“If that’s not the case, it seems premature to talk about terminating the contract.”

“But… there’s nothing more I can do to help now. That’s all I remember.”

“You seem to have forgotten, but you are the only survivor and witness of that incident. Your testimony in court will serve as strong evidence to clarify the unjust death of Her Majesty the Empress.”

After thinking and thinking again, the method he came up with was…

“If you truly cared about Her Majesty the Empress, and if you feel even a shred of guilt about your mother’s crime.”

Deliberately touching on her guilt, which made her feel responsible to the point of being obsessive about unnecessary things, to bring her down.

And as he expected, Blair showed a helplessly shaken appearance at just those few words.

Herdin felt a strange sense of relief at her pitiful state and drove the point home.

“I believe you will show at least that much responsibility.”

“…”

“We’ll talk about terminating the contract later.”

Herdin announced this while looking at Blair.

Blair, who had been staring at him with momentarily wavering eyes, soon opened her mouth with what seemed like resignation, lowering her gaze.

“…Alright. But we need to hurry as much as possible.”

The initial relief at her compliant answer was brief, as her follow-up words grated on Herdin’s nerves.

Instead of replying to his naive wife’s words, he immediately pressed his lips to hers. At the same time, his large body naturally rose up to cover hers.

Before the surprised Blair could stop him, the blanket covering the two of them shook violently once.

“Hnn…”

Blair inhaled sharply, furrowing her brow. Thanks to the traces he had already filled her with all night, there was no pain, but it was still overwhelming.

Herdin pulled Blair in deeper, holding her close as he looked at the bedside table.

There sat Blair’s medicine bottle, which had not been opened for days, or rather, had never been given a chance to be opened.

He looked down at her, who was looking up at him with a pitiful face, and pressed his lips to hers.

His belated answer came in the brief moment their lips parted.

“Yes, as quickly as possible.”

By any means necessary.

* * *

When Gerard returned to his room in the annex after finishing his noon prayer, he paused as soon as he opened the door.

A note had fallen at his feet.

Calmly entering the room and closing the door, he picked up the note and unfolded it.

That was all the content of the letter, with no recipient, sender, or subject.

Gerard’s expression crumpled into something entirely different from his usual gentle face as he read the brief note.

“Tsk, such fools.”

As soon as he finished reading the contents, the magic that had been cast on it activated, burning the paper without a trace.

The original plan had been to help Katrina erase Blair’s accident memories completely with black magic, but at this rate, they were in danger of having their identities revealed to the Duke of Delmark.

‘In that case, I’ll have to cut off the tail here.’

The Empress Dowager was a useful card to play, but he had no intention of stubbornly holding onto that card and ruining the grand plan.

And above all…

‘It’s a card that has outlived its usefulness now.’

As his big picture was already in its final stages.

So now it was time to clean up the surroundings and quietly wait for that picture to complete itself.

Gerard took out his pocket watch.

3 o’clock.

Probably around this time today, his faithful child would be attending a service in the chapel.

Gerard left the annex and came to the small chapel on the east side of the temple.

This small chapel was where the children from the temple orphanage gathered weekly for worship, and occasionally adults who had grown up and left the orphanage would return for worship as well.

As he entered the chapel, he saw a familiar back figure praying.

Gerard approached him from behind, wearing a cold smile.

“You come faithfully to pray every time, Caligo.”

Caligo, who had been praying, turned to look at him with a grin, as if he had already noticed his presence.

“Of course, I promised Your Holiness, didn’t I?”

“That was over ten years ago now, you could pretend to forget and skip out if you wanted.”

“What if I go to hell for betraying a faithful servant of God? I want to go to heaven.”

At Caligo’s jest, Gerard chuckled and lightly patted his sturdy shoulder.

“God will surely be moved by your faithfulness.”

“I hope He recognizes it.”

“By the way, I thought you said you were busy with a recent assignment. How did you manage to find time? Did you resolve the matter well?”

“No, not yet. I’m focusing on it day and night, but it’s hard to find an opening.”

Caligo vaguely glossed over the confidential mission he had received from Herdin, unable to speak about it in detail.

Although Gerard was the benefactor who had taken him in, he was benevolent to Katrina just as he was to everyone, and Caligo served Herdin as his lord, who was in opposition to such a Katrina.

Gerard’s gentle gaze as he looked at Caligo changed in the next moment.

