The women at the gathering looked at Marianne.

In fact, they would have preferred Ansi to leave. It was better not to have the recipient present when the prey arrived, as it would lead to less comparison.

“Oh dear, Ansi. Are you feeling very ill?”

Marianne asked with a pretense of concern, but she seemed slightly displeased. If Ansi wasn’t too sick, it implied she should remain at the gathering.

She had specifically brought Damion, whom she didn’t even like, to create a scene where only Bekishi and Ansi would have prey piled before them. If Ansi left, wouldn’t that effect be diminished?

However, she was not the one with the most authority here.

“Go ahead, Ansi.”

Amelia gazed at Ansi with concerned eyes. With Amelia’s permission, Ansi rose from her seat. Only then did Marianne speak as if there was no other choice.

“Yes, Ansi. Get some rest. It’s not like we’re the ones actually hunting.”

“Thank you.”

Ansi bowed her head and turned around.

Her gaze trembled as it brushed past the empress, who had readily let her go without knowing what she was about to do. However, setting aside unnecessary sentiments, she hurriedly walked away.

Ansi, who had been frowning as if in pain, immediately relaxed her expression once she was out of sight of the women. Her face settled into an indifferent look.

Whether it was heaven’s help or not, she truly hadn’t been feeling well since yesterday. Ansi decided to use this to her advantage.

She had attended the tea time with makeup that accentuated her pale complexion. It was a natural progression for Bekishi to inquire about her appearance.

There wasn’t much time. Ansi hurriedly headed towards the emperor’s room in the main building. While the emperor was staying, access to the corridor leading to that room was restricted.

However, Ansi, as a member of Orphe, was an exception.

“The empress asked me to bring something.”

The attendant guarding the front bowed and stepped aside. Ansi strode into the corridor. As she did so, she pulled out a note from her pocket.

11 o’clock, Capture of the Silver Lion

A piece of paper with a fabricated code that seemed to be sent to someone. It was a cipher meant to make it appear as if the shooting of the emperor wasn’t Ansi’s independent action, but a plan jointly devised by the people of Orphe.

Right now, there was no one in the corridor in front of the emperor’s room. But before the hunt ended, the emperor’s attendants would come here to check the room one more time.

Ansi hid the note in a corner of the corridor, behind an erected sculpture.

As if it had been accidentally dropped.

Not immediately noticeable at a glance, but discoverable by the emperor’s loyal attendant who would search the corridor.

Having finished her task here, she moved on.

Her next destination was Kardian’s armory, located behind the annex.

When she pushed the window whose lock she had previously undone, it opened just enough for Ansi’s body to fit through. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the gap.

It was narrower than she had thought.

In the end, she paused as she gripped the windowsill and untied her skirt. The voluminous skirt fell away. Hunting pants were revealed beneath her summer blouse.

Ansi, after tying up her cumbersome hair, took out her father’s dog tags from her pocket and hung them around her neck. Then, with fluid movements, she entered through the window.

There were many guns hanging on the wall, but Ansi had only one target.

The gun that anyone would recognize as Kardian’s. The gun that would make people think he had participated in the treason.

Ansi pulled out an ivory-colored gun from the back of the armory, its delicate ivory grain palpable. Three bullets remained in the magazine. She packed a few more bullets as spares into the pouch fastened at her waist.

Now the preparations were complete.

Ansi headed towards the forest. She followed the path Kardian had shown her to avoid being seen by others.

She had already grasped the layout of the hunting grounds to some extent. She had walked through this forest a few times, pretending to take solitary strolls. While she didn’t know every area, she knew the paths that would certainly be taken.

Ansi took up a position at one spot.

It was a location overlooking the path the emperor would take. It was also a place where Ansi wouldn’t be easily visible from the other side due to the foliage.

Bang! Bang! Gunshots echoed from far away. She flinched, her body trembling.

“…It’s okay.”

She spoke to herself to calm her trembling breath. But tension gripped her entire body. Sweat seeped from her palms. If she hadn’t been wearing gloves, she surely wouldn’t have been able to grip the gun properly.

Ansi swallowed a dry gulp. It felt as if she would be swallowed by her fierce heartbeat.

Suddenly, she recalled Damion’s warmth that had enveloped her at last night’s hunting grounds. The image of the man looking at her with affectionate eyes also came to mind.

