"Unfortunately, that is the case. It was ruined when we were attacked by a monster."
At Heinri's words, a dark shadow fell over Aneli's face.
With troubled eyes, Aneli thought about something, then asked with a stiff expression.
"What exactly happened? What do you mean by a monster attack?"
"Ah, that is..."
How should he explain it? It truly happened in an instant.
The scene of that day unfolded in Heinri's mind.
That day... The weather was fair, not a single cloud in the bright, clear sky.
When they first departed from the Imperial Palace, the atmosphere had not been bad. The Empress was excited about this rare outing, and the Imperial Guard accompanying them were all men of tremendous spirit.
Behind the group, Zenon followed riding Nadab. After what seemed like days of harassment by the Imperial Palace mages, Zenon had cited his friendship with a mage from the Imperial Guard and joined the party.
Zenon's presence seemed to arouse some wariness among the guards, but not to a severe degree.
Looking back, everything really was good when they departed.
The peaceful journey encountered trouble when they arrived at the river.
"There were unusually many ducks at the river."
"...Ducks?"
"Yes. We started crossing the bridge without much thought, and someone threw stones at the gathered ducks."
He couldn't remember who it was. Probably one of the attendants following them?
"The ducks startled by the stone-throwing all took flight at once. But something burst out from among those ducks."
"What?"
"A monster."
Aneli's face went rigid as she pressed her lips together firmly.
"It was black and had a massive body, and it charged at us. The Imperial Guard immediately swung their swords..."
They had definitely swung their swords accurately. However, the blade slipped as if cutting through empty air, and the black thing attacked the party.
"What exactly happened, truthfully, I cannot say for certain. All I know is that for a moment our vision went dark, the horses went wild, and Her Majesty the Empress collapsed."
"That cannot be conclusively called a monster."
Aneli, who had been listening to Heinri's explanation, frowned and spoke in a firm tone.
"Much less a Dullahan."
"I am aware."
At Heinri's calm words, Aneli raised her eyebrows.
"The important thing is that too many people witnessed that strange sight. They believe it was a monster."
"But it seems His Majesty does not think so."
At Aneli's accurate observation, Heinri unconsciously fell silent. Perhaps finding Heinri's sudden silence suspicious, Aneli narrowed her eyes.
"What are you suspecting?"
"His Majesty... believes it was magic."
"Magic?"
"Yes. And he harbors suspicions toward the Magic Tower's mages."
Seeing Aneli's expression change instantly, Heinri smiled bitterly.
"He believes the Magic Tower employed tactics to intervene in the Empire's succession struggle."
* * *
Zenon sighed.
How did things come to this? Finding the root cause was meaningless, but...
If he had to trace it back, it would probably be when he started taking interest in things he had never cared about before.
"Well, I'll be."
He had never once in his life thought he would get entangled with the Imperial Family. The Imperial Family? He hadn't even had interest in the capital.
Let alone being confined in the Imperial Palace—he had never, not even slightly, imagined such a situation.
"Technically, it's not confinement."
There were people assigned to watch him, his range of movement was suddenly restricted, and the Imperial Palace mages who had been constantly pestering him had stopped coming, but it wasn't enough to call it confinement.
In the first place, they had no justification to confine Zenon. Aside from him accompanying the Empress on her outing with some flimsy excuse, there were no suspicious circumstances.
Nevertheless, the reason he ended up in this situation was because the Emperor's nerves were currently extremely on edge.
The Crown Prince he had personally established had been insulted for incurring divine wrath, ominous events kept occurring in the Imperial Family, and to top it off, the Empress had collapsed after they had opened the Imperial ancestors' tombs to an outsider.
Since Dekin had previously intervened in the succession struggle by declaring support for Heinri, the Emperor apparently interpreted this as the Magic Tower making a move to seat Heinri on the throne.
In other words, he believed the Magic Tower was trying to control the Imperial Family.
If he concluded that was the truth, the Emperor would never choose Heinri as his successor.
"Dekin, this bastard is the problem."
He had been told not to meddle so rashly. Thanks to that, Zenon was now being semi-forcibly dragged into a political fight that had never been in his fate.
Zenon glanced at the door with somewhat anxious eyes.
Outside that door were guards the Emperor had insistently placed. The excuse was that everyone had been startled by the monster's sudden attack, so as the host, he was protecting his guest.
Even though he said he would protect him, the fact that he had placed a magic-nullifying barrier in the room showed he didn't trust him.
He probably intended to buy time this way and investigate the incident more thoroughly.
'I don't have time for this.'
Zenon glanced down at his ring, which had become completely non-functional, with a troubled expression.
