Chapter 7

At a glance, it was obvious what was happening.

Allison had found the heroine waiting for us outside and was happily tearing into her.

“What is it? Were you trying to walk away after seeing me? Without even greeting me?”

“No, Team Leader. It’s not that I was pretending not to see you, I really—”

“Trying to marry well and improve your life by becoming an official, yet you keep acting like some innocent little saint…”

“Team Leader, I think that statement is rude.”

For once, the heroine lifted her head sharply.

“I truly came to the Imperial Palace to help people. And I would appreciate it if you stopped saying things like that every time you see me.”

I almost clapped while listening from the side.

‘Yessss! Good job!’

Teaching her that a job isn’t everything had been worth it!

But Allison only sneered.

“You’re pretty good at talking back. Did your parents teach you that?”

“……!”

“Oh, right. Just like Lowell, you don’t have parents either, do you? Looking at it now, the two of you are just a pair of rookies who were never properly raised.”

I could brush it off.

But the heroine’s parents had been murdered because of dark magic.

Only after digging into that wound did Allison finally seem satisfied enough to turn away.

Hmm.

I made up my mind.

‘I’m reporting her!’

At this point, I couldn’t just tell Yuliana, “You’ll never see her again anyway, just ignore it!”

Even if it got me marked as a troublemaker during training, I was at least going to contact Human Resources.

But first, I hurried over to the heroine.

“Yuliana!”

“Huh? Layla...?”

The heroine’s face turned bright red, embarrassed that I had seen everything.

“Are you okay? Earlier…”

“Ah, I’m fine.”

Yuliana forced a smile as she rubbed her eyes.

But the corners of her mouth were trembling.

“Just... um... the part about my parents hurt a little.”

I silently nodded.

‘I understand.’

Insults about Layla Lowell’s parents didn’t really affect me.

‘They left me at an orphanage with nothing but a note attached to my name.’

But if someone had insulted my parents from my previous life, I would have grabbed them by the hair and fought.

‘Because they died in an accident.’

Still, I needed to focus on the heroine first.

I was about to pat her shoulder when she suddenly stopped walking.

Something was strange.

Even her breathing sounded wrong.

“Yuliana?”

“……”

“Why are you—”

“W-wait.”

She staggered backward.

Then she clutched the left side of her chest and gasped.

Color drained from her face in an instant until she looked as pale as a corpse.

“Get... get away from me.”

“Yuliana?”

“Agh...!”

The moment the heroine doubled over with a groan—

A horrifying cracking sound tore through the air.

Crack! Crack-crack!

It sounded like electricity sparking through the atmosphere.

‘Huh?’

A scraping voice, like fingernails dragging across a wall, came from Yuliana’s direction.

“...kill... you...”

At the same time, her shadow rippled violently.

Black mist began pouring out from within it.

The mist split into multiple branches like plant roots.

The thickest strand heaved up and down violently.

“Gasp!”

The smooth stone pavement shattered instantly.

In the blink of an eye, black mist engulfed everything before me.

Someone shouted from behind.

“Lowell! Move!”

But even in a life-or-death crisis, a single thought crossed my mind.

‘Male Lead, what did I tell you?’

Hardship doesn’t make people stronger.

It just drives people insane.

* * *

For the past few days, nothing but sighs had echoed through the Black Spoon Department.

“Haah…”

Carlisle sat with a hand on his forehead, sighing.

The rookie trainees assigned to observation duty this week had already gone home.

Not that they had been useful anyway.

Most of them only made minor mistakes and increased Carlisle’s workload.

But that wasn’t why he was depressed.

‘Why did I make that mistake?’

Wasn’t he supposed to persuade Layla Lowell?

That was why he had been lingering around the Protocol Team’s building.

He had even bought a drink that seemed to be her favorite.

‘And yet somehow I ended up lecturing her instead.’

That didn’t mean Allison Capress had been right.

Ruining talented people was never efficient.

‘But she only had to endure it for a week.’

Hardship makes people stronger.

‘I’ve believed that my entire life.’

Three hundred years ago—

The Luphex Grand Ducal family had been cursed by dark magic.

Even those born with powerful aura abilities would transform into black wolves and rampage if they failed to control intense emotions.

Monsters unable to recognize even their own family members.

“……”

Carlisle frowned as horrible memories resurfaced.

Blood everywhere.

The fallen members of the Grand Ducal family.

The people of the territory.

‘That’s why hardship needs a reason.’

He wanted to believe misfortune didn’t strike at random.

But then—

“Hardship doesn’t make people stronger.”

“It just drives people insane...”

The expression Layla Lowell had worn when she said those words...

It looked remarkably similar to the expression he made whenever Edgar said something ridiculous.

‘I’m doomed.’

At that moment, his nemesis of a superior—and Minister of Dark Magic—Edgar Crow sneered.

“Wow. So the future Grand Duke Luphex, famous for being meticulous, actually got rejected by a rookie?”

“Please be quiet…”

“Aww, how tragic.”

“If you already read my thoughts, why ask? And I wasn’t rejected.”

“I enjoy watching you embarrass yourself. And yes, you were absolutely rejected, Luphex.”

Carlisle unconsciously clenched his fist.

‘That damned sadist, Edgar Crow.’

Silver hair as clear as moonlight.

Dark green eyes.

A man who radiated nobility from head to toe.

The Crow Ducal House, which had overseen temple affairs for generations, was one of the Empire’s most prestigious noble families.

But despite his pleasant smile, he was rotten on the inside and constantly read other people’s thoughts whenever he pleased.

Like Carlisle, Edgar also despised dark magic.

Carlisle should never have fallen for his proposal to create the Black Spoon Department and take revenge on those people together.

At that moment, a faint vibration shook the floor.

Rumble...

It didn’t stop after once.

Twice.

Three times.

Mountains of paperwork trembled and collapsed.

Even Edgar frowned.

“An earthquake? But…”

Ancient magic protected Arpheld Imperial Palace from disasters specifically so officials could continue working uninterrupted.

A natural earthquake should not have been able to shake the palace like this.

Edgar’s eyes flashed with realization.

“Then don’t tell me…”

At that moment, the scenery outside the window wavered dangerously.

Black, glowing particles sparkled ominously in the air.

A red magic circle appeared beside Edgar.

An emergency communication from the palace guards.

“Minister Crow! Team Leader Luphex! This is an emergency! Dark magic has appeared inside the Imperial Palace!”

“We’re on our way. Location?”

“The main avenue connecting the central buildings to the plaza! Reinforcements can’t even approach!”

“Are there any civilians caught in it?”

“It looks like several rookie officials are trapped!”

“……!”

“Finley Seymus, Yuliana Crosswell, and the third one is—”

Carlisle didn’t need to hear the rest.

He was already running.