I slowly walked towards the red caterpillar that was stuck to the wall and couldn’t get up.

It lay sprawled out as if dead, then after a while, it wriggled and opened its eyes.

“Long time no see.”

“You, shouldn’t you not do this to me?”

It sneered and spat out blood-mixed saliva on the floor.

“Did you set off a bomb or something?”

I silently commanded, turning on the image stone.

“I wonder what you whispered to Lady Julia Nugent. How did you make her say such things to you when she barely knows you?”

At that, it clutched its chest and laughed with a pained expression, coughing.

“It hurts, white caterpillar. Why should I tell you that?”

“……”

I infused the sheath with sword energy and struck his left shin.

– Arghh!

“It’ll hurt a bit. It’s not broken, just cracked, so with your level of stamina, it should heal soon.”

“You, you monster bitch…!”

“I asked what you said.”

“I said it wasn’t the South that instigated the death of the former Northern Grand Duke’s regent. It was the Northern Grand Duke who turned a blind eye. If the regent didn’t die, the Grand Duke couldn’t return to the North.”

‘!’

“…Is that all?”

“Shouldn’t you not do this to me? We’re on the same side, aren’t we?”

I struck the creature’s right ankle with the sheath.

– Arghhhh!

“Just cracked.”

It rolled its eyes, filled with anger.

“You traitor.”

“You betrayed me first. Why did you tell her I was a Southern spy? We’re on the same side.”

“…When did I?”

It looked up at me with a dumbfounded expression.

Why is it suddenly pretending not to know? After realizing I heard everything.

The caterpillar said.

“You’re the one, ugh… attacking me, your ally, like this. As I thought… my guess was right.”

“?”

“After meeting you, the Cecilia incident turned into a mess. Before that, she was just blissfully under my hypnosis, but suddenly she came to her senses. Then the Empress suddenly appeared.”

One corner of its mouth curled up vilely.

“You, you’ve changed sides, haven’t you?”

I looked down at it expressionlessly.

“No.”

“Liar! Ugh!”

It clutched its chest area again.

“Then why are you attacking me? It’s strange, isn’t it? Wasn’t our goal to bring down that Grand Duke of yours? I was doing well, working hard alone while you were gone.”

“How much did you lie to her?”

“See? Hehe. It’s certain now. You say you’re on my side but you’re taking their side. And trying to kill me.”

I spoke without emotion.

“You won’t die. Not until you confess.”

“What’s so good about that foolish Grand Duke that you’d betray Lady Julia for him?”

“……”

“An incompetent political cripple who just wanders battlefields. What, ah! Is it because your face is like that too, so you’re siding with a fellow cripple?”

“The real fool here is someone like you.”

I turned off the image stone for a moment.

And then.

– Arghhhhhh!

I broke it, his right arm.

“You’re just Medeia’s puppet who knows nothing.”

He’s not someone the likes of you can carelessly speak of.

He treated a young girl called a monster as a person,

Saved that child from a den of monsters,

Said he didn’t trust but would use her,

Let her sleep by a warm stove.

Instead, facing the cold wind, he found a way she never thought of.

He saved the lives of a baron couple and a woman, which meant nothing to you.

The likes of you… someone who knows nothing like you shouldn’t carelessly speak of him.

“Hehe. Medeia’s puppet, you say.”

It laughed with a face contorted in pain.

“You just confessed, didn’t you? That you betrayed Lady Julia. My hunch was right after all.”

A chilling sensation ran down my spine.

I looked at the chest area where it kept putting its hand.

I clearly hit the abdomen, so why.

‘!’

I tore open its chest.

It pushed me away with its unbroken left arm. I blocked that hand and stripped off the caterpillar’s clothes.

‘Oh no!’

There was a small hole in the part of the clothes it had been covering with its hand. And underneath was a small reddish stone.

A magic stone.

I snatched the stone and pointed my sword at its neck. It kept giggling.

“An image stone?”

“No. Hehe. You foolish woman. It’s a transmission stone.”

“A transmission stone?”

“Lady Medeia just saw everything you did. She’s probably still watching?”

I looked at the stone in shock.

“Oh, damn. It turned off.”

“…Red caterpillar.”

“What~?”

“I really… will have to kill you someday.”

[This is the timeline separator]

I put down Julia and returned to the horse, loading the red caterpillar I had bound like a cocoon. Then I rode the horse back to the Grand Duke’s castle.

It was late at night, so I couldn’t make much noise.

I need to inform someone of this first.

But who?

…Not Arcadia. It’s too much for him to handle.

Julia Nugent’s words and actions in the video I took could be interpreted as treason depending on how they’re viewed.

It’s not something to make a big fuss about. It needs to be handled quietly and discreetly.

‘I have no choice but to meet the Grand Duke.’

I entered the stable and secretly called out Yora.

Yora, who had been sleeping, came out with half-closed eyes but was startled when he realized what I had brought was a person.

“Esede, wha is thi……(Esther, what is this……)

Then his eyes, once those of an assassin, glinted as he recognized who the cocoon was.

“Red caterpillar.”

Yora had said before. That it was the red caterpillar who had drugged him and cut out his tongue.

That’s when.

“What are you two doing there?”

On the stairs, Bran stood in his pajamas holding a glass of water.

‘Oh no……’

“What are you doing? You two Southerners?”

Bran approached.

There’s no helping it now that we’ve been caught.

I showed the red caterpillar to Bran as well. And briefly told him the information I could share.

“So this skinny pale-faced bastard seduced the young lady? He’s a subordinate of that wicked woman?”

