When the vacation ended,
Yohan and Francia reported to work on time.
As the two opened the door and walked in together, the officers all stood up simultaneously.
“Ah, you’ve arrived. Special Magician Rahardt… Oh?”
“It’s been a while! Hm…?”
“Uh… are you very tired?”
The officers’ reactions were subtle.
It was because of Yohan’s face.
Yohan’s once radiant blue eyes were now dull and empty, like a faded window.
The dark circles under his eyes betrayed sleepless nights,
and his sunken cheeks spoke more eloquently than words about his exhaustion.
“It’s been a while, everyone…”
His poor condition was not limited to his face.
His voice, deep and hoarse, cracked as if his vitality had been drained away.
Naturally, the officers’ gazes turned to Francia, who stood beside him.
In stark contrast to Yohan, Francia’s skin gleamed with vitality,
and her crimson eyes were brimming with vibrant energy, as if she held the world within them.
“Um…”
“Ah.”
“Oh…”
The officers quickly understood and nodded knowingly.
“Huh? Is something going on? Why is everyone looking at me?”
Francia tilted her head in confusion at the attention.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Just… yes.”
“Hahaha…”
“We’re glad to see you’re in good health!”
The officers awkwardly laughed and brushed it off.
But—
‘I’m so jealous…!’
‘I want to get my hair pulled by the Countess…’
‘That must’ve been amazing…!’
The female officers instinctively licked their lips.
“Oh, you’re all gathered here.”
Their chatter was interrupted as the Deputy Leader of the Second Bureau, Ricard, approached with a stack of documents in his hands.
“Deputy Leader?”
“What’s going on?”
When the officers asked, Ricard immediately spoke.
“Prince Descartes will soon be inaugurated as the leader of the Second Bureau.
He had been stationed in the outskirts but has recently moved to the capital.”
Prince Descartes a figure who had been exiled to the frontier after losing the imperial throne rivalry with Fedelian.
Yohan and Francia were already aware of his arrival, having heard about it from Rudella.
“And Special Magician Rahardt,” Ricard added, looking at Yohan.
“The establishment of the special department for sealing demon dens has been postponed again.
It seems the Empire is in turmoil in many ways right now…”
The deposed Crown Prince charged with treason,
Cassis, who escaped the Tower of Confinement after being sentenced to death,
the troubling state of the Renokhonan Duchy due to his actions…
Even Rudella, the former Crown Prince’s fiancée, had severed ties with her family and disappeared.
The families that had supported the Crown Prince were also faltering, suspected of plotting treason themselves.
It was impossible to proceed with anything else in such a situation. First, they had to stabilize the shaky foundation.
“Understood. Got it.”
Yohan nodded indifferently. Although the work was piling up, he didn’t care at all. After all, there was no one left to interrupt him anymore.
‘There is still the Tower Master and the Archbishop of the Holy Nation… but this side should be fine.’
By dealing with the Crown Prince and Cassis, Francia no longer needed to flee beyond the empire, nor was there any need to meet with the Tower Master or the Archbishop.
Thus, it was correct to completely exclude them from the list of potential threats. After all, the two hadn’t recklessly targeted Francia just because of her appearance.
If anything, it was the Holy Nation that might still be entangled…
Yohan thought it was more likely that attention would shift to him rather than Francia. After all, his unprecedented ability to close demonic lairs was bound to attract interest.
“That’s all the news to report. Everyone may now return to your tasks. His Highness the Prince will arrive after lunch.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
As soon as the briefing ended, Ricard turned around and immediately returned to his seat.
“If it’s Prince Descartes…”
“The timing feels strange.”
“Indeed, it’s as if it was calculated.”
“What a coincidence…”
The clerks whispered among themselves. They too had a sense of perception and found it suspicious that Descartes had returned to the imperial capital just as the Crown Prince was deposed.
“Oh, come on, no way. His Majesty probably summoned him.”
“Let’s not overthink it.”
“Right. This is just a conspiracy theory.”
“La, la! I don’t want to think about it! Not listening!”
“This is exactly why I joined the civil service!”
Still, the doubts didn’t last long. After all, hadn’t most of them joined the civil service to escape the intrigues and messy succession battles? Such reactions were only natural.
“Alright, everyone, back to work!”
“Yeah, let’s not make this weird.”
“What was I doing again?”
Feigning ignorance as if nothing had happened, the clerks dispersed and returned to their respective desks. They immediately began skimming through documents.
The sudden shift in atmosphere made Yohan let out a silent chuckle. He was reminded, yet again, just how much these civil servants loathed politics.
At that moment, Francia called out to him.
“Yohan?”
“Yes.”
“I should get back to work too. I had something I was in the middle of.”
Francia, who had been holding tightly to Yohan’s hand since entering the office, gently released it.
Her expression was somehow subtle.
“Really? Should I help you?”
Yohan, his face looking a bit haggard, asked. Part of him genuinely wanted to help with Francia’s tasks, but the truth was, unlike the other clerks, he had nothing to do. The establishment of his department had been delayed, leaving him idle.
“Pfft, thank you. But I’ll just take the thought.”
She shook her head and then curved her eyes into crescent shapes, gazing sweetly at Yohan.
