Of the three princes of Roanne, Frederick was the only survivor, and he wasn’t a knight. 

Thanks to that, he didn’t face those who violated the royal palace and kept his life, but as long as he remained in their hands, he could be killed at any moment. Whenever Annette thought about this, she couldn’t sleep from fear and horror.

So for the first time in her life, she acted recklessly. 

She wanted to leave the castle boldly and let everyone know. That she was human too, that she had desires, that she wasn’t a beast or an object—she wanted to show them.

“Once you pass through the gate, walk toward the barracks.”

At the man’s words, Annette snapped out of her thoughts and raised her eyes. The castle gate had already approached right before her. So I’m back after all. She bit her lips firmly, suppressing her despair.

“If you go straight into the manor, I won’t be able to watch over you. Walk along the wall and enter through the arch that leads to the rear garden. Until then, I’ll watch from behind so you won’t be noticed.”

She couldn’t read any emotion in his low, dry voice. Instead of answering that she understood, Annette bowed her head deeply. 

As the castle drew near, she worried someone might recognize her face, and she didn’t want to answer obediently either. This man was her husband’s knight and the Emperor’s knight. He was in league with those who killed her family and destroyed her country.

And now, he’d even made her life-risking escape come to nothing.

“Sir Rein!”

As they approached the gate, the gatekeeper immediately recognized him. Annette heard the joy and warmth in his tone. Rein. 

Seeing how familiarly he called him, they must be close, she thought, rolling the man’s unfamiliar name around in her mouth. Reingart. It was a name that didn’t suit her tongue at all.

Even after entering the castle, people kept appearing to call out “Sir Rein.” A few exchanges of conversation followed, but Annette could barely understand any of it. 

She only picked up a few words she knew among the rapidly flowing unfamiliar language. Home. His Imperial Majesty. Mendel.

Was this man coming from Mendel Castle? Since they said the Emperor was there.

Annette recalled the face of the usurper who’d gone north to wage war. She thought of the lord of Mendel Castle and his son too. Her father and brothers murdered by their hands. Today was exactly one year since they’d died.

When her thoughts reached that point, her chest burned with resentment. She felt wretched and suffocated at being captured so helplessly again. 

She envied and resented the man being welcomed home.

So Annette moved her feet faster. She passed through the wall’s arch as quickly as possible to escape the man’s view, crossed the rear garden, and entered the manor building through the back door. 

Only after climbing to the third floor in one breath and entering her room could she release the breath she’d been holding.

“Haah…”

Her whole body trembled violently, and she could barely lock the bolt while leaning against the door.

Annette closed her eyes, steadied her breathing, and listened to the sounds outside. She felt like guards would burst in at any moment to capture her. 

She didn’t know what the Count would do if he found out about this. He might confine her to her room or beat her. He might do something even worse. Perhaps tonight she’d have to do that instead of a maid.

Then I’d rather die.

“Gods, please…”

Reciting a prayer out of habit, Annette squeezed her eyes shut even tighter. Inside her darkly closed vision, that man appeared. His sun-darkened skin and black hair, befitting a knight. 

How his hazel eyes had looked amber in the sunlight. She tried to find hope by recalling those eyes, that dry and cold gaze.

“I’ll keep quiet about meeting you here.”

Perhaps he might keep the secret.

“Don’t be ridiculous…”

That can’t happen. Annette muttered with her eyes still closed. Her lips, which had stopped praying, twisted. 

You still haven’t come to your senses. Even after all that happened to you, even in this state, you haven’t realized it.

He’s not on your side. There’s no one on your side here. No one will protect you.

No one.

Mocking the pathetic Annette, she opened her eyes. She moved her trembling legs toward the wardrobe. 

First, she had to change clothes. She had to return to being the obedient deaf woman, like nothing had happened.

Her husband, who’d been away, was returning today. So she’d be summoned to the dining hall for once. 

Bringing Annette along conspicuously to a gathering with family and vassals was also one of the Count’s eccentricities she couldn’t understand.

Though respected by no one, as the castle lord’s legitimate wife, Annette always had to sit in the Countess’s seat.

***

Gallant Rothe, as the Emperor’s financial advisor, frequently attended advisory council meetings held at the imperial palace. 

