When a familiar back figure appeared, the man standing behind the tree began to move.

“Hazel.”

The woman who was about to insert the key into the door turned around at the sound and opened her eyes wide.

“Oh my, Daniel! You-”

Shh! Daniel put his index finger to his lips to silence the woman’s loud voice.

Then, shivering, he whispered softly.

“Please, bring me something warm quickly. I feel like I’m going to die from the cold.”

Hazel, who entered the Willow Teahouse, immediately put firewood in the stove and lit it, then headed to the kitchen to brew tea.

Daniel checked several times to make sure the front door of the shop was properly locked, then sprawled out on the spacious chair he used to use as his personal seat.

“Here, drink this.”

A few minutes later, Hazel brought hot tea and handed it to Daniel.

“Ah, hot!”

A shrill scream escaped from Daniel as he immediately put the teacup to his lips after receiving it.

“Are you okay? You should drink it slowly.”

Daniel, who had set the teacup down on the table as if throwing it, muttered a low curse.

“Damn it, even this lousy tea is giving me trouble now.”

“…What on earth happened?”

Hazel asked in a deep, worried voice as she sat across from the man she was reuniting with after several months.

“Weren’t you recuperating in the countryside? Have the wounds from being robbed healed? When did you come up to the capital? Why were you in front of our shop?”

“Ask one at a time.”

Daniel shook his head with a deep sigh.

Come to think of it, the last time he met Hazel was before he was attacked by those damned thieves.

Feeling a slight irritation at having to explain from there, he opened his mouth.

“Actually, that mugging itself was the guy’s scheme. That bastard deliberately harmed me.”

“Who is this person?”

“Who else could it be? Seyerd Hilan, that son of a bitch!”

Daniel shouted in anger and slammed his fist on the table.

“I wasn’t even that badly hurt to begin with! But that bastard threatened my father, and my father, who was needlessly scared, forcibly confined me to the villa under the pretext of recuperation! Damn it!”

Hazel frowned slightly at that violent action, but without showing much reaction, she replied to Daniel’s words.

“Goodness. I had no idea there was such a backstory. So after somehow escaping from the villa, did you come to see me first? And you’re moving secretly because you need to avoid the eyes of Duke Hilan?”

“…”

Daniel, who was silent for a moment at that question, blurted out.

“That’s not it.”

“What?”

“The reason I’m running away like this is… because of the royal investigators.”

“The royal investigators? Why are they chasing you? Aren’t they direct subordinates of His Majesty the King who only deal with royal matters?”

Instead of answering the question, Daniel muttered another curse, “Damn it.”

“They say I leaked royal secrets. And that I did it under the instigation of the neighboring country of Jaque.”

“…Did you really do that?”

“Of course it’s a false accusation!”

After shouting out loud, he gritted his teeth and fumed.

“Count Theodore! If it weren’t for that vicious bastard!”

Hazel stared blankly at the man who couldn’t control his anger, then carefully asked.

“Who is that? Daniel, what exactly happened to you?”

That question took Daniel back to yesterday.

To last evening, when several investigators suddenly burst into the hotel room where he was staying.

“Daniel Lowens! You are under arrest on suspicion of leaking classified information!”

Although he had rented the lodging under an alias and acted with utmost caution in everything, they already knew Daniel’s identity.

Towards him, who was denying both his identity and the charges, the investigators told an unbelievable story.

“Don’t play dumb. The official who leaked the secrets confessed that it was all done under your instigation.”

According to them, a few days ago, it was discovered that an official working in the royal court had leaked confidential documents related to the royal family’s weapons purchases.

When the man firmly kept his mouth shut despite the investigators’ intense interrogation, Count Theodore voluntarily came to see them.

It was because the behavior of a man he had recently hired as an attendant was suspicious.

“He said he happened to witness you having a secret conversation with a stranger, and the content about weapons was quite alarming.”

The investigators immediately investigated the count’s attendant and soon discovered that his identity was the eldest son of Marquis Lowens, they said.

Why would the heir of a noble family, known to be recuperating, hide his identity and pretend to be a mere attendant?

It was the moment when the suspicions of the investigators, who were initially half-doubting Count Theodore’s report, deepened.

They said they investigated Daniel’s movements while putting more pressure on the official in question.

