CHAPTER 46
For a while, the Imperial Palace was a total mess.
Why? Because Sibylius grandly confessed to me right where everyone could see.
She did this right in the middle of the capital, with numerous witnesses watching.
There was no way the rumors wouldn't reach the Imperial Palace. The information immediately reached Viol's ears, and...

"You crazy bitch! I called you to heal him, and you dare hit on my man?!"

Viol was utterly baffled and furious, and honestly, I understood.
I'd be dumbfounded too if I got stabbed in the back like this.
However, Sibylius, the one being interrogated, was very shameless.

"Who I confess to is my own business."
"Weren't you totally uninterested in Ceres? Didn't you look down on us, calling us pathetic things clinging to a man?"
"That was just me bluffing. Setting other things aside, neglecting my own feelings and insulting you all was definitely my fault, so I apologize for that."
"Forget the apology, just get the hell out!"

Viol angrily ordered her immediate exile from the country, but no one stepped forward.
Sibylius indifferently looked at the Imperial soldiers, who were just reading the room, and said.

"Stop with the weird orders. They know it too. Unless I want to, no one can drag me out of here."
"...Fine, then I'll drag you out myself!"
"The same goes for you. Even if you are royalty, unless the First Emperor reappears, you won't be able to do anything to me."

Sibylius acted not with an arrogant attitude, but as if stating a very obvious fact.
She was right.
The strongest in the Empire...
...No, based on the original novel, including all the male leads, the strongest of the four was Sibylius.

"Enough."

As the atmosphere grew fierce, I stopped the women before something else happened.

"What Sibylius said is true. Confessing is her own choice."
"What does that mean, Ceres? Are you planning to accept that bastard's confession?!"
"No, I'm not."

I told Viol I was just going to leave it be.
She wasn't trying to do anything to me; she was just confessing and liking me, which was her freedom, so there was nothing I could do.
...Having been publicly confessed to in front of everyone like that, I was drained of energy and just left Sibylius alone.
Then Sibylius somehow took up residence in the Imperial Palace and refused to leave my side.

"Get out, get the hell out right now!"
"I refuse."

She kept arguing with Viol, but then...

"Ceres, you were here?!"

After some time passed, this time Alios came looking for me.
Seeing me, she rejoiced with an almost tearful face.

"You have no idea how long I looked for you! I went to your house, and your mother said Ceres wasn't there, and when I asked where you were, she just got annoyed and asked why I cared!"

It seemed she went to the Whiperion estate to meet me, but given the current messy situation, there was no way Ares would properly welcome her.

"I interrogated Ceres's escort knight at the mansion... that weird Sword Master, and barely managed to find out what happened. Good heavens, how could something like this happen?!"

It seemed Niobe, who was still staying at the Whiperion estate doing god knows what, had explained the situation instead.

"It's really absurd. What kind of man does that? Even if he is your mother's nephew, trying to find a weakness to push Ceres out and take his place!"
"I find you more absurd."

Viol glared at the angry Alios with annoyed eyes.

"How did you get in here? I never gave you permission to enter the Imperial Palace!"
"I just walked in."
"What?"
"What's so hard about sneaking into this Imperial Palace? Ah, Ceres's escort knights noticed my infiltration, but when they asked their commander and I said I came to see him, they just let me in."

Viol shut her mouth.
It seemed she was so dumbfounded by Alios speaking to her, the Emperor, so nonchalantly in informal speech that she couldn't even get angry.

"..."
"Well, if she wanted to come, it can't be helped."

Taking advantage of Viol's silence, Sibylius unexpectedly defended Alios.

"She didn't come empty-handed, so let's accept her. Ceres, ask her about the situation at the estate."

Ah, right. Since Alios dropped by our estate, she would know roughly how things were going right now.

"Ceres, don't worry. It seemed those two at the estate were plotting something to resolve the situation."

Alios said to reassure me.

