In the royal capital of Horus, within the Kingdom of Canaria.

At night, Duke Clovis was enjoying his evening drink alone at his mansion.

He didn’t drink much. Just one glass. For Duke Clovis, who always practiced moderation to maintain his longevity, the nightly drink was one of the few luxuries he allowed himself.

He opened a bottle of thirty-year-old white wine, and as he tilted his glass against the night view of the royal capital seen from the window, the crystal wine glass reflected the room’s light and sparkled dimly.

The rich aroma of grapes that filled his nose and the sensation of alcohol burning his throat and flowing down to his innards were comforting.

Duke Clovis let out a satisfied tremble in his throat and showed a look of joy, but unfortunately, this happiness did not last long.

Suddenly, the door to the room was knocked on hastily.

Having his pleasure interrupted, Duke Clovis skillfully raised his right eyebrow, ready to scold his unrefined subordinate.

However, considering the situation, he thought it might be an urgent message and called out to let the person in.

“Excuse me, Your Excellency!”

The person who entered was the steward of the Clovis household. A loyal servant who had served the ducal family for over thirty years.

He was a timid and uninspired individual, but Duke Clovis valued him for not offering unnecessary opinions and for executing orders without fail or excess.

The steward stood before Duke Clovis, visibly flustered.

“What is the matter? You’re causing a commotion.”

Trying not to be swayed by his subordinate’s agitation, Duke Clovis calmly urged for the report.

In response, the steward replied with a voice still shaken by turmoil.

“An urgent message has arrived from the Dragnaut ducal territory: The private army we dispatched there has been annihilated!”

“…What of Ines? Has he been slain?”

“Yes!”

Hearing the affirmative reply, Duke Clovis’s face turned somber.

Ines was the commander of Duke Clovis’s private army. Until now, Duke Clovis had used this private force to probe the imperial situation and the movements of the pro-imperial faction, including Marquis Corkia. He had even ordered illegal actions to undermine the pro-imperial forces.

A shadow unit that could never be revealed.

This time, Duke Clovis had also sent them to the Dragnaut ducal territory, using the chaos of the wedding to incite lawless men. As a result, he succeeded in causing turmoil in the eastern part of the kingdom, starting with the Dragnaut ducal territory.

The previous report mentioned that the Dragnaut forces, which had marched out to subdue bandits, were hesitant to provoke the Empire by moving against Maris Mountain. Ines had reported that they were trying to prolong the standoff as much as possible to extend the chaos in the ducal territory. However, it seems the Dragnaut forces were one step ahead.

From the beginning, the regular army under the Dragnaut duke and the unshowable private army were too different in both number and training. This outcome was entirely predictable.

Duke Clovis closed his eyes and spoke to his deceased subordinate.

“Ines, your efforts in serving our country at the risk of your life will never be forgotten. When the dawn comes with the Empire expelled, I will surely clear your name and honor you as a knight of the kingdom. Wait for me a while longer in the spring below.”

As Duke Clovis prayed for the dead, the steward opened his mouth anxiously.

“Your Excellency, what will we do now?”

“The plan remains unchanged. Failing to remove Pascal from the royal capital was a miscalculation, but we equipped Ines and his men with imperial-made weapons. Those have now become evidence of the Empire’s conspiracy with their deaths. The rest is up to me. I will surely persuade His Majesty and drive out those fools who side with the Empire from this country!”

As Duke Clovis declared strongly, the steward’s face brightened slightly, encouraged by his words.

However, the urgent news brought to Duke Clovis’s mansion that night was not the only one.

“Your Excellency, Lord Daren!”

Along with a loud voice, the door was knocked on again.

The person calling, seeming quite panicked, entered the room without waiting for the duke’s response. It was one of the young butlers working in the mansion.

The steward, who was the direct superior, opened his mouth to reprimand the subordinate’s rudeness, but the butler spoke first, urgently informing them of the crisis.

“I must report! The Royal Guard has just appeared at the main gate, urgently requesting Lord Daren’s presence at the palace!”

“The Royal Guard requests my presence at the palace? Urgently, in the middle of the night?”

Duke Clovis furrowed his brows for confirmation, and the butler nodded with a pale face.

Hearing that it was a direct command from the King himself, as stated by the commander of the Royal Guard, Duke Clovis looked out the window. He could see the torches moving around, encircling his mansion. Were those the dull glimmers of the Royal Guard’s silver armor?

For the Royal Guard to surround his residence in full armor at night and summon him to the palace was a treatment reserved for traitors, not for a venerable elder who had served three generations of kings.

“Your Excellency…”

The steward looked at Duke Clovis with a trembling voice.

His eyes were filled with fear, presumably considering the possibility that their plan had been leaked to the king.

Duke Clovis, having quickly made his decision, spoke with a calm voice.

“If it is a summons from His Majesty, there can be no refusal. Tell the Royal Guard I will come shortly, and to wait there for a moment. His Majesty wouldn’t deny me the time to prepare myself.”

“Is that alright, Your Excellency?”

“It matters not. Rather, it’s a good opportunity. I do not know who has deceived His Majesty, but there’s no doubt they side with the Empire. In the presence of His Majesty, I shall refute that person and enlighten His Majesty to the foolishness of clinging to the Empire for the nation’s preservation.”

Believing in his own righteousness without a doubt, Duke Clovis began preparing to go to the palace with a confident expression.

The steward, while assisting his master with his preparations, had a worried look on his face.

Escorted by the Royal Guard—or perhaps taken into custody—Duke Clovis was brought directly to the audience chamber upon his arrival at the palace.

There, King Thorvald of Canaria was sitting on the throne, waiting for Duke Clovis.

“My great-uncle, I apologize for summoning you at such an hour. Due to an urgent matter, I wished to hear your opinion.”

The King spoke to Duke Clovis in a calm tone, a stark contrast to the solemn attitude of the Royal Guard. Duke Clovis slightly narrowed his eyes and kneeled on one knee.

“If it is Your Majesty’s summons, I would rush here even if spears were raining from the sky. Compared to that, being called after sunset is of little consequence.”

After saying so, Duke Clovis looked around the audience chamber.

Apart from the guarding Royal Guards, the number of people in the audience chamber could be counted on one hand: King Thorvald, Duke Clovis, the Duke of Dragnaut and Princess Sakuya, and one more person.

In Duke Clovis’s line of sight stood a middle-aged knight unfamiliar to him. His appearance was that of a veteran swordsman, rugged and battle-worn, yet the armor he wore did not belong to the Royal Guard. Furthermore, it was not even from the Kingdom of Canaria.

It was the sacred armor worn by a church knight—a knight belonging to the Order of the Law God.

Duke Clovis slightly furrowed his brow. He had anticipated the presence of the Duke of Dragnaut and Princess Sakuya, but he had not expected a church knight to be here.

Unlike the Empire, the Kingdom of Canaria does not declare the Law God religion as its state religion. Why then, in what the King described as an “urgent matter,” would a church knight, unrelated to the state, make an appearance?

Noticing Duke Clovis’s sharp gaze, the church knight gracefully bowed and introduced himself.

“It is my first time meeting Your Excellency, Duke Clovis. My name is Zelam, serving under His Holiness Noah Carnelius, the Pontiff of the Holy Kingdom of Caritas. Although the circumstances are what they are, I hope to become acquainted.”