At that time, in the capital, things were going roughly as Annabelle had expected.

Everyone panicked because of the voices heard in the wind, and when they heard the sound of swords clashing, everyone was startled.

In particular, Oscar, who had guessed that Annabelle had entered a duel with a sword, was immediately stunned again.

He was so worried that he lost his mind. (tl/n: he fainted)

Marilyn rolled Oscar and laid him down, then pricked her ears to focus on the sound.

It was in order not to miss Annabelle's voice.

But the rest were only nervous for the first few minutes, but after a while it got cluttered again, and somewhat boring.

Hearing the sound of swords clashing and the voices intermingled every once in a while, they lost interest.

Of course, the duel was not visible, so the concentration dropped.

"Hmm, then..."

Once the situation was settled, it was the Emperor.

He was also very embarrassed, but first he had to think about the authority of the Imperial Family.

The matter about Crown Prince Carlon had to be mentioned, but not in front of so many people now.

"Right now, we don't really understand this strange situation, but it seems that something serious is going on with black magic..."

The Emperor looked at the crowd gathered around him and said solemnly.

"I think it would be better to just do the awards quickly and stop the event here. Everyone should go back immediately, and do not be reckless until the official announcement from the Imperial Family is made."

"Yes, I understand."

Aaron, who was standing in front of the podium, answered immediately, but he was thinking about something else.

'My sister doesn't swear. You must be expecting this.'

Aaron's head began to spin rapidly as he recalled his last conversation with Annabelle.

'Then, shouldn't we take the time to let as many people as possible know the outcome of this situation?'

In the meantime, sparse voices intermingled between the sounds of swords clashing in the wind.

~"Annabelle! It's dangerous!"

~"...Prince, do you think I cannot see with my eyes?"

~"Ha, but I instinctively..."

Seeing the Emperor's urging gaze, the host quickly brought the winner's medal.

"Then I will give the medal to the winner."

Of course, Aaron was not at all offended by his own awards ceremony being a bit of a mess.

Because he knew very well that he wasn't the number one swordsman in the Empire anyway.

"Okay then, let's end the event like this."

"Wait."

Aaron, who received the medal, rolled his eyes and looked around his crowd, and he said aloud.

The host, who was about to end the event in a hurry, blinked his eyes in restlessness.

"I'll just say one word and move on."

Aaron continued to speak confidently, covering the host's mouth by saying that he would only say one word.

"There was an illegal drug case in this swordsmanship competition, and I hope it will be tracked down to the end."

At those words, the audience roared again.

"What, didn't it all work out? They said they were all screened for drugs."

"You don't know the rumor? Actually, the Empress ordered some..."

Of course, Maiena, who had obtained information from somewhere, had already spread the rumors here and there.

Anyway, Aaron didn't say it openly to save himself, but it did help spread the word.

After throwing out the bombshell, he smiled as he lifted the medal he had received from the Emperor.

"And I will dedicate this medal to my lover, Cessianne."

Everyone's eyes turned to Cessianne, who was supporting Marilyn. Cessianne's face flushed red.

In the end, Aaron, who didn't say more than a word, walked over to her and approached Cessianne.

Then he put the medal on the collar of Cessianne's shirt, whispering only to her.

"I'm going to give it to you before Ian retrieves it. Sadly, I'm a lieutenant, so I have to follow orders. If you ask for it again, say it in the name of god."

Cessianne couldn't help but laugh at those words.

People around them, who were watching the two, murmured and brought up another topic.

"By the way, where has Ian been?"

"If Ian had won, who would he have given the medal to? This was the last swordsmanship contest for him."

In fact, everyone did not doubt that Ian would be the main character of this awards ceremony.

"If it were a noble woman, she must be a good-natured and beautiful person."

"I think he will have a very standard and exemplary love. He is so perfect in everything."

It was then.

Suddenly, they began to hear a huge thud in the wind.

"Hey, this is... It seems like a lot of monsters are moving?"

