Augustus raised his head at the sound of the door opening. Having been informed of the visitor in advance, Augustus frowned upon seeing the police inspector enter the room.

“Where do you think you’re glaring at, you bastard?”

The police inspector suddenly struck Augustus on the head.

Augustus raised his head and glared at the police inspector, but bound to a stone chair, all he could do in protest was shake his shoulders.

Even that wasn’t possible with much force. One wrong move and he might fall over.

Whether he hit his shoulder or head on the stone floor, it would be his loss.

Patience was all that was allowed to Augustus in his detention.

‘I’ve lost my temper completely. Damn it.’

If his subordinates saw Augustus lowering his eyes after being hit by someone else, they would fall over in shock.

But what could he do?

Augustus wanted to live. Preferably as a rich man, lording over others.

To do that, he needed to safely get out of detention. Or the Rose Faction fools needed to be smart enough to get him out.

From what he had overheard about the situation, the Rose Faction bastards were wrong.

He had briefly placed hope in Cedric, but he seemed to have no intention of saving him.

In the end, Augustus had to find a way to survive detention on his own, and ironically, that opportunity was in the hands of Cain, whom he had tried to kill.

So Augustus remained tense, enduring even the violence of the police inspector.

“Don’t do anything foolish. Mind your manners. Everyone else, clear out.”

At the police inspector’s words, the officers in the visiting room filed out.

Suddenly left alone, Augustus was dumbfounded.

Is this… an opportunity being given to escape?

Augustus looked around. The visiting room made of hard stone, with only two ways out – a small window over 2 meters high and the door the police inspector had just exited through.

Going out the front door would obviously make him a target, and unless he was a small child, exiting through the window was impossible.

Augustus spat out the brief hope he had held along with his saliva.

All Augustus could do, tied up as he was, was think.

Naturally, he thought about the Duke and Duchess of Hastings who had come to see him today.

Why had they come to meet him?

Augustus grew increasingly anxious, wondering what they were up to by leaving him alone. Just as his anxiety peaked, the door opened.

Jane entered the visiting room. And the door closed.

Augustus’s eyes narrowed. He kept looking past Jane’s shoulder at the door.

He naturally thought someone else would come in.

But the door that closed after Jane entered remained shut even as she sat down in front of Augustus.

When unexpected situations arise, anyone would become anxious. Augustus was no different.

Though he had expected to meet Jane, Augustus’s legs trembled, not having anticipated being alone with her.

Moreover, for quite some time after entering, she simply stared at Augustus.

Finally, Augustus spoke first.

“Why did you come to see me?”

“Have you been well? I’ve been fine.”

Jane gave an answer unrelated to Augustus’s question. Augustus wrinkled his nose.

“I asked why you came.”

“I heard you don’t remember. Do you remember kidnapping me?”

Augustus frowned.

“I don’t remember.”

“You don’t know a woman named Jexy either?”

“Jexy? I don’t know such a person.”

Jane snorted and turned her head, letting out a breath between her teeth. At her transcendent expression, Augustus unconsciously shrank his neck.

Contrary to what he told Jane, Augustus remembered everything.

Meeting Jexy and planning to kidnap Jane, kidnapping her, fleeing to the cave in the rain, shooting Cain – all of it was vivid.

He intended to pretend not to know until the end in order to survive.

“Are you still going to say you don’t remember?”

Jane took out a gun and released the safety. It was close enough that Augustus would be fatally wounded if she pulled the trigger.

Augustus gulped.

“Gu-guns are prohibited in the police station, as far as I know…”

Augustus kept glancing at the door.

“Looks like you want to call for help. Go ahead if you want. Who do you think will come save you?”

Jane’s attitude was too confident for someone who had smuggled in a gun. Augustus guessed that the police inspector had turned a blind eye to her gun possession. Augustus’s face crumpled like a wad of newspaper thrown in the trash.

“Damn the law! Everything’s possible with power! Must be nice being a noble, huh? Being able to do whatever you want!”

Augustus shouted, the veins in his neck bulging. His large frame shouting with a red face was sufficiently threatening. But Jane didn’t even flinch.

“It would be better to stay quiet.”

She simply twitched the gun pointed at Augustus.

“You’re going to shoot me here? Go ahead! No matter how messed up this world is, they won’t let someone who fired a gun in a police station go free!”

“They will.”

Jane smiled leisurely.

“Shall we try it?”

Only then did Augustus see the look in Jane’s eyes. Unlike her lips curved in a smile, her eyes were cold.

Augustus, with plenty of experience shooting people, sensed it. The gun Jane held was not simply for threats or self-defense.

It was the noble gaze of punishing a villain. Though he didn’t understand why she looked at him that way, that’s how it was.

She could shoot Augustus at any moment.

Having glimpsed Jane’s true intentions, he caught his breath. And visibly became docile.

“Wh-what do you want?”

“Do you really not remember?”

“I-I told you I don’t remember.”

It was an instinctive response.

Augustus’s Adam’s apple bobbed greatly. Jane stared at him intently.

