“Hmm……”

Nix sighed with a troubled expression. In his view, he could see Grand Duke von Rubalt’s carriage just leaving the secondary palace in the distance. Inside it was Iella.

‘To think it would turn into something like this in that short time.’

Sensing Chase approaching the bedroom, he had first avoided the area and taken Vanessa to her room. It seemed his effort in grabbing her nape and jumping out of the bedroom had been worthwhile, as Vanessa, who had been acting like her soul had left her body, had already regained her senses by then. Though it earned him a slap on the back.

Anyway, after conveying the situation to her, he left the room with a final instruction to go up to the bedroom a little later. Since they had already finished all the discussions they needed to have today, there was no need to return.

However, he halted his departure from the imperial palace and climbed to the high roof of the secondary palace. There was no particular reason—he just felt uneasy about Chase’s delayed visit.

In truth, Nix had known the Grand Duke would come to the palace. He just hadn’t expected it to be today.

They had secretly met behind the Grand Duke’s mansion in the imperial city. After hearing more details about why and how Ailexia had collapsed, the Grand Duke had looked ready to rush to the secondary palace immediately.

But contrary to Nix’s expectations, he arrived quite late.

‘Well, more precisely, I expected him to come the day Miss collapsed.’

The secondary palace was a curious place. It was where the eyes and ears of the imperial family converged. It half belonged to the emperor, master of the imperial palace, and the other half to the Grand Duke, who had voluntarily become Ailexia’s sponsor.

The same applied to the harem. Though not as many as in the secondary palace, there were a number of secret men smuggled in—unknown even to Ailexia, its supposed owner.

So the news of her collapse would have reached the Grand Duke long before Nix reported it.

Still, without knowing the full context, he might have waited, suppressing his anxiety.

Regardless of how much influence the Grand Duke held as her sponsor, the secondary palace ultimately belonged to the emperor—who was both physically closer and held absolute power.

If the emperor blocked information, what reached the Grand Duke would be limited. Especially since the emperor himself was at the center of that incident.

But the Grand Duke did have an alternative. Judging that a third party’s intervention was needed to obtain information in such a situation, he had placed Nix in the harem. He had requested Aether, which was not bound by the constraints of the emperor or the imperial palace.

However, Nix’s direct involvement in the request was due to more complex reasons.

‘After 13 years, one might have given up.’

He clicked his tongue, ruffling his hair.

How could all the imperial family be so persistently tenacious that they simply didn’t know how to give up? Because of this, the viscount’s worries were still considerable.

In that state, when a way to enter the imperial palace somewhat legally appeared, he readily accepted it. Well, it wasn’t unrelated to the fact that he had been quite bored when the request came in.

‘Anyway, why is Miss going out with the Grand Duke?’

Returning to the original point, Iella clearly didn’t seem to like the Grand Duke. More precisely, she seemed to avoid him regardless of like or dislike.

Well, it was understandable if one thought about it. The other side was also terribly persistent. The only problem was that his target was wrong, but Nix had no reason or need to correct that, so he pretended not to notice. In fact, he wasn’t interested.

Anyway, it was evident that for the current Iella, he was one of the people she would most want to avoid.

‘She vehemently refused when I asked how about going out with the Grand Duke.’

Her intense reaction came to his casual remark. For him, it was just a joke like, “Since Ailexia keeps finding suckers and this one has been her longest-standing sucker, let’s try using him too!”

‘……Surely not.’

Even thinking about it again, Nix burst into laughter at the amusing thought, but suddenly a thought crossed his mind. His expression suddenly became serious.

‘She didn’t seriously misunderstand that, did she?’

A somehow uneasy feeling blew into his heart. However, after pondering for a while, Nix shook his head and erased the thought.

Surely she wouldn’t consider so many complex meanings from that one remark.

“Life should be lived simply.”

After organizing his thoughts, Nix rose from his sitting position and came down with a light movement. Then he put on a robe over his maid’s outfit and wore a hat. That’s when it happened.

The smile instantly disappeared from Nix’s face, and his ash-gray eyes took on a cold gleam. Simultaneously, a clang! The sound of blades clashing rang out.

Two different arms crossed, aiming sharp daggers at each other’s necks.

