The man exhaled an equally hot breath and let out a small laugh as he brushed back Melissa’s wet hair.

Reizen held her tightly in his arms and pressed his lips to the top of her head. He muttered in a muffled voice. His eyes showed a dark path ahead.

“What should I do now?”

Melissa lifted her head to look up at Reizen.

When their eyes met, they wavered anxiously and precariously. The heat hadn’t subsided yet. If they had done this in bed just now, there was no telling how much, how far they would have gone.

Reizen smiled while furrowing his brows.

“I think I’m in big trouble.”

Melissa’s small heart pounded.

As she looked at the man with even her ears turned red, she finally heard footsteps that contrasted with the pouring rain.

It didn’t feel good.

Melissa got goosebumps from the heavy presence she felt behind her. Multiple pairs of military boots trampled through puddles as they surrounded the two.

“Prince Reizen.”

They were from the Police Bureau.

Through the hazy curtain of rain, a man aiming a rifle spoke threateningly.

“Come out. If you come quietly, we’ll escort you safely to the Police Bureau.”

Those words were a threat that if he didn’t come quietly, they wouldn’t take him safely.

It seemed Melissa wasn’t the only one waiting for Reizen’s return. Over ten armed police officers had their guns trained on him, as if they had been lying in wait near the castle.

Just like three years ago when Melissa was arrested.

Men surrounding them.

The days when she was dragged away without knowing why and had to endure hardships while taking a garden walk.

Melissa’s eyes wavered at the fragments of broken memories. Merciless fear gripped her throat and wouldn’t let go. Her face turned pale as she struggled to breathe.

“Melissa. Look at me.”

When she didn’t move, he gripped both her shoulders and spoke while meeting her eyes. Melissa barely managed to look at Reizen with blue-tinged lips.

He caressed her cheek as if to reassure her.

“I won’t be able to come back by tomorrow morning.”

She knew. Where they took people when arrested.

“It’s hard to specify the time…”

Melissa couldn’t say anything. As she just sadly furrowed her brows and lowered her head, he lifted her chin to make their eyes meet.

“But will you wait for me?”

His languid voice came calmly.

Before Melissa could open her mouth to answer, the men dragged him away. Though she tried to grab him by tightly gripping Reizen’s sleeve, it uselessly slipped away against the strong force of multiple people.

“Rei… Reizen!”

Melissa’s shrill voice disappeared into the rain.

Her memories of the Police Bureau were intermittent like a broken projector. But if there was one thing she remembered clearly, it was the fact that it was extremely painful.

That place was the beginning of all wounds.

She collapsed after seeing her grandfather’s horrific corpse, and when she woke up, the people who had defended her were dragged out one by one as corpses.

She remembered Madam Mielin’s final face as she was dragged away leaving only bloodstains on the cold floor. Just thinking about the truly wretched face of the old lady who couldn’t even close her eyes made her whole body convulse.

“My lady! My lady, you can’t!”

Whilton and the maids who ran from afar held her back. Unable to hold onto Reizen’s retreating figure, Melissa sobbed sorrowfully.

It was a nightmarish day that she couldn’t bear to believe was reality.

***

“They just brought him to the capital. When we start the investigation, even the toughest ones usually take quite some time until confession.”

“Roughly how long?”

“If we increase the intensity of interrogation, it’ll be about a week. I’ve never seen anyone hold out longer than that.”

It was a bitter world for commoners, and the Police Bureau was a place where they could even fabricate non-existent crimes at times.

Most people forcibly brought to the Police Bureau were those who had committed serious crimes. Simple theft or assault cases were handled by the local security forces.

The Police Bureau Chief wore a relaxed expression as though everything was almost done.

Honestly, getting the prince arrested was the biggest hurdle. Since the Police Bureau was a place difficult to leave once brought in, they had expected the other side would try anything to avoid being brought in.

But things became easier when the prince, who was said to have fled the night before fearing arrest, appeared at his territory’s castle the next evening.

