The Duke was the perfect male that Etensel had longed for. He couldn't help but cry.
However, it was not a warning, but an instinct accompanied by fear.
Just as Etensel looked at the Duke, the Duke was looking at him.
The Duke didn't say anything.
However, Etensel intuitively realized that his identity had been discovered. Etensel fled the place like a fox with its tail crossed.
Shame, anger, resentment toward himself.
All sorts of negative emotions were swirling inside Etensel.
Enduring the pouring emotions, he vowed. He would definitely succeed in changing.
That evening.
Etensel lost consciousness from the boiling heat.
After a night surrounded by everyone's worries, dawn came alone.
Etensel succeeded in changing.
The day was dawning.
The sun had only just begun to show its first light.
"Please allow me."
Like the rising sun, he would one day occupy the Empress's side.
Slowly enough that she wouldn't notice. Pushing the Duke away.
Although the Empress's companion was the Emperor, he made an exception.
'The Emperor anyway... '
Etensel's expression darkened.
The fox wrapped in robes left the Empress's garden.
The next afternoon.
Sepia applied to the Emperor for a transfer to a charity organization.
Duke Leopold's Palace.
That night after returning from the party.
Roxanne was looking down at two maps in his bedroom.
One was Sepia's. The other was a map of the Beastkin Empire.
For a long time, Roxanne looked at them overlapping the two maps in the light of the lamp.
"...I found it."
The two maps, which appeared translucent, were combined to form the shape of a wolf.
To be exact, the wolf's face is the front.
'You didn't mean the imperial map.'
From the beginning, both the palace and imperial maps were needed.
She was able to recall it because of Sepia's words.
The two maps that were similar but different in type had to be combined into one.
The continental map was used to give the imperial map the shape of a wolf.
The imperial castle used different colors depending on the use of the building.
On the map organized by importance, the locations where the wolf's eyes would be were marked with gold and blue, respectively, where the palaces were located.
'...The male divine beast Drodian has golden eyes, and the female has blue eyes.'
In fact, the Drodian was not originally a pair, but one.
The goddess, who knew of the Drodian's loneliness, divided the divine beast into male and female.
And the locations of the two, expressed in the myth, were left and right, respectively.
This was also the same as the map.
All the clues pointed to the wolf, the divine beast Drodian, the symbol of the imperial family.
'The blue building... is this place?'
It was the Empress's palace.
However, the investigation there was already almost finished.
Every day that Sepia checked the map, he searched the Empress's palace little by little.
'If only I hadn't checked it...'
There was only one other place besides Sepia’s bedroom.
Roxanne, who had confirmed the location, summoned the commander of the headquarters.
“We found the place where the relics were hidden. Move with minimal personnel.”
“...Yes? I will prepare right away.”
Groer looked dazed for a moment before hurriedly gathering the knights.
The knights followed Roxanne.
Late at night was a good time to move.
The agents who had killed their presence hid underground, avoiding the guards.
They arrived at the Empress’s palace’s equipment room, which was currently closed, and the door directly connected to the Empress’s palace was blocked. It was the very place where the former Empress, Yerdial, and her maid, Sway, had hidden traces of her sins. Groer, who had gone through the labyrinthine underground passages with them, stuck out his tongue.
“We couldn’t find it because it was in a place like this. If the Empress hadn’t lent us a map, we wouldn’t have even come close.”
The other knights agreed.
The Empress’s map was the only one that had the location of the now-closed underground equipment room marked on it.
But that made it even stranger.
'It's almost as if she expected me to borrow a map from the Empress.'
Roxanne's expression hardened.
Meanwhile, the knights began to search the inside of the cloakroom.
One of those who had been knocking on the piled-up supplies and walls raised his hand.
“There’s an empty space here!”
“What? Where!”
Groer ran toward the noise.
He knocked on the wall the knight had pointed to to check beyond.
“It’s true? Get out of the way.”
“Yes!”
As the knights stepped back, Groer raised his elbow and slammed it down on the wall.
Knock.
With a slight commotion, the center of the left wall collapsed.