Bran was strangely more agitated than I expected.

We moved the red caterpillar to Yora’s room. Bran and Yora tied him tightly to a chair so he couldn’t move at all.

“This guy, can I kill him?”

Yora’s eyes blazed with resentment.

“No, Yora. I understand how you feel, but this guy is important information. Precious evidence to prove the South’s evil deeds.”

“…His tongue? Can I cut it out?”

“You wouldn’t be able to do even that.”

Acknowledging my words, Yora dropped his head helplessly.

Yora is fundamentally good. He might want to pay back what was done to him, but this boy lacks the cruelty for such brutal revenge.

I could suddenly imagine how difficult it must have been for Yora to receive assassin training.

“Let’s punish him by law.”

Yora nodded at my words.

“Don’t worry and go. We’ll guard this guy with our lives, not letting him take a single step out of here.”

Bran spoke like a gallant knight.

“I’m counting on you two.”

[This is the timeline separator]

After taking a deep breath, I knocked on the door of the Grand Duke’s office. Soon the door opened and……

The Grand Duke’s pupils dilated when he saw me.

“Your Highness, I apologize for the late hour. Something came up that I must tell you about.”

I showed him the image stone.

His face darkened.

“If I had known you’d return so quickly, I should have waited for you outside.”

“?!”

Had he seen me in that darkness?

“Come in.”

I silently entered his office.

Unlike the office in the Jeju mansion, it was a dry place made of gray bricks.

Except for the red flames burning in the fireplace, everything was achromatic.

“Ventus, show me.”

I projected the image stone onto the wall. He quietly sat on the sofa.

Then he paused when he saw the red caterpillar next to Julia.

The Grand Duke leaned forward in his seat.

“It’s the red caterpillar.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the caterpillar in the image said,

“Only if the former Northern regent passed away could the Northern Grand Duke return to his homeland. That’s probably why. He turned a blind eye to Lord Hern Nugent’s death.”

“Unforgivable. I suspected, but… Ah, Father.”

Julia trembles with hatred.

“The South is currently politically divided. For peace to come, Lady Medeia’s faction, which wants to help the North and get along well with the North, needs to gain more power than now. But the Northern Grand Duke keeps misunderstanding and doubting us……”

“Foolish and cruel human! You can’t even compare to my father’s little toe, yet you dare…! Drake, do you know what the Grand Duke said to me? He dared ask if I thought Lady Medeia and I were on the same level, me, the daughter of Hern Nugent.”

“Oh my.”

The caterpillar adds an exclamation as if genuinely surprised.

“He must want to suppress the Nugent family. I understand. That’s how he can fully control the North. Ah…… Lady Lahert said after much deliberation. No matter how she thought about it, only the ‘Nugent lady’ could discern the truth, she said. Then she told me, if I make it to the North alive, she would grant me freedom……”

“How merciful.”

“Yes, truly……”

The red caterpillar sniffles.

“But she insisted I must convey this. The woman the Grand Duke took with him is a spy planted by the other divided factions of the South. She said the Nugent lady must deal with that woman to save the North.”

Why did he slander me when I should have been on the same side?

Did he suspect I had changed sides?

Are those whispers Medeia’s will, or the red caterpillar’s own decision?

What’s clear is that he wanted to tell Medeia that I had changed sides.

Judging by how quickly he secretly turned on the transmission stone, one can guess.

Did he think, as always, that he could monopolize Medeia’s trust if I disappeared?

Is that why he told the Nugent lady I was a Southern spy, wanting to get rid of me?

That’s when.

– Crash

As the building’s ceiling collapsed, I jumped down. And the image turned off.

‘Oh no, I should have turned it off a bit sooner.’

For a while, the Grand Duke was silent.

In the silence, he kept staring at the gray wall where the image had already disappeared.

Finally, he stood up and turned to look at me. Deep blue eyes gazed at me.

“Esther, are you hurt anywhere?”

“…No. I was surprised when the roof suddenly collapsed, but it seemed to have been built quite shoddily.”

I lie again.

Blue eyes tinged with sadness look at me.

“It seems too late, but… I want to say I’m sorry once more.”

“Pardon?”

‘Is he talking about that incident at the training grounds?’

“I saw you chasing after Lady Nugent.”

“!”

“Because of my lack of power, I made you go to a difficult place alone again.”

‘Grand Duke, what are you saying… That your power is lacking?’

“No, Your Highness. I’m actually quite good at running……”

What are you saying, Esther?

Fidgeting, I met the Grand Duke’s eyes directly.

No, you shouldn’t be apologizing to me.

You saved me from the hellish Lahert family.

It’s perhaps natural that you can’t fully trust me, yet I felt disappointed, ungrateful for your kindness.

The Grand Duke, who had been staring at me, slowly opened his mouth.

“In this life, I will trust you. No matter what, I will trust you. And I will bear all the consequences. Just don’t get hurt, Esther.”

“!”

He’ll trust me in this life.

In this life.

“No, Your Highness. I will also bear those consequences. And.”

The words I always hesitated to say and couldn’t. Those words finally spilled out.

“If someday, when that day comes when I can speak, I will tell Your Highness everything. Until then, can you not ask what it is that I’m hiding?”

“I won’t ask. Until you speak.”

Sion Belfast nodded with sincere blue eyes.

“I too hope for a day when I can tell you everything.”

He smiled gently.

I don’t know what it is that he can’t say. But whatever it is, I can wait. Because even the fact that you’re within a reachable distance if I wait is like a dream to me.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I can only answer yes.

“Would you call Arcadia for me?”

“Yes.”