Mikhail quickly hid Karina behind him.

“Ha, as I thought. It seemed like rats had snuck into the tunnel. There were intruders.”

Mikhail glared at Revals, who called him and Karina rats.

“You’d better watch your mouth.”

Despite Mikhail’s warning, Revals snorted.

“What’s there to be careful about? I have no intention of letting those who snuck into my private property go easily.”

Revals added, looking at Karina behind Mikhail.

“That goes for you too, Grand Duchess.”

Revals seemed to have no intention of showing any courtesy.

Revals sent one of his mercenaries to check inside the cabin where the children had been.

“There’s no one inside.”

When the mercenary reported, Revals clicked his tongue.

“Where did you hide all the children?”

Karina was dumbfounded by those words.

“If someone who doesn’t know heard that, they’d think we kidnapped the children.”

Karina sneered.

Revals retorted shamelessly.

“That’s right. Isn’t it true that you took away my workers?”

Karina’s expression twisted in disgust.

“Those young children are workers? What you did is just labor exploitation and child abuse.”

“Those children came of their own free will. They came on their own feet asking for work. What could I do?”

Revals said, shrugging his shoulders.

“You must have deceived and lured the children by saying you’d give them food. The volunteer work of distributing food on the streets was started with the purpose of kidnapping children from the beginning, wasn’t it?”

Revals chuckled.

“Do you have any evidence?”

“The fact that children were here is evidence itself, and I’m a witness who saw it. Can you silence the mouth of the Grand Duchess?”

Karina said confidently.

“Hahahahaha.”

Revals laughed heartily.

“That’s only if you can get out of here.”

“What do you mean?”

Karina retorted.

“Did you think I wouldn’t have prepared for intruders?”

Revals laughed slyly.

“You two can never leave. Especially since you’ve seen that children were here.”

Revals pointed at Mikhail and continued.

“You seem to be at ease thinking that guy is a magician, but magical barriers have already been set up around here. Now that I know intruders have come in, the magical barriers must have been activated. You’re like rats in a trap.”

“…!”

Karina was shocked by Revals’ words.

Come to think of it, this was a mine that extracted magic stones.

She hadn’t thought at all about the possibility that magical precautions might have been taken.

Karina looked at Mikhail with a dark expression.

But Mikhail whispered with his eyes wide open, without any change in expression.

“There’s no problem at all?”

“…”

Karina looked at Mikhail with eyes asking if it was really true.

Mikhail nodded with an expression saying it was true.

In fact, Revals’ words were true.

There were magical barriers near the mine and they were currently activated, but it wasn’t a problem for Mikhail at all.

It was like placing a thin twig in front of a passing carriage and calling it an obstacle.

Seeing Mikhail nod, Revals opened his mouth.

“You seem to be trying to maintain your pride as a magician. Don’t you understand the situation?”

Revals smiled wickedly.

“If you grovel and beg, I might let you off just this once.”

Revals took something out of his pocket.

And threw it at Mikhail.

Thud.

Mikhail caught what Revals threw and checked it.

It was a small medicine bottle containing white powder.

Karina also checked it.

‘What is this?’

Karina looked at the powder in the bottle with a puzzled face.

“Both of you eat that. Then I’ll let you go quietly just this once.”

“…!”

The moment she heard Revals’ words, Karina immediately realized what it was.

Karina glared at Revals with a hardened face.

And she secretly whispered to Mikhail.

“I’ll buy some time, so go ahead with the plan.”

Mikhail’s eyes widened slightly and then returned to normal.

“Yes.”

After hearing Mikhail’s answer, Karina stepped forward and asked Revals.

“What is this?”

Karina asked even though she knew.

“I’ll tell you after you eat it.”

Karina narrowed her eyes and questioned him as if interrogating.

“So it was you who killed Genon and the maid of the Grand Duke’s family after all?”

Revals laughed as if she had said something amusing.

“I have no idea what you’re suddenly talking about.”

“You fed this poison to the maid and killed her, didn’t you?”

Karina shook the medicine bottle containing the white powder that Revals had just thrown.

Revals snorted and asked back.

“Who says that’s poison? Shall we feed it to that guy lying over there right now? To see if he really dies?”

Revals said, nodding towards the unconscious guard lying nearby.

“You’d better stop joking. I know exactly what kind of poison this is.”

“…”

When Karina spoke without wavering, Revals frowned in displeasure.

“Why did you kill them yourself and then frame Caroline for the crime?”

Karina still couldn’t understand this part even as she suspected Revals.

“I’ll answer that too if you eat it.”

Revals made a chin gesture urging her to hurry up and eat it, with a vile smile.

“You think I’ll eat this when I know full well what it is?”

Karina protested.

“What will you do if you don’t eat it?”

Revals sneered.

“Since you can’t use magic, that guard of yours is useless now. Even if you don’t eat it willingly, you’ll end up eating it eventually.”

He meant he would force them to eat it if necessary.

Karina’s eyes hardened coldly.

At that moment.

Rumble.