“…Hmm, then I really don’t have much to do.”
“How about reading the book I recommended to you?”
“Oh, right, there was that. I’ll give it a read.”
“I’m going to check your book report. You’ll need to read it thoroughly, okay?”
“Uh… a book report, though?”
“It just means you should read it carefully.”
When Yohan recoiled with a look of dismay, Francia chuckled softly.
“Spend your time wisely. We need to leave work together today.”
“Understood.”
Francia gave a small wave before entering the private office for civil servants. It was a research room reserved only for high-ranking mages.
Though she glanced around suspiciously before entering, Yohan chose not to pry. It must be work-related.
“Then, I’ll…”
Yohan returned to his seat and pulled out the books they had bought together earlier.
The stack was filled with romance novels, but the one that truly piqued his interest was hidden in Francia’s desk drawer.
“So, it’s this one.”
Yohan gulped.
<The Earl’s Forceful Training: A Secret Affair>
It was the book Francia had been reading.
With trembling fingertips, Yohan opened the book.
One page, then another, and another…
As he turned the pages and read, he suddenly closed the book again.
“….”
Yohan’s lips opened and closed several times, but no words came out.
The stiff trembling of his lips revealed just how deeply he was shaken.
“Is this… really her taste?”
He was utterly bewildered.
* * *
Stepping into her private study, Francia closed her eyes for a moment, letting out a breath as the door closed behind her.
She opened her eyes and stared at the papers on her desk, her face set in a hard line. Her eyes, red and glowing, held a dark determination.
was in her eyes.
“Hmm…”
The papers listed information about ancient artifacts whose whereabouts were unknown. They were weapons that had long been under special investigation by the Second Civil Service.
Weapons of war that could devastate legions with their overwhelming power, or even wipe out a small kingdom without a trace.
They had been abandoned, abandoned, abandoned to the archives, thought impossible to find, but Francia knew.
These weapons were real.
She’d seen them in the celestial wizard’s library.
“I just need to know what’s what. We just need to get them out.
A terrible artifact, used as a weapon of war in the Celestial Wizard’s time, and capable of claiming countless lives – but she was looking for it for one reason.
“Fedelian, I must kill this man with my own hands.
Her red eyes glowed. Her gaze held an eerie fleshiness. It held madness.
He must be preparing to usurp the throne, judging by the way he broke Cassis Renokhonan out of prison. Perhaps the Kingdom of Tenerope is assisting him.
It would be necessary to kill not only them, but all those involved in the usurpation of the throne.
‘I will kill many people with my hands, but…’
It didn’t matter; he was willing to get his hands dirty if it meant killing the man and being with Yohan.
Gone were the days of innocence when killing a man would break my spirit.
And it was okay to have blood-soaked, reddened hands, as long as Yohan held them.
‘For Yohan, for me..’
Palak.
The papers continued to flip.
The moment.
‘Is this…?’
Francia’s hand halted on one of the papers.
A drawing of a double-edged sword with a faint golden hue from hilt to blade. The name was Gladius Luminis.
It was said to be a weapon of war, capable of bombarding with light magic and defeating thousands and tens of thousands of great armies at once.
‘…This is it.’
Her chest heaved wildly.
The artifact’s image became more clearly imprinted on her eyes.
‘Let’s go.’
To the celestial mage’s library, where she had one more chance.
Francia would fulfill both her vengeance and her love.
* * *
The green-tinged sky shimmered like the final breath of decaying life, as beams of light, mingling vitality and decay, descended to the earth, singing the song of the world’s end.
The ground cracked and crumbled, fragments of stone and soil scattering like torn pages.
Ashen-gray debris swirled in the wind, whispering the names of the forgotten.
Though the end was near, it was a scene akin to an unfinished book, its final chapter left unwritten.
At the heart of the destruction—
“Cough, cough…!”
A woman who had entered the underground ruins moved urgently, suppressing the pain that felt like it would shatter her body. She was searching for something.
Shelves constructed like fortress walls were filled with countless books, and faded artifacts were spread across a wave-like series of tables.
But the woman wasn’t focusing on the massive bookshelves or the artifact-laden tables.
Instead, her attention was fixed on a small bookshelf near the entrance of the library.
Thud. Thud.
Her frail, weathered hands brushed off the clinging dust as she checked the covers revealed to her green eyes.
Whoosh.
But it wasn’t what she was looking for. She tossed the book aside carelessly.
“Cough, cough…!”
Her coughing grew worse.
It was only natural, considering the dust-filled environment.
Even so, she didn’t give up, continuing her search. In her eyes shone a determination that bordered on madness.
One book, then another, then another, and another…
Each fell to the ground, coughing up clouds of dust as they landed.
“Ugh…!”
Just as the dust filling the library made her coughing reach its peak—
“Found it…!”
A bright smile spread across the woman’s face.
In her hand, she held a single book.
On its dust-covered cover were just two characters,
Return (回歸).
It was the legacy of the celestial mage that she had been so desperately seeking.
With this, she could meet him again.
“At last…”
Her green eyes shimmered with a mix of emotions—yearning, tenderness, and an almost maddening love.
Holding the grimoire close, she let out a small laugh.
“Wait for me, Yohan.”
I’ll come to see you again.