As evening fell, the hungry Jeremi Iker waited desperately for Roen to arrive, but Roen came empty-handed.

“I couldn’t spare time to buy provisions on the way—the king’s guards were hot on my heels.”

“There’s nothing we can do. It’s fortunate you made it back safely, Miss Roen.”

“The king’s guards were extremely alert. I’m not even sure if His Grace will be able to arrive safely.”

“Is the situation really that strict?”

“Yes. Soldiers are swarming every corner of the city—you can’t even buy a loaf of bread. They’re inspecting every passerby at every checkpoint, so His Grace likely won’t be able to get here easily.”

“If things outside are that bad… I’m worried.”

“Jeremi. Can you go out and check how close His Grace is?”

Jeremi knew his own physical condition better than anyone. His magic power was depleted, and being hungry on top of that left him utterly exhausted.

“I can’t do anything right now.”

“You must be even more tired after being in the water for so long.”

Both people and horses were worn out from hunger and cold.

“Well then, there’s nothing for it. We’ll just have to wait and believe His Grace will arrive safely.”

Jeremi nodded weakly and leaned against a tree.

“But… His Grace wouldn’t possibly know we’re starving, would he?”

“It won’t be easy for His Grace to reach here safely either—the manor is under heavy surveillance right now.”

“If we hadn’t followed your advice, Miss Roen, things would’ve been even worse.”

Still, they couldn’t truly feel at ease. Roen gestured toward the carriage and asked,

“Is Her Highness unharmed and well?”

Reidox shook his head with a bitter expression.

“She’s… suffered a bit physically.”

“I see. Her Highness must be hungry too—I feel terrible for not bringing anything.”

“That’s true, but now that night’s falling and it’ll get chilly, we also don’t have proper clothes to cover Her Highness.”

“Let’s wait until His Grace arrives.”

“There’s no other choice.”

While waiting for Sikar Blake, the three people resting against tree trunks suddenly tensed at the sound of approaching footsteps. Their exhaustion from moments before vanished completely—they hid behind the trees and watched carefully.

Soon, the sound of hoofbeats stopped, and footsteps approached. Then, without anyone appearing, two bags thudded to the ground ahead.

The three exchanged only glances—no one stepped forward.

As they observed the situation, the footsteps drew closer, and soon a hooded man appeared.

It was hard to identify his face due to the hood, but Reidox immediately recognized Sikar from his tone.

“Stop fooling around and come out, Reidox.”

Reidox signaled to Jeremi and Roen that it was indeed the Duke, then stepped outside.

“You’ve arrived, Your Grace.”

“Is Her Highness safe?”

“Yes. She’s resting inside the carriage.”

“I need to see Her Highness. There’s food in the bags I just threw—go ahead and eat first.”

Jeremi, who hadn’t expected anything, nearly bowed in gratitude at the sight of the food Sikar provided, but instead grinned and opened the bag. Inside were loaves of bread, meat, milk, and more, packed tightly.

“Finally, I can muster some strength.”

Though going hungry during their pilgrimage wasn’t unusual, today’s excessive energy drain had nearly made him faint.

Sikar entered the carriage and knelt respectfully before the princess.

“Under these circumstances, I deeply apologize for being unable to serve you properly, Your Highness. For now, I shall protect you while evading the king…”

As he spoke, Sikar lifted his head—and finally saw Veronia’s face.

But that face wasn’t Veronia’s. Sikar immediately picked up the hood lying beside her and covered her face.

Then, reading the woman’s memories, he shouted toward the outside.

“Reidox!”

Reidox, who had been drinking water before eating, rushed into the carriage.

“Did you find her, Your Grace?”

“This is not the princess.”

Reidox didn’t immediately understand Sikar’s words.

“What?”

“I said this woman is not the princess!”

“What do you mean? Not the princess?!”

“Since no one knows the princess’s face, they engraved the royal crest on her neck and disguised this slave as the princess.”

“A… slave? So the person we rescued wasn’t the princess but a slave?”

“It was a trap. The king likely intended to use this opportunity to root out all traitors. Through this woman’s eyes, you’ve already been exposed.”

“Then… are you alright, Your Grace?”

Only then did Sikar remove the hood covering his eyes.

“I didn’t make eye contact with her, so I should be fine.”

But Reidox couldn’t fully relax. If Pasium had seen through this woman’s eyes, he might have heard their voices too.

“Then… our current conversation…”

“He can’t hear. This slave is enchanted to transmit only what she sees. Pasium couldn’t possibly imagine I can read memories, so he wouldn’t have prepared for that. He certainly wouldn’t know I recognize Veronia’s face.”

“But how can you be so sure this woman isn’t the princess?”

“If she were truly Princess Veronia, I wouldn’t have been able to read her memories. I suppose Han Seo Yeon didn’t mention that to you?”

“No. Miss Seo Yeon didn’t speak much about Your Grace. She only warned me to be careful about reading memories…”

“I see. In any case, she can only see, not hear. Casting magic to enable sight alone consumes tremendous power—he likely didn’t enchant her to hear as well. Fortunately, since we’ve stayed inside the carriage, our location hasn’t been exposed.”

