“Yeah, that’s right. Every time I dream, it feels like I’ve experienced something like that in the past.”

It was a quick yet intense realization, like a brightly burning flame.

‘But that’s impossible.’

How could one directly experience something they can’t even remember themselves? As if they had turned back time?

It made no sense. Even in ancient times when magic existed, such a thing would have been nearly impossible, let alone now in a world without magic.

While rationally thinking that way, Riena carefully studied Cassel’s expression. He looked a bit perplexed. His jaw was clenched tight and his eyes shook with unease.

After a brief silence, he opened his mouth.

“It must just be your feeling.”

“…I suppose so?”

“Anyway, thank you for telling me. If something like this happens again, please let me know. I’ll…”

Cassel completely composed his breathing.

“I’ll go investigate about Jonathan Percy, so please rest some more.”

Kissing Riena’s forehead, Cassel quickly left the room. Only after the door had fully closed did Riena calmly gather her thoughts.

So far, she had experienced several significant things.

First, she keeps having mysterious dreams. But somehow, it feels like she’s not just dreaming but remembering events she directly experienced.

Second, for some unknown reason, Cassel seemed to know about her dreams. Perhaps he had acted even before she started dreaming.

Third, Cassel’s suspicious behavior began before coming to the Dyke territory. Cassel waking up as if from a nightmare and asking today’s date. Why did he even ask about the date?

Fourth, was the red scar on his left chest really there since birth?

Her mind was complicated. Questions kept growing, but nothing was clearly answered.

It seemed Cassel held those answers.

‘But even if I ask, he won’t tell me.’

In that case, there was no choice but to quietly investigate on her own.

Cassel, who had left Riena’s room, headed straight to his office. His aide, Rio Petel, was waiting inside.

“You’ve come, sir.”

“How’s the investigation going?”

As Cassel got straight to the point, Rio immediately handed over the bundle of documents he was holding, as if expecting it. He briefly explained to Cassel who was swiftly scanning through the papers.

“As you instructed, we investigated around Johannes Belliard. With you narrowing down the scope for us, we were able to find out much faster.”

Cassel waved his hand as if telling him to stop the pleasantries and get to the point quickly.

“To give you the conclusion first, suspicious movements of a man named James Cutler have been discovered.”

“James Cutler?”

“Yes. The second son of the Count Cutler family. He holds quite an important position at the imperial palace. Officially, he has no connections to Johannes, but they have been secretly meeting at the racetrack.”

“So what did James Cutler scheme up?”

“There’s evidence that he secretly purchased a medicinal herb called desella, which is currently banned from distribution in the empire.”

“Desella…”

Cassel wasn’t surprised. Rather, it was too obvious to the point of being boring.

“The herb that excites horses, you mean.”

Desella was a medicinal herb that had no benefits or harms to humans, but it was different for horses.

If a horse ate more than a certain amount of desella herb, it would enter an extremely agitated state. In the past, it was commonly used for racehorses at racetracks.

There were no major issues when used in moderation. The awakened horse would simply run faster than usual.

However, people obsessed with winning started using larger and larger amounts as time went on, and naturally side effects followed.

An extremely agitated horse would become hypersensitive, viewing even the jockey on its back as a nuisance. Accidents of jockeys being thrown off and dying in an attempt by the horse to shake them off started numbering in the double digits.

Realizing the severity too late, the empire banned the use of desella herb. But as people continued secretly using it, the cultivation and distribution of desella itself was completely prohibited.

If James Cutler had long been involved in the racetrack scene and also distributed desella, there was a high chance Johannes deliberately approached him.

“Any signs of James Cutler or Johannes Belliard getting close to people from House Dyke?”

“None have been found on Johannes Belliard’s side. However, there is evidence that someone from James Cutler’s side made contact with an apprentice knight of House Dyke.”

Cassel quickly flipped through the papers to confirm the apprentice knight’s name.

“It is speculated that the apprentice knight gave the desella herb to the late Count Dyke’s horse.”

“So where is that knight now?”

“Currently, he has left the Dyke territory and is in the capital. His family is known to be poor, but he recently acquired a small mansion in the capital.”

“Secure him before Johannes’ side makes a move.”