Augustus felt like he was being dissected piece by piece. So Augustus couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

He had to find out what Jane wanted before she saw through everything about him.

“Why did you ask to meet me? Do you want an apology? If so, I’ll apologize. I’m sorry. I was wrong. Or is there something I need to say about that Jexy woman or whatever? If that’s needed, please tell me. I’ll say whatever you want me to.”

Jane didn’t interrupt as Augustus rambled on. She just listened. That drove Augustus crazy.

“Tell me what you want!”

Augustus’s patience was short. His voice rose again.

Jane slightly raised the gun barrel she had lowered. The direction the muzzle pointed was exactly at Augustus’s heart.

“I’ll ask again. Is there nothing you remember? Depending on how you answer, I may shoot your heart, or I may shoot your head. One thing you should know is that I’m not very skilled at aiming.”

Augustus’s eyebrows formed mountains.

“In other words, you may not die from my gunshot, but live a life of only pain.”

It was a scarier statement than saying she would kill him.

Judging by Jane’s attitude, it seemed unlikely that he would leave detention. Then Augustus’s trip to prison was as good as decided.

If he gets injured in this situation?

Prison will be hell itself for him.

He’ll have to do labor while injured, and even if the wound festers, he won’t receive proper treatment.

It would be fortunate if he dies, but there are healers in prison. Keeping prisoners barely alive – that was their goal.

He’ll have to live watching and feeling his body rot.

All Augustus had was his sturdy body. With that body alone, he achieved the feat of subjugating the hardliners of the Rose Faction.

Having experienced success with his body, Augustus hoped that if he maintained his health, he could rise again even after rotting in prison for a long time.

But if he gets shot here, that hope would turn to bubbles.

So he had to find the answer Jane wanted, but Augustus, who wasn’t very smart to begin with, found it difficult to fathom Jane’s complex inner thoughts.

His lacking intelligence made it hard to grasp Jane’s complicated feelings.

There was only one thing he could do in this situation. Augustus fell forward while still seated in the chair.

Though he knew his knees wouldn’t be safe hitting the stone floor, he did it anyway.

“Ugh.”

As he expected, indescribable pain shot through his knees.

Augustus bit the inside of his cheek hard to keep from screaming. The soft flesh inside his cheek burst, filling his mouth with a metallic taste.

“Should I remember or not remember?”

“Now we’re talking.”

Click, Jane set the gun down on the table. But her finger was still on the trigger.

* * *

In the carriage returning to Somnium House, Cain silently stared at Jane sitting across from him.

Jane’s mouth had remained firmly shut since meeting Augustus.

Even when Cain discussed Augustus’s punishment level with the police inspector, even when he listened to the inspector’s complaints about the Rose Faction’s terrorism, Jane’s mouth stayed closed throughout.

The police inspector asked Jane several times what she wanted, but she remained silent.

Eventually, the embarrassed inspector cleared his throat, and Cain roughly wrapped up their meeting.

Cain barely managed to shove down the questions he had repeated dozens of times in his head.

Instead, he brought up a topic completely unrelated to Augustus.

“Nathan was telling me you came up with a brilliant business idea.”

“It’s nothing special.”

Unexpectedly, Jane’s response was immediate. A glint of light passed through Cain’s eyes.

“Nonsense. If it goes according to plan, financial independence is guaranteed. ‘Amazing’ doesn’t do it justice. You’ve worked hard, Jane.”

“It’s what you’ve always done.”

The content of her words was an acknowledgment of Cain and praise for his efforts. But words devoid of any emotion were a thorny whip to Cain.

“What you’ve done in two weeks makes what I’ve done look like child’s play. For Hastings, you really…”

Cain stopped mid-sentence. He had almost revealed his greed.

He shouldn’t do that.

“I what?”

Jane turned her gaze from the window to look at Cain. Cain was startled by Jane’s empty pupils.

“Jane, what are you thinking?”

Cain wanted to know.

What thoughts made her not angry at him, how much she knew, and if we were really over.

But he probably wouldn’t get an answer.

“Nothing at all.”

It was as Cain expected. But her words weren’t to avoid the situation. Her words were the truth. There was nothing in her eyes.

Cain realized only now.

That Jane had loved him for quite a long time. Perhaps even until recently.

So he crumbled once again.

Because the meaning of her empty eyes was clear.

She had now completely let go of Cain.

No matter how much he begged and pleaded, it couldn’t be undone.

“Do you have something to say, Cain?”

Cain shook his head. Jane’s head turned back toward the window. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Jane looked at Cain with a small sigh.

“Tonight, I’ll come to your bedroom.”

Cain’s eyebrows raised slightly.

“It’s been a while since I fulfilled my duty as a duchess…”

What does she mean?

Is Jane giving him a chance?

Cain looked into Jane’s eyes again. Her eyes were still empty.

Then why is she saying she’ll spend the night with him?

“Jane. You don’t have to be so bound by the contract…”

“I’m tired. I’ll get some sleep until we arrive at the mansion.”

The moment he saw the shadow cast by her long eyelashes, Cain’s heart ached.