CHAPTER 2

After the two-day meeting, Adrisha and Hikan returned. The mansion, which had been gloomy because of the owner's absence for two days, also regained its vitality.

Dalia deliberately did not ask what happened at the meeting. Dalia just does her own thing, and everyone works on their thing.

As soon as Adrisha arrived, she brought another strange news.

"Sir Cedric had a fight with Duke Artus? Why?"

"I don't know about that either. Could there be another reason?"

'But is that okay? Duke Artus has information....'

Dalia tilted her head.

However, since Cedric is also a member of the Imperial family, she was sure that he would not have acted recklessly.

In the meantime, Dalia has been busy too. She was still wandering around the palace in search of Beolde's letter.

The Imperial Palace is an area where the Holy Empire cannot infiltrate, so she can wander around to her heart's content.

'Even if Kelsion is caught, Her Majesty's heart will not be able to be changed.'

That is why his brainwashing is terrifying. It pushes a person to the limit and makes them struggle with that emotion for the rest of their life.

'But if we can find all these letters, we can help Her Majesty.'

According to Cedric, the Empress's condition is deteriorating by the minute. After reading the first letter, Dalia's confidence in Beolde dropped a little. However, she changed her mind as she searched for the second and third letters.

Yes. It's not only one letter that Beolde had hidden.

Fortunately, the area for the second letter has been specified, so she was able to find it quickly.

Dalia hurriedly opened the letter again and looked at the first and last lines.

The first line is October 16th. On the last line was the name of one of the Imperial Palace main library sections.

'I knew it.'

When Dalia first discovered this, she had goosebumps at the ominous thought she had come up with.

'Don't tell me, there is one for every day until the wedding day?'

Then Dalia has to find a total of 8 letters.

Unfortunately, her ominous premonition was right. After running around all day, she found a total of 7 letters.

From October 15th to October 21st.

There was only the last one left.

Dalia looked happily at the last line of the seventh letter she found.

[The last letter is in the passage where you found the first letter. Since this is the last one, there are no hints, so look for it carefully.]

Dalia lost her motivation and returned home.

But she couldn't give up. So now since everyone has returned today, she left home to find the last eighth letter.

'But I can't find this by myself.'

The passage where the first letter was found was in the third annex. She had hints before, but she wasn't confident she could go through them all by herself.

It would be best to call Cedric, but....when she thought about how difficult it was for him last time, it weighed heavily on her mind.

Fortunately, Adrisha offered to help. But it was the same for both of them.

Besides, Dalia became nervous as she ran around the palace like a mouse all day long. She wanted to find the last letter as soon as possible before Her Majesty the Empress became more ill.

The more she looked for clues, the more urgent she became.

Eventually, Dalia went to Hikan, who was training below at the Imperial Palace training field. She thought that she should visit it once, but she couldn't go before since she didn't have the opportunity.

'Wow, this place is really big.'

Before she came here, she thought that it was just a field, but there were quite a few buildings, and there were many explanations of signs, and it was complicated.

She felt like she was going to get lost if she took the wrong way.

'...…What should I do?'

At that moment, two boys in knight uniform, who were teasing each other and giggling across the street, found Dalia.

Both appeared to be about the same age as Dalia.

Perhaps because it was rare to see a young girl at the training field, they immediately approached Dalia.

"Hello, Miss. What brings you here?"

The taller one of the two asked first.

Perhaps because of his awkward tone, the other poked his side and laughed. Then the face of the one who got poked turned red.

"Well, what's wrong? No, it's not that...,what's the matter, Miss?"

"Well, I'm looking for someone..."

"Miss, he wants to know your family. Since you're so beautiful, he wanted to see you at the ball."

"Shut up, Hayde."

The boy who spoke to Dalia responded coldly, displeased. The shorter boy called Hayde kept on squirming as if he was excited.

"What, did I say something wrong, Pell?"

"So who are you looking for, Miss?"

The one called Pell asked as he pushed Hayde back. Dalia replied.

"Duke Hikan Pesteros."

They both looked surprised at the unexpected name.

"Why are you looking for him...?"

"He's my brother."

Dalia replied with a smile.