And the official, who was noticeably flustered at the name Daniel Lowens, soon confessed the truth.

That Daniel had tempted him by promising a large sum of money. Also, that he was working for Jaque.

The investigator, narrowing his eyes, glared at Daniel.

“You, didn’t you study abroad in Jaque a few years ago?”

“That was purely for academic purposes!”

“Really? But those who had exchanges with you in Jaque at the time testified that you made several statements praising Jaque’s culture, didn’t they?”

“What? I never did that! Who gave such testimony? Bring them before me!”

It was maddening and infuriating.

Although he had said something about learning good things even from an adversary, it was purely a statement for the sake of his country.

To think that someone as patriotic as himself would be recruited by Jaque and commit treason.

Daniel did his best to deny the charges, but the tight net had already ensnared his limbs.

“It’s useless to insist. There are also numerous eyewitness accounts of you drinking and socializing with that official.”

“When did I ever do that?”

“Exactly one week ago, at the red-roofed tavern next to the butcher shop.”

At that moment, Daniel was so shocked that his hair stood on end.

As the investigator said, he had indeed drunk at a red-roofed tavern a week ago. With a man he had met for the first time.

Although he had come as Count Theodore’s attendant, he obviously had no intention of serving him.

His purpose was simply to use Emile’s investigation to shake up Kisa.

The best future would be if Kisa really found evidence that Seyerd Hilan had committed murder and threw that bastard into the abyss of hell, but to be honest, Daniel knew well that this was just an unrealistic fantasy.

However, if Kisa doubted her fiancé again and again, and their relationship grew apart… that alone would be a satisfactory result for Daniel.

‘Ungrateful Kisa. Did you think I’d let you leave me and live happily?’

Not a chance. He intended to make Kisa and the bastard who took Kisa from him unhappy by any means necessary.

And then he would comfort that girl whose heart had been weakened by unhappiness.

Then Kisa would realize who the man was who truly cared for her, repenting her past mistake of leaving him.

‘Come to think of it, I guess I didn’t pay much attention to Kisa in the old days.’

Given their long years together and her easygoing personality, he thought she would tolerate that much, but his fiancée turned out to be just an ordinary woman after all.

One who desired a man’s constant attention and affection.

Kisa’s cry that she was not his possession echoed in Daniel’s ears.

He was thinking that it would be enough to accommodate her opinions moderately and allow her some freedom, as he tilted his glass of alcohol.

It was then.

“Hello, fine gentleman. If you don’t mind, may I buy you a drink?”

A man with a cheerful-looking expression approached him and spoke first.

The man’s proposal made him hesitate, but not for long.

“That book is Griffin’s new publication that was recently released, right? Actually, I just finished reading it and was looking for someone to share impressions with.”

The man pointed to the book lying in one corner of the table and scratched his head.

Daniel’s mouth corners slightly lifted as he looked at the man saying he didn’t expect to meet someone with that book in a place like this.

It was just a book he had brought as a boredom snack, but thanks to it, he got an unexpected bit of fun.

After shaking up Kisa as planned, Daniel had nothing particular to do.

Count Theodore said he had his own business to attend to and acted separately, and Emile was an unbearably boring fellow who spent his days in prayer and meditation.

But having escaped from the villa, he couldn’t go back to the Lowens marquis family or go around revealing his identity.

To Daniel, who had no choice but to relieve his boredom with alcohol, the man’s appearance was quite welcome.

The fact that he had read Griffin’s work that came out just a few days ago meant his academic background was acceptable. Moreover, his polite attitude wasn’t bad either.

“Then please, buy me a drink.”

Daniel gladly smiled in welcome at the counterpart who could satisfy his intellectual desires after a very long time.

It must have been so, and yet…

With his face turning pale, he pressed the investigator.

“You’re saying that man was the one who leaked the classified information? Are you sure? Didn’t you make a mistake?”

“There’s no way we made a mistake. The memories of the witnesses at the tavern at that time and the man’s appearance match exactly.”

“This can’t be…”

Only then did Daniel realize.

This was not a plot that Count Theodore alone could concoct.

A larger, more cunning, and more sinister malice was lurking beneath it.

A malice to send Daniel Lowens straight to hell.