Chapter 178

“Dad, what are you saying so suddenly?”

Siervian stared straight at her father, bewildered by his unexpected suggestions. His blue eyes held worry, but there was also an unwavering firmness.

“If you must go out, you must be accompanied by two guards.”

“Dad!”

Now she remembered the countless guards she had seen on her way. Compared to her previous life, this was clearly an excessive measure. It was true that alarm magic wouldn’t work in the mana-less zone. However, offensive and teleportation magic would also be difficult to use.

“It’s not like I have to go that far.”

Her father must have known this. Yet, the excessive measures that kept her immobile suddenly felt insufferable. The suffocating feeling filled her chest like a rapidly spreading flame.

“If you couldn’t find the cause in your previous life, the chances are high that it will be the same this time.”

“It disappears before next spring anyway. Nothing happened then either.”

Her mood was getting worse. The feeling of wanting to float and fly like a balloon had completely turned into a suffocating feeling that threatened to pierce through the ceiling. The vast imperial palace, which had always felt spacious, suddenly transformed into an oppressive place within Siervian.

‘Suddenly, I’m so annoyed!’

Unaware of Siervian’s inner turmoil, her father continued to persuade her.

“If what you say is true, it won’t last longer than six months…”

“No.”

“Siervy?”

Her father spoke with a hardened expression at Siervian’s sudden, firm refusal. He seemed angry, but she knew it stemmed from worry. The fact that the status window wasn’t showing confirmed it.

‘Still!’

Even so, a feeling of frustration and sadness welled up inside her.

‘Why does Dad always…!’

Complaints she didn’t even know she had, as if they had been waiting, surged to the surface. Siervian’s emotions fluctuated wildly, like a drop of red dye dropped into water.

Finally, unable to bear the overwhelming emotions, Siervian abruptly rose from her chair. Then, without realizing it, she shouted loudly.

“I hate you, Dad!”

“….!”

Leaving her surprised father behind, Siervian didn’t stop there. She ran out of the imperial palace.

“I hate you!”

“Siervy…!”

She heard the sound of chairs falling over behind her, but Siervian kept running.

“Your Highness?”

Ellie, who had been waiting outside, followed Siervian with a surprised expression. As she ran toward the princess’ palace, she noticed the rows of guards again. This made her feel even more oppressed.

‘Clearly, nothing happened except for the Mana Windless Zone. Why don’t you believe me?’

She felt so sad that for a moment, she had the exaggerated feeling that she was alone in the world again. However, the emotion, which had been based on weak evidence, quickly faded away.

“Oh my, Your Highness. Why are you running like this?”

As soon as she arrived at the Princess’ Palace, the startled maids rushed to her, thinking something serious had happened. Seeing the worry on their faces, Siervian suddenly came to her senses.

‘Why did I do that?’

She knew that her father was worried about her. Siervian’s assumption must have been the same as her father’s, so the status window didn’t appear.

‘But it’s strangely sad.’

She felt sad that her father didn’t seem to believe her. It made her even sadder that he told her not to do the things she had been doing.

Besides, why didn’t he just tell her honestly?

‘He could have just said that he was worried about me.’

She hadn’t realized how sad she was until now. However, once she realized it, she couldn’t help but feel annoyed at her father, who was bad at expressing his emotions. Even though she knew it was all for her own good.

“Your Highness, did His Majesty scold you?”

Ellie quickly approached and hugged Siervian tightly. It was a reasonable assumption, considering that Siervian had run out saying she hated her father, even though it was unlikely that His Majesty would do such a thing.

“Ellie…”

She felt so confused that her heart was pounding. Her reason told her that she should understand her father, but the emotions that had sprung up wouldn’t subside.

“Let’s go inside for now, shall we?”

“Okay.”

Following Ellie’s lead, Siervian returned to her room, biting her lip in frustration, not knowing what to do.

‘Why am I like this?’

Entering her bedroom, Siervian reflexively looked into the mirror, thinking that her face must look terrible right now.

‘Huh?’

However, what she saw was an unexpected status window.

[Siervian Erveldotte (14 years old)]
Synchronizing body and soul… 72%
Actions follow the body.
Status abnormality: Puberty
ː◈ː

“What?”

“Your Highness?”

Siervian exclaimed in surprise, unable to control herself as she stared at the phrase that indicated an abnormal status.

It had been nine years since the regression. Siervian was already an adult when considering the age of her soul and couldn’t believe it.

‘I’m in puberty!’

The shocking abnormal status showed no signs of disappearing.

