A dim morning before the dawn moon had yet to surrender its place to the sun.

Leo, the captain who was the second to wake up in the Grand Duke’s villa of Colina Rosa, was following the footsteps of Cassandra, who had awakened first and started her activities, while muffling his footsteps.

Cassandra, disguised as ‘Sandra’, an ordinary maid in her 30s, was walking briskly through the back garden of the villa, letting out shallow sighs.

It was a sigh of disappointment at having lost the duty of attending to Her Grace to the head maid due to a 3-day confinement order.

But to the eyes of Captain Leo, who regarded Cassandra as the first suspicious stone that had rolled into the Grand Duke’s household, it looked like she was catching her breath before doing something bad.

Sure enough.

As she reached the middle of the garden, Cassandra spread her arms wide and began to chant a spell in an eerie tone.

The black magician’s eyes, now wide open, gleamed darkly, and a sinister magical energy seeped from her body.

Insects that had been in deep sleep began to stir and appear. Rats that had collapsed from exhaustion while avoiding the hunt of birds also responded to the black magician’s call with squeaks.

The insects and rats scattered in all directions as if bewitched, busily searching for something.

Leo’s eyes, hidden behind a large tree, shone sharply.

Cassandra traced one by one the four paths taken by the insects and rats she had summoned. At the end of those busy processions were…

Small wildflowers bursting their shy buds in the morning dew.

“Oh, perfect. Just perfect.”

Cassandra plucked armfuls of nameless wildflowers in purple, silver-gray, and yellow, and headed to her room.

After unlocking and entering, there were experimental equipment connected by several glass tubes laid out on a long wooden table.

Cassandra stirred a mysterious solution boiling in a glass container with a glass rod, then picked and added fresh flower petals.

Drop by drop, a rosy solution emitting a brilliant light fell into the beaker prepared at the end of the glass tube.

‘Is it poison? Surely not to cast black magic on His Grace?’

Leo glared at the bead connected to the magical device he had installed in Cassandra’s room, chewing his lips.

“Perfect! It’s a top-grade toner!”

Cassandra jumped up and down with joy as she applied some of the toner from the beaker to her face.

Three hours later. The refined toner was fully absorbed into the face of the Grand Duchess, worn by the northern sun and overwork.

The Grand Duke couldn’t take his eyes off his wife’s clear and transparent skin as she came to the breakfast table.

The black magician who had wrestled with making the toner since dawn glanced at the Grand Duke with an expression of having cooked porridge for a dog.

After all, the one she wanted to show that pretty face to was the Master of the Magic Tower.

[The Master of the Magic Tower is handsome, gentle, and rich. Above all, he’s not terminally ill, so he can make Yuriella happy for a long time.]

Cassandra fully agreed with Aerie’s words.

Moreover, he was clearly a great magician who had reached the level of 10 circles or more at a young age! Although black magic had the worst compatibility, Sandra felt awe for the Master of the Magic Tower who had reached such an incredible level.

“It seems the Master of the Magic Tower is very tired. To think he couldn’t even come down for a meal.”

Yuriella looked at the empty chair with a worried expression.

Frost shrugged as he put finely chopped meat on Yuriella’s plate.

“Magicians are generally a rather lazy bunch.”

Leo narrowed his eyes and glanced at the Grand Duke who was lying so naturally.

‘I saw you give separate instructions to the servant.’

[The Master of the Magic Tower must be tired from his arduous schedule, so prepare breakfast to be served in his room.]

His friend merely regarded the Master of the Magic Tower as a bothersome fly hovering around his wife and was trying to shoo him away by any means.

If it were the usual Grand Duke, he would have meticulously uncovered what connection there was between Her Grace and the Master of the Magic Tower. Tsk.

When the master lets his guard down, the servant’s feet become busy.

Leo headed towards the room of the Master of the Magic Tower, whom he had designated as suspicious stone No. 2, but was caught midway by the head butler.

The place Alexis dragged him to was in front of a secluded room on the second floor. Rosalinne was already there, monitoring Shavell who was in the middle of his meal.

“How shameless. What right do I have to tag along on the Grand Duke couple’s honeymoon?”

If it was the Grand Duke who excluded the Master of the Magic Tower from breakfast, it was Rosalinne who prevented Shavell from coming down.

Alexis glanced inside and then scolded the head maid with a grumpy face.

