Despite his arrival, Blair couldn’t take her eyes off Caligo.

Seeing this, Herdin issued a welcoming command to Caligo.

“Greetings should be enough by now. Caligo, you must be tired from the long journey. Rest.”

“Yeah. See you again, madam.”

Caligo gave a friendly farewell and moved away with the knights who had accompanied him.

Blair was quietly watching his retreating figure. Her appearance seemed somehow precarious.

Herdin, almost absentmindedly trying to embrace Blair, hesitated upon noticing dirt on his clothes. He removed his leather gloves and, with bare hands, took Blair’s hand.

Blair, feeling his warmth, finally lifted her gaze that had been frozen as if in place.

“Are you not feeling well?”
The held hand was warm as always, but his warmth was frightening.

Fearful that he might suddenly change and strangle her.

Blair gently withdrew her hand from his and replied, “It’s okay.”

Herdin narrowed his forehead. Despite her reassurance, her expression did not look okay at all.

He commanded Lena, who was beside him, “Escort the lady to her room.”

Blair, assisted by Lena, went upstairs to her room and looked back. Herdin was talking to Mason.

Words that she could ask or hear answers to scratched painfully at her throat, but they were unspoken.

Back in her room, Blair sat on her bed in a daze.

As her emotions settled, her mind cooled, and finally, questions and assumptions came to mind one by one.

‘Why did that man try to kill me?’

Since there was no significant interaction with him, it probably wasn’t due to personal feelings or motives. A mere knight would gain nothing by killing me.

Perhaps it was Herdin after all…

As Blair was contemplating this, her thoughts came to a halt.

‘No, no. Maybe this knight, Caligo, thought I was causing trouble in Delmark.’

While he approached me amicably when we first met today, considering his deep devotion to Herdin, he might have acted unilaterally, thinking I could pose a threat and decided to eliminate me.

However, there were inconsistencies in making such conjectures.
“I was a princess before becoming the duchess. If any issues arise with my safety, it could lead to discord with the royal family. Could it be that serious?”

Faced with a dead end, another hypothesis came to mind.

“Perhaps, that person is a spy planted by a third party wishing for discord between the royal family and Delmark.”

In this way, Herdin and her own death could be unrelated. However…

“No. I shouldn’t trust anyone.”

The possibility that Herdin might be the mastermind should not be completely ruled out.

Upon reflection, there were many reasons for Herdin to find her undesirable.

She was forced into marriage by an enemy family, had no memories of clearing Esmeralda’s unjust accusation, and he had another woman he loved.

Blinded by love, he might have tried to kill a useless and obstructive wife.

The foolishness of thinking for a moment that he had nothing to do with her death was now laughable.

Blair anxiously clasped her trembling hands and contemplated her future plans.

“Simply running away without knowing anything won’t solve anything.”

If Caligo’s actions were driven by personal emotions or loyalty, resigning from the position of duchess or escaping might resolve everything. However, if there is someone else behind the scenes, the story changes.

As long as there is a mastermind with a clear purpose for her death, they might continue to attempt to kill her.
To avoid death, Blair needed to understand the reason she had to die in the first place, and to unravel that, she had to learn about Caligo.

“Who did he conspire with, and why did he kill me?”

Blair decided to request an investigation into Caligo from Mikhail and began writing a letter.

At that moment, she felt a presence behind her.

“I thought you might not have heard the knocking, so I wondered if you had dozed off.”

Startled by Herdin’s sudden appearance, Blair quickly covered the letter and turned to face him.

Herdin was dressed as if he had just bathed. His gaze was directed at the letter.

Only then did Blair realize that her actions might appear suspicious, but fortunately, he didn’t inquire about it.

He lightly embraced Blair and sat her on his lap. Then, he loosened the straps of her dress. His actions were remarkably natural.

As the dress loosened, her white and round shoulders were revealed. Herdin, with lips stained on those shoulders, asked,

“How’s your health?”

Accompanied by a languid baritone, a warm breath tickled her shoulders. Even though she might get used to it eventually, his casually intimate touch still felt unfamiliar to Blair.

She, who had noticed a slight delay in answering, remembering his poor complexion a while ago, responded a beat late.

“…I’m fine.”