The people in the capital had no choice but to be surprised.

Aaron shrugged his shoulders and sat down naturally in the crowd.

"It looks like something great is finally starting to happen. I wish someone could take a little more time..."

He added calmly, holding Marilyn's hand, who was restless and concerned about Annabelle.

"Don't worry, mother. It seems that you are all aware of this situation. She has a very broad spectrum of swearing, but she didn't even say a single curse word, right? It means that things are calm now."

As Aaron sat down in the audience at just the right moment, Maiena, who was occupying the frontmost VIP seat, jumped to her feet.

"It's probably not going to happen. It looks like a battle is taking place in the Smaho forest right now... May I post something?"

Maiena then shouted.

"We've got information that the Empress has purchased illegal drugs. Did you give it to the foreign guard of Crown Prince Carlon who is fighting Miss Annabelle?"

Of course, not anyone could jump up and express their opinions in such a place.

The Empress also did not lose and got up and shouted.

"What are you saying with disrespect without even applying for the right to speak first? Did you think it would be fine? Besides, these suspicious voices have not even been proven to be true, so you dare frame the Empress from mere gossip?"

In fact, Maiena was right, so the Empress spoke with more force.

"Take her in for contempt of the Imperial Family right now! There's a degree to being arrogant, isn't this behavior far beyond the line?"

That was correct. The imperial knights began to falter in the attempt to arrest her.

~*~

The ground rumbled louder and louder.

"What, what? It seems that all the monsters in the forest are moving?"

"Oh my gosh."

At Robert's words, I muttered out of absurdity.

"No, you mean there were so many monsters in the forest?"

"It seems that even the ones that were sleeping in the tunnels came out..."

"Were there any such beings?"

"I think I read it from an ancient record? But why..."

We were all panicking.

Because it was impossible to understand why the forest, which had been intact until now, was turned upside down like this.

Then the ground under our feet began to crumble and crack.

"Wow, there must have been a tunnel here too!"

The mole-like monster that appeared from below us left us behind and ran towards the entrance.

'It seems that someone without an Imperial Family member entered the forest...'

Robert murmured next to me, apparently thinking the same thing.

"Did any of the knights take the wrong path by mistake?"

As long as the demons didn't attack us, it had nothing to do with us.

It was true that they were moving towards the entrance, so the hypothesis that someone had entered the wrong way seemed plausible.

"I'll probably go out again after seeing this person, but..."

It was when Robert spoke insignificantly.

The ground shook violently like an earthquake.

The monster's tunnel under our feet had completely sunk.

The ground cracked open and the low cliff we stood on began to crumble.

'Wait, isn't this a good opportunity?'

Taking advantage of everyone's lost balance, I leapt and kicked Lagian's stomach.

It wasn't a final blow, so he could recover, because we were both thinking the same thing.

'I want to fight far away from those damn Imperials.'

Eventually, the ground cracked and a cliff was formed.

Carlon and Robert remained on top while Lagian and I fell down into the bamboo forest at the bottom of the cliff.

"Annabelle! Are you okay? I'm going to get you right now..."

Robert cried out in a scream, and I looked up and answered calmly.

"Please stay there. Don't make me go rescue the Prince."

Finally, Lagian and I were confronted with each other in a bamboo forest.

Now, a serious duel was about to take place.

"It looks like you've been avoiding me the best you can, but..."

Lagian pulled a bottle out of his arms.

"Now, it would be better to be well prepared to go to the underworld."

I called for joy inside. Finally, my last plan came true.

The reason for protecting the Imperial Family was also the reason, but in fact, it took some time so far to let Lagian blow up the whole story of this case on his own.

Without mentioning what the bamboo forest really was.

Unless he had already taken drugs, there was no way he could have taken drugs without my knowledge.

Because drugs have a time limit, there was no option to eat and wait.

This was not a fair duel, and he would definitely eat it in front of me, but I was aiming for that time.

And that was right now.