“Are you hurt?”

LaMaine’s neck stiffened as she looked at the man who had come up close. A vivid bloodstain lay on the floor. The probing crimson eyes passed over it and locked directly onto LaMaine’s pupils.

“I got a slight cut.”

LaMaine tightly clenched the fist she had hidden behind her back.

There was no sensation; the wound seemed healed.

“It doesn’t seem like just a slight cut.”

Viscount Haribo slowly raised an eyebrow.

A man standing tall and straight with no discernible movement, he felt like a suffocating pressure.

‘What should I do? What should I say?’

The urgency to find a way out of the situation and the tension intertwined, causing her whole body to shiver.

As time passed, her mind grew increasingly blank.

The man’s eyes in front of her began to show curiosity.

At that moment, when she was about to exhale the breath trapped in her mouth slowly,

‘Why is he smiling?’

Viscount Haribo’s lips curved gently.

The still-fixed pupils were eerily calm to the point of being frightening.

Viscount Haribo slowly closed and opened his eyes. Then,

“Lady, what are you so afraid of?”

He asked in a voice that could make one’s entire body’s hair stand on end.

LaMaine tensed her body as if an electric current had passed through it.

At the same time, she slightly pushed up her jaw.

“Viscount Haribo, what does that mean?”

She made an effort to maintain a straight voice while concealing her tense appearance.

At that moment, the smile that had spread across Viscount Haribo’s face gradually disappeared.

The pupils, still staring straight ahead, slowly roamed around LaMaine’s face.

‘Ah… I wonder.’

For a moment, a thought she had never had before flashed.

‘What does Viscount Haribo know?’

Why are you so afraid?

In this situation, there was only one answer to the meaning behind his words that came to her mind.

“LaMaine Roger, Lady.”

In a low voice, the utterance made LaMaine snap her eyes open.

The gaze that had been entangled in the air pierced each other like sharp blades.

“Yes, please speak.”

In a calm voice, Viscount Haribo lowered his gaze to the floor.

By now, the bloodstains had solidified into a deep brown.

The gaze that had leisurely roamed above it now fell deeply onto LaMaine again.

Viscount Haribo slowly opened his tightly closed lips.

“You don’t have to hide anything from me.”

Your thoughts are correct.

As if letting her know that, his lips gently curved.

“By now, I assume the wound has disappeared.”

The words sounded as if her heart was stopping.

Inside the minister’s office at the royal palace.

Gulp.

The minister of the interior took a sip of hot tea.

Then, he looked at Marquis Heter Calypso with a burning gaze, who was sitting across from him.

The man who received the king’s trust had suddenly come to praise him and the achievements of the interior ministry.
He lowered the teacup onto the table and slowly straightened his upper body, which had been leaning back casually.

“Marquis Calypso. We’ve had enough compliments, so let’s get to the point. What’s the reason for your sudden visit today?”

Heter, who had been silently observing, raised his chin slowly in response to the question.

“Why would there need to be a reason for me to meet the most capable minister in the Martin Kingdom? It’s an honor in itself.”

“Is that so?”

At the sound following the compliments, a faint smile appeared on the minister’s lips.

The minister’s chin, which had answered as if it were nothing special, slowly moved upward.

“I’ve heard that you recently directly participated in the purchase of military supplies for the Guard and Security forces, bringing significant benefits to the royal family.”

“Well, something like that did happen.”

The minister’s jaw, answered nonchalantly, rose slowly as if satisfied.

“And the nobles are praising the achievements you’ve made even among themselves. The king is said to be very pleased as well.”

Hmm. The minister, with a satisfied look, raised his head with a glance of approval.

Then, he picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and placed it back on the table.

As the teacup rose again on the table,

“Moreover, I heard that His Majesty considers Marquis Calypso as one of the candidates for the next head of the Security forces.”

For the first time, the minister brought up the topic Heter had been waiting for.

“As you said, I am still just a candidate.”

“…”

“Since there are many excellent knights, I dare say it’s not a position I can easily surpass. Also…”

Heter’s eyes, full of humility until then, significantly darkened.

“As you know, there is distrust not only among the substitutes in the royal family but also among the nobles.”

Upon hearing Heter’s words, the minister subtly narrowed his eyes.

“Is that so? I’m not well aware of such matters.”

“People like you, who are dealing with important matters, don’t need to pay attention to someone like me.”

“It seems you’ve misunderstood my words. I mean that I don’t care about rumors regarding people acknowledged by His Majesty.”

Heter inwardly smiled cunningly.