As the silence continued for a long time and her bowed head began to ache, Cynthia thankfully broke the silence.

“I am Rozenne Dyer from Sohara. It is an honor to meet the King of Wolfhard.”

Rozenne exhaled weakly through her slightly parted lips.

Any displeasure about Cynthia using her voice had completely vanished.

If anything, she was relieved that Cynthia imitated her so well.

Rozenne parted her lips, thinking it was now her turn.

“Lady Rozenne has come as Sohara’s diplomatic ambassador to establish friendly relations with Wolfhard. Since Lady Rozenne has come in place of the King of Sohara, please regard her as King Harrieus here.”

Rozenne was curious how the King of Wolfhard would respond.

But from her quick glance, his face showed no particular interest. For someone who had risked war with an entire country, his reaction seemed rather dull.

Wondering why he had turned Sohara upside down if this was his attitude, Rozenne slightly raised her head.

The man sprawled languidly on the throne seemed to have discarded all etiquette and appearances.

He wasn’t even properly dressed, wearing only a white tunic.

Even that was almost completely unfastened at the front, revealing the man’s chest clearly.

Flustered, Rozenne hastily raised her gaze.

Then she saw the man’s face.

The man’s face had a complexion that looked clearly sickly, like someone who hadn’t slept for days.

The area under his eyes was deeply sunken, casting shadows on his already heavily shadowed face, and his weak, decadent atmosphere paradoxically gave off a dangerously sinister feeling.

Moreover, his size.

His massive, towering physique, like three adult men combined, gave an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Dark lord. She thought that if there were a dark ruler who stained the world with evil, he would look exactly like this man.

“Come here.”

Just then, the man beckoned to Cynthia with his finger.

He seemed to want her to come right up to him, past the dais.

Cynthia looked at the knight commander with a confused expression, and when the knight commander nodded as if telling her to go up, she carefully took a step forward.

One step, two steps.

Rozenne followed Cynthia’s slow forward movement with her eyes.

After time passed like one second felt like a year, Cynthia finally stopped in front of the king amid suffocating tension.

The king silently extended his hand and grabbed Cynthia’s wrist.

Cynthia flinched at the sudden touch but remained still without any particular resistance.

And then silence fell again.

The man’s gaze deepened as he quietly held Cynthia’s wrist. Then he frowned as if something seemed strange.

‘Why is he acting like that?’

Rozenne watched the man’s actions while suppressing her anxiety.

At that moment, the man who had been expressionlessly looking at Cynthia’s wrist suddenly shifted his gaze toward Rozenne. Their eyes met, and the moment Rozenne directly stared into the man’s pupils…..

‘Gasp.’

Rozenne was shocked.

Simultaneously, the man opened his mouth while keeping his gaze fixed on the frozen Rozenne.

“Byron.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Are you certain you brought the right woman?”

“What? Of course, my lord.”

Even as the man and the commander exchanged a few words, Rozenne couldn’t recover from her shock. Because……

“Then why…… do I feel nothing from this woman?”

She couldn’t read any of his inner thoughts.

A person whose inner thoughts couldn’t be read. This had never happened before.

Rozenne looked at the man with confused eyes.

The man’s face showed confusion no less than Rozenne’s.

“Strange. It feels as if someone deliberately scattered your energy.”

Her heart sank at those words.

What did he mean by scattered energy? Could he detect people’s energy? Then perhaps……

‘Could he discover that Cynthia and I have switched bodies?’

A man who couldn’t feel what he wanted from Cynthia.

If she could read his thoughts, she would know whether he had discovered their body switch.

His pitch-black eyes seemed empty and revealed nothing.

“You there.”

The man released Cynthia’s wrist and pointed at Rozenne.

“You said you were a servant?”

Rozenne startled at the sudden attention.

She felt unable to speak as if her throat was blocked, but the man continued as if he hadn’t expected an answer from her.

“Come here.”

The man beckoned to Rozenne with his finger, just as he had done with Cynthia moments ago.

Though reluctant, Rozenne had no strength to defy his words, so she gently stepped forward.

Click. Rozenne’s footsteps echoed through the empty hall.

Step by step, listening to her own footsteps, Rozenne slowly climbed the stairs and finally stood at the edge of the dais.

When she stopped there without moving further, the man gestured for her to come closer.

Rozenne hesitantly approached the man, having no choice.

Then the man snatched her hand as if capturing prey.

“Ah!”

The man’s hand felt so hot that it didn’t seem human.

