"Who is this woman to you?" Lana asked as she carefully scrutinized Erwin's expression through narrowed eyes. "Why is it that I feel so angry and agitated by the mere sight of her? Who is she?"

She recalled that Aglea seemed to have mentioned someone like her in the past.

"Er... That's a bit of a long story," Erwin said as he avoided Lana's gaze.

"If you don't remember, then I can tell you: I am the reason why he abandoned you," Onean said as she cast her gaze toward Lana with a cold expression.

"Hah?!" Erwin had no idea how to react to this, and his mouth had gaped wide open.

It seemed that confirming or denying this notion were both bad options.

"Do you have something to say?" Onean asked as she turned to Erwin with an eyebrow raised.

Erwin hurriedly shut his mouth.

"Don't you have something to say?" Lana asked as she also turned to Erwin with a raised eyebrow.

There was a glacier on one side and a sea of flames on the other.

Erwin could only play dumb and pretend like he didn't know what was happening. Only an idiot would make a choice in a situation like this, he wanted both of them!

Thus, he grabbed onto one of each of their hands as he put on a shameless smile and said, "We should focus on getting out of here first."

However, both of the women immediately pulled their hands out of his grasp in unison.

"Do you two really have to do this right now?" Erwin asked as he looked at the two women with an exasperated expression.

Under normal circumstances, Onean was quite mature and steadfast, but she simply couldn't stand seeing Erwin being intimate with Lana.

As for Lana, she had always been quite wilful, so Erwin wasn't surprised to see her throwing a fit here.

"Looks like more isn't always better when it comes to women," Aglea chuckled, adding further fuel to the fire. "I'm willing to let you go, but it looks like you don't want to go."

The young emperor was also chuckling in amusement upon hearing this.

None of the dukedom rulers knew what to make of this situation. Never did they think that they would be witnessing a lovers' quarrel during the imperial conference. At the same time, many of them were reminiscing about their youth. For a man, there was no happier predicament than having two stunning beauties fighting over them. On top of that, Erwin was attending this conference as Theresa's supposed fiancee, and with that in mind, many of the dukedom rulers became even more envious of him.

At this point, Erwin had already calmed down, and thinking back through everything that had happened thus far, he realized that the masked woman and the emperor didn't seem to harbor any ill will toward him.

Not only had the emperor not displayed any fury or animosity, the masked woman had clearly held back in her attack as well, so it seemed that everything was open to negotiation.

"What did you mean earlier when you talked about playing by the rules?" Erwin asked as he cast his gaze toward the masked woman.

"Have you finally calmed down? I was worried that you were determined to get yourself killed here," Aglea chuckled. "If you die here, my foolish little slave will be sure to hunt me to all corners of this world."

The more Erwin listened to Aglea speak, the more suspicious of the situation he became. It seemed to him that there was no real vendetta between Lana and the masked woman. Lana didn't seem to resent the masked woman very much, and the masked woman appeared to be protecting Lana. With that in mind, Erwin couldn't help but wonder if he had misread the situation.

"What's going on here?" Erwin asked as he whispered into Lana's ear.

"You really are an idiot, little rascal." Lana thought back to the plan that Aglea had hatched several days ago. She naturally wasn't willing to act as bait for Aglea's plan, but at the same time, she also really wanted to know just how much she meant to Erwin.

However, it didn't matter whether Lana agreed or not. After all, Aglea had countless ways to make Lana submit to her will.

As soon as she opened her eyes and caught sight of his handsome face, her heart had melted into a pool of warmth. However, after a brief moment of intimacy, she immediately became very concerned for his safety.

"How I fell into that evil hag's hands is a long story, but what I can tell you now is that she only put me in that water prison in order to lure you out," Lana said as she gently traced the lines on the palm of Erwin's hand with her fingertip. "We didn't think you would take the bait so readily."

"We? Who's we?" Erwin asked with a surprised expression.

"Aside from that evil hag, the owner of the Dreambind Pavilion is also in on this," Lana said in a quiet voice. "You've already met the owner of the Dreambind Pavilion, right? Haven't you felt like the emperor bears a strong resemblance to the owner of the Dreambind Pavilion? Surely an artist like yourself is a better judge of human form than I am."

Erwin was immediately enlightened upon hearing this. He thought back to the young man that he had met in the Dreambind Pavilion, recollecting the outline of his chin and cheeks, which weren't covered by his mask, and he realized that the young man and the emperor were indeed one and the same.

With that in mind, he also realized that the elderly guard who had just taken on his Magic Explosion was the cloaked elderly man from the Dreambind Pavilion.

So the young man who had spoken with me at the Dreambind Pavilion was the emperor himself! Erwin thought to himself with a surprised expression. It was no wonder that he had felt the emperor to be rather familiar during the imperial conference.

This must've been an act that the emperor and the masked woman planned out in advance to lure me out,  Erwin mused internally. However, at the same time, he was feeling quite relieved. As long as it wasn't Prince Xar or Prime Minister Henry that was behind all of this, he had minimal cause for concern.

To Erwin, the tracing of Lana's fingertip over the palm of his hand felt like an act of seduction, and his breathing was beginning to accelerate a little. He couldn't help but be enthralled by the beauty of the woman in his arms, and if it weren't for the fact that they were surrounded by enemies, he would've definitely engaged in far more intimate activities with her.

Even so, Erwin couldn't resist the urge to breathe into Lana's ear, yet he didn't even get a chance to exhale before a burst of sharp pain shot through his left arm.

As it turned out, Onean's dissatisfaction had been building this entire time, and she finally expressed it by giving Erwin's arm a vicious pinch while casting an ice-attribute spell onto it.

Erwin grimaced with pain as he glanced at his own arm, which had been frozen purple, then turned to look at Onean.

