Ferio was left speechless by the unexpected reply.

“...Did you give birth to the baby? Why are you the one raising them?”

“Well, because it’s my sibling.”

Leonia had already made up her mind about what she would do once her baby sibling was born.

“I’m going to take care of our little one until they start waddling around and babbling ‘ah-oo ah-oo’.”

Ferio, hearing that, felt a subtle sense of relief.

‘So she’s okay with having a sibling.’

At the very least, she seemed to have a favorable opinion of the baby.

“I’m going to the Academy later, right?”

Leonia planned to enroll in the Academy when she turned fifteen.

As part of becoming the next Duke of Voreoti, she had set her sights on the Academy that previous dukes had attended.

“So that means I won’t have as much time to spend with our little one. Everyone else will be up north except for me...”

That’s why she declared, with confidence, that she would play with the baby and teach them many things so they’d never forget her.

“If they’re really my sibling, then instead of saying ‘num-num’ or ‘nummy’, they need to use the correct anatomical term: ‘nipple’! And I’ll teach them to read using the muscle encyclopedia I wrote!”

“Don’t ruin your sibling’s future.”

Ferio could not allow any more degenerates in this household.

One Leonia was already more than enough for him to handle.

If a second one turned out like that, he truly might collapse from the stress.

“If the word ‘nipple’ is uncomfortable, I can teach them ‘the protruding elevation above the fifth rib’. Should I go with that?”

“I’m uncomfortable with your knowledge in general.”

“Why are you picking a fight again?!”

GRAAAAR, the baby beast roared.

“Just wait! I’m going to raise them to be an even bigger pervert than me!”

“Do you want to see the house ruined?”

“Want me to show you what that looks like for real?”

“That’s enough of that topic.”

Ferio rerouted the conversation that had strayed too far.

If it was his daughter, she really might destroy the household.

Leonia was the kind of child who followed through when she said she would do something.

“So.”

Ferio pointed to the map again and asked the child,

“Of those three locations, which one is the most likely hiding place for the emperor?”

Now that his mind was more at ease, Ferio focused on the real issue. Only then did Leonia calm down and turn her gaze to the map.

“The emperor is...”

She pointed to one of the locations on the map.

***

“There’ve been a lot of knights around lately, huh?”

A restaurant worker arriving early in the morning for her shift greeted her coworkers as she spoke.

“So you’ve noticed too?”

A colleague who was already changing into her apron responded with a loud agreement.

“Think something’s going on in the capital?”

“Maybe a criminal escaped or something?”

“Nah, if that were the case, they would’ve told us.”

“Right? That’s what I thought too.”

“Maybe they’re just doing routine patrols.”

A coworker chuckled, saying it’d been easier to walk around at night thanks to the knights.

“...Now that I think of it, today’s the day we clean the warehouse.”

Grumbling under her breath at the nuisance, she was interrupted by a light tap on the shoulder.

“Should I take your shift, then?”

The voice belonged to another coworker who had been around but hadn’t joined the conversation until now.

“Huh? You?”

“Didn’t you clean yesterday too?”

“I’ve got the ‘trash’ section today, and that place is rough, you know?”

“Actually, I have some relatives visiting at home...”

The employee smiled sheepishly, saying it’d be a bit awkward to head home early.

The others gave understanding smiles in return.

“Yeah, having relatives over is a pain.”

“They do nothing but nag.”

“They’re just worried about you, that’s all.”

“Worried, my ass. They’re just grumpy old nags.”

Another coworker, tired of relatives and their meddling, offered to clean the warehouse.

The one who asked for the favor bowed slightly.

“Thank you.”

“No need to thank me. I’m the one getting out of warehouse duty.”

“If it gets too much, let me know. I’ll help.”

With that, the others headed out first.

The employee left alone finished changing clothes, pulled a small wooden box from her bag, grabbed the cleaning tools, and headed for the warehouse.

The restaurant managed three storage areas.

The food and goods warehouses were located right behind the restaurant, constantly trafficked by staff and delivery people alike.

The third warehouse, used for unused items, was a little farther away from the restaurant.

Staff referred to it as the “trash warehouse” — once something was placed in there, it was treated as garbage.

The employee entered the trash warehouse to clean.

“...It’s me.”

She softly announced her arrival.

Despite her quiet voice, the messy interior of the warehouse made it feel oddly loud.

Soon after, a tapping sound came from the back. The employee moved toward it.

There were three men inside who clearly weren’t restaurant staff.

Two red-haired men looked almost identical, like father and son. The third, with a mess of tawny hair, appeared too deranged to be considered sane.

“It’s getting dangerous here too.”

Approaching them cautiously, the worker held out the wooden box she had brought.

