Jeremiah caught Karina as she headed towards the kitchen.

“Where are you going again?”

“I need to go to the kitchen. If Gennon Young Shik was murdered, the culprit wouldn’t be just an ordinary maid. I need to find out who’s behind this too. It could be the same person who tried to put me in a difficult situation.”

“Go back to your room for now.”

Jeremiah blocked Karina’s path.

“You want me to just stay cooped up in my room and wait? I can’t do that. I’ll go and investigate on my own while you continue your investigation. Didn’t you say we need to catch them before they escape?”

Karina didn’t obediently listen to his words.

“Why don’t you listen when someone’s talking to you? What can you do by going there? Are you going to catch the culprit by yourself?”

“…”

Karina felt anger welling up at Jeremiah’s words telling her to stay in her room instead of wandering around when there was nothing she could do.

‘This isn’t unrelated to me, so why are you trying to exclude me!’

As the enraged Karina was about to argue, a guard watching the grand duke’s main gate ran up urgently to report.

“Your Highness! There’s a report that a maid working in the kitchen has been found dead. It’s said to be the maid who was in charge of serving food to Gennon Young Shik.”

“…!”

‘Dead? Just like that?’

Karina was greatly flustered by the sudden turn of events.

‘Did they kill the maid right after Gennon Young Shik died? Then that means they’ve already gotten rid of all the evidence.’

She couldn’t get a grasp on what to do first because of the events that kept happening one after another, as if meticulously prepared.

She thought this could turn into an even bigger deal than she had initially thought.

As her thoughts became complicated, her head started to ache.

Suddenly, something warm trickled down from her nose.

Karina wiped under her nose with a dazed expression, and blood came away.

“Ah…”

As if exceeding a threshold, her head suddenly started spinning and she felt dizzy.

“Grand Duchess!”

As Karina staggered, Jeremiah quickly approached and supported her.

“Are you alright? This is why I told you to stay in your room.”

“But… the maid is dead…”

A sense of anxiety swept over her, feeling that if they didn’t catch the culprit quickly now, it would be too late.

As Karina still refused to go to her room, Jeremiah asked firmly.

“What are you going to do by going there yourself? Will the culprit come out on their own if you go?”

“That’s…”

When faced with such a question, she had no answer.

She just felt she couldn’t stay still and wait right now.

Jeremiah, who had been staring at Karina, let out a deep sigh and said,

“I’ll let you know when the investigation is over. I promise I’ll catch the culprit for sure. So please go back to your room now.”

Karina found it hard to believe his words.

‘Even now, you’re trying to sideline me.’

But it was also true that her physical condition had worsened, making it difficult to do anything in this state.

‘I should go to Mikhail.’

Karina thought of Mikhail.

She felt that if she asked Mikhail to find out about this matter, he would do as she wanted.

“…Alright.”

As Karina tried to leave, Jeremiah didn’t let go of the hand supporting her.

“Let go.”

“…”

But despite Karina’s words, Jeremiah just looked at her with an unreadable gaze, not easily letting go of his hand.

‘He doesn’t trust me.’

Karina clicked her tongue inwardly.

Karina firmly shook off his hand and lied.

“I’ll go back to my room, so don’t worry.”

However, Karina’s words about returning alone were not accepted.

“Ron. Escort the Grand Duchess safely back to her room.”

In the end, Jeremiah assigned a knight.

“I refuse.”

When Karina frowned and looked at him, Jeremiah changed his words again.

“Fine. Then I’ll take you there myself.”

Saying so, Jeremiah swiftly picked Karina up in his arms.

“…!”

Startled, Karina struggled.

“What are you…!”

Even in the midst of her spinning vision, she could feel that Jeremiah had suddenly lifted her up.

But because she wasn’t feeling well, she couldn’t properly resist.

All she could do was grasp her throbbing head and breathe heavily.

In the end, Karina had to return to her room carried in Jeremiah’s arms.

Jeremiah laid Karina down on the bed.

“Don’t think about anything and just sleep.”

‘How can I do that right now!’

She rebelled inwardly, but she didn’t even have the energy to get angry.

Karina took a deep breath.

‘Calm down. Let’s organize the situation one by one and think…’

She tried to cool her throbbing head, but it was in vain.

Karina fell asleep without realizing it, as if fainting.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Karina.”

Karina woke up to a gentle voice calling her name.

‘What… Who…?’

As she lifted her heavy eyelids, a dim light came in.

And she could vaguely see a person’s face in front of her eyes.

But her vision was blurry, so she couldn’t clearly see who it was.

As she tried to ask who it was, she felt a hand being placed on her forehead.

At the same time, she felt the throbbing that had been filling her head gradually receding.

‘Ah, that feels good.’

It felt like her body was relaxing comfortably, as if immersed in warm water.

Karina drifted back to sleep, feeling comfortable and at ease.

Mikhail gazed intently at the sleeping Karina.

“As expected, I couldn’t leave you alone, so I came.”

In a place where no one else could hear, Mikhail called Karina’s name.

