“You’re here.”

Selena greeted Karina with a gentle voice.

Heistine, who was with her, also gave a nod of acknowledgment to Karina.

Karina and Mikhail had come to the place where Selena and Heistine were staying.

It was the tavern where they had first met.

As it turned out, this tavern was run by a married couple.

The husband ran the tavern on the first floor while the wife managed the inn rooms on the second floor.

Karina had arranged for Selena and Heistine to freely use this place.

Now that she was involved, she felt more like an information broker than the dark merchant she used to be in the past.

But she thought it didn’t matter if she was an information broker.

‘As long as the job gets done well.’

Karina decided to think positively about it.

“How have you been? Selena, Heistine.”

Karina smiled and greeted the two of them.

“We’ve been well. It’s you, Grand Duchess, who almost went through a big ordeal. I’m glad you got through it safely.”

At Selena’s words, Karina replied with a smile on her lips.

“It’s thanks to you two completing my request well.”

The reason Karina sought them out today was to give them a new request and also to hear the results of the investigation she had asked for last time about Revals Lamberta.

Karina took out the request form she had prepared in advance.

“Here’s a request form with the details of a new request. Take a look and let Mikhail know separately later if you have any questions.”

Mikhail was going back and forth acting as a bridge between them and Karina.

Mikhail, standing next to Karina, put on a confident expression as if to say leave it to him.

In return, Selena handed Karina the report on their investigation of Revals.

“The part about him having the government backing him turned out to be Lady Caroline’s own words.”

“What?”

Selena added an explanation.

“It seems they have had a deep secret relationship for quite some time. We didn’t have much time, so that’s about all we found out.”

Karina slowly read through the report she received.

She had already found out before the charity event that Caroline had frequent contact with Revals, the second son of the Lamberta family.

So she had expected that Caroline would be somewhat involved in embezzling money behind the scenes and causing trouble.

In fact, they had even found out that it was Revals who brought up the story about the Guenon ritual to Caroline.

A sneer hung on Karina’s lips as she read through the report.

She had suspected it, but she didn’t think they would really have this kind of relationship.

‘She acted like she wouldn’t even glance at anyone who wasn’t the king or heir apparent of a country, going on about class differences. How ridiculous.’

Moreover, Caroline was already in a position where her marriage partner had been decided.

In other words, she was not in a position to freely engage in romance.

The emperor had not only forced marriage on Jeremiah.

Even before Jeremiah, he had also designated a marriage partner for Caroline and tried to force her into marriage.

He had been annoyed by the jackal-like men who dreamed of rising in status by using the Grand Duchess or coveting the power of the Grand Duke’s family.

The emperor had consistently designated the old head of a prestigious family on the emperor’s side as her partner in order to prevent the power of the Grand Duke’s family from growing further.

He had intended to put a leash on the Colsbergs by taking the Grand Duchess hostage.

However, at that time, the marriage ended up as an engagement rather than a marriage because Caroline was considered too young compared to the family head and there was opposition from other northern families.

Regardless of the situation at the time, Caroline despised her marriage partner to the point of shuddering.

In addition to the reason that their status did not match, she could not accept that she had to marry an old man who was much older than her.

But after realizing that it was difficult to break off the engagement, she continuously delayed the wedding day under the pretext that the man’s health was poor and he was frail.

That had continued to this day.

Caroline hoped that since the family head was old, he would die while she delayed the wedding, making the engagement itself void.

The emperor’s purpose was more about preventing the expansion of the Colsbergs’ power than Caroline’s marriage itself, so he left the situation alone.

Unless Caroline came forward to marry another man, the emperor seemed to have no intention of paying attention to their marriage.

‘If the incident at this charity event and Caroline’s affair are exposed together, Caroline will have no choice but to go through with the marriage she dreads, right?’

Karina made up her mind to plan how she could expose this fact in the most damaging way to Caroline.

And she turned her attention to the other contents of the report.

“The second son, Revals, is in charge of the copper mine business and frequently participates in auctions…”

According to the report, there was a problem with the mining business.

“What exactly is the problem?”

“We found out that part of the tunnel in the mine collapsed. It seems to have caused issues with the mining work…”

As she listened quietly to Selena’s explanation, Karina recalled the words she had overheard at the charity event.

‘I’m pretty sure he said he found a distributor to supply the copper to.’

She thought he must be keeping it hush-hush because it would affect the supply to the client if this incident became known.

‘In the past, I didn’t know Revals Lamberta had this kind of relationship with Caroline, but…’

Now that she knew they were involved like this, she had no intention of leaving Revals alone either.

From experience, that guy Revals would never operate the mine in a good way.

‘Since the two of them colluded to try to put me in a bind, I should get my due compensation.’

Karina’s eyes sparkled.

“But there has been a movement recently that wasn’t there before.”

“What is it?”

“He started volunteering to give out free food to street children.”

“To children?”

“Yes, saying he can’t just watch children starve to death, without discrimination even to orphaned children.”

“……”

An uneasy feeling washed over her.

‘He’s not the type to do that kind of volunteer work without any reason. Is he trying to deceive because an audit is coming?’

“For now, keep a close eye on him and report immediately if you see any strange movements.”

“Yes, understood.”

[Timeline separator]

After Karina and Mikhail left.

“Huh? Wouldn’t it be better to leave this kind of work to a local specialist?”

Heistine, who had been skimming through the request form, spoke with a puzzled expression.

One of the request details was to find a decent piece of land in the worthless Welren region where Karina could live after her divorce.

That region was where it would later become known that large quantities of top-grade diamonds were buried, causing the land prices to skyrocket.

But no one other than Karina knew that fact.

“Or is it because she’s the precious flower of the Grand Duke’s family, so she doesn’t know who to entrust what kind of work to?”

