Crackle, crackle.

Something quickly burning in the fire.

It was Anette’s letters.

The precious letters that Hertian had carefully collected for 5 years.

Watching this, Osen felt his blood run cold. So much so that his body trembled. Because he had been watching how Hertian felt as he looked at those.

“Q-quickly, we need to put out the fire! Everyone get up!”

Osen hastily woke up the knights. Several knights who came to their senses saw the fire lit inside the cave and rushed over to cover it with their cloaks. The fire was quickly extinguished, but there was no way to restore the already burnt letters.

“Huff, huff.”

Osen sifted through the ashes, trying to salvage even a few. As the ashes stung his nose, a cough burst out. These were the letters Hertian cherished the most. His emotions intensified with resentment towards those who had so easily stolen and burned them.

“This is a provocation against my lord. How long will you continue to endure this! How long must we suffer such treatment!”

Osen’s noticeably darkened voice fell heavily. Even the knights of Blandiche, knowing what the letters meant to Hertian, could not point out Osen’s insolent attitude.

Hertian said nothing.

He simply picked up the remaining letters, stopped the knights, and burned them all along with whatever was still intact. Watching this, Osen hurriedly tried to stop Hertian.

“How much will you regret this later……”

“I’ve memorized them all anyway.”

He said in a calm voice.

“Even if you memorized them all, didn’t you open them every time like it was the first time? Didn’t you attack again before, saying you left the letters in enemy territory?”

Osen knew better than anyone how Hertian felt right now.

His life could be said to have been possible because of Anette.

Just then, a loud explosion was heard from the opposite side of the cave.

The rocks blocking the cave shattered and scattered. And from there, the roar of beasts was heard.

“Your Grace! Multiple monsters are approaching through the opened area!”

Hertian looked at the bustling knights and said to Osen.

“Osen. Do you remember when Anette’s 503rd letter came?”

Momentarily confused by the sudden question, Osen saw Hertian’s changed gaze and answered.

“I remember. After receiving that, the battlefield was a sea of blood for almost a week.”

The 503rd letter contained the story of going on a date with Serdis. After seeing that letter, he had been unable to recover from the shock for a while.

“You know why I didn’t hold onto Anette despite that?”

“Wasn’t it because you wanted Her Highness to be happy?”

“No. Because my plan to make her the safest collapsed in an instant.”

That was why he had built up his power while roaming the war. Not because he wanted to be safe, but because he wanted Anette beside him to be safe.

Anette in the letters always seemed unstable. As if she was on the brink of death. That’s why he hoped that at least the person next to Anette would not make her anxious.

Although he didn’t like Serdis himself, he thought Serdis’s background would keep Anette safe. So he tried to let Anette go.

‘Of course, I immediately regretted it when I saw in the next letter that she was suddenly looking for a contract marriage partner.’

No matter what Serdis had done to Anette, she abandoned Serdis and chose him.

“Anette has already chosen me. Me, who is in the most dangerous position in the empire.”

Hertian recalled that time and steeled his resolve once again. He had been so focused on uncovering Anette’s mysterious illness that he couldn’t concentrate on the present.

As a result, where is he now? Far from winning her heart, he has even lost her letters in vain. With a passive attitude, nothing can be gained. Just like now.

“My lord……”

At the end of Osen’s expectant voice, the roar of monsters was heard. Hertian drew his sword from its sheath and said as if making a vow.

“Kassian is no more.”

Not just Kassian, but himself hiding from the royal family is no more. For the first time, he cast off one shell.

The drooping branches of a weeping willow.

Reaching the palace covered in green moss, Havel’s mouth fell open. A mysterious bug swiftly flew in, making his throat itch.

“Ptu, ptu!”

Havel’s face turned red as he clutched his throat, coughing to spit out the bug.

“You’re staying here? Seriously, not as a joke?”

“Yes. There was a bed on the top floor of this palace, so I slept there. The capital is warm, so I slept well.”

I told him nonchalantly.

“Wh-what about the servants?”

“There was one maid, but I chased her away when she brought water laced with poison herbs in the morning. Rather than having my skin turn inside out, it’s better to get ready alone and come out. Don’t you think?”

I spoke comfortably to the childlike Havel.

“Poison herbs? Those crazy fools! How dare they hand poison to the Duchess! We must catch them immediately and tear them limb from limb.”

“Someone else ordered it. Catching one maid won’t change anything. And I’m not so easily fooled by such schemes.”

At my words, Havel stared at me intently. When I looked back, he quickly averted his gaze.

“The Duchess… is stronger than I thought.”

“Once you’ve died once, this kind of thing doesn’t faze you.”

Having the experience of dying helplessly, and also struggling to live, this much was nothing.

‘It’s not like I’ll die from sleeping here.’

Even if I swallowed the poison herbs whole, I wouldn’t die.

