A wave of bewilderment washed over me at Deyan's sudden action.
How was I supposed to interpret this situation?
Is this some kind of advanced psychological tactic?
The tension that had gripped me vanished so abruptly that all my strength seemed to drain away with it.
Just to be sure, I nudged the unconscious man's hand with the tip of my boot.
Deyan remained completely motionless.
It seemed he truly had knocked himself out.
"This is turning into a very strange situation."
I glanced at the other suspicious man Giselle had captured and bound.
His gaze was fixed on Deyan, and for some reason, he looked relieved.
Was that the source of the noise I heard earlier?
So it hadn't been infighting or a dispute after all?
The mystery behind the thunderous commotion that had echoed throughout the forest was finally solved.
Now the question was why this man had acted the way he did.
"...Is he unable to control his own actions?"
I recalled the clouded look in Deyan's eyes, as if he had lost all reason.
Had he briefly regained his sanity while trapped inside a body he couldn't control?
And if so, had he chosen to knock himself unconscious to prevent unnecessary casualties?
It's plausible.
Then who had done this to him?
And by what method?
He must have encountered someone highly skilled in magic...
I narrowed my eyes at the unconscious man's head for a moment before turning away.
"Regardless, I need to find out what he was doing in my country. Giselle, put him on a horse."
"Yes, Your Highness."
By then, Giselle had recovered herself and was tightly binding Deyan.
"Urgh!"
Inside the prison cell, Glay Holdin writhed helplessly.
Bound from head to toe like a cocooned caterpillar, he squirmed for a long time before finally giving up and lifting only his head.
"You can torture me all you want, but I'll never reveal any important information!"
"Oh my."
Standing at the entrance of the cell, blocking the doorway, Idir smiled with her eyes curved gently.
"What makes you think I'd do something so cruel?"
"Huh? Then why put me in prison...?"
"We discovered an illegal entrant. Detaining him is the obvious thing to do, isn't it?"
Now that he thought about it, she wasn't wrong.
Glay Holdin carefully studied Idir's expression.
There was no anger on her face.
No malice.
In fact, her smile was rather beautiful.
There was a warmth about her that naturally belonged to kind-hearted people, and encouraged by it, he cautiously asked another question.
"What will happen to the man we found in the forest?"
"If you're referring to Sir Deyan Boyislav Nemanich, we've placed him in isolation at a separate residence."
So they've identified him.
Holdin clicked his tongue inwardly.
They had met him only once, yet somehow remembered his face.
At this point, pretending ignorance seemed pointless. A partial explanation would probably be safer.
"May I ask about His Excellency's condition?"
"Of course. A physician is examining him right now. Apparently, the wound in his abdomen is extremely deep."
"Yes. While carrying out a mission under His Majesty's orders, he was attacked by bandits—"
"Pfft."
Idir suddenly burst into laughter.
Her shoulders trembled as she laughed, looking for all the world like an innocent young girl.
"Bandits?"
Yet every word that followed was as sharp as a blade.
"You're telling me that the strongest knight in the Empire—the one they call immortal—was reduced to that state by mere bandits?"
"...He was overwhelmed by numbers."
"Ah, I see. And that happened specifically in that forest?"
The green eyes hidden behind her gently curved eyelids flashed.
"How curious. A knight of Adorif carrying out a mission within our Grand Duchy."
The eyes that resembled beautiful emeralds contained not the slightest trace of warmth.
"Don't worry, Sir Holdin. I have no intention of interrogating you."
Yet her voice remained as kind and gentle as ever.
"Why would I bother chasing the tail when I have a head to question? Unless, of course, I needed leverage."
At Idir's soft-spoken words, Holdin's mouth fell open.
This is insane.
None of this had been in his reports.
How had no one known?
"When Sir Nemanich wakes up, I'll arrange for you two to meet. I think our conversation will proceed much more smoothly then."
Idir Hubert, the princess of the so-called Shrimp Nation—a woman reputed to be delicate, fragile, and beautiful as a flower carved from precious jewels—
"If you hear your subordinate screaming right in front of you, you'll probably feel more inclined to talk."
—was actually a complete psychopath!
Speaking in a tone better suited to whispering sweet nothings to a lover, Idir turned and left the prison.
