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Empty eyes.
The Emperor of Ilnord looked as if he hadn't slept a single moment, his face gaunt and hollow.
A wedding.
Right after losing Promian's Emperor and his entourage, who had nearly been within his grasp, everything fell into chaos.
According to his plan, the guests should have witnessed something far more spectacular than a wedding.
Delight's death.
And the fall of the Promian Empire.
He had prepared meticulously for that day.
He intended to imprint upon the attending guests the glory of Ilnord, something eternal, by showing them that moment.
But all his plans came to nothing.
To the guests waiting for the wedding that still hadn't started long past the designated hour, all they ended up seeing was the palace in shambles.
A disaster had broken out, one that they couldn't understand. The wedding had turned into a catastrophe, and the bride and groom had vanished.
Eventually, word started spreading among the guests.
Those who had anticipated the wedding of the century sensed something ominous brewing and quickly withdrew, afraid they might somehow get caught in the fallout.
Foreign envoys, unaware of the exact circumstances, quietly returned to their own countries.
But later, through rumors trickling in, they began to piece together what had transpired between Promian and Ilnord.
From that day on, the Emperor's expression had been dark and sunken, as though a war had ravaged him.
- "The existence of the Archmage Sherina must be concealed."
Amid the chaos, he had desperately tried to silence every mouth.
Thanks to that, the fact that Archmage Sherina had returned hadn't yet become public knowledge.
"It's only a matter of time."
Soon enough, the world would know.
Vitian mumbled vacantly.
From that moment on, it was like his mind had been half-absent, his thoughts entirely elsewhere.
To him, Sherina's existence held an enormous weight.
"How... how could she still be alive?"
It still felt like Sherina was standing right in front of him.
He vividly remembered the sharp, chilling sensation as if she might grab him by the throat at any moment.
And that made it even harder to accept.
"Impossible... even after killing her, she hasn't disappeared?"
He repeated those words over and over again, trying to deny her existence...
But the more he did, the more her presence filled his mind.
Her death had been the crowning glory of his life.
And at the same time, Sherina's demise had proven, at least to him, that no matter how great one might be, they could not stand against the imperial house of Ilnord.
That belief, which he had held so firmly for years, crumbled in an instant.
Overwhelmed by crushing defeat, he couldn't gather his senses.
"If she truly reincarnated... has she been hiding it all this time?"
The Emperor stared blankly into space.
He had gone over the situation again and again in his mind, to the point of obsession, but he still couldn't make sense of it.
Just then, as the Emperor was muttering absently.
Thudding footsteps.
"You mustn't! His Majesty said no one is to enter!"
"How dare you stand in my way!"
"It's His Majesty's order!"
"Move aside!"
The scuffle ended with someone being pushed aside and falling, and at that moment, the door burst open.
The one who shoved her way in and grabbed the Emperor's shoulder was the Empress.
She couldn't hide her agitation as she shouted sharply at the Emperor, who was lost in thought.
"How could you do that to our son! I could endure any other disgrace, but how could you do that?!"
"……"
"And how could you not visit the Crown Prince even once after all this?!"
The Empress couldn't contain her emotions and kept yelling.
"What if something had happened to the Crown Prince?!"
"But nothing did."
"…What did you say?"
"The Crown Prince is standing just fine right behind you. What's the issue?"
The Emperor's cold gaze turned toward the Crown Prince, who had entered alongside the Empress.
"Say it yourself, what have you ever done for Ilnord?"
The Emperor snapped, as if disgusted.
He didn't have the time nor patience to deal with the whining of the Empress and the Crown Prince.
"You should've at least proven your worth that way!"
"Your Majesty!"
The Empress couldn't hide her shock and resentment at such a cruel remark and raised her voice in protest.
"Silence!"
"……!"
"You dare grumble over something so trivial? You don't even understand what truly matters!"
Overwhelmed by the Emperor's forceful presence, the Empress, who had been yelling in fury and the Crown Prince, who had stood behind her with a sulky expression, both fell silent, too afraid to speak.
To the Emperor, they were nothing but irritating obstacles at that point.
"Get out. Now."
