It was a few days after Iella’s coming-of-age celebration. Worried about her when she didn’t show up at their meeting place the day after her birthday, he had sent a letter but received no reply. He eventually couldn’t wait any longer and visited the mansion directly.

The one who greeted him then was Viscount Shua. The viscount recited quietly with his usual expression and tone.

[“So Asga was right about how to address Your Grace.”]

Those words couldn’t have sounded more chilling.

Even though it was within the range of expectations since he had been mindful of the possibility of encountering the viscount from the moment he headed to the viscount’s mansion, his body was instantly enveloped in tension.

That was because he knew well the viscount’s deep affection for his daughter. To what extent? Well, on a day when he met with the viscount as usual after the territory festival, he had casually asked about Iella but received none of the answers he wanted.

Thinking about it, the viscount had always taken a very defensive stance regarding Iella even before that. As if trying to prevent any information about her from leaking out.

But Aster overcame that tension. It was something he would have to face eventually anyway. It was a necessary procedure if he wanted to keep her by his side.

So he mentioned his appointment with Iella and expressed his intention to see her. If she was sick, he asked if he could at least speak to her from outside her room for a moment. He also earnestly requested to be allowed to deliver the bouquet he had personally prepared for his first visit to her mansion.

But the answer he received was a clear rejection. The viscount maintained a consistent attitude and didn’t even accept the bouquet.

Having temporarily retreated in the face of such a resolute attitude, Aster pondered other options. During this time, he happened to overhear a conversation between two servants carrying laundry. That Iella had disappeared.

The bouquet in his hand fell limply, and his hurried footsteps trampled it mercilessly. Despite having personally picked each flower from his family’s garden, he ran without paying any attention to the bouquet.

The viscount, still standing in front of the mansion, seemed slightly surprised to see him like that, but Aster urgently grabbed the viscount and questioned him. About Iella’s whereabouts.

That’s when the viscount, who had been silent, finally uttered those words. That it was not a matter for him to intervene in.

“……”

Aster put down the quill pen. He stared intently at the trace of ink that had pooled like a puddle, then crumpled the letter paper and pushed it to one side of the desk.

“He probably wouldn’t answer even if I asked.”

Haah. With a deep sigh, he propped his forehead with his hand, bending the elbow that was resting on the desk. Then suddenly, he wondered if the viscount knew about this situation.

Although he had drawn a line saying it was a family matter, there would be limits to the manpower available to the Shua viscounty.

“……It would be faster to just ask directly.”

After much deliberation, he decided not to send any message to the viscount. He couldn’t possibly convey uncertain information that even he couldn’t guarantee yet.

Having chosen a direct confrontation, he rose, picking up the coat he had set aside. This way was more accurate and faster. If Ailexia’s body wasn’t inhabited by Iella, he would just be treated as a madman and that would be the end of it.

However, the moment he opened the door, he came face to face with the head butler standing there. As if he had been about to knock, his hand was awkwardly raised.

“Ah, Your Grace.”

The experienced head butler naturally lowered his hand and stepped back. In response to Aster’s gaze that seemed to ask what was going on, the head butler immediately got to the point.

“There’s a visitor who says he was sent by Viscount Shua. What should I do? I’ve shown him to the reception room for now…, Your Grace?”

Aster quickly headed to the reception room before the butler could finish speaking.

* * *

Left alone in the reception room after the maid who had prepared tea left, Nix immediately relaxed his body and slumped limply on the sofa. A sound of relief, “Huaaah,” naturally escaped his lips.

‘The emperor’s claws shouldn’t reach as far as the Duke Calver’s townhouse.’

He ruffled his hair thoroughly as he recalled the events of a few days ago.

When he was surrounded by the emperor’s shadows and interrogated, it felt like it would be the end. That the truth he had hidden and concealed for 13 years would finally be exposed.

But at the same time, he felt a stubborn determination that he couldn’t let that happen now. How many times had he deceived the tyrant who had killed his own blood, standing right before him all these years?

‘Sorry to the emperor, but what can I do when my master is the viscount, not him.’

