“Yes. I thought it could be related since all this happened after that. They know how to summon followers.”

Evil worshippers.

I knew a thing or two about them.

Aside from the monsters who followed the Demon King and moved to resurrect them, there were those who worshiped evil. Worshiping evil couldn’t be considered sane, but I heard that there are such people, even among ordinary people.

They worked to lure people in and offer them as sacrifices, right?

I heard that there were some people who were in close contact with the followers. Since all these facts were revealed right before the Demon King’s resurrection, the story being told now means that it has already begun.

In fact, I knew that it was a vertical relationship where followers and demonic beasts controlled and commanded people, though I couldn’t say it out loud.

They would immediately suspect me and ask how I knew.

“Have you received any direct reports?”

Jed nodded.

“Yes, but there is no definite information yet. It seems that three or more people gathered to perform a ritual, but the witness who reported it went missing, and the people said that they were just burning trash, so we had no choice but to let them go since we couldn’t find any other evidence. There was no trace of black magic either.”

“Then, were there any suspicious marks on their bodies?”

“No. Of course, we thought that they would have something like that, but they were all clean. There wasn’t even the slightest trace.”

Lily kept nodding next to me.

She also said that she couldn’t find anything with her divine power.

“If they’ve started gathering for the ritual, they must have a mark to recognize each other. If they don’t, they could be members who don’t have any authority yet.”

“That’s possible. Anyway, it seems like it’s going to be a pain in the ass. I didn’t want to talk about work when I met you after so long, but I can’t help it.”

“I was curious, too. I didn’t think the Imperial Palace walls would collapse just like that…”

Lily reached out and grabbed my hand.

“We’re working hard, so it will soon return to normal. You came to the Capital to play for a while, right? Don’t worry too much.”

‘Yes, my heroine. This world is in your hands. Even if I run away from here, you’ll have a century of peace…!’

While I smiled contentedly inside, Jed interrupted from the side.

“Speaking of which, Dame Love. Oh, I guess I shouldn’t call you Dame anymore.”

“Yes?”

I didn’t really have any aversion to the title.

“I didn’t know you would get married without inviting us.”

Oh, I was hoping this wouldn’t come up… I barely appeased Lily, but now we were back to square one. I should have kept my marriage a secret from everyone from the beginning, even though they must have heard about it from Dylan long ago.

I knew the Crown Prince would know since I was wearing a big ring on my left hand, so it wasn’t surprising that he knew.

“That’s right… I thought Dame Love would tell me when you got married later, or rather when you had a lover. I was dreaming of giving you a new house or a villa as a thank you for connecting us. I especially wanted to make the roof red for you. I’m upset, I’m so upset, Dame Love.”

Sob, sob.

Jed’s eyes turned scary again.

That lovestruck fool.

“I don’t know about Your Highness, but you should’ve invited me! Still, you didn’t contact me! You didn’t even invite me to the wedding!”

It was back to square one…

My face wore a smile, but my head was throbbing.

“What do you mean she won’t invite me?”

Jed squinted one eye.

“Your Highness is her former superior.”

“So what? I never harassed Dame Love as her superior.”

Then, he glanced at me as he continued his words, “…Well, except maybe for asking her to do a little extra work sometimes.”

“When a superior says a little, it’s like a mountain to a subordinate, you know?”

“Who says that?”

“Romiel.”

“No, I don’t think so. If you’re going to nitpick, Romiel makes his subordinates work how much more than me.”

“Even so, Your Highness also shouldn’t do that!”

Oh, the female lead didn’t call him brother, but his name directly as if she wasn’t related to him*
[ T/N: The word brother in this case is Oppa. ]

I thought she would call him brother, but it was refreshing in a way. As our conversation was starting to turn into a complaint session between the two of them, I stayed silent, but Jed gave me a look to help him.

‘It’s your fault for talking about my marriage!’

Even though I pretended not to notice, I opened my mouth, afraid of the consequences if I didn’t.

I soothed Lily, who kept crying, saying that she was upset.

“No, it’s because we had such a small wedding since it was when the guild was just created. I was planning on having a proper ceremony once I settled down.”

“I would have found you even if you had eloped! I would have filled the wedding hall with seven different colored roses. And who dares to have a small wedding while he took our Dame Love?!”

“Aha… that.”

Lily showed great interest in my marriage. She asked who my partner was and who took me, the precious me, away.

Since I had to desperately hide the existence of my husband, I tried my best to avoid saying his name in case I made a mistake… and that was how Lily’s interrogation made Noah Edith, no, made Kairos, become the master of a very poor family that farmed in a distant land.

This was much better than a war breaking out.

Honestly, despite the fact that I didn’t want to be close to them, I didn’t want to make the two most powerful and important beings in the world my enemies, either.

‘Then, I might really die young! ‘

The moment they found out that I was Kairos’ wife, we would become sworn enemies. Would I be able to stand on Jed and Lily’s side without a care in the world and point a sword at him, saying that I was betrayed?

No. I could never do that.

If I could do that, I wouldn’t have made plans to run away like this. If only I could scrape up the feelings I had foolishly given him and take them back, I wouldn’t have had to worry about this.

It was because I knew I couldn’t do that, and that was why I was trying to remove him from my life. Even so, the scar from removing him would remain with me for the rest of my life and haunt me like a nightmare.

“Viscountess Edith. I guess I should call you Viscountess now.”

I quickly smiled at Lily’s voice.

“Oh, well…”

“But please introduce me to him someday. It would be nice to talk to him like this, like today.”

I knew why Lily was acting like this towards me. Although she was still Lady Lily Dayworth, she was already considered the Crown Princess among the nobles, so she had very few people she could confide in.

On top of that, Lily was gentle and had a weak personality, so she didn’t really enjoy tea time with noblewomen or ladies-in-waiting. In the original story, it said that she had a hard time finding a close friend even after Hazel Love died young.

“O-of course!”

I made a promise I couldn’t keep and was finally able to escape from the two of them after an hour.

‘Whew. I feel like my lifespan is getting shorter.’

I told them we would have dinner together someday and barely managed to get away, saying that they should go on a date.

Now, I really had to say a quick goodbye to Dylan and go back to the hotel. Annie said that she would finish everything soon, so I would just give Fay one or two more illusion lessons and pretend to go back to Ferrarium to finalize my perfect escape plan.

‘I have to get a clean divorce…’

Since Annie didn’t bring me any information about divorce or annulment while preparing everything else, it seemed like it would be difficult to find a way.

Still, that couldn’t be.

My goal was to completely cut ties with him and leave. While I was getting impatient, I decided to wait a little longer.

“S-senior!”

Fay called out to me as I was heading to Dylan’s office.

—