He then continued in a calm voice.

[Dash] However, tell me everything you remember to find the Duchess.

At Caeron’s words, Ena painstakingly recounted everything she remembered about the man.

[Dash] The man looked to be about the same age as the factory manager.

At Ena’s words, Caeron briefly glanced at the apprehended factory manager. The culprit appeared to be in his late 40s.

[Dash] What did the man look like? Describe any features you can recall.

[Dash] I couldn’t see his face well because he was wearing a hat… but his hair was a dark brown and he had a round mustache. His hands were not rough and his clothes were neat, almost like a nobleman.

Upon hearing Ena’s description, one of the Duke’s attendants began sketching a composite sketch of the man. However, there were no particularly unique characteristics.

“A middleaged man who looked like a nobleman…”

Caeron reviewed potential clues in the sketch and the child’s description. The faces of countless nobles he’d met flashed through his mind.

“There’s no noble who’d have reason to abduct the Duchess.”

Before becoming Duchess, she had not been involved in social activities and had not greatly offended any nobles afterward either.

“Then the reason for the abduction must be me.”

The realization darkened Caeron’s eyes with agony. Unlike Idel, he did have forces hostile to him, though not openly.

As the face of a representative woman among those forces flashed in his mind, Caeron’s brows knitted.

“Duchess Katrina.”

And the powers centered around her among the nobles.

“But…”

Those cunning people wouldn’t abduct the Duchess directly. Even if that cunning old fox of a woman had planned it… she’d pick a suitable pawn, use them like a chess piece, and discard them.

“Who could it be?”

Who would risk such a drastic act as abducting the Duchess…

“Someone with a great grudge against me.”

Caeron pondered over the recent possibilities of people who might bear a direct grudge against him. Suddenly, a scene from the recent past came to mind.

[Dash] Douglas, Earl, who violated the spirit of the constitution that guarantees basic human rights through slave trading, forfeits his titles and territories. Confiscated assets will be returned to society.

[Dash] This can’t be!

Hearing his sentence in the courtroom, the man who lost everything clutched his hair in despair, screaming.

“…Earl Douglas.”
Douglas’s tousled brown hair, mustache, and bloodshot eyes floated into view. The face of the man who had looked at him with contempt as he left the courtroom.

‘Could it really be his doing?’

There was no confirmation yet, but his keen intuition pointed to Douglas as the likely kidnapper of the Duchess.

‘If it were Douglas’s doing…’

As he considered the possibilities that came with assuming Douglas was the culprit, a jolt of intense shock hit him.

Caeron rose abruptly, his face grave, and called to a nearby attendant.

“Contact Gregory at the palace immediately. Strengthen inspections on ships going to the mainland and throughout the empire.”

He had been a trader by sea. The chances were high that he would use the most familiar and advantageous route for him.

‘Idel…’

If she had been kidnapped by Douglas… Douglas would likely have sold the Duchess somewhere. To reduce the risks of keeping her and collect a reward.

His mind coldly deduced the situation under the assumption that Douglas was the culprit, but at the same time, it felt as if the tightlyheld strings of his reason could snap at any moment.

The mere thought that Idel could become someone else’s property filled him with an icy chill, making his spine tingle.

Anger, anxiety, and despair, feelings he had never felt before, radiated from the depths of his heart. His steady blue eyes wavered uncontrollably.

Caeron covered his warped face with both hands and closed his eyes. Despite attempts to calm himself, his body would not be controlled, his breathing rough as if a raging beast.

‘I can never… allow this.’

She was his woman. Untouchable and inviolable by anyone else… She belonged only by his side.

A potent energy wrapped around his entire being. Caeron lowered the hands that had covered his face and clenched his fists. He brought his clenched left fist up to his lips. His cold lips touched the engagement ring that resembled Idel’s eyes.

At that moment, he opened his eyes, which he had closed. They still held fierce energy, but now had a clearer focus, shining in the darkness like the sun dispelling the deep dawn outside the window.

‘Just wait a little longer. No matter what happens… I will get you back.’

He made a vow with everything he had.