“…!”

A thunderous sound came from deep inside the mine.

At the same time, there was a feeling of emptiness as if something that had been filling the space had completely disappeared.

‘Ah.’

Karina instinctively realized that Mikhail had moved all the magic stones inside the mine.

‘That was incredibly fast.’

And she became puzzled.

‘But how am I able to sense this?’

While Karina was pondering this unanswerable question, Mikhail stepped forward.

“It’s done.”

His tone sounded satisfied.

“What…?”

Revals raised one eyebrow with a puzzled expression.

“You shouldn’t be able to use magic, right?”

Mikhail didn’t even look at Revals despite his question.

“Let’s go now.”

Mikhail took Karina’s hand and pulled her as if all their business was finished.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Revals signaled to his mercenaries.

The mercenaries then drew their weapons and bows, aiming them at Mikhail and Karina.

But when Mikhail shot a glance at the mercenaries with faintly glowing, piercing eyes, their weapons crumbled and fell to dust.

“…!”

“W-what?”

The mercenaries were bewildered and didn’t know what to do.

“This can’t be.”

Revals frowned fiercely at the fact that Mikhail could use magic without any problem.

As if fanning the flames, Mikhail said to Revals.

“There are no more magic stones in this mine now.”

“What?”

“I just got rid of them all.”

“Ha! You’re bluffing with impossible nonsense.”

Revals tried to dismiss it as nonsense.

“Don’t you hear that sound?”

But as if to prove that Revals’ thoughts were wrong, the rumbling sound was still continuing even now.

Crash!

As the magic stones filling the bottom disappeared, parts of the mine that lost their foundation began to collapse.

“…!!”

“It’s rather ridiculous that you were so confident relying on such a crude magic formation.”

Mikhail mocked.

Revals was shocked and appalled.

It was a magical barrier installed by bringing in quite skilled magicians from the capital for a large sum of money.

‘He broke through it so easily? And even removed all the magic stones in the mine…? Is that even possible?’

Revals felt as if he was seeing an illusion.

But the mine was collapsing right before his eyes.

He had no choice but to believe it.

“Damn it all! My magic stones! Put them back the way they were!”

Revals began to rant and rave.

Someone was supposed to come today to inspect the mine.

If this situation was discovered, all his efforts up until now would be in vain.

If he fell out of favor with that person, his advancement to the capital, the revival of his family, and his own wealth and prosperity would all be ruined.

Revals’ eyes were bloodshot.

“If you’re so upset, why don’t you try attacking the Grand Duke’s residence? But you’d better come well prepared.”

Karina said confidently, as if provoking him.

Revals then had a fit like a bug being stepped on.

“You! Do you think someone like you can receive protection from the Grand Duke’s family? You’re just a Grand Duchess in name only who couldn’t get even a shred of the Grand Duke’s attention!”

Revals ran his mouth recklessly.

In his mind, he was trying to poke at Karina’s weakness with those words, but to the current Karina, such words had no impact at all.

“There’s no need to listen to such nonsense.”

Mikhail stood in front of Karina, blocking Revals from her sight.

“This place will all collapse soon, so let’s hurry and leave.”

Karina nodded.

Even if they left him like this, it would be difficult for Revals to escape from the collapsing mine.

Mikhail held Karina and drew upon his magical power to use teleportation magic.

She glanced up at Mikhail’s face.

His eyes were glowing brilliantly.

The light reflected in his blood-red eyes made them look as if they contained the hottest afternoon sunlight.

‘His eyes are really beautiful.’

Karina stared at his eyes in a daze.

Noticing Karina’s gaze, Mikhail looked down at her and smiled brightly.

As a bright halo of light enveloped them, Karina and Mikhail left that place.

“No!!”

Revals, who had been raging with a red face, made an even bigger fuss when Karina and Mikhail disappeared.

“You damn *****! You think I can’t go to the Grand Duke’s residence if you tell me to?!”

Revals, his eyes crazed, shouted unable to control his anger.

“Just you wait! I’ll go right now and kill you!”

As Revals turned around to chase after Karina, he was startled to see those standing behind him.

“Huk…!”

Jeremiah and his knights were standing there with stern expressions.

“G-Grand Duke! How are you here…?!”

Revals was so surprised he could barely speak properly.

An ice-cold voice flowed from Jeremiah’s mouth.

“Did you just say you’re going to the Grand Duke’s residence to kill Karina?”

“…!”

“How dare you. My wife?”

A terrifying killing intent burst forth from Jeremiah along with the sound of grinding teeth.

Jeremiah had been watching everything from the beginning.

All of it – Karina helping the children escape, her conversations with Revals, and Revals’ words just now about killing Karina.

Jeremiah’s eyes glistened with raw anger.

“You’ve confessed all your crimes with your own mouth, so you’ll receive the appropriate punishment. You shouldn’t have any complaints.”

The chilling coldness emanating from Jeremiah was so intense it felt as if it would freeze one to the bone.

It seemed as if even the surrounding air would freeze.