Kartun turned his head to look forward again and asked.

“How did you know?”

“You wanted me to recognize you enough to talk about meat strudel, didn’t you?”

Yes, that was true.

Kartun smiled wryly.

It was after she had fought her first battle against monsters in her previous life.

The two of them sat side by side in a tent just like now, eating it to celebrate their survival.

Daphne seemed to recall that time too and spoke in a wistful voice.

“It was the most intense flavor I’ve ever tasted.”

“Most people from the grand duchy would feel the same.”

“But in the end, I couldn’t remain a person of the grand duchy.”

Until the war with the monsters ended.

That was the marriage period Daphne and Kartun had agreed upon.

She had planned to return to the Empire as soon as the war ended.

“I tried to stop you from leaving.”

The Empire was in chaos at that time. And those who had devoured the Armin family were in power. For Daphne, it was like walking into a death trap.

Kartun had offered her divorce and even guaranteed her freedom in the grand duchy if she wanted, but she firmly refused.

Recalling that time, Daphne whispered:

“There was something I didn’t tell you back then.”

“What was it?”

“Leonhardt had taken my mother and younger brother hostage.”

Gabriel had hidden Christine and the youngest, Fabian, as promised to Daphne. But Leonhardt had persistently tracked them down, taken them hostage, and used them to lure her back.

“I wanted to save them.”

Kartun was about to ask why she hadn’t told him but closed his mouth.

There was no capacity for that at the time.

Though they had won the war against the monsters, the grand duchy had suffered too much damage. In that situation, worsening relations with the Empire would have been disastrous.

If the Empire cut off food aid immediately, the people of the grand duchy would have starved.

Daphne knew well that she couldn’t rely on him in such circumstances.

She had left without looking back and ultimately sold out the grand duchy to protect her family.

A traitor.

Why had he come to her side again?

Kartun asked in a bitter voice:

“So… did you save them?”

Daphne vividly recalled Anaïs’s smiling face after putting her in the carriage and shuddered.

She shook her head briefly while rubbing the goosebumps on her arms. Still looking ahead, she didn’t see his jaw clenching tightly.

“How did you know I had returned?”

“Your movements were unusual. You said you were breaking off your engagement, then skillfully went to the information guild.”

“Were you watching me?”

Daphne tried hard not to let her voice tremble as she asked.

“Everyone was under surveillance.”

It was surveillance to bring down enemies and protect the grand duchy.

“I became completely certain at the palace. When I took out the magic stone from my chest, your movements to protect the Emperor were too skillful. You covered her head first, then perfectly shielded vital areas with your body. I almost wanted to hire you as my bodyguard.”

“I thought you were looking at me too intensely. So that’s when you realized. Then, when did Your Highness return?”

“A bit earlier than you.”

Judging by his vague answer, he didn’t seem willing to say more.

“May I ask one more thing?”

When Daphne carefully gauged his reaction and spoke, Kartun nodded.

“Did Your Highness also hear a strange voice before dying?”

Kartun smiled enigmatically and shook his head.

“Are you curious about why we returned?”

“Of course.”

“Then come to the grand duchy.”

Silence fell for a moment. Daphne’s mind was busy trying to decipher the meaning of his words. After a while, he couldn’t hold back and said:

“In this life, don’t make assumptions. If you’re curious about something, just ask.”

“Will you tell me the truth?”

Right now, assumptions might be safer on this thin ice.

It was already surprising that someone else had also returned, and that person was stronger than her. And they weren’t necessarily on the same side. At the very least, she had to hope he wouldn’t interfere with her plans.

The worst possibility was that she might be a target for elimination in his eyes.

So she couldn’t fully trust his answers even if she asked. After all, she herself had many things she had still hidden from him.

Kartun understood well that Daphne wanted reassurance.

Despite having deceived him and ultimately driven him to his death in her previous life, she was still demanding too much.

But as always, he couldn’t refuse her this time either.