* * *

“….”

In the grand conference hall, the nobles felt like they were about to die.

This was because the Emperor, who had been in a foul mood since entering the regular meeting, remained silent.

Gulp.

Someone couldn’t bear the long silence and swallowed hard.

The other nobles around him kept signaling him, but their gazes soon disappeared like the tide and were fixed on the floor.

The Emperor was also looking at the source of the sound.

“Increasing the number of guards to this extent is excessive, don’t you think?”

The nobleman who had made the swallowing sound while the Emperor was looking at him felt his hair stand on end.

What he had just said was about a meeting that had taken place a few days ago.

“There are gaps in the safety of the Imperial Palace, but you think that even this level of reinforcement of the guards is excessive. The opinion of the lords must have been like that.”

The words spoken by the Emperor while tapping the ornate armrest of the throne were small but very heavy.

The sound of tapping felt like it was hitting his neck, so the nobles swallowed dryly again without a sound.

“I didn’t know that the lords were so concerned about the safety of the Imperial Palace.”

Only then did the nobles realize the reason for His Majesty’s bad mood.

‘I heard that the aristocratic faction is almost non-existent, so the opposition was minimal.’

‘Even so, isn’t it too much to triple the number now?’

‘Is he going to fill the entire Imperial Palace with guards!’

Of course, the nobles couldn’t bring themselves to say what they were thinking.

The suffocating atmosphere only made them want to resolve this matter quickly.

“The reinforcement of the guards will proceed as originally planned.”

At the Emperor’s final statement, the nobles discreetly glanced at each other.

In particular, many nobles were watching Count Navid, the Minister of Finance. This was because he was the only noble who had opposed this matter, even though he was a pro-Emperor aristocrat.

“As you wish.”

However, to everyone’s surprise, even he nodded his head in agreement this time.

The other nobles quickly followed suit.

In fact, with the Emperor’s authority being so strong, the number of guards wasn’t a big problem.

‘Anyway, with the number of great mages in the Emperor’s faction increasing to five in the future, the number of guards doesn’t really matter.’

‘The biggest problem is finance, but since Her Highness the Princess is making such a huge amount of money….’

The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t find any reason to refuse.

And there was one person among the nobles who was sweating the most.

It was Count Navid.

‘…I heard that Her Highness the Princess left a formidable warning at the Imperial Palace, and this must be the reason.’

As the head of the Ministry of Finance, he naturally had to oppose the increase in guards, which would lead to excessive spending.

However, because of that, he must have offended Her Highness the Princess. And that, too, in front of the Emperor, who is now an indisputable king.

‘This is the era when the Empire is becoming the richest in history, so I guess I should stop opposing it. Hehehe.’

Count Navid was thorough in his work and also valued his life.

As the nobles all stopped showing any signs of opposition, the Emperor finally raised his eyebrows and suppressed his displeasure a little.

“Submit a plan for the reinforcement of the guards and a new security system immediately.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The number of guards that Siervian had said was excessive was still not enough in his eyes.

He would have been worried about Siervian even if something had just gone wrong, but now that something was changing connected to the Princess’ Palace.

‘I can’t leave it like this.’

Someone was definitely after Siervian, the most precious treasure of the Imperial Palace.

Even Alderuan of the past, before Siervian’s regression, said that he couldn’t find a proper solution.

Then, as a father, it was only natural for him to not allow even an inch, not even a moment’s gap.

“They should be recruited from those with the most reliable identities.”

“Of course.”

Although Siervian had the eyes to see the truth, the Emperor always did his best.

However, no matter how many measures he took, a severe headache overwhelmed him.

‘Dad, I hate you!’

To be precise, his daughter’s screams kept ringing in his ears.

If he had increased the number of guards to the number he had originally planned, he wouldn’t have heard such pique from Siervian.

The thought of it made his anger flare up again.

As the Emperor, who had gotten his way, flared up again, the nobles hurriedly bowed their heads.

The suffocating conference hall continued for a long time after that.

* * *

‘My heart won’t settle down.’

Siervian finally admitted that her body was entering puberty.

However, knowing the cause didn’t mean it was easy to resolve.

After all, her restless heart, which didn’t know where to turn, was wandering around the Imperial Palace.

“I heard that Damian will be in charge of everything from now on?”

“No, he’s not!”

“…Okay, I got it.”

So, Siervian devoted herself to patrolling the magic circles even more diligently, as if in rebellion.

It was the dawn of a rather distorted rebellious period.

—