“Then, shall I help you a little?”

“Pardon? How could Your Holiness…?”

Gerard stepped closer to Caligo, who was looking at him with a bewildered expression, and opened his mouth.

“Caligo, my faithful child.”

Gerard’s pupils turned red, and an eerie voice that didn’t seem human flowed from his mouth.

Then, a black magic circle appeared on the back of Caligo’s neck, and the focus disappeared from his eyes.

Gerard whispered in a chilling voice into Caligo’s ear.

“Go to the Duke of Delmark and deliver the evidence.”

“…”

“Evidence that Empress Dowager Katrina killed Former Empress Esmeralda.”

His eyes glowed with an eerie light as he whispered.

* * *

“So this is the token that Marina Florang received in exchange for assassinating Her Majesty the Empress?”

That night, Herdin admitted Caligo, who had urgently sought him out, into his office.

What Caligo had brought as evidence of the fire accident from ten years ago was a coin engraved with a peculiar pattern.

Caligo nodded.

“Yes. When I took it to the pawnshop, they recognized it immediately. They said they were instructed to pay out a sum to anyone who brought this coin.”

“Who was listed as the one to pay the sum?”

“It was listed as Baron Vernon, the younger brother of Countess Magrid.”

Marina Florang was one of the maids in the Empress’s palace who had been under Esmeralda at the time of the incident. She was also the maid found dead right next to Esmeralda.

At the time, it was speculated that she might have tried to stop Esmeralda from killing Blair, but Blair’s recovered memories told a different story.

Marina Florang had killed Esmeralda without knowing that Blair was there.

It meant that the original purpose was to assassinate Esmeralda.

‘She probably planned to assassinate Her Majesty the Empress and then flee right away. Taking this coin to the pawnshop to receive the promised payment.’

However, due to Blair’s sudden attack, she hit her head and died pathetically, and the plan failed.

Thus, Marina Florang died, and the soldier who first came to clean up the fire scene discovered this coin in her possession and collected it.

The soldier, not knowing the purpose of the coin, tried to sell it to a junk shop simply to earn some drinking money, but then realized it was an important clue to the incident.

Fearing punishment for concealing important evidence if he sold it off, he had hidden it for ten years…

That was the full story Caligo had relayed.

‘If it were me, I would have thrown the coin into the river as soon as I learned that fact.’

It was questionable why he had kept it for over ten years despite being afraid, but in any case, since the person paying for the coin was connected to Katrina, this coin would be compelling evidence.

No less than the younger brother of a close lady-in-waiting to the Empress Dowager.

However, Herdin’s expression was dark as he looked at the coin glinting in the candlelight.

“…You’ve done well so far. Go back and rest for today, and tomorrow find the person who minted this coin and secure their testimony.”

At the same time, the black magic circle appeared on the back of Caligo’s neck and then quickly disappeared. His unfocused eyes became clear again.

“Uh… Yes?”

The memories from just moments ago remained intact, but they felt like something experienced in a dream, not quite his own memories.

Herdin, looking questioningly at Caligo who responded with a dazed expression, repeated once more.

“I said go and rest.”

“Ah… Yes. Then have a good night, Your Excellency.”

Caligo bowed his head while scratching the back of his neck and left the office.

Left alone in the office, Herdin stared blankly at the coin in his hand.

Now, if he could just secure the testimony, he could clear Esmeralda’s false charge. It was something he had desperately wished for over the past ten years.

The moment to fulfill that desperate wish was right in front of him, yet he was hesitating in the face of mere personal feelings.

As Herdin was self-deprecating about his own behavior, the faint sound of a grandfather clock echoed through the quiet mansion.

Suddenly, he remembered leaving Blair in the room before Caligo’s visit, having collapsed into sleep after being tormented by him from morning till night again today.

Her long eyelashes gently lowered, wet with tears as she slept deeply, her small lips reddened from being bitten and sucked all day, her soft body that once again burrowed into his arms despite him being the very cause of her torment.

The moment he thought of her sleeping alone and defenseless in the bedroom, his body reacted instinctively.

“…Ha.”

Even at this moment, after embracing her so relentlessly, it was absurd that he still wanted her again, seemingly untired.

Feeling the tightness in his lower abdomen, Herdin put the coin in his drawer and locked it with a key before hurriedly leaving the office.

But what awaited him when he returned to the bedroom was…

“…Blair?”

An empty bed.