Yansi silently stood, gazing at the closed door of Elodie’s bedroom.

“I’ll handle it.”

Just a few days ago, Elodie had clearly said that with a cold voice.

Not to cross that line I had drawn.

‘The line…’

Yes, I drew a line. For Elodie.

For Yansi, it was an unprecedented matter he had never thought of before.

It wasn’t just that.

While she was a helpless newborn, Elodie, who couldn’t even speak, had followed him as well as her first older brother during her growth.

Even if she avoided the hostile Carlotta and feared the indifferent Duke and Duchess.

‘I was the exception.’

Not only that.

When he was about to go out of control, she comforted him, saying that everything would be okay, and even scolded him to calm down, sticking by his side until the end.

It felt like she would stay by his side forever, no matter how unstable he was.

‘And yet, she lets go of my hand…’

Yansi thought of Elodie again with an expressionless face.

Smiling kindly, as if nothing had happened, while watching his reactions, he knew it was an act.

Why does she act like that?

Yansi recalled the reason he came all the way here.

It all started with Felix Hicklmayer.

It bothered him that Elodie, who loved handsome men, would meet the man who happened to be the 1st Prince Ademir now that they were separated.

While investigating to dig up more weaknesses, in case Elodie, who liked handsome men, might be deceived by that man’s charming face and get engaged.

During that, Yansi discovered one fact.

“Liri Arsel.”

The sole sponsor of the rookie magician’s magical tools… and Elodie’s fake identity.

Elodie, sponsored as a magician by another identity, was doing something inexplicable under that identity.

Why she was doing such things would become clear as he investigated further.

“Miirhe, gather other guys and deal with the corpses at this location.”

“Yes…”

Responding to the leader’s command, Miirhe quickly mounted his horse, pulling along three mercenaries who had been idling at the headquarters.
At full speed, Mirhe’s face did not show any signs of weariness.

‘Bothersome…’

Even thinking that it was bothersome was bothersome, but he had to follow the leader’s orders.

Because the leader was his benefactor. He pulled him out from a life covered in dirt and filth.

‘Ha, even thinking about that is bothersome…’

Mirhe, finding it bothersome even to reminisce about his first encounter with the leader, increased his speed absentmindedly.

How much time had passed? Familiar smells wafted into Mirhe’s sensitive nose.

“Stop.”

Even Mirhe’s small voice, almost a whisper, was understood by the accompanying members, and they stopped their horses.

The place they stopped at was a deserted forest path.

“Mirhe, is this the right place?”

One member looked at Mirhe with a suspicious eye. Mirhe checked the map given by the leader.

“Yes, it’s here…”

It was nearby. The scent of blood vibrated in the air.

Just as Mirhe reluctantly got off his horse to survey the surroundings…

Not far away, voices of people were heard. It wasn’t just one person but several.

Mirhe, heading toward the origin of the sound without hesitation, suddenly lowered his body.

“Shh…”

With Mirhe’s alert, the members all lowered their bodies, holding their breath.

Beyond the thick bushes where their gazes reached, there was a group of people.

They were hastily loading something onto a carriage.

“Hurry up! We need to clear this before sunrise!”

Even without confirming what they were moving, it was clear. It must be the corpses of the assassins that the leader had ordered.

The judgment was quick. Mirhe exchanged glances with the members on both sides.

“Bothersome.”

It was truly damn bothersome, but there was no choice.

An additional mission had come up.

‘We’re chasing after them.’

As soon as the day broke, I stored the still soundly sleeping Greed in the sealing stone and summoned Layan.

Upon receiving the summons, Layan arrived at the mansion to pick me up.

“The assassins?”

“I’ve kept them in the underground.”

“Nothing happened, right?”

“No.”

I worried about them volunteering. If they happened to die, we wouldn’t be able to find out the mastermind behind the attack.

Feeling an urgent need to find out the mastermind, I immediately headed to the mercenary headquarters.

“You said they’re in the underground?”

“Yes. They should have woken up by now.”

How should I make them talk? Usually, conventional methods wouldn’t make them reveal their mastermind.

While pondering about a serious preemptive method, Layan spoke to me.

“Leave it to me.”

“Layan? He won’t talk with just any torture.”

“As long as it’s not just any torture, isn’t it fine?”

What exactly did he mean by not just any? How harsh was he planning to be?

At best, I could only think of pulling out a strand of hair. I thought it would be better to leave such things to a professional.

“Alright. Can I entrust you with it this time too?”

“It’s a task I’m doing willingly.”
While always extending favor without expecting anything in return and doing things because he wanted to, I couldn’t understand, but as always, I just let it go this time too.

“Then let’s go to the underground storage right away.”

As I recalled the location of the underground storage door that I had seen in the past and was about to take a step, Layan approached me and blocked my way.

“Layan?”

“Shouldn’t you see it?”

“But still, those who attacked me, shouldn’t I watch over them?”

It was a natural sense of responsibility for me. Since they were the ones who tried to harm me, it was only right to watch the moment they opened their mouths.

But Layan seemed not to think so.

“I cannot refuse Lady Elodie’s orders, so if you say you’ll go, I’ll let you in.”

“……”

“But I hope you won’t see it. It’s not a pleasant sight.”

I also didn’t want to see a cruel scene with my own eyes.

Layan was suggesting that he didn’t want to go to the underground storage for my sake.

After a short contemplation, I reached a conclusion.

“Fine. I’ll leave it entirely to Layan.”

If Layan couldn’t find out the mastermind even after thorough interrogation, then I could step in at that point.

“I’ll be on my way then.”

After leaving a brief farewell, Layan stepped into the underground storage.

How much time had passed?

Layan, taking off his black gloves, opened the door to the underground storage and came up.

His expression wasn’t much different from when he went down.

‘What’s this? Nothing happened below?’

As I tilted my head in confusion, Layan spoke.

“I extracted information about the mastermind.”

“Really? How?”

Exactly what method did he use to make trained assassins spill the beans?

No, more importantly, there was something more crucial.

“Who is it?”

Since I had no clue, I was more curious. Who was the mastermind behind the attack on me?

When I raised my eyebrows in question, Layan spoke.

“Marquis Rodriguez Angelos.”

At the sudden name, I furrowed my brows.

“Marquis Angelos?”

Was Marquis Angelos trying to kill me?