“I see. By the way, I’ve prepared tea. Seems like you’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.”

While pouring tea into the cup she took out from the tray, Leia’s mind was complicated as if it were about to explode.

‘I wonder if he’s really avoiding me.’

Lately, he had been spending many nights in the office.

Today, after finishing the routine work as usual, he had come with a separate message that he would be working late.

At first, she thought it might be due to work. However, seeing the Duke avoiding her, anxiety crept into Leia’s heart.

“There’s no time to drink tea. Go to sleep first.”

He sighed quietly and absentmindedly lowered his head to the stack of documents.

“I’ve already prepared it. Just take this and…”

“I’ve told you several times…!”

As Leia was about to place the tray with steaming hot water on the table in front of him.

Thud!

Akia stood up, knocking down the glass Leia was about to place.

“Ouch.”

The hot water, filled to the brim, spilled over, sweeping across Leia’s backhand. She quickly withdrew her hand, but her reddened hand was already visible.

Watching Leia in pain, Akia touched her forehead.

“Ha… It’s me…”

‘Why are you avoiding Leia with such feelings?’

Unable to spit out the words that surged up to his throat, he bit his lip. Every moment, the guilt of loving the daughter of the one who killed his mother choked Akia’s breath.

That’s why. Hoping to alleviate the unpleasant feelings by officially announcing Leia as his wife at the wedding, he was enduring until the ceremony.

“It’s not needed, I said.”

The heavily restrained voice broke through his gritted teeth.

He called the maid until she approached, not looking back at Leia.

“Take her away. And since the lady is injured, call a doctor.”

Until the maid came, he did not turn to look at his wounds.

‘It’s right to avoid me.’

At the moment when the anxiety he had harbored became a reality, Leia’s heart throbbed.

The hideout of the Assassins, Jackal, prepared a few things and glanced around.

It had been used as a secret place ever since the Empress created the Assassins.

Jackal, along with the assassins, spent most of their lives here.

Except for the twenty years he had been away from the empire since ‘that day’.
The majority of the assassins are children without parents. Children with nowhere to go become emotionless assassins through harsh training.

And…

‘If you don’t pass the final test, you’ll be expelled.’

Those who cannot kill cannot join the Assassins.

He sneered as he recalled the vague memories. Leaving this place now meant the end of his enduring connection with the Assassins.

‘This is the end.’

Having completed everything he needed to do here, there was no lingering attachment.

Jackal hastily left the hideout. And it was the moment he was about to leave.

“Jackal.”

The voice that cut through the silence made Jackal stop in his tracks.

“Rix, what’s going on here?”

Rix. He had been the practical leader during the twenty years Jackal had been away from the empire.

Jackal scrutinized him with thin eyes. Rix, who rarely revealed himself as if deliberately avoiding Jackal, was standing there.

“What’s going on. This is our home.”

He shrugged indifferently and faced Jackal.

He deliberately sought him out when the hideout was empty, and now he runs into Rix?

‘Coincidence?’

There’s no way.

As if demanding an answer, Rix wiped away emotions from his face under Jackal’s fixed gaze.

“Jackal, someone who wants to see you is here.”

“Me?”

Jackal’s eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Rix had always been ambitious since the time they spent together in the Assassins. And now, that ambition had transformed into greed.

Seeing the lustful gaze, Jackal shook his head.

“I don’t need it.”

He had no intention of getting involved with them anymore. Neither power nor money mattered to him.

He just wished for his daughter to be safe and happy.

“I’m leaving this place.”

With those words, Jackal was about to pass by Rix. However, when he turned around at the unfamiliar presence of footsteps on the ground, Rix had already turned his head.

“This is disappointing.”

With a low-pitched voice ringing in his ears, another man walked out.

‘Surely…’

Suddenly, Jackal found himself smiling meaningfully as his gaze met with Rix’s, who was already wearing an intriguing smile.

Yes, ever since someone mentioned that someone was looking for him, he had a bad feeling.

Jackal turned to face the man who had approached him.

In the pitch-darkness, a vivid azure eye shone sharply, bathed in moonlight.

“Jackal.”

Jackal stiffened as he faced Ilay, the one and only sun of the empire, calling his name.