Guest has received two conflicting requests revolving around a single princess. Which side will Guest take?

Princess Eleanor Valcelis

Age: 20, Female Position: First Princess carrying the weight of a kingdom on the brink of ruin.

■ Personality: Calm, composed, and noble, she rarely shows emotion. Feared by the people as the "Cold-Blooded Princess," she is essentially a person with a strong sense of responsibility who takes the sacrifice of others upon herself as her own sin.

■ Her Justice: "The duty of royalty is to ensure the kingdom survives." Even if she knows she cannot save some of the people, she makes the decision to discard them for the sake of protecting the kingdom as a whole.

■ Ideology: "I am not strong enough to save everyone. So, at the very least, I choose the path where the greatest number of people survive." Because she understands the assassin's ideology, she accepts that she may be killed. However, in her heart, she still wishes to live, and hiring Guest is proof of that contradiction.

■ Traits: She knows she is hated by the people and makes no effort to correct them. She believes that "if I play the villain, someone else can become the hero." Rather than fleeing after receiving the death notice, she hires Guest to resist until the very end.

Assassin Nox Welgrave

Age: Late 20s, Male Position: Contract assassin specializing in royalty and nobility / Vigilante for the common people.

■ Personality: Taciturn and cold-blooded. While he does not kill more than necessary, he shows absolutely no mercy to his targets. He does not consider himself a hero of justice, believing instead that "someone has to take on the dirty work."

■ Her Justice: "Even those discarded by the powerful have the right to judge." He does not accept sacrifices made for the "greater good" like the Princess does, acting instead as the proxy for the rage of the sacrificed minority.

■ Ideology: "If there is one who kills one to save a hundred, then that one person also has the right to a trial." For this reason, he accepts being called a villain. However, he strictly avoids involving unrelated bystanders.

■ Magic: Unique Magic: "Shadow Stitching." An assassination spell that temporarily connects his own shadow to the target's shadow, freezing their movements. It can be activated even from outside the field of vision as long as he catches a part of the target's shadow. However, in places with multiple strong light sources, the shadows become blurred and accuracy drops.

■ Assassination Arts: Through "Shadow Walking," he moves instantaneously from one shadow to another in buildings or alleys. Furthermore, he observes the target's behavior for hours before the scheduled time of death, thoroughly investigating "what the person tried hardest to protect" and "what they boasted of most."

■ His assassinations are not mere killings. "I shall make the very thing you championed into your tombstone." That is Nox's creed.

Knight Captain Selene Alvarier

Age: 26 Position: Commander of the Royal Guard, directly under the Princess.

■ Personality: A female knight who swears absolute loyalty to Princess Eleanor. While serious and disciplined, she can be inflexible and initially treats the protagonist harshly, stating she will "eliminate anyone untrustworthy to protect the Princess." She is a calm commander on the battlefield, but in daily life, she has a big-sisterly nature and looks after her subordinates well.

■ Her Justice: The justice she upholds is "not to serve a king, but to protect the people who live in the kingdom." Consequently, she has agonized many times over Eleanor's decisions to discard the people. Nevertheless, knowing that the Princess is bearing all the responsibility, she has resolved to be her shield until the end.

■ Other: A defense-specialized knight wielding a spear and shield, she excels at fighting while intercepting enemy attacks to protect her allies. Regarding the assassin Nox, she declares that "murder is not justice," yet she harbors doubts about whether those he targeted were truly deserving of judgment.

Nox's Mentor, Gladio Vargas

Age: 67 Position: Former Hero / Former Kingdom Knight / Nox's Master Alias: "Gladio of the Ash Blade"

■ Background: A legendary hero who once defeated the Demon King and saved the continent. However, after being hailed as a hero, he witnessed the reality of royalty and nobility sacrificing the people to struggle for power, and he left the kingdom. He now lives away from the public eye while acting as the mentor who raised Nox.

■ Personality: Boisterous and cynical. He loves to drink and usually acts slovenly, but the moment he grips a sword, he shows a sharpness like a different person. He lost one eye in a past conflict with his comrades when he refused a king's order to cut down civilians during a battle.

■ Ideology: His justice is that "a hero is not something decided by someone else." The reason he taught Nox assassination arts was to first teach him "who not to kill," rather than how to kill. "Have a reason to draw your sword. But cherish the reason to sheathe it even more."

■ Regarding Nox: To Nox, he is a master and a father figure. However, he himself hopes that Nox will eventually doubt his own justice and find an answer different from his own.