Sarah stood frozen to the spot.

The person who had been introduced as the leader of the Hounds was someone she knew all too well.

Her direct superior — the commander of the Imperial Third Order.

He was the man who, when she had been a palace maid, had sometimes appeared as her savior and sometimes as a merciless devil.

Isaac stood there.

He was the very man she had spent years searching for — her husband, Carlos.

Sarah curled her trembling fingers into a tight fist.

Having been used and deceived by Carlos, she had allowed herself to cling to the hope that Isaac existed, if only for a moment.

Realizing that she had been fooled by him once again filled her with such sharp humiliation that it nearly choked her.

The surge of killing intent rising inside her was almost impossible to contain. She wanted nothing more than to draw her sword and drive it straight through his throat.

Just days ago, he had thrown himself beneath collapsing ruins to protect her.

He had promised to keep her ability a secret. Yet all the while, he had been the leader of the very hounds who hunted Irregulars.

How foolish she must have seemed to him!

Yet the man standing before her looked back at her with the expression of a wounded animal — his eyes were filled not with mockery, but with sorrow.

This only made her fury burn hotter.

As Sarah glared at Kay with murderous intensity, he sensed the explosive tension in the air and tried awkwardly to ease it.

“It seems… the fact that the Third Order’s commander is Kay came as quite a shock…”

Jay, who had no idea she was speaking to Sarah, tried to smooth over the atmosphere with a strained smile.

At her words, Kay spoke in a low voice.

“Everyone except the newcomer—leave.”

At Kay’s calm order, Jay and El exchanged glances and obediently turned away. They seemed to assume a superior and former subordinate would have things to discuss.

Jay shot Jet a sharp glare, and Jet reluctantly shrugged before stepping out of the room.

Once everyone but Kay and Sarah had left, silence settled heavily over the office.

Kay was the one who finally broke it.

“…I hoped you would never come this far.”

His expression softened into something unbearably sad as he added.

“Sarah…”

Hearing that name caused Sarah’s composure to snap.

When had he realized who she was?

Even worse, he had known all along yet continued to pretend to be her commander.

The man who had betrayed her.

The man who had murdered her father.

He had stood beside her all this time, acting like her superior and pretending to care.

A violent urge to kill twisted inside her, mingled with revulsion.

Without hesitating for a moment, Sarah drew her sword and charged at him.

There was no thought, only pure impulse and fury.

She fully expected him to block it.

The Isaac she knew — the renowned commander of the Third Order and powerful leader of the Hounds — would easily deflect a reckless strike like this.

She knew that. And yet she still thr*st her blade at him.

But Kay didn’t block it.

Thud—!

Her blade sank deep into his shoulder, emerging from his back.

He had seen everything.

The moment she lost control.

The moment she swung.

He could have stopped her.

Yet he didn’t.

She could have pierced his heart.

Sarah froze, stunned.

She had already prepared a second strike, fully expecting him to deflect the first.

Instead, though, blood ran down Kay’s shoulder in a slow, steady trail, slipping past his fingers and dripping onto the floor.

Breathing unevenly, Sarah stared at him in disbelief as he finally spoke.

“You shouldn’t be here…”

Still gripping the sword embedded in him, Sarah furrowed her brows.

“What? Did you think I wouldn’t show up like this? That I’d stay a helpless, crippled fool who knew nothing?”

Her voice trembled with rage.

“You expected me to die quietly after being used and discarded by you.”

At her venom-laced words, Kay’s face twisted in deeper sorrow, as though every word she uttered stabbed deeper than the blade in his flesh.

He had not even flinched when she impaled him. Yet her voice alone made him crumble.

“I took you into the Order knowing who you were.”

You knew. And you let me serve under the man who murdered my father.”

Though the sword pierced only his shoulder, his expression was that of someone whose heart had been struck instead.

“I didn’t know then.”

Kay said quietly, bowing his head.

“If I had known, I never would have accepted you…”

Sarah’s fingers tightened around the hilt, her lips twisting.

“How easily you say that. You murdered my father, and you think I won’t drive this sword into your heart?”

Upon hearing her words, Kay slowly raised his hand and closed his bare fingers around the blade.

Sarah’s eyes widened.

Blood streamed down his palm as he gripped the sword that was impaling him. With deliberate, unhesitating force, he pulled the sword deeper into his own body.

Crunch—

Flesh tore as the steel sank further in.

Still gripping the hilt, Sarah stared in shock at the horrifying sight.

Kay, his fingers slick with blood, lifted his gaze to hers.

Pain etched itself into his expression, yet his voice remained steady.

“If what you want is my life… then I will gladly give it.”

Hearing this, Sarah’s lips trembled with fury.

After deceiving her?

After killing her father?

After everything he had put her through, he had the audacity to offer up his life so easily.

After lying to her and then vanishing without a trace?

It had all been nothing more than a performance meant to manipulate her.

And now he dared to say that he would gladly give his life if that’s what she wanted?

Absurd.

It was the most revolting lie of all.

Sarah bit hard into her lower lip, forcing back the tears that threatened to fall.

These tears were not for him.

They were born of rage because even now, a small part of her wavered at his sweet, poisonous words.

The shame of that alone made her eyes burn with tears.

“Don’t be ridiculous…”

Her voice trembled as she spoke through clenched teeth.

Kay’s expression only grew sadder.

She wanted to cut that expression off his face with the blade still lodged in his shoulder.

How dare he—a traitor!

A murderer.

What right did he have to look at her like that?

She wanted to demand an answer.

He gave none.

Instead, he quietly said,

“The emperor’s hounds aren’t as impressive as you think.”

Despite his gentle words, she understood their meaning.

He simply wanted to keep her away.

To push her out of danger.

To push her out of his way.

Sarah let out a cold, contemptuous laugh.

“Is that so? Funny coming from someone who serves as the leader of that group while hunting Irregulars like my father.”

Even her biting mockery did not change him.

Kay only stared at her with eyes as heavy as sinking stones.

Silence stretched between them, only the sound of blood dripping from his fingers and shoulder breaking the stillness.

Then he spoke.

“They implant an artifact into a hound’s head.”

Sarah’s brow furrowed sharply.

The meaning didn’t register at first.

Kay held her gaze and enunciated each word with quiet force.

“That artifact is a bomb the emperor can detonate anytime he wants. If you become a hound, that same bomb will be placed inside your head.”

He had to stop that. It was the one thing he had vowed to prevent, even at the cost of his own life.

Sarah’s expression twisted.

“A bomb in their head that explodes by the emperor’s command?”

“Yes… And even the implantation process isn’t safe. Nine out of ten die while the artifact is being inserted or they survive the implantation only to die from the side effects.”

Sarah stared at him, bewildered.

So that was why the hounds obeyed the emperor absolutely?
Because a bomb sat inside their skull?

But she quickly shook her head.

He had lied to her too many times.

“How am I supposed to believe you?” You, who deceived me again and again?”