"You are…"

At Lilien's mutter, Cardin stepped down from the tree and responded.

"My name is Cardin."

His casual introduction made Lilien instinctively reach for her sword.

"Cardin?"

"I was sent by His Majesty the Demon King. But I must say, you were up to quite the peculiar act."

A servant of the Demon King.

That alone was enough to trigger alarm, but what really shook Lilien was that he had seen what she had done.

"What are you doing here?"

"That's what I should be asking you." Cardin scoffed as he answered Lilien's question, "You’re the one burning a village, aren’t you? And hiding your appearance at that—it’s not exactly the act of someone with a clear conscience."

"Silence!" Lilien shouted, "How dare a servant of the Demon King insult me!"

"I'm not insulting you—just stating facts."

Cardin glanced at the flames rising in the distance.

"Is this because of Elhaen’s mark? Burning down an entire village to cover it up… even though your god is the one who called it forth. Why?"

"I have no obligation to answer you."

"Of course not."

Cardin replied nonchalantly and drew his sword.

"Whatever the case, it may end up working in our favor. Still, I have to make sure."

"Are you saying you’ll fight us?"

"No."

Cardin’s steps didn’t move toward Lilien—but somewhere else.

"I’m just going to do what I came here to do. You should go your own way too."

"What? Wait—"

Before she could catch him, Cardin leapt far away, leaving her grasping at empty air.

‘What is going on…?’

If he truly was a servant sent by the Demon King, then there was only one thing he might be here to do.

‘Is he planning to destroy the mark?’

Even the Demon King would want to eliminate Elhaen’s mark.

‘But...’

As he said, the mark was something they also needed to get rid of. That’s why she’d ordered the village to be burned—so that the people would flee, and then they could cleanly erase the mark.

"Don’t tell me—!"

Perhaps Cardin intended to go even further: killing all the villagers as well. If her side aimed to spread rumors, maybe the Demon King's side intended to erase anyone who knew about the mark altogether.

"No!"

That would be too cruel. Lilien had been somewhat relieved, knowing that Tia’s orders left room for the villagers to survive.

"Kh!"

She took off running.

From Tia’s perspective, it didn’t really matter how many people made it out alive.

As long as a handful survived to spread the rumors, that would be enough.

‘Still…!’

Lilien wasn’t just Tia’s sword. She was also a daughter of Ezer—born and raised in this land. Watching needless sacrifices pile up in her homeland was something she couldn’t bear.

‘Damn that Demon King!’

When she first saw him defiled beneath Beatrice, he had seemed pitiful. A corpse unable to rest even in death.

But the truth turned out differently.

Somehow, he had come back to life. He had returned as the Demon King—leader of the demonkind.

In other words, he was now humanity’s enemy.

‘I have to make it in time!’

Whether he was truly the Demon King’s puppet wasn’t something she could judge. But if he wasn’t, then he must surely feel wronged.

After all, he was once the Hero. There was no need to sacrifice innocent people.

"Captain?"

She encountered members of her unit who had been following behind. She quickly gave her order.

"A demon servant sent by the Demon King has appeared! He might be trying to harm the villagers—go stop him, quickly!"

"What?"

The soldiers looked confused.

"A demon servant?"

"What would a demon be doing here…?"

"But Captain—are we really the ones who should intervene?"

Lilien paused at the unexpected question.

"Are we really the ones who should step in?"

"Yes," the soldier said. "Weren’t we the ones who set the village on fire in the first place? If a demon has shown up, wouldn’t it be better to pin the blame on them?"

"What?"

Caught off guard, Lilien froze for a moment and glanced around at the others.

‘Of course…’

They no longer thought like knights.

‘Damn it.’

What more could she expect when they had already dirtied their hands with disgraceful acts? Still, Lilien had to follow her orders to the end.

"...If we blame the demons, people might actually start wishing for Elhaen’s marks to appear more often. They’ll think it’s something so important that even demons are trying to block it."

"Ah…"

"And who knows what else the demons might be planning. If our operation is disrupted, everything will fall apart—we must stop them."

Lilien raised her sword.

"If you understand, then move out."

"Won’t we risk being exposed?"

"Enough with the questions!"

She glared, snapping at them sharply.

“There’s no time! Stay low and keep your faces hidden! Any more complaints, and I’ll personally discipline the first one!”

“…”

The soldiers exchanged looks, then nodded silently. Lilien sighed and motioned them forward.

As they sprinted forward, the acrid smoke quickly grew thick. They pulled their hoods tighter, trying not to choke on it.

Within the rising inferno, some villagers still remained—desperately trying to extinguish the flames.

