The Grand Duke has gone mad.

Talia once again reinforced her thought.

That man is crazy.

Otherwise, there’s no way he would do such a thing.

She had a feeling he might do something. Talia had heard how Netepel Runtalis provoked the Grand Duke.

It was quite famous that the Grand Duke of Aglante fell head over heels for the Princess of Reden and made a disadvantageous marriage. It was understandable for him to be angry when someone brought up marital matters in front of such a man.

Therefore, Talia thought he might do something, but she didn’t expect him to immediately commit such an outrageous act.

A little while ago, the Grand Duke suddenly irritated the guard next to him. Seeing his sarcastic skill rivaling that of Rahelika, it seemed he had quite some practice before. This was a part that hadn’t been revealed until now, as he had been keeping his mouth shut as if silence was his hobby.

“Do you want your tongue cut off?”

When the guard trembled and drew his sword, approaching the carriage, the Grand Duke grabbed the man’s neck as if he had been waiting for it. Talia learned for the first time that a person could twist someone’s neck with bare hands like that. The guard died with his neck broken, unable to even scream.

Just before the dead guard’s body slid down, the Grand Duke grabbed the scabbard from his waist and used it as a lever to break the wooden bars. Again, it was something she didn’t know was possible by common sense. After all, the thickness of the bars seemed unlikely for a person to break with strength alone.

But it seemed nothing was impossible in this world.

After creating a gap large enough for one person to escape through, the Grand Duke grabbed her wrist.

“What are you doing now…!”

“I’m not enjoying this either, but I have no choice due to moral obligation, so bear with it.”

And the man practically threw her out of the carriage. Since the original place wasn’t high, it didn’t hurt to land on the ground, but she was dumbfounded to see him lightly jump down after throwing her like that.

While Talia hurriedly got up and looked around, the Grand Duke had stolen two horses from somewhere. He mounted one of them and slapped the rump of the empty horse. Talia barely managed to grab the reins of the horse running towards her and calmed her startled heart.

“Are you crazy?”

She said this because she almost got kicked by the horse’s hooves, but the man looked her up and down on horseback and said coldly.

“You could at least be grateful.”

If he had been a little kinder, she would have gladly thanked him.

But since it was true that she had escaped thanks to the man anyway, Talia kept her mouth shut. Soon the Grand Duke spurred his horse with a shout. As if he had a set destination, Talia followed the man riding towards the darkness in a daze.

The Grand Duke looked back once as if he found her ridiculous, but there was no other choice. Talia didn’t know the geography of this area, and she had never ridden a horse at night before.

What madman would ride a horse at night without even a torch? One could lose their only head and more doing that.

After thinking that far, Talia realized that she was now following that madman. Just as she was becoming acutely depressed by this realization, the Grand Duke ahead suddenly stopped his horse. Talia was shocked.

“What are you doing now?”

Even now, they could hear the sounds of pursuers behind them. It was a situation where the distance could be closed at any moment. But stopping the horse was tantamount to just letting themselves be caught.

“Be quiet and get off.”

There was force in the low words. Talia followed without realizing it. The Grand Duke sent both horses running beyond the forest path. Only then did Talia realize that the man was trying to throw off the pursuit.

After confirming that the horses had run far away, the man started walking somewhere. Talia followed him. When they reached a place overgrown with trees and grass, the Grand Duke said.

“Hide around here until daybreak. If it were me, I’d keep quiet and wait for rescue even after the sun rises, but well, that’s your choice, isn’t it?”

“Where are you going?”

“I have a wife nearby.”

Yes, Talia had heard about that too.

But between Aglante and where they were now was a river. A long, large river called the Saha River.

It was impossible to cross that river without a boat.

And Talia realized that she could hear the sound of water nearby.

Before she could wonder about the water sound, the man walked through the bushes to somewhere. Talia discovered the riverside at the end. The water reflecting the moonlight shone black under the night sky.

It was then that the Grand Duke threw himself into it.

Late at night, Rahelika tried to calm her troubled mind while walking along the riverside near the tented area.

The Queen of Aglante and they were in a temporary alliance. No, it was closer to Aglante accepting them rather than an alliance. After all, she had fallen to the status of a princess of a ruined country overnight.

Tesendot had not yet fallen, but as it was an incomparably small country compared to Aglante, Resit also couldn’t form an equal alliance.

So she understood that information was shared unevenly. She also understood that all decision-making power was concentrated on Aglante’s side. In fact, the Queen had negotiated alone with Netepel Runtalis.

Rahelika had no complaints about that. They had neither strategists nor advisors. But the Queen of Aglante had several people to discuss with anyway. So they would be able to reach better conclusions than what they could come up with.

However, she wished they had at least told her where the Grand Duke was and when he would return.

The Queen’s words that she had the decision-making power were true. In fact, the two corps commanders of the royal family moved under the Queen’s command. The same was true for the army led by the two corps commanders.

But the one who had been representing Aglante until now was the King. The one with golden eyes, characteristic of the Sigrasal bloodline.

“Negotiations should always be done with the person at the very top.”

Levenen had taught Orien like that.

Although she didn’t respect her father, Rahelika knew that he had an excellent ability to get what he wanted. It was certain, seeing how he maintained power for life despite exploiting those below him so much.

Although that life at the peak ended with a brutal murder.

Rahelika still didn’t know how Netepel Runtalis could have done such a thing. The events that occurred on the night the imperial palace burned down were impossible with human power.

And Talia was now in the hands of such a Netepel.

Talia. Rahelika thought of her sister whom she had never once loved.

Helena was also her sister, but Talia was especially unique. It wasn’t just because they tore at each other like mad.

When Talia was young, Rahelika had completely trampled on that child’s heart.

