Everything was chaotic.

“Oh my goodness, mother!”

It was such chaos in the middle of the night.

“Don’t push, please don’t push!”

“Woooooooooooo!”

Claire Plaza instantly turned into pandemonium. Morris and the event staff curled in the corner of the stage while shaking. I looked at the bird on my arm and quietly whispered so that nobody else could hear.

“You…… You’re Percy, right?”

– Squawk

The bird, which absolutely looked like a phoenix, nodded his head. His round eyes were the same color as Percy’s true body, the Ark of the Wind Deity. The way he used familiar movements to land on my arm and the way he bobbed his body up and down as if he was cute despite being this large, everything clearly said this was our Jung Percy.

Marquis François’ light pink eyes sparkled ominously. He looked ready to dissect this bird to research him.

I ignored him and whispered again. “You can change into other birds as well? Why didn’t you tell big bro until now?”

– Squawk

‘And one that comes out of the Holy Texts at that.’ The phoenix was not a divine beast or divine item in the Church of the Almighty God. It was a form of divinity that assisted the Almighty God and consoled her loneliness, which made the phoenix often described as the clone of the Almighty God or a piece of her plate. I had a pretty good idea as to why he was taking this form, but I still couldn’t hide my shock at this sudden development.

The little punk feigned ignorance and cleaned his wing with his beak. ‘Look at this punk.’

“You and I will be having a long talk back at the palace.”

– Squawk, kek!

The bird tried to talk back before coughing.

I peeked at the crowd and quickly looked at the punk. I was worried that he might have caught a cold in the chilly weather. The phoenix opened his mouth without any fighting. The fact that the inside of his beak was yellow was the same as Percy as well.

– Kek, kek! Piiiiiii!

“Oh my, the ruse will be found out.”

The eagle-sized punk let out the chirp of a chimney bird. François tilted his head. I urgently closed the little guy’s beak with two fingers. Once I did that…

– Chh……

The phoenix’s left wing glowed light purple before it started to shrink! It wasn’t that he was sick, he was just losing his Divine Power. My jaw dropped. The Marquis, who noticed the issue, quickly took a step toward us to block others from seeing.

‘One of his wings right now is that of a chimney bird!’

“It’s because you went overboard when you haven’t even had time to recover. I heard you flew around the entire Empire with your little wings.”

I quietly scolded him.

His magical-looking eyes turned as black as chocolate and a peculiar white feather appeared on top of his right eye.

– Piiiiiiiiiing

He seemed to not like something. I held back a sigh and petted his small back as if to console him.

‘Yes, I’m sure it was hard for you to use all that power without a master. You were probably lonely too.’

“Thank you, you worked so hard. Go get a nice rest. Take some naps and soak in the sun.”

– Piiiii

The punk finally rubbed his head on my shoulder. The rowdiness got worse around that time.

“Her Majesty, Empress Frédérique Riester and her Eminence, Cardinal Aurélie Boutier, now entering!”

“What?”

I questioned my ears. But there was too much authority in that voice to be a joke and the crowd was spreading to both sides like the Red Sea.

I made eye contact with the Marquis to see that he was very shocked as well. I expected the Imperial Palace to hear about us because the pirate ship flew in the sky starting from the Sarnez Port. But still… For them to personally come to the plaza……

– Step.

The front of a boot appeared. I held Percy and urgently lowered my body. The Marquis respectfully bowed as well.

The most precious person in the entire Riester Empire had come to the lowest spot. Everybody in the Empire bowed their heads in front of her.

– Shaaaaaaa……

“What the?”

I covered my mouth.

Purple tulips were growing as she walked toward the stage.

My jaw kept dropping in shock. Even the tale of Arian and Philip, which probably took on many different flairs in the past thousand years, was probably not as dramatic as this. This flower was a blessing from the Almighty God, a symbol of faith throughout the continent, something that only bloomed in the rear tulip garden of the Imperial Palace. Anybody would call this a good sign, a miracle.

“Wait……”

‘What the hell is going on right now?”

– Boom! Boom!

“Eek!”

My shoulders shook in shock.

– Baaaaang! Boom!

I couldn’t even count how many times I blinked. The three Holy Knights and Captain Hervé, who had jumped off the floating pirate ship, had landed on the stage while carrying our normal friends.