“Protect the mark!”

“Hold out until Her Majesty arrives!”

They were surrounding a tree where Elhaen’s mark was carved. The branches were already catching fire, threatening to consume the entire symbol at any moment.

“Cut it down!”

“Cut the tree!”

“Let’s extract the mark and carry it away!”

Even at the risk of losing it, the villagers were trying to dig around the base to rescue the mark.

“Captain.”

One of the knights spoke up.

“We need to kill them.”

“If they succeed in taking the mark and it remains active long enough to reach Her Majesty…”

“…the results will be completely opposite of what she intended.”

Lilien’s eyes widened.

“That’s insane…”

But she couldn’t finish her sentence.

Because they were right.

It was said that Elhaen’s mark would fade quickly if moved—but that wasn’t guaranteed. It was only a rumor.

“Captain?”

If she wanted to be sure, she’d have to deal with them directly. They couldn’t risk trying to quietly drive them away now.

“They’re actually carving around the mark!”

“Give the order!”

Lilien broke into a cold sweat, her throat dry.

‘What should I do?’

In moments like this…

“Captain!”

There was only one choice she could make.

“Go—go stop them!”

She couldn’t save everyone.

“Eliminate them before they remove the mark!”

Clenching her jaw, she shouted and rushed in with her squad.

“W-What’s going on?”

“Huh?!”

The villagers froze, wide-eyed at the sight of swords drawn.

“Who… who are you?!”

“Bandits?!”

“No, wait… they’re too well-equipped to be…”

Seeing their reactions, Lilien barked her next command.

“Do it!”

“Wait—!”

The terrified villagers raised their hands, but the knights charged in.

And then—

Tap.

Someone landed between them.

“Impressive.”

“!”

“You meant to erase Elhaen’s mark and the villagers with it?”

It was Cardin.

He stood with his back to the villagers, sword raised against the knights.

“Isn’t that a bit too cruel?”

Lilien couldn’t answer. She didn’t even know why he was doing this. But then—

‘No…’

She remembered the rumors about the Demon King saving people in Yaphenon.

‘That can’t be…’

A Demon King saving people? That made no sense.

‘Ah…’

But she finally understood.

Clay was once the Hero. He knew how to move people’s hearts.

Becoming the Demon King didn’t necessarily mean he was committed to evil.

Which meant—

‘We’ve been trapped.’

It was a trap.

“I was sent by His Majesty the Demon King.”

“The Demon King?!”

“A demon?!”

The villagers recoiled in terror at Cardin’s words. But he calmly continued.

“He wishes to clear up the misunderstanding. He doesn’t intend to treat humanity as an enemy.”

“W-What does that mean…?”

“You’ve heard what happened in Yaphenon, haven’t you? In any case, His Majesty wants to speak with Elhaen. For the sake of peace.”

Cardin turned to face Lilien again.

“But it seems there are those who don’t want peace.”

“Why, you…!”

“The Demon King instructed me to protect the villagers in such cases.”

He looked at Lilien and her knights as he sighed.

“So don’t worry.”

He turned to the stunned villagers.

“As His Majesty’s sword, I will protect you.”

“Shut that bastard up!”

“Well then.”

As the disguised knights moved to silence him, Cardin raised his sword.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.”

♧

“…Are you saying another faction might come to destroy the mark?”

Back before heading to Dolchen, Cardin had been shocked to hear Clay’s additional explanation.

“Tia might send someone to remove it.”

“But isn’t the Empress of Ezer also the Saintess? Then why…?”

Clay didn’t answer right away. He looked around, meeting the gazes of those nearby.

“Tia likely doesn’t want Elhaen getting involved at this point.”

“Pardon?”

“You know who I am, Cardin.”

It was common knowledge across the continent that Clay and Tia were childhood friends.

“If Tia still saw me as a mere traitor to humanity, this wouldn’t happen. But things are different now.”

“Different how…?”

“Tia still has feelings for me.”

She might’ve moved for the sake of peace—but in the end, she was only human. And she hadn’t let Clay go.

“So she may be trying to keep Elhaen away for my sake. She knows things will only get more complicated if the god intervenes.”

It was a difficult truth to admit.

While Cardin hesitated, unsure how to respond, Beatrice cut in.

“That’s all in the past. You don’t need to feel pressured by how Tia feels now. In fact, we can use it. Right, Clay?”

Clay met Beatrice’s gaze. After a brief silence, he nodded.

“Yes.”

He rose from his seat.

“Cardin, listen closely.”

With eyes unreadable and calm, Clay began to explain the trap he was about to spring—one that would catch the woman who still missed him.

(End of Chapter)

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