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Oliana spoke, her words laced with subtle resentment. As far as she was concerned, the Empress was nothing more than the woman who had given birth to her—there was no bond of affection between them. And, if she had to guess, the feeling was mutual.

The Empress was the granddaughter of her great-uncle—the very man who had once placed her father in power as a mere puppet regent. Their marriage had never been one of love; it was purely political. At least, that was certainly the case from her mother’s side.

Oliana wouldn’t have harbored such bitterness if the Empress had simply remained indifferent in their loveless marriage. But beneath the regal façade lurked insatiable greed—an unrelenting hunger for power and control.

She had never allowed the Emperor to take a mistress, and the consequences were glaringly obvious. With no other heirs, the empire’s future now rested solely on Oliana’s shoulders—a precarious situation for any imperial dynasty.

It was a stark contrast to the easygoing yet affectionate marriage of Archduke Estrada and his wife, who, despite having only one child, had built a household of warmth and mutual respect.

As for the Empress herself, she had long since packed her belongings and fled to her maternal family, seeking refuge.

Noticing the emotion woven into her words, the Emperor let out a faint, melancholic smile. “Well, there isn’t much to say about the Empress… but she did have her charms.”

“If Your Majesty says so, then I won’t argue.”

Amused by his daughter’s indifferent tone, the Emperor’s smile grew wider. His gaze held a knowing glint, as if to say, ‘Even that strong-willed nature of yours is more like the Empress than me.’

Being the perceptive person she was, Oliana understood the implication of his words. Unwilling to dwell on it, her gaze wandered the room, trying to shake off the jittery feeling that had taken hold of her.

It was then that her eyes landed on the canvas. She had assumed it was blank, but upon closer inspection, she realized it bore an image—an eerily realistic depiction of a towering wall of white clouds.

“This is… the «Void Mist»?”

“Yes. After all, when else would one have the chance to witness it this closely? Well… I suppose this is the second time in history, if you count the events of the Lost Era.”

Oliana had been only half-listening, still trying to deflect her father’s teasing. But the moment he mentioned the Lost Era, her attention snapped back, her entire body tensing.

“Haha, does that surprise you? I was the one who taught you about the records of the Lost Era—the knowledge passed down in our family. It would be far stranger if I hadn’t recognized what we were dealing with by now.”

Until now, Oliana had assumed that her father had remained behind out of sheer optimism—believing he simply didn’t grasp the gravity of the situation. But now, she found herself re-evaluating him.

Her gaze lingered on his face, noting the calm certainty in his expression.

“Well, no one can say for certain if this is truly a reenactment of myth… or if it’s merely a coincidence. However, one thing is certain—the Azure God is not holding back. And if the Princess from the Firmament joins the fray, then for beings like us, all we can do is wait and see how the pieces fall.”

Oliana’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Everyone knew her father’s strengths—and weaknesses. He was renowned for his refined appearance and keen ability to judge people, but beyond that, he lacked any notable analytical skill.

And yet, at this moment, the man before her seemed entirely different. A stranger in her father’s skin.

“Frankly… when I reflect on my life, it all feels like one continuous, empty dream. My father, the late Emperor, was a strict man who demanded nothing less than perfection from me. As his heir, I was expected to embody the ideal of an Emperor—never once was my own will considered. When I grew older, my uncle, the regent, sought to make me his puppet to further his own ambitions. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister viewed me as nothing more than a convenient tool.”

Though his words painted the picture of a cruel and suffocating existence, his tone remained eerily neutral—neither bitter nor resentful. He spoke as if recounting the weather.

“So, I simply accepted it. I am a shell—no different from a magic tool that follows a set of predetermined instructions without thought or ego. I am a man of no substance. I have no understanding of good or evil, no ambition for status, no hunger for fame or power. I lack even the most basic dignity or instinct to cling to life. Everything that makes a person human—for me, it has always been zero.”

