Phillip must have given the Kensway family the power to create tancinol.

Phillip wanted to be recorded as a perfect first emperor. So he was crazy about erasing his mistakes.

He was probably worried, If tancinol disappears after he dies, people will suspect him.

He must have been nervous about being found out that he caused the tancinol.

He also judged that it would be advantageous to continue making the Roum a public enemy to cover up his crimes.

Therefore, he made tools that could cause tancinol, and left them to Logan Kensway, his only trusted servant.

The Kensway family periodically caused tancinol as Phillip ordered. They do it every time they face a crisis.

This was why the Kensway family could dominate the church for a thousand years.

to dominate the temple for a thousand years.

And if this hypothesis is true....

"We're in trouble!"

"What's the big deal? What happened?

"Howard might cause a tancinol outbreak!"

The Kensway family reversed the situation by using tancinol whenever they were in crisis.

So I'm sure they'll use the same method this time.

***

Upon hearing what Ancia said, Blake headed straight to the underground prison where Howard was being held.

Inside the prison, Tenstheon and Collin were interrogating Howard.

Howard came to the palace on his own, but he remained silent.

Blake strode towards Howard without greeting Tenstheon.

"Say, are you thinking of creating another tancinol outbreak?"

"......"

At that moment, Howard's lifeless eyes flashed. Blake felt something strange.

He's not surprised because his trick was discovered. He looked rather pleased.

Suddenly,

"What are you doing!"

"Your Highness, stop. I'm really going to die at this rate."

As Blake grabbed his collar, Collin came and tried to seperate them.

"What do you mean by tancinol?

Tensteon wondered what Blake meant. But Blake kept an eye on Howard without saying a word.

Something's wrong. But what is it?

At that moment, he felt a strange mana flowing from Howard's body.

It's not the mana of light, or a black magic, but something else...

No way, this is...!

"Tancinol is made by twisting the mana of light. The Kensway family must have the power to cause tancinol."

Blake shouted, recalling what Ancia said earlier.

"It's tancinol! Get out of here, everybody!

At that moment the mana that was asleep in Howard's body, exploded at once, and blood spilled from his mouth.

"Richard is Phillip..."

Howard said something minutes before his death.

It was the first and last thing he said since he was imprisoned.

He didn't have any energy left as Howard Kensway slowly closed his eyes.

***

I rushed to the prison when I heard that Howard was dead.

I got goosebumps the moment I entered the prison where Howard was locked up. A twisted mana of light was filling the prison.

This is what caused tancinol. The disease that destroyed the Zelcan Empire a thousand years ago has spread again.

"Ancia, what are you doing here?"

Blake shouted in surprise as soon as he saw me. His voice was full of worries.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. More than that, it's really tancinol."

A twisted mana of light was pouring out of Howard's body.

If it was transferred from another person, or if the energy of the mana was naturally twisted, he could not pour out such strong mana.

As I guessed, he purposely made tancinol by using a tool.

"This is definitely a tancinol."

"Yes."

I gazed at Howard's body, whose body was filled with spots, and bit my lips tightly.

He let his guard down.

Since they are selfish people who sacrifice innocent lives for the sake of their family's prosperity, they thought they would avoid it even if they spread tancinol.

He never dreamed that he would spread the tancinol in the imperial palace until he became a scapegoat himself.

"Did he die all of a sudden?"

"Yes. Something was going on in his body and then he suddenly exploded."

It must be why he couldn't say anything.

"Blake."

I took his hand. There was only pure mana of light on his body, and no tancinol was present.

I know he wasn't infected, but I was still worried so I checked it myself.

"You have nothing to worry about."

Blake patted my hair gently.

"Yes...but where are the others?"

There were only Howard and Blake in prison now.

"His Majesty and Collin are upstairs."

"His Majesty was here too?"

"Yes, the knights were guarding outside, there were only three of us and Howard inside."

So Howard has been holding back to target His Majesty and Blake at the same time. Did he have such a deep grudge against the imperial family?

