That was true enough.
I closed my mouth awkwardly and pretended to look elsewhere while gazing down at Pallides lying on the bed.
Samuel didn't speak further either, so the room fell into silence... or rather, I wished it had, but Zigor and Tristan were by my side.
The two of them were considerably wary of Samuel, who had subdued Pallides, and kept warning me repeatedly.
[Boss, if you can't transform into your true form, I'll bring a swarm of bees from nearby.]
[Will a bee swarm be enough? Go find some poisonous insects!]
[That would take too long. On our way here, I spotted a beehive, Boss.]
[Boss, let's launch a surprise attack with Nadav's hind leg kick! I'll be the bait!]
Seeing the two of them putting their heads together and desperately scheming to attack the back of Samuel's head, I figured I wouldn't be dragged helplessly to the Temple.
But when will Pallides wake up? And will he be in his right mind when he does? Zigor said he was in a stabilized state, so that should be correct, right?
I could see that the helmet portion was dented from the beating he took while fighting Samuel earlier.
I was planning to buy him armor anyway, but now I really need to get a new one. And fix the armor and helmet more securely too. I'll have to ask Dekin later if he has any solutions.
"Is it a monster?"
I, who had been touching the dented helmet with my fingertips, glanced behind me. Samuel's gaze was fixed on the helmet.
"It must be a monster. You said you don't refuse any lifeforms except humans."
He really does have a good memory.
He parted his lips as if to say something to me, sitting there with a sour expression. However, someone knocking on the door prevented him from carrying out his intention.
Bang bang!
"Is anyone there?"
The booming voice belonged to a man I recognized.
[This is definitely the room! The temporary member of the pack is here right now, so open up immediately, male!]
"It's me, Xenon!"
Even though I hadn't told anyone where I was, it seemed Xenon had used Nesi to track me down. It wouldn't do any good for Xenon to become acquainted with Samuel either.
I turned my head, pretending not to hear, and cleared my throat.
"Must have found the wrong room..."
He must have contacted them somehow. Couldn't he wait just a little while before rushing all the way here? But how did Nesi distinguish my scent in this crowded city and find me? Truly an amazing sense of smell.
As expected of the wolf I coveted!
"If we leave them alone, they'll just go away—wait. Sir Samuel?"
Samuel, who had been watching me steadily, rose to his feet. And before I could stop him, he flung the door open.
Through the wide-open door, I saw Xenon frozen with his fist raised. Below him was Nesi, disguised in the form of a dog.
Both looked surprised to face the unexpectedly burly knight who had appeared.
Xenon, who had been staring at Samuel with wide eyes, slowly moved his gaze toward me.
'Don't acknowledge me!'
I quietly raised both hands and crossed them in an X, glaring at him. Xenon, who was blinking rapidly, calmly turned to face Samuel again.
"My mistake. We came to the wrong room. Ha. Ha."
[What are you talking about, male!]
"Our dog. This isn't the place. Let's go."
[You weak male! Are you scared and trying to run away again!]
"Oh my. Why is he acting like this? He won't listen."
If you can't act naturally, just don't say anything at all.
A sigh rose at the sight of Xenon stiffly blurting out words while dragging Nesi away. Still, it was fortunate that he understood my intention.
I looked at Samuel with relief. Samuel was holding the door and staring fixedly at Xenon.
His narrowly opened eyes seemed to be measuring something. Samuel, tilting his head slightly, turned to look at me as if he had finished his thoughts.
"This person is a real human."
"...Excuse me?"
Xenon looked up at Samuel in bewilderment. But Samuel's gaze remained fixed on me.
"You said you don't refuse humans."
"Yeah, I refuse them."
"But you continue to travel with this one."
"He found the wrong room..."
"This is the one who ran away and left you behind before."
Samuel interrupted my words and furrowed his brow. He had shown little emotional fluctuation until now, but rare traces of displeasure seeped through.
"Magic Tower mage."
At Samuel's definitive words, Xenon's bewildered expression also stiffened.
"It seemed like you were wearing a cloak with the Magic Tower emblem before."
Xenon, who had been trying to escape the situation while dragging Nesi away until moments ago, straightened up.
Resignation and slight annoyance showed on Xenon's face as he swept his bangs back.
"So it was you? The one who reported to the Magic Tower."
"When you do tracking work, you develop a habit of clearly remembering anyone you cross paths with, even for a moment."
I swallowed dry saliva as I looked back and forth between the two. I didn't know the details, but I could tell this wasn't a situation I could deny.
"Do you know how much trouble I'm in now because of you?"
"Do you know what it means for the Magic Tower to hide the Resurrected One?"
