“Ha……”

A small chuckle escaped from Count Frederick’s lips.

Nevertheless, the expression of Duke Amaterasu’s daughter looking at him remained dignified.

‘Perhaps it wasn’t just nonsense after all?’

Naturally, Count Frederick’s gaze towards Duke Amaterasu’s daughter also became sharp.

“Let’s say, as you said, I’ve gained a fortune through this opportunity. Then what exactly do you want from me in return for providing such valuable information? I doubt you’d be satisfied with just information about the Trinity Princess incident.”

As Count Frederick’s question ended, a faint smile appeared on Duke Amaterasu’s daughter’s face.

Then she stood on her tiptoes to match his height and whispered softly.

“Pledge your loyalty to me. Then you won’t need to lurk around the imperial palace trying to form connections with the current imperial family.”

Perhaps due to the brief rest in the carriage.

Mikhail’s steps towards Duke Amaterasu’s mansion seemed normal as usual.

Though he couldn’t completely hide the faint smell of alcohol.

“Welcome, young master. Duke Cardia.”

The butler, who was talking with the servants in front of the mansion, bowed deeply to the two of them.

“It seems you’ve had some drinks.”

As Mikhail nodded, the butler continued.

“The Duke hasn’t returned yet, and the young lady is in the garden.”

While Mikhail and the butler were having a brief conversation, Cabelased turned his head towards the distant garden.

It was as the butler said.

Someone was standing in the garden at the edge of the mansion.

‘I’ll ask her directly then.’

He had wanted to discuss the Semper Alburi matter with her anyway.

Cabelased turned without delay towards the garden where Duke Amaterasu’s daughter was.

At that moment, Mikhail, who was climbing the stairs to enter the mansion, stumbled, and the butler quickly supported him.

“Are you alright, young master?”

Cabelased glanced at that scene before moving towards the garden.

And as he got closer to Duke Amaterasu’s daughter, he heard voices in conversation.

‘It seems she’s not alone.’

At first, he thought she was talking with a mansion employee.

But at the serious voice of the man that followed, Cabelased’s eyebrow raised slightly.

“…What do you want from me, my lady?”

Moreover, the man’s voice sounded quite familiar.

‘Who was it again?’

As Cabelased pondered briefly, Duke Amaterasu’s daughter stood on her tiptoes to match the man’s height.

Although some lights were on, the garden after sunset was rather dark.

Cabelased couldn’t see clearly what the two were doing, but they appeared to be in quite intimate contact.

At that moment, the corner of Cabelased’s mouth twisted upwards.

‘Does Duke Amaterasu’s daughter have a hidden lover?’

It was so absurd that he could only laugh ironically.

The nobles of the empire often chose strategic marriages for the prosperity of their families.

That’s how they’ve maintained and strengthened their vast wealth and absolute power through generations.

Of course, there were cases where couples formed happy families with their loved ones, but those were few and far between.

That’s why there was a common joke among nobles that love and marriage were separate matters.

But Cabelased was considered to have a fairly normal mindset, and he had no intention of turning a blind eye to his wife’s hidden lover.

Of course, it had been a long time since he had received and rejected a marriage proposal from Duke Amaterasu’s daughter, but her having a separate lover was a different issue.

It meant that Duke Amaterasu’s daughter had deceived Cabelased. It was as if she had taken him lightly.

‘And yet, she begged and pleaded to marry me……’

Recalling the image of Duke Amaterasu’s daughter confessing her love while clearly having a separate lover, he gritted his teeth at her brazen behavior.

And having learned this fact, he had no intention of overlooking it.

‘I should at least see the face of this guy.’

Just as Cabelased was thinking this and about to approach them.

“Where did Cabel go?”

“Indeed. He was here just a moment ago, but where has he disappeared to……”

The voices of Mikhail and the butler searching for Cabelased were heard from afar.

Cabelased reflexively turned his head towards where Mikhail and the butler were.

Mikhail and the butler were looking around, standing on the entrance stairs to the mansion.

Instead of letting them know he was here, he quickly turned his head back to where Duke Amaterasu’s daughter had been.

But perhaps because of the voices he had just heard, the two had already left.

‘Is she hiding the existence of her lover from Mikhail too?’

Naturally, such a thought occurred to him.

If Mikhail knew about Duke Amaterasu’s daughter having a hidden lover and was covering for her, it would be enough to shake the trust between him and Mikhail.

