Roxana looked back at the oil lamp that had fallen to the floor.
“Uh, why did that suddenly fall?”
The flames suddenly intensified, causing her body to sway precariously.
I took this opportunity to turn the flames on a bit more.
“N-Nancy... Nancy? Nancy!!”
The flames spread in all directions, engulfing the closet where she kept her dresses and accessories.
Roxana dodged the flames that had reached her feet and ran towards the dressing room door.
But the wooden beam supporting the top of the closet fell towards her.
“Ahhh! It’s hot!”
Roxana’s screams sent the flames soaring higher.
The fire seemed to react to Roxana’s screams.
“Please... No, no!!”
With Roxana’s pained groan, the dressing room burst open.
Several attendants, coughing from the smoke, helped Roxana out.
“Fire! Fire!”
“The dressing room is on fire!”
The shouts of the servants and knights could be heard inside and outside the Empress’s bedroom.
Even after Roxana left, the flames continued to engulf the entire dressing room.
“Zelda, now is the time. We need to get out of here while it’s still dark.”
“But with the fire this fierce, how can...?”
“There’s no time to lose, hurry!”
The incarnation’s urging voice pushed me forward.
But I couldn’t move.
“Fire isn’t something you should fear. It’s something you have to deal with.”
“I... have to deal with it?”
I stared blankly at the blazing flames before my eyes.
Strangely, the flames hadn’t spread to the closet where I was hiding.
“This can’t be happening. This is unbelievable...”
When I came to, I was leisurely walking through the fire.
The flames had no effect on me.
I heard the servants rushing back into the dressing room to put out the fire.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I opened the door leading down to the laundry room.
The doorknob was red hot, but my hands were unharmed.
I locked the door and hurried down the stairs to the laundry room.
I also moved the display case back into place before exiting through the back door. I hid behind a large zelkova tree a short distance from the Empress's Palace building and caught my breath.
After my breathing had calmed down, I carefully examined myself.
There was absolutely no sign of fire, not on my body or on my clothes.
I looked up at the bedroom floor of the Empress's Palace.
Black smoke billowed from every open bedroom window.
The fire in the dressing room hadn't spread to the bedroom, but seemed to be extinguished within.
I briefly watched the smoke dissipate into the night sky before turning back toward the cypress forest where the training grounds were located.
"Your Majesty! Are you hurt?"
Sharon said, brushing her chest as she saw me step through the window.
"As you can see, I'm fine."
"I was worried you were taking longer than I thought!"
“I stopped by the training ground.”
“Why there? No way...”
“Yeah, I found it.”
“Haa, thank you, God! You hid the Incarnation Sword in the training ground? Well, I guess it’s safer there than if you had it with you.”
Sharon wiped away tears and lowered her voice.
“Yeah, if I kept it here, there’s a higher risk of being found out.”
I stabbed the Incarnation Sword into the lowest straw pile in the training ground’s weapons storage.
No matter how much I thought about it, there couldn’t be a place more out of reach of people’s eyes and hands.
“It’s so great!”
Sharon rejoiced, clasping her hands together in prayer.
I lay down on the bed before changing clothes, closed my eyes, then sat up again.
“What about Moiya and Moni?”
“I made the rope a little longer, so they can go under the bed and sleep.”
I bent down and looked under the bed.
Just as Sharon had said, the two were sleeping with one hand and one foot tied.
"Princess Roxana must have noticed that Moni and the Incarnation Sword are gone now. There's going to be chaos, right?"
Sharon asked, taking off her assassin's attire.
"Of course. Sharon, are there any burns on me? Even a scorch mark?"
I asked Sharon, stopping to put on my robe before heading to the bathroom.
Sharon examined my hair and back, then shook her head.
“Not at all. What’s wrong?”
“Really? That’s right...”
I recalled myself casually walking out of the blazing dressing room.
“There’s a fire in the dressing room.”
“Huh?!”
“The Empress’s Palace will probably be in an uproar tonight because of the fire.”
I told Sharon that I had dropped an oil lamp that Roxana had brought into the dressing room and placed on a dresser, causing it to catch fire.
“By any chance... Princess Roxana isn’t unhurt, is she?”
Sharon began cautiously, her eyes filling with pleading.
“...Well, I’m not sure about that.”