‘Man, the group of main characters sure like to cause a scene!’

“My goodness!”

“Wow, wow……”

The crowd chattered away while bowing down on the ground.

“Ah, ah!” I could even see some people fainting.

These people considered it an honor for their family to meet even one member of the Imperial family in their whole life. But they were seeing the Empress and the Imperial Crown Prince at the same time. Furthermore, the legendary purple tulips were growing on the ground. I could understand why they were fainting or breathing heavily.

I whispered to Christelle, who was putting Ellen down. “What about the kids?”

“They stayed on the ship, your highness. They kept trying to get out of my arms. I don’t think they have any desire to come down,” he respectfully bowed toward the Empress before whispering.

I cautiously looked up at the night sky.

‘They have no desire to come down? I know Perry doesn’t like crowded places, but……

– Kiiiiiiu!

I suddenly heard something that sounded like Demy laughing. His cute little ears were flapping at the front of the ship. My eyes slowly opened wide. A thunderbolt-like realization struck the back of my head!

“Unbelievable.”

‘You guys did that?! You guys told me you couldn’t grow purple tulips! I begged and begged and you didn’t even blink! But that was all a lie?! You guys have been fooling me this whole time?!’

“Wow, stabbed in the back……” I brushed my face with my hands and lowered my head.

I was truly thankful that they were doing something so amazing to help us, but I couldn’t help but be shocked that our beloved red pandas had been lying to my face.

‘Maybe they think that I am a terrible actor so they kept me in the dark or something…… No, let’s not take it that far.’

I felt like everything was about to go dark when I noticed the sculpture-like crown prince Cédric. I petted Percy and looked up at the punk for a bit.

‘Did this damn male lead teach our kids to act like wily little foxes?’

*

At the same time in the Duhem Lord’s Castle.

“It’s okay. Eldest brother and second brother should be meeting with her Majesty by now! Really……” Antoinette was hugging Thérèse while pretending to be fine. Her youngest sister’s soft hair flowed down her hand.

She was the child’s ‘one and only’ eldest sister. If her eldest brother continued to remain single and her second brother got his wish to retire as the Captain of the Imperial Guard, she was the one who would take over the March. That was why she needed to remain firm no matter what. Even if she felt wronged by being framed and the goodbyes hurt deep in her heart, she could not be easily swayed. Even if the loyal Knights Brigade of the March ended up clashing against the Imperial Capital Garrison…

– Clack, clack, clack.!

– Neeeeeeigh!

Thérèse flinched. The neighing of the horse was becoming distant. The Bellang family, who were in the living room with the sisters, were holding hands. Lady Anne Bellang quietly called out to Antoinette. Her voice was calm and warm.

“Young lady Antoinette, why don’t you come over here? Let’s all pray together.”

“……”

‘Will that do us any good? Maybe the Almighty God is planning to get rid of us?’ Antoinette nodded her head instead of answering like that. She needed to remain optimistic for her still very young youngest sister’s sake.

The two young ladies and the three members of the Bellang family gathered together. Baron Fabrice Bellang closed his eyes first and started to pray.

“Oh Almighty God, I pray that you pull back your holy capriciousness so that your innocent children will not be in pain……”

Thérèse kept shaking despite the room being warm. Young lady Elody noticed this and poured some tea from a kettle next to her and handed it to Thérèse. The two young ladies made eye contact. Their small lips smiled at the same time. Antoinette placed her shawl around Elody’s shoulders. It may be foolish, but an optimistic thought flashed in her mind.

‘We will be okay. We trust each other, rely on each other, and desperately hope things will be okay, so tomorrow will definitely be a better day.’

“Antoinette.”

Someone urgently rushed into the living room. The prayer stopped and everybody stared. Antoinette quickly stood up.

“Marielle?”

“A commoner has come to the castle. But she says she knows our guests.”

Marielle grabbed Antoinette’s hands while speaking quickly. She was the healing priest of the Duhem March; the young lady’s childhood friend and Religious Partner.

