“Are you awake?”

It was the Grand Duke.

“Your Highness!”

“May I open the curtains?”

“What? Oh, yes?”

The Grand Duke waited patiently as I was flustered. As I slowly sat up, he drew back the curtains that served as a partition.

He was there, just as I had seen him in the early dawn.

“Your Highness, how… How long have you been here?”

“The facilities here are better than in my room. It’s also better for the doctors to examine. Since war is our daily life, at least the infirmary in the North is… good.”

The Grand Duke’s attempt to appear nonchalant was endearing.

“Weren’t you lonely staying here by yourself?”

I found myself joking. The situation of sitting on the infirmary bed facing each other was quite novel.

But the Grand Duke showed a quiet smile.

“Perhaps.”

“……”

What should I say in response?

Seeing my expression, the Grand Duke spoke.

“Actually, I was waiting because there’s something I need, Esther.”

‘Ah… So that’s why.’

As expected.

“What is it, Your Highness?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, could you activate Ventus’ image stone?”

“The image stone?”

The moment when the Grand Duke gave up the holy sword Lapis for my sake flashed through my mind again.

But I froze at the Grand Duke’s next words.

“Julia Nugent has helped the Red Larva escape.”

“!”

“This dawn, Arcadia came to me and reported everything.”

‘Arcadia?!’

“You entrusted the image stone to Head Maid Lewine, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I was worried about just leaving.”

“I don’t know what Hans told her, but it seems the Head Maid kept your request properly. She must have risked her life.”

“!”

“We need to check the crimes Julia has committed. Until we confirm, we’ve decided to postpone judgment. We can’t punish a crime we haven’t seen, especially not for a young lady of House Nugent.”

That’s right. Julia Nugent is the young lady of the North’s premier vassal family. Also, the only daughter of the former Acting Grand Duke of the North.

And, Arcadia Nugent’s only younger sister.

I couldn’t help but ask.

“Your Highness. If… if it’s true that the young lady released the Larva, what will happen to her?”

A deep darkness passed over the Grand Duke’s face.

“Throughout history, those who have hidden spies or conspired with them, thereby harming the North, have never…”

“……”

“Escaped the death penalty.”

He gazed at me.

I clutched the image stone in my bosom.

Death penalty.

In my previous life, the Grand Duke’s fiancée, Julia Nugent, who hid a letter from the enemy Sanctus Empire in the Northern Grand Duke’s bedroom.

That letter was forged by Medeia, and Julia used it to frame the Grand Duke as a spy colluding with the enemy.

Thanks to that decisive false accusation, the Emperor was able to kill the Grand Duke.

That dangerous Julia Nugent might disappear in this life.

But she is Arcadia’s younger sister.

“Arcadia and the Head Maid are waiting. Will you be alright, Esther?”

“…Yes.”

As soon as I answered, the Grand Duke pulled the cord hanging from the ceiling.

A moment later, Arcadia and the Head Maid entered the infirmary.

Arcadia’s face was extremely haggard.

Knowing the reason, my heart ached.

Lewine Axel spoke to me.

“Sir Knight. From the part where Julia asked for a doctor 8 days ago, complaining of stomach pain……”

The Head Maid’s voice was steeped in sorrow.

Arcadia was staring far beyond the window, not at me. He seemed unable to fix his gaze anywhere.

It was heartbreaking.

But it was something that had to be done for the North.

“Will you watch it here right away?”

“…Yes.”

The Grand Duke answered.

I activated the image stone.

Julia’s figure leaving her room was projected on the white wall of the infirmary. The image stone shakes as it discovers this scene.

Probably the observer, the Head Maid’s agitation.

The pain of the Head Maid, who had to witness something she didn’t want to believe, was vividly captured in the image stone’s gaze.

I looked at the Head Maid. Her expression wasn’t visible as she had her head bowed. She spoke.

“I couldn’t believe it. If only I had stopped her then.”

“If you had, you might have been killed too, Lewine.”

Arcadia replied dryly.

Arcadia…

In the image, the young lady entered the secret passage.

After hesitating, the Head Maid waited for a long time in front of the passage before finally following inside.

In the distance, the young lady could be seen talking with the Red Larva.

− If you’re truly honest with me, show me once more what you did for me then.

The young lady says.

− Just one more time, let me be with my mother and father.

At that moment, Arcadia’s shoulders trembled.

The Grand Duke turned his head away to a distant place.

The Red Larva hypnotizes Julia.

− Julia Nugent, who am I?

− My friend.

− Yes, you foolish girl.

The Larva insults the young lady while handing her something and putting another into its own sleeve.

The two enter the secret passage. The Head Maid hurriedly hides on the opposite side of the passage.

The following images were horrific.

− Ah… please.

Lewine’s groan-like voice is embedded in the image.

But despite that wish, when Julia sprinkles something she received from the Larva, two knights fall asleep.

‘Sleeping gas!’

I gritted my teeth without realizing.

Red Larva, you bastard.

The apprentice knight who had gone to call a doctor discovers Julia and runs over.

Julia sprays gas on the knight. The Red Larva cuts him down and kills him.

− The sword cuts well, not bad for a Northern one.

