“That was something you and I agreed on! You said you didn’t need that crazy woman either! Didn’t you solve everything without lifting a finger thanks to me?”

Smack. Calven’s thick hand struck Helena’s cheek directly.

Unable to withstand the force, Helena tumbled onto the carpet. She placed her hand on her stinging cheek, unable to believe what had happened.

“Cal, you just…”

“Stay quiet from now on. I’ll put Leo in the marquis position by myself.”

“Ha! You will?”

Helena let out a savage laugh. That demon-like b*stard.

The cold atmosphere between them shattered when knights burst through the door.

“You need to come with us. Please cooperate.”

“Wh-where to?”

“Follow us.”

The knights’ demeanor was solemn and chilling.

Helena and Calven forcibly straightened their instinctively tense shoulders and followed their escort to the hall with false confidence.

The hall already held all the castle’s servants, along with Eleonora and Duke Scar.

As Helena anxiously looked around, she spotted someone unbelievable.

‘Marie!’

The maid being dragged out like luggage by Calliope’s hand was definitely Marie.

Helena instantly realized.

This would be Diana’s complete victory.

“Marie, testify.”

At Calliope’s voice, all attention focused on one spot.

Though frightened by the sudden flood of gazes, Marie slowly opened her mouth.

“Lady Helena ordered me to poison my lady.”

That single statement caused tremendous ripples.

Murmuring filled the hall. Some people, shocked, covered their mouths with both hands, while others clutched their chests with deathly pale faces.

“Lies! Cal! Don’t believe the words of such a lowly maid!”

“I know all the secret underground passages in this castle because Lady Helena taught me!”

At Helena’s savage cry, Marie’s eyes changed.

Marie shouted even louder than Helena, banging her forehead against the floor.

“Lies! No! That wench is wagging her wicked tongue! Cal, you have to believe me!”

Helena tried to approach Calliope, but the spears held by the knights blocked her path.

“How dare you! I am Helena Aquitaine!”

Though Helena grabbed the spear and screamed, the knights didn’t budge.

Marie, seemingly gaining confidence, began spilling everything.

“The poison Lady Helena gave me was a rare poison that accumulates in the body and kills slowly without evidence, sold at high prices. As everyone knows, how could a mere maid like me obtain such expensive poison?”

Marie’s words were precise.

Calliope, apparently judging this sufficient, released his grip on Marie’s neck.

“That lowly maid’s words can’t be evidence! If you want to punish this Helena Aquitaine, bring other evidence!”

Helena now flailed her arms wildly, shrieking.

And at that moment, knight Wyatt came running with his arm raised high.

In Wyatt’s hand was—

“We found poison in Lady Helena’s room!”

A bottle half-filled with poison.

Helena felt her blood run cold as she collapsed to the floor.

“That’s impossible, this is…”

Calliope.

That upright, honest Calliope who hadn’t even touched her despite knowing she’d killed his mother.

He’d fabricated evidence.

Claiming poison found elsewhere had been discovered in her bedroom.

He’d gathered everyone in the hall to manipulate evidence.

“Cal, did I do something to offend you? Is that it? Or did I anger you somehow? Hmm?”

Helena burst into pitiful tears.

No, no.

My Calliope.

My beast.

My beautiful creation.

What hadn’t she done to obtain him?

He was being ruined by some aristocratic woman.

That devastated Helena.

She hadn’t wanted him to use such dirty tricks. She’d hoped for something more perfect.

“Cal, you’ll definitely regret driving me out like this.”

Calven, who’d been watching from behind, issued a cold warning.

At those words, Calliope’s expressionless face slowly contorted.

His savage appearance radiating menacing energy made no one dare breathe.

“You have the leisure to issue warnings before me when I nearly lost my wife.”

“……”

“Do you think you’ll be safe after touching someone even I can’t handle carelessly?”

His golden eyes gleamed.

Even Calven stumbled backward at this unfamiliar version of Calliope.

“For the crime of attempting to poison Diana Aquitaine, mistress of Aquitaine.”

Calliope slowly walked forward.

The sound of his footsteps echoing through the hall sounded heavier than any other sound.

Calliope stopped before Helena and slowly drew his sword.

Helena instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, and Calven rushed forward to stop him.

As the sword moved, clang—the seal symbolizing House Aquitaine fell to the marble floor with a sound.

Helena looked up at Calliope with wide, disbelieving eyes.

“I strip Calven Aquitaine and Helena Aquitaine of their titles and exile them from Aquitaine.”

“Cal, Calliope, wait…”

“If these criminals enter Aquitaine territory, anyone is permitted to execute them on sight.”

“Cal, let’s talk! Cal!”

“Take them away.”

The knights roughly seized Helena and Calven and dragged them out.

“Ahhhhh! Let go!”

With a final ear-splitting scream, the two disappeared from view.

Jerome turned to look at Calliope, his lips twitching with satisfaction.

Calliope was sheathing his drawn sword with a rigidly hardened face.

