The woman bowed her head and sniffled.

“I… I did it.”

“Why.”

Johan’s eyes, sleepless from last night, were sharp.

“I hated that woman. How dare she wear the necklace that the Princess had worn, and shamelessly steal the Marquis who was the Princess’s lover…”

The woman choked up with sobs and couldn’t continue.

“Go on.”

“Now even the tennis tournament. It was painful to watch the Princess suffer. Such a woman should know her place. So…”

“So you did it.”

The woman hung her head low and nodded, squeezing her handkerchief to her nose.

Angela Burkin.

The second daughter of the unremarkable Baron Burkin family and a lowly maid to Princess Anblyn.

Unfortunately, the woman did not seem capable of kidnapping, imprisoning, and exploiting someone in a vulnerable state.

Put politely, she was naive; bluntly, she was stupid.

Johan, not wanting to mince words, got straight to the point.

“How much were you paid?”

“I’ve already told you. I did it alone. For the Princess, my benefactor.”

‘Angela. You know you’re the only maid I trust. I have no one but you.’

Angela clenched her hands tightly under the table.

She was someone who had earned the trust of the noble Princess.

Whenever she felt afraid, recalling the Princess’s whispers made it all seem like a noble sacrifice, making it bearable.

“The Macdowell family’s coachman, the grocery store clerk, the hotel staff. 10,000 francs each. It wasn’t in the Baron Burkin family’s financial records.”

“…I sold my jewelry.”

Probably jewelry given by the Princess. If the Baron’s family had that kind of financial flexibility, why would they have taken out such a high-interest loan?

If she had given a more plausible reason, he might have at least pretended to believe her.

“Where is it? That jeweler.”

“Cartina.”

Johan glanced at Maurice. Maurice gave a short bow and left the office.

He’s probably sending someone to check, Angela thought. It was a futile effort. The jeweler had already been bought by the Princess.

“It’s useless. I planned it all alone. So stop threatening the Princess with this.”

Naivety was as dangerous as greed. Without realizing she was being used, without knowing she was being discarded, the woman’s life would come to an end.

Johan lit the end of his cigar. After taking a puff, he leaned back against the sofa.

“Is it worth it?”

Johan murmured softly as he exhaled a long stream of smoke.

“I don’t know how much you pocketed.”

The woman’s eyes twisted.

“I’m asking if that’s reason enough for you to rot in prison for the rest of your life.”

It was an incredibly insensitive face. Angela felt weak in the knees.

Though the sunlight streaming through the large office window was surely warm, Johan Leopold sitting in that light was bleak and cold.

With his bright blonde hair, the man who evoked only night and dawn spoke quietly and sharply.

“I don’t think so.”

“…”

For life?

No way.

‘Even if things go wrong, three years is enough. Of course, I’ll get you out before then. I’ll provide you with a royal lawyer. You just need to trust me, Angela.’

You must believe in the Princess. Don’t waver.

Angela once again recalled the Princess’s words. As if seeing right through her thoughts, Johan stated decisively.

“The Princess will not save you.”

“That’s not true! Absolutely not. The Princess…”

“Because I need to put at least one person in prison to end this.”

“!”

“And the Princess.”

Johan coldly stared at the woman.

“Has thrown you to me as that sacrificial lamb.”

“…”

It was a cruel thing to say. Angela trembled with anger and shouted.

“…No. …That’s not true. Li… liar… Who do you think would believe such a lie?”

“Is that so?”

The woman blinked. The lips that had been defending the Princess as if she were some great loyalist were now tightly sealed.

She looked like an animal with its tail tucked between its legs. The woman’s eyes began to moisten again.

“From today, you’ll be staying in a detention center. If you change your mind after spending some time there, anytime.”

Detention center.

Angela clenched her jaw.

She couldn’t betray Princess Anblyn’s trust over such threats.

Even though she was doing such menial tasks that higher-ranking maids didn’t do.

The Princess needs me. I’m fine.

…Am I really fine?

Angela questioned herself.

If she was the only one, how many times had she actually spoken with the Princess? How many times had she accompanied the Princess to important events?

How many times had the Princess smiled at her?

Even so, even if that were the case, I can’t betray her…

“If I were you, I’d make a deal.”

At the arrogant, monotone bass voice, Angela raised her downcast eyes.

The man making the irresistible offer seemed like the devil.

Despite the bright sunlight of the morning, it felt as if a dark blue darkness enveloped the man.

It was a devil’s temptation that simply couldn’t be refused.

I was clearly awake. I even remember seeing the dim sky turn bluish in the pale light.

