My legal wife, Marianne Blata, has a younger sister. That would be Selemin Blata, the one currently walking by my side.

When I first read about Selemin in the Hounds' personnel files, I was genuinely baffled. Was this the “sister treatment” I’d heard about in the human nations?

After all, her older sister was the emperor of the strongest human empire, yet the younger sister was working as someone cleaning up after nobles and the imperial government. It made no sense.

I initially thought this was a case of sidelining a potentially threatening blood relative, but after conducting an investigation, I realized it wasn’t something as mundane as that.

Even now, for example:

“Move away.”

“Why?”

“It’s hard to walk.”

I gently but firmly pushed Selemin away as she tried to link arms with me.

Selemin, whose figure was—unfortunately—very much unlike her sister’s, pouted in dissatisfaction and widened the distance slightly.

To clarify, it’s not as if she’s fallen for me despite our lack of prior interactions. Honestly, her act is so obvious that it’s almost embarrassing.

If I had to guess, my dear sister-in-law is grappling with a serious inferiority complex toward her older sister.

After all, my legal wife possesses abilities and talents so extraordinary that even the records I reviewed were hard to believe. Power, knowledge, and charisma—she had it all. She truly embodied the qualities of a ruler.

On the other hand, there was little of note in Selemin’s records.

Putting aside her lack of “volume,” there wasn’t anything particularly lacking in her looks or abilities. But with a sister so overwhelmingly exceptional, it must have been impossible for her to shine.

That alone would be enough to breed resentment, but the bigger issue was that Marianne doted on Selemin to an extreme degree.

Even in the records detailing the preparations for the rebellion against the previous emperor, as well as the rebellion itself and its aftermath, Selemin’s name was absent.

Again, this is just speculation, but it seemed clear that Marianne didn’t want her one remaining precious blood relative to be put in danger.

Thus, she kept Selemin as far from harm as possible—even during her quest for revenge. But this, in turn, seemed to have exploded Selemin’s lifelong inferiority complex.

Of course, all of this was just my interpretation based on the records. But if I was right, then Selemin’s current thought process was far from rational.

Judging by her words and actions, her thought process was likely something like this:

“Brother-in-law, isn’t it kind of hot today? Why don’t we stop somewhere and take a break?”

“We’re going to a crime scene. Stop spouting nonsense.”

—“I’ll steal my excellent sister’s husband to prove that I’m superior!”—or some equally insane idea.

She’d probably been quiet until now because she was observing me and waiting for the right opportunity.

“And if you call me brother-in-law one more time, I’ll have you wait at the base.”

“Tch.”

She openly clicked her tongue and scrunched up her face. Was she even trying to act anymore?

As an aside, I don’t inherently have an issue with sleeping with my wife’s sister. Naturally, that’s not something common in human nations—it’s just that I’m trash.

The only thing I dislike is getting into bed with someone purely out of spite. I also hate being used.

After bantering with Selemin and fending off her persistent attempts to appeal to me, we finally reached the vicinity of the crime scene.

“Put your mask on. Even with operational independence, we still need to hide the Hounds’ identities.”

As I’ve mentioned before, while some people may know of the Hounds’ existence, there’s a difference between keeping it subtle and making it blatantly public.

So before we got too close, Selemin and I slipped into the shadows, donned our hound masks, and suppressed our presence as we approached the scene.

I only recently realized how convenient these masks were. Beyond simply hiding our faces, they also used magic to distort our voices and provided a decent level of defense.

I’d originally balked at wearing something as frivolous as a mask instead of a helmet, but after trying it out, I’d grown rather fond of it.

“Halt! Who goes there?”

We approached stealthily, but the city guard stationed at the scene weren’t common citizens. Of course, they would sense us.

The guards, spotting two suspicious figures, immediately drew their weapons. Fortunately, I’d prepared for this.

“Step aside.”

I pulled out a black token from my coat and held it up to the guards. Recognizing the imperial seal stamped on it, the guards turned pale and quickly stepped back.

“M-my apologies!”

“We didn’t mean to offend!”

Imperial soldiers are refreshingly naive. If this had been soldiers from the Meyer Kingdom, they would have attacked first and demanded I prove myself—even with the royal seal.

Of course, the seal was real. Like the gold token I’d requested for “play,” I’d obtained it to avoid wasting time with unnecessary interruptions.