It was a lunchbox, inside of which were sandwiches with ham, cheese, and vegetables.

The tawny-haired man snatched the box roughly and began devouring the food.

Holding a sandwich in both hands, he stuffed his mouth, chewing grotesquely.

‘A beggar? A lunatic?’

The employee instinctively tried to step back, barely restraining herself.

“...What’s the situation outside?”

The older red-haired man with deep wrinkles asked.

Snapping out of her daze, she finally managed to reply.

“Knights have been patrolling this area more frequently. My coworkers have noticed them too. I even saw some on my way in.”

“Could they have come all the way here...?”

The red-haired man — Viscount Olor — clicked his tongue.

“It’s probably them.”

The other red-haired man answered. It was Remus.

Instead of naming those who had cornered them, he gestured toward a black cloth beside him.

Voreoti.

“She worked in the treasury. I’m sure that’s when she tracked our family’s finances and began following the trail.”

“‘She’? Don’t tell me...!”

“I mean Varia.”

“Goddammit!”

Viscount Olor cursed loudly.

The employee flinched at the intensity.

His curses weren’t ordinary swearing—they were vile, visceral, enough to give someone nightmares.

“We should never have gotten involved with that family!”

Viscount Olor glared at Remus.

Their alliance with the Erbanu family had only happened because Remus had stubbornly fallen for Lota.

“What’s the point of saying that now?”

Remus answered coolly.

Even if he could go back, he knew he’d still choose Lota over Varia.

Back then, she had truly been a beautiful girl.

Now, she was just a discarded tool that might earn them some pity from Voreoti.

And even that shield seemed useless now.

‘Everything’s gone off-track.’

That was what Remus found most baffling.

His plan had been perfect. There had been no reason for failure.

Yet now, he was hiding in a filthy storage shed.

“...You should go for now.”

After some thought, Remus dismissed the worker.

“What are you planning to do with him?”

Viscount Olor still looked displeased at his son.

Remus now seemed like dead weight to him. His disappointment ran deep.

“We’re holding his family’s information. He knows that, so he won’t rat us out easily.”

The employee who had just aided them was once a notorious artist responsible for producing narcotics, an incident that had rocked the empire last winter.

Banned from painting since then, he’d taken a job at the restaurant to scrape by.

Then Viscount Olor approached him again, threatening to expose his past to his employer and family if he didn’t cooperate and hide them in the warehouse.

“Honestly, we could just return to the estate.”

Remus glanced to his side.

“This is the real problem.”

What he meant by “this” was none other than Emperor Subiteo.

The filthy man the employee had mistaken for a beggar was, in fact, the Emperor of the Bellius Empire.

Unbathed and reeking, the emperor had grime under his nails from clutching that sandwich too tightly.

“He’s completely lost his mind.”

Viscount Olor looked at him and recalled the day he had stormed into their estate.

Covered in blood, the emperor caused utter chaos.

The maids had screamed. The stronger servants tried to throw him out, only to be slashed by his dagger.

Remus, recognizing him late, had dragged him out under the excuse of removing a madman.

That’s how he ended up hidden here.

“Was he on drugs?”

“Seems that way.”

“Is there any way to bring him back?”

“We’d need a proper diagnosis...”

“This won’t work.”

Viscount Olor sighed. His regret wasn’t out of concern for the emperor.

With the emperor incapacitated, the empress could act as regent.

That would ensure her second son became the crown prince.

‘We need to move the emperor quickly...’

But he was unconscious. If they took him in like this, it would only discredit them and empower the empress further.

“Father.”

Remus asked in a careful voice,

“Do you believe in it?”

“In what?”

“The Northern legend.”

That the Fangs of the Beast, that [N O V E L I G H T] supernatural ability, were a gift from gods beyond the northern mountains.

“Imperials are always mad for that sort of nonsense.”

Viscount Olor sneered. His scorn made it clear what he thought of the imperial bloodline.

“I only followed orders, but I was appalled.”

The more he investigated the legend, the more disillusioned he became.

He couldn’t understand why the imperial family was so obsessed with a superstition even less credible than myths.

Remus had felt the same.

Even when he infiltrated the North, and questioned Regina about the legend, Voreoti treated it like a fairytale.

Of course, once he learned more about the Fangs of the Beast, he had been shocked.

But then again, ‘ora’ and ‘mana’ were very real supernatural powers.

To Remus, a family’s ability wasn’t so different.

‘I played along well enough.’

But now, Remus wondered.

What if?

‘In the end, I...’

He coolly evaluated his current state.

He couldn’t even show his face in noble society. His house was on the brink of collapse. His title was on the verge of being stripped.

‘If that’s the case...’

A chilling glint flashed through Remus’ crimson eyes.