“From when I first met you until now, I’ve never lied to you. And I won’t in the future.”

The moment she heard those words, Daphne felt like prey stripped of will before a predator.

His eyes, which had been sparkling gold, turned to a deep brown, making her feel like she was peering into an unfathomable cave.

An unknowable person.

To Daphne, Kartun had always been that.

When they first met, he had come to stay at her home. Yet he was never servile, nor was he excessively kind to her as the daughter of the house.

He seemed outwardly friendly to Daphne but kept an appropriate distance. And even when she eventually took Leonhardt’s side, he didn’t particularly resent or reproach her.

Kartun met Daphne for the second time right after she had completed her spy training.

Gabriel had persuaded Kartun that her rose-gold hair might be useful in the war against monsters.

Because of the Empire’s extreme aversion to monsters, Gabriel had proposed a contract marriage, which Kartun accepted.

Daphne became his wife in name only and participated in numerous battles. As Gabriel had predicted, the monsters’ momentum noticeably weakened after she joined.

Even the people of the grand duchy, who had initially rejected her for being an Imperial citizen, gradually opened their hearts and eventually treated her like family.

Kartun, on the other hand, remained unchanged.

He maintained the same attitude as when they were young—seemingly friendly but keeping an appropriate distance. Even after traversing battlefields together and facing life and death situations, he didn’t treat her with any more warmth.

He was a commander who never let emotions sway him, a lord who genuinely cared for his subordinates and never treated them as expendable.

Because of this, his promise not to lie was reasonably trustworthy.

‘He might not tell me everything, but at least he won’t lie. That must be what he means.’

Having reached this conclusion internally, Daphne asked Kartun:

“Is the reason Your Highness wants to take me to the grand duchy… because of the monsters?”

“That’s right.”

As Daphne had expected, it wasn’t the whole reason, but part of it.

When Kartun nodded, Daphne presented her condition:

“Fine. Since my second life will become difficult anyway once the monsters fully awaken, I’ll go with you. But please let me get revenge on my enemies from my past life first.”

“How long do I need to wait?”

“Hmm, about two years…”

“Make it within three months. I’ll help you.”

“I must decline that offer. I need to do it with my own hands to truly savor it.”

Kartun burst out laughing at her response.

“Your Highness, I’m quite serious. Please don’t laugh.”

When she furrowed her brow, Kartun composed himself.

“Since the monsters haven’t fully emerged yet, I’ll allow it. While you take your revenge, I’ll spend time stabilizing the Empire’s political situation.”

Which meant…

“You’re not going back to the grand duchy?”

“That’s right.”

Why is it that when bread falls, the jam-covered side always hits the floor? Always.

Daphne let out a thin sigh.

“Just like you. I can’t let the wolves prosper in the Empire and torment the grand duchy as they did in our previous life.”

Daphne nodded as if in agreement. She proposed to Kartun:

“Then, how about we do this?”

The word “we” felt slightly awkward, but this was no time to be picky.

“Let’s not interfere with each other until all the wolves are caught. What do you think?”

Daphne extended her hand to him as a sign of alliance and added one more thing:

“Oh, and please leave Gabriel alone.”

But Kartun didn’t readily take her small, delicate hand.

“Your Highness, Gabriel may be a merchant, but he can be trusted.”

“To still say such naive things in your second life. I’m disappointed. Trust and merchants cannot coexist.”

When Kartun spoke firmly, Daphne tensed her brow again.

“What happened to Your Highness in your previous life then?”

Kartun narrowed his eyes as if asking what she meant. But his gaze lingered on Daphne’s furrowed brow.

Her habit of frowning whenever she was upset remained unchanged. In the past, this would eventually make him gently smooth it out with his hand.

‘But not in this life.’

Contrary to his resolution, he couldn’t take his eyes off her furrowed brow. As if teasing him, Daphne wrinkled her brow even more and said:

“You may know this, but I died as soon as I returned to the Empire.”

When she mentioned death, his expression darkened.