Louismond heard a faint voice as if someone were praying.

Next to him, a soft murmuring voice whispered in a divine language.

It was a refreshing and gentle voice, like the breeze brushing by.

The emotionless clarity of the voice purified his ears and embraced his soul.

The knowledge of sacred language that he had acquired as a prince was now shining brightly in this moment.

[Oh God of the Sea, please fully examine the body and spirit of this pitiful being. May my salvation become as steadfast as a rock even in the midst of waves.]

He couldn’t understand every word, but that one phrase rang clear.

‘May my salvation become as steadfast as a rock even in the midst of waves.’

My salvation.

‘Am I… the one you call salvation?’

His hazy mind began to clear.

Louismond, lost in thought, lifted his eyelids to find the owner of the voice.

As his blurry gaze shifted, he saw a princess who was holding both hands by his bedside, with her eyes closed in prayer.

The freckles on her snow-white cheek were quite adorable, and her face as she prayed was simply devout.

He quietly opened his eyes and stared at the princess as if he were captivated.

Could she feel his gaze?

The closed eyelids of the princess trembled, and her pupils appeared, revealing her eyes.

When her violet irises met Louismond’s blue ones, she showed a startled expression.

As she saw him awake, her body that had leaned towards him retreated.

“You’re awake. Fortunately, you regained consciousness faster than I expected.”

It’s a pity.

Even though she hadn’t even touched him, he felt a sense of disappointment as she moved away.

“Was I unconscious for a long time?”

“No, not at all. It’s only been about 10 minutes. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine. I apologize for the trouble.”

Louismond smiled awkwardly and sat up.

For a moment, his head felt dizzy, but it quickly subsided.

In the past few days, Louismond felt like he was eating without really eating, and his energy seemed to have significantly weakened.

‘To be honest… I haven’t had much sleep in the past month.’

Fortunately, thanks to the brief 10 minutes of sleep he had while unconscious, his mind became a bit clearer.

Or perhaps it was the effect of the princess’s prayer.

He gently pressed his stiff eye area and took a seat.

Glancing around, he realized he was in a resting room next to the study.

Louismond, sitting with his legs down from under the bed, rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his forehead.

The princess, who had been staring intently at Louismond as he washed his face with a tired expression, spoke.

“You look very tired.”

“No, it’s just a lack of sleep… I showed an embarrassing sight.”

“After His Majesty, the Emperor, lived in seclusion, I understand that you have been taking care of state affairs. I can imagine how exhausting it must have been.”

“It’s my duty to do what needs to be done.”

Louismond straightened his back, pretending not to be concerned, but his complexion turned pale.‘Oh no, the Fairy King…!’

Remembering the recent events a little late, he hurriedly asked.

“Has he returned?”

“No, he hasn’t. He’s still there, having a conversation with Lady Kalia.”

“Oh, I see. I should hurry.”

Louismond became restless and stood up from his seat unexpectedly.

As he rushed to step on the floor and stood up straight, his head became dizzy again.

Unbeknownst to him, as he involuntarily stumbled backward, he felt Janice’s hand on his back.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?”

Embarrassed, Louismond felt his face turning red and quickly stood up.

‘Uh… This is just… what a disgrace.’

He coughed awkwardly and looked at Janice, who was worriedly gazing at him.

“I’m not normally this weak, but I’ve been sleep-deprived.”

In response to his urgent words, Janice widened her eyes and nodded slightly with a slight smile.

“I understand. Yes.”

“…I really mean it. I have never fainted or felt this weak in my entire life…”

“I understand. I believe Your Highness.”

No, despite her saying she understood and believed, he still felt frustrated.

It was undoubtedly because of her violet eyes that held back laughter.

Louismond wanted to say something, any excuse, any explanation, but in the end, he closed his lips.

Her expression, nodding with understanding, looking at him kindly as if she understood everything, turned his insides upside down.

‘No, really. I’m not that weak, Princess. I’m not.’

He turned around, barely suppressing the urge to shout.

And then…

“…Eheum, hm, cough.”

Just before opening the door to leave, he inadvertently turned his body around, growling in defense at the suppressed laughter that came from behind.

“I really mean it, princess. Normally… I’m not this weak… In the battle against the Captain of the Royal Guard, I was able to hold my ground. In the academy, I wore a mask and ranked third in swordsmanship. If you ask General…!”

Louismond rambled on without realizing it, and belatedly realized how feeble his excuses sounded. He shut his mouth in embarrassment.