“Anyway, it’s a relief that Your Majesty is unhurt. If it weren’t for the incarnation, Princess Roxana would have found you.”
Sharon breathed a sigh of relief, her expression looking exhausted.
“Now that the fire has been extinguished, they’ll know the Incarnation Sword is gone.”
“She’ll be the first to suspect Princess Resilia, right?”
“Of course she will.”
Roxana would never let this go.
She’d try to interrogate Princess Resilia at any cost.
I’m going to set the stage for that.
“Are you going to tell the three of them about this?”
Sharon was referring to the three people who had accompanied me to the Tebello Empire: Magic Tower Lord, Commander Macrom, and Empress Elan.
“Let’s keep it between us for now. We need to observe the situation a bit more.”
“Yes, but will Princess Resilia come to see Your Majesty the Empress tomorrow?”
“The Resilia I know will definitely come.”
I was certain of it.
“She’ll definitely come, if only to laugh at the dress I’ll be wearing for the concubine ceremony. Just wait and see.”
Grand Duke Martins had said that Prince Tesla and Princess Resilia would visit the main palace audience room tomorrow morning to meet Linel.
So, under the pretext of doing a final check on the wedding dress, I'll deliberately place it on a fitting mannequin in a room close to the throne room and wait for her.
Princess Resilia will hear about this through Grand Duke Martins before she arrives at the throne room.
"If Resilia would just behave as usual, things would go much more smoothly..."
At the same time, in the Empress's palace.
Fortunately, the fire didn't spread to other areas and ended in the dressing room.
The servants' quick actions quickly extinguished the flames in the dressing room, but the Empress's bedroom, located nearby, was so damaged by the fire that it was impossible to stay there for a while.
An acrid smell filled the bedroom.
The servants quickly prepared a room for Roxana to stay in temporarily.
Hetor, who had rushed to the scene of the fire, lifted Roxana, who had fainted and was being carried out by her knights, into his arms.
Hetor carried her to the room where she would remain for the time being.
"Call the palace doctor!"
Hetor laid Roxana on the bed and ordered Nancy.
“Yes! I’ll be back.”
Nancy looked at Roxana with tears streaming down her face, then quickly wiped her tears and opened the door.
“No!”
Roxana, who had regained consciousness at that moment, suddenly shouted.
“No? Are you out of your mind? We need to call a doctor right now! We need to... treat you!”
Hetor tried to comfort her, hiding his shock at Roxana’s condition.
But Roxana would not budge.
“No royal doctor. Bring her from outside the city.”
“...Why not a royal doctor?”
“Because Emperor Linel must not know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want him to know... that I was burned! Do you understand?”
Roxana said, grabbing Hetor’s collar with both hands.
Hetor was reluctant, but he had no choice but to order Nancy again.
“Tell my adjutant, Palto, who is outside. Bring a doctor from the city right now.”
“Yes, yes... Hetor!”
Nancy hurriedly left the room.
“I heard from the servants that the fire started when an oil lamp fell?”
Hetor asked Roxana, deliberately looking away.
“I placed it properly on the dresser, but I don’t know why the oil lamp suddenly fell.”
Roxana burst out in anger.
Roxana, who had no idea that Zelda was hiding in the dressing room, could only assume that the fire was her own fault.
“Why did you go into the dressing room so late at night?”
“Haa, the wyvern egg is gone.”
Roxana gritted her teeth and said,
“What?!”
“That’s why I went in just in case the Incarnation Sword was gone.”
“Did you... check?”
“No. The fire got stronger before that... So, you go and check yourself right now. If the Incarnation Sword is there.”
Roxana pleaded with Hetor with an anxious look.
“Yes, I will.”
Hetor nodded in agreement.
However, if the wyvern egg was gone, the Incarnation Sword was likely gone too.
“I’ll be back. Get some rest.”
“Am I badly hurt?”
Roxana cautiously asked, looking up at Hetor as he stood up from his chair.
She didn’t dare to look in the mirror herself.
“It’ll get better with treatment.”
Roxana closed her eyes and nodded at Hetor’s words, but then burst into tears.
“The fire started because of the guy who stole the wyvern egg!”
Finally, she burst into tears and screamed.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll burn all your skin and kill you!”
The only outsider to visit the Empress's Palace that day was Princess Resilia.
The next morning.
