Penia Crysinne lived in the flavor of her own importance. Although she acted like a hooligan, displaying her temper as she pleased, this didn’t mean she was stupid or dull.

In a word, she was well self-aware.

Penia had a good grasp of her own situation, so the reformative letter wasn’t much of an issue for her.

The letter was a source of fear only for nobles involved in political life, but there was no reason to fear if one wasn’t entangled in political ideologies.

Unless one were to commit absurdities like human experimentation associated with heretics.

Moreover, the Kingdom of Saints also made an effort not to easily antagonize the people from the Mage Tower.

Fighting each other would benefit neither side much.

Thus, even when Penia heard that Cardinal Yutia had come looking for her because of the reformative letter, she was nonchalant, and had even hoped for a small slip of the tongue when she first heard of the Cardinal’s visit, perhaps to relieve some stress from the workload piled up by Marquis Palatio.

So she looked at Yutia with eyes full of venom, at least until Yutia stepped into the room.

But.

The moment Yutia entered and looked at Penia with a casual expression and a deep smile, Penia couldn’t help but adjust her posture.

In a fleeting moment, she saw something behind Yutia.

She couldn’t see it clearly.

But one thing was clear. It was the same type as ‘that’.

The thing that Marquis Palatio wore on his back.

Something that people must never recognize.

Recognizing it meant one could gain everything in the world, but it would also mean having to sacrifice one’s life—it was a poisoned chalice.

Unknowingly, Penia began to sweat coldly.

‘That’ being there meant, the person before her was not just some Cardinal, but something entirely different.

Thus,

‘What? How? Why is there such a thing behind the Cardinal of the Kingdom of Saints? Why?’

Feeling fear and confusion, Penia said,

“Sorry.”

“What?”

Suddenly apologizing, Yutia had Penia staring blankly,

“As the Vice-tower master of the Blue Tower, I thought it might be difficult to converse without revealing this briefly… I didn’t realize it would scare you this much.”

“Sob-“

She hiccupped.

“You don’t have to react like that. I’m not here to harm the Vice-tower master. Just-“

Despite Penia’s state, Yutia still wore a calm smile.

Then she slowly raised her index finger to her lips and whispered,

“You know, this is a sensitive matter.”

“Yes, of course. I am tight-lipped. Yes, very much so…!”

Penia nodded her head as if mad,

“That’s very good.”

“Yes, yes-“

Unlike when she was grilling Felin, Penia, with a servile smile plastered on her face, cautiously opened her mouth,

“But, may I know the reason for your visit…?”

“Ah, just heard some interesting rumors.”

“Interesting, rumors, you say?”

At Penia’s question, Yutia laughed,

“Yes. Some interesting rumors about our Vice-tower master and Marquis Palatio.”

“Ru, rumors-?”

At that, Penia immediately realized what Yutia was referring to, and simultaneously, her survival instincts, which had started to sound an alarm, miraculously summoned a crumpled memory tucked away in a corner of her brain.

Specifically, the rumor that Marquis Palatio and Cardinal Yutia were closely linked.

Realizing this, Penia closely observed Yutia’s expression.

Surely, she was smiling, but not really.

Her mouth might have been curved into a smile, but her eyes were cold.

Penia frantically struggled for survival,

“That, that’s absolutely not true!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, yes, absolutely! That’s just a rumor, absolutely! Definitely…!”

“Yet, you hadn’t denied those circulating rumors before-“

“No, no! I’ve denied them all now! Recently! There won’t be any such rumors in the future, really!”

Penia earnestly explained,

Whether her explanation was effective or not, the shadow in Yutia’s serene smile seemed to gradually lift.

Seeing this, Penia, realizing her lifeline was slowly opening, became even more determined and continued her words.

However,

“I, I don’t really have such a taste for the Marquis. Right? He always has that expressionless face, you know? I don’t really like such people.”

“What?”

Maybe, that was too much.

“…What?”

“What did you just say?”

Yutia’s face, which had been smiling pleasantly, suddenly grew cold.

Penia belatedly rolled her eyes and opened her mouth,

“Ah, that, um-“

Penia began sweating profusely,

Why must she suffer so much because of Marquis Palatio?

Suddenly, she felt a surge of sadness, almost bringing tears to her eyes.

But the next moment,

“Vice-tower master.”

“…!?”

Penia couldn’t help but be startled.

Just moments ago, Yutia had been sitting across from her, but now she was unexpectedly beside her, gently placing her hand on Penia’s shoulder.

Penia momentarily froze and wanted to scream, but she managed to keep her mouth shut with hiccups instead.

“It’s good to show your innocence, but that statement was a bit over the line, wasn’t it?”

“Sob-“

“Answer.”

“Yes… yes…! I’m, I’m sorry…!”

“I’ll let it pass this time. But next time… you know?”

Thud-

“I’m a bit short on patience.”

Soon, Yutia whispered in her ear with a chilling voice,

“Alright, Vice-tower master. Let’s get along well from now on.”

“….Yes, understood. Well, Marquis Palatio does have his… his admirable aspects, ha ha.”

Penia replied with an awkward laugh as Yutia stood up,

“But, does that mean you wanted a… a certain kind of relationship with Marquis Palatio?”

Yutia’s face started to harden again, and Penia had to quickly add more to her statement,

“Ah, no, it’s not like that, the Marquis is handsome, but that’s not really my type…”

“So, the Marquis is not your type?”