By the time she thought she should pull away, she had already been drawn right up to the man.

Just as she tried to withdraw her hand, thinking it might melt, the man’s hand that was firmly gripping hers slowly moved up along her palm.

Whether intentional or not, Rozenne closed her eyes tightly, feeling repulsed by the sticky sensation that seemed to tease across her skin.

The hand that crawled up her skin like a snake firmly pressed exactly on the inside of her wrist, where her pulse throbbed.

Rozenne unconsciously took a sharp breath.

She didn’t know if it was because she felt he might discover her identity, or because the man was staring at her with beast-like eyes as if to devour her.

She only knew that her pulse quickened, pounding in her head.

What could he discover from this act?

Since she couldn’t read his thoughts with her ability, perhaps he possessed an even more remarkable ability than hers. That ability might be able to discern someone’s true identity.

Cold sweat ran down her back at that thought.

Rozenne just swallowed dryly and waited for this moment to pass.

Time flowed amid her trembling, and eventually, the man released her hand.

Rozenne exhaled silently and deflated her swollen chest.

As she waited with tension for what the man would say, he buried his face in his hands as if tired and spoke with a sigh.

“Jaken.”

Then someone who had been hiding in the shadows in a corner came forward.

“Yes, my lord.”

“Take our guests to the prepared rooms.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The man called Jaken bowed deeply and then gestured to Rozenne and Cynthia to follow him.

“This way, please.”

Is this the end? Rozenne hid her bewildered expression and followed Jaken along with Cynthia.

But then a low voice stopped their footsteps.

“Wait.”

All three turned around at the man’s call.

The man pointed at Rozenne and said:

“Put her in the end room of the east wing.”

“Pardon……?”

Jaken asked with a trembling voice.

Noticing the confusion in his voice, Rozenne quickly turned to look at Jaken.

“The end room of the east wing…… you say?”

“Yes.”

“……I understand.”

Jaken, who had paused meaningfully before answering, bowed respectfully again and then turned to withdraw.

The three closed the audience chamber door firmly and came out into the corridor.

While following behind Jaken, Rozenne hastily spoke up.

“You don’t need to give me a separate room. I am Lady Rozenne’s servant, so I could share a room with her……”

At that moment, Jaken turned around with a stern face.

“It’s our lord’s orders.”

His face, illuminated by the faint moonlight as he continued with “You cannot defy them,” created an eerie feeling.

Rozenne closed her mouth, feeling dismayed.

There was still so much she didn’t know about Cynthia.

Their plan to coordinate with each other in the room had been disrupted.

While Rozenne was lost in thought, Jaken walked busily again and reached the central lobby of the main building.

There, he took Rozenne to another servant who was waiting.

“Take this person to the end room of the east wing.”

“What?! The end room of the east wing?!”

“Yes.”

At Jaken’s words, the servant looked at Rozenne with wide eyes.

What on earth was the end room of the east wing?

Rozenne tried to look into Jaken’s eyes, but he left Rozenne with the startled servant and moved away toward the west wing with Cynthia.

‘Cynthia……’

Cynthia followed behind Jaken too easily.

At the same time, the servant in charge of Rozenne also headed toward the east wing, telling her to follow.

Rozenne moved her reluctant feet, looking back several times at Cynthia’s receding figure.

The guided room was small and ordinary guest room. There was nothing special about it despite being referred to as a special room.

In the middle of the room, Rozenne’s luggage bag had been placed there at some point.

As soon as Rozenne closed the door, she rushed frantically to her bag.

Quickly opening the bag, Rozenne pulled out an object hidden beneath neatly arranged clothes.

The object emitting a brilliant light was a magic potion given by the court mage before leaving Sohara as a backup for emergency situations.

‘I’ve heard that Wolfhard has areas with strong magical power throughout. Use this if you accidentally enter a barrier and your magical disguise is undone.’

Rozenne held the potion against her chest.

It’s still fine. I haven’t been discovered.

Whether from relief or tension, Rozenne collapsed onto her bag as all strength left her body.

“Harrieus……”

The beloved name that should be beside her when she opened and closed her eyes scattered into the air.

By now, she should have been spending her wedding night with Harrieus.

To think her first night would be in such an unfamiliar place.

She felt afraid, lonely, and already missing Harrieus.

She closed her eyes under the faint moonlight.

‘……I miss you.’

Beyond her closed eyelids, the scenery from the day she first met Harrieus flickered.

Following that scenery, Rozenne’s consciousness was rapidly pulled down beneath the surface of sleep.