“…Hah.”

Nix was the first to relax his body and lower his dagger. The other person followed suit.

“Really. Can’t you appear normally for once? Does being a shadow mean everything?”

“……”

Despite Nix’s grumbling as he put his dagger back inside, the person who had attacked him said nothing. As if it were a familiar occurrence, Nix didn’t particularly expect an answer.

Instead, he stood askew, looking at the other as if telling them to state their business. Only then did the shadow-like figure hidden in the darkness quietly open their mouth.

“He is waiting for you.”

* * *

Despite the sudden summons, Nix headed toward the one who had called him without particular resistance.

Thinking casually that perhaps they wanted to inquire about the progress of the search while at the imperial palace, he headed to the office in the main palace, avoiding others’ eyes. It wasn’t difficult, as he had been frequenting it steadily for 13 years.

But facing the client who remained silent for a long time after he stood in front of him was quite an ordeal.

“My legs hurt.”

Finally, Nix sneered, feeling like he would escape if this continued.

According to rumors, his head would have flown off immediately for the crime of disrespecting the tyrant before him, but he did it without any concern. He did so easily with the mindset that he could just run away if needed, and also because he knew the emperor still needed him, but the biggest reason was separate.

The emperor had that much lack of interest in him.

In fact, from their first meeting, he had consistently maintained this attitude. But the emperor only showed interest in what he had requested, not caring about anything else. As if it didn’t matter to him at all. Thanks to this, Nix could behave comfortably.

“Someone’s been seen frequently at the secondary palace lately.”

After Nix had sarcastically expressed his dissatisfaction and a long while had passed, Helios’s voice was finally heard.

Nix, who had been playing with the ribbon of his robe, shifted his gaze to him. Blood-red eyes, sharp like those of a beast, were scrutinizing him.

“The Grand Duke?”

“No, you.”

Helios pinpointed Nix who was avoiding answering by pretending not to know. Nix smiled slyly without saying anything. There was no need to respond to a question asked by someone who already knew the answer.

“At first I thought it was because of my uncle.”

“Huh, you know that far?”

“Who do you think put you in the harem in the end? Your purpose was to monitor Ailexia’s every move at my uncle’s request.”

“As expected, Your Majesty’s intelligence network is, wow.”

As Nix exaggerated comically while praising him, something flew past his head. What barely missed his cheek and embedded itself in the wall was a sharp-tipped quill pen.

It was a warning to shut up.

To Nix, who was grumbling that he was a boring person, Helios asked again.

“Why are you coming and going to Ailexia’s bedroom?”

“I’m still a member of the harem, aren’t I? Well, what other reason could there be?”

“For that, you seem to sneak in and out quite a lot.”

Nix, who had been answering casually with a shrug, finally wiped the smile from his lips at Helios’s sharp questioning. However, the smile in his eyes still remained.

“What exactly are you curious about, Your Majesty?”

Helios stared at that face quietly. Now he looked like the leader of Aether that he knew.

“No matter how capricious someone is, they don’t forget or change minor habits or things important to them. But Ailexia has changed those things. She’s still cunning, but somehow clumsy and seems to restrain herself like a normal person.”

“……”

“There’s much more to say about other things too, but the biggest change was her relationship with my uncle. For some reason, she attended a banquet, allowed excessive contact, and now I hear she went out with him. Ah, you might not know this, but I even found notes sent to the duchy while she was out hunting. Do you know what was written on them?”

Helios, who had straightened his posture and was now comfortably leaning against the chair’s backrest, spoke in a tone that suggested he found it ridiculous.

“I’ll be leaving the secondary palace soon.”

“Was it really sent by Ailexia?”

“She used the little tricks inherited from her mother, so undoubtedly.”

Surprisingly, this was something even Nix didn’t know. It had happened when he had hurriedly left the secondary palace after being summoned by Viscount Shua.

“I was curious. Whether she was dreaming of eloping with my uncle. So I went to greet her coming out myself. I felt something strange from then on. At first I thought it might be some petty act, but it didn’t seem like that either.”

“So you fed her a financier spread with peanut cream.”

A deep smile bloomed on Helios’s face. It was an affirmation.

“My uncle came running immediately.”