“It doesn’t look like you were planning to leave, considering you even have a child.”

“…….”

Pretty lips that were about to say something smacked together, and she quickly closed her mouth. Iriel regretted her harsh words immediately.

She had no feelings towards the woman, Skaha, personally. She had just become a bit sharp because of Cassard’s situation.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. After all, I’ve known and spent more time with Duke Blahnath, so I have to take his side.”

“……I understand.”

A woman who already looked fragile enough to break at a touch smiled faintly. That smile looked as if it would vanish at any moment, so precarious.

And Iriel’s uneasy prediction hit the mark.

It was when they were passing through the valley between Lindkoem and Evan Bahar, where the rain had just begun to drizzle. The woman who claimed to have urgent business seized the opportunity and escaped.

Iriel had no reason to accompany her to take care of her business. The remaining three men, including the driver, couldn’t follow her as men. So her escape was no one’s fault.

When it felt like the time for her to return had long passed, Lakan, who had gone to check if anything had happened, returned hours later, panting and carrying the woman on his shoulder.

Lakan was an experienced soldier, and the rain that had just started to fall hadn’t completely erased her trail.

The woman caught by Lakan flailed and cried. Then, she fell to her knees before Iriel.

She pleaded for help, promised to leave Cassard’s side.

She didn’t want to ruin his life.

“Please…… I don’t want to ruin him…….”

Lakan shook his head. Although he hadn’t been able to question her properly because the admiral had been rough with her, Skaha hadn’t been completely cleared of the suspicion of being a spy. There was absolutely no reason to help her escape.

“Moreover, you’re pregnant. It will be hard for you.”

“I’ve prepared myself. It’s okay……!”

“I’m sorry.”

Lakan refused firmly.

Thinking that she might not be a spy after all, he also considered that anyone clever enough to twist the cool Admiral Cassard must be extraordinary, and thus subjective judgments should be avoided.

However, it was Iriel who made the decision.

“I think Skaha’s judgment is right.”
Though it would be somewhat challenging, Cassard was a calm and rational person. The women of Count Agnomon, who used to wail about love and acted as if they couldn’t live without it, so easily chose to part ways in front of money.

Cassard didn’t think he was of the same type as his father, but Iriel had seen countless times how love was an illusion.

After such thoughts, Iriel recalled how Cassard had suffered like mad on the battlefield.

He envisioned the glory Cassard would receive after a victory, and the heroic adoration he must receive as a general within the empire.

There was too much that Cassard had painfully amassed to lose it all over one woman.

And he looked at the pitiful woman before him, a miserable woman who had to live her entire life being pointed at as a concubine.

Iriel softly placed his hand on Skaha’s slender shoulders. He draped the shawl he had been wearing around her shivering body, soaked by the rain.

“It seems it will be enough if only Sergeant Lakan cooperates.”

The Captain of the Royal Guard was Attila’s ‘shadow.’ Sending such a person as an escort meant he cherished Iriel, but what was important now was that he was a person renowned for keeping silence.

An important person to whom Emperor Attila would lend his shadow. That fact alone would be important to the Captain of the Royal Guard.

He would report this to Attila, but it didn’t matter. Attila also disapproved of Cassard’s woman.

Iriel began to persuade Lakan, reminding him of various hardships Cassard would face if Skaha stayed by his side. Still, Lakan was unmoved.

“I am a soldier. The order His Highness gave to me was not to let anyone casually harm Miss Skaha and to protect Miss Skaha.”

“To harm her casually? Quite the opposite. I want to protect Miss Skaha, but it seems you don’t, Sergeant.”

“……I cannot lie to Admiral His Highness.”

“I’m not telling you to lie. Just keep quiet. Would you like to see Admiral His Highness be humiliated in front of everyone and finally be cast down? You are his subordinate.”

“That is…….”

Would you cover up a wrong order as an order when His Highness cannot make rational judgment, or would you give advice for His Highness?

What is loyalty? Is taking that woman truly a way to serve Admiral His Highness?

Lakan, lost in thought, looked up to find Skaha’s face pouring tears without stopping.

“I, I…… love Admiral His Highness……. I will never do anything to harm him……. After leaving, I will live as though dead……. as a nonexistent person, I will live like that…….”

Seeing Lakan’s expression waver, Iriel smirked.

“Let’s make it that Miss Skaha died in a car accident. That way, Admiral His Highness will find it easier to let go. If he knows she’s alive, he won’t leave her alone with his personality.”