“Brother.”

The Queen sighed as if trying to reason with Maverick.

“Our parents were so worried their only heir might die on the battlefield. Now their heir has finally returned, but says he’ll marry when he feels like it. Imagine how frustrated they must be.”

Maverick merely shrugged his shoulders.

“If you leave me alone, I’ll handle it myself. Please don’t worry too much.”

As long as he married before he died, it would be fine. Or he could adopt an heir if he never felt like marrying.

Maverick thought with an indifferent expression. It wasn’t that he never intended to marry. He simply didn’t feel like doing it right now.

“I heard you have a mountain of portraits piled up at home, brother.”

What good were those piles? None of the women caught his eye. Speaking of eye-catching women, there was one who crossed Maverick’s mind.

The tea fork assassin. Despite sealing off the castle and searching everywhere, he’d failed to catch her.

When Irina came to mind, Maverick’s face darkened. His pride was unbearably wounded by the fact that he had fallen for a beautiful woman’s scheme, however briefly, and let the assassin escape.

‘Even monkeys fall from trees, and so Maverick Pride has made a mistake!’

King Ashin had laughed so hard he’d clutched his stomach.

Recalling that scene, Maverick ground his teeth.

At least he hadn’t mentioned being brought to his knees by a beautiful woman’s scheme. If the king had known about that too, it would have become his favorite joke for life.

The Queen tilted her head, examining Maverick’s suddenly frightening expression.

“Why did your face change like that?”

“…Nothing. More importantly, about marriage, I’ll handle it myself…”

Maverick suddenly stopped speaking when he noticed a woman kneeling before the Queen, examining her stomach.

How long has that woman been there?

He was certain he’d registered that a court physician had arrived. But afterward, he’d completely forgotten her presence.

Maverick felt a strange sense of déjà vu. The tea fork assassin had been blonde, according to his memory. That’s why he’d ordered his subordinates to search for a blonde woman.

But looking at the light brown-haired woman before him, he thought she might have had this hair color. Perhaps he’d been mistaken that night because of the fireworks’ light.

“You, court physician. What’s your name?”

At Maverick’s stern voice, Irina’s shoulders twitched suspiciously.

Got her.

Maverick’s animal-like instinct told him.

⁕⁕⁕

Oh no.

Irina squeezed her eyes shut. The moment she saw Maverick Pride, she had made her presence as faint as possible. She hurried to finish the examination so she could escape.

But that demon-like man seemed to have sensed something unusual. He suddenly asked for her name.

“I’m Irina.”

Irina answered in a voice pitched higher than her usual tone, trying to disguise it.

The Queen quietly observed Maverick and Irina. It was unusual for her brother to be curious about a woman’s name.

Could he be interested in her?

The thought crossed her mind briefly, but she dismissed it. Maverick’s gaze was that of a hunter about to shoot his prey, not a man looking at a woman he fancied.

What’s suddenly gotten into you?

The Queen silently questioned Maverick’s uncharacteristic behavior.

“Turn your face toward me.”

Irina swallowed hard at his command to show her face. There was no escape.

“Show me your face before I tear your throat out.”

The Queen was startled when Maverick growled.

“Sir Maverick, why are you suddenly acting this way?”

The Queen’s eyes asked why he was threatening a court physician who had been quietly doing her job. Maverick kept his eyes fixed on Irina and lifted one corner of his mouth.

“The tea fork assassin.”

The Queen’s eyes widened at the word “assassin.”

But tea fork? That seemed too small and fragile a descriptor to precede the word “assassin.”

“What on earth are you talking about?”

The Queen thought her brother was spouting nonsense. But seeing Irina’s face growing increasingly pale, she wondered if there might be something to it after all.

“Irina?”

When the Queen called her name suspiciously, Irina flinched. Maverick grabbed Irina’s shoulder and forcibly turned her around.

“Haha!”

Maverick burst into laughter after confirming Irina’s face. He felt the thrill of finally catching her.

The moment Irina saw Maverick face-to-face in broad daylight, she thought:

A demon! This man is truly a demon!

“Your Majesty, I need to interrogate this woman, so I’ll take my leave now.”

Before the Queen could stop him, Maverick grabbed Irina by the collar and dragged her away.

“Sir! Sir Maverick!”

Irina desperately called out while struggling not to be dragged.

“This is a misunderstanding. I’m not an assassin! Sir Maverick!”

Maverick snorted, indicating he didn’t believe her. Then he turned to look at her as if something had just occurred to him.

