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In the wee hours of the morning sitting on the edge of her bed, Daphne’s eyes widened as she slowly raised her head. What met him were her green eyes reminiscent of a deep, eerie swamp rather than a lush forest.

Lost in thought as he recalled that moment, Damian saw the blue gem turn green in the moonlight, overlapping with Daphne’s eyes.

“!”

Startled, he barely managed to catch the necklace slipping from his hand. Upon closer inspection, the gem sparkled blue like always as if it had never been green. Thinking of that fleeting moment, his heart raced as he jumped up from his seat. The only way to rid himself of this complicated state of mind was to exhaust his body.

Damian was about to leave his room in a hurry even without changing his clothes, when something suddenly caught his eyes. The sword, now elegantly gleaming more under the pale dawn light, stood alone, drawing his gaze.

‘Could it be?’

Damian blankly stared at it.

“No, no way.”

It couldn’t be. He shook his head, muttering to himself.

“Mother, I heard today is your birthday.”

Memories from his childhood started to wrap around Damian’s ankles, engulfing his body.

That day, he had snuck out of his training to pick up flowers from the roadside, offering them to his mother. It was insignificant compared to the gifts his mother had received, but this was all he could prepare on such a short notice. As he waited, his heart was filled with nervousness and excitement.

Smack!

A sharp sting spread across the back of his hand. Damian’s gaze was instantly drawn to his mother’s distorted face, rather than to the flowers that had fallen on the floor.

“You… where did you… get this…”

The memory he had tried so hard to erase blurred again with Daphne’s voice.

Breathing heavily, he bolted out of the room as if something were chasing him. It wasn’t until Vent discovered him running tirelessly through the training grounds that Damian finally stopped.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

“Your Excellency.”

Only when Edmund was handed a handkerchief by his subordinate did he realize his hand was stained with blood. He didn’t even notice it as the basement was filled with the smell of blood. He took the handkerchief but the dried blood was already difficult to clean.

Just then, the subordinate that continued the interrogation after Edmund left appeared.

“Did you get anything?”

Faced with Edmund’s question, Johann’s subordinate was lost in thought, unsure how to navigate the difficult situation. He had received a specific instruction before Johann left: under no circumstances should he reveal anything to His Excellency if the interrogation led to any mention of the Lady of the house. At first, he didn’t take the instruction seriously. But as the interrogation progressed, the maid began to spill strange tales – moldy meals, cold rooms, neglect, and disdain.

Unaware of the household’s inner workings due to his frequent participation in interrogations and missions, he instinctively knew that revealing what he had heard would upend the entire estate. Johann was worried this would all come to light in his absence.

“... She confessed.”

He chose to sacrifice the smaller truth for the greater good. It wouldn’t be too late to tell about the Madam later.

“She confessed that she stole the painting.”

It wasn’t entirely a lie. The maid had confessed, though her words were slurred and uncertain. She admitted to everything, though it was half-extracted through exhaustion from continuous torture. But that wasn’t the main concern.

“... What else did she say?”

The subordinate broke out in cold sweat as if his Master knew there was something more. He had been dragging out the meaningless interrogation for more than a day, but now his task was clear: conceal the truth as much as possible until Johann returned.

“I’ll try harder.”

“That’s enough.”

Meanwhile, Edmund couldn’t shake off this uneasy feeling.

Though he participated in the interrogation, Edmund never tortured them himself. One of Johann’s skilled subordinates conducted it, but there had been no satisfactory results.

Perhaps because today was the last day to bring back Nick. Edmund pressed his throbbing temples.

“Your Excellency.”

Just then, one of the subordinates hurried over, prompting Edmund to turn his head.

“They’ve arrived.”

Johann had successfully captured Nick and returned.

— — —

“Johann.”

As they left the basement and entered the office, the worn-out figures inside bowed at Edmund’s entrance. All except one.

“Duke, what is the meaning of this?”

“Nick Archer.”

Edmund gestured to Johann and the others as he called Nick. As they made their move to leave, Nick shouted in alarm.

“Hey, you said you’d release me once we got here! Where are you going!”

Nick pointed to his neck. It was a thick shackle – an aura suppression collar, fatal to a swordsman.

“I’ll release you once you’ve completed my request.”