He was satisfied with calling her name.

He liked the feeling of it on his tongue, the way it tapped against the roof of his mouth with each utterance.

He remembered how Karina had smiled brightly and told him to speak comfortably when they were alone.

It made him feel that she considered him more intimate than before, which pleased him immensely.

Mikhail wanted to become even closer to Karina while calling her name.

But he restrained himself.

He felt that once he started, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

Even now, he wanted to take Karina and go to the magic tower right away.

But he shouldn’t do that yet.

‘Let’s be patient for a little longer.’

Mikhail gently stroked Karina’s hair.

The red hair wrapped softly around Mikhail’s hand.

Cherishing that sensation, he examined Karina’s condition more closely.

“Your complexion is too pale.”

Mikhail’s hand touched Karina’s cheek.

And it moved gently along the lines of her face.

After parting with Karina and returning to his room, Mikhail realized that there was a commotion outside and went out again.

And he heard from the servants about what had happened.

Whether Gennon lived or died was of no concern to him, so he felt no particular emotion.

He thought it was rather good that the man who had tried to frame and put Karina in a difficult situation had died.

But he didn’t want to just watch as the despicable ones who had conspired with Gennon to target Karina cut their losses and ran away.

As Mikhail headed to the prison to find out about the situation, he witnessed Jeremiah carrying Karina to her room.

“Haah.”

Recalling that scene again made him feel sick to his stomach.

‘After not trusting Karina and treating her coldly.’

He had almost shouted right there to snatch Karina away and tell him not to touch her.

Mikhail clenched his fist tightly.

He couldn’t leave her with someone who made Karina lonely and miserable.

“I’m different. I won’t leave you lonely.”

Words with no listeners echoed in the empty space.

But it didn’t matter.

“Karina. Don’t be sick.”

Mikhail lowered his head to press his forehead against Karina’s and whispered quietly.

“Because I don’t like it when you’re hurt or sick.”

He could feel the warmth from their touching foreheads.

Mikhail used magic to help Karina sleep comfortably.

Even as the night deepened, Mikhail stayed by Karina’s side for a long time.

[This is the timeline separator]

The next day.

Karina woke up feeling refreshed.

‘I ended up falling asleep after all.’

A sense of self-loathing washed over her.

Apart from her mood, her body felt fine.

‘It’s like a lie that I suddenly felt sick yesterday.’

Karina got up.

‘I feel like someone was here…’

But the memory was vague like a dream, and she couldn’t recall clearly.

‘That can’t be.’

Dismissing it as an illusion, Karina washed her face and gathered her thoughts.

Then she immediately went to find Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was already up and handling his work.

Even though it seemed he had stayed up all night, there wasn’t a hint of dishevelment in his appearance.

“Are the investigation results out?”

Karina asked as soon as she saw him.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Yes.”

“Sit down first.”

“No, I’m fine.”

Karina replied sharply, as if urging him to answer quickly.

“…”

Jeremiah pressed his fingers between his eyes, then got up from his seat and approached Karina.

“This isn’t something to discuss while standing, is it?”

Saying so, Jeremiah nodded towards the sofa nearby, indicating for her to sit.

“…Alright.”

Hearing that, she thought the conversation might become lengthy.

As Karina sat down, Ron, who had been working at an auxiliary desk, brought warm tea.

Jeremiah took a few documents in hand and sat across from Karina.

“Ron.”

Jeremiah called Ron and had him report the investigation results.

“First, the cause of Gennon Young Shik’s death was indeed poisoning from a toxic substance in the distributed food.”

“…”

“And yesterday evening, a maid who worked in the grand duke’s kitchen and was in charge of serving food to Gennon Young Shik left the grand duke’s residence without permission. And five hours later, she was found hanged on a tree.”

That was about an hour before the news reached the grand duke’s residence.

“The reason this fact could be quickly reported to the grand duke’s residence was because a suicide note was found on the maid’s person.”

The note contained a confession that she had put poison in Gennon Young Shik’s food under Caroline’s coercion, along with a statement that the guilt of killing someone was too great and she would atone for her sin with death.

“Upon searching the maid’s room, we found a vial hidden under the bed that is believed to have contained powder of the same composition as the poison Gennon Young Shik ingested.”

Jeremiah held out the documents he was holding so Karina could see them.

The contents of the documents were not much different from what Ron had just said.

There was a plausible motive for Caroline being behind it, and there was also a vague suspicion that she was involved.

On top of that, there was clear circumstantial evidence and a suicide note.

Everything fit together perfectly.

But despite that, Karina couldn’t shake off an inexplicable uneasy feeling.

‘I did suspect that the culprit might be Caroline or Revals.’

She couldn’t get rid of the feeling that this situation was extremely artificial.

‘Is this really the doing of Caroline alone? While leaving such obvious traces that she did it?’

It seemed implausible.

‘That Caroline, who hates getting her hands dirty, using such a shallow and obvious method?’

Karina’s mind became cool and calm.

‘This rather seems like everything is being pinned on Caroline.’

It was extremely suspicious.