“Sir Maverick, I’m just a court physician who was passing by that path. I am absolutely not an assassin…”

She tried to deny it, but her tongue froze under his intimidating glare.

Maverick’s large hand moved toward Irina’s face. He rubbed his thumb under her left eye. As he remembered, she had a mole there.

“Just as I thought.”

The mole appeared when he wiped away the makeup. Maverick smiled as if he’d known all along.

“This is undeniable proof that you’re the assassin who attacked me that night.”

I didn’t attack you! You attacked me!

Irina opened her mouth wide in desperation.

“I just covered my mole with makeup because I didn’t like it!”

It was a ridiculous lie, but she blurted it out anyway.

“Please believe me, Sir Maverick. I’m just a powerless court physician.”

Irina pleaded desperately, pointing out that she was being dragged along at his whim. Tears welled up in her eyes from the fear that she would die if she were taken away like this.

“I’m just…!”

As Irina was about to cry, Maverick frowned.

“Where did all that spirit go when you tried to kill me with a tea fork?”

“A tea fork? What kind of assassin would use such a thing as a weapon!”

Maverick hesitated momentarily at this valid point. He had been thinking the same thing somewhere in his mind.

If it had been a large fork with a sharpened end, good for stabbing, that would be different. What assassin would use a blunt, small tea fork as a weapon?

“I could kill someone with a fork.”

But he stubbornly insisted, unwilling to admit his mistake. He thought it might actually be possible with a tea fork if one applied force correctly to target vulnerable areas. The throat, perhaps. Or the eyes.

“I couldn’t do that!”

Irina cried out that she didn’t have that kind of strength. That was also true. If she had such strength, she wouldn’t be struggling and being dragged around like this.

“You could have applied poison.”

“If I’d applied poison to it, I would have died eating the cake. Why would I poison it?”

Irina was now almost sobbing. As the two argued in the corridor, people began to gather around them.

“Then why were you holding a tea fork?”

“To eat cake!”

When Irina burst into tears, Maverick’s grip on her collar loosened. Finally, he released her completely, and Irina buried her face in her hands.

The murmurs of people could be heard. They were saying the Royal Guard Commander was stirring up trouble again, wrongfully accusing an innocent person after running around looking for the tea fork assassin.

When Maverick turned around with bulging eyes, the onlookers scattered in alarm.

Maverick opened Irina’s bag to check its contents.

“Will you still deny it after seeing this?”

Irina slightly parted her fingers to see what he was referring to.

“That’s a surgical scalpel. All court physicians carry one.”

“Then what about this? What’s this suspicious liquid in this bottle?”

“That’s anesthetic.”

“Is this your method? Making people immobile with anesthetics before assassinating them?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. If I have a method, it’s using anesthetics before surgery to make patients less uncomfortable during the procedure.”

Maverick examined each of Irina’s medical tools one by one. There couldn’t be anything suspicious. Everything she had was standard equipment for all court physicians.

“Sir Maverick, the idea that I’m a fearsome assassin is a completely absurd misunderstanding.”

Irina pleaded, saying he was wrongfully accusing an innocent person. But Maverick stubbornly continued to suspect her.

“What about this? It smells strange—isn’t it a poisonous herb?”

“That’s just an herb used for swollen throats.”

While she was suffering under Maverick’s scrutiny, King Ashin approached.

“Maverick.”

He had come personally after hearing that the Royal Guard Commander was causing a disturbance by detaining a court physician.

“Your Majesty.”

At the words “Your Majesty,” Irina, who had been crying with her face in her hands, quickly looked up. When her eyes met King Ashin’s, she immediately bowed.

King Ashin gave Irina a gentle smile. Then he glared at Maverick.

“Sir Maverick, explain what this commotion is about.”

“I’ve found the tea fork assassin I told you about earlier.”

That d*mn tea fork assassin again!

King Ashin felt a headache coming on.

“I believe I told you to stop thinking about and chasing after this phantom assassin, yet you continue to do this.”

“Your Majesty, this woman is the real one.”

When Maverick spoke with indignation, King Ashin let out a long sigh. From any perspective, Irina looked like nothing more than an unfortunate woman caught by the ill-tempered Maverick.

But Maverick was so convinced. If the king sent Irina away immediately, Maverick would surely cause a scene.

“I will interrogate this woman myself.”

No objections to that?

King Ashin glanced at Maverick. Though Maverick looked dissatisfied, he remained silent since it was the king’s order.

Thus, for the first time in her life, Irina entered the king’s audience chamber.