The swordmaster’s anger was immense. The mana surrounding the sword stretched out and ate up the surrounding space.

A beautiful yet ferocious power.

The culmination and apex of a play drawn by all swordsmen.

Gwaaang!

The pillar of water that Elisha had called out struck Blemir’s slashing sword. If it wasn’t for the jade energy, it wouldn’t have been able to stand a single move.

Elisha looked at the deflected sword again and pondered for a moment.?Shouldn’t Shamir realize by now that I would die as well if he wags his tongue in front of the nobles of the empire? Then do I really need to save him?

“Consort, I feel so sad because of the way you look at me right now. I might be just a servant right now, but if you ditch me, I will feel betrayed.”

Even in the midst of this, it was clear that he would cause trouble again soon.?Should I save my own life and tell Marquis Blemir that he can cut off his tongue?

No matter how much she thought about it, there was no reason to continue this unnecessary fight. Elisha did not stop the rushing sword this time.

With Shamir behind her, she just looked up at the sword falling towards her and at the red-haired man holding the sword.

Before Blemir reached Elisha, he turned the sword’s orbit sideways to avoid her.

Gwaaang!

The ground was dug deep and cracked all the way to the path behind Elisha.

Fortunately it was over before it reached the carriage.

“If you continue to use your strength, it may break your body. Please take care of yourself, Marquis.”

At Elisha’s words, Blemir stiffened while lifting the sword that had been lodged in the ground. She lowered her voice as if coaxing him, to see if that could weaken him somehow.

“What’s wrong with you?”

But why are you staring at Shamir again as if you’re going to kill him??Blemir, who had retrieved his sword, looked at Elisha as if pressuring her.

“I’ve been broken from the start.”

Now Elisha found it was novel. The Marquis was being like this when he shouldn’t be.

Elisha couldn’t understand why Blemir made such an expression. Ascensio was also like this at times. As expected, blood relatives did resemble each other.

As she recalled that fact, her feelings softened.

“Why are you like this, Marquis? I don’t know much about you, but I don’t think the Marquis I saw was this kind of person.”

“If I say I’m sick, will you touch my forehead again?”

“It doesn’t seem to have any effect. Didn’t you just get more feverish and angry?”

As Elisha shook her head, Blemir raised his face and pointed to Shamir.

“That..”

“How is it that the person who leads the Crown Prince’s faction is so light-mouthed?”

As Elisha frowned, Blemir bit his lips.

In fact, he couldn’t even argue that he was not this kind of person. He was just acting by instinct.

It wasn’t like he decided what kind of person he was before moving accordingly.

Sometimes he felt a sense of incongruity because there was a big difference between what he thought and the way he acted.

From the moment he heard the news that the 2nd Consort was missing, his heart couldn’t stop pounding, even when he was sleeping, eating, or doing anything.

He was nervous and out of breath. Still, he forced himself to do what he had to do.

He did not drop what she had trusted him with. He didn’t want to disappoint her and came back only to see the mess.

That’s why, 2nd Consort.

“Don’t be mad at me for someone like that.”

Blemir looked straight into Elisa’s sky blue eyes.

“Can you give me a compliment instead?”

Blemir bent his pride before the emperor to come here. He did not hesitate to do it, even though his title as a swordmaster and as the only bloodline to succeed Duke Fontana was never cheap.

You’d still come if I wait, but I want to see you with my own eyes as soon as possible.?Yes, because of something like this,

Blemir thought that his heart would stop pounding when he saw the 2nd Consort again, but what the hell, it only pounded faster.

“You’re really strange today, Marquis Blemir.”

Elisha placed her hand on Marquis Blemir’s forehead once more. This time, she surrounded it with the power of water and breathed in a cool energy.

“This works quite well. It seems to have the effect of clearing one’s mind. The swelling, from when I got hit so hard to the point where I couldn’t even recognize my own face last time, subsided quickly.”

“Really? Who dared to hit you, the 2nd Consort of the Empire?”