Antoinette tilted her head and looked past her friend’s shoulders. She could see the joy on Benjamin and Ganael’s faces. In addition……

“Hello, young lady Antoinette. My name is Laurence Condé, a resident here in Marquis François’s territory. I am also the chef of Juliette Palace.” A woman who seemed to be around fifty years old bowed toward her.

Antoinette had heard a lot about ‘Chef Laurence’ as well. She was someone Prince Jesse praised every chance he got, someone who was famous for the variety of her menu items and skilled cooking abilities. But she had no idea that such a person considered her brother’s territory to be her home.

“Nice to meet you. What brings you to the castle at such an hour……”

“Laurence’s family and neighbors say they wish to do something for the March.” Benjamin calmly explained. Antoinette looked at him before looking back at Laurence. She could see the solemnity in the middle-aged woman’s eyes.

“Young lady Antoinette, the residents are somewhat aware of the current situation. We don’t know all of the details, but we are not completely in the dark. The Marquis is not here, Prince Jesse came and left, while the Garrison is stationed basically at our doors…… We heard the chatter going around. We also watched the knights sacrificing their own bodies to take down someone claiming to be a member of the Imperial Guard swinging his sword around in the territory.” Laurence was grabbing the hem of her dress as she spoke. There was a beautiful bouquet in one hand.

Antoinette’s face slowly became darker. She had done everything she could to fill the void left by her two older brothers not being here, but things had still ended up like this. She ended up a Pair de Riester who gave anxiety to her powerless residents. She felt extremely ashamed.

“……That is unfortunate. However, we have our Knights Brigade so the safety of the residents should not be threaten-”

“That is why we will step up.”

“What?”

Antoinette’s eyes opened as wide as a plate. Laurence did not stop there.

“Based on what we heard… The reason the knights cannot fight properly even if they want to do so is because the Garrison is part of her Majesty’s army. Fighting against them results in going against the Empire.”

“The battle already cannot be stopped. The Garrison launched the first attack. It is dangerous, so go lock your doors and stay inside. We will be mandating it until the afternoon.”

“They will not be able to attack if we go out barehanded.”

“……”

It was hard for her to breathe. She tightly held Marielle’s hand.

“Young lady Antoinette, it is because… Her Majesty loathes things like that. Armored knights attacking unarmed commoners, the higher in status being cruel to those lower than them… Her Majesty loathes things like that. I know it quite well because I work in the Imperial Palace. Even the Garrison will not be able to do something as trashy as swinging their swords at the citizens.”

It was logical but nonsensical. The House of Duhem would never put their powerless residents as shields to stop the Garrison. Antoinette immediately shook her head.

“Please stop with the nonsense and head back home.”

“Our House of Condé alone has 300 people. We’ve gathered from all over the Empire for my daughter’s wedding.”

“Why are you thinking about putting your lives on the line when you have such a joyous occasion?”

“Young lady Duhem, the Marquis has put his life on the line so many times to save lowly residents like us.”

Antoinette choked up. She could feel Marielle’s warmth embracing her soul.

“We can’t fight, but he still invites all of us to the Great Clearance of Demonic Beasts every year. He needs to worry about the drought every spring, the floods every summer… We all know how he travels out to the corners of the territory to look at the farmlands. We all see him experimenting with his weird inventions outside the castle as we go about our days as well. How can we not when we all know he is making these things to help us?”

“……”

“Young lady Antoinette. His highness bestowed us a gift for our daughter’s wedding that happened yesterday. In addition, he paid for us to use the portal and even paid for over half of the wedding. Don’t get me started on the weeks he gave me off for it…… How will I ever repay him for such grace in my life?”

Laurence’s voice finally became teary. A sigh could be heard as she finished her sentence.

She pushed the bouquet in her hand into Antoinette’s arms.

“My daughter and son-in-law are living the life these days. They love their territory lord who takes care of them and their neighbors, and they love the prince who takes such good care of her mom. She wants things to continue like this forever.”

“You all…”

“So please let us protect this place with you, together. We want to do it.”

Antoinette wiped her cheek with the back of her chubby hand. Ganael handed her a handkerchief. Then Thérèse came over and hugged her eldest sister around the neck. Antoinette laughed and cried at the same time and nodded her head.

—
Translator’s Comments

That’s right! Laurence, you know how to pay back gratitude!

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