There was a reason why the mission to rescue Alter was far more complex than an ordinary extraction. From the outset, Alter had been offered to the Empire as bait in exchange for the rescue.

Once the operation was underway, the Thalian forces would split into two groups. One small unit of no more than five or six soldiers would be sent to retrieve Alter, while the rest of the army would move elsewhere. Their true destination was Thalia’s grand ducal castle.

To the Imperial forces, it would seem as though Thalia was risking everything to save Alter. In reality, however, the rescue was a diversion, and the army’s real objective was to reclaim the castle. Although Alter’s rescue was important, the troops assigned to it could ultimately be sacrificed if the situation turned against them.

Callios sat at the round table, his chin resting on his hand. Lost in thought, the weight of the decision before him dimmed his eyes.

“Either way, someone has to do it.”

“Then… should I do it?”

“You have something you must do. Something very important.”

“……Then what about assigning that task to Lady Selina?”

“You mean sending a duke’s daughter to another country to ask for reinforcements capable of destroying the Empire? As if they’d hand over troops so easily.”

“When you put it that way, that’s true. But still—”

“Even if she knew, Selina wouldn’t refuse.”

Unlike before, she had changed a great deal.

Callios cut Zenfri off deliberately and in a stiff tone. He was convinced that Selina would not change her stance, even if she learned the truth. From his experience of working alongside her, she had become a completely different person to who she once was.

If she wanted to do something, she would throw herself into it, regardless of the danger.

“Still, I’ll tell her this much. If she becomes afraid midway through, she’s free to run.”

Perhaps that was what Callios truly wanted to see.

He hoped that Selina would change her mind and retract what she had said, or that fear would drive her to withdraw from the plan altogether. After all, it was only natural to feel fear in the face of death.

If she showed such a response, he felt he might be able to understand the woman who had betrayed him all those years ago — at least a little.

‘But if she doesn’t… then we’ll have no choice but to see it through to the end.’

The thought that Selina might be in danger stirred up an uneasy feeling deep in his chest.

It was an unpleasant sensation that he had not experienced for a long time. Nevertheless, Callios decided to push it aside, as though it belonged to someone else.

“…Then I will follow your decision.”

Despite his words, Zenfri let out a long sigh. Whatever had happened in the past, he just had to obey Calix’s orders. He didn’t particularly like Selina.

So why was he worrying about her now?

‘If only I hadn’t seen her like that that day….’

Before the bloody massacre unfolded in Thalia, Zenfri travelled to Lumos Gorge to rescue Calix. There, he saw Selina emerge from an underground passageway. She was utterly startled by the sight of the Imperial soldiers surrounding her, and Waldemar had rendered her unconscious.

In hindsight, given the circumstances, it seems unlikely that Selina orchestrated such a thing.

There was also something else.

‘If Madam truly had been a traitor, she wouldn’t have acted that way on the day Rocheste was executed.’

On the day of Rocheste’s execution, Zenfri was unable to save him. However, he secretly attended to witness his close friend’s final moments. Suddenly, a woman rushed forward, screaming for Rocheste to be spared.

Zenfri thought she was a mad Thalian throwing herself towards death, but she was Selina.

It was then that Zenfri first considered the possibility that Selina might not have betrayed them after all.

‘Haah… I must be out of my mind. I sent the moonstone and made things spiral this far.’

Zenfri himself was the person who had anonymously sent Selina the moonstone bracelet. Unable to forget Rocheste in his final moments, Zenfri sent the bracelet in the hope that it might help her regain some strength.

He could never have imagined that she would rely on the bracelet to travel so far.

‘Perhaps Madam was far more desperately sincere toward His Highness the Grand Duke than I expected.’

Of course, this was just Zenfri’s speculation, which he could not share with anyone.

In any case, if that was his lord’s stance, it would be pointless to argue further and risk his displeasure. Zenfri pulled his hood back over his head and stepped outside.

And then—at that very moment—it happened.

“…What are you doing here?”

Zenfri’s eyes met those of a slender figure crouched outside. The owner of the violet eyes gazing quietly up at him was Selina. She hadn’t expected him to appear so suddenly; a flustered flush spread across her pale face.

“I— I have something I wish to ask Sir Callios… no, the elder. I received permission and am waiting for a moment.”

Zenfri looked down at the handcuffs on Selina’s wrists. In the circumstances, it was only natural that she was being treated like a criminal. Yet the stifling feeling in his chest wouldn’t go away.

“You should finish quickly and return.”

Zenfri replied lightly, then turned away with a limp. Selina bowed her head towards his retreating figure, then stepped inside.

Callios was sitting alone at the round table inside.

“Have you come to feel like giving up, now of all times?”

He reacted calmly, as though he had been expecting Selina. He spoke in a subtly probing tone, suggesting that she should step aside.

“That won’t happen.”

Selina deliberately shook her head and took a seat across from him.

“I came because there’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

Despite having come to see Callios with such resolve, Selina hesitated. As he wondered what kind of question could have caused her to act like that, he soon realized the reason why.

“Calix Silas… do you know anything about His Highness the Grand Duke?”

He never imagined he would hear that name again, least of all from her.

Calix Silas was a name he had long since discarded. When others said it, it sounded as though they were talking about someone else entirely — a hollow echo that evoked no response from him.

But when Selina said it, it was different.

It was a strange sensation, as though he were being dragged back into a distant past. Before he could stop himself, Calix nearly reached out, tempted to capture her lips and demand that she say the name again.

He forced a calm, restrained expression and replied.

“His Highness the Grand Duke is dead.”

“Outwardly, that may be true. But… I don’t think so.”

Selina rolled up her sleeve. As she did so, a bracelet with a small stone on it came into view beneath the long sleeve that had been covering her wrist. It was the moonstone bracelet that Calix had once given her.

“Calix once told her that the stone reflected his condition. Look at it. The light has grown faint, but it hasn’t disappeared completely, has it?’ That means—”

“A mere stone.”

Callios cut Selina off in a cold voice.

“What could something as trivial as a stone possibly tell you?”

His deeply sunken gaze was unsettling.

‘Is he angry because he thinks what I’m saying is absurd?’

Yet for someone merely reacting to a nonsensical claim, his response seemed uncharacteristically emotional. In that instant, she was struck by a strange certainty.

Perhaps Callios knew where Calix was.

“Yes. A stone can only tell so much.”

That was why Selina decided to press more directly.

“But it feels like you might be able to tell me more.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Selina, who had been sitting opposite Callios, moved closer to him. Perching on the seat beside him, she pleaded with an earnest, desperate expression.

“Where is Calix right now? He’s safe, isn’t he? Is he in here?”

But he pressed his lips together and remained silent.

In an attempt to draw more information from him, Selina spoke in greater detail about the path she had chosen.

“I volunteered to play the dangerous role of rescuing Alter. Even if it hadn’t been me, someone else would have had to do it. I did it knowing that I might die if things went wrong.”

After taking a breath, she added.

“I was prepared to face death… So can’t you at least tell me where Calix is?”

Her voice trembled slightly. The thought that this might be her only chance to meet Calix overwhelmed her. Keeping her head lowered, she realized that this might be her only chance to meet Calix, as feelings that still ran deep overwhelmed her.

“Is that how badly you want to know where Calix is?”

A low, dark voice fell over her head.

“If that’s what you wish, I’ll let you meet him.”

At last, the answer she had been waiting for came from Callios.

“Tonight. I won’t lock the door, so come to the garden. However—”

But his words carried a warning.

“Once you learn the truth, you truly won’t be able to turn back.”

It felt dangerous, somehow.