The sun leaned towards the west in the afternoon, lengthening shadows.

Olivia, who had skipped lunch due to a lack of appetite, moved her hand busier than ever before.

How much time passed as the scratching sound of her pen sliding across the paper filled the air.

Ssh, zzizizik.

The sound of the edge of the paper, filled with black ink, tearing, stretched on and on.

Eventually, a gloomy voice flowed from her pale lips.

“Do whatever you want, huh?”

Dark shadows hung heavy under Olivia’s eyes as she muttered sullenly.

Feeling upset, Olivia rubbed the black shadows under her eyes that reached the tip of her chin and let out a long sigh.

‘I wanted it this way.’

Almost causing a fit at the faint whisper echoing vividly in her ear, Olivia let out another deep sigh.

“Well, it’s not a big deal if our foreheads touch. It would be good to get used to his unnecessary handsome face getting closer anytime.”

Despite successfully rationalizing her actions with quite a plausible reason, Olivia’s gaze unconsciously lingered on his vacant seat.

How long had he been sitting in that spot?

As Olivia, who suddenly recalled their meeting, shook her head vigorously.

It hasn’t been that long.

But Cryer’s empty spot was bigger than expected.

“Really, it’s bigger than I thought.”

A deep furrow formed on Olivia’s forehead at the words that slipped from her parted lips.

Is this what it’s come to?

Sure, the man named Cryer is bigger than anyone else in this world for her survival….

She ran her hand over her empty chest like the empty seat and cocked her head.

The moment Olivia, who couldn’t bear the strange sense of loss with no apparent cause, sprang up.

Knock knock.

“Your Highness, the investigator….”

Before the servant could finish his words accompanied by a knock, she cut him off.

“Let him in.”

Immediately, the door opened and a man of neither big nor small stature entered the office.

He was a face you’d see ten out of ten times while walking down the street, an uncle next door kind of face. He knelt on one knee in front of Olivia.

“Glad to meet the small sun of the Empire….”

“That’s enough. What about the investigation?”

Olivia, who cut off the investigator’s greeting, sank deeply into her chair again.

Fortunately, she had something to do before she went out to find Cryer.

Or… was it fortunate? Wasn’t it unfortunate just to have such thoughts?

He’s not here.

He’s not beside her.

Cryer is not by her side.

That’s all there is to it.

So what? So what’s the big deal?

She should have let it go. No, she should not have cared in the first place….

For a moment, the thought that something else happening was a relief, Olivia, who was again worried about Cryer, who was not even here, didn’t notice.

In front of her, the investigator’s voice, who had been slowly and logically reporting what he had investigated, gradually became smaller.

As a veteran who had worked in the royal intelligence agency for a long time, the investigator realized from the moment he opened his mouth that the princess’s attention was in the bean field.

However, he could not dare wave his hand or touch his body in front of the princess, so he did his best to do his job to the end.

“…so, we believe there is no particular grievance to bear.”

When he closed his mouth, an awkward silence fell in the princess’s office.

After a while, the investigator, convinced that the silence would not end if they continued like this, cautiously opened his mouth.

“Your Highness, Princess?”

His voice a little louder and stronger than before, Olivia’s focus returned.

“Your Highness?”

“Ah, yes.”

Olivia waved her hand and the investigator immediately bowed his head.

“I apologize.”

“No, you just did your job. Where’s the report?”

As Olivia gestured, the investigator immediately handed over a bundle of documents.

Olivia spent quite a while browsing the report, as she had listened to the investigator’s report in one ear and out the other.

“In the end, the dead servant had no special grudges, no debt, and no dirty past involving people around them?”

“Yes. Since he was a servant working in the imperial palace, he wouldn’t have been able to enter in the first place if he had such a thing. Even during his time working in the imperial palace…”

The rest of the words were clear without listening.

If there had been such a thing, he would not have been able to step into the imperial palace anymore.

“Hmm.”

Olivia tilted her head as she looked down at the documents.

A person rushed at another person with the intent to kill.

Even if you’re a palace servant, you’re required to have several times the equanimity of ordinary people.

But to make such an emotional explosion, there should be quite a story.

However, the results of the investigation were telling a different story.

That makes it even more unsettling.

Even though Olivia thought she was reacting excessively, she didn’t let it go on a “maybe, just in case” basis. That was not the way of the Olivia from her fourth reincarnation.