“I, I don’t know exactly. ……I’ve only heard that there’s a ‘factory’ somewhere in Zone 3.”

The man quickly added, trembling as if afraid of additional torture.

“I don’t know the location either! Really! I was just a new recruit and low-ranking among His Majesty’s loyal subordinates!”

“……”

At that moment, Veli, who had been quietly observing Delphine, interjected.

“I think we’ve heard most of what we need to hear.”

Veli said to Delphine with a slight smile.

“Your face is too pale. Let’s go outside and finish our conversation.”

Delphine slowly nodded and turned away from the man.

From behind, the sound of Nicolai’s constant sniffling could be heard.

Delphine suddenly turned her head towards the man and asked.

“Why?”

The man, who had been crying while caressing his broken fingers, lifted his tear-stained face.

“Sob…… Huh?”

Delphine asked again, facing the man who was bewildered by the sudden question.

“Why did you seek such an unknown power? Even to the point of committing such inhumane acts.”

At those words, the expression of the man who had been crying like a child completely changed.

He glared at Delphine with a fierce expression and growled.

“Why? You ask why? Of course. You wouldn’t understand. The wealth of the Astrax Empire, the Red Peony. You, young lady Pembrook, born with everything!”

“Hey. Watch your mouth.”

Lin frowned and lightly tapped the iron bars with his scabbard.

However, the man paid no heed and continued to shout.

“I was different from you. Since childhood, I’ve played the violin, but always mediocre in looks, talent, and performance!”

The man crawled over, shaking the iron bars violently, and shouted like a madman.

“No matter how hard I tried, I could never reach the realm of talent. One day, when I was in despair, His Majesty came and asked me. What I wanted most.”

The man removed his hands from the bars and whispered, sobbing.

“So I just… said I wanted to perform in front of people. That I’d do anything for it.”

“Let’s go. There’s nothing more to hear.”

Veli led the hesitating Delphine towards the stairs with a cold expression.

Delphine followed him with a troubled expression.

“Violin. Where’s my violin? Just give me that. Without it, I can’t live!”

The man desperately called out to their retreating backs.

“Come on.”

Veli said firmly, noticing Delphine’s hesitant steps.

“……”

In the end, Delphine left the dark underground prison without looking back.

[This is the timeline separator]

Coming out of the dim underground prison, suddenly the whole world seemed dazzlingly bright.

“His Majesty the Emperor… no, the Emperor was plotting such things behind the scenes.”

Delphine, sitting in a wooden chair, muttered with an expression of disbelief.

“Why on earth?”

It was incomprehensible.

Wasn’t it the imperial family who had erased all traces of magic in the empire, calling them evil beings against God’s will?

“As I mentioned before, there’s something suspicious about this empire.”

Veli murmured quietly, his smile gone from his expression.

“Those barriers and the existence of the Northern Continent….. Looking at the items that came from above, I thought.”

He pondered, looking down at the intricate Northern Continent item placed on the table.

“Is that barrier truly meant to prevent intrusion, or is it to keep the people inside confined……”

That barrier, to keep us confined?

Veli quietly added, looking at her sitting there with a confused expression.

“The factory that man mentioned. I think there might be clues about the secrets of this empire there.”

“We’ll have to infiltrate there directly to find out.”

Lin interjected somewhat roughly.

“That’s how we’ve always approached the truth, right?”

“But didn’t he say he didn’t know the location of the factory?”

“I have some ideas.”

Veli muttered softly, narrowing his eyes.

“Probably… it’s probably right. I just need a bit more certainty.”

Delphine, who had been staring at them, suddenly said.

“I want to go with you.”

It was a proposal to join the factory infiltration.

The reactions of the two upon hearing this were starkly different.

Veli grinned as if he had somehow expected it.

Lin, on the other hand, immediately objected with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Don’t say such nonsense.”

“Why is it nonsense?”

“It’s a much more dangerous operation than you think. Well-trained operatives will be deployed.”

“But you need me to go with you to charge the posium, don’t you?”

Delphine retorted calmly, not at all intimidated by his words.

“The amount of posium you currently have is very limited.”

