It was inside the underground interrogation room. Ice water was poured over the body of the criminal sitting tied to a chair.

“Huhk!”

Douglas opened his eyes with a scream. He had just lost consciousness from the grueling interrogation.

“Have you come to your senses?”

“G-Grand Duke…!”

Douglas flinched when he saw the person in front of him. The Grand Duke’s gaze looking down at him felt colder than the chill of the ice water penetrating deep into his bones.

“It seems you wanted to see me again after the last trial. Judging by the plot you’ve concocted.”

“You brought this upon yourself! I lost everything because of you!”

Douglas had given up on everything since being caught in the ship’s secret room and imprisoned. He shouted at the top of his lungs with bloodshot eyes as if making a last struggle.

“Then you should have targeted me.”

“You’ll only feel the same as me, who’s lost everything, if you lose the Grand Duchess you hold dear!”

Douglas giggled as if he’d gone mad. Though the urge to strangle Douglas right then and there rose up, Caeron gritted his teeth and held back.

This man was merely a chess piece. He needed to use him to find out who was hiding behind the scenes. Caeron asked with a sharp gaze as if seeing through Douglas’s innermost thoughts.

“Who is it? The one who manipulated you to orchestrate this.”

“Th-this was my plan! I didn’t take orders from anyone!”

Douglas stuttered as if flustered by Caeron’s assertive interrogation. Looking at him, Caeron gave a cold sneer.

“It seems you want to die bearing all the sins alone.”

“…!”

“You who targeted me, the Grand Duke, and instead tried to kidnap and sell off the Grand Duchess, are guilty of high treason. It’s an immediate death sentence.”

Douglas’s face turned ashen at the Grand Duke’s words immediately sentencing him to death. Though he had expected death, when actually sentenced to it, an instinctive fear came over him.

“Moreover, you won’t be the only one receiving the death sentence. Your entire family will share in the punishment.”

“W-what?”

“In the last trial, though your title and property were lost, you kept your life. This time, you’ll lose even that life.”

“That can’t be!”

As the fear that had already set in grew even more, Douglas’s eyes widened. He too had a wife and children. Thinking it was the perfect crime, he hadn’t considered the wellbeing of his remaining family.

To think his family, who knew nothing, would also be sentenced to death just like him… Douglas’s face contorted in agony as he drew in a gasping breath.

It was then. Caeron’s low voice pierced the ears of Douglas, who had fallen into despair.

“However… if there is someone who instigated all of this to you, there may be room to consider mitigating circumstances.”

“Is, is that true?”

Feeling a glimmer of hope in Caeron’s words offering a possibility, Douglas quickly changed his stance. He looked up at Caeron with pleading eyes.

“Yes. Who planned the kidnapping of the Grand Duchess, and furthermore, instigated the deal with Marquis Chalet.”

Douglas’s face showed clear signs of both relief and conflict. Caeron continued his words as if driving in the final nail to such a Douglas.

“Tell me everything you know. If you want to save the lives of your remaining family.”

“This is absurd!”

Katrina threw down the newspaper she was holding. Her shrill voice echoed through the reception room. Roselyn, who was beside her, anxiously looked at the headline of the newspaper thrown on the table.

⌜Marquis Chalet, caught in slave trade with former Baron Douglas! Immediately arrested and imprisoned!⌟

“Both Marquis Chalet and Douglas have been arrested! Could the Grand Duke have found out everything?”

Roselyn asked with a pale face, terrified. Her whole body trembled as if the Grand Duke might burst in at any moment.

“…That’s unlikely.”

Katrina said in a cool voice, as if trying to calm her agitated self, running her hand through her disheveled hair.

“If that were the case, neither you nor I would be here right now.”

It was fortunate that they had thoroughly used a proxy in their plan with Douglas. After even disposing of that proxy, no matter how much the Grand Duke interrogated Douglas, he wouldn’t have been able to trace their tail.

“Phew… Thank goodness.”

“Thank goodness? Even though the plan failed?”

Katrina retorted in an irritated voice as she watched Roselyn sigh in relief. Douglas’s capture meant their plan had failed.

Since they hadn’t officially announced the Grand Duchess’s disappearance, there was no mention of the Grand Duchess anywhere in the newspaper article, but with both Douglas and Marquis Chalet caught…

“The Grand Duchess is likely safe.”

“How! It was a perfect kidnapping. How did they find the Grand Duchess they couldn’t find all this time?”

Roselyn cried out in disbelief at Katrina’s words.

Observing the developments over the past few days, Katrina and Roselyn had been quite pleased. The continued blockade and inspections were as good as proof that the Grand Duke hadn’t found the Grand Duchess.

They thought all that was left was to leisurely wait for news. For Douglas to go to Marquis Chalet’s territory, hand over the Grand Duchess, and complete all their plans.

But today, a special report brought news of Marquis Chalet and Douglas’s arrest. Moreover, as if everything had been resolved, the capital’s blockade and major city inspections were lifted.

