She had to be careful, considering this could be an attempt to gauge how much information she knew.

While there was no need to show excessive wariness to her opponent, she also couldn’t give away even a hint of information. This was a tactic she had learned from her time at the imperial palace.

But the captain, in an attempt to shake Melissa’s resolve, played an even more experienced hand.

“His Highness is a key figure in the revolutionary army.”

Melissa’s hands began to sweat. She clasped them together under the wooden desk. She tried to hide her anxiety by scratching her slippery palms with her thumb.

When she didn’t respond, the captain spoke again.

“As the supreme commander of the Capital Revolutionary Command and a strategist directing military operations, he has been active for at least 4 years. I believe you understand what that means without explanation.”

Four years ago was when her ducal family’s position was still secure. When Melissa met the captain’s brown eyes, the color drained from her face.

“…”

She trembled at the lips while trying to maintain her composure, hands still clasped. Though she tried to put on a mask and steady her voice through childhood practice, no sound would come out. It felt like there was a fishbone stuck in her throat.

The captain didn’t move a single step from his spot. The middle-aged man standing straight, seemingly guarding the door, looked at the floor for the first time, appearing to avoid her gaze, and spoke.

“I hope you don’t misunderstand. What I’m telling you now is purely my personal appeal, and has nothing to do with my superior.”

“…Sir.”

“Though the decision is yours to make, Your Highness.”

She was about to order him to leave. But when the gaunt-looking man raised his head, she held her breath for a moment seeing the tears quietly pooled in his eyes.

“As you know, there will be no place for us in the world they’re trying to create.”

The word ‘us’ stuck like a thorn in Melissa’s heart.

“People like me and Your Highness can only survive under His Highness the Crown Prince. When the revolutionaries gain power, the collapse of nobility will be the natural order. I have a family, and painfully, I watched your fall from the closest position.”

The captain’s voice cracked.

“That’s why we can’t lose this fight. You must know from experience. How nobles who have lost their power are trampled.”

“…”

“Whether we kill children or the elderly, trying to maintain a conscience while winning a fight is merely a luxury. Having already abandoned my humanity, I must win at all costs. So… I hope Your Highness will return to us before it’s too late.”

He was an acquaintance she hadn’t seen in three years. Though they had known each other’s faces for a long time, they had hardly any personal interaction.

‘Why is he telling me this?’

Melissa was confused. She remained guarded, wondering if this was just a ploy to entice her on the Crown Prince’s orders. But when the seemingly completely rational middle-aged man couldn’t hold back his tears, Melissa felt his sincerity.

“There is no other reason. I’m sorry I couldn’t help back then, even though I knew. Well then.”

Biting his lips tightly, he gave a salute while composing his guilt-ridden expression. When the door opened and his presence disappeared, Melissa felt dizzy, alone in the world.

‘What did I just hear?’

Her mind was hazy. She couldn’t move from the desk where she had written the letter. She felt an overwhelming fear, swallowed by the space around her.

The possibility that Reizen had contributed to her grandfather’s death and her family’s downfall? Yes, she had roughly suspected as much. That’s why she had hoped Reizen would tell her directly when she heard the truth. But what if he hadn’t just contributed, but directly ordered it?

‘…Could I forgive that?’

Could she forget her grandfather’s corpse, bloated in the river, and Mrs. Miellin’s blackened legs as she was dragged away beyond the prison bars?

‘I probably can’t forget.’

But she had vaguely thought she could endure staying by his side. Everyone has their wounds. Thinking that Reizen must have had his own painful experiences, she thought they could grow closer through dialogue.

But that assumption was only valid when Reizen was merely a revolutionary.

‘Supreme commander of the Capital Revolutionary Command. Strategist…’

Ah, a short groan escaped her.

The man she had thought was at most in contact with Tavania merchants to support the revolutionary army’s funding turned out to be their strategist.

‘Honestly, wasn’t I the one who underestimated him?’

Born as a prince in the Rose Maze, he had lived associating with military academy club friends. Later, his outstanding appearance caught the Emperor’s eye and he was restored as prince, but he seemed to follow the Emperor’s orders without question.