“The bastard came quietly?”

Selheim picked up the glass in front of him. When he shook his wrist, the liquor and ice inside clinked as they swirled around.

“We sent armed personnel. Since the princess consort was with him, he seems to have not resisted out of concern for her.”

A small smile appeared on Selheim’s lips. Though he didn’t look particularly pleased, the atmosphere wasn’t bad either.

“Still, don’t let your guard down, and check the journalists in front.”

The man with long silver hair brushed his hair back and picked up the liquor bottle. With a clear sound, amber whiskey filled the Police Bureau Chief’s glass.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

He downed the whiskey poured in his glass in one gulp and left the reception room. When the door closed, the smile that had been on the Police Bureau Chief’s face completely disappeared.

“You heard? Do it properly.”

“There have been no problems so far.”

He put the cigar his subordinate handed him in his mouth and walked quickly.

“Huh. Why so much suspicion?”

He was just a lowly bastard with half Gerion blood. Though he suddenly got the position of prince three years ago, wasn’t his mother from the Rose Maze with no proper background?

Honestly, there wasn’t even a guarantee that all children born from Rose Maze women had the Emperor’s blood. That place was a playground where other nobles shared the Emperor’s discarded playthings.

The Police Bureau Chief returned to the bureau to check on Prince Reizen who would soon be brought in. He was about to witness the sight of the murderer prince being dragged in with handcuffs in a miserable state.

However…

The journalists gathered in front of the Police Bureau were noisy.

They looked like lost ants as they bustled about with cameras as big as their torsos.

“Seems he’s arrived?”

The Police Bureau Chief walked leisurely. But when he got closer, he saw that the target of the tremendous barrage of flashes wasn’t Prince Reizen.

“Why did you confess to the crime?”

“Is there a reason you remained silent until now?”

“We’re curious why you changed your mind!”

The Police Bureau Chief felt his mind go blank for a moment. Standing among the journalists, a man in his 40s dabbing tears with a handkerchief, Geoffrey Roabel, said:

“I was too ashamed before God…”

Melissa Grey’s second husband.

Viscount Geoffrey Roabel.

He was an atheist.

“I loved Melissa too much. I couldn’t stand her marrying another man… I tried to frame Prince Reizen.”

Love? That person might have loved money, but he was definitely not someone who would love a living person.

Geoffrey Roabel, a physicist who considered material things supreme and argued that the empire’s future should be devoted to science, now was appealing to people’s emotions.

“I hated both Maidos and Kelly! I thought over and over again how I wished they would die!”

The implausible confession continued like a play.

“But last night while praying, I heard God’s voice. Telling me to atone. It was like… like…”

“A voice that came down like fate.”

A devout journalist said with an impressed face. Geoffrey praised the journalist saying he got it exactly right.

“With this, I will take all responsibility… and surrender myself before you all. Love is not a crime, but murder committed for love is a terrible sin!”

Of all times, they had even prepared a platform perfect for photos with every newspaper company in Sys gathered.

The front of the Police Bureau was chaos. Did Geoffrey Roabel not care about his life?

The Police Bureau Chief purely admired his courage. As someone who had spent his life following power submissively, he knew best what it meant to bite the hand that fed you.

The Police Bureau Chief’s eyes grew busy. He urgently shouted at his subordinate.

“Where is the prince!”

The subordinate couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Si-since the real culprit came forward, we couldn’t forcibly bring him in, so we let him go halfway!”

“How could you let him go, you should have brought him in even if you had to force it!”

“But they said if he wasn’t the real criminal, everyone involved in bringing him in would be arrested for insulting royalty…”

“Shut up! You idiots!”

Blood vessels stood out in the Police Bureau Chief’s eyes. He ground his teeth and trembled.

By now the Crown Prince must have noticed this situation too. The Police Bureau Chief’s mind began racing quickly about what to do to survive.

To untangle this knotted thread, he first had to trace back why things had turned out this way.