Linel stared at Roxana, who had appeared unexpectedly in the audience room, with a puzzled expression.
"What brings you here?"
Linel stared at Roxana for the longest time since he'd seen her. Roxana appeared wearing a black veil that covered half of her face.
On the day of the concubine ceremony, Roxana's appearance, reminiscent of a funeral, made him feel uneasy, but he didn't show it.
"Since the distinguished guests of the Kingdom of Shattonil have attended the concubine ceremony, it is only proper for me, the Empress, to welcome them along with Your Majesty."
He didn't believe her, but approached her to escort her out.
"I received reports of an unpleasant incident at the Empress' Palace yesterday."
"Yes, Your Majesty. On the day of the guests from the Kingdom of Shattonil."
Roxana's hateful gaze turned to the siblings of the Kingdom of Shattonil.
'Why are you glaring at me like that? T-because I'm prettier than you today?'
Princess Resilia snorted inwardly as she looked at Roxana, who was glaring at her as if she was going to kill her.
“The veil really suits you, Your Majesty.”
Princess Resilia felt the atmosphere was becoming awkward, so Roxana bit her lower lip as she tried to flatter her.
“If you like it, I should give you one as a gift, Princess Resilia.”
Roxana barely managed to suppress a bright smile as she replied.
“I would be honored. Oh, Your Majesty! Did you hear that Consort Zelda is having her wedding dress altered in a room on the same floor as the throne room?”
Princess Resilia relayed to Roxana what Grand Duke Martins had said in passing.
“Not the bedroom?”
Roxana asked, tilting her head.
However, considering that they might be preparing for the ceremony in a room a little larger than the bedroom, she didn’t find it particularly strange.
“Yes, I asked a court lady passing by the hallway before entering the audience room, and she told me which room it was. So, may I... meet Consort Zelda for a moment?”
Princess Resilia looked back and forth between Linel and Roxana, asking for permission.
“Of course. I heard that you and Consort Zelda have been on special terms since the Shattonil royal court. Of course, you should meet her.”
When Roxana readily agreed, Linel nodded slightly.
“Thank you.”
Princess Resilia gave Roxana a secret smile and left the audience room.
“Uh, why did that suddenly fall?”
The flames suddenly intensified, causing her body to sway precariously.
I took this opportunity to turn the flames on a bit more.
“N-Nancy... Nancy? Nancy!!”
The flames spread in all directions, engulfing the closet where she kept her dresses and accessories.
Roxana dodged the flames that had reached her feet and ran towards the dressing room door.
But the wooden beam supporting the top of the closet fell towards her.
“Ahhh! It’s hot!”
Roxana’s screams sent the flames soaring higher.
The fire seemed to react to Roxana’s screams.
“Please... No, no!!”
With Roxana’s pained groan, the dressing room burst open.
Several attendants, coughing from the smoke, helped Roxana out.
“Fire! Fire!”
“The dressing room is on fire!”
The shouts of the servants and knights could be heard inside and outside the Empress’s bedroom.
Even after Roxana left, the flames continued to engulf the entire dressing room.
“Zelda, now is the time. We need to get out of here while it’s still dark.”
“But with the fire this fierce, how can...?”
“There’s no time to lose, hurry!”
The incarnation’s urging voice pushed me forward.
But I couldn’t move.
“Fire isn’t something you should fear. It’s something you have to deal with.”
“I... have to deal with it?”
I stared blankly at the blazing flames before my eyes.
Strangely, the flames hadn’t spread to the closet where I was hiding.
“This can’t be happening. This is unbelievable...”
When I came to, I was leisurely walking through the fire.
The flames had no effect on me.
I heard the servants rushing back into the dressing room to put out the fire.
Without a moment’s hesitation, I opened the door leading down to the laundry room.
The doorknob was red hot, but my hands were unharmed.
I locked the door and hurried down the stairs to the laundry room.
I also moved the display case back into place before exiting through the back door. I hid behind a large zelkova tree a short distance from the Empress's Palace building and caught my breath.
After my breathing had calmed down, I carefully examined myself.
There was absolutely no sign of fire, not on my body or on my clothes.
I looked up at the bedroom floor of the Empress's Palace.
Black smoke billowed from every open bedroom window.
The fire in the dressing room hadn't spread to the bedroom, but seemed to be extinguished within.