He killed the young knight just to see how well the stolen sword cuts.

Julia just stares blankly at the scene.

The two enter Infidel Nugent’s office. Shortly after, Count Nugent enters that room.

But only Julia and the Red Larva come out.

A red teleportation stone is in the Red Larva’s hand.

“Enough. This is sufficient.”

The Grand Duke said.

I stopped the image.

At that moment, Arcadia slowly knelt before the Grand Duke.

“Your Highness, this sin can only be repaid with death.”

Leaving those words, he went outside.

The Head Maid began to sob.

The Grand Duke silently stared at the place where Arcadia had left.

“I’ll go after him.”

“No, Esther. Leave him be.”

The Grand Duke’s voice was subdued.

After a while, he too went outside.

I followed in the direction the Grand Duke and Arcadia had gone, arriving at the wide garden outside the castle.

In the distance, I could see Arcadia hunched over in front of the fountain.

He was weeping sadly.

Julia’s words to the Larva wouldn’t leave my mind.

− Just one more time, let me be with my mother and father.

Julia, you were so lonely.

Your own wounds were so great that you hurt others, and because of that, you became even lonelier.

Arcadia seemed to have just realized this about his younger sister’s heart.

When I suddenly looked up, I saw the Grand Duke standing by the window in the castle corridor.

He too was looking down at Arcadia. The Grand Duke looked pained.

‘Your Highness, what decision will you make?’

[This is the timeline separator]

That night, I went to Head Maid Lewine’s room.

As soon as she opened the door, I asked.

“Head Maid, where is Lady Nugent now?”

Her eyes wavered.

“She’s imprisoned in the underground dungeon.”

“Who did this?”

“Lord Arcadia Nugent.”

The Head Maid’s face was tinged with sadness.

‘You must have watched Julia grow up since she was very young.’

I could understand Lewine’s feelings.

“Thank you.”

Leaving her behind as she seemed to want to say something, I headed for the dungeon.

[This is the timeline separator]

Two knights were guarding the entrance to the underground dungeon.

They were different from the knights who had inhaled the sleeping gas in the image stone’s screen.

“I’ve come to see the young lady briefly on the Grand Duke’s orders.”

I had to lie. They wouldn’t let me in otherwise.

The knights hesitated.

“We haven’t heard of such an order. Who are you?”

“I am Esther. It’s an urgent order from His Highness… I’ll only be a moment.”

“Ah, you! Alright then.”

Though I’d never seen these knights before, they knew me and opened the door.

“Could you also open the cell door for a moment? There’s no chance of me being overpowered anyway.”

“……”

“I mention this because the proud young lady is unlikely to speak otherwise. If needed, you can come in with me to open it.”

“Let’s do that.”

I entered the dungeon with one of the knights guarding the door.

The underground dungeon was dark even with the light.

The young lady was locked in the iron cage where the Larva had been kept.

She was curled up, still in the dress she had worn in the image.

The knight guarding the dungeon opened the iron cage door and left. She raised her head at my presence.

She looked pale and gaunt, as if all life had drained from her.

She, Julia Nugent, gave me a vicious look.

“What? Have you come to say I was wrong and you were right?”

I could see her hands resting on her knees. All her nails were blunt from biting them so much.

“Or… Hah! Right. I heard even down here that you’re a Sword Master. Have you come to show off? You Southern spy bitch.”

“…Do you still want to believe that?”

“What?”

I knelt on one knee in front of her. Looking her in the eye, I said.

“Knowing that the South could send spies to the North. Why did you believe the Red Larva?”

“…!”

“While hating the South so much, why did you do this to the Grand Duke who has suffered because of the South?”

“Shut up, you know nothing.”

“Who is it that knows nothing? His Highness drank poison himself to save your brother… He must have forgiven your repeated insubordination every time. On the battlefield, he stood at the very front, risking his life to protect the lives of his subordinates and knights. Why did you do this to such a person?”

I was truly curious.

It was what I wanted to ask Julia Nugent from my previous life.

‘Why on earth did you do it? Was it really just because of Medeia’s silver tongue?’

Her eyes wavered for a moment. But she gritted her teeth and opened her mouth.

“He stood by and watched my father die.”

“At that time, the Northern Grand Duke was only fifteen. He was a hostage. The one who killed your father was the Southern Grand Duke Lahert. They had to kill the Acting Northern Grand Duke to send the fifteen-year-old boy back North and drive him to die on the battlefield. Only then could the Emperor’s side fully belong to the South.”

“……”

“Your father’s death was a crime committed by the South. The previous Acting Northern Grand Duke was assassinated. Do you think they would have left the assassination, which should have been done secretly, for the Northern Grand Duke to know about in advance?”

‘This foolish Julia Nugent.’

My voice rose without realizing.

Julia just stared at the cold dungeon wall. Like someone determined not to look at me.

“Lady Nugent. Do you really think the South would have planned their assassination so carelessly that others would know about it? That the Southern Grand Duke let Belfast know he was going to kill your father? Do you… believe that?”

“……”

“The Red Larva is the disciple of the Black Bug who killed your father. I too was once an assassin who learned how to kill from him.”

“!”