Reidox finally felt he understood the situation.

“Then we’ll search for the real Princess Veronia in the meantime.”

“This girl is under magic and won’t remember anything—send her somewhere before she wakes. And when communicating with me, send messenger birds, but never written letters.”

“What?”

“Pasium can read memories of both people and animals—so speak your message directly to the bird.”

“Understood.”

Sikar couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“My plan to safely rescue Veronia has completely failed. I did feel things were unfolding too easily—but it’s certainly not a pleasant realization.”

“Your Grace. Our twins…”

“I expected you to hide them among the firewood, but you disguised them perfectly. Why didn’t you give me prior notice?”

“We anticipated they’d set the firewood ablaze if we transported it. But if you’d known beforehand that our twins were disguised as coachmen, you wouldn’t have reacted even if the firewood burned—then Pasium might have suspected the coachmen.”

“He’s exactly the type to do that. Even though he lost his ability to speak, his intelligence has only increased.”

“Lost his ability to speak…?”

“It means Pasium sacrificed his own tongue and eyes as offerings.”

“So Pasium ultimately did that. He was once quite gifted.”

“Gifted? More like a man of great ambition. Anyway, enough about that scoundrel—find yourself lodging and send me a messenger bird. Tell Jeremi not to come—he might get shot with arrows.”

“Understood, Your Grace.”

“I can’t leave the manor unattended for long—I must go now.”

After Sikar Blake left the manor, as if he’d been waiting, the king’s confidant and the queen’s brother, the spirit mage Lape, arrived at the manor.

Anticipating such an event, Sikar had left Durion and Vika Lamberst at the manor as a precaution before departing alone.

If not for Sikar’s explicit order to open the door upon Lape’s arrival, Durion wouldn’t have opened it at all.

“That vicious fellow has come to the manor. Everyone should go upstairs.”

Durion’s words sounded like a warning of danger, so Yura Blake and Seo Yeon, who had been sitting in the parlor drinking tea, immediately went upstairs. They had no desire to see Lape face to face anyway.

Lape entered the parlor, glanced meaningfully around, and smirked faintly.

“How strange. I sense the scent of spirits here.”

It was a probing remark aimed at Kian, but Durion didn’t flinch.

“Vika is here, after all.”

“Ah, yes. That ill-mannered dark elf is here.”

That ill-mannered dark elf, Vika, had been eavesdropping from upstairs and considered coming down, but as a precaution, he stayed with everyone in Yura’s room—to prevent any possible kidnapping of Kian or Yura.

Durion yawned wearily and said,

“Aren’t you busy with today’s execution? What brings you here?”

“Well, I’d say it’s the Blakes who are busy with the execution, not Recador.”

“You’d better watch your tongue. His Grace won’t let you off lightly.”

“I heard from Pasium that His Grace’s curse has progressed considerably?”

Normally, Durion would’ve drawn his sword and attacked by now, but Sikar had strictly forbidden him from drawing first. Durion suppressed his urge—his hand kept twitching toward his sword—but he forced himself to smile at Lape.

“You claim to be Pasium’s rival, yet you seem to trust his words quite a bit?”

“He’s my rival, but not a liar.”

“That’s debatable. I hear he sacrificed his tongue and eyes, blinded by ambition—what wouldn’t such a man do?”

“How odd. Why would the Duke take on a fool like you, who can’t even hide a single expression?”

It wasn’t wrong—during his conversation with Lape, Durion’s face had flushed red several times.

Durion recalled Sikar’s words once more, suppressed his anger, and asked,

“Why are you here?”

“His Majesty the King has summoned His Grace.”

“Then why didn’t you just send a messenger? Why come yourself?”

“You’ve heard, haven’t you? That Princess Veronia, en route to the execution grounds, was kidnapped.”

“So?”

“During the investigation into who’s behind it, Duke Yukandar was revealed as the central figure.”

“And?”

“It’s also well known that Reidox has recently been on very close terms with Duke Blake.”

“Close? What proof do you have? Everyone in Recador knows the Duke and Reidox are on bad terms.”

“That’s old news. Recently, they’ve grown closer than anyone—visiting each other’s estates frequently.”

“I was only entrusted with tutoring the young lord—nothing else connects us.”

“To avoid being implicated in treason, you’d better present solid evidence.”

“Many people witnessed His Grace’s treatment of Reidox at Her Majesty the Queen’s birthday banquet—that should serve as evidence.”

Lape laughed mockingly at the blatantly obvious lie.

“Everyone’s scrambling to save their own skin now—do you really think anyone will step forward as a witness? They might end up branded traitors for associating with Blake.”

“His Grace was right about you.”

“What do you mean?”

“His Grace said you’re a man who wields his tongue well—because your actual power is weak, your tongue is all you have to play with. Our Duke truly has an uncanny eye for people.”

Lape ground his teeth but said nothing more. He stood up.

“I won’t hold my breath that you’ll remain so arrogant after meeting His Majesty tomorrow.”

“Don’t hold your breath. Expectations lead to disappointment.”

Though Durion had successfully provoked Lape, his own heart still felt uneasy.