Though he maintained his position as a judge, she had considered it nominal due to his long breaks. Unconsciously, she had set limits on Reizen’s capabilities in her mind, thinking ‘he couldn’t be that much’ to ease her mental burden.

All while internally muttering about why he wouldn’t tell her he was a revolutionary, and how she might forgive him.

‘Did I want to deny reality?’

No, that wasn’t it. She should have assumed the worst, but couldn’t.

The prejudice that only nobles from the Kingdom of Hobra could engage in politics was so deeply rooted within her that she never dreamed the revolutionary army would be active with Reizen at its center. To be honest, she had thought there must be anti-state noble forces, not commoners, behind the revolutionary army. For example, like her grandfather or Duke Rockbell…

Melissa went blank. The woman who had been holding her breath let out an empty laugh, mocking herself.

“Ha.”

Now she understood. The reason why people around her wouldn’t believe her no matter how much she claimed to be on Reizen’s side.

From the start, oil and water could never mix. No matter how much oil pretends to be water, it naturally rises distinctly to the surface when mixed with water.

Just as a child’s nationality is determined by their parents’ at birth, she and he were different from birth.

Suddenly, she remembered what Mydos used to say:

“You always act like you have everything, when you’re just a woman from a ruined family! I can see right through how you look down on people with that stiff neck of yours!”

Back then, she couldn’t understand what he meant.

She had internally laughed at his inferiority complex, wondering what superiority he was talking about when she had fallen to rock bottom with her family’s ruin. She seemed to have looked at his angry face with pity, thinking he was vulgar and pitiful, unable to contain himself without resorting to violence.

For her, noble superiority wasn’t a conscious awareness but something deeply rooted in her unconscious.

Saving Rael, hoping for Selheim’s survival, thinking she could forgive Reizen even if he was a revolutionary – all of this was her ‘arrogance.’

Melissa might have been singing of love while intoxicated by her own arrogant emotions all this time. Like a princess living alone in a dream, she had tried hard to embrace everyone and achieve fairy tale happiness. Like a fool.

“Sister, you need to face reality more.”

Melissa’s eyes twisted sadly. She collapsed face-down on the desk like someone waking from a long dream.

After crying silently for a long while, she raised her head. As her mind began to clear somewhat, she became certain.

Let’s give one last, just one more chance.

* * *

That night, when Melissa returned to the castle, she met Arthur. Arthur, who entered the reception room, said he had barely changed clothes and come after organizing the warehouse until late.

“I felt I should come thank you.”

Arthur stood up straight from his chair, then bent deeply to express his gratitude. Though Melissa told him to rise, Arthur continued sniffling for a long time as he conveyed his sincere thanks.

“My lady, if you need anything, just say the word. As far as my reach extends, I’ll bring you the rarest things from around the world!”

He cried continuously, saying he was thankful that Clara’s life was saved more than his own.

“Just tell me whatever you want. I’ll bring you hundreds or thousands. What could be too precious when I’ve received a favor I couldn’t repay in a lifetime?”

Arthur was so enthusiastic that he seemed ready to hand over even his merchant company if Melissa asked for it right then. But Melissa felt her energy draining in real time as she heard those words.

She shook her head wearily with tired, bloodshot eyes.

“Later. I don’t need anything right now.”

“Then you must tell me later, without fail. I’m already grateful for how you’ve always been kind to our child, and now I owe you a life debt…”

Arthur fidgeted in place while studying Melissa’s expression. Though it hurt her feelings how he would startle and avoid eye contact whenever their eyes met while talking about owing her his life, she decided to laugh it off.

“Then I’ll head up now.”

Promising to tell him what she needed next time, now that she understood his feelings, she ended the meeting. As she was leaving the reception room…

“Long day, wasn’t it?”

A man leaning casually against the doorframe approached with a dazzling smile. It was the return of the master of the house, who she thought wouldn’t come for days after leaving early in the morning without a word, saying he would be busy.