He didn’t look happy at all.

“My lord?”

“I’m going back to Diana. Handle the rest yourself.”

“What? My lord! Please, you need to sleep for at least one day…!”

Jerome urgently tried to stop him, but Calliope was already striding toward Diana’s bedroom.

A figure approached the dumbfounded Jerome.

“You’re Jerome, correct?”

The newcomer was Eleonora.

“Ah, Lady Eleonora.”

“Now that the incident is resolved, we’ll be returning. However, please make sure to give this letter to Dian.”

Eleonora handed Jerome a thick letter.

Jerome hastily received and secured the letter, bowing his head.

“Understood.”

“When Dian wakes, please send me word as well.”

“Yes.”

Eleonora gazed toward Diana’s bedroom with slightly melancholy eyes.

She’d planned to stay at Aquitaine for several days and have various conversations with Dian.

Still, after Diana collapsed, she understood clearly.

Why Diana had tried to bring down that Helena woman.

“May both your dreams and mine be fulfilled.”

Eleonora whispered a small prayer and left the hall.

Unfortunately, with the palace issuing a summons, she couldn’t delay at Aquitaine any longer.

* * *

After Helena and Calven’s exile, the castle underwent a massive purge.

All of Helena’s conspirators, including Marie, were expelled, and Alicia Norman also had her lady-in-waiting position stripped and returned home.

Aquitaine, briefly vibrant, returned to its former state.

“My lord. Orders have come from the imperial palace. You should review them.”

Jerome, his playfulness completely vanished, bowed with a heavy expression.

Calliope quietly gripped Diana’s gaunt wrist.

“Another order to march out?”

“Yes. They say giant monsters have appeared in the north.”

“Ha.”

A sigh escaped through his teeth.

Jerome instinctively hunched his shoulders in the suffocating air.

The lord had changed.

In a very bad way.

The more sick and starved a creature becomes, the more violent and savage it grows.

That was Calliope now.

As he swept back his silver hair with one hand, he hardly looked like a benevolent ruler.

“Refuse it.”

“…What? Refuse an imperial command?”

“Tell them my wife is poisoned and unable to rise, so marching out is difficult.”

“My lord, this is an order from the imperial palace! No one knows what price you’ll pay for refusing.”

“Refuse it.”

“Lord Calliope…”

“Instead, send word to House Scar requesting their support for the campaign. I cannot send Aquitaine’s knights.”

His resolute voice brimmed with hostility.

Jerome, abandoning persuasion, pulled something from his pocket and gently placed it at the foot of the bed.

“My lord. And I’ve had the item you requested perfectly repaired.”

It was a bracelet.

The Barbara bracelet that had broken and fallen when Diana drank the poison.

Calliope quietly looked at the object before picking it up and fastening it around Diana’s wrist.

“They say the people of Barbara use mysterious arts.”

“What? Is that actually a bracelet from Barbara?”

“Yes. She never took this crude, unsophisticated thing off her body for even a moment.”

“……”

“Leave. I’ll follow shortly.”

Calliope roughly straightened his disheveled clothes and fastened loose buttons.

When answering the one who brought the Emperor’s command, the castle’s master absolutely had to appear.

If he refused even that, the Emperor would surely turn Aquitaine into a wasteland with eyes redder than blood flashing.

“I’ll go ahead.”

Jerome hesitated briefly, bowed, and left the room.

Shortly after, Calliope also lightly kissed Diana’s forehead before leaving to answer the messenger.

In the room with no one left, a small rustling sound could be heard, but no one heard it.

“……”

Nor did anyone see her green eyes, which had refused to open, finally revealed.

* * *

Her hazy eyes soon took on a clear light.

It felt like she’d had a long dream. Seeing no sound, Diana was alone in this room.

Alone.

Diana let out a hollow breath.

She moved her lips against the burning thirst. But what came out was an unpleasant metallic sound.

Her throat, damaged by poison, felt scratchy, and her body still felt heavy.

But she couldn’t keep lying down. She didn’t even know if Calliope had granted her request.

The excessive quiet for such a major incident sparked Diana’s anxiety.

‘Did they fail to secure evidence? That can’t be.’

As Diana struggled to move her body somehow, she fell straight to the floor.

Fortunately, the carpet cushioned the impact.

Having heard the ‘thud,’ the door burst open and people entered.

“…Ugh.”

Diana let out another short metallic sound and broke into severe coughing. Her gaunt body heaved rapidly.

“Diana!”

The first person to rush in was Calliope.

Diana examined Calliope’s complexion with confused eyes.

Beneath his disheveled silver hair, golden eyes flowing with a desolate light were revealed.

Perhaps because he’d lost some weight, his impression seemed sensitive and fierce, yet his eyes were filled with pitiful sadness.

Like someone who’d suffered emotional distress.

Like someone who’d experienced something truly heartbreaking.

“Bring the physician! Water or tea my wife can drink as well.”

“Yes, sir!”

The servants quickly scattered and ran off.