“I apologize, but taking it off wouldn’t be more pleasant.”

In an instant, her gaze changed.

“You’re that… woman from the South.”

There was contempt in her eyes as she looked at me for the first time.

I was bewildered.

What is this feeling?

It was as if she had already heard some bad things about me. No, it was more than that.

“You’re sticking close to my elder brother?”

“!”

Something’s strange.

If she had heard about me, she would have also heard about the Grand Duke taking poison for Arcadia’s sake. Yet she still has this attitude…

I grabbed Arcadia’s arm as he flinched.

‘Stay still, Deputy Commander.’

At that moment, Infidel Nugent spoke up, as if trying to change the atmosphere.

“Your Grace, the Grand Duchess of Lahert sent a gift a few days ago.”

‘A gift!’

“A gift from the Grand Duchess of Lahert? That’s unexpected.”

The Grand Duke’s voice lowered.

“Yes. Saying she wants to be forgiven for not protecting the North from the unfortunate disaster that befell the Southern Grand Duchy, she sent documents transferring ownership of a pink diamond mine in the Central region.”

“A pink diamond mine. I see. Did you receive it directly?”

“Ah, no, I didn’t.”

“Then who received it?”

“Well…”

“I received it directly, Your Grace.”

Julia Nugent cut in before her elder brother could finish.

“You did?”

There was a question in the Grand Duke’s voice.

‘So the gift has already arrived, to this woman.’

But is the diamond mine the entire gift?

It can’t be.

A bad feeling swept through my chest once again.

“Yes, Your Grace. As there is no lady of the castle at present, she must have thought I, as a fellow young lady and the only daughter of a Northern vassal family, would be an appropriate recipient. Perhaps she judged that too official a delivery would be too formal.”

“Young lady.”

“Yes.”

“Medeia is not someone who would consider you an equal young lady.”

“!!!”

“What happened to me and the Knight Deputy Commander was a very public matter, reported even to the Imperial family. Therefore, your judgment that she avoided formality is incorrect.”

“!”

‘Your Grace.’

The Grand Duke had just sent a stern warning to the Nugent young lady to mind her place.

The white woman before me began to tremble with humiliation.

“Your Grace’s words are correct.”

Infidel Nugent turned to look at his younger sister with angry eyes.

“Who was it that brought those documents?”

The Grand Duke asked, and Count Nugent answered.

“I heard it was just a messenger from the South.”

“Where is he now?”

Julia cut in again.

“He returned to the South after delivering the documents.”

The Grand Duke asked doubtfully.

“…He returned?”

“Yes. Right away.”

“Did you meet him directly? Did Count Nugent not see him?”

“Yes… I apologize.”

Nugent bowed his head. Julia also bent her waist and said.

“I was told to formally deliver it to my elder brother, but he left right away, so I was flustered as well.”

“What kind of person was he?”

“Just an ordinary man.”

“An ordinary man, you say. His position and name?”

“He said Drake. As for his position, just a messenger…”

The Grand Duke’s brow furrowed.

“How careless.”

The Nugent young lady’s shoulders trembled slightly at the Grand Duke’s mutter.

A strange intuition spoke to me.

‘There’s no way he would have left after just leaving the documents.’

I looked at Julia Nugent.

The white woman was shining even whiter after the Grand Duke’s warning. With an elegant smile, no less.

[This is the timeline separator]

The inside of the Grand Duchy was even more massive and magnificent than its outward appearance.

I was to stay with Bran in a separate castle where the quarters for prospective knights were located.

While the official knights, Moby, Ergo, and others had spaces in the main castle, prospective knights were assigned independent rooms in the separate castle, like a dormitory.

It was fortunate, if anything, that the separate castle was right next to the main castle, and that the stables were also here.

‘I can observe those who come and go. And Julia too.’

The room I was assigned had a direct view of the 4th-floor corridor of the main castle.

I entered the main castle under the pretext of meeting Arcadia.

I wanted to meet him and discuss Medeia’s ‘gift’.

‘It should be around here.’

It was when I reached about the 3rd floor looking for Arcadia. Suddenly, I heard the sound of someone arguing loudly.

