“I knew it,” Sirius sighed as he scanned the documents in front of him, one hand rubbing at his temples.
It was unheard of for an unmarried woman to take on the role of Goddess of Judgment—and a woman who claimed she would be the one to get married to the prince, no less. For all intents and purposes, the letter was a rudely worded declaration of war. Sirius could practically hear Cornelia’s wicked laugh echoing through the paper.
This was yet another one of her dirty schemes.
However, what Sirius couldn’t understand was why on earth his father agreed to host the duel without any hesitation. When a shaken-looking official sought an audience with Uranometria to inform him of Lord Elestial and Cornelia’s conspiracy, the emperor simply smiled serenely and said, “What a wonderfully compassionate woman. I think it admirable that she stepped up to take on a duty that no one else wanted.”
Sirius wondered if his father was beginning to go senile; even emperors couldn’t avoid the plight of old age, after all. The previous emperor had also lost his marbles in his later years, a common issue being that he would ask when his meal would arrive a mere ten minutes after he’d already eaten. He would always eat whatever he was given, though, so at least no food went to waste.
At this rate, Marialite—a human woman with no experience in combat—would face off against a demon. It was like giving a mouse to a serpent.
“Shut up. I’ll kill you,” Sirius muttered, angrily reprimanding himself for comparing Marialite to a mouse, of all things. Unfortunately, the official standing in front of him had no idea what was going on inside his head, and his face turned deathly pale in response. Being on the receiving end of the crown prince’s death threat was, by all means, terrifying. “…Sorry. I didn’t mean you.”
“Th-That’s good to know…”
He’d accidentally insulted a servant because he was too absorbed in his own ocean of thoughts.
How inappropriate of me.
“I really am sorry,” he reiterated. “What is it you came to tell me?”
The official immediately reverted back to his usual, business-like character, shaking the terror from his expression.
“It’s about Lady Cornelia,” he began. Sirius’ expression immediately fell; he was utterly sick of hearing her name. “She’s here, saying that she wants to see Lady Marialite again. What should we do?”
“Tell her to come back tomorrow.”
Sirius thought he might faint on the spot if he had to see that woman’s face three times in one day. Her only intention would be to unleash another torrent of verbal abuse on Marialite, anyhow.
He drew a circle in the air with his forefinger, then drew a pattern inside it. It was a way of creating a defensive barrier. Barriers and spells which required chanting were particularly dependent on the amount of magical power feeding into them, but it also meant that the more energy they used, the more effective they were.
This time, Sirius had commanded the barrier to react to Cornelia’s magic, meaning that it created an invisible wall that anyone apart from her could pass through. Truthfully, he would’ve preferred to personally find her and drive her away, but he felt like he might lose his mind if he saw Cornelia’s face one more time. He’d already gone through a lot of effort to quell his anger from earlier; he’d recharged by soaking up Marialite’s tranquil energy, and he didn’t want to undo that now.
Not to mention, being barred in such a manner would exhaust Cornelia far more than Sirius could—both physically and mentally.