Astonished, Blemir grabbed Elisha’s wrist and said. He was sure that she wasn’t hurt earlier, but now he looked at her again.

“He won’t be able to hit me again in the future. Not just me, but also anyone else.”

When Elisha answered indifferently, Shamir, who had been watching what the two were doing, agreed.

“That’s right. How can one do harm to others when they’ve become bloody?”

However, Blemir didn’t seem to hear Shamir’s words at all.

“What’s the point of that? You’ve already been hurt, so what if they won’t do it again?!”

Blemir acted as if he would crush the group, the party, or the country to which that person belonged at any moment.

But that was already done by Elisha. Perhaps she could be confident enough that he wouldn’t have been able to do it better than her!

However, Blemir could not easily quench his anger.

Elisha placed the back of her other hand on Blemir’s cheek, besides her hand on his forehead.

“Do you feel cool?”

Blemir lowered his eyes that were glistening with bloodthirst.

“Yes.”

“The Marquis must have quite a fever. It is necessary to always cool down your temperature.”

“..Yes.”

“We have to go now. The children must be waiting in Barossa.”

Blemir’s eyes froze at the word “children”. Elisha had passed by, but Shamir noticed it.

For a moment, he questioned what was wrong with the person in front of him. Shamir had only heard brief explanations of the main characters in Barossa, and the only thing in common about this person from what the 2nd Consort had said and from what he was seeing himself was: a strong person, and a man.

But Shamir couldn’t guess what that person was thinking at all. Shamir licked his lips again and came closer to Elisha when he heard the sound of a sword being pulled out halfway. Blemir showed him the sword and pointed back with his chin. It was gesturing to him to step away.

Does he find my aggressive tone towards the 2nd Consort undesirable? But that seems to be the case for everyone except the 2nd Consort herself.

Shamir spread his palms out as if he was harmless, but he slipped ahead in an instant and went next to Elisha.

“Consort, hurry up. I also want to see the 3rd Prince as soon as possible.”

Then he winked at Blemir, who was in front of the carriage, as if making fun of him for having to ride a horse while he traveled together with the consort.

“That vulgar barbarian, how dare you!”

“Marquis, what did you just say?”

Having sharp senses also meant having good hearing. Blemir was not the only strong person here, so what he had said must have been heard by Elisha.

“I’ll go ahead and wait for you.”

Blemir avoided Elisha’s gaze, then went to his horse, climbed up, and accelerated.

“It feels like having three children.”

As Elisha muttered, Shamir said.

“I thought the Marquis was so obsessed with the Consort, so I wondered if you were some sort of fairy who dominated the social world despite your cold appearance.”

“I’ve heard of people calling me a witch or a villain, but this is my first time hearing someone calling me a fairy.”

“Don’t be surprised, I think you’ll be able to hear it more often in the future.”

“Another nonsense.”

Elisha closed her eyes.

Shamir shrugged his shoulders, as if telling her to wait and see, but didn’t interfere with his master’s meditation.

As soon as the group crossed the portal, they encountered numerous people.

The 2nd Consort, who raised the honor of the empire by displaying a noble spirit of sacrifice, has returned! It is the fortune of the empire!

“Whoaaa!”

Shouts poured out. Elisha handed over Spot, which had been treated with respect by letting it use a portal, into the hands of others, and first confirmed the face she had to find.

“Mother!”

And, of course, there was the face. Elisha opened her arms and hugged Leon, who ran to her.

Warm body temperature and soft hair with the comfortable smell of a child rubbed against her.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

“Me too, Mother. Me too.”

Leon answered with tears in his eyes. Elisha held Leon with one hand and offered the other hand out.

She wanted to hold the hand of the other remaining child.

“Crown Prince, how have you been?”

Ascensio stared down at her hand, grabbed that hand tightly, and shook his head.

He didn’t cry. But Elisha felt the joy and relief that filled his blue eyes. Elisha leaned her upper body and pressed her forehead to Ascensio’s forehead gently.

