……A person involved in the incident? What evidence has emerged? It was a very cryptic statement. Emilia lowered her hands slowly and looked at Alessandro.

Alessandro was still staring at Enrico with a stern expression. After a moment of silence, Alessandro’s eyes trembled as he watched Enrico approach, maintaining an unperturbed expression.

“You said you were injured, but it seems uncle’s condition is indeed not good.”

His voice was filled with intense killing intent as he spoke through gritted teeth, as if he wanted to devour Enrico right then and there.

“Judging by the strange things you’re saying.”

Enrico, who had approached within arm’s reach of Emilia, twisted one corner of his mouth and nodded towards the carriage.

“Well. If our dear nephew would first tell us what he was going to say, we could judge whether it’s strange or not.”

“I don’t understand why I should tell my uncle. Unfortunately, I said I would only tell Emilia.”

“That may be so. Well then, I suggest you take a look at this first.”

Immediately, a loud noise was heard from the carriage. Emilia’s gaze moved towards the sound of something seemingly resisting. And her mouth gaped open at the completely unexpected figure.

‘That’s Count Valmont?’

She wondered what on earth was going on. Why was Count Valmont coming out of the carriage, and why did he look so disheveled, as if he had been rolling around all over?

If it weren’t for the rope gagging his mouth, Count Valmont’s screams would have echoed all around. He was resisting with his whole body.

Emilia frowned slightly as she examined Count Valmont’s condition. He was wrapped in a black cloak with only his face slightly exposed, but even at a glance, his state looked quite serious.

His face was so pale it was hard to tell if he had turned blue or if his skin had changed color. On top of that, his trembling body looked so precarious that it wouldn’t be surprising if he collapsed frothing at the mouth at any moment.

Presumably, the more torture he endured, the more he would have revealed.

Alessandro stared blankly at Count Valmont, who was approaching him, with a loss for words.

His furrowing brow and the veins popping out on his neck clearly revealed that his temper was reaching its limit.

“…Duke Michele, shouldn’t noble matters be handled quietly rather than daring to do this in front of me?”

“I brought him because the matter is too big to be dismissed as just a noble issue. To have the person involved in the incident confirm as well.”

“What?”

Blood vessels could be seen rising in the Crown Prince’s eyes as well. Emilia, who was staring blankly at Alessandro, felt a large hand carefully grip her wrist.

With a start, her eyes turned downward. Enrico’s hand was slightly pulling her hand as if beckoning her to come closer.

“Why did you do it? The carriage accident.”

He firmly gripped the hand he held.

“You keep saying strange things. Do you even know what you’re talking about?”

“Of course. It’s safe to say I know better than anyone, having clearly seen the few pieces of evidence with my own eyes.”

“…Evidence?”

“Mmph- mmmph!”

For a moment, Alessandro’s gaze hesitated before turning to Count Valmont, who was subdued on the ground.

The sight of him writhing like an earthworm on the roadside was unpleasant, but Count Valmont’s widely expanded eyes looked more desperate than anyone else’s.

“Count Valmont kindly gathered all the evidence. It seems he hid his cards, fearing he would be discarded first, but even I thought that was excessive. To even record minor incidents with our nephew.”

Count Valmont let out a muffled groan and shook his head violently from side to side. Enrico’s subordinates restrained Count Valmont’s body even more strongly on both sides as he tried to get up from his position.

“I just needed to know if our nephew was involved in the accident that killed the Este Viscount couple.”

Alessandro froze as if his entire body had stiffened. His eyelids blinked a couple of times only after a long while of staring at Enrico without even blinking.

Would he continue to feign ignorance, or would he get angry? Various thoughts flashed through Emilia’s mind, but one thing was certain: Alessandro’s expression right now was emotionless.

After a moment, Alessandro confidently raised the corners of his mouth and smiled. As if it was just amusing.

As if his emotional wavering earlier had been an illusion, Emilia’s slender shoulders trembled once at his regained composure.

“My dear uncle, is there something making you anxious?”

The smile gradually faded from Enrico’s face. Unlike Enrico, whose expression was disappearing, Alessandro’s eyes filled with ecstasy and gleamed.

“It seems odd that you came all the way here if you believe everything that man says. If you had solid evidence, you could have immediately accused and arrested me. Why come all the way here to make a fuss?”