Honestly, and he meant very honestly.
Zenon could easily break through this room's barrier and leave. Not just leave?
He was never weak enough to be confined in this room in the first place.
Nevertheless, the reason he was quietly complying with their words was entirely because of Aneli.
He was worried that causing unnecessary trouble might disrupt Aneli's plans.
'I wonder if she's grasped the situation by now.'
Zenon had no interest in the succession struggle or anything else. He wasn't afraid even if the Emperor suspected and was wary of the Magic Tower.
Magic Tower mages were originally such beings. They set aside worldly status and were evaluated solely by their ability.
Zenon was the sole successor to the Tower Lord, and soon he would become the owner of the Magic Tower's top floor.
Considering that the Magic Tower's combined strength exceeded that of an average nation, the Emperor would eventually not be able to treat him carelessly.
So why would he fear the Imperial Family or the Emperor?
'She asked me to contact her...'
His only concern was Aneli, who would have been startled when communication was cut off.
Also, Zenon had something very important to tell her. Zenon sank into thought with a grave expression.
'Hah, she'll definitely be angry.'
When they were suddenly attacked by something unidentified at the bridge, the horses went wild with fright.
The one who caused that commotion was Nadab.
To be precise, Zenon guessed that Nadab was the culprit. Because Nadab was the first to raise his front legs as if startled.
'It felt like he was telling me to get off.'
Zenon stumbled but managed to dismount without falling. And as soon as Zenon got off, Nadab jumped around wildly among the horses and then ran off to the other side of the bridge.
Of course, several other knights also lost their horses due to the commotion. Someone was said to have broken their arm from falling off.
Thanks to several horses disappearing, Nadab's escape didn't stand out. Nadab had probably aimed for that effect.
'Why on earth did that thing suddenly run off like that?'
And what was he supposed to say to Aneli?
With complicated feelings, Zenon was wiping his face with both hands when he suddenly raised his head. He heard low voices from outside the door.
"But...!"
"...interrogation..."
"Just a moment... Prince..."
"The Temple's..."
The voices were small, and he could only barely make out a few unpleasant words.
With a sour expression, Zenon glared at the door. Apparently someone had come to see Zenon.
'Using safety as an excuse, they even prevented me from meeting Prince Heinri.'
He wanted to observe the situation quietly and move carefully if possible, but if that didn't work, he would just have to use force.
Having made that decision, Zenon kept his eyes on the door. The commotion outside soon died down, and silence returned.
However, Zenon did not let his guard down. Since he didn't hear footsteps of anyone leaving, it seemed the visitors were standing outside that door.
Knock knock.
A small knocking sound echoed through the room, breaking the silence.
When Zenon didn't answer, after a brief interval, another knock came from outside.
Knock knock.
With a still suspicious expression, Zenon slowly parted his lips.
"Who is it?"
There was no answer from outside. Instead, the door handle quietly turned.
Seeing that movement, Zenon took a step back while carefully channeling his magical power. At the moment power gathered at his fingertips, the door opened and someone revealed themselves.
"Huh?"
A brown head slowly peeking in transformed into dazzling silver hair as soon as it entered the room.
Seeing that change, Zenon quickly approached, pulled the person into his embrace and twisted his body. Hiding the other person in his arms and turning his head toward the open door, Zenon discovered a large man.
The man fiercely furrowed his brow as soon as he met Zenon's eyes.
"What are you doing..."
"Close the door first."
At Zenon's sharp remark, Samuel, who had been speaking sharply, hesitated. Seeming to grasp the situation, he quickly entered the room and closed the door.
Fortunately, Samuel was large enough that the people outside probably couldn't see inside properly.
Seeing the door close, Zenon breathed a sigh of relief, and a quiet question came from his arms.
"I think you can let go now."
"Huh? Ah, yes!"
Perhaps he had unconsciously put strength in his arms. As Zenon reflexively released his strength, the person who had been quietly held in his arms pulled away.
Seeing Aneli smoothing her disheveled hair, Zenon's expression became somewhat dazed.
He had moved instinctively upon seeing the silver hair, but now that he was actually facing the real Aneli, his feelings were strange.
He was glad and happy, but also surprised that she had thought to come all the way here, and at the same time worried.
"Any injuries?"
Aneli, having roughly straightened her hair, asked immediately.
As Zenon, who had been blankly staring at Aneli's face, missed the timing to answer and hesitated, Aneli frowned and scanned him from head to toe.
With her arms crossed, Aneli had become very sharp and sensitive in the time they hadn't seen each other.
"Did the Imperial Palace starve you?"
"Excuse me? No?"
"You seem to have lost some weight."