After staring for a moment at the spot where Duke Amaterasu’s daughter had been until just now, Cabelased soon turned around.

As he walked towards the mansion entrance, Mikhail soon spotted him and asked.

“Cabel, where on earth did you go?”

Cabelased stared at Mikhail’s face and pondered briefly.

Wondering if he should ask Mikhail if his younger sister was seeing someone.

But he soon gave up.

Having a deep conversation with a drunk would only be a loss for him.

Mikhail led Cabelased inside the mansion and said.

“There’s something that came as a gift the other day. You’ll be surprised when you taste it. So, Cabel, you’ll stay a bit longer, right?”

Cabelased’s brow furrowed deeply.

It was because of Mikhail, who was giving off a strong smell of alcohol from his tone.

From what he had observed of Mikhail for quite some time, it was rare for him to act so recklessly like this.

For instance, when his mother, the Duchess Amaterasu, died, and when Jieselgrante became the laughingstock of the imperial social circle.

He seemed to have been quite hurt at the academy alumni gathering he had attended today.

‘…Just for today.’

Tolerating Mikhail’s willful behavior.

With that resolve, Cabelased, led by Mikhail, filled Mikhail’s glass with alcohol.

Intending to make him drunk quickly so he could put him to bed soon.

Fortunately, Mikhail, after downing a few glasses, soon passed out, and only then was Cabelased able to leave the Amaterasu mansion.

As he was walking towards his carriage, a carriage smoothly passing through the huge iron gates caught his eye.

Cabelased immediately recognized who the man who had just had a secret meeting with Duke Amaterasu’s daughter was, by the crest on the carriage.

‘It was Count Frederick. The person Duke Amaterasu’s daughter was meeting.’

Cabelased followed the departing carriage with his eyes for a moment.

And then he boarded the carriage heading to the Cardia Duke’s mansion.

Jieselgrante watched a carriage leaving the Amaterasu mansion through her bedroom window.

And just as she was about to turn away, she saw another carriage heading towards the mansion’s iron gates.

“……?”

Jieselgrante recalled the situation from earlier.

As she had done before, she had planned to use Count Frederick as a hidden card.

So she informed him about information related to Semper Alburi.

Originally, the enormous wealth that should have been taken by the Minster Count’s family would move to Count Frederick due to her intervention.

And while she was talking with Count Frederick about this, she heard Mikhail’s voice returning home.

He seemed to be looking for Cabelased.

‘Surely, the Duke of Cardia wasn’t there, was he?’

Jieselgrante began to consider possible scenarios while nervously biting her innocent lips.

‘What if the Duke of Cardia was there?’

If so, how much of her conversation with Count Frederick did he overhear?

‘I’d like to keep Count Frederick’s existence a secret if possible.’

As when she lived as a princess, she needed someone who would move secretly without openly showing they were on her side.

Only then could they faithfully play the role of a hidden card to flip the situation at crucial moments.

Count Frederick hadn’t yet responded to Jieselgrante’s proposal.

But for some reason, she had a feeling he would accept.

“Young lady, are you not sleeping yet?”

Lindsey asked as she walked into the bedroom, carrying firewood for the fireplace.

“No. I have something to think about.”

Jieselgrante watched Lindsey throw dry firewood into the fireplace and poke around inside with a poker, and asked.

“Lindsey, could you check if elder brother Mikhail is awake?”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

Lindsey, who had left the bedroom like that, returned not long after.

“It seems he’s fallen into a deep sleep. They say he drank a lot unusually. What should we do?”

“We’ll have to talk tomorrow when he wakes up. Good night, Lindsey.”

“Good night to you too, young lady.”

The next morning.

Jieselgrante prepared hot tea with honey and visited Mikhail’s bedroom.

Mikhail’s short blonde hair was still messy and unkempt, as if he had just woken up.

“Oh, Jiesel? What brings you here so early in the morning……”

Mikhail looked at Jieselgrante with a puzzled expression, and then at the tray she was holding.

She put down the tray she was holding on the bedside table next to Mikhail’s bed and said.

“I heard you drank a bit… a lot yesterday.”

“……Huh? Oh. But what’s that?”

“It’s tea with honey. They say it’s good for hangovers.”

For a moment, Mikhail’s eyes and mouth opened wide in disbelief.

“You, you prepared this for me? This early in the morning?”

Jieselgrante smiled gently at Mikhail, who was asking again.

Mikhail, who had hastily gasped, soon clutched his chest.