“We should be going now.”

At Dietrich’s words, Vivian made a regretful face.

“Already? I’m reluctant to part with Ruby… I haven’t even properly thanked her yet…”

Seeing her trailing off, not hiding her desire to stay, Ruby let out a small chuckle.

“Vivi, we can meet again next time. Right?”

“Alright, Ruby. Thank you for bringing me here today. And also for earlier…”

Instead of answering, Ruby gently stroked Vivian’s head.

Even through that small gesture, the feelings were conveyed sufficiently.

“Take care!”

As Vivian brightly bid farewell, Ludovica shook her head.

“Go inside first. We’ll leave after seeing you enter.”

Vivian nodded and headed towards the house. She turned back occasionally to wave.

Each time, Ludovica responded with a somewhat gentle expression, but quickly returned to a serious demeanor.

It was because of Ren, who was sticking close to her side, that bothered her.

Though knowing she had to leave, her feet wouldn’t move. Ludovica muttered softly.

“I don’t like this…”

To those words, Dietrich replied indifferently.

“Ludovica. You haven’t forgotten that we have matters to attend to, have you?”

His words were right. She clicked her tongue as if there was no other choice and got back into the carriage.

It was time to lure out the rat-like follower.

But something was strange. Things began to unfold differently than expected.

Although they deliberately sent Vivian ahead to lure out the rat, the footsteps of the follower stopped the moment she got off.

‘Was the target Vivi, not Belvedere?’

Originally, the plan was to deal with them all at once in a secluded place, but if their target was Vivian, things changed.

They needed to be eliminated immediately.

‘The reason for targeting Vivian… Could it be, as I thought, because of me?’

It was safe to say that the Belvederes had almost no close acquaintances.

The Duke and Duchess were in seclusion, and neither Dietrich nor Ludovica were the type to get close to others.

But today, she had openly shielded Vivian at the banquet… It was natural for her to stand out.

They probably thought they could find out about the Belvederes by digging into Vivian’s background.

Ludovica kicked open the door of the still-moving carriage and jumped out.

In her hand was a reddish-brown mace, summoned at some point.

Dietrich naturally followed behind her.

Only the coachman was left alone in the carriage.

Already accustomed to his masters’ sudden actions, he tactfully slowed the carriage’s speed.

But then it happened.

Dietrich’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed as he moved swiftly. The magical signals he had been constantly detecting were growing faint.

When one stopped, the next was cut off, and the last one was gradually disappearing as well.

Such sudden signal interruptions usually only occurred when a magician breathed their last.

Dietrich and Ludovica changed direction towards where the faint signals could still be felt.

And there, they encountered an unexpected figure.

“Hah…”

Standing in the middle of the dark alley was none other than Ren.

His pale white face was smeared with red liquid like paint.

The owner of the blood was not Ren, as a man could be seen sprawled on the ground, having coughed up blood.

Though wrapped in black cloth from head to toe like an assassin, it was not difficult to tell.

Unfocused pupils and an abdomen that looked as if it had been pierced through. It was safe to say the man was already dead.

It was natural for his magical signal to fade after suffering such a severe fate.

Upon closer inspection, two more corpses in similar conditions were strewn about in the depths of the alley.

The man, who according to Vivian was certainly of a kind nature, was looking down at those corpses with an expressionless face.

An inorganic expression from which no emotion could be read – neither remorse nor guilt.

After confirming that the opponent’s breath had completely ceased, Ren slowly turned his head towards Ludovica and Dietrich.

“Don’t follow with a tail. If it harms Lady Vivian, I’ll eliminate all of you as well.”

His green eyes emitted a chilling, ferocious aura.

Seeing this, Ludovica snorted.

‘See, Vivi. This man is neither kind nor gentle, as I thought.’

It was a monologue that would never reach Vivian.

“They have been annihilated.”

Hearing the report from the servant who bowed his head deeply, Veronica let out a dumbfounded laugh.

Since last night’s banquet, Veronica had ordered her subordinates to monitor several nobles.

The criterion for surveillance was the relationship with Dietrich Belvedere.

Anyone connected to him, whether publicly or privately, became a target.

Currently, the Imperial Princess suspected Dietrich of being the culprit, or an accomplice to the culprit. Hence, she sought to investigate his surroundings.

Thinking that the surveillance and investigation were proceeding smoothly… they hit an unexpected obstacle.

‘To think that only those sent to Vivian Schmidt were completely wiped out without any results.’