Then both of their expressions stiffened, and they fixed their postures.

Pell muttered to Hayde.

"...You're X now, Hayde." (*t/n: X as in dead..it is indeed 'X' in the raw)

"Damn...."

"Ah, let me guide you, Miss."

Dalia followed the two and looked around the training field.

'They must be scared of brother.'

Well, Dalia used to be...very scared too.

Even now, she is still scared sometimes, but she is not as scared as she is today. Because they have to find the letter together.

'I can't go through it all by myself..….'

The two entered a building.

Even though she entered the first floor, there was a railing right in front of her, and there was a large auditorium-like space spread out below.

Pell stiffly pointed to the bottom of the railing with his hands.

Hikan was standing at the space below. In front of him were dozens of boy knights in knight uniforms holding swords and confronting him.

Hikan was simply pointing his sword into the air, and there was an enormous storm of air raging around him. Like when she saw Duchess Blueport before.

His beautiful silver hair fluttered in the air. It was only then that she understood why Hikan tied his hair.

'That's what it's like for a transcendent once they use their power.'

Dalia almost fainted when Hikan had a 'mana awakening' before, and then fell off while grabbing onto his hair.

So it was her first time seeing him properly using his power.

The knights standing in front of Hikan hesitated.

At that moment, one of them summoned up his courage and rushed in. However, even before Dalia could properly see it, the sword flew into the air.

"Next."

Hikan spoke briefly.

'...Are they sparring?'

Dalia was skeptical. That's just torture, not training.

"Is that how you train?"

"It, it's not! After experiencing overwhelming strength, your horizons will broaden!"

Pell answered in a stern military way. Even if it is Dalia, he cannot tell his superior's sister that his training performance is bad.

Pell and Hayde were hesitant to find a way to approach Hikan.

Dalia was frustrated and pushed herself to the railing. And called Hikan as loudly as possible.

"B-ro-ther-!"

At that moment, Hikan's force turned towards Dalia.

Even from that distance, Dalia could feel her hair fluttering backwards.

But the force disappeared in an instant.

Hikan's eyes widened when he recognized Dalia.

And when the confrontation suddenly disappeared, a bewildered knight swung his sword at him.

"Gasp." (*t/n: how do I put onomatopoeia for gasp…'heok'?)

Pell and Hayde were taken aback. Dalia's eyes widened in surprise too.

However, Hikan kept his gaze fixed on Dalia, and just grabbed the flying sword with his palm. And he said calmly.

"Be careful next time."

The knight who wielded the sword shouted in panic.

"Huh, gasp! I'm sorry!"

"Alright."

Hikan brushed past them, wiping his hand with a handkerchief. Surprisingly, his hand was unscathed even from that distance.

'Brother is really a monster too...'

Hikan went up the stairs to the first floor.

He came right in front of Dalia, frowned slightly, and took two steps back.

"Stay back."

"What? Why?"

"I have the stench of the people here."

He added as an excuse.

"It doesn't smell like me."

"I don't think it smells..…."

"Then I'm glad...anyway, why did you come all the way here?"

"I have a favor to ask brother!"

At last, Dalia's eyes gleamed as she spoke the main point.

"...really?"

And after a while, the third annex of the library was crowded with dozens of people at once.

"Find it! The letter!"

"Who wrote the letter?"

"Don't ask such a question. Find the letter!"

'Why did this happen?'

Dalia stared blankly at the knights frantically searching through the bookshelf.

She tapped Hikan, who looked somewhat proud, and whispered.

"Well, brother... I'm not supposed to get caught...."

"This is a top secret mission for the Knights Order."

"He said it was a top secret mission!"

"That's what he said!"

"...Brother, don't people usually call this a power abuse?"

"Power abuse...!"

As one knight followed without thinking, another knight hurriedly silenced his mouth.

Hikan also said awkwardly, as if he was a little guilty.

"I've never done it before, so it'll be fine at least once."

'That rare opportunity....'

It was a bit off the mark, but Dalia still felt touched.

However, she thought she would feel like real trash if she left it to others to look around.

After looking at Hikan, Dalia turned her back and began to search through the books too.