It was fortunate that most people in the slums were gathered only in the square. After leaving the square and entering the alley, it was a little easier to run away.

After we went out on the main road and mixed with the people, we could barely catch a breath.

I ran away with all my might, so my whole body was sweaty even though it was cold.

“Uh huft… Oh, Lord, I thought I was going to die…!”

Hamilton said as he took off his cloak. Under the cloak, he was dressed in a neat suit.

This man’s basics of disguise aren’t perfect.

“Are you okay, my lady?”

“I’m okay. What about you, Agoth? Are you hurt?”

Agoth had had several collisions with people as she had taken the lead in clearing the road. Unsurprisingly, upon closer inspection, there were scratches on the back of her cheek and hand.

“What’s this? You got hurt?”

“Ayy, it’s not even that bad.”

Agoth grinned while fiddling with the scar on her cheek.

“Let’s get some medicine when we get home. Sigh, that’s upsetting.”

“It’s strange to hear that from someone who broke her ribs and couldn’t see because of poison during the subjugation of the monsters.”

As I examined Agoth’s wounds, Hamilton, sitting on the flower bed, said softly.

At a glance, he looked as if he had aged about ten years.

“Did you not even bring a weapon, Viscount?”

“I was undercover. How could I pack a weapon?”

What did I expect from a man who wore such a luxurious suit under the cloak…

“Sigh. I hope they don’t remember my face and come to take revenge.”

“Are you scared?”

“Of course. Ordinary people sometimes run like a herd of angry bison when out of their minds.”

“They wouldn’t have seen it because it was too dark.”

When ordinary people flock together, doesn’t it mean they are already in an extreme situation?

Because they wouldn’t be able to attack the nobles without risking their lives.

“By the way, why were you there?”

“I’d like to ask something. Do you believe in Dracoism, PrincesS?”

“If I were a cult member, would I have run away like this?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Hamilton scratched his neck and looked flustered.

“Well… that person who seemed like the religious leader talked to you as if you were acquaintances.”

“Ah… that is a rather complicated story.”

Feeling cornered, I averted my gaze from Hamilton.

From where to where should I tell the story? I was busy editing the story in my head.

“Something is going on, isn’t there?”

“Didn’t I ask you first? Viscount, why on earth were you three?”

“I’m just a spy.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“How dare I divulge the reason?”

“Oh, is that so? Does that mean I can hand over your information to Draco believers?”

“Princess! You’re cruel!”

“Well, you saved your life thanks to us. You’ll eventually confess anyway, so just blow it out.”

“If you said it like that, don’t you think we wouldn’t have been found if it weren’t for you?”

“I don’t think so. I think they would’ve found out no matter what. Viscount, you were so obvious.”

“No, such harsh words…!”

“Didn’t you go there because you were curious about something? I don’t think it’d be a bad idea to be honest and exchange information.”

“Then if you tell first, I will also… Hatchoo!”

Hamilton sneezed heavily.

He sweated so much in the chilly weather that his body temperature dropped as his sweat cooled.

I was starting to feel chilly too, and Agoth, standing next to him, sniffed.

“Ugh… let’s change the place first. I don’t think it’s something we’re going to talk about on the street.”

“That’s true.”

“Let’s go to the restaurant we always go to.”

Hamilton suggested, but I was a little hesitant.

Aristocratic guests frequented the restaurant.

It seemed that something unpleasant would happen if it came to the empress’s ears that I met with Hamilton, Caesar’s assistant, separately.

Furthermore…

“Can I enter a restaurant wearing this outfit?”

I untied the cloak’s laces and took it off.

The clothes I was wearing were the shabby dresses worn by maids.

Hamilton frowned at the outfit.

“Ugh, why are you wearing that outfit?”

“One has to do it right to infiltrate.”

“As long as I don’t take off my cloak, what– No. Let’s stop talking about this. I’m really going to catch a cold.”

Hamilton stood up. As expected, it was cold, so he hugged his arms and swept his body once.

“I will take you to my mansion.”

A wise decision.

I smiled positively.

***

I had known Hamilton for a long time, but it was my first visit to his mansion.

His mansion was a very small two-story building. The garden size was small enough that the boundary line could be seen from one end to the other.

‘It’s cute.’

Of course, since it was a mansion of an aristocratic family, the expression ‘cute’ was inappropriate.

However, in this life, living only looking at big mansions, my senses seemed to have become a little brazen.

“Let’s go to the drawing room. I’m sorry, Miss Agoth, can I arrange another room for you?”

“I’ll be waiting in the next room.”

Agoth refuted Hamilton’s comment.

“No. Agoth, change clothes and get some rest. You’ll catch a cold if you wear clothes wet with sweat.”

I persuaded Agothagain. Agoth looked sad, but she nodded obediently to my command.

She followed the mansion’s maid to another room, and Hamilton and I headed to the drawing room.

Thanks to the fireplace, there was warm air in the drawing room. As soon as the hot tea came out and I took a sip, I felt like my whole body was melting.

I’m in trouble. I’m starting to get sleepy.

“Now, let’s talk frankly.”

Tired after drinking tea just like me, Hamilton opened his mouth with a slightly languid voice.

“… Sigh. All right.”