I was just resentful. Because it would be a great wound to Hertian.

“Died once? When did this happen?”

Havel raised his voice but quickly covered his mouth at the sight of buzzing insects.

The more I looked at him, the more exaggerated his reactions seemed. He had none of the dignity of a knight commander.

“Even if we let the past go, won’t things like this continue to happen?”

“Why… why must the Duchess continue to suffer… I will speak to His Majesty.”

“No. We can’t put His Majesty in a difficult position too.”

“Then what will you do?”

This time Havel asked with a serious face.

“If there’s no clear solution, our Tiamo will step in.”

“What’s Tiamo?”

“That… I’ll tell you if you need us.”

He clutched the badge on his chest.

“Thank you. But please pay more attention to Princess Violet than to me. She is more lonely and isolated than I am.”

Now is not the time to worry about me.

Serdis is definitely a rolling hoop.

If you want to roll a little less, you should be good to Violet even now.

“That child doesn’t particularly need me or my brother, so it’s fine.”

“How can you say that! It probably looks that way because you’re not showing interest.”

I scolded him for being insensitive.

“I’m serious. She’s always holed up in her room doing who knows what. Even if I go in at mealtimes, it’s hard to see her face.”

“She might not be able to eat because she’s uncomfortable. If you ask her to eat together first, the Princess will come out.”

“Hmm, alright.”

“Promise me. Before you meet me next time, ask the Princess to have a meal together.”

“I don’t want to, but I’ll try. Come on, let’s make a promise.”

Havel shyly held out his pinky finger.

‘Does he want me to hook fingers?’

A laugh burst out at the sight that others might find amusing.

“I see even knights make promises by hooking pinkies.”

“Qu-quickly, hook yours too!”

Just as I was about to hook my finger, thinking he really was like a child.

“Duchess.”

A palace servant, who I didn’t know when had arrived, called me. I turned my head without having hooked fingers.

“What is it?”

“An invitation has arrived for the Duchess.”

An invitation sealed with a golden seal.

Even without further explanation, I could tell who had sent it.

‘The Empress has summoned me directly.’

I answered without opening the invitation.

“Tell them I will attend.”

“Yes, Duchess.”

I wonder how grand a party they’ve prepared?

Knock. Knock.

Late at night.

At the sound of someone tapping on the palace window, I immediately drew back the curtains.

Elenore was standing below.

As it would be impolite to enter the bedroom, she waited for me outside.

I hastily put down the book I was reading and went out.

“Elenore!”

“Duchess. I’m sorry for coming so late at night.”

“You’ve worked hard, why are you apologizing?”

After checking to see if Elenore was injured, I looked at her face. Her expression was dark. Anxiously so.

“A large wagon left the palace last night, they say.”

“A wagon? You mean Hertian was inside, being sent somewhere?”

Elenore nodded.

That means Hertian was kidnapped, doesn’t it.

“Where did that wagon go?”

“Well… to the hunting grounds.”

Elenore handed over something she was holding.

It was a round pill inside a white paper envelope.

“This is what you gave Hertian to take care of him, right? I saw you give it to him when he went north before.”

“Yes. It’s what I gave him.”

It’s arrhythmia medicine.

An herbal pill I made because Hertian seemed to have trouble drinking herbal tea.

“But why is it at the hunting grounds……”

For a moment, an ominous thought flashed through my mind.

That they left Hertian at the hunting grounds.

“You mean they killed him? Cutting off his flesh and throwing it as food for monsters……”

I covered my mouth, unable to finish speaking.

‘No wonder Serdis withdrew the order to participate so easily!’

Because he was planning to kill him anyway.

They must have torn Hertian to pieces and thrown him as food for beasts to leave no trace of murder. Osen and the knights were probably buried alive with Hertian. Cruel people.

My hands trembled and my eyes grew moist.

Even so, how could they kill him.

“We must find Hertian’s skull right away……”

“Well, it seems he’s not dead.”

Elenore, watching me cry, said awkwardly.

“Please calm down first.”

“A whole day has passed. If he’s not dead, why hasn’t he come back?”

Hertian is a strong warrior.

A warrior who survived battlefields from a young age.

There’s no way someone like that would struggle with just a few prey animals.

“The wagon tracks ended at the entrance to the hunting grounds. They wouldn’t have blatantly killed someone in a place where people gather for hunting season. But it seems they’ve hidden Hertian somewhere in the hunting grounds.”

As she said, the capital would hold hunting festivals when warm spring arrived.

That they hid Hertian in a place where people gather means there’s a reason for it.

Even the western tower of the underground prison would be easy for Hertian to escape from.

A place that could temporarily bind Hertian’s feet. And a place where Hertian could die if need be.

‘There is just one such place.’

“I think I know where the Duke is.”