But it was already spilled water, poured-out explanations.

The princess, who had widened her eyes in surprise and listened to his excuses, rolled her eyes and slowly nodded.

“Oh, yes… You’re quite… impressive.”

The corners of her mouth seemed to have lifted even higher than before as she gave that response.

Louismond tightly closed his eyes, wanting to smack his lips and let out a sigh of frustration, and abruptly turned around to open the door.

As he stepped outside, his ears burned with the shame that would never be forgotten.

* * *

“It can be purified little by little as we go along. What’s more important is to eliminate the foundation, as you said.”

Until Louismond regained his composure, Kalia spent some time catching up with her family.

Leah still held Sasha in her arms. Simon and Kalia engaged in lengthy conversations about various topics, including the restoration of the burned forest, the training of the fairy army, and the whereabouts of their siblings.

Time flew by with just these discussions alone.

When the thought crossed their minds that they should wake up Louismond, he emerged from the reception room, and they returned to the main topic.“In that case, it’s best to eliminate the demons first.”

“Hmm. That demon seems to be superior. It seems like it can summon lower-class demons.”

The fact that they constantly spread magic meant that there were quite a few demons extracting the essence of demonic energy.

Considering that, they couldn’t even estimate how many chimeras they were creating.

“One of the elders of the fairy clan betrayed us. You must have seen it too, Kalia. They opened the black gate and fled. Quite a few young fairies went with them. Maybe not hundreds, but dozens for sure.”

“They caused such foolishness. Only the blue souls ended up pitiful.”

Leah gritted her teeth, venting her frustration.

To throw themselves into the place where chimeras were being created.

She couldn’t understand such foolishness.

If they were willing to abandon their lives as fairies, she would have understood if they said they wanted to love other races and live in the human world.

But Kanal, how did he manage to manipulate those young ones into the abyss of hell?

It was a waste of the past years to have followed such a person as the Elder.

Kalexia, gently stroking Leah’s reddened hand, looked back at Kalia, Simon, Louismond, and Janice.

“If they’re demons… we’ll take care of them on our side.”

His words stirred the air.

Kalia and Simon looked at each other and then calmly asked in a subdued voice.

“Is that… possible?”

In response to her cautious question, Kalexia caressed Kalia’s head and spoke.

“Don’t worry. We are also firmly prepared.”

“My dear, there’s much we need to return to them. We can’t just sit and wait for their downfall. Especially that… so-called Doctor.”

A cold aura emanated from Leah’s green eyes.

Leah, who sat and watched Gaia holding Sasha’s hand for a moment, looked back at everyone.

The eyes that had just emitted blue flames now calmed down.

She smiled and said.

“You just need to focus on your own war. We, too… will prepare for our war.”

Kalexia chuckled agreeably and met eyes with Kalia.

For a moment, Louismond closed his eyes, his heart filled with turmoil.

Could there be any stronger allies than this?

At that moment, everyone shared the same sentiment as Louismond.

They rejoiced in silence, trying to suppress their excitement tightly.

As if reading their minds, the Fairy King and Queen smiled gently and spoke with a hint of concern.

“It shouldn’t be difficult to eliminate the demons… The problem lies in capturing them. If we can find the magical artifacts used to bring those demons to this world, things would become much easier.”

Upon hearing the mention of magical artifacts, Simon reacted.

He leaned forward slightly, indicating his attentiveness, and listened closely to Kalexia’s words.

“Could you please explain in more detail?”

“The demons, being creatures from another realm rather than this world, require a medium to cross over to this realm. Most of them were eliminated during the Holy War, but it seems that a few may still remain.”

“If we have the magical artifacts, it would indeed be much easier to capture those demons.”

“Well… However, the ones who summoned the demons are likely to have the artifacts in their hands.”

That statement meant that there was no choice but to capture the Akan guests first.

Kalia, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke up.

“Well… In fact, just before this incident unfolded, I had an investigation conducted on Akan through my subordinates.”

Everyone’s gaze turned to her at her sudden revelation.

Kalia tapped her armrest with her finger for a moment before continuing.

“I ordered an investigation on Akan, and Brik said he investigated the Akan genealogy. The current prince is the son of the second queen from the previous king… Apparently, that queen was a princess from a distant foreign country.”

As everyone listened intently, the room fell silent, with only Kalia’s voice resonating softly.

“She came to the kingdom as a consort at a young age, but it is said that the princess secretly stole a treasure from her country at that time.”