I briefly watched the smoke dissipate into the night sky before turning back toward the cypress forest where the training grounds were located.
***
"Your Majesty! Are you hurt?"
Sharon said, brushing her chest as she saw me step through the window.
"As you can see, I'm fine."
"I was worried you were taking longer than I thought!"
“I stopped by the training ground.”
“Why there? No way...”
“Yeah, I found it.”
“Haa, thank you, God! You hid the Incarnation Sword in the training ground? Well, I guess it’s safer there than if you had it with you.”
Sharon wiped away tears and lowered her voice.
“Yeah, if I kept it here, there’s a higher risk of being found out.”
I stabbed the Incarnation Sword into the lowest straw pile in the training ground’s weapons storage.
No matter how much I thought about it, there couldn’t be a place more out of reach of people’s eyes and hands.
“It’s so great!”
Sharon rejoiced, clasping her hands together in prayer.
I lay down on the bed before changing clothes, closed my eyes, then sat up again.
“What about Moiya and Moni?”
“I made the rope a little longer, so they can go under the bed and sleep.”
I bent down and looked under the bed.
Just as Sharon had said, the two were sleeping with one hand and one foot tied.
"Princess Roxana must have noticed that Moni and the Incarnation Sword are gone now. There's going to be chaos, right?"
Sharon asked, taking off her assassin's attire.
"Of course. Sharon, are there any burns on me? Even a scorch mark?"
I asked Sharon, stopping to put on my robe before heading to the bathroom.
Sharon examined my hair and back, then shook her head.
“Not at all. What’s wrong?”
“Really? That’s right...”
I recalled myself casually walking out of the blazing dressing room.
“There’s a fire in the dressing room.”
“Huh?!”
“The Empress’s Palace will probably be in an uproar tonight because of the fire.”
I told Sharon that I had dropped an oil lamp that Roxana had brought into the dressing room and placed on a dresser, causing it to catch fire.
“By any chance... Princess Roxana isn’t unhurt, is she?”
Sharon began cautiously, her eyes filling with pleading.
“...Well, I’m not sure about that.”
“Anyway, it’s a relief that Your Majesty is unhurt. If it weren’t for the incarnation, Princess Roxana would have found you.”
Sharon breathed a sigh of relief, her expression looking exhausted.
“Now that the fire has been extinguished, they’ll know the Incarnation Sword is gone.”
“She’ll be the first to suspect Princess Resilia, right?”
“Of course she will.”
Roxana would never let this go.
She’d try to interrogate Princess Resilia at any cost.
I’m going to set the stage for that.
“Are you going to tell the three of them about this?”
Sharon was referring to the three people who had accompanied me to the Tebello Empire: Magic Tower Lord, Commander Macrom, and Empress Elan.
“Let’s keep it between us for now. We need to observe the situation a bit more.”
“Yes, but will Princess Resilia come to see Your Majesty the Empress tomorrow?”
“The Resilia I know will definitely come.”
I was certain of it.
“She’ll definitely come, if only to laugh at the dress I’ll be wearing for the concubine ceremony. Just wait and see.”
Grand Duke Martins had said that Prince Tesla and Princess Resilia would visit the main palace audience room tomorrow morning to meet Linel.
So, under the pretext of doing a final check on the wedding dress, I'll deliberately place it on a fitting mannequin in a room close to the throne room and wait for her.
Princess Resilia will hear about this through Grand Duke Martins before she arrives at the throne room.
"If Resilia would just behave as usual, things would go much more smoothly..."
***
At the same time, in the Empress's palace.
Fortunately, the fire didn't spread to other areas and ended in the dressing room.
The servants' quick actions quickly extinguished the flames in the dressing room, but the Empress's bedroom, located nearby, was so damaged by the fire that it was impossible to stay there for a while.
An acrid smell filled the bedroom.
The servants quickly prepared a room for Roxana to stay in temporarily.
Hetor, who had rushed to the scene of the fire, lifted Roxana, who had fainted and was being carried out by her knights, into his arms.
Hetor carried her to the room where she would remain for the time being.
"Call the palace doctor!"
Hetor laid Roxana on the bed and ordered Nancy.
“Yes! I’ll be back.”
Nancy looked at Roxana with tears streaming down her face, then quickly wiped her tears and opened the door.