Only after seeing the furious look in Onean's eyes did Erwin realize that they were not out of the woods yet.

"What do I have to do for you to let her go?" Erwin asked as he cast a cold gaze toward the masked woman.

"Let her go? I'm afraid I can't do that," Aglea replied with a faint smile.

"Then what do you want?"

"You have to do everything in your power to win her back."

"You're saying I have to beat you?" Erwin asked as his brows furrowed slightly.

"It would be far too unfair for me to force you into a one-on-one battle," Aglea said with a smile. "How about this? We'll do a team contest instead."

She cast her gaze toward the emperor as she spoke, and the emperor immediately realized what she wanted. He turned to all of the dukedom rulers with an amused expression as he declared, "Earlier, I said that only one person here will be able to win this prize. Now, allow me to explain the rules of the contest."

Upon hearing the word "contest", everyone realized that this so-called present was only a guise that was concealing the emperor's true plan.

However, the entire event was actually Aglea's idea. She wanted to see if any potentially formidable opponents had arisen during the 20 years in which she had been absent from the Fulway Empire. Having said that, the emperor also wanted to take this opportunity to examine the power of all of the dukedom rulers.

The poem submission at the Dreambind Pavilion was a literary examination of all of the dukedom rulers, while this contest was an examination of power.

"Each dukedom ruler can enter a team of three, and the team that emerges victorious at the end of the tournament will be able to take home the prize," the emperor introduced with a smile. "Of course, you are more than welcome to participate in the tournament in person. Each match will be conducted in a best two-out-of-three format, and no killing is allowed. The outcome of the battles will be decided when one combatant is no longer able to continue."

Erwin's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he whispered into Lana's ear, "Is this some type of joke? I'm just expected to watch you fall into someone else's hands if I lose?"

"You'd better not lose then, little rascal," Lana said with a cheeky pout.

"You make that sound like such a simple task! How am I supposed to beat all of the most powerful magicians and martial artists that the Fulway Empire has to offer?" Erwin grumbled.

What was truly concerning to him was that Onean was clearly a shoo-in for a spot on the team, but there was no guarantee that Onean would be willing to help, given that they were doing this for Lana's sake.

On top of that, his earlier outburst had already indicated to everyone that he shared a very intimate relationship with Lana. In order to exploit this weakness, Sanfesa would definitely send the most powerful subordinates at her disposal to compete in this contest.

"If you don't want to have to watch the woman you love fall into someone else's hands, then give this tournament everything you have," Aglea said as she abruptly appeared right beside Erwin.

Sensing the cold aura of death emanating from Aglea's body, a hint of alarm intermingled with ferocity appeared in Erwin's eyes.

"Let's go." Aglea paid no heed to Erwin's expression as she reached out toward Lana. "If you don't want to cause unnecessary trouble for this little lover of yours, then you had better come with me."

"I'm not the one causing trouble, you're the one responsible for all of this!" Lana grumbled with a disgruntled expression, but she still reached out and latched onto Aglea's arm in the end.

Erwin reflexively reached out to stop her, and seeing the dread and sorrow in Erwin's eyes, Lana couldn't help but burst into tears again.

"How dumb can you get? Don't worry about me, that old hag won't do anything to me." She patted the back of Erwin's hand as she put on a brave smile, then got up on the tips of her toes before giving him a gentle kiss on the lips. "I'm very content to see just how important I am in your heart. Don't worry, we'll meet again very soon."

Erwin could only look on as Lana and Aglea faded into the distance.

I still had so many questions I wanted to ask her, he mused to himself.

Following the departure of the masked woman, Prime Minister Henry was staring in the direction that she had departed in with a troubled expression. He knew her daughters better than anyone else, and he had certainly not failed to notice the striking resemblance between the mannerisms displayed by the masked woman and those of his deceased daughter.

The masked woman had a far more imposing frame than his daughter did, but the way that she spoke and acted was astonishingly similar to Aglea. However, he knew that his daughter had already met her demised 20 years ago, so who exactly was that woman?

Right at this moment, Prince Xar just so happened to look in his direction, and as soon as Prime Minister Henry noticed Prince Xar's intrusive gaze, he instantly adopted a neutral expression that didn't betray any emotions.

The two of them then exchanged a knowing smile.

Each of them was contemplating different things.

Meanwhile, Erwin was wondering for what purpose the emperor and the masked woman had lured him out with Lana as bait.

It seems like both of them have a mask fetish, but I don't think they harbor any ill will toward me, Erwin thought to himself.

While Erwin was absorbed in his own thoughts, the young emperor approached him with a faint smile.

"You'll have to do your best for this contest, Mr. Erwin," the emperor said as he gave him a pat on the shoulder as encouragement. "The prize won't be so easy to obtain."

Erwin nodded in response. "Your Majesty, who was that masked woman?"

The emperor brought his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture, then replied in a quiet voice, "I don't dare to tell anyone her name without her permission, but you'll know who she is soon enough."

Erwin was very surprised to hear this.

It looks like the Fulway Empire really is an extremely complex place. To think that there exists someone even the emperor is so wary of, Erwin thought to himself.

During the imperial conference, the emperor had displayed great wisdom and political acumen in addressing all of the conflicts between the dukedom rulers, paying no heed at all to the conflict between Prime Minister Henry and Prince Xar's factions. Even Erwin couldn't help but admire the emperor for this, yet it seemed that even this young yet shrewd emperor was extremely wary of the masked woman.

I can't believe there's someone even the emperor can't discuss freely. Then again, this is a monster who's capable of stealing other people's memories, so I suppose it's not too far-fetched, Erwin thought to himself.

At this moment, there was a myriad of emotions surging through Erwin's heart, including sorrow, elation, doubt, and concern, forming an inexplicable package that couldn't be explained with words.