In any case, with that determination, he barely escaped from there. But the emperor’s persistence was beyond imagination.

Of course, he had noticed it when the emperor had been pursuing a person for 13 years with just a few inaccurate clues, but he hadn’t expected it to apply to him as well.

So for several days now, he had been struggling to avoid the eyes of the emperor’s shadows.

‘Well, it’s not really a struggle since I’ve been in similar situations while running Aether… The real problem lies elsewhere.’

Naturally, hiding from someone’s eyes meant he was more restricted in his actions than before. In this situation, there were limits to how much he could help Iella.

Giving instructions to his subordinates wasn’t a problem, but he couldn’t visit the secondary palace directly to deliver news. This applied not only to him but also to his subordinates. Sending Aether people near the imperial palace was dangerous in itself. Even the messenger birds were risky for the time being.

Wondering what to do, he first contacted Viscount Shua, thinking there might be another solution.

‘And as a result, I ended up here.’

Just then, he heard footsteps rapidly approaching outside the reception room. Nix straightened his previously slumped body.

‘The Duke Calver should be a quick-witted person.’

His eyes, still full of suspicion, stared intently at the door.

* * *

Iella sat on the sofa, staring at the busy maid. After placing a freshly brewed cup of tea along with some light refreshments in front of her, the maid finished cleaning up neatly and bowed politely.

“Please call if you need anything.”

Iella watched as the maid left, and as soon as the door closed, she buried her face in her hands with a deep sigh.

“……Where has everyone gone?”

On the day she had gone out with Chase and even met Aster, she had immediately looked for Vanessa upon returning to the secondary palace. She planned to use Vanessa’s whistle to call a messenger bird to send information to Nix, since she had given her own to Ailexia.

Fortunately, unlike before she left, Vanessa had recovered and took the note to deliver to Nix after hearing Iella’s story. She said Nix would send a bird tonight, so she could deliver it then.

Considering how she had left in a hurry due to Chase’s appearance, it sounded plausible enough that Iella told her to do so without much suspicion.

But since that day, she felt that something was subtly changing.

First, the time she spent with Vanessa and the frequency of seeing her face decreased compared to usual. When she casually asked the maid who had come in to help with cleaning and grooming instead of Vanessa, she was told that with the swordsmanship tournament approaching, there was a lot of work at the imperial palace, so all staff above the rank of lady-in-waiting were busy.

Since the secondary palace staff were also part of the imperial palace workforce, this wasn’t entirely impossible. She just didn’t understand why the secondary palace wasn’t an exception.

But since she didn’t know the imperial palace protocols well enough to question further, she just said she understood and let it go.

Still, since they always met briefly before sleep as if it were their private promise, she had no other complaints.

The problem arose when similar changes began happening with Nix. Like Vanessa, his frequency of contact decreased. In fact, there was no contact at all.

When she asked Vanessa about this, she also said she knew nothing. That no contact had come that night either. She had even sent a separate note the next day containing information related to Ailexia, but still, there was no response.

‘Something strange is happening.’

Because of this, Iella was becoming increasingly anxious.

She had thought there was only a little left before she could return, but somehow the situation wasn’t flowing as she had expected.

‘The one good thing is that there’s no contact from the Grand Duke either.’

She had expected him to contact her first after parting with such a regretful face that day, but like the others, the Grand Duke made no contact at all. He didn’t come to visit either.

While it was fortunate that she didn’t have to deal with any awkwardness, it felt uncomfortable in one corner of her mind, like a splinter, because it was different from what she had expected.

‘No, no. This is a good thing.’

Iella consciously denied that feeling. She told herself she was just anxious that he might suddenly appear again and cause trouble, not that she felt uncomfortable.

‘I just need Ailexia to return with her belongings.’

Then everything would finally return to normal, and she could go back to her peaceful life.

Iella suppressed her anxiety about the changing situation by focusing solely on that thought.

However, just as her mind was about to calm down, a voice from outside the door created ripples in her tranquility.

“Lady Ailexia, the chief chamberlain from the main palace has come to see you.”

It was a sound that had been troubling her for the past few days.