–

“No, it’s not that, he definitely is a handsome man!”

“He’s not your type, but you’re interested because he’s handsome?”

“No, that’s not it,”

Penia felt as if she was trapped in an endless cycle, feeling indescribable anger and injustice,

‘This crazy woman, what on earth does she want me to say?!’

But as Penia was very self-aware, and felt painfully that she could not oppose the being in front of her,

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’m sorry for being alive…”

She could only bow her head.

It was a peaceful afternoon.

***

Three days later.

[Ha ha ha- It’s my victory!]

“You crazy-“

[Meow-?]

As Alon was crossing the desert, he observed Evan, Basiliora, and Blackie gambling excitedly from the driver’s seat.

‘What on earth are they playing?’

He soon rummaged through his belongings and pulled out the Scorpion gauntlet he had captured,

Like the artifact he had given to Yutia, it was powerless and glowing a pale white,

‘…Apostle.’

Apostle.

It was the first time Alon had seen an Apostle.

They didn’t even appear in games.

But one thing was certain, they were powerful.

‘If Seolrang had not awakened, it would have been us who suffered.’

Alon felt a deeper need to delve into magic research.

Not just because of the grotesque clean-up, but soon he had to prepare for the Apostles that would start appearing.

Judging coldly, if all Apostles possessed that level of power, it would be virtually impossible for Alon to stop them.

If he couldn’t stop them, the Apostles would eventually create Sin.

Fortunately, Alon had people to help him with his research, and he had already thought of ways to enhance his magical abilities.

The only concern was the ‘information’ about the Apostle.

‘…There’s nothing known about them.’

Unfortunately, no one knew about the Apostle.

Neither asking Rine nor the Dragonkin he had visited during his stay in the Colony yielded any different information.

The most he had learned was that someone who had survived the war might know something.

Thus,

‘…Kylrus’

Alon recalled that name once more.

To the Golden Dragon, he was a mage,

But now, he had appeared as a goblin Outer God.

‘Once I get that item following Eliban, I should go meet him right away.’

Apart from knowing how to use the Dragon of Darkness, there was another reason to meet Kylrus.

As he was organizing his thoughts,

“Marquis.”

Alon turned his head at the sound of Evan’s voice.

“What is it?”

“I realized I hadn’t given this to you.”

Evan pulled a glass bottle from his bosom and handed it over,

“What’s this?”

He asked as he received the bottle filled with black powder,

“From what I hear, it’s the powder of the Apostle’s corpse?”

“What?”

“Was it Seolrang’s secretary…? That person had given it.”

Following the explanation,

“Why would I want this?”

Alon looked bewilderedly at the finely divided (?) powder of the Apostle.

***

In the southernmost part of the continent, in a dense forest touched by the hands of elves instead of humans, lay the sacred land.

Deep within what the elves called Greynifra, lay the elven kingdom of Fildagreen.

The dreamy country of elves built around the World Tree.

And in the massive palace right below the World Tree, in the center of that kingdom,

“You found Raguerine’s blessing?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

A man, or rather, Perion who had dropped his human disguise, bowed his head and reported to the queen.

“I hadn’t thought it would be possible, but you’ve done something truly great, Perion.”

The elf queen Magrina, her voice mixed with surprise and pride, her bright platinum blonde hair flowing down to her waist, praised him.

Perion bowed even deeper and continued,

“Thank you, Your Majesty. However, there’s something I must tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Raguerine’s blessing, it wasn’t me who found it.”

“It wasn’t you, Perion?”

“Yes. It’s that—”

Carefully nodding, Perion began to recount the events that had occurred in Lartania, and as Magrina listened to Perion’s words for a while,

“So, this Marquis Palatio not only instantly recognized your identity but also informed you of the location of Raguerine’s blessing… is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.”

“The room with Raguerine’s blessing was made like Fagade’s hideout—”

“No one else had entered there besides me. And as I mentioned, there was a message written inside.”

“‘I hope it reaches my sibling well,’ wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Magrina looked at the blessing brought by Perion with a disbelieving expression and fell silent for a moment.

Her voice began to tremble slightly,

“So, Perion, are you suggesting that this Marquis Palatio might be the ancient elf—my older brother?”

“I can’t be certain, of course. But considering he easily discerned that I was part of Fagade and led me to Raguerine’s blessing, it must have been him.”

Magrina lost her words again.

Because Perion’s reasoning made sense.

However, she couldn’t judge the Marquis based solely on this fact.

Originally, as Magrina knew, the ancient elf and her brother had died hundreds of years ago.

She knew well that the dead do not return.

Amid the continuing silence,

“I will quietly check and come back.”

Turning towards the voice, there stood an elf wrapped in a mage’s robe—Philde, Magrina’s personal mage.

“Is it possible to confirm that?”

“There isn’t a lack of methods. As you know, my eyes are a bit special.”

“Ah.”

Magrina inadvertently let out a gasp.

Philde possessed the Spirit Eyes, capable of seeing souls.

If so, confirming the identity of Marquis Palatio would be an easy task.

“Then, please proceed.”

“I understand. I will go with Perion.”

As soon as their task was decided, Philde and Perion promptly bid farewell and left.

Watching the backs of the two elves,

“If my brother really is alive…”

She clenched her fist.

She knew it was logically absurd.

Yet, in her eyes, there flickered an unmistakable light of subtle hope.