"If the Magic Tower got involved, I wouldn't be suffering like this. Aren't you underestimating mages too much?"
"Meanwhile, you're ignoring the Temple's tracking techniques."
[...The usually weak male is angry for once. Good spirit.]
Nesi, who had calmly cheered on Xenon, slipped between the two and approached me.
Saying it was tiring from running around the city, Nesi lay down at my feet. Whether he did that or not, the atmosphere between the two was becoming increasingly hostile.
Unable to watch anymore, I deliberately cleared my throat. The two men, who had been glaring fiercely at each other, turned to look at me simultaneously.
Looking at them calmly, I spoke clearly.
"I won't stop you, so go find a separate room and fight. Let me rest."
Please. You enemies.
* * *
Maxel had refused to meet her again today.
'Why? What exactly is the problem?'
Lilia clutched the hem of her dress to hide her anxiety. It was becoming increasingly difficult to manage her expression.
But if she were to lash out in anger here, she would only end up looking foolish, so she gritted her teeth and barely contained her emotions.
"For the time being, you'll be busy with festival preparations, so you don't need to come to the imperial palace."
Finally, even the Empress had said so. She had judged that Lilia wouldn't be much help with the imperial banquet preparations.
Banquet preparations? That was something to have the servants do. There were already experienced staff with years of experience, so why should she personally go around the site pretending to know things she didn't know?
Lilia had already discovered subordinates with excellent skills in each field.
As Lilia expected, they had shown brilliant growth over the past few years and each had established their own position.
Lilia rode on her success through connections she had made in advance with the Empire's best designers, excellent merchants, and others.
She had also weeded out the maid Aneli had planted early on and taken in orphans she could make her own people. That child considered Lilia the savior of her life and took on many tasks for her.
'Did I miss anyone? ...No. I already recruited everyone necessary. The rest are all extras whose names don't even appear!'
She had also kept in mind the man who would become a excellent swordsman in the future and brought him in as her guard.
In Roam, they seemed flustered by the sudden appearance of an outsider, but they couldn't override Lilia's stubbornness. Lilia's guard was stronger than most knights in Roam.
Looking back, her actions had been nothing but perfect. Since the key figures moved as she expected, dealing with them wasn't difficult at all.
Even Aneli's death happened exactly as Lilia had thought.
The problem was what came after. It hadn't moved on to the next chapter she knew.
"The resurrection itself went wrong from the start."
Lilia, who had been anxiously biting her lip, raised her eyes. She saw priests passing by in groups.
Since the Resurrected One disappeared, priests frequently came and went from the imperial palace. They were preemptively frightened that the Resurrected One might be found here first.
When she approached the priests a few times, the Empress, hearing the news, had vaguely warned her to 'keep an appropriate distance.' Even though she hadn't extracted any particular information.
When a holy knight visited Roam, she had brightened thinking she could make contact while avoiding the imperial family's eyes, but this time she got an earful from the Duke of Roam.
Even pressing her subordinates yielded little meaningful information. Rather, her subordinates asked if her 'precognition' might reveal something the Temple might be hiding.
Contrary to their expectations, there was no particular information about the Temple. Her 'precognition' didn't include the Temple's significance.
"This is all because of that."
Resurrection. That can't be a resurrection. Something else must have happened. How can a dead person come back to life?
Lilia believed the 'Resurrected One' wasn't Aneli.
The fact that Aneli had gone into hiding rather than returning to Roam immediately after opening her eyes further supported this.
The Aneli Lilia knew was a villainess with strong pride and strong obsession with Maxel. If she had been resurrected, she would naturally try to take everything from Lilia and seek revenge.
"Did God give the opportunity to someone else again?"
She thought God had chosen only her. That she was the protagonist of this world.
And now they want to change the protagonist?
On whose authority?
"Lilia miss."
Lost in thought while walking, she had reached the carriage. Lilia, about to board as she was, suddenly stopped.
She felt that turning back like this wouldn't do.
"I should go to the Crown Prince's Palace directly."
"What? But according to the message..."
"There's no way he would refuse me!"
Lilia shouted in irritation, then immediately fell silent. Chewing the tender flesh inside her mouth, she fell silent for a moment before barely managing a smile at her maid.
"I'm just that worried. I'm his fiancée. When he's having a hard time, I should be by his side."
Maxel was the male protagonist, and she had to become one of his most reliable supporters. Not someone who holes up in the palace and never comes out.
"Miss..."
Lilia's steps toward the Crown Prince's Palace were hurried. She kept repeating to herself inwardly.
I already know all your personalities and ways of thinking. I know what kind of characters you all are, so even if minor incidents are added, the main thread of the story won't change.
"The protagonist will have a happy ending."
And the protagonist of this world is me.