The royal bedchamber was in chaos… Commander of the Imperial Guard, Waletidina, was also among the crowd.
When she saw Seniya climbing onto the edge of the balcony, she reacted in an instant.
“Everyone move!”
She charged forward quickly. The whirlwind summoned by her magic power propelled her body like an arrow from a bowstring.
Thanks to that speed, she managed to grab the queen’s arm just before she fell.
“Seniya… what are you doing!”
She breathed a sigh of relief… then was surprised to find that the human girl named Lian, who lived in this bedchamber, had also grabbed one of Her Majesty’s arms and was glaring angrily at her.
‘This girl’s movements are on par with mine while I’m using magic?’
Waletidina was a little startled… but her attention soon returned to Her Majesty the Queen.
“Hey, Seniya! Pull yourself together! Tell me what happened!”
“Let me go, let me go…!”
Her Majesty’s expression was truly terrible at the moment.
Because she kept struggling, Lian and Waletidina had no choice but to forcefully pull her back into the room.
As soon as they were back inside, Seniya shook off both their arms and hid beside the bed, trembling and hugging her head like a child frightened by a nightmare.
“Seniya, calm down. Look, all these knights here are here to protect you… no one is going to hurt you.”
Lian quickly noticed her mental state was off. She hurriedly put away her angry expression and kept some distance.
“What are you all standing around for? Maids, leave the clothes and go summon the royal physician and the palace steward! Everyone else, return to your posts and remain on alert—don’t let even a single insect in!”
While Lian was comforting her, Waletidina gave orders to everyone in the palace.
At the command, the people dispersed, and the palace became much quieter.
“Huff… huff…”
As the commotion in the palace subsided, Seniya’s rapid breathing eased slightly.
Waletidina stood at the same position as Lian, then looked at her and knelt on one knee.
“Um…”
“Thank you for helping His Majesty.”
Lian glanced at Waletidina, as if she wanted to ask how much she knew about this situation.
But before she could finish, the Imperial Guard knight cut off the conversation with a simple thank you.
“Waletidina… is that you?”
After more than ten seconds, Seniya finally lifted her forehead slightly from her tightly clutched arms.
Her eyes were wary, like a small animal on guard against a predator… She glanced at Lian first, then turned to the knight she trusted most.
“It’s me, Your Majesty. I’m here.”
“Are you unharmed…? I saw you bitten by those demons…”
She confirmed in a low, cautious voice… and her words made both of them present shudder simultaneously.
“Right… right… where is Father? You have to go save him! And go get Iyue… Iyue? Where is she…? And this girl… who is she?”
“Your Majesty…”
Seniya’s memory was clearly confused.
And as fellow survivors of that day, Waletidina and Lian quickly understood what kind of illusion she was currently trapped in.
“Waletidina… where is Father? Why aren’t you speaking? He must be in danger now…! We have to go save him…!”
Seniya crawled on all fours, looking utterly wretched.
She clutched Waletidina and begged earnestly with a voice that almost broke into tears.
But even though the silver glowing armor creaked, the knight just knelt quietly, motionless.
…
…
The royal physician and the palace steward who served the queen soon arrived. Under the physicians’ calming spells, Seniya fell into a light sleep. Outside the bedchamber, Lian, accompanying Waletidina, learned from the steward the reason she had become like this.
“Her Majesty went to the lakeside early…? Why wasn’t the Imperial Guard notified of such an important matter?!”
It was the first time Lian had seen this statue-like female knight lose her temper so hysterically… If the colleagues nearby hadn’t grabbed her shoulders, she might have punched the palace steward in the face.
“It was difficult for us as well… But this was not His Majesty’s imperial edict.”
“Even so…!”
The deep helplessness on the steward’s face left her anger with no outlet.
After seeing the steward off, she found a chair, sat down, and closed her eyes wearily.
“Excuse me… what exactly happened?”
Just as she was trying to calm her mind with deep breaths, Lian came over.
“…”
She opened her eyes and looked at the black-haired girl before her. Her eyes showed genuine concern and worry for Her Majesty the Queen.
At first, she didn’t understand why Her Majesty was so fixated on a human girl… But after observing her features this closely for the first time, she quickly understood the reason.
In her eyes, the girl’s appearance gradually overlapped with the Hero who had once led Fenglin City’s army to resist the Anti-Spirit Lord’s forces.
“You may not know the details of the audience ceremony.”
She sighed softly, and finally told the girl in front of her the details of the ceremony and the tradition that the queen had to break through the barrier on the lake alone.
“…So Seniya failed. While breaking through the mist barrier.”
Lian recalled the lake she had seen from the balcony earlier… the entire lake was still shrouded in mist as before.
“She looks like she’s mentally deranged.”
“The last failure was hundreds of years ago… and that previous king who failed wasn’t as severe as Her Majesty this time. I had noticed her condition wasn’t right… but I didn’t offer timely counsel.”
“It’s not your fault. She ordered that no one know her whereabouts—”
Waletidina slammed the armrest of the chair in shame and regret.
Lian was about to comfort her when a scream from beside the bed shattered her organized words.
“Everyone out!”
Lian and Waletidina immediately rushed to the bedside… They saw the awakened Seniya forcefully throw a pillow from the bed, driving away the royal physician who was holding a bowl of medicinal soup.
“Your Majesty, this is a calming herbal soup…”
“I don’t need it! Get out of my sight now!”
“Um… Knight Commander…”
The physician turned to Waletidina in distress. Waletidina patted his shoulder and casually took the tray of soup he was holding.
“Thank you for your hard work. We’ll follow His Majesty’s will.”
“Waletidina… what are you doing here?”
After the physician withdrew, Seniya’s gaze turned to her.
Seeing that her eyes had regained the majesty and composure of a monarch, Waletidina placed the soup on a nearby table and bowed to her.
“Your Majesty, it’s good to see you’ve returned safely. Do you remember what you experienced earlier?”
“…I know. I must have failed while trying to break through the mist barrier. You saw the shameful state I was in?”
“I did, Your Majesty. But I do not regard it as a shameful state.”
“…You don’t need to care about my feelings.” Seniya lowered her head… Lian saw her cheeks flush with shame.
“Then… you—did you see it too?”
After a moment, she raised her head again and asked Lian in a trembling voice.