Roxanne muttered as she looked at the empty space.
“It was a false wall.”
He crossed between the knights and went inside.
An old-looking stone statue was hidden inside the small space.
It was a decoration modeled after a male Drodian that had been lost in the Red King’s palace in the past.
Something was shining inside the wolf’s maw as it roared.
Roxanne put his hand into the beast’s mouth.
Click.
Something caught between the palate and throat fell out with a small noise.
“...This.”
Roxanne’s eyes widened as he confirmed the identity of the relic.
The sparkling seal that could fit in one hand was something that all the royal family of the Beastkin Empire knew.
And it was said that this seal only worked when there was a pair.
Groer, who had confirmed Roxanne standing stiffly, leaned over to him.
“Did you find it? So what on earth was the relic?”
Before Groer could confirm it, Roxanne said, hiding the relic inside his jacket.
“I have to find one more.”
“Huh? Another?!”
“Ugh, isn’t this the first place we searched? I remember looking through every single piece of dust.”
They searched the inside so thoroughly that nothing came out.
However, the location the map was pointing to was clear. Roxanne, who had ordered them to move there first, was lost in thought.
‘...We’ve definitely searched everything. Was there a space we haven’t found yet?’
That building was the place Roxanne had first ordered to search and the location with the highest probability of containing relics.
Furthermore, the palace itself was always empty, so a thorough search was possible at any time.
It was a place that they had definitely searched and given up on, so why?
“We’ve arrived.”
The knight opened the door to the underground passage.
Tonight, as always, this place was empty.
The evening Sepia applied to the Emperor for a transfer to the charity organization.
The first to come to her was none other than Demios.
The reception room of the Empress’s Palace.
Unlike Demios, who couldn’t hide his excitement at the sudden visit, Sepia asked lightly.
“What’s going on?”
“...The Empress would know better.”
He growled in a low voice.
There had been no news from the Emperor until the afternoon. He had been spending time at the government villa, and late in the evening, he came running after checking the application that Sepia had sent.
“Withdraw it immediately.”
Demios roughly slammed the documents Sepia had sent down on the table.
There were three sheets of paper.
The first sheet was an application for transfer from a civilian organization, signed by Sepia.
The next sheet was where the trouble began.
“I approve the establishment of a new department as the Star of Ishtar.”
The second sheet was her identification card.
As a foreigner, Sepia had two identities.
One was the Empress of the Empire.
The other was the Star of Ishtar.
To become the Empress of the Beastkin Empire, one had to have citizenship from her home country, but since the Beastkin Empire did not have the concept of immigrants, changing nationalities was impossible.
Instead of being unable to change her nationality, Sepia was baptized by the High Priest and became the first special citizen of the Empire of the Beastkin as the Star of Ishtar.
Stars with special destinies were given various special powers.
One of them was the creation of a new department.
The Star of Ishtar had the duty of guiding the Empire in the right direction.
Therefore, those born with this destiny could only create a special department based on the Imperial Family without the Emperor's permission once.
'...I forgot because Demios didn't show me.'
The Star of Ishtar was treated as a special law of the Empire, and this law was handled by the High Priest, not the Emperor.
To make Sepia a citizen of the Empire, the High Priest had newly enacted a special law that allowed those with the destiny of the Star to change their nationality to citizens of the Empire.
That's why the special law code was the only new thing in the library.
Sepia also knew that there was a special law, but she believed Demios's words that the law was only necessary for changing nationality and that the other provisions were not that important, so she didn't look it up.
The only thing buried deep in her mind was the fact that the special law code should be kept in the Empress's Palace for generations.
However, it was not a warning, but an instinct accompanied by fear.
Just as Etensel looked at the Duke, the Duke was looking at him.
The Duke didn't say anything.
However, Etensel intuitively realized that his identity had been discovered. Etensel fled the place like a fox with its tail crossed.
Shame, anger, resentment toward himself.
All sorts of negative emotions were swirling inside Etensel.
Enduring the pouring emotions, he vowed. He would definitely succeed in changing.
That evening.