"Also Howard said something strange before he died."

"What is it?"

"Richard is Phillip."

"Richard is Philip?"

I was shocked for a moment. How did Howard know that? Did Richard get his memory back?

If Richard got Phillip's memory, this situation can also be explained.

As he got memories of his past life, he must have also recalled that he had given the Kensway family a 'magic tool that can cause tancinol.'"

After the tool was recovered, Howard was given a tancinol and turned himself into the imperial palace.

Like he did a thousand years ago, he planned to spread tancinol to the imperial palace to become an emperor.

"I'm going to see father right now."

***

"Father!"

When me and Blake went inside, Tenstheon and Collin in the room looked at us.

"Ancia, it's dangerous. Why did you come all the way here?"

"I'm fine. So give me your hand first."

I shouted urgently.

There were many things to explain, including the secrets of tancinol, the Kensway family and Richard, but first, Tenstheon's safety was the most important thing.

"So it was really tancinol..."

"Yes..."

On the way upstairs, I had a lot of thoughts.

What if Tensteon gets tancinol?

Then, like the Zelcan Empire, the Asteric Empire will be in great chaos.

My heart was beating fast because I was afraid that I might lose my family.

I held Tenstheon's hand and checked his condition.

In order not to miss every detail, I concentrated my mind and examined every inch of his body in detail.

A thousand years ago, it was not until the symptoms of tancinol appeared that treatment began. I was trapped by Phillip so I couldn't do anything.

But not this time. Knowing the cause of the disease, it was easy to examine. I grinned as I let go of Tenstheon's hand.

"That's a relief. There's nothing wrong."

There was no tancinol anywhere in his body.

"I see."

"I'm so glad. Your Majesty."

Unlike the calm Tenstheon, Collin was very pleased.

"That's a relief."

Blake also spoke bluntly, but his eyes were filled with relief.

"Now give me your hand, Sir Collin."

"Yes, Your Highness."

I gritted my teeth the moment I held his hand.

The twisted mana of light was felt in Collin's body.

It was tancinol.

***

Richard would have been after Tenstheon and Blake. However, it was Collin who got tancinol.

About an hour later, symptoms of tancinol began to appear.

After a series of coughing, a high fever will came, and he will lose consciousness.

When Howard died, Blake quickly took action, sending the knights and guards out and putting them in one place.

Thanks to this, the disease did not spread to anyone except Collin.

I advised Tenstheon to go back to the Philia Palace, but he could hardly take a step even after he went out of prison.

"Did Collin really get the tancinol?"

Tenstheon asked with a worried look.

Seeing his face, I wanted to say no. I wanted to say that he just caught a cold.

But I couldn't do that.

"Yes..."

Tenstheon lowered his head, and pressed his forehead. Seeing him in despair, I couldn't figure out how to comfort him.

"Don't worry. Nothing will happen to him, I'll make sure to treat it."

"I forced him to come along yet I made him suffer like this...I beg you to help him, Ancia."

He held my hand tightly.

"Yes. Trust me."

I won't lose anyone this time.

I had no intention of losing my precious people due to Richard's schemes and tancinol this time.

***

If Richard intended to repeat the history of destroying the empire, he would surely aim for the imperial family.

He may have planned other things besides Howard.

I looked at every inch of the palace, as Blake questioned Howard's aides in the prison.

"As soon as they heard that Howard was dead, they started to talk. According to them, Howard said that the goddess would bring catastrophe soon."

"So he had intended to use it from the start."

Howard was going to spread a rumor about me and start the outbreak.

However, it was taken away by Richard and he eventually was taken advantage of.

He lost his life miserably, but there was not even a little bit of sympathy for him.

"Yes, the imperial knights are headed to the Kensway family. I've told Marron, so we're going to investigate inside the church."

If it was revealed that the Kensway family has caused the tancinol for a thousand years, there will be a huge backlash.

It was clear that the Kensway family, as well as the church, would lose strength.