Really… shouldn’t I settle for this?

For a moment, such a foolish thought welled up.

Slap! Ansi struck her own cheek. A stinging pain spread across her cheek. She tightly gripped her father’s dog tags hanging around her neck.

Because of Kardian de Orphe, what had happened to her father, her brother? What had happened to her, to her mother?

She had to bring down Orphe. That was her only reason for living.

Now everything was in place.

A hunting event prepared directly by Orphe, with Orphe’s people participating.

The repeated support of the revolutionary army in the name of Orphe.

Her attempt to assassinate the emperor, already recognized as one of Orphe’s people, and the circumstances suggesting that everyone in Orphe was involved.

Indeed, she couldn’t settle.

It was then.

“…!”

Emperor Ludcaos entered her field of vision. Led by the silver-haired emperor, the men who had participated in the hunt followed behind. A bit further back was a journalist to cover the event.

They would be witnesses to Orphe’s treason.

But Ansi’s brows furrowed.

‘Damion isn’t there.’

Damion, who should have been with the men, was clearly absent. Anxiety mixed with confusion filled Ansi’s mind.

But she couldn’t miss this opportunity.

Ansi took her stance and raised the gun. The muzzle pointed towards the vicinity of the emperor’s shoulder. Through the small scope, the emperor was perfectly aligned.

Now, all she had to do was pull the trigger…

“Ansi!”

Along with a quiet but angry voice, the gun was instantly snatched from her hand.

Ansi turned her head.

“…Damion.”

He was looking at her with a distorted face.

Not long after the hunt began, Damion was the first to shoot down a bird. He made one request to the emperor.

“You want to deliver it yourself?”

Ludcaos raised one eyebrow. Damion nodded.

“This is my first hunt since getting married. I’d like to show off my prey to my wife personally.”

The dogs usually retrieved the hunted birds, and it was the servants’ role to bring them to the ladies at the entrance of the hunting grounds. But Damion was saying he wanted to do it himself.

“Come on now. What will His Majesty think of you if you do such a thing?”

Basilov tried to stop Damion, finding it absurd. Kardian also showed signs of displeasure. But Ludcaos smiled and gestured towards the fallen bird with his chin.

“Go ahead. As newlyweds, you might want to do such things.”

Other nobles also laughed it off, thinking Damion’s action was the vigor of newlyweds.

A servant placed the fallen bird in the hunting pouch attached to Damion’s horse. With that, Damion turned his horse around.

In truth, the real reason was that he wanted to go back because he was worried about Ansi.

She hadn’t seemed well since yesterday.

He couldn’t shake off his unease about her pale face. It seemed like she was carrying some great worry beyond just feeling unwell.

Somehow, he felt an instinctive anxiety that he needed to see her right now.

“Hey, why are you here?”

“Where is Ansi?”

Damion responded to Marianne’s question with a question of his own. His gaze swept over the tea party venue several times, but Ansi was indeed nowhere to be seen.

“She went in early. She wasn’t feeling well.”

“Is she very unwell?”

Damion asked Marianne, startled. Marianne felt annoyed at his excessive concern for his wife, not even properly answering her question.

“Why don’t you check for yourself? She went in just a moment ago…”

Before those words were finished, Damion had already dashed off towards the main building.

“Hoho, he takes after our duke in doting on his wife terribly. It’s disappointing as Damion’s mother, but as a woman, it’s really fortunate for Ansi.”

Marianne smiled casually at the people around her. The women who had been watching carefully finally chimed in agreement.

Damion hurriedly entered the main building.

Although Ansi was stiff and old-fashioned, she wasn’t one to avoid such gatherings. Rather, she had really wanted to attend this hunting event.

So how unwell must she have been to leave her seat?

As Damion entered the large lobby of the main building and was about to head straight to their room, he instinctively turned his head at the presence he felt from the other side.

There was Ansi, on the way to the emperor’s room.

“…”

Damion quietly approached her. He signaled the servant who was about to greet him to be quiet by raising his index finger to his lips.

Until then, it was just curiosity.

He was just curious about why Ansi was heading towards the emperor’s room. He just wanted to watch her.

However, as he observed her from afar around the corner… something seemed off.

Ansi’s face was filled with tension greater than pain. She took something out and hid it behind a sculpture.

Damion’s brow gradually furrowed as he watched his wife’s inexplicable behavior.