“We need to send someone to find out the details.”

They needed to understand exactly how the Grand Duchess had been found. If in that process, any clues that might cast suspicion on them were discovered, they had to thoroughly erase them.

“You look into the news from inside the Grand Duke’s household.”

“Inside news?”

“Yes. What state the Grand Duchess is in now.”

Katrina nodded towards the chessboard placed on one side of the reception room table.

“You have it too, don’t you? A chess piece that can move.”

“Ah, I see.”

Roselyn nodded as if understanding Katrina’s implied meaning and curled up the corners of her mouth.

“I’ll tell them to write a letter right away.”

With a meaningful smile, Roselyn recalled someone in her mind. Her eyes glinted cunningly as she thought of that naive face.

Steam rose from the plate filled with warm soup. The hand moving over that plate gradually slowed. Bien worriedly looked at Aidel, who had become lost in thought while holding a spoon.

“Your Grace, is the meal not to your liking?”

“Ah! No, that’s not it.”

Aidel, snapping out of her reverie at Bien’s voice, shook her head with a faint smile.

“Even if it doesn’t suit your taste, you must eat well. You need to recover your strength quickly.”

“Yes, I understand.”

It was soup that the chef at the Grand Duke’s residence had put his heart and soul into making for the Grand Duchess’s health. Though it contained ingredients good for recovering strength, the taste didn’t seem to be proportional to its nutrition, as Aidel struggled to eat it well.

‘Your Grace…’

Bien’s eyes moistened as she watched Aidel resume her meal. Bien quietly made the sign of the cross, grateful to be able to see the Grand Duchess again like this.

For Bien, each day waiting for news of the Grand Duchess’s rescue felt like being on hellfire. She shouldn’t have left her side for even a moment… The guilt of not having served the Grand Duchess well weighed down on Bien.

While praying every day for the Grand Duchess’s safety, news finally came. Upon receiving word that the rescued Grand Duchess was recuperating at Ellios Grand Duke’s residence, she had rushed over in one breath.

Aidel, whom she reunited with at the Grand Duke’s residence, was gaunt but gradually recovering her health.

However… she often became lost in thought like now. And sometimes she would fix her gaze out the window for long periods of time.

As if longing for something, waiting for something.

‘What Your Grace is waiting for… must be the Grand Duke’s return.’

Though she didn’t express it, Bien and all the servants at the Grand Duke’s residence knew. Even Gregory, who knew her, inquired about the Grand Duchess’s wellbeing every day while relaying news of the Grand Duke.

There was some welcome news today. Bien brought out what she had prepared for Aidel after she finished her meal.

“Here’s today’s newspaper. The trial results have finally come out.”

Aidel received the newspaper and read through it carefully. The newspaper contained news of the trial of Douglas and Marquis Chalet, conducted by the Grand Duke himself.

Though the charge of kidnapping the Grand Duchess was not revealed, Douglas, who had attempted to kidnap young girls for slave trade again, received an aggravated punishment and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Marquis Chalet, who had tried to buy slaves through Douglas, had all his titles and property confiscated. It didn’t end there, he was even sentenced to death.

This was because, in the process of searching Marquis Chalet’s territory thoroughly to catch evidence of slave trading by putting Douglas forward, other female slaves imprisoned in the basement of the marquis’s residence were discovered.

Moreover, according to testimony, countless lives had already been lost, violated by his hands. On top of this, the truth about the suspicious deaths of the previous Marchionesses Chalet was fully revealed.

“A terrible person like Marquis Chalet deserves to die! This Douglas too, considering what he’s done, should have received an even harsher punishment!”

“The Grand Duke must have his reasons for thinking as he does.”

As Douglas had not directly harmed anyone’s life, it was difficult to sentence him to more than life imprisonment. However, if it was revealed that he had kidnapped the Grand Duchess and threatened the Grand Duke, who was a member of the imperial family and held succession rights to the throne, he could have been charged with high treason and sentenced to death.

But Aidel guessed there must be a reason why Caeron didn’t press charges in that way and handled the case as he did.

“Now that the trial is all wrapped up, the Grand Duke will return soon!”

The Grand Duke had been away the entire time, finishing up the case. Aidel too hadn’t been able to see him since first opening her eyes in the hospital and seeing Caeron.

As much as she had longed to face Caeron again after regaining consciousness, her disappointment was great when she learned of his absence. Though she understood perfectly well in her head the reason for his absence, she couldn’t help feeling empty.

“Now you can finally give it to him.”

Bien carefully held out a gift box. It contained the cravat she had prepared before being kidnapped.

‘Now… can I give it to him?’

She had clearly wanted to give it to him as soon as she opened her eyes, but… the last image she remembered of him kept bothering her. The more she recalled that image, the longer his absence stretched, the less confident she became.

‘Still… I must give it to him. I decided not to regret it.’

Aidel firmly grasped the gift box she had received, steadying her wavering heart.