“I have a lot to talk about. There’s a lot for you to hear. Did you keep your promises? Did you do your homework well?”

Ascensio nodded his head up and down broadly.

Elisha lifted her forehead and rubbed her lips lightly on the place where the red mark was faintly left. A black shadow fell behind them, coming from he who was watching the reunion of the mother and two children.

“Your Majesty?”

The person at the back bent his head in surprise and moved to the side.

Sassassak!

As the people split left and right, a road was made between Emperor Kaiden and Elisha. One step behind the emperor was Rohan.

One step behind Elisha, the red-haired swordmaster stood in the same place as when he came out of the portal.

As the emperor walked along the path, Elisha looked down and bowed her head. She had no intention of letting Leon down or letting Ascensio’s hand go. And others didn’t find fault with it either. Who could separate children from their mother at this moment?

“You must have had a hard time.”

“I’m sorry to have troubled you, Your Majesty,”

“I was secretly searching for your whereabouts because I couldn’t figure out the exact situation. I didn’t know that the knights of the Marquis would find you first. Marquis Blemir cared a lot about you and I will have to thank him later. After all, didn’t he save my rain?”

There was nothing strange about the emperor not finding her. However, Marquis Blemir’s behavior seemed strange not to her alone. The emperor seemed to want to point that out.

“Yes, thank you very much. I met his people when I was having a hard time leaving the desert and received a lot of help from them. May you give him a big reward, Your Majesty.”

Elisha took it lightly. The emperor did not mention it any more and invited her to go and rest.

The emperor and Elisha exchanged what had happened on the way to the West. With the settlement, it was time for a new calculation.

The emperor left first so that Elisha could go back comfortably after finishing the remaining greetings.

Rohan turned away to pursue the emperor, and his eyes met Elisha. His cold, auburn eyes glowed softly when they met hers. He bowed his head slightly towards her and followed the emperor.

Elisha looked at him a little longer than she did to others.

***

“A desert warrior?”

“So, how many times has this person helped the consort?”

Many people asked about Shamir. The emperor didn’t say much when he saw him, so nobody put a chain around his wrists right away, but they weren’t very friendly. Of course, it was the opposite at the 2nd Consort Palace. Just by knowing that Shamir had helped Elisha, he was treated as a distinguished guest. There was talk of sharing the accommodation with the 2nd Knights, which were currently guarding the 2nd Consort Palace.

Since it was a sensitive subject, the members of the 2nd Consort Palace did not ask about the kidnapping and started talking about what had happened to them instead.

The biggest event in particular was the competition that took place recently. Elisha sighed as she looked at the star on the back of Leon’s hand.

“Isn’t 13 years old too early to make decisions about life?”

“I think it would be a good idea to set a big stem of life in advance before running all the way towards the goal.”

Even after such a big accident, Jillian remained calm. She thought it was her choice and it was within her control range.

“Yes, that wouldn’t be bad either.”

Elisha let it go with those words.

Unless Leon, the party involved, refused, the choice of the 5th-circle mage who knew the weight of existence should be respected. It was just a shame to think that there might have been a better path and many more choices for Jillian.

For 13-year-old Jillian, that one star could have shone more brightly. It wasn’t like she couldn’t take it back, she just didn’t want to get it back. So Leon would try and Elisha would help as much as she could to make Jillian happy.

When their conversation was over, Leon pointed to a cage large enough for even a large dog to fit in. It contained a ball of black cotton the size of a fist.

“Mother, that’s Remy. Sir Rohan brought it to me earlier in the day when they said Mother was coming.”

Kiiing! Kiiing!

“Isn’t it cute?”

The creature looked like a doll, licking its hind paw with its tongue and wagging it around. But what was Rohan really thinking?

“To present a cub of Barcado. Legend says its blood is a mixture of a divine beast and a demon beast.”

She could only imagine how noisy Leon must have been when he received it.

Somehow, she only thought that she wanted to scold him as an adult and a swordmaster.