But why did Alessandro seem more anxious the more casually he smiled? Emilia was quietly observing Alessandro when she suddenly turned her head at the gentle touch of a thumb caressing her wrist.

She caught sight of the sharp nose bridge gleaming in the clear sunlight, as well as the handsome profile.

“Getting too familiar without knowing your place.”

A low murmur flowed out. Enrico, with an expressionless face as if all interest had faded, slowly tilted his head to the side.

“I’m not going to use such a simple method when I’m about to remove him from my sight quickly. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet your expectations, but I’ve already sent a messenger to His Majesty the King, detailing our nephew’s crimes without omission. If he’s lucky, he might face legal judgment, but knowing His Majesty as I do, he’d probably prefer to handle this quietly.”

“What are you saying now…? What makes you act so impudently? No matter how high your position as a duke, I’m the one who will become the master of this kingdom. What are you going to do when I sit on the throne, acting like this! And what, a fatal accident? I don’t know what Valmont did, but even if I’m somehow involved, I never directly killed them. How dare you act as if you’ve caught some tremendous evidence.”

Alessandro stepped forward with fire in his eyes. Then he grabbed Emilia’s arm and tried to pull her towards him.

“Ugh-, Your Highness!”

Of course, Enrico quickly grabbed Alessandro’s wrist to stop him, but the Crown Prince gritted his teeth and didn’t release his grip.

“When that bastard grabbed her, you were quiet, but now you react like this? It’s disgusting.”

The mask he had been barely wearing came off in an instant. Enrico constantly grating on his nerves and Emilia trying to avoid him at every opportunity.

And although it shouldn’t be a big deal, the fact that a messenger had been sent to the King was quite concerning, and his anger began to rise to the top of his head.

“When I grab you, you should be grateful and bow your head, not keep trying to accommodate! Don’t you understand the situation?”

The anger he had been holding back, regretful of his efforts so far, exploded. Even if he had made some mistake, it was just a matter of pretending to lay low for a while and then inheriting the throne.

And since Enrico also seemed to want Emilia, all the more reason she should belong to him. If he couldn’t have her, he would destroy her so no one else could.

“You’re the one who doesn’t understand the situation.”

“What? You? How dare you disrespect the future king by speaking informally…!”

“Count Valmont was caught for the administrative manipulation of the Giorgio family. While we were at it, we also interrogated him about the carriage accident of the Este Viscount couple, and he spilled everything on his own.”

“That stupid bastard. He confessed everything just because he got hit a little? As expected of creatures worse than insects.”

“When you start losing things one by one from your body, you have no choice but to talk. The same goes for you.”

“…That will never happen to me. Rather, that’s your future.”

Alessandro spoke as if crushing him and tried to remove Enrico’s hand that was holding his wrist.

“To count the women you’ve killed so far, we’d need to conduct a thorough investigation, wouldn’t we?”

But with the additional words, his hand stopped in mid-air.

Emilia immediately shook off the arm that Alessandro had grabbed as soon as she felt the loosened grip.

Her breathing became heavy, and she felt goosebumps all over as if insects were crawling on the part where Alessandro had just grabbed her.

‘Women he killed?’

What on earth had he done? Although she couldn’t understand what was going on, just looking at Alessandro’s shaken expression was enough to know it was no ordinary matter.

Alessandro glared at Enrico as if he wanted to kill him, completely disregarding Emilia who had slipped from his grasp.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

Enrico clicked his tongue briefly, as if in contempt.

“It’s not the first or second time you’ve sent assassins to my mansion to kill the Viscountess of the Kingdom of Kearnt.”

“…Could it be?”

“Your guess is correct. Thanks to that, I safely opened my eyes. Even to the point of clearly remembering everything.”

Alessandro’s slightly parted lips wouldn’t close. He stared at Enrico with slightly unfocused eyes, then blinked as if he had just woken up from sleep, and let out a short, hollow laugh.

“Ha, haha…. But, so what.”

“Hmm?”

“How can you believe everything an injured woman says? Her memory could be distorted, and you’re going to slander me based on that alone? Besides, I only had a minor altercation with that woman. Where’s the evidence that I’m a murderer?”