What the hell? Sidney blushed and glanced around nervously. Fortunately, people were too busy going about their own business. She lowered her head slightly and cleared her throat unnecessarily.

“Ahem! I’ll be more careful in the future.”

“You think you can get away with that? Not a chance.”

Logan gripped Sidney’s wrist tightly and strode forward. Sidney had to move her feet quickly to avoid falling. She called out to him urgently.

“Captain.”

Logan stubbornly refused to look back.

They entered the security force building, led by him. As the security officers recognized the two of them and greeted them with nods, Sidney could no longer protest.

Sidney quickened her pace to stay close to Logan’s side. It seemed better than being dragged along.

The security officers coming down the stairs also greeted them with awkward smiles and nods.

If only it ended there, but they all glanced at the hand Logan was holding. It was understandable, seeing two men holding hands.

Sidney whispered in a low voice, looking uncomfortable.

“Captain, please let go.”

“…Logan.”

Sidney gritted her teeth, swallowing a curse. Even now, she could feel people’s stares.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before strange rumors started circulating.

She decided to give up trying to understand Logan Redford. And with the mindset of giving a crying child another rice cake…

“Logan, stop it.”

Only then did Logan release her wrist and said,

“We’ve decided on the investigation target and case, so it’s time to meet the chief of security separately… I wanted to get ahead of you in case you forgot.”

“Yes, please say that next time. Without dragging people around unnecessarily.”

Sidney, who had been mocking him, stopped walking along with Logan. He knocked on the door with the nameplate “Chief of Security, Steve Deniro” while muttering to himself.

“You need to be punished.”

He said ‘punishment’. Logan Redford, showing an obsessive aftermath over a mere ring.

This man who used to draw a clear line when it came to others’ affairs, and herself who was happy about this change – which of them had become strange?

The door clicked open, and a young security officer peeked out.

“What brings you here?”

Through the half-open door, people could be seen working busily inside. The structure was similar to the investigation team’s office, with the only difference being that there were six desks here.

Logan scanned the inside of the office as he identified himself.

“Colonel Logan Redford of the Imperial Guard. I’m here to see the Chief of Security.”

“Please come in.”

The security officer stepped back, saluting Logan.

Those reviewing documents at their desks momentarily stopped what they were doing. They were surprised by the visitor’s identity so early in the morning.

Logan lightly ignored their curious gazes as he passed by. The young security officer guided them to the reception room.

“The chief is currently in a morning meeting. It should end in about 10 minutes… Please wait here.”

As soon as they entered the reception room, cold air mixed with the scent of flowers greeted them.

The white curtains hanging on the half-open window billowed slightly. The security officer hurriedly closed the window and pointed to the sofa.

“We were airing out the room. Please sit over there.”

With the sound of the window closing, the curtains settled calmly.

Logan and Sidney each sat on opposite black leather sofas with a black table in the center.

“Would you like some warm tea?”

“Please.”

As Logan immediately answered as if telling him to leave quickly, the security officer left with an awkward smile.

A map hung on the wall of Steve Deniro’s office. Looking at the territory of the Anes Kingdom, now part of the Asnel Empire, left a bitter taste.

It felt futile and disheartening to think that such a long war had been fought just to change the color on a map.

Trying to shake off the unpleasant feeling, Sidney shifted her gaze to the display cabinet. The neatly arranged trophies and medals showed how much merit Steve Deniro had earned on the battlefield.

As Sidney was guessing what Steve Deniro might have been thinking when he placed them there, Logan snorted and sneered.

“He sacrificed dozens, hundreds of subordinates for each of those.”

That’s probably true.

Generally, ‘earning merit’ and ‘leading a battle to victory’ mean the same thing.

In other words…

“He must have tried to save hundreds, thousands of other allies.”

“…That’s what I used to think.”

Logan lowered his eyes and tilted his teacup.

His eyelids hid his gaze, and the teacup concealed his expression. But the regret and disillusionment in his voice couldn’t be hidden.

“Why do you…”

Sidney was about to ask why he disliked Steve so much, but stopped as Steve opened the door and entered.

Steve glared at Logan, who was reluctantly standing up, not hiding his displeasure.

“I thought Warden would come alone.”

Then he offered a handshake to Sidney. As she shook his hand, trying to ease the atmosphere…

“I came with the Captain.”

“Then this is not Warden’s ‘strictly personal visit’, I see.”

Steve openly displayed his hostility towards Logan as he sneered. Logan responded with no less animosity.

“Sit down since you’re here. We both don’t have much time.”

“You came despite having so little time.”

