“The two of them will receive more training, and they will be given back their escort qualifications when they truly have the skills to protect you, Miss.”

The official reason for their dismissal was that they failed to protect Reibella during Marquis Pueblo’s attack. Because of that incident, they had spent a week in self-reflection, and now they were reportedly handling an enormous amount of training.

“Miss, I will train harder and definitely regain my position as your escort.”

“I will work hard. Even harder than now.”

“……Even harder than now?”

Even now, they were running for three hours and swinging swords for five hours each day. Besides this, they had continuous training without rest, including physical conditioning, basic skills practice, and more. As a result, Cleo, who occasionally disobeyed orders to visit her, looked almost like a beggar.

And they were saying they would do even more……?

‘I hope they don’t die.’

When Reibella looked at them with sympathetic eyes, they must have thought it was encouragement, as the two excitedly rushed off, saying they would train.

Reibella sighed softly and made a request to Aiden.

“Please assign them only what they can handle.”

“Those guys will manage on their own. They’re not that foolish. They simply felt great pride in being chosen by you, Miss, so they want to be selected again.”

“That’s a relief then.”

Reibella answered with a worried face and then looked at Aiden. Seeing his neat appearance, a smile spread across her face again.

“I’m glad that Sir Aiden has become my knight.”

“I’m glad too, Miss.”

Though she felt sorry for Cleo and Tony, Reibella had been very fond of Aiden, who had handed her soup with a smile.

It had been such a warm gesture that she almost cried, and if not for her thoughts of escape, Reibella would have chosen Aiden from the beginning.

As if he knew her feelings, Aiden returned an affectionate smile.

“From now on, I will protect you, Miss. Wherever you go, whatever you do, I will be by your side. Do you understand?”

“Even in the castle?”

“Yes, even in the castle. Vicheravali has more enemies than Felicity.”

As he said, Vicheravali was truly a family with many enemies.

For many years, they had pressured other families, sometimes trampling them to rise to the top, and even now they continued to manage the underworld, tightly controlling the nobles’ funds through various channels.

There were more nobles caught in Vicheravali’s grasp than those outside it.

However, the current Duke of Vicheravali had been involved in battles for a long time, and his heir was still young, so they had not wielded their original power for nearly 10 years, but that did not mean their reputation had diminished.

They still had many enemies, and the Emperor’s threats continued.

‘Now I must survive alongside the Vicheravali ducal family.’

Until now, she had struggled to survive alone, but now she had to help Royan and the Duke of Vicheravali survive as well.

Not just the two of them, but also Aiden standing before her, Charlotte, and all the members of Vicheravali Castle—she wanted them all to survive together.

Because they were truly kind people who maintained their sanity in this crazy world.

She needed to make detailed plans from now on to save all these people whom she could no longer ignore.

‘But I can’t do it alone.’

If the original story were progressing, she would act accordingly, but unfortunately, this was a period not recorded in the novel, and it was unclear whether things were flowing exactly like the novel.

So Reibella sought out the Duke of Vicheravali.

Because currently, it was the head of the family, the Duke of Vicheravali, who determined the family’s position toward the imperial family. To organize her thoughts, Reibella needed to hear his intentions first.

So she first revealed one of her secrets to him.

“I received an offer from the Emperor to become a spy.”

As evidence, she handed the Duke of Vicheravali a small glass vial. It was the antidote given by the Emperor. Along with it, she extended a letter she had written herself with her small hand.

“And I was planning to do it.”

There was nothing special written in the handwritten letter. It contained just a few stories about her daily life. But she knew that if those small everyday stories were conveyed to the imperial family, they could be misused.

With the thought that anything would be fine as long as she could deceive the Emperor’s eyes, she had planned to hand it over.

“What happened?”

The Duke of Vicheravali, who had been listening quietly, asked.

Reibella sighed softly and said.

“Well, you see……”

Reibella tried her best to explain the situation objectively, clearly, and without omitting anything.

The gist of it was this:

One day, she suddenly received orders to be adopted into the Vicheravali ducal family, and with her life as collateral, she was poisoned with a toxin that would eventually kill her if she didn’t continue taking the alleviative.

When the explanation ended, he quickly asked.

“There’s no way to detoxify it?”

Reibella nodded her small, round head vigorously back and forth.

“Yes. That’s what I was told. What’s in front of you now, to be precise, is not an antidote but an alleviative.”

“That damn……”

The Duke, who was about to curse without realizing it, swallowed his words when his eyes met Reibella’s. Instead, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist tightly.

Seeing this, Reibella somehow found it amusing. It seemed that the “poison” was more important to him than the “spy.”

Reibella giggled and said.

“I’m fine. I’m completely cured.”

“Cured? No. The priest may have alleviated the symptoms, but if there’s still poison in your body, it’s a problem. Fortunately, we have the alleviative, so if we combine it……”

“No, I’m really completely cured. I’ve been detoxified.”

“……Detoxified?”

When the Duke of Vicheravali asked with a surprised expression, Reibella nodded brightly. Nevertheless, the Duke remained anxious.

“This won’t do. I need to call a doctor. Henan!”

At his call, his aide Henan answered as if he had been waiting beyond the door. As he was about to enter, Reibella hurriedly waved her hands.

“Wait a moment! Henan, it’s nothing serious.”

“Reibella.”

“Please listen to me first.”

At Reibella’s words, the Duke of Vicheravali ordered Henan to wait. Then he quietly stared at Reibella.

“I have a universal antidote that can detoxify all poisons in this world. That’s why I’m cured.”

“But……if such a thing exists, why didn’t you take it from the beginning?”

The Duke of Vicheravali pointed out precisely. Shrugging her shoulders at that question, Reibella answered.

“I didn’t want the Emperor to find out. If I showed no reaction after being given a poison that supposedly no one could detoxify, he would surely find it strange. So I endured by taking the alleviative.”

If someone knew that she was free from the poison that had no antidote and informed the Emperor, Reibella would have been taken back to the imperial palace. They would want to know how she had been detoxified.

For Reibella, who couldn’t trust anything, not taking the raffle was the best option.

“So, I was thinking of continuing to act as a spy.”

“You don’t need to do that.”

The Duke of Vicheravali cut her off firmly.

“I tried to get you out of danger, not to make you do such things. Don’t think about stepping forward.”

“But I want to. I want to hide the existence of the antidote.”

If she said she would quit being a spy, the Emperor would let her. He didn’t seem to expect that Felicity’s blood would be of much help to him anyway. He would simply consider it as one of the many baits thrown at Vicheravali that had disappeared.

But what if she quit being a spy and still lived without receiving the alleviative?

The Emperor would realize that there was a flaw in the poison. Then he would develop a new poison, and perhaps that poison would surpass the performance of the “detoxifying herb.”

So she wanted to eliminate that possibility.

“Besides, if I act as a spy, I might have opportunities to communicate with other spies.”

Since the poison was no longer a threat to her, maintaining her current position was an opportunity to identify the spies who had infiltrated Vicheravali.

When Reibella spoke innocently, the Duke of Vicheravali laughed dryly and said with a sigh.

“You’re just like your father, committing dangerous acts without a second thought.”