“What? Hey! That’s not what we agreed on!”

At Edmund’s words, Nick leaped up and lunged on Johann.

“I told you to wait. I never made that promise.”

“Ugh, you…!”

“Enough.”

Edmund stopped their standoff. Meanwhile, Johann and the other subordinates left, leaving only Nick and Edmund.

“Do you plan to rot in prison for the rest of your life?”

“Duke, that’s how lowly people like us live their life.” Nick muttered, “I only let them capture me because they were so persistent.”

Edmund glanced at Nick before speaking softly.

“I know it’s because of your family.”

Nick and the Imperial Family had some kind of contract. But in reality, it was more of a threat than a contract. Taking Nick’s younger sister as hostage in order to restore the order of the nation, they used her as a leverage to publicly capture him, a notorious criminal. In order to save his sister, Nick was falsely accused of assassinating the Emperor and was imprisoned nearly a year ago.

At the mention of his sister, Nick’s eyes turned cold.

“How do you know about that, Duke?”

He looked ready to attack at any moment, but Edmund didn’t even flinch. Instead, he threw a document at Nick’s feet.

“I only found out recently.”

Nick read the document with a skeptical expression. The more he read, the harsher his breathing became. His vision began to blur. Nick had searched the entire continent for his sister, who had disappeared long ago, but he never found her. It made sense – she was serving as a maid in the Imperial Palace, held as a hostage. He was allowed to visit her once a month, and she was afforded the privileges of as a royal handmaid, but Nick spent the rest of his life confined to prison.

At first, the visits were consistent, but due to various circumstances, it had been six months since he last saw her. Nick’s subordinates, aware of the prison’s inner workings, had attempted to track down his sister, but Nick stopped them. He had been warned that any attempt to investigate would result in her death.

Although he hadn’t seen her for months, he assumed she was living well as a royal handmaid…

“Why… did my sister go to the temple?”

“I don\'t know about the details. I just found out about this by chance.”

His sister was no longer working for the Imperial Family, but was already sent to the temple half a year ago.

Nick gritted his teeth. He was a fool to believe in the Imperial Family’s words, appearing outwardly noble but full of deceits.

Edmund seized the moment to ask, “Will you accept my request?”

It didn’t take long for Nick to make a decision.

“I will, on the condition of my sister’s safety.”

“Agreed.”

“What do you want me to do?”

Nick suddenly grew curious. He had connections to the underworld but had never touched the Imperial Family or high-ranking nobles. After all, there were plenty of people willing to assassinate the Emperor for the right price.

\'What kind of request could Edmund have that he sought out Nick? Assassinate the Emperor? Eliminate Duke Vevelokh, who was at odds with Duke Winter?\' Nick couldn’t help but feel tense, wondering what a noble of Edmund’s stature could want from him.

After a long silence, Edmund finally spoke words that Nick had never expected.

“… Find my wife.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Daphne blinked her eyes several times, her vision still blurry.

“Oh, you’re finally awake.”

A sudden unfamiliar voice made her eyes snap open.

Daphne quickly sat up. She distinctly remembered spotting a mutated beast and throwing her robe into the snow, as a decoy. She had curled up to conceal herself, holding her breath, praying that the beast would mistake the robe for a person.

She must have lost consciousness from hypothermia after being in the snow for so long. The one who saved her was the owner of a shabby house at the edge of the village. Fortunately, they didn’t recognize her face. The landlady, who couldn’t have imagined that Daphne was the Duchess Winter, asked her what had happened, mentioning she had been unconscious for several days.

Daphne told a convenient lie.

“You were separated from your party… and you were supposed to meet at the border village?”

Daphne nodded.

“I needed to head there as well, but let’s wait for a few more days before traveling. The atmosphere around the castle has been tense lately.”

“The… castle?”

The landlady lowered her voice,

“Rumor has it that the Order of the Knights have been seen coming and going from the castle several times in the past few days.”

At the mention of the Order of the Knights, Daphne’s shoulders trembled. Edmund was looking for her. Daphne touched her chest, feeling her heart race. Was it anxiety of being caught? Or was it… anticipation?

Whatever it was, one thing was certain.

Daphne had to leave North as soon as possible. If she didn’t, she was certain that this opportunity would never come again.