“Ha ha. You knew all along.”

Tail came out from behind the tree trunk, laughing awkwardly. He scratched his head, hesitating before speaking.

“Well… it seems you’ve become quite close to the Countess in such a short time. I never imagined seeing such a scene, it’s quite surprising.”

Edmond’s face twisted with irritation.

“What are you trying to say?”

Tail shivered under the chilling aura that Edmond emitted.

Quickly clasping his hands behind his head, Tail whistled nonchalantly, trying to act cool. Despite his casual demeanor, cold sweat trickled down his temples.

Edmond, as if contemplating whether to scold Tail for behaving as though he had witnessed something disgraceful, decided to let it go.

“So, what’s the additional report?”

“Hmm, you ordered further investigation about Lady Lirien, right? I met with the chief of security, and he reported seeing a man throwing advances at a woman who looked exactly like Lady Lirien. He said the guy looked like a lucky scoundrel.”

“What did he look like?”

“The chief sees dozens of tourists daily, so he couldn’t recall the details. What should we do?”

A man? If that man was Devon, and Etrisha knew this and ordered a hit for revenge, then Rail’s theory about a crime of passion could be correct.

Edmond’s eyes narrowed in displeasure at this unpleasant assumption.

“Tail, request the list of tourists from that day from the lord and check if Devon Buel is on it.”

Just then, as Tail was fiddling with his ear, his lips awkwardly curled up.

“You don’t mean to check the entire list, do you?”

“Exactly.”

Tail’s mouth dropped open. He was the kind of person who couldn’t sit at a desk for more than 10 minutes. And now he had to go through all that data alone…

“All of it, or should I share it with the other knights?”

“…”

Edmond’s cold stare fixed on Tail before he turned away.

Really? Tail, feeling the immense pressure, clutched his head and cried out. He wanted to slap himself for making such a careless comment and angering his master.

“What is this…”

It was the day after returning from the dukedom.

Only two days were left until the banquet. I had planned to go out to cheer up Lirien, who was upset about being left alone in the dukedom, but it seemed I would have to change my plans.

Scoop! Scandal between Miphidian Earl Edmond and Buel Countess!

I could only laugh in disbelief at the empire’s daily newspapers, now plastered with scandalous headlines about me and Edmond.

The stories even claimed I had an affair with Edmond in the forest while my husband was away on a business trip – straight out of a romantic novel.

“Hah, as if I’d dare wander in a monster-infested forest.”

I scoffed at the sensational articles. It was clear who was behind this.

“Devon…”

His intentions were obvious. It was both a revenge against Edmond and a way to shift the blame for our marital discord.

Given that Devon knew the original story I was living in, he wasn’t the kind of person to quietly sit back and let things happen. He also couldn’t visit Miphidian Earl’s residence himself, so this article would force me to come to him.

Rail had mentioned destroying numerous letters from Devon in the past few days. For Devon, there was no other way to meet me.

‘He’s really thought this through.’

Unfortunately, his petty tactics worked on me.

I felt anger boil up inside me, crumpling the newspaper and grinding my teeth.

I knew Devon wouldn’t agree to a divorce easily. That’s why I had prepared evidence of his infidelity and even shaken up Antla at the dress shop.

But to think he’d play such a dirty trick first.

‘As if Devon couldn’t be more despicable, he just proved he could.’

Initially, I aimed for an amicable divorce to avoid a messy scene. But now, if he’s going to play dirty, I’m left with no choice but to respond in kind.

I threw the crumpled newspaper into a corner and stood up abruptly.
I stepped out of the room and turned around to see Edmond approaching from the end of the corridor, deep in conversation with Rail. I was about to confess my mistake.

Standing at attention, I bowed politely.

“Countess?”

As Edmond came into view, I tucked my fallen hair behind my ear and spoke with a settled expression.

“I apologize for the inconvenience.”

“Lift your head.”

I straightened up and spoke rather composedly.

“It’s Devon’s doing. I’ll confront him right away.”

“You intend to handle this alone?”

“Of course.”

Despite my confident words, the reality was daunting.

The scandal involved both Edmond and me, and in the world of high society, rumors about the elite spread like wildfire.

People revel in the misfortunes of others, so the truth hardly mattered.

What should I do? If only another scandal would break to overshadow this…

A sudden idea made the corners of my mouth lift.

‘Wait, what if I create a scandal myself?’

I was already planning to hire a journalist to maliciously spread rumors of infidelity.