“What’s so pretty about her that you even bring her meals? It’s not like she’ll die from missing a few meals.”

Leo awkwardly smiled, unable to say that Shavell was actually the esteemed Lord Lewis Della Ponti.

“Don’t be stingy about food. You never know what that person might become later.”

Leo was genuinely worried that these loyal old servants might have a heart attack when that person later became the new sun leading the empire.

They dragged Leo into an empty room, sat him down in a chair, and poured out their concerns about the stone that had rolled into the Grand Duke’s villa three years ago.

“Leo. I think that woman is suspicious no matter how you look at it.”

“I think the same, Captain. I believe it’s a matter concerning His Grace’s well-being.”

“We know our lord well. He’s not the kind of man to keep a mistress by his side.”

“And yet he’s kept Shavell by his side for three years, so of course it’s suspicious.”

“Could Shavell be a black magician? She must have bewitched His Grace’s mind with wicked sorcery!”

“It must have been Shavell who whispered into His Grace’s ear with evil intentions to bring in Cassandra Cabeza!”

As it seemed the old servants’ words would go on, Leo’s bottom started to fidget.

Before being dragged here, he had seen Aerie trap Nero in a wind bubble and then enter the Master of the Magic Tower’s room while glancing around cautiously.

‘There must be something. Something.’

Aerie had been keenly watching the mangy cat that the Grand Duchess had brought from Red Hill, never taking her eyes off it. Moreover, it was suspicious that she took it to the Master of the Magic Tower’s room.

The Master of the Magic Tower was the owner of the holy sword Gaius.

True to his nickname as the ‘Hermit Sage of the Magic Tower’, there had been almost no point of contact between his lord and Ricarion Greco until now.

Although the West and the Magic Tower had taken the side of Grand Duke Ielheim after the recent attack by the Northern Subjugation Force, even then the Master of the Magic Tower did not show himself. He only sent a proxy to convey the Magic Tower’s intentions.

But when Her Grace collapsed on her wedding night, the Master of the Magic Tower personally appeared at the Grand Duke’s villa.

Leo was more surprised by the fact that he directly intervened in the matter of the Northern mistress, rather than his impressive skill in waking Her Grace.

What on earth was his ulterior motive…?

“Are you listening to me, Leo? Leo!”

Rosalinne’s sharp voice pierced Leo’s eardrums.

“Head Maid. Lady Shavell is not a black magician or anything of the sort. Far from being a threat to His Grace, she will be a great help to him in the future. You must trust me. Now if you’ll excuse me-”

As Leo tried to lift his bottom from the chair, the head maid and head butler pushed him back down.

“If the Captain says so, I’ll believe it. It might have been better if she were a black magician after all…”

Alexis let out a long sigh like a lament.

Rosalinne’s eyes reddened as she glanced at Alexis.

“We hoped our guess was wrong. Then indeed, Lady Shavell is a man, isn’t she?”

“Pardon?”

Leo’s eyes widened for a moment, at a loss for words at the sudden attack.

“That’s the secret that His Grace and the Captain are so desperately hiding, isn’t it? That Lady Shavell is not a woman, but a man…”

Rosalinne sobbed, finally wiping her overflowing tears with a handkerchief.

“I’ve known since His Grace personally attended to Lady Shavell’s bath.”

“The occasional low-pitched voice coming from Lady Shavell’s room also bothered me.”

“That height and those muscles could never belong to a woman. Sob sob”

Leo shouted, sweating profusely at the tearful outburst of the head butler and Rosalinne.

“No! Whatever you’re imagining, it’s all wrong! It’s not like that!”

“Whether it is or not! None of that matters anymore!”

Rosalinne gritted her teeth, wringing her handkerchief with both hands.

Leo shrank back, feeling as if that handkerchief was himself.

Alexis slammed both fists on the table.

“What matters now is that our lord is married!”

Although he had already heard from His Grace that their marriage was fake, he completely ignored it. Can’t they just make it real from now on?

When His Grace succeeded to the title of Grand Duke at the mere age of 9, people believed without a doubt that the House of Ielheim would soon collapse.

Not only Duke Grande, but several families harboring rebellious thoughts even showed movements to openly usurp the Grand Duke title.

But the young boy Grand Duke skillfully avoided the cunning traps they had laid out without even batting an eye.

And on his eighteenth birthday, which was also his coming-of-age ceremony, he solidified the order in the North by beheading all the traitors except for the House of Grande, which he judged useful.