Steve sat in the main seat and glanced at Logan mockingly.

With his back to the light, his face was shadowed, looking somewhat ominous. A quiet anger overflowed from his low voice and cold gaze.

Like a beast warning an intruder who had entered its territory.

But Logan snorted as if such an attitude was laughable and tossed a document onto the table.

“That’s enough thanks, now read this first before we talk.”

Steve stared at the document, deep in thought.

When he raised his eyes again, his pupils were as calm and dark as the night sea. His expression, devoid of any trace of a smile, and even his voice resembled the darkly rippling sea.

“Photos of terrorist situations by the Anes resistance, wanted orders from the Anes Governor-General’s office, border guard reports that the Anes resistance leadership crossed the Asnel Empire border, and… a record of a theft reported by the Vinosh Count family on November 20th last year.”

Steve Deniro couldn’t take his eyes off the document even after finishing speaking.

Someone as intelligent as him would have already figured out that the Vinosh Count family was related to the Anes resistance.

Even for such a sensitive matter, it shouldn’t take this long to contemplate.

During the long silence, Logan disguised a jab as a mutter to himself.

“Tsk, has he developed dyslexia or something?”

The smile completely vanished from Steve’s face, which had always been relaxed.

His slightly downcast blue eyes passed over Logan as if ignoring him. Then he looked straight at Sidney and smiled faintly.

“I have more to discuss with Warden than with someone who’s about to leave.”

Telling Logan Redford, who would soon take off his imperial uniform, to leave. Despite Steve Deniro’s rudeness, Logan lowered his gaze and calmly acknowledged.

“Well, Sidney here is the next captain who will lead that investigation. But remember this. Just as the Yant Duke is behind the security force, the Redford family is behind the Imperial Guard’s investigation team.”

As he finished speaking, he lightly tapped Sidney’s wrist.

Her face flushed at the touch that claimed both the investigation team and Sidney herself as his own.

Was he deliberately provoking Steve? Why? As that question surged, Steve Deniro sent a questioning look and gaze as if asking if she agreed.

“I see that’s how it is.”

It was closer to having become accustomed to Logan rather than agreeing.

His warm touch, intense gaze, the citrus scent mixed with a faint cigarette aroma, and his broad, firm embrace and body heat. All the situations of sharing a bed with him and marrying him… had become natural.

On top of that naturalness, even dreaming of a new world together with Logan.

Starting with the whisper that was more of a notification than asking for permission, Logan’s face distorted with pleasure and sweat, the passionate night of clinging to him and yearning for him flashed before her eyes.

Why, of all times, now… As she bit her lower lip in self-loathing, Logan gripped Sidney’s wrist as if to grab it and sneered.

“I have no intention of giving up anything. No matter what it is.”

For a moment, a chuckle escaped her with an inexplicable sense of relief. She tried to hide her expression by lowering her head slightly, but Logan had already noticed.

Sidney glanced at his twitching corners of the mouth and unnecessarily cleared her throat.

In a past conversation at the opera house, Steve Deniro said that he prioritized his own safety and benefit over loyalty, that he would not hesitate to turn his back on Duke Yant if necessary.

Moreover, the fact that Sidney was a woman…

If that lifeline was herself, then at its end would be Crown Prince Edward and Logan Redford.

Steve Deniro’s display of hostility towards Logan must mean that the conflict between them runs deep, and he hopes that she will mediate. But what could she do without knowing the origin of their conflict? If there was any consolation, it was that both of them recognized each other’s necessity. That’s why they had gathered here like this.

While Sidney was lost in thought, Logan Redford spread out a newspaper from the Anes Kingdom on the table and began to speak.

“According to confidentially obtained information, Jake Black, who leads the most radical armed group, has disappeared from the Anes Kingdom. As you can see, he’s the one responsible for kidnapping or killing Anes nobles who cooperated with the governor’s office set up by the Asnel Empire, and attacking not only Anes administrative agencies and the royal palace but even the governor’s building.”

Images and articles depicting the burned royal palace, collapsed buildings, and corpses hung on city walls labeled as traitors. These were probably excerpts from newspapers published in the Anes Kingdom.

Sidney looked closely at the images, newly impressed by Logan’s intelligence network.

Logan scattered montages of men wearing black masks on top of it, as if sowing seeds.

Steve Deniro frowned and grumbled at this.

“Well, how can you claim that Jake Black has infiltrated Marcel here when their noses and mouths are covered and only their eyes are visible…”

More than that, why had Logan hidden this information from her as well? Sidney frowned as she noticed a mole under Jake Black’s left eye.