Unlike other advisors who lived at the palace because their territories were far away, Rothe was close to the imperial capital Isen, and thanks to that, the Count could often travel back and forth between his castle and the palace. 

It was an everyday scene Reingart had witnessed since childhood.

The castle was bustling with preparations for the lord’s return. In that chaos, no one would care if a maid or two slipped away. Was that why she chose today? 

In her own way, it was a fairly clever escape plan.

“Walk along the wall and enter through the arch that leads to the rear garden. Until then, I’ll watch from behind so you won’t be noticed.”

Reingart watched the woman’s retreating figure until the end as she hurried away. Only after confirming she’d entered the Count’s manor did he move his feet. 

The eastern manor was where the lord and his family stayed. The soldiers’ barracks were to the west beyond the wall.

Arriving at the barracks, he exchanged greetings with familiar faces and received condolences for Erich’s death. 

Everyone consoled Reingart naturally and sincerely, though whether it was because they knew he was the most heartbroken over Erich’s death, or to ease his guilt for returning alive while letting his lord’s son die, was unclear. 

Either way, both were true, so he silently accepted the consolation.

After going through that welcoming ceremony and entering his room to set down the sword strapped to his back, even when heading to the communal bathhouse behind the barracks, he thought of Erich.

A prank they’d enjoyed together around age ten. Dropping a fist-sized stone into the well, then listening to the eerie splash echoing much later. 

How deep is it? If you fell in, you’d never get out, right? 

Erich’s expression as he wondered seriously. Even when he started drawing water from that well, Reingart was thinking of his dead milk-brother.

Then suddenly, he thought of that woman.

“I’m Annette.”

Did she go quietly into her room? Surely she’s not doing something foolish again. 

Throwing the bucket into the well and repeatedly pulling up the heavy bucket with rope, he kept thinking. 

Those white, slender hands. Those pale blue eyes. The face revealed the moment he knocked off her bonnet—absurdly defenseless and young-looking.

How old was she? Eighteen? Twenty?

Reingart thought about the woman until he’d filled the entire bath. Immersed in the cold water drawn from deep underground, chillingly cold even at midday, he wondered. 

What is she doing now? Is she trembling in fear of punishment?

Why on earth did she do something so reckless?

“I’m going to see my brother.”

The princess of a fallen kingdom was a war prisoner. She’d gained the status of Countess through the Empress’s mercy, so she should just live gratefully. 

She could be content living in this abundant castle, yet he couldn’t understand why she’d deliberately put on a maid’s clothes and walked into danger.

No matter how sheltered a noble might be, she should at least know that the moment she left the castle, she could face terrible things. 

If her secret departure was discovered, the Count wouldn’t let it slide. Even if she hadn’t encountered him, the woman would have been caught before the day ended.

So why on earth did she do it? Just to see her brother?

‘You don’t speak Trisen?’

She should have at least learned the language before attempting it.

“Ha.”

After letting out a scoff, he slid into the bath until his head was submerged. He closed his eyes underwater and held his breath. 

Was it because of the midday sunlight? The ice-cold bathwater had already become lukewarm.

***

Reingart’s mother was said to have been a maid at Rothe Castle. She gave birth to a child without a husband and died of puerperal fever a week later. 

The lady of this castle, Viscountess Margrit, took pity on the orphaned newborn and entrusted him to her youngest son’s wet nurse to raise them together.

Even after the Viscountess, who’d been suffering from postpartum illness, passed away, Erich’s wet nurse nursed both children equally. Even after weaning, Reingart often sat at Erich’s table, keeping him company.

At thirteen, they became squires together and began knight training, and at twenty-three, they received their knighthood side by side. 

Erich openly acknowledged that Reingart was superior to him, and Reingart had no complaint about his own knighthood being delayed because of Erich. 

Everyone in the castle, even the lord, treated the two like a model of brotherly affection.

When he was young, Reingart thought all the fortune given to him was thanks to Erich. Because the castle lord’s son liked him. 

Born k*lling their respective mothers and raised on the same milk, he’d once thought they were brothers paired by fate.

However, as his body grew and his mind matured, Reingart came to question the true nature of the special treatment he received.