It was around the time when Helena was born.

After giving birth to the fourth child of her husband whom she hated to death, Iris suffered from severe depression. She also showed many violent tendencies, so the Empress’s palace was never peaceful.

Being old enough to think to some extent, Rahelika knew not to go against her mother’s mood.

But Talia, who had known nothing but causing trouble since she could walk, was different.

That child, who had liked Iris very much since she was young, kept approaching her without knowing that her mother was not in her right mind. Even though she might suffer who knows what if Iris’s mood twisted.

Iris could have poured hot tea on Talia or thrown things at her. In fact, there were times when she tried to do so but was stopped by the attendants nearby.

Even though he knew this fact clearly, Levenen did not stop Talia from visiting the Empress’s palace.

Rahelika knew the reason.

Their father was the kind of person who would use it if his wife felt guilty for harming their child.

Talia approached Iris every moment without knowing what kind of threat she was putting her head into.

Of course, she didn’t know that Iris suffered from unexpressed violence after she visited.

“Ah, I hate looking at that child’s eyes so much. She’s definitely the child I gave birth to, but she doesn’t seem like my child.”

It was quite a long time ago, but Rahelika clearly remembered how sticky and dark her mother’s depression that melted over her was.

Rahel, Rahel… What should I do with my daughter… Iris, who cried muttering such words, said something chilling one day.

“If those red eyes weren’t there, I think I could love that child.”

Rahelika had to take action before her mother’s delusion flowed into reality.

But she didn’t have the authority to stop Talia’s visits. There were only two people in the imperial palace who had the authority to control the entry and exit of the imperial family. Iris and Levenen. However, Levenen was waiting for a shackle to be created that could strangle his wife, and Iris…

“Talia would prefer to be loved even without eyes.”

She was not in a mental state to make any judgment.

So Rahelika made Talia hate her so much that she would turn her head away even if Iris, whom she so desperately one-sidedly loved, was there when she encountered her.

However, what she didn’t expect was that when you shoot an arrow, you can also be hit.

Thanks to this, Talia, who came to hate her terribly, tore her heart apart in all sorts of outlandish ways. Sometimes Rahelika thought that child’s tongue was like that of a viper. If it wasn’t coated with poison, each and every word of that child couldn’t have been so painful.

When you serve someone who hates you, there inevitably comes a moment of confusion.

As time passed and Iris’s depression improved and Talia also came to hate her and avoid all places where the sisters were involved, Rahelika became confused.

Do I really love this child? This child who wants to strangle my neck and chop at my heart with an axe. Should I keep cherishing her?

Although she had started it, Rahelika had been constantly losing to her sister all this time. Talia only had to hate her, but she had to swallow emotions that were at least twice as much.

Who said that even wounds become dull when layered over and over? At least not hers. Defeats became clearer with each experience. Rahelika really wanted to win just once in this race where the answer was already set.

However, if wounds are engraved on the skin, love flows underneath it, so Rahelika eventually put the rope of contradiction around her own neck.

So that it could be tightly pulled anytime she kicked off the ground and jumped.

But it was Talia whose life and death became uncertain.

A path that started with contradiction presented such an inconsistent ending.

Even though her mind was complicated, the moon was only bright. Rahelika approached the riverside where the silvery brilliant moon was shining down. Somewhere beyond that, Talia would be.

The moment she looked into the river as if her sister of unknown whereabouts might be reflected in the water, a pale white hand grasped the riverbank. Rahelika screamed at that thing that looked just like a corpse’s hand.

Late at night, Ophelia was reviewing future plans inside the tent.

During the day, she had exchanged letters with Netepel across a river.

−Three days later, I’ll set a boat afloat. Let’s meet on it.

Penrel, Hazel, and even Salode said she shouldn’t agree to that.

Ophelia also knew why they said such things. How could one trust and meet an opponent who had brought an army to the border?

However, Netepel was holding Idren hostage. Ophelia knew that if she didn’t accept the proposal, Netepel would threaten him.

Not wanting to put her husband in danger, she agreed to the enemy’s proposal.

Of course, she had no intention of actually meeting him.

“Before three days pass, we’ll find the hostage somehow.”

It was a reckless plan, but there was no other choice.

She spent the whole day brainstorming with Hazel and Penrel on how to attack the enemy forces across the river. Even so, no plan that could be called “this is it” came out, making her head feel like it was about to burst.

After sending the two corps commanders back as the night had grown late, she was still racking her brains looking at the map when Hazel’s urgent voice was heard from beyond the tent.

“Your Majesty, I think you need to come out quickly!”

It was a voice closer to exhilaration than anxiety, but Ophelia thought she had misheard. What could there be for Hazel to be happy about in this situation? She hurriedly opened the tent flap.

“What’s the matter?”

But the knight beyond the cloth was really smiling.

“Come this way. I have something to show you.”

“What?”

“You’ll know when you come.”

And the knight held out his hand to her. Ophelia took the hand of the knight who had been treating her like a commander all along but suddenly acted like he was attending to a lady.

Hazel draped an outer garment over her shoulders and led her somewhere. When they finally reached a tent, the knight stopped.

“Please go in quickly.”

The sound of someone washing could be heard from inside the tent. Ophelia frowned.

“In here?”

The knight nodded.

“Yes. Hurry.”

Unable to resist that urging, Ophelia pulled the string that closed the entrance of the tent. In any case, Hazel wasn’t the type to play troublesome pranks on her. Thinking that she had only misunderstood the sound and no one was really washing inside, Ophelia tried to open the tent door.

It was then that the cloth was pulled back from inside.

And Ophelia found out who was in the tent.

“…Ophelia?”

Her husband was standing there, half-wet.