Etensel lost consciousness from the boiling heat.
After a night surrounded by everyone's worries, dawn came alone.
Etensel succeeded in changing.
The day was dawning.
The sun had only just begun to show its first light.
"Please allow me."
Like the rising sun, he would one day occupy the Empress's side.
Slowly enough that she wouldn't notice. Pushing the Duke away.
Although the Empress's companion was the Emperor, he made an exception.
'The Emperor anyway... '
Etensel's expression darkened.
The fox wrapped in robes left the Empress's garden.
The next afternoon.
Sepia applied to the Emperor for a transfer to a charity organization.
***
Duke Leopold's Palace.
That night after returning from the party.
Roxanne was looking down at two maps in his bedroom.
One was Sepia's. The other was a map of the Beastkin Empire.
For a long time, Roxanne looked at them overlapping the two maps in the light of the lamp.
"...I found it."
The two maps, which appeared translucent, were combined to form the shape of a wolf.
To be exact, the wolf's face is the front.
'You didn't mean the imperial map.'
From the beginning, both the palace and imperial maps were needed.
She was able to recall it because of Sepia's words.
The two maps that were similar but different in type had to be combined into one.
The continental map was used to give the imperial map the shape of a wolf.
The imperial castle used different colors depending on the use of the building.
On the map organized by importance, the locations where the wolf's eyes would be were marked with gold and blue, respectively, where the palaces were located.
'...The male divine beast Drodian has golden eyes, and the female has blue eyes.'
In fact, the Drodian was not originally a pair, but one.
The goddess, who knew of the Drodian's loneliness, divided the divine beast into male and female.
And the locations of the two, expressed in the myth, were left and right, respectively.
This was also the same as the map.
All the clues pointed to the wolf, the divine beast Drodian, the symbol of the imperial family.
'The blue building... is this place?'
It was the Empress's palace.
However, the investigation there was already almost finished.
Every day that Sepia checked the map, he searched the Empress's palace little by little.
'If only I hadn't checked it...'
There was only one other place besides Sepia’s bedroom.
Roxanne, who had confirmed the location, summoned the commander of the headquarters.
“We found the place where the relics were hidden. Move with minimal personnel.”
“...Yes? I will prepare right away.”
Groer looked dazed for a moment before hurriedly gathering the knights.
The knights followed Roxanne.
Late at night was a good time to move.
The agents who had killed their presence hid underground, avoiding the guards.
They arrived at the Empress’s palace’s equipment room, which was currently closed, and the door directly connected to the Empress’s palace was blocked. It was the very place where the former Empress, Yerdial, and her maid, Sway, had hidden traces of her sins. Groer, who had gone through the labyrinthine underground passages with them, stuck out his tongue.
“We couldn’t find it because it was in a place like this. If the Empress hadn’t lent us a map, we wouldn’t have even come close.”
The other knights agreed.
The Empress’s map was the only one that had the location of the now-closed underground equipment room marked on it.
But that made it even stranger.
'It's almost as if she expected me to borrow a map from the Empress.'
Roxanne's expression hardened.
Meanwhile, the knights began to search the inside of the cloakroom.
One of those who had been knocking on the piled-up supplies and walls raised his hand.
“There’s an empty space here!”
“What? Where!”
Groer ran toward the noise.
He knocked on the wall the knight had pointed to to check beyond.
“It’s true? Get out of the way.”
“Yes!”
As the knights stepped back, Groer raised his elbow and slammed it down on the wall.
Knock.
With a slight commotion, the center of the left wall collapsed.
Roxanne muttered as she looked at the empty space.
“It was a false wall.”
He crossed between the knights and went inside.
An old-looking stone statue was hidden inside the small space.
It was a decoration modeled after a male Drodian that had been lost in the Red King’s palace in the past.
Something was shining inside the wolf’s maw as it roared.
Roxanne put his hand into the beast’s mouth.
Click.
Something caught between the palate and throat fell out with a small noise.
“...This.”
Roxanne’s eyes widened as he confirmed the identity of the relic.