"W-Wait! Please wait, Princess!"
Panicking, Holdin wriggled forward and thrust his head between the bars.
"I know everything! I have a very loose tongue!"
I hate pain!
Grinding my teeth, I strode swiftly down the corridor.
Do they take me for an idiot?
The ridiculous lies they had fed me made irritation surge through my chest.
Is it because I'm always smiling and acting pleasant? They think I'm easy to fool.
Why did people always underestimate those who smiled often?
One day, that habit was going to get them into serious trouble.
When I returned to the room whose door had been securely locked, all the traces of my attempted demon summoning remained exactly where I had left them.
"Ah, right."
Massaging my throbbing forehead, I remembered my original purpose.
What I'd found in the forest was only a side benefit.
The truly important matter was this.
"Where had I gotten to?"
Right.
The summoning had failed, so I'd gone hunting poisonous monitor lizards.
The scroll specified the blood of a creature imbued with venomous energy as the sacrifice.
Since then, I had been capturing every dangerous venomous creature I could find and offering their blood.
Please let this work.
I began drawing the magic circle once more.
I'd redrawn it so many times that I could now reproduce it entirely from memory.
"Just succeed already."
With the power of a demon, I would force two nations and an entire alliance to kneel before me and lick the dust from my feet.
Especially the culprit.
I would skin the soles of that bastard's feet and make him dance a waltz across burning iron.
Just as I was about to inscribe the final symbol in the center of the magic circle—
Saaaa—
What?
The moment my sleeve brushed the circle, it emitted a faint glow.
A sinister magenta light.
My eyes were not deceiving me.
"...Did that just shine?"
I couldn't believe it.
The magic circle had never reacted before.
Why would it react now?
What triggered it?
My gaze slowly traveled downward.
To my hands, stained with chalk and chalk dust from drawing the circle.
To the lace sleeve hanging loosely from my wrist.
And finally—
To the blood staining its edge.
Deyan's blood.
"No way..."
Someone once said that it's always the impossible thing that gets you.
Though I told myself it couldn't be true, I pulled my sleeve over the magic circle once more.
Saaaaah!
This time, the response was noticeably stronger.
"...!"
A sharp breath caught in my throat.
The circle was definitely reacting.
According to the summoning scroll, the sacrifice required the blood of a creature imbued with venomous energy.
That was why I had spent so long collecting every kind of blood I could get my hands on and testing them all.
Naturally, that included my own blood.
All it had earned me was a collection of cuts on my fingers.
Human blood never worked.
I'd even experimented with the blood of people under the effects of medicines and poisons.
I'd tested every variable I could think of.
Of that much, I was certain.
So why was this different?
Is there something special in that man's blood?
Thump. Thump.
Excitement flooded through me, making my heart pound wildly.
Suppressing the heat rising to my face, I forced myself to remain calm.
I need confirmation.
Whatever secrets Deyan possessed were irrelevant.
His blood might allow me to summon a demon.
And since he was already badly wounded and had lost a great deal of blood, obtaining a sample now would be effortless.
I immediately hurried toward the detached residence where he was receiving treatment.
"Princess?"
"It's nothing! Don't worry about it!"
Then I returned carrying the blood-soaked bandages that had been removed from his wounds.
I rubbed them against the magic circle.
The result was exactly what I expected.
Saaaaah!
"It's reacting!"
The light quickly faded, but there was no doubt.
The circle responded to Deyan's blood.
Which meant—
That man was the key to summoning a demon.
Good heavens...
I quickly covered my mouth.
Otherwise I might have screamed in joy.
At last...
I've found a lead.
"Mother!"
"Take the Princess away! Don't let her see this!"
I would find the person who murdered my mother.
No matter what it took.
And when I did, I would make them scream in agony.
Of course, simple revenge was never my ultimate goal.
The one who killed my mother deserves a punishment beyond imagination.
And as ruler, it would be my duty to build a future of strength and prosperity for those who lived under my protection.
The time had come to overturn the wretched food chain that ruled this world.
The time had come to write a new history.
And at the very forefront of that history, engraved more brilliantly than any other name, would stand—
Idir Hubert, the first Queen of the great Kingdom of Plene.