“We’re already watching him.”

“Good. You handled it well even without my orders.”

Cassel tapped the papers with his bent fingers.

“But it’s still lacking. Just the fact that the horse was fed desella herb isn’t enough to clearly link it to my mentor’s death.”

“Yes, you’re right. We can’t definitively prove that the horse, agitated from eating desella, threw off Count Dyke. And even if his death was caused by falling off for that reason, it’s difficult to hold someone responsible for it.”

“We need more solid evidence.”

Cassel’s face turned serious.

“I still don’t believe my mentor passed away from a simple riding accident. Even if he fell because the horse didn’t move as he wished, he was someone who could sufficiently protect his body.”

“I found it suspicious as well, so I continued investigating…”

Rio quickly flipped through the documents Cassel was holding.

“About James Cutler who I mentioned earlier – just in case, I looked into it and discovered that around the time Count Dyke passed away, he personally used a magic portal.”

“A magic portal?”

“There’s no official record of usage. He probably secretly bribed the manager, but it seems he didn’t properly keep their mouth shut. When I pressed the manager, he revealed it, albeit with difficulty. And James Cutler’s destination was…”

Rio swallowed dryly before speaking.

“Etten County.”

Etten County. The place with the closest magic portal to Dyke County. It was the magic portal Cassel used when he went to find Riena and when he came to the capital with her.

“Definitely suspicious.”

“Yes.”

“Have them investigate where James Cutler headed to from Etten County. Uncover his trail without missing a single detail.”

“Yes, understood.”

“And I will go immediately to where that apprentice knight is.”

As Cassel was preparing to quickly leave, he made an “ah” sound and turned back to Rio.

“Also have them look into a man named Jonathan Percy.”

“In what way should we investigate?”

“Confirm if it’s true that he belongs to the royal knights, and check if there are any issues in terms of his relationships or finances. And also…”

Cassel’s eyes flashed.

“See if he has any connections to Johannes.”

Noah and Aaron got along even better than Riena expected. As soon as she introduced them to each other, the two children rolled around on the bed together, reading storybooks or playing with toys.

Both Noah, who had been neglected by the ducal family, and Aaron, who barely had any friends his age, seemed very happy to have each other.

Noah in particular was extremely sad about the fact that Aaron would only be staying briefly before returning.

‘Still, I’m glad they’re getting along well.’

On the first day the three from House Dyke arrived, dinner was shared by just Riena, the Countess, and the two children.

Cassel conveyed his apologies through the head butler that he had urgent business to attend to and couldn’t join them for dinner. Bianca, still upset about arguing with Riena over Jonathan Percy, said she would eat alone in her room.

After finishing the dinner where only Noah and Aaron were excited, Riena left the children with Noah’s nanny and returned to her room.

Even after leaving word that she wanted to rest early and no one should enter, she felt uneasy and locked the door before heading towards Cassel’s room.

Until now, she had searched the study to find information, but she felt the need to change her methods.

If it were Cassel, he wouldn’t leave things related to the secrets he was hiding in a public place like the study.

In that case, there was a high chance they were in either his bedroom or his office.

‘I can’t freely look through Cassel’s office.’

But Cassel’s bedroom was different. He had told Riena she could enter his room anytime even if he wasn’t there. That she could examine anything she wanted.

That probably didn’t mean she could investigate him like this, but permission was permission anyway.

Still hesitating for a moment as it somehow didn’t feel right, Riena took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Cassel’s room in the daytime looked quite different from how it appeared at night. The walls that seemed overall dark received sunlight and no longer felt so gloomy.

Riena slowly began scanning the room she couldn’t properly see last time. Eventually, her gaze landed on the bed without a canopy as she entered the bedroom.

‘Ah, there…’

Blushing, Riena averted her eyes from the bed. Although she had spent many nights with Cassel, it was still embarrassing to recall their very first night together when everything was awkward and clumsy.

She fake coughed and searched for things that could be clues.

Cassel must have enjoyed reading, as there was a rather large bookshelf in the bedroom as well. Riena quickly scanned the book titles.

Amidst the boring and tedious books that somehow seemed like Cassel, there was an unexpected book.

“Legends of Ancient Magic?”