As the guards backed off, I added one more instruction:

“Clear everyone out of the scene.”

“But… there’s a mage from the Academy investigating. Wouldn’t you like their assistance—”

“I said everyone.”

I appreciated the sentiment, but if the Academy mages had been capable, I wouldn’t be here. Letting them meddle now would just be a nuisance.

Once the guards and Academy mages had moved far enough away, I entered the house of the murdered mage with Selemin.

The crime scene had been well preserved.

Of course, I suspected that was because the perpetrator was skilled enough to leave little trace.

“It seems they removed the body. I should’ve asked whether it was taken to the guards or the Academy.”

“It’s fine. That’s not a problem.”

Selemin answered confidently as she surveyed the room. Then, opening the small bag she’d brought, she pulled out a transparent vial containing what looked like a fine, purple powder.

“What are you doing?”

“What else? We’re going to track the culprit.”

Could she really track them already, at the first scene? As if answering my doubt, Selemin uncorked the bottle of purple powder.

“Ugh?!”

A nauseating stench filled the room, and I instinctively pinched my nose—mask or no mask.

I’d lived on battlefields for years and was no stranger to the smell of rotting corpses or other foul odors. And yet, even I flinched at this.

“…Is that Tears of the Dead?”

“Oh, you recognized it by the smell? The same guy who didn’t even know about the Teal Miracle knows this?”

Well, I do try to better myself.

After overestimating my knowledge of poisons and curses during Dia Rose, I’d taken time to correct the gaps between my understanding and what was considered common knowledge.

I learned about things by reading, seeking them out, or even sampling items directly.

Most of what I found differed only slightly in name or use, but there were a few things I hadn’t known, so the effort had been worthwhile.

“To clarify, I did know about the Teal Miracle—it just had a different name. But that powder is banned in the Empire.”

In fact, it was banned in every human nation. The Meyer Kingdom might tolerate it only because they were unaware of its existence. Once they found out, they’d ban it immediately.

It made sense. That powder was used in necromancy—magic to summon the dead or control corpses.

“Where did you even get that? And do you realize necromancy is a capital crime just for attempting it?”

“Of course I do.”

Yet my lovely sister-in-law, who claimed to “understand,” calmly continued preparing the spell as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

It was clear this wasn’t her first time doing something like this. Perhaps this was one of the reasons Marianne had kept her away from danger.

For the first time, I felt a pang of sympathy for Marianne.

“All done.”

Having scattered the powder with magic, Selemin announced that she was ready. On the floor, a series of intricate patterns and symbols had appeared.

“…Impressive.”

I’d worried that using the Tears of the Dead would only complicate things, but it seemed I didn’t need to.

“…What exactly is impressive?”

“Huh?”

Turning my head, I saw Selemin staring at me intently—despite the mask.

What was with this feeling that she was glaring right through me?

“You just said it was impressive.”

“Oh, I was complimenting your mana control.”

I’d been thrown off by her sudden approach, but once I answered, I realized something.

Was she starved for praise? Given her sister, it wouldn’t be surprising if she’d rarely been complimented.

If that was the case, maybe I could help alleviate her inferiority complex by fulfilling that desire.

Thinking it was a good idea, I spoke again.

“I don’t know much about magic, but a subordinate once told me that mana is similar to aura. The nature of the power is just different.”

They’d explained that someone with good dexterity could perform finer, more complex tasks. The same principle applied to aura and mana.

“When warriors fight, the outcome isn’t just determined by the quantity of aura or physical strength—it’s about control. The same goes for this. Creating something so intricate purely with mana takes incredible control.”

I meant it as a compliment, and my admiration was genuine. Even among the mages of Meyer, I’d never seen control this precise.

Granted, there wasn’t much opportunity to showcase something like this on a battlefield.

More importantly—

“H-hmph. Right? I’m amazing, aren’t I? I’m great, right?”

The compliment seemed to have way too much of an effect. I could practically see her smirking proudly behind her mask.

To think she’d been this starved for praise… Brother-in-law is worried that his sister-in-law might fall for the wrong kind of man.

For instance, someone like me.

“You… uh, Captain, you have a keen eye. Everyone else just says this kind of thing is creepy.”

“It is creepy. A bloodstained room painted with purple patterns? Yeah.”

“...”

Once again, I’d spoken without thinking, and Selemin’s expression visibly shifted—even with the mask.

In the end, it was a net-zero outcome.