The sparkling seal that could fit in one hand was something that all the royal family of the Beastkin Empire knew.
And it was said that this seal only worked when there was a pair.
Groer, who had confirmed Roxanne standing stiffly, leaned over to him.
“Did you find it? So what on earth was the relic?”
Before Groer could confirm it, Roxanne said, hiding the relic inside his jacket.
“I have to find one more.”
“Huh? Another?!”
Groer seemed to be disgusted, but he had already been told that there might be more than one relic.
“I barely found one.”
“I know where it’s hidden.”
“Really? That’s great. Let’s go there right now.”
This kind of treasure hunting wasn’t Groer’s style.
Groer urged Roxanne to move quickly, but the Duke’s expression, who had supposedly known the location, looked dark.
“Why are you doing that? What’s the problem again...?”
“The female wolf’s eyes are located here.”
Roxanne, who had spread out the map of the palace, pointed to a building.
Groer screamed after confirming this.
“I barely found one.”
“I know where it’s hidden.”
“Really? That’s great. Let’s go there right now.”
This kind of treasure hunting wasn’t Groer’s style.
Groer urged Roxanne to move quickly, but the Duke’s expression, who had supposedly known the location, looked dark.
“Why are you doing that? What’s the problem again...?”
“The female wolf’s eyes are located here.”
Roxanne, who had spread out the map of the palace, pointed to a building.
Groer screamed after confirming this.
“Ugh, isn’t this the first place we searched? I remember looking through every single piece of dust.”
They searched the inside so thoroughly that nothing came out.
However, the location the map was pointing to was clear. Roxanne, who had ordered them to move there first, was lost in thought.
‘...We’ve definitely searched everything. Was there a space we haven’t found yet?’
That building was the place Roxanne had first ordered to search and the location with the highest probability of containing relics.
Furthermore, the palace itself was always empty, so a thorough search was possible at any time.
It was a place that they had definitely searched and given up on, so why?
“We’ve arrived.”
The knight opened the door to the underground passage.
Tonight, as always, this place was empty.
***
The evening Sepia applied to the Emperor for a transfer to the charity organization.
The first to come to her was none other than Demios.
The reception room of the Empress’s Palace.
Unlike Demios, who couldn’t hide his excitement at the sudden visit, Sepia asked lightly.
“What’s going on?”
“...The Empress would know better.”
He growled in a low voice.
There had been no news from the Emperor until the afternoon. He had been spending time at the government villa, and late in the evening, he came running after checking the application that Sepia had sent.
“Withdraw it immediately.”
Demios roughly slammed the documents Sepia had sent down on the table.
There were three sheets of paper.
The first sheet was an application for transfer from a civilian organization, signed by Sepia.
The next sheet was where the trouble began.
“I approve the establishment of a new department as the Star of Ishtar.”
The second sheet was her identification card.
As a foreigner, Sepia had two identities.
One was the Empress of the Empire.
The other was the Star of Ishtar.
To become the Empress of the Beastkin Empire, one had to have citizenship from her home country, but since the Beastkin Empire did not have the concept of immigrants, changing nationalities was impossible.
Instead of being unable to change her nationality, Sepia was baptized by the High Priest and became the first special citizen of the Empire of the Beastkin as the Star of Ishtar.
Stars with special destinies were given various special powers.
One of them was the creation of a new department.
The Star of Ishtar had the duty of guiding the Empire in the right direction.
Therefore, those born with this destiny could only create a special department based on the Imperial Family without the Emperor's permission once.
'...I forgot because Demios didn't show me.'
The Star of Ishtar was treated as a special law of the Empire, and this law was handled by the High Priest, not the Emperor.
To make Sepia a citizen of the Empire, the High Priest had newly enacted a special law that allowed those with the destiny of the Star to change their nationality to citizens of the Empire.
That's why the special law code was the only new thing in the library.
Sepia also knew that there was a special law, but she believed Demios's words that the law was only necessary for changing nationality and that the other provisions were not that important, so she didn't look it up.
The only thing buried deep in her mind was the fact that the special law code should be kept in the Empress's Palace for generations.
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