The dismissal came without hesitation.
"Why are you still standing there?! Leave!"
The Emperor mercilessly threw out both the Empress and the Crown Prince.
To him, the two of them were meaningless now, nothing more than nuisances standing in his way.
He was under immense psychological pressure.
The Empress clenched her teeth.
She was deeply humiliated and wanted to hold her ground, but when she saw the Emperor's cloudy, disoriented eyes, she instinctively knew that pushing further would only make things worse.
"…We'll return later."
In the end, the Empress took the Crown Prince's arm and left.
"Finally, some peace and quiet."
The Emperor let out a deep breath and sank back into thought.
Even while the Empress had been snapping at him, he hadn't been able to stop thinking about the Archmage Sherina.
"Her power… it seemed completely intact."
He gnawed at his nails. The more he thought about it, the more anxious he grew.
"Everything was going according to plan."
If only that absurd variable, Sherina suddenly appearing, hadn't occurred...
"Everything would've ended by now."
But a massive, uncontrollable variable had entered the equation.
Because of that single variable, the entire board had been overturned.
Sherina had become an enemy once more, and on top of that, the dragon, who was supposed to follow his will, had escaped to Promian.
Though the dragon's power had been sealed and couldn't directly harm Ilnord, it was now useless to him.
Effectively, Ilnord had lost its most decisive source of power.
All of this, every last thing, was because of one person, Sherina.
In the end, the fact that she had once again become an obstacle in his path drove the Emperor into a barely contained rage.
Right after the Empress and the Crown Prince were forced out, the official responsible for the counterfeit military mana stones entered, speaking cautiously.
"Your Majesty, even so, we still have the counterfeit mana stones. With those, we should be able to face Archmage Sherina."
"……"
Instead of calming the Emperor, those words twisted his lips into a bitter sneer.
"Have you ever faced Archmage Sherina in person?"
"No, Your Majesty."
"Exactly. I figured as much."
Because he had never come up against that wall, he could still harbor such empty hope.
"That's why you're so clueless, spouting nonsense."
The power of Archmage Sherina could only be understood by those who had witnessed it.
An overwhelming force that left opponents utterly helpless.
When she was an ally, she felt invincible.
But when standing on the opposing side...
She was the kind of threat that must be eliminated first at all costs.
"And yet, she managed to hide her identity all this time."
The princess of Promian.
Until now, unlike Delight, she had always been known to possess no talent whatsoever for magic.
But now, that supposedly talentless princess turned out to be the reincarnation of Archmage Sherina.
"Given the situation, time has become poison."
There's only one way to defeat Archmage Sherina.
Strike before she has a chance to make her move.
"How many counterfeit mana stones are immediately available?"
"If we focus them solely on warfare, we have a three-month supply in reserve."
"If we use them all at once, we may just stand a chance."
"Pardon? Use them all at once…?"
But the Emperor continued without listening.
"Check how many troops we can mobilize immediately."
"Your Majesty… surely you don't mean…"
"Peace is over."
A gleam returned to the Emperor's sunken eyes.
***
It was a report that had just come in.
"Ilnord has launched a surprise attack near the border."
"How severe are the damages?"
"Even though we had fortified the border, they used a massive amount of mana stones, we were overwhelmed."
"They moved faster than expected."
It had been about two weeks since returning from Ilnord.
In that time, she had not simply stood idle.
They had strengthened border defenses and stayed alert for any sign of movement.
But she hadn't expected Ilnord to act this quickly.
Surely, they would have needed time to stabilize the chaos and regroup their forces.
Moreover, her very presence must have been a massive shock to them.
That's why she had assumed they would proceed more cautiously...
But maybe it had the opposite effect.
"So this is my fault, then."
It seemed her existence had stirred up his anxiety, driving him to act impulsively instead of rationally.
And now, without consideration or foresight, he had set off the spark of war.
"And this man dares to call himself Emperor."
Pathetic didn't even begin to describe it.
But now, there was no choice left.
"War is unavoidable now."
She would have to end things with Ilnord, once and for all.
Unlike in her past life, this time she would face it head-on.
And finish it properly.
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