"I couldn't ask for details, but your mother said she was busy right now and told me not to interfere. That escort knight also said they would handle it, so I shouldn't worry."
"I see."
"...You're not worried?"

Alios looked at me with peculiar eyes as I answered nonchalantly.

"Yeah, not really."

I spoke my true feelings. Yeah, I didn't really care.
Even if Ares didn't particularly cherish me, the opponent was a nephew who dared to threaten the Head of the family to steal the heir position.
Whether it was Ares or anyone else, it was obvious they would try to handle it somehow, so I expected she would find a way soon.
And if I really wanted to eliminate Nemeth or Hairel, I would have done so already.
If I asked Viol to kill them all, they would both be found as mysterious corpses.

"Mother will take care of it well on her own. Do I really need to care?"

I was confused by various things lately, so I didn't want to waste energy on something that would be resolved if I just sat still.
I just honestly revealed my thoughts, but for some reason, everyone stared at me with strange eyes.

"Ceres, are you...?"
"You haven't given up on everything, have you?"

To Sibylius and Viol, this attitude of mine must have looked like I was giving up on everything.

"Now that I think about it, your condition has been strange lately."
"You've been acting like someone who's lost all their venom."

Viol worried, and Sibylius frowned.
I wanted to ask the two of them in return. Did I have venom before?
Well, since I kept swatting away their declarations of love, it might look that way to them.

"...About Black Pain. Where do you think it was hidden?"

I considered arguing back but said something else instead. When I suddenly brought up Black Pain, all three of them were puzzled.

"Wouldn't it be strictly kept somewhere in the Whiperion estate, in a secret location?"
"No, it's probably hidden in a place no one would ever expect."
"It's definitely a place that would catch the seeker off guard and mock them. The folks of the Whiperion family all have terrible personalities. Honestly, Ceres does too."

Sibylius, Alios, and Viol spoke in turn, and Viol guessed the right answer.

"It's inside the corpse of one of the dead former family heads."
"Excuse me?!"

I gave a detailed explanation to the surprised Alios.

"Black Pain has the ability to enter a person's body. They used that to store the sword in a corpse."
"...That certainly is a location that catches you off guard."
"The corpse used as a storage location like that is buried in a secret place no one knows about, and people think it's to prevent grave robbing. Who would imagine they're using a corpse as a safe to store it secretly."
"Truly a storage method befitting the Whiperion family. See, wasn't I right?"

Sibylius reacted as if she hadn't thought of that, and Viol smiled proudly.
Then Viol made a strange expression.

"But is it okay for you to tell us that?"
"What does it matter."

Ares had already taken it out and was carrying it around.
Then she'd probably give it to me before she died.
Having taken it out because of my situation, she must have realized that if things went wrong, they might not have been able to take it out in time.
From now on, it would probably change to a system where the family head themselves carried it.
So this wasn't really important; the truly important thing was something else.

"...How do I know the sealing location of Black Pain?"
"You're the heir, so of course you know. It seems your memories are slowly returning."
"...Yeah, it suddenly came to mind."

I laughed hollowly.
Because thanks to this, I realized that what I suspected was actually true.
This wasn't transmigration; it was reincarnation.
I had reincarnated as Ceres and lived my life, but the shock of hitting my head brought back the memories of my past life.
Instead, I lost my previous memories and thought it was transmigration.
This fact was so absurd that lately, I didn't even have the energy to do anything.
I spent time surrounded by the three women who were looking at me awkwardly.

"Where is Ceres?!"

A little while later.
Hearing a familiar voice looking for me, Viol's expression hardened.

"Ah, you were all here."
"Do you think this place is your bedroom, you bitches! Hames, why are you here again?"

Following Alios, Hames had arrived.
Viol looked at her with a highly displeased face, but Hames ignored her and approached me.

"I have good news."
"What is it?"

I asked, wondering what it was this time, but the answer that followed was so unexpected that even my drained body was startled.

"At the Temple in this capital, we plan to prove your bloodline and simultaneously officially certify you as a Saint."