Anecdote

"So, tell me—what exactly is your relationship with Miss Lemei?"

Inside a resplendent palace, a woman in a white dress pinned a violet-eyed young man to the throne, straddling him sideways as she interrogated him viciously.

"Cough."

Gilan raised his head and glanced at Sasha, who was inches away. Her perfect face wore an unpleasant expression.

"We're just friends."

"Then why didn't you ask me for help?"

"Leaving behind something as trivial as 'corridor rumors' wasn't worth troubling you over, Sasha."

Gilan spoke slowly.

The blonde woman looked down at him and stared for a long while, her expression easing somewhat.

But just as Gilan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, Sasha lightly asked another question:

"Fine, I can barely accept all that, but... can you tell me why the Golden Bow mark I left on you suddenly disappeared?"

"This..."

Gilan forced himself to remain calm as he considered how to answer.

Yet Sasha suddenly made her move, yanking open his collar. A dark, profound incomplete-circle cross immediately appeared on Gilan's chest.

Sasha's golden pupils abruptly contracted.

That mysterious symbol was reflected in her eyes.

"This is?!"

"The mark of the August Hour-God, the Sorrowful Madonna..."

She suddenly raised her head and asked in a low voice:

"Brother, why do you have Her mark on you?!"

"..."

Gilan took a deep breath, his thoughts racing.

But in the end, he abandoned the idea of weaving a lie to deceive her. With a sigh, he said:

"I'm sorry, Sasha."

"Hm?" Sasha's delicate brows furrowed.

She opened her mouth, then seemed to think of something.

"As the foreign minister of the Bremen Empire and the student of Chairman Paracelsus... is it because you belong to the Crippled King's faction that the Sorrowful Madonna favored you?"

Gilan froze for a moment, then admitted