“……”

The Emperor continued speaking, his voice as light as a breeze, but to Oliana, he no longer seemed human.

For the first time, she caught a glimpse of what lay beneath his carefully crafted expression. Abyss. A deep, endless void of nothingness. No, he was not simply a mild-mannered or unremarkable man. He was far from that. His indifference stretched beyond the trivialities of life and death. The fate of the world, the survival of its people—none of it mattered to him.

And for the first time, Oliana realized she had never truly known her father.

“But—” A flicker of something unfamiliar passed through his voice—hesitation. Yet, his gentle expression remained unchanged.

“I finally found something—someone—that was mine alone. It baffled me at first, but it was undeniable. I had obtained a treasure so precious, so irreplaceable, that each passing day became something to look forward to… simply because I could watch her grow.”

A sharp pain clenched at Oliana’s chest, as if an invisible needle had pierced her heart. She bit her tongue. If she spoke, if she let even a single word slip—she feared the floodgates would burst, and she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from crumbling.

“I may have failed as an Emperor. I may have failed as a husband. But at the very least, in this final moment, I wish to fulfill my role as your father… my little lady.”

Oliana could no longer hold back. Her shoulders trembled. Hot tears welled up in her eyes, spilling down her cheeks in large, silent droplets.

“Come now, do not cry, my dear child. Even I, with this hollow, non-existent heart of mine… find that I cannot bear the sight of your tears. I only wish for you to live… for a long, long time.”

The Emperor rose from his chair and gently pulled Oliana into his arms, his voice a whisper against her hair.

After a long moment in the warmth of her father’s embrace, Oliana slowly lifted her tear-streaked face to look at him.

“But… it’s already too late. Even if we had a wyvern, it wouldn’t make a difference. There’s no way to escape the «Void Mist» now.”

The Imperial Palace was so immense that it could easily house an entire city within its walls. This sheer scale often made distances feel deceiving, but in truth, the palace now stood on the very brink of being consumed by the encroaching «Void Mist».

“It’s not too late just yet. That’s precisely why I called them here.”

Only now did Oliana remember the presence of the two outsiders standing by the window. She turned to face them, curiosity and unease flickering in her eyes.

“These two are ‘Players’—the ones you’ve heard about. They serve under the Azure God, but they also happen to be old acquaintances of the Rose Princess. I arranged for them to be here. They will take you from this place and teleport you to the Princess.”

The revelation left Oliana completely speechless, struggling to process the implications. Meanwhile, the blonde-haired knight scratched his cheek awkwardly before offering an explanation.

“Originally, we had been in contact with the Emperor to help maintain a power balance within the empire—ensuring an even playing field against the Prime Minister’s faction, which had Kagerou’s backing. The Emperor never paid us any mind before, but when everything began reaching its final stage, he suddenly reached out to us with a request. Honestly, it caught us completely off guard.”

The knight tried to maintain a friendly demeanor, but now that Oliana knew they served under the enemy’s banner, wariness instinctively surged within her. Her brows furrowed as suspicion took hold.

“Yeah, I won’t deny that we seem shady. But we’re not here to betray you, your father, or Miss Hiyuki. Our actions are driven purely by personal motives, nothing more. You’ll just have to trust us on that.” The girl beside him—no older than sixteen or seventeen, with the air of a magician—added cheerfully.

‘Perhaps… I can trust them?’ Regardless of her doubts, this was her father’s wish. She couldn’t disregard that. Without hesitation, Oliana made up her mind and took a step toward the two.

But just as she moved forward, a deep, creaking voice slithered into their ears.

“——Oh? If you’re not betraying them, then does that mean you’re betraying me, I wonder?”
“—! T-That voice…!?”
“The Azure God!!”

The blonde knight and the mage’s eyes widened in sheer alarm. Without a second’s hesitation, they leapt away from the window— And at that very moment, the Emperor’s villa was obliterated in a single devastating attack.

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