Veronica flipped through the documents related to Vivian’s background, which she had already read a couple of times.

An illegitimate child of Marquis Schmidt who left home upon reaching adulthood.

Her assets were barely enough to sustain herself, and she seemed to have no special abilities.

It was written that she couldn’t even handle a sword, let alone magic.

The document’s contents seemed to have no suspicious points, so she hadn’t paid much attention to her until before the banquet.

The person Veronica had been more concerned about was Leonie Schmidt.

This was because Leonie was the most likely candidate to be betrothed to the Belvedere Viscount.

Judging that all individuals around her should be invited, she sent invitations to each member of the Schmidt family.

And Vivian was simply included among them.

Strangely, and quite unexpectedly, the person who left the strongest impression in Veronica’s mind after the banquet was none other than Vivian.

Her friendship with Ludovica seemed unusually deep.

In truth, while everyone knew the Imperial Princess as a heartless villainess, she could not be called such an evil person.

‘Even in the noble assault incident, there was actually a valid reason for her actions.’

The eldest son of Count Weiss, whom Ludovica had assaulted, had attempted to violate a viscount’s daughter at an imperial banquet.

By coincidence, Ludovica discovered this, and under the pretext of stopping him, she attacked and nearly killed him.

Of course, it was difficult to view the Imperial Princess as purely good.

With her skills, she could have easily subdued the criminal without causing harm, yet she resorted to violence as if it were natural.

However, even if it was an excessive response, given the circumstances, it wasn’t incomprehensible.

Had the full details of this incident been revealed, the Imperial Princess might not have been vilified as she is now, but unfortunately, this did not happen.

The victim herself wished to keep the matter hidden.

In the end, Ludovica became known as a crazed villainess who assaulted a nobleman unprovoked.

Though she could have revealed the truth, feeling wronged by people’s changed treatment, the Imperial Princess did not. It was out of consideration for the victim.

However, after that, Ludovica no longer intervened in others’ affairs or situations.

As if to avoid any chance of involvement, she even refrained from attending official events and gatherings.

Last night’s banquet was the first official event she had attended since that incident.

A good opportunity to rebuild her image. Naturally, she would have been careful about her behavior as the Imperial Princess.

Yet, the Imperial Princess willingly caused a commotion to protect Vivian.

It could only be explained by a deep bond between them that others were unaware of.

This even applied to the Belvedere Viscount.

Veronica was surprised when she later heard about the conversation between Dietrich Belvedere and Marquis Schmidt.

“With such a twisted sense of values, that precious daughter of the Marquis must be no better. If it weren’t Lady Vivian, I would call off the marriage.”

Even if it was to put Marquis Schmidt in his place, he mentioned marriage with Vivian.

It was certain that Vivian and the Belvedere family were closely connected.

However, upon investigation, the link between them was strangely unclear.

Whether it was related to the handsome men kidnapping case or not, she instinctively felt the need to investigate Vivian and continued to search for clues.

But.

“Have you found the culprit?”

“I apologize, Your Highness. Not even the bodies remain, so we cannot determine what happened to them.”

“No bodies? What do you mean…”

“We went directly to where the magical signals were cut off, but found only traces of blood. Not a single body was discovered.”

“Did you search the surroundings thoroughly?”

“Yes, we are still investigating, but we’re at a loss.”

Veronica closed her eyes tightly, deep in thought.

Who on earth had killed her subordinates?

Those she had sent to follow last night were all skilled magicians.

Ordinary weapons couldn’t have harmed a hair on their heads.

Naturally, she had inwardly assumed it was the Belvederes’ doing, but neither Dietrich nor Ludovica were the type to do such things.

They were the kind who would bring the necks of the corpses directly to their mastermind. If so, there must be a separate culprit.

‘The possibility of Vivian Schmidt being the culprit…’

Veronica opened her eyes again and re-examined the documents about Vivian she held in her hand.

Suspiciously clean records. The paper stating she could handle neither magic nor swords seemed to insist that Vivian was not the culprit.

‘But if all of this is fabricated…’

Dietrich, who seemed to be connected by some thread to the serial handsome men kidnapper.

The deep friendship between the Belvedere family and Vivian that seemed to have formed recently. Her subordinates killed while tailing Vivian.

All the puzzle pieces of the incident pointed to Vivian Schmidt.

It was clear that she needed to be investigated.

However, in a situation where it might end without any results again, merely having her followed was not enough.

A more certain method was needed.

In that case, rather…

“I should summon Vivian Schmidt.”

It would be better to confront her directly.