The atmosphere around them froze in an instant.

Seyerd stared at Kisa silently, and Lily looked at the two of them with a startled face.

Soon, the master of the Hilan mansion shifted his gaze to the servant who was standing awkwardly.

“Then I will bring some water.”

After the quick-witted maid swiftly left the room, only the two of them remained in the guest room.

“…Kisa.”

Seeing the man approaching her again, Kisa shrank back as much as she could.

The half-impulsively thrown question made her suspicion even deeper.

‘No matter how tired I was, my condition yesterday was not normal.’

She had been conversing well with Seyerd up until the middle, when she suddenly felt terribly sleepy and collapsed.

The immediate possibility that came to mind was sleeping pills.

As she often suffered from insomnia, it was a drug she had seriously considered taking at one point.

Later, when Count Vanspelt heard about it, he rebuked her not to rely on drugs for an illness that was not serious, so it came to nothing, but she had also consulted with the family doctor about this.

‘Oversleeping unlike me, and this dazed feeling right now…’

According to the doctor, it was one of the characteristics of sleeping pills widely used in the kingdom recently.

The effect was quick and powerful, but it was said to be unrefreshing until the next morning.

In addition, there was a corner that could be traced back to how she ended up taking the sleeping pills.

‘The tea Gilliam brought.’

Yesterday, she was so nervous that she felt thirsty and drank the tea quickly.

Looking back, it was much faster than Seyerd, who drank it together with her.

‘If there were sleeping pills in there, it would make sense.’

There was no definite evidence to prove this, but she couldn’t just overlook it either.

Normally, she wouldn’t have known, but just yesterday, Kisa had faced an unbelievable truth.

‘…He really is someone I can’t trust.’

Last night, when she found out that it was an unavoidable self-defense for him to kill his younger brother, Kisa was inwardly relieved.

However, upon thinking about it carefully, it was just his claim in the first place.

Of course, there was also Emil Soosa’s confession, so it was convincing, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was the truth.

No, even if it was really self-defense, there were other suspicious things about this man’s history.

Why had he been pretending to be his younger brother all this time?

For what reason did he hide the fact that he had met Kisa when they were young and acted as if they were meeting for the first time?

For what purpose did he wait until Kisa entered the secret room and checked the scarf in question?

‘Above all, it means he appeared at the exact moment, implying he was watching me.’

Thinking that, her heart raced and cold sweat gathered in her hands.

“Stop.”

When the man was a few steps away from the bed, Kisa raised her hand to stop him.

“You…”

But Kisa’s mouth, which was about to ask if he had drugged her again with sleeping pills, stopped.

Those reddish-brown eyes that seemed to be worrying about her. That kind gaze, no different from before.

Kisa unknowingly changed the question.

“Who… are you?”

Her mouth moved on its own.

“Bisherk? Seyerd? What should I call you now?”

The man who was born with the name Bisherk and buried himself with his own hands to become Seyerd. Who is he?

His own answer to that fundamental question was extremely simple.

“As you wish.”

Seyerd, who had come close to Kisa in a single breath by widening his stride, said.

“Call me whatever you want.”

Staring into her shaking blue eyes, he took Kisa’s hand.

“Of course, in front of others, I recommend calling me Seyerd. But when it’s just the two of us, you can call me whatever you like. It’s up to you to decide who you think I am.”

Then he let Kisa touch his cheek. As if telling her to feel for herself who he was.

“…”

The skin that touched was soft and warm.

It was not that of a mysterious being that evoked fear, but that of a human with hot, red blood flowing inside.

That fact, along with the man’s unchanging eyes, confused Kisa.

Her head was noisily warning her to be wary of the man, but her heart denied it.

It’s Seyerd, whom she knows well.

Kisa’s kind, cool, and knowledgeable lover. Someone who truly loves her.

“Why…”

Kisa, who looked like a child who had lost a precious toy, asked with a sad face.

“Why did you drug me with sleeping pills?”

Seyerd gently stroked the back of Kisa’s hand, which was still on his cheek.

“I was worried about you.”

It was an answer acknowledging Kisa’s confident guess as fact.

“You were worried about me?”

“You recalled old memories you had forgotten, and on top of that, you heard a shocking truth through me, didn’t you? Moreover, you haven’t been able to sleep well at all recently. So I judged that it would be better for you to have a good night’s sleep at least last night.”