“No!”
Roxana, who had regained consciousness at that moment, suddenly shouted.
“No? Are you out of your mind? We need to call a doctor right now! We need to... treat you!”
Hetor tried to comfort her, hiding his shock at Roxana’s condition.
But Roxana would not budge.
“No royal doctor. Bring her from outside the city.”
“...Why not a royal doctor?”
“Because Emperor Linel must not know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t want him to know... that I was burned! Do you understand?”
Roxana said, grabbing Hetor’s collar with both hands.
Hetor was reluctant, but he had no choice but to order Nancy again.
“Tell my adjutant, Palto, who is outside. Bring a doctor from the city right now.”
“Yes, yes... Hetor!”
Nancy hurriedly left the room.
“I heard from the servants that the fire started when an oil lamp fell?”
Hetor asked Roxana, deliberately looking away.
“I placed it properly on the dresser, but I don’t know why the oil lamp suddenly fell.”
Roxana burst out in anger.
Roxana, who had no idea that Zelda was hiding in the dressing room, could only assume that the fire was her own fault.
“Why did you go into the dressing room so late at night?”
“Haa, the wyvern egg is gone.”
Roxana gritted her teeth and said,
“What?!”
“That’s why I went in just in case the Incarnation Sword was gone.”
“Did you... check?”
“No. The fire got stronger before that... So, you go and check yourself right now. If the Incarnation Sword is there.”
Roxana pleaded with Hetor with an anxious look.
“Yes, I will.”
Hetor nodded in agreement.
However, if the wyvern egg was gone, the Incarnation Sword was likely gone too.
“I’ll be back. Get some rest.”
“Am I badly hurt?”
Roxana cautiously asked, looking up at Hetor as he stood up from his chair.
She didn’t dare to look in the mirror herself.
“It’ll get better with treatment.”
Roxana closed her eyes and nodded at Hetor’s words, but then burst into tears.
“The fire started because of the guy who stole the wyvern egg!”
Finally, she burst into tears and screamed.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll burn all your skin and kill you!”
The only outsider to visit the Empress's Palace that day was Princess Resilia.
***
The next morning.
Linel stared at Roxana, who had appeared unexpectedly in the audience room, with a puzzled expression.
"What brings you here?"
Linel stared at Roxana for the longest time since he'd seen her. Roxana appeared wearing a black veil that covered half of her face.
On the day of the concubine ceremony, Roxana's appearance, reminiscent of a funeral, made him feel uneasy, but he didn't show it.
"Since the distinguished guests of the Kingdom of Shattonil have attended the concubine ceremony, it is only proper for me, the Empress, to welcome them along with Your Majesty."
He didn't believe her, but approached her to escort her out.
"I received reports of an unpleasant incident at the Empress' Palace yesterday."
"Yes, Your Majesty. On the day of the guests from the Kingdom of Shattonil."
Roxana's hateful gaze turned to the siblings of the Kingdom of Shattonil.
'Why are you glaring at me like that? T-because I'm prettier than you today?'
Princess Resilia snorted inwardly as she looked at Roxana, who was glaring at her as if she was going to kill her.
“The veil really suits you, Your Majesty.”
Princess Resilia felt the atmosphere was becoming awkward, so Roxana bit her lower lip as she tried to flatter her.
“If you like it, I should give you one as a gift, Princess Resilia.”
Roxana barely managed to suppress a bright smile as she replied.
“I would be honored. Oh, Your Majesty! Did you hear that Consort Zelda is having her wedding dress altered in a room on the same floor as the throne room?”
Princess Resilia relayed to Roxana what Grand Duke Martins had said in passing.
“Not the bedroom?”
Roxana asked, tilting her head.
However, considering that they might be preparing for the ceremony in a room a little larger than the bedroom, she didn’t find it particularly strange.
“Yes, I asked a court lady passing by the hallway before entering the audience room, and she told me which room it was. So, may I... meet Consort Zelda for a moment?”
Princess Resilia looked back and forth between Linel and Roxana, asking for permission.
“Of course. I heard that you and Consort Zelda have been on special terms since the Shattonil royal court. Of course, you should meet her.”
When Roxana readily agreed, Linel nodded slightly.
“Thank you.”
Princess Resilia gave Roxana a secret smile and left the audience room.
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