Heistine scratched the back of his head as he finished reading through the request form.

“Is it right for us to be taking requests and doing work like this here? And the client is the Grand Duchess of the Grand Duke’s family.”

“….”

“What do you think?”

Heistine asked Selena, but Selena seemed to have a lot on her mind.

“Why the long face? Is there something bothering you?”

“There is something that’s bothering me….”

Heistine, who was frustrated by Selena trailing off her words, asked,

“What? What is it?”

Selena spoke after moving her lips for a moment.

“This request form. Although there are some completely irrelevant and out-of-place requests mixed in, it feels like it was written knowing what we’re good at. So it’s strange.”

“What do you mean by that? The Grand Duchess saw us for the first time that day at the tavern.”

“That’s right. That’s why it’s strange.”

At her words, Heistine’s expression turned serious.

‘Could it be that she knows where we came from?’

Selena shook her head to brush off the absurd assumption in her mind.

“No, it must just be a feeling. Don’t worry about it. We just need to do what we’re requested to do.”

Selena came to that conclusion and immediately cut off her concerns.

[Timeline separator]

Mikhail suddenly stopped walking.

“What’s wrong?”

Karina looked to where Mikhail’s gaze was directed.

A sign in the shape of a reptile’s head could be seen, perhaps a place that sold leather.

“What does that look like to you?”

Mikhail pointed to the sign with his finger and asked.

“Hmm. A lizard?”

Karina responded lightly.

“Not a dragon?”

At the mention of a dragon, Karina looked up at Mikhail.

“Dragon?”

“Yes.”

“Do you perhaps believe in the existence of dragons?”

When Karina asked back, Mikhail shrugged his shoulders instead of answering.

“They appear in the empire’s founding myth too.”

“That’s why. Dragons are a fantastical creature that only appears in founding myths.”

“Is that what you think?”

“Am I wrong?”

Mikhail smiled meaningfully.

Based on his expression, it seemed his thoughts differed from hers.

“When you wander around here and there, you hear a lot of stories related to dragons.”

“….”

“Like meeting a dragon and having all illnesses cured, the world being turned upside down by a dragon’s fury, a dragon descending to a drought-stricken land and bringing rain, or obtaining a dragon’s tears and having a wish granted.”

“….”

Honestly, she had no interest in dragon stories, but hearing Mikhail’s last words reminded her of the Potion of Wish.

Although she didn’t know exactly what the Potion of Wish was, she had traveled back in time.

She had a suspicion, but she brushed off that guess.

‘It’s not like I had my wish granted.’

The dark merchant from whom she had obtained the Potion of Wish in the past.

When the dark merchants appeared, she was definitely planning to investigate the Potion of Wish then.

The reason Karina was trying to pull Selena and Heistine, who had been involved with the dark merchants in the past, to her side was also for that purpose.

‘I can kill two birds with one stone by creating my own information network and making preparations for after the divorce.’

Karina smiled with satisfaction.

‘I hope those dark merchants come to the North soon.’

Then she felt she could find out the reason why she had returned to the past.

While Karina was lost in thought.

Mikhail was carefully observing Karina like that.

With his gaze fixed on Karina, Mikhail soon asked,

“Isn’t there a story like that around you, Grand Duchess?”

“Huh?”

“A story related to dragons.”

“There isn’t one.”

Karina shook her head.

“Even something very trivial.”

Mikhail asked seriously.

Karina was a little flustered by his expression that seemed to say there must be one.

To the point that she unconsciously thought, ‘Was there one?’

But there really wasn’t.

“No, there really isn’t one….”

“….”

Karina blinked her eyes.

An awkward silence hung between them for a moment.

“I see.”

Mikhail, who smiled lightly as if he understood, changed the subject.

“Grand Duchess. Are you not hungry?”

“Right now?”

It was still a bit early for dinner.

“Didn’t you eat lunch?”

“I did, but I suddenly got a craving for chicken skewers.”

“Chicken skewers?”

“Yes. Come to think of it, last time we went downtown, I had intended to buy and eat chicken skewers. I forgot because things were so hectic.”

Mikhail put on a truly regretful expression.

“If you have time, would you like to go eat together now?”

“Sure.”

She readily accepted Mikhail’s suggestion.

Karina and Mikhail arrived downtown.

The two passed the place where the explosion had occurred and went into the inner city.

“Looks like they haven’t opened yet.”

The place Mikhail took Karina to, saying it was a delicious restaurant, had not yet started business for the day.

Seeing the folded stall on the street, it seemed to be a street food restaurant that started business in the evening.

“The place you wanted to take me to eat was street food?”

“Yes. I was looking forward to it, but it’s too bad they haven’t started business yet.”

Mikhail clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed.

“Isn’t there anywhere else you wanted to go?”

“Hmm.”

After pondering for a moment, Mikhail opened his mouth.

“How about doughnuts?”

“Doughnuts?”

“It’s fried bread.”

“Is that street food too?”

“Yes. It’s delicious.”

Karina took out a pouch of gold coins from her bosom and handed it to Mikhail.

“Go buy some and come back.”

“…?”

Mikhail received the coin pouch with a puzzled expression.

“Just me? What about you, Grand Duchess?”

“I’m picky about food, so I can’t eat anything mediocre.”

Karina spoke dryly.

“Grand Duchess, don’t tell me.”

Mikhail called out to Karina with a serious expression.

“What?”

“You’ve never tried street food?”

“…So what?”

Instead of affirming, Karina asked what the problem was.

“Sigh, you don’t know the charm of street food yet.”

Mikhail shook his head from side to side.

“I’ll show you, so just trust and follow me.”

“What?”

Karina was flustered by Mikhail’s resolute tone.