“Jody.”

Jody was sitting there as she had been. It was the first time Rohana had seen Jody with her hair down, and she really did look quite like her.

And even more like that nanny.

“How are you feeling?”

“Please stop.”

Jody spoke in a faint voice, her hoarse tone showing how exhausted she was.

“You don’t have to keep pretending to be so kind until the end.”

Rohana faintly smiled at Jody’s words.

“Do I really seem that way?”

Her violet eyes were filled with complexity.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Jody furrowed her brow.

“Tell me everything—circumstances, context, all of it.”

Her voice was firm. Jody looked up at the lady.

Rohana Hanover had always been exceptionally lucky, whether as the crown prince’s fiancée for 15 years, as the Duchess of Delcliff through the turmoil, or even up until this very moment.

Perhaps that made her even more resentful.

“I’ve committed a crime deserving of death, so just kill me.”

“I won’t kill an important witness like you.”

At Rohana’s words, Jody turned her head to look up at her. Rohana slowly chose her words.

“Tell me who’s behind this, how much they know, and to what extent. It’ll help with leniency.”

Rohana’s thin, pale hand gripped the bars. Jody stared at that hand for a moment. She acted tough, but even she was hesitating.

It was clear she was trying to save Jody, no matter what.

And at that moment, Jody seemed to understand how Rohana had put her fate on the line, gambling everything on her.

‘Was I that transparent too?’

Jody let out a small laugh.

“If I talk… what will change?”

Rohana’s brow furrowed.

“If I talk… will my life change?”

“You might be able to save your life, and everything will change.”

“Stop it.”

Jody’s voice was resigned. Rohana quietly closed her mouth and just looked at her.

Jody thought of Kaiden. For some reason, she felt he shouldn’t be on Rohana’s side, but there he was, standing by her.

Inside R.D., they believed that one day he would fight for the Kark tribe. So, she believed it too.

Why had Kaiden reacted so strongly when only a mere Arin noble was in danger while working for R.D.?

When Kaiden rehired her just days after she had been fired, she had thought he was also on R.D.’s side.

Seeing Rohana yesterday, Jody instantly knew she would be fine. It was so obvious.

“Don’t gamble like that with anyone else.”

Jody’s sincere words slipped out.

“Even a great duke can’t handle protecting someone as reckless as you.”

Her tired eyes held a strange sense of peace.

“I don’t know why he’s trying to protect you.”

Rohana closed her narrowed eyes.

***

“The Hanover Ducal House?”

At seven years old, she became an orphan and lived at the bottom of society.

Even though she was Kark, her unusually dark hair and eyes made it so that even among the Kark poor, she had nowhere to go.

Barely able to leave her three-year-old brother in the care of drunk women at a facility, she lived a life of begging.

That was her life until the day a man with straw-colored hair appeared.

“Jody?”

“Who are you?”

“Hanover.”

“What?”

“I’ve come regarding Hanover.”

If she cooperated, they’d cancel the debt she didn’t even know had been accumulating, and even give her money. That was the deal.

“What do I have to do?”

“You don’t need to know that just yet.”

The man with straw-colored hair said.

“Can you handle magic?”

“A little.”

In truth, she was quite capable, but Jody felt a vague unease and gave a vague answer.

“I already know your level. You’re quite humble.”

“But would they accept the daughter of a dead nanny?”

Haha, his booming laugh filled the air, tinged with the scent of oil.

“They don’t need to know.”

“How do you know that?”

It was summer, and the wounds on her hands wouldn’t heal easily and had started to fester. Jody, defensively picking at the scabs with her fingers, asked. The answer that came stung more than her wounds.

“They wouldn’t even bother to find out.”

The man smirked. His voice, promising a new life, was sweet, and thus Jody’s life at the ducal house began.

“This is Lady Rohana Hanover, whom you will serve from now on.”

Compared to her life in the gutter, even the moments she accidentally saw Gregory pass by, even being punished for Rohana’s mistakes, were bearable.

What Jody couldn’t endure was seeing Rohana suffer because of her. It felt like her very freedom to resent was being stripped away.

The notes from R.D. reached Jody through people she didn’t even know, and that day, it contained orders to orchestrate an accident with a chandelier to kill Rohana while Aurelia was leading her upstairs.