I agonized for a while, but finally decided to let it out. Well, I just need to avoid talking about my past life.

“I’ll go first. Not long ago, I interpreted the pattern found on the monsters’s bodies.”

“You mean the pattern that was discovered during the subjugation mission.”

“Yes.”

“But the scholars said it was impossible to interpret because it was not rune language, so by what means?”

“It’s not rune language, but characters that were used before rune language. It’s similar to the characters of the demon… Well, actually, I’m not an expert in this area, so I don’t know for sure.”

“Who did you hear from?”

“It’s Yulika Brande.”

“Ah… Mm. The culprit behind many recent developments. I wondered how they knew about the pattern. Apparently, the origin was here.”

Hamilton said with a slightly angry expression.

The empress must have threatened not only me but also Caesar with that sentence, so Hamilton must have roughly grasped the situation.

And I’m the one who handed it over to her. Cough.

I spoke quickly to cover up the awkwardness.

“Anyway, the content of that sentence was, the king… Yulika Brande said the word ‘king’ is pronounced ‘Krusech’ in demonic language.”

“You mean the evil dragon Krusech?”

“Yes.”

“So you thought it might have something to do with those who worship dragons, so you wanted to investigate.”

“I still don’t know exactly what it is related to.”

“Then what the religious leader said to you…”

“Ack, stop.”

I said to Hamilton, blocking the question by showing my palm.

“You have information, too, right?”

I would be in trouble if you just tried to dig up all my information.

Hamilton frowned and Mm’ed. But after listening to my stories, he couldn’t stop talking, so he opened his mouth before long.

“Well, similar to you, I heard that the increase in the number of monsters was related to that religion, so it was necessary to confirm the facts.”

The answer came as expected.

I didn’t think Caesar would be investigating the matter separately.

“And in addition…”

Huh? In addition?

“There is also news that more and more people are missing with the religion these days.”

Missing.

It was a story I had already heard from Agoth.

“So why did you, not the security guards, do that?”

“It seems that the security guards did not judge them as missing. They disappeared voluntarily, for the purpose of religious activity.”

“Do they disappear spontaneously?”

“Probably, as before, that person called the leader instigates the people and drags them away.”

Hamilton said with a serious expression.

“My guess is that he’s taking people to the place where Krusech is sealed.”

The evil dragon Krusech’s power was strong, and humans had no power to kill the dragon.

So Dante Renatus decided to seal the dragon. The mage who had been with her in battle had taken advantage of Dante’s slicing of the dragon and sealed the dragon forever.

In the way Dante wanted.

In the place Dante allowed.

And the sealed place was known only to the mage and Dante herself.

Back then. Even now.

I hadn’t even told Erez.

“That’s not… I don’t think so.”

Helena denied Hamilton’s guess in a slightly shaky voice.

“What?”

“Krusech doesn’t exist.”

“But the records say it was impossible to kill a dragon, so it was sealed somewhere…”

“Yes, and since the sealed place is gone, it can’t exist.”

“Gone? What does that mean? How the hell did you know about that?”

Hamilton’s voice dropped a little as if doubting me.

“Come to think of it, the religious leader also spoke as if he knew you, right?”

“Do you remember the festival where Caesar was kidnapped?”

I looked up at Hamilton and asked.

“I met him in the village that time. He said the same thing to me then. Savior, god, king.”

“Don’t you know him?”

“I don’t know. That’s when I first met him, and I haven’t seen him since. Until now, I just thought he was a crazy person, so I forgot about it.”

“Well, I think I’d be crazy to hear that crap.”

“Right?”

But I can’t think of it like that now.

A man who hasn’t aged for nearly 10 years. A person who now uses the now-devastated magic as ‘the power of a dragon’.

Someone who calls me king.

‘King. Krusech.’

Perhaps the word “king” he called may not refer to the day I once ruled as an emperor.

Little by little, the outlines of his wants seem to be revealed.

Krusech’s Resurrection.

But why? For what reason?

“Putting the religious leader aside, where is the sealing place that has now disappeared?”

Hamilton asked again.

Now that I’ve said this much, it’s hard to hide more. Even if he knows it, it’s already gone, so there’s nothing he can do about it.

I let out a long sigh and then placed a condition on Hamilton.

“Please don’t ask me how I know instead.”

“All right. I swear.”

“The dragon was sealed in the heart of Dante Renatus. You needed someone strong enough to suppress the dragon’s power.”

“What?!”

Hamilton’s eyes widened.

He looked like he had never thought the dragon would’ve been sealed in the body of a living person.

“But 500 years have already passed. Dante’s corpse, along with its sealed purpose, must have decayed and disappeared.”

But Hamilton’s expression never brightened. I narrowed my brows at his stiff expression.

“What is it?”

“If that is true, the dragon may not have disappeared yet, Princess.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“The body of Dante Renatus was not buried.”

Now it was my turn to be surprised.

“What?!”

Hamilton said to me with darkened eyes.

“The body of Dante Renatus remains. It’s embalmed like most of the great men and in the basement of the Cathedral of the Church.”

Oh, my God.

My dear friend Erez.

Why the hell didn’t you bury me in the ground?

The situation was completely reversed.

My mind went blank.