When I opened my eyes, the large guest room was bright. It seems I had dozed off while trying to deduce who was behind the kidnapping.

I wish it had all been a dream, even if it was a nightmare. Everything that happened last night.

But how could it be? The light piercing through the white lace curtains was too vivid for that.

Olivia shook her head forcefully and got up.

Her diligent hands tidied the bedding meticulously, as if erasing her traces.

Only after thoroughly checking the taut, wrinkle-free bedding and even the carpet around the bed for any fallen strands of hair did Olivia straighten her back.

‘Reporters are swarming.’

Would there still be reporters?

Approaching the window with muffled footsteps, Olivia parted the curtains slightly and peered down.

Unfortunately, Johan’s bedroom overlooked a garden in full bloom with roses.

Olivia wanted to leave this place immediately. Aside from Johan, she needed to avoid the misfortune of running into his fiancée.

For that, she first needed clothes to wear out. She couldn’t go out in just her underwear.

But she felt like she hit a roadblock from the very start.

Sure enough.

“Ah…”

Olivia sighed softly in disappointment.

In the dressing room, which she found only after mistakenly opening two doors in the room that was incomparably larger and more luxurious than the suite she had stayed in at the Lancelot Hotel, there were no clothes suitable for a woman to wear.

The clothes neatly hung on three sides were all men’s clothing. Even if she were to dress as a man to go out, Johan’s clothes were all too long and large.

What should I do?

Olivia’s eyebrows drooped.

She couldn’t move carelessly. As much as she wanted to avoid Johan Leopold, she had to admit that she needed his help in this situation.

As she stood there biting her lip out of habit in the face of this bleak reality, someone knocked on the guest room door. Startled, Olivia hastily closed the dressing room door.

The knocking sound rang out once more.

In that brief moment, countless scenarios flashed through her mind.

Thinking it could be Princess Krantz, her pulse raced unusually fast.

If it was her, what should she say?

She wanted to think of a more sincere and plausible apology than just “I’m sorry,” but her thoughts froze.

Please, just go away.

As Olivia prayed desperately in her heart, the sound of the guest room door opening mercilessly rang out.

Her heart sank.

Covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a scream, Olivia tiptoed over and grabbed whatever clothes she could, draping them over herself.

This would be better than her current state, at least.

Even as she hurriedly dressed, all her heightened senses were focused on what was happening outside the door.

The sounds of doors opening and closing came in succession. The bathroom door, the door leading to the inner room, and footsteps were getting closer and closer.

Please…

Olivia stood on her tiptoes and pressed herself against the wall next to the door. At that moment, the door swung wide open.

Olivia’s breath caught in her throat as she squeezed her eyes shut.

A long shadow first fell across the red-carpeted dressing room.

Next came the fresh scent of skin lotion that wafted in with the light through the open door. It was the scent of that man from last night.

And then the toe of a black shoe poked in.

“!”

Olivia, who had been standing behind the door, jumped out.

“It was you?”

At this moment, she was more relieved than ever that it was him and no one else.

Though he hadn’t meant to startle her, his grey eyes widened slightly in surprise.

Johan looked down at Olivia intently.

“Oh! I’m sorry. I wore it without permission.”

She was wrapped in a beige mackintosh coat that reached down to her ankles, looking up at him with clear blue eyes that sparkled brightly.

It felt strange.

This was a first, seeing her like this.

It wasn’t much different from a child wearing ill-fitting adult clothes.

How could this be so stimulating?

An inappropriate feeling for a wife wearing his clothes, or more accurately, an ex-wife, stirred from deep within him.

You crazy bastard.

Realizing she was in the state she had just gotten out of bed, Olivia tucked her smoothed hair behind her ear and asked.

“What’s the situation outside now?”

The small, square window in the dressing room let in a beam of clear sunlight, revealing her small, white and transparent ear with blue veins visible.

Johan’s gaze, which had been slowly sweeping over Olivia’s face, came to a stop there.

“You mean the reporters?”

If she was asking whether reporters were still swarming around, the answer was no longer.

The reporters had all rushed off to the Britt Palace.

Only a couple of reporters from newspapers bought by Princess Anblyn remained.

“Compared to yesterday.”

Johan paused briefly before smoothly continuing.

“It’s more serious.”

What a pathetic guy.

Even Johan himself couldn’t understand what he was thinking.

The only thing clear was that he didn’t want to let go of her, who no longer loved him.

It was an unfamiliar yet somehow familiar sensation that Johan had never experienced before.

“Come out and have a meal.”

The words he uttered nonchalantly sounded almost like an order.