She had intended to do just that.

Jody’s heart tightened. Was the mistake due to nerves or hesitation?

For some reason, watching Rohana fire her through tears left Jody feeling relieved, as if their connection had reached its end.

But when she was rehired because of Kaiden and saw Rohana again after a long time, it was decisive. That expression shattered Jody’s hardened heart.

She thought, if only she could be as glad to see Rohana as Rohana was to see her.

“They say people get reflective when they’re near death.”

Still, since she would die on a mission, her younger sibling wouldn’t have to suffer much. Jody believed that R.D. had enough conscience for that.

That was enough.

***

“Showing this today to Kaiden…”

Heath’s expression subtly hardened.

“Kaiden already knows, doesn’t he?”

At Rohana’s soft words, Heath nodded.

“He would have wanted to see it anyway, so I let him do it safely.”

Looking down at Rohana’s face as she understood, Heath continued.

“I didn’t expect it, but you, my lady, are surprisingly stubborn. Don’t take such risks again. You never know what someone might do when they’re cornered.”

Heath smiled faintly as he watched Rohana nod.

“Are you alright?”

Heath tilted his head, looking down at Rohana. She lifted her head. Heath was as tall as Kaiden, making it hard to look up at him.

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Despite the serious situation, his teasing tone made Rohana smile slightly. Heath had a way of putting people at ease.

Is that why he’s so popular? She wondered idly as she looked up at Heath. His soft voice broke her thoughts.

“One of the assassins had previously been employed by the Duke of Hanover. That’s why we assigned someone to Jody as of yesterday.”

Hearing this, Rohana finally understood.

“No matter the circumstances, it doesn’t change the fact that they were arsonists and attempted assassins.”

As Rohana’s eyes darkened, Heath felt uneasy. After all, the person in question was someone Kaiden had rehired, someone Rohana had a special relationship with.

So it wasn’t hard to understand why Rohana placed importance on those ‘circumstances.’

“Did they talk?”

Rohana shook her head. Her loosely tied hair fluttered in the breeze.

Compared to her usual perfectly groomed appearance, she looked much younger and far more exhausted than her age would suggest.

“R.D. rarely opens up. They’ll insist it was a solo act.”

Rohana’s eyes dimmed. Heath looked down at the duchess with some concern.

“I should be going now. Iz is running late.”

“Where are you going?”

Heath hesitated, considering whether to mention his meeting with Kaiden and R.D., but ultimately closed his mouth again.

“Just out.”

With no further explanation, Rohana nodded.

“Eat breakfast.”

At Heath’s sudden remark, Rohana responded with a barely noticeable smile. As he exhaled, Heath casually voiced a thought that had been on his mind.

“But there’s one thing I find strange.”

Rohana raised an eyebrow, signaling him to continue.

“Why fire? Using assassins to make it clear that R.D. was involved, but setting a fire that wouldn’t directly work against us…”

At that moment, Rohana’s eyes widened.

As Heath looked at her puzzled expression, Rohana suddenly ran back toward the underground prison.

“My lady!”

Heath couldn’t bring himself to stop her and quickly followed closely behind.

The soldiers moved aside easily thanks to Heath’s signal.

“Jody.”

Rohana knelt to make eye contact. Her dress pooled haphazardly on the cold floor.

“Why did you start the fire?”

Heath stood a little further back, listening to their conversation.

“Why did you start the fire?”

At Rohana’s whispered question, Jody finally raised her head. Her face was streaked with tears.

“You did it to call Kaiden, didn’t you?”

As Rohana whispered barely loud enough to be heard, Jody’s eyes widened in shock.

“You gave R.D. room to make excuses while signaling to Kaiden.”

Rohana’s voice, which had been a soft whisper, grew more agitated. Jody opened her mouth, but quickly closed it again, clearly anxious. Her eyes looked more unsettled than when she had been caught as the culprit.

Just then, the sound of soldiers marching echoed through the underground prison.

Jody hurriedly closed her mouth. Following this, an unexpectedly cheerful voice rang out in the somber setting.

“Oh my, what’s going on here?”

Jody’s face twisted. Ordinary fear mingled with intense dread crossed her face.

Still sitting on the floor, Rohana turned her head and looked up.

“Your Majesty, the Empress.”