“Still, you drug someone with sleeping pills without their knowledge?”

“About that… I have no excuse. I’m sorry.”

Kisa was momentarily at a loss for words and closed her mouth.

It was the first time she had received a polite and clean apology and felt absurd.

“Actually, I was going to tell you during our conversation, but the effect appeared earlier than I expected.”

“…Are you saying it’s my fault for drinking up the tea quickly?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Her heart ached at his sad expression, but Kisa tried to avoid his gaze.

“Let go.”

She pulled her hand out of Seyerd’s grasp a bit roughly and glared at him.

Even considering the reason Seyerd had just given to the fullest extent, drugging her with sleeping pills was still unacceptable.

‘There must be something more to it.’

But what that was, Kisa had no way of knowing at the moment.

Even if she pressed him a few more times, it didn’t seem like Seyerd would readily confess.

‘I need to gather more information.’

She had fallen asleep yesterday while asking him why he was pretending to be his younger brother, and there was still a lot she didn’t know.

As if understanding her silence, Seyerd changed the subject.

“Breakfast and lunch are ready. If it’s alright with you, may we have it together?”

“…”

“Of course, I fully understand if you don’t want to face me anymore. In that case, I will have your portion of the meal brought here separately.”

It was his cunning side to take a low stance when it was disadvantageous for Kisa to press him further.

The part that used to look only lovely to her in the past now felt different, which made Kisa a little sad.

No, perhaps what was sad was that it was still lovely to her, even if it was somewhat different.

“Let’s eat together.”

Kisa opened her mouth, lowering her gaze.

“I have things I didn’t finish saying yesterday.”

At those words, Seyerd’s face brightened.

“It would be my honor.”

…It was solely for the purpose of gathering information.

A little later, the two were sitting across from each other at the dining table.

As Seyerd had told the servants that he did not need assistance during the meal, they withdrew after bringing out the dishes.

Seeing Kisa picking at her food, Seyerd said with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Don’t worry, Kisa. This time I didn’t put any sleeping pills in it.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Kisa answered like that, but she didn’t satisfy her hungry stomach to the fullest.

In fact, there was suspicion due to the previous day’s events, but she had no appetite at all.

After all, with the topic she was about to dig into, there was no way the food would go down her throat well.

Seyerd patiently waited for her to ask first.

How much time passed in the quiet mealtime that was suffocating?

Finally, Kisa, who had decided what to ask first, spoke up.

“I found out what happened to the real Seyerd. According to you, he died then… and was buried at that villa.”

“That’s right.”

“Then what about Coby Brown? What happened to the Coby we met together at that time?”

Coby Brown. An accomplice who had planned the murder with the real Seyerd and whose current whereabouts were unknown.

Seyerd’s answer to his fate was…

“He’s dead.”

Although she had expected it, Kisa stopped the hand holding the fork at the shocking story and swallowed her dry saliva.

“It’s a cruel thing, but since I decided not to hide it from you anymore, I will tell you honestly. Coby is no longer of this world. He lost his life at my direction.”

“I… I see.”

Kisa bit her lips, feeling her voice tremble.

“He conspired with my younger brother to kill me. In fact, he accompanied us to the front of the villa and kept watch while Seyerd hid inside. He ran away in the middle, probably out of fear, but for me, he is someone I can hardly bestow mercy or leniency upon.”

“…I understand that.”

Kisa also had no intention of telling him to forgive even the one who had tried to kill her.

Moreover, at that time, there was a high possibility that he did not know that Emil Soosa had noticed their plan, so it would not have been easy to prove that Coby was an accomplice.

It meant that it was difficult to expect the judgment of the law.

‘Still, killing a person… No, am I thinking too naively? This might be the typical reaction.’

Honestly, she didn’t know what was what anymore.

After constantly hearing tremendous stories, it felt like a part of her head had gone numb.

“Then what about Bishius Soosa?”

Kisa stared blankly at the food in front of her for a moment and asked Seyerd.

“Did you kill him too because he was an accomplice of your younger brother?”

At those words, Seyerd made a peculiar expression.

“Bishius Soosa is…”

After a slight pause, he smiled faintly.

“He is here right now.”