“Julia! You ignorant, foolish colt!”

It was Arcadia.

The sound was coming from inside a room decorated with transparent crystal at the end of the corridor.

“The ignorant one is you, elder brother! I’ve protected this Grand Duchy even when you weren’t here! I know more about the North than you do!”

“What do you know about the North!”

“The real North! The North that you don’t know because you only believe in His Grace the Grand Duke!”

“What did you say?”

“You’re the one who knows nothing!”

Julia Nugent growled, overcome with anger.

‘Julia Nugent.’

I coldly chewed and swallowed her name.

Then I turned around, sensing an unfamiliar presence behind me.

There stood Leuine Axel.

She gave me a light eye greeting when our eyes met. Though that gaze was far from warm.

She had probably arrived before me and been listening to the siblings’ argument.

“Fine, fine. Let’s say you know the North better. But I know the South much better than you do. You could be in a dangerous situation! Let me show you a video I obtained with great difficulty.”

“A video?”

“My adjutant, whom you treated badly, obtained it.”

“That girl is a spy from the South! You foolish elder brother!”

Bang- The door flew open.

It was Julia Nugent who stormed out.

I stared at her blankly.

‘I’m a spy from the South?’

Her tone was so full of conviction.

Her eyes widened with anger when she saw me.

“See! This cat-like wench!”

Were all the Nugents this foul-mouthed?

At that moment, she raised her hand as if to slap my cheek.

I stepped back lightly to avoid the attack.

But she didn’t back down and raised her hand once more.

It was Arcadia who grabbed her wrist.

“How dare you raise a hand against her. What are you doing!”

“How dare I? Hah.”

“Apologize. She’s my benefactor.”

“What?”

“I said apologize, Lady Nugent.”

“I refuse, Lord Nugent.”

She glared at me fiercely with tear-filled eyes before turning and leaving the place.

Arcadia frowned as if he had a headache. Then he sincerely apologized.

“I’m sorry, Esther.”

“Not at all. I didn’t get hit.”

‘This won’t be easy.’

If even Arcadia couldn’t handle Julia, we needed to find another solution.

But what other solution could there be?

“Deputy Commander. If the young lady knows that I lived in the South, she must have also heard what His Grace did to save you. Was her reaction always this severe?”

“No, not to this extent.”

He said seriously.

I stared at Arcadia.

“Then perhaps… she has already received the gift?”

Arcadia’s eyes shone brightly.

“How can you be so sure?”

“It’s intuition.”

Medeia’s gift doesn’t necessarily mean just physical objects.

Her gift is a vessel that contains ‘lies’ and ‘division’.

Julia’s attitude was clearly crossing the line.

[This is the timeline separator]

I was about to meet the head maid to deliver Hans the butler’s quality assurance certificate, but decided to wait a while.

I thought it would be better to use it at the most appropriate timing when help was needed.

Instead, I began to secretly monitor Julia’s movements.

Secretly, without telling anyone.

I couldn’t ask Arcadia for help.

If emotions get involved, he might mess things up.

‘The gift isn’t just the diamond mine.’

In terms of wealth, the North had far greater resources than the South.

Yet they sent someone all the way to the North to apologize for a crime they don’t even acknowledge, like a mere formality, with a mine?

There’s clearly an answer in the fog, but I can’t see what that answer is.

From my experience infiltrating the Northern Grand Duchy in my previous life, I know some of the back alleys of the North.

I not only kept an eye on the young lady’s room on the 2nd floor of the main castle, but also investigated these back alleys to see if there were any strangers sneaking in and out of the castle.

I also asked Yora to check if there were any strangers coming in and out of the stables.

If the ‘gift’ delivered to Julia Nugent was ‘information that incited anger’, it must have been delivered through a person.

A few days later. It was the day I heard the Nugent siblings arguing again.

The young lady, who always ate alone, came down to the banquet hall for some reason.

Thanks to her, the gathering with the deputy commander and the knights became very uncomfortable.

Probably because everyone had heard the malicious rumors she was spreading about me – that I was a spy.