If it was the previous Grand Duke couple who gave birth to the Grand Duke who turned the impossible into possible, it was the head butler and head maid who raised such a Grand Duke.

Leo furrowed his brow, trying not to be overwhelmed by the momentum of the two.

The one who should stay by the Grand Duke’s side is Lord Lewis. The one who should leave is Yuriella Grande.

This was an absolute proposition that could neither change nor be compromised.

“Who should be by His Grace’s side. Who is an existence that should not be there. As the Captain of the Angelus Knights, I will judge and I will decide. If anyone becomes harmful to His Grace, I will remove them.”

Whether it’s the Grand Duchess or the stones that rolled in following her, there are no exceptions!

Leo Dominici strode out indignantly and headed back towards the room where the Master of the Magic Tower was staying.

He needed to find out what was happening in the room with the Master of the Magic Tower, Aerie, and the mangy cat.

If they were plotting anything even slightly harmful to the Grand Duke, he would eliminate them immediately. He also had to thoroughly investigate whether the Grand Duchess was involved.

‘It could be an opportunity to wipe them all out at once.’

The Master of the Magic Tower and Aerie were certainly formidable opponents, but it’s not always the strongest who wins against the enemy. This is a truth learned from countless battles.

Even the strongest warrior can be caught off guard if they let their guard down.

Even Drostan Bergoni, the elite of the Imperial Knights whom he had slain in the last battle of Colina Rosa, was a notch above him in terms of skill alone. Yet in the end, Drostan’s spear, called the Devil’s Messenger, failed to pierce through Leo.

‘I’ll look for an opening.’

Just as he was almost at the Master of the Magic Tower’s room, a loud thumping noise came from inside.

Leo drew his sword and tensed every muscle in his body.

As he was about to turn the doorknob.

‘Huh?’

Leo stopped moving and turned his head towards the window.

A very familiar wind was blowing through the corridor window.

‘This wind is…?’

It was that refreshing wind felt when the Grand Duke sent a flow of ice crystals smaller than dust.

Leo took his hand off the doorknob and approached the window, his eyes widening.

In Leo’s view, the Grand Duke came into sight, sitting on the branch of a large garden tree some distance away.

His Grace was looking at somewhere below the villa. Following that gaze downward, Leo let out a deep sigh.

The Grand Duchess was planting seeds with the members of the medicine peddler’s group.

“I wondered why you told us to bring so many herb seeds. So this was your plan?”

New father Thomas laughed heartily, as if impressed.

“They can be used as medicine, tea, and spices. They’ll be of great help to people.”

Yuriella’s eyes curved gently as she looked at the red soil holding the seeds.

A deep smile also spread across the lips of the Grand Duke as he sat on the high branch, gazing at his wife’s dazzling smile.

Leo looked reproachfully at his lord, who was spreading a refreshing breeze with just enough chill to cool the sweat on the Grand Duchess’s forehead.

It was a small breeze that Her Grace, absorbed in cultivating the herb garden, would regard as just a passing wind, but Leo knew this breeze well.

Only Leo had noticed that the refreshing breeze that occasionally blew to relieve the soldiers exhausted from grueling battles was not a gift of nature, but a quiet consideration from the Grand Duke whom they feared more than giant magical beasts.

– Thump thump. Thump thump.

Suspicious noises were still coming from the Master of the Magic Tower’s room behind him.

A little way off, his lord was so focused solely on his wife that he didn’t even notice his knight captain standing with drawn sword in front of the Master of the Magic Tower’s door.

Leo’s face hesitated for a moment before quietly sheathing his sword.

Watching the sweet sentry who didn’t miss even the slightest change in his wife’s expression, he found himself unwittingly relaxing and a smile escaping.

‘Alright. Then just for today, I’ll be a lax sentry for you, my friend.’

Leo turned his back and left the front of the room. He didn’t want to ruin his friend’s good time with unnecessary commotion.

Hearing Leo’s retreating footsteps, the Master of the Magic Tower smirked and lowered the hand he had raised to cast a spell.

If Leo had drawn his sword and charged in, he had planned to turn him into an earthworm. To help enrich the soil of the new herb garden Yuriella had made.

The knight who had nearly become a worm in the herb garden wrote a letter expressing his longing to see his newlywed wife, instead of a report on the suspicious stones to present to his lord.