‘Those bastards are the true nature of this empire—they siphon divine beasts’ mana from behind the scenes!’
Only I, the possessor of this world’s knowledge, knew this truth—at least within this empire.
In the original story, Lesha Anis would steal all the mana harvested from divine beasts and scatter it across the entire Aldra Snowfield.
On the surface, it looked like an act of goodwill, but in reality, it was closer to one of Lesha’s many hidden sins.
The reason was simple: she needed a poisonous herb called Aldragora, which only grew in the Snowfield, for a ritual she was preparing.
But because the cursed snow of the north never melted, she couldn’t find it directly.
So she used divine beasts’ sacred energy to forcibly melt the snow and obtain it.
In the end, it was an incident that unintentionally made the Holy Empire suffer a massive setback.
And because of that, the enraged Holy Empire later took the lead in hunting down the villain Lesha more aggressively than anyone else.
Eventually, when Lesha retaliated by exposing the empire’s secrets to the world, the entire continent was thrown into chaos…
‘I was planning to escape to Korea before any of that headache happened… but even in a different body, I’m still here.’
Based on everything I had experienced as Lesha, no matter how much I tried to live quietly, events always forced themselves into motion.
For example, if I avoided a situation where I was supposed to bully mages and instead went on vacation, something would happen in my absence that harmed the Magic Tower instead.
So this time too—it would inevitably happen.
Honestly, I also needed the snowfield herb.
The spatial transfer magic required a large amount of Aldragora.
Last time I managed to prepare it without issues only because previous Tower Masters had secretly stockpiled it.
‘And I ended up using all of it… so now there’s none left.’
In any case, it was best not to get involved with the Holy Empire.
They looked benevolent on the surface, but hid something far more corrupt underneath.
“My divine beast will return before they arrive, so don’t worry and focus on your new research logs. A lot of your spell formulas glitched while you were gone.”
As if he had been waiting for that moment, Kanak shoved a massive stack of documents into my arms.
Even though the room was destroyed, the papers were perfectly intact…
“What is all this?!”
I had only been gone for a single day!
Groaning, I barely managed to drop the papers onto the sofa when something clicked in my mind.
“Wait. Who’s coming? What do you mean ‘they’?”
When I looked at him confused, Kanak looked back at me like I was the one being ridiculous.
“You’re really a princess? The Holy Empire and the Divine Temple are hosting a festival for the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations.”
“…Huh?”
Now that I think about it, Aindo had mentioned something about a festival.
I had assumed it was just a normal annual event and ignored it.
So that was this?
A note surfaced in my memory:
“A masked sword tournament with guaranteed anonymity will be held during the upcoming festival.”
So that sword tournament was part of this event…
“Ahem. Don’t take that thing with you. They’ll definitely target it. And since you’re not its official owner, you can’t even claim ownership.”
Kanak gestured toward Romi.
It was true—people from the Holy Empire were extremely sensitive to divine beast presence.
There was no way I could hide Romi from them.
Still…
“You’re not its owner either.”
“True. But there’s a law that says abandoned divine beasts are claimed by the Holy Empire.”
He shrugged.
“When was that decided?”
“About five years ago. All Tower Masters across the continent agreed when they were invited to the Holy Empire.”
…Five years?
Right after my death.
The timing was suspicious.
‘Come to think of it, I vaguely remember similar proposals about abandoned divine beasts being submitted before…’
At the time, I was too focused on spatial magic research to care, so I must have ignored them.
Which basically meant automatic rejection from my side.
And without the Grand Mage of the Partiel Empire agreeing, they couldn’t proceed—so they must’ve been frustrated.
‘So they rushed it after they heard I died… what nonsense.’
And I couldn’t believe all the Tower Masters had agreed either. It clearly only benefited the Holy Empire.
“Did you agree to it too?”
“I didn’t go. I told you—I hate furry animals.”
Kanak made a disgusted face.
Ah… right. I had forgotten.
“Right. You had an allergy.”
So he probably didn’t attend, meaning his opinion was ignored… and the rest must’ve been bribed.
As I was sorting through the situation, Kanak suddenly looked at me sharply.
“How do you know that?”
How do I know? I saw it.
But I couldn’t say that.
Kanak had always scratched his neck whenever he was around furry animals.
Even now, he had done it earlier. I thought I had imagined it, but it was real.
‘Right. I remember now.’
That’s why I used to keep Romi away from him in the Mist Forest.
Because of his allergy.
He was wearing a high-collared outfit today, so I hadn’t noticed.
“You—what are you doing—”
“Stay still.”
I grabbed his collar and yanked him toward me.
He stumbled back until his back hit the wall, then froze with his arms raised awkwardly, like he was being searched.
One by one, I undid the buttons at his neck.
His exposed skin revealed reddish blotches spreading beneath his collarbone.
‘…Isn’t this too red?’
Can allergies really cause this level of discoloration?
Before, it had just been small swollen patches.
‘It feels worse. Definitely worse.’
After a moment of thinking, I reached a conclusion.
“Alright, I’ve decided. I’ll take Romi—wait. Are you okay? Your face is really red! Does your allergy reach your face too?!”
“It’s not—”
“Yeah, this is more serious than I thought. I’ll send Romi to the palace immediately. Don’t forget to apply medicine, okay? I’ll handle the crafting myself, so don’t come to the lab.”
“Wait—”
I can’t let my disciple die over something like fur.
Without giving him time to respond, I quickly lifted Romi from the bed and rushed out of the tower.
The moment I left, silence fell.
Kanak leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.
The room was a complete wreck. Nothing remained intact—not even him.
Even his heartbeat felt chaotic.
He waved wind magic to clear the floating black fur from the room and finally took a deep breath.
The open shirt exposed his chest, still heavily marked in red.
“…What kind of princess touches a man so carelessly.”
He exhaled a short laugh and rubbed his forehead.
But there was something else now—something he needed to investigate.
“Robel.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Robel appeared quietly from the corner of the room, as if nothing had happened earlier.
Two shadow-clad figures stood beside him.
“Investigate the princess. Everything. From beginning to end.”
“…As expected, you suspect her?”
With no reply, Robel nodded subtly.
The two shadow figures disappeared without a sound.
“Come to think of it… she didn’t interrogate you about Duke Harbor either.”
“…She probably didn’t have the time.”
Kanak glanced around the destroyed room.
Creak—thud.
Even the last intact sofa collapsed.
Robel silently nodded.
The room itself gave the answer.