Even those who believed in me could be made to doubt by the unanimous voices of many people.

Yet she ate her meal with a bright face and went up to her room.

“The North has been full of people all day long after such a long time. I’m tired, so I think I’ll rest early.”

She even left such words to the head maid who was in the middle of her meal.

That night.

Very late at night, I discovered her walking secretly through the main castle corridor.

After leaving the castle, she pulled her hood over her head and walked into the darkness, heading somewhere.

[This is the timeline separator]

She left the Grand Duchy entirely.

As I secretly followed her from shadow to shadow, I discovered another shadow following the young lady.

Black hair completely blending with the pitch-dark darkness.

Although his whole body was covered with a black cloak, I recognized who he was.

‘Your Grace the Grand Duke!’

I had to hide my presence not only from the young lady but also from the Grand Duke.

I didn’t want to arouse any more unnecessary suspicion.

It’s bitter, but unavoidable.

It was when we arrived in front of the frozen ‘Terra’ river.

The young lady, who had painfully descended the plateau, mounted a horse standing in front of the river.

‘Why is there a horse here?’

Before I could ponder my confusion, the black horse galloped powerfully across the ice towards Hailway, the central city of the North.

‘At this rate, I’ll lose her.’

My horse was in the stable.

With no other choice, I gathered my power as a Sword Master and ran after the horse on my two legs.

I saw the figure of the Grand Duke standing still in the darkness, no longer able to track the young lady.

[This is the timeline separator]

The place where the horse carrying the young lady arrived was in front of a shabby warehouse on the outskirts of the city.

A place surrounded by forests, with no sign of people.

The young lady dismounted from the horse and entered the warehouse as if familiar with it.

After a while, a faint light leaked out from the dark warehouse.

I climbed onto the roof and peered inside through a hole I barely found.

‘!’

I froze.

Inside the warehouse, next to Julia Nugent who had lowered her hood…

There was a red caterpillar.

A red caterpillar with platinum blonde dyed hair, at that.

My vision blurred white with anger.

‘Get a grip, Esther. You need to stay calm.’

I took out the video stone I had kept in my bosom.

It was a video stone I had been carrying around, intending to show Julia whenever Arcadia got the chance to call me.

A video stone that captured the image of the red caterpillar giving me orders to ‘build a friendship with Julia Nugent’.

The video stone that contained the story that it was a Southern assassin who killed her father, Hern Nugent.

‘I’m glad I carried it around. Ventus, capture that image.’

As I gave the order in my mind, a transparent warmth began to circulate in the video stone in my hand.

I listened to what the caterpillar was saying inside the warehouse.

“My lady. You’ve listened to my words, given me sanctuary, and now you’re even listening to my loneliness. I’m so grateful I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s nothing. Listening to the truth is the legacy that my father, the former acting Grand Duke of the North, left me.”

“Indeed. You are more beautiful and wise than anyone I’ve ever met, my lady. Have you seen that Southern spy I told you about?”

“Yes. You mean that masked girl? She was so, so impudent.”

“You observed accurately.”

What an outrageous conversation.

I see.

The fake imperial princess candidate, Cecilia, after waking up from hypnosis, reported to the Emperor that the one who hypnotized her was a man with red hair who spoke with a Southern accent.

She was referring to the red caterpillar.

Medeia heard that too.

Medeia, you sent the caterpillar this way to avoid the eyes of the imperial family. Disguising it as a gift to enchant the Nugent young lady while you were at it.

You expected me to join forces with the gift you sent.

That’s why you told me about sending a gift. Hoping that I would still be your Bella.

[This is the timeline separator]

A long while later, the young lady left.

I drew my sword from its scabbard.

A warehouse in the woods with no people around.

A place where there could be no witnesses.

I turned off the video stone for a moment.

Then, standing on the roof, I infused the iron sword with sword energy. The sword trembled with a silver light and began to cry.

I thrust that sword right into the roof.

As the entire roof exploded, I fell down.

The red caterpillar’s eyes widened as it saw me.

Without even giving it time to blink, I struck its abdomen with the back of my sword, sending it flying into the air.