Since it was secretly extracted from items imported from the Northern Continent, the quantity was certainly not large.

This could easily be inferred from the fact that Lin didn’t carry multiple posiums.

Lin flinched momentarily at this sharp observation but continued unyieldingly.

“But……”

“But what but.”

At that moment, Veli cheerfully interrupted Lin’s words.

“If the lady would come with us, we’d be truly grateful.”

“Veli. You……”

Lin spat out a curse so harsh it startled Delphine.

However, Veli paid no attention and spoke with a grin.

“But my lady. You especially need to be careful.”

“About what……”

“I mean Viscount Pryde.”

Her heart dropped with a thud.

Veli continued with a rather serious face, his smile now gone.

“We left a substitute body to replace that man at the theater, but we don’t know when he might notice.”

Lin also added, glancing at Delphine’s face.

“He’s a man with quite an animal-like instinct, and I heard he’s especially keen on rooting out the cause of this incident.”

“……”

Delphine lowered her eyes with an uncomfortable expression.

It was because of her that he had become so focused on this incident.

Veli, who seemed to see right through her, suddenly asked while staring at her with clear blue eyes.

“My lady. What did you think when you saw that man just now?”

“Suddenly……”

Delphine trailed off with a confused expression.

The image of the man sobbing in rags came to mind once again.

At the same time, she was suddenly reminded of what Ioan had said to her on that snowy day.

“I’m prepared to kill anyone to protect you.”

Then Veli abruptly asked.

“You didn’t happen to feel sympathy for that man, did you?”

A sharpness flashed across Veli’s eyes, which were gently curved with a smile.

Delphine couldn’t hide the startled expression that crossed her face.

Clearly, she had just recalled Ioan’s burn scar while looking at the wretched man.

The sight of a man desperately wishing for something was not at all unfamiliar to her.

“……”

Delphine could easily guess why Veli had brought this up before entering the factory infiltration operation.

Regardless of how it came to be, Ioan was now her husband.

A husband with whom she had shared a bed for a whole season now…

He was asking if she had the courage to walk a path directly opposed to such a husband.

“……”

Delphine remained silent for a moment, lost in thought.

What the man in the underground prison had said was wrong.

She hadn’t grown up having and enjoying everything.

Just as the man had longed for someone’s praise, she too once desperately yearned for the praise of her father who had suddenly turned cold.

…But she would never abandon her humanity for that.

Delphine shook her head, trying to forget the image of the sobbing man and Ioan with his severe burns.

“Whatever truth is hidden there, I’m prepared to face it.”

Veli finally smiled with a completely satisfied expression.

“Three days from now.”

The golden-haired man with an angelic face quietly declared to her.

“Three days from now, we will carry out the infiltration operation into the factory.”

[This is the timeline separator]

With those words, Delphine returned to the mansion.

Safely, with the help of Lin’s magic, just like when she left the barrier.

As she entered through the study window, the doll that had been silently reading a book smiled brightly.

“…It feels strange, as if my reflection in the mirror is moving.”

Delphine murmured softly as she approached the doll and recited the spell as Lin had instructed.

The doll that had been faintly smiling suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only a posium the size of a thumbnail.

Delphine picked it up and carefully tucked it into her pocket.

As she stepped out of the study, the maids guarding the corridor quickly greeted her.

“……”

Delphine headed towards the women’s quarters on the same floor, trying not to show too much displeasure.

She was sick of this situation of being watched again, after finally escaping her father’s harsh supervision.

Thud.

Delphine quietly closed her eyes as she sank her tired body into the sofa in the women’s quarters.

Too many things had happened today as well.

Not just today, but recently, it had been a series of events that completely shook her life.

‘Somehow. I’m tired……’

Delphine exhaled evenly, burying herself in the soft sofa.

[This is the timeline separator]

“…My lady?”

Delphine suddenly opened her eyes at the voice calling her.

Ioan was in front of her.

He knelt on one knee, looking down at her affectionately and murmured.

“It seems you dozed off for a moment.”

She thought she had just closed her eyes for a moment, but the room had already grown dark.