Suddenly, I realized there was one more thing I needed to report.
I took out the transmission stone the Red Caterpillar had been carrying from my pocket.
“Your Grace, the Caterpillar had this with him.”
“A transmission stone.”
He knew.
Reading my expression, the Duke said, “Most transmission stones are like this, with an opaque core visible inside a transparent stone. The North also has about ten of these stones. Information is vital on the battlefield.”
“I see. Your Grace, this stone is connected to Lady Medea. My identity… it’s been exposed to the lady.”
“…”
“While I was capturing the Caterpillar on the video stone, he was transmitting my image to the lady. I’m sorry.”
I bit my lip in frustration.
I needed to continue pretending to be a double agent to extract information from the South, but now this major avenue was blocked.
The Duke said, “Perhaps it’s for the best.”
“?”
“We’ll have to confront them head-on now. As you know, I prefer direct confrontations.”
I almost smiled unwittingly.
Suppressing my expression, I spoke, “I’m also ready to face them head-on, even though I’m not confident about winning.”
“Ha ha.”
The Duke laughed, and a refreshing breeze seemed to blow and then fade away.
Even amidst the serious situation of a spy wreaking havoc in the North, his rare laughter somehow calmed my turbulent heart.
I eventually found myself smiling too.
After activating the video stone in front of Arcadia, I stepped outside the Duke’s office.
I waited for him to see everything.
The sound from the video stone leaked outside the door. Time passed, and the most recent recording played.
“Why would you betray the lady for that foolish Duke? A politically impotent wanderer of battlefields. Taking sides with such a person, ah! Is it because you share a similar defect in your appearance?”
“The real fool here is you.”
‘Ah, I hadn’t shown this part to the Duke yesterday.’
I felt a bit embarrassed.
I wandered away from the Duke’s office, not wanting to overhear the conversation between him and Arcadia.
After a while, I returned to the office. There was no sound from inside.
I waited aimlessly.
Shortly after, the door opened, and Arcadia came out.
His face was a mix of despair, regret, anger, and pain.
Seeing his face, I couldn’t lift mine.
Noticing me, he swallowed his emotions.
“I’m sorry, Vice-Captain.”
I blurted out the words. There was nothing else I could say.
“Nonsense.”
His voice was deeply submerged.
“I’m truly grateful that you stopped my sister… If it weren’t for you, I can’t even imagine what might have happened.”
“…”
“I’m sincerely grateful, Esdel. Again, I owe you a debt I can never repay.”
Debt? Arcadia, it’s not like that.
My heart ached.
He walked to the end of the corridor and pressed something on the wall.
Then, from within the walls of the entire Duke’s Castle, countless bells began to ring.
An elegant yet authoritative sound woke everyone in the castle.
I later learned that it was a signal to summon all the knights of the Northern Order and to open the dungeon of the castle.
The Red Caterpillar was locked in the deep underground dungeon of the Duke’s Castle, where no natural light reached.
And secretly, Julia Nugent was brought in.
Unaware that she was being taken, she entered the Duke’s office with a haughty face. Seeing the expressions of the Duke, Arcadia, and me, she hesitated.
I silently activated the video stone.
On the colorless wall, the past image of the Red Caterpillar with red hair was vividly projected.
From a certain tavern in the capital, the image of the Red Caterpillar meeting with me appeared.
“Listen well. Once you return to the North, try to get close to Julia Nugent. I’ll send a letter later.”
The Red Caterpillar spoke as if issuing a command, spitting out the name Julia Nugent with contempt.
Julia’s face turned pale. Despite being before she dyed her hair, she recognized the Red Caterpillar.
“Do you know who assassinated the former Northern Duke’s deputy?”
“Anyway, the Black Caterpillar has been burnt to nothing. If it hadn’t died, I would have killed it myself one day.”
As the video continued, the Duchess’s face became increasingly pale, as if melting into a pure white snow.
She cried out in a strained voice, “What is this? Why did you summon me to watch such an unpleasant video?”
“Julie.”
Arcadia called his sister’s nickname.
“That guy, he’s the so-called Drake. He is an assassin from the South, Medea’s henchman, and the creator of the ‘false princess’ in the incident you’ve heard about. And… you were deceived by him.”
“Ha!”
The Duchess exclaimed incredulously.
“It can’t be, brother. Is this video captured by that Southern girl? How can you be sure this video is real? She’s definitely a spy from the South!”
“She was a spy.”
The Duke’s deep voice filled the room.
“A foolish gift from Medea, thinking she was a double agent. A stroke of luck for Arcadia and me in this life.”
‘Your Grace.’
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
