor raised his hand.
In an instant, the surroundings fell silent, and the Emperor’s voice, amplified by magic, spread all the way to the ends of the square.
“Today is the day we execute the criminals who dared to endanger the capital and insult the Imperial Family and the Empire. With their blood, we shall restore discipline to the Empire.”
The soldiers forced the prisoners to kneel one by one.
When an executioner stood beside them with his sword drawn, Caé Savanio, who had seemed resigned, began struggling.
“W-wait……!”
“Begin the execution!”
Slash—
The woman’s head fell first.
After that, the head of the slave knight, who could barely even move properly, fell as well.
The last was the fake heir.
The fake seemed to be trying to say something.
But Nathan flicked his finger once more.
“Ghk……!”
Struck in the stomach by an invisible force, the man immediately shut his mouth.
Suspicious was suspicious.
But regardless, Nathan had no desire to hear that man insult her.
In that matter, there was no question that the man had been in the wrong.
Slash—
The final head fell.
A tremendous roar erupted and filled the Grand Square.
His biological father wore a regretful expression.
“This should ease her heart a little, shouldn’t it?”
“…….”
The “her” the Duke was referring to was his mother, Alisa Fodie.
Nathan’s eyes cooled.
“I don’t know. Isn’t that something we can’t make assumptions about yet?”
“Hmm? Ah, you’re right. We still haven’t finished cleaning up the Savanio family, after all.”
“…….”
That wasn’t what he had meant.
His biological father would probably come to understand it little by little.
That Rachel Ingrave, whom he had believed to be his benefactor, was somehow strange.
‘I don’t know what she’s hiding.’
But if there was someone behind her, or if she had some ulterior motive, she would not be able to escape his sight.
He was a man who had never once lost sight of his target.
That day, the heads of the three criminals were displayed in the capital’s Grand Square.
And the succession of the Duke of Valencia and the sealing ceremony of the great demon beast were officially announced.
It was a generational change that was both slightly different from the one before the regression and yet not different at all.
While the Valencia family was busy preparing for the sealing ceremony—
Rachel was holding her head in her hands after encountering an unexpected setback.
Her parents had returned from the execution and came looking for her, asking why she had not stayed beside the Young Lord.
Her younger brother had also been strangely hovering around her.
And Nathan Valencia’s suspicious silence afterward was another concern.
Yet all of those things could be set aside for the moment because there was a much bigger problem.
“……Becky. Is this really all the young noblemen of marriageable age?”
“Yes, My lady. Has something happened?”
“…….”
Rachel looked down at the list she had spent several days reviewing.
She had gone through it from beginning to end.
The problem was that there were hardly any names among them whose faces she hadn’t seen on the day her confinement sentence had been passed.
In fact, among the sons of counts and above, it was much rarer for someone not to have attended the Great Hall that day.
So it was only natural.
“…….”
Among those remaining, the unfamiliar ones were either from families with little influence, had problems with their lineage or finances, or had questionable personalities.
But if their titles were too low, her parents would certainly object vehemently.
“……Would meeting them make a difference?”
Of course, on the day Rachel had been sentenced to confinement, the Rachel of that time had been the wife of the fake heir who had insulted the Imperial Family.
She understood why the Emperor had summoned the nobles to the Great Hall specifically to make an example of her.
“…….”
Even so, Rachel sometimes remembered those gazes.
In that Great Hall where every kind of malice imaginable had drifted through the air—
Mockery.
Contempt disguised as pity.
Indifference.
Annoyance.
……When she thought about the fact that the man who was supposed to become her husband and live with her intimately had been standing there—
For some reason, her heart turned cold.
‘Maybe I should just get married and divorce him immediately.’
What were the laws regarding divorce again?
“……Still, I should at least sort them for now.”
There were too few candidates, so she decided to include the sons of nobles below the rank of Count as well.
Over the course of several days, Rachel selected those who had never been involved in the incident before her regression and began investigating their backgrounds.
Meanwhile, all the attention of the court and high society had turned toward the mountain behind the capital.
Today was the day of the first sealing ceremony for the great demon beast, under the leadership of Nathan Valencia.
Leading the Valencia family and its vassals, Nathan arrived at the sealing grounds on the mountain behind the capital.
The Duke of Valencia, standing beside him, pointed toward a place resembling a massive temple that stood among piles of stone.
“That is the sealing ground. The great demon beast is sealed there.”
“…….”
Nathan nodded without a word and dismounted.
In truth, he knew what would happen next.
If it were up to him, he would have liked to refuse the sealing ceremony.
But……
He couldn’t turn back after coming all the way here.
Besides, it was something that had to be done.
Now that the fake had been driven out and the true heir had returned, there was a duty that necessarily came with being the real one.
“……Hoo.”
Nathan exhaled deeply and handed the reins to a knight.
Following the Duke into the sealing grounds, he saw countless white pillars standing in rows, each so wide that several grown men holding hands would barely be able to encircle one.
With countless translucent veils hanging down and obscuring his vision—
Nathan recognized the magic and abilities embedded throughout the place.
Illusion magic.
Labyrinth magic.
Abilities that interfered with the five senses.
And all kinds of traps.
Yet every one of those devices became powerless before the Duke of Valencia’s steps.
Nathan asked,
“Is it limited to the direct line?”
“Yes. Once you undergo the sealing ceremony as well, they won’t work on you. The ceremony is designed to make the target recognizable to them.”
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