Karl looked at Schultz Tartien without removing his smile.

“What’s impudent? Suddenly asking a guest to bare his upper body? Or the guest who refused?”

“If you don’t want to be suspected, you just need to confirm it. Refusing to do so turns suspicion into certainty, doesn’t it?”

“I don’t want to comply with such rudeness to deny charges that don’t exist. Today’s meal was enjoyable. It seems unreasonable to continue, so I’ll take my leave now.”

“Lord Karl Winger, we could forcibly detain you.”

“If you attempt such a thing, you would lose a lot, wouldn’t you?”

“Or I might gain a lot.”

The tense confrontation continued.

Only one person felt like the world was collapsing in this sharp atmosphere.

‘This, this wasn’t in my plan……’

Maria looked at Landers and Schultz with resentful eyes.

Today’s gathering was supposed to be for her and Karl.

Those two were merely invited as supporting roles for Maria’s luncheon.

And now they were ruining it like this!

‘I can’t let him just leave like this. Landers is going too far. He’s convinced Karl Winger attacked him? Isn’t he being too self-important?’

At this rate, she would end up marrying the pus-covered king without even holding Karl Winger’s hand once.

If she actually became queen, that man would find her even more difficult to approach, making it even harder to meet him.

Maria, seemingly having made a decision, slammed the table and stood up abruptly.

“I’ll—! I’ll check! Karl Winger couldn’t possibly have done it! Father and Landers must have misunderstood something, please don’t do this. Lord Winger is my guest!”

“……Maria.”

Schultz sighed at Maria’s tactless interruption.

Landers also looked at Maria with a somewhat disgusted expression.

Only Karl was looking at Maria with eyes containing a bit of warmth.

Maria, drawing strength from Karl’s gaze, moved close to him and said,

“Please allow me to check your body. I’ll clear up Father and Landers’ misunderstanding!”

Is my sister in her right mind?

Landers sighed, tired of Maria’s absurd words.

But it was too early to be surprised.

“Very well. If Miss Maria will check, I won’t refuse.”

Because Karl Winger agreed to those ridiculous words.

“……!”

Maria, ignoring the shocked expressions of Schultz and Landers, almost ran to Karl and grabbed his hand.

“Let’s go to my room!”

See, I knew it! This man has feelings for me too!

Maria, not hiding her joy, looked back at the dumbfounded Landers and Schultz.

“It’s enough if I check, right? Right? After that, you shouldn’t say anything more! Both of you wait here. Oh, no! It might take some time, so you don’t need to wait. When the verification is done, I’ll send someone separately.”

“Ma-Maria!”

“Lord Winger, are you serious? Letting Maria check……”

“If your family allows it.”

“Of course they allow it! Right? Don’t worry, I’ll check thoroughly.”

Maria quickly pulled Karl’s hand, afraid he might change his mind.

Schultz and Landers watched the two with distorted faces, but they didn’t seem particularly inclined to stop them.

“Maria!”

Belatedly, Landers called out to Maria.

Maria turned to look at Landers with an anxious face.

“Can you check thoroughly?”

“Of course, I can. On the honor of Tartien!”

Maria smiled brightly at Landers and Schultz, who were earnestly entreating her.

She was secretly rejoicing at having succeeded in bringing Karl Winger to her room.

* * *

There were two reasons why Karl obediently followed Maria.

First, Gustav and Mark’s work wasn’t finished yet.

He needed to buy more time just in case.

Second, he wanted to use Maria Tartien to eliminate their suspicions.

Those two men weren’t friendly toward Karl, and he couldn’t know what they might do to him now that he had entered their territory.

So Karl had applied special makeup to the wound on his side to prepare for any potential danger.

For someone who had lived with pig skin attached to his face, the fake skin on his side wasn’t even uncomfortable.

He followed Maria up to the second floor where her room was located.

He didn’t bother asking why she had brought him to her room.

He didn’t want to know, and even if he knew, he wanted to pretend he didn’t.

“Be-before checking, would you like to have some tea? Or, ah! I received some good wine recently, would you like a glass? After all, nothing’s better than wine for relaxing.”

Before Karl could refuse, Maria quickly took out the wine she had prepared.

Her hands trembled as she poured wine into two glasses.

‘It’s, it’s okay. I can do this.’

She awkwardly turned around and put the drug she had prepared into one of the wine glasses.

The transparent liquid mixed into the wine with a quiet splash.

Maria took a deep breath, composed her expression, and turned back around.

“Here you go. This is wine that recently arrived from the Rubisson region, and it has a nice aroma. I thought it would be a waste to drink it alone, so I’m glad to share it with you, Lord Winger. Oh, by the way, do you like wine?”

She talked more when nervous.

Karl silently accepted the wine she offered and swirled it gently.

The rich acidic smell of wine stimulated his sense of smell.

He continued swirling the glass momentarily, then suddenly pointed to a picture hanging behind her and asked,

“Is that little girl in the photo you, Maria?”

“What? The photo?”

She quickly turned around following Karl’s finger, and smiled brightly at her childhood photos decorating one side of the wall.

“Yes, that’s me! I loved having my photo taken when I was young, and I begged to have a photographer come once a month.”

She chattered away without being asked, emphasizing how lovely a girl she had been.

Karl listened to her for a while, then clinked his glass against hers and said,

“Let’s talk later and check first, shall we?”

“……Ah, yes!”

Maria nervously took a sip of wine following Karl.

Just when she thought the tangy taste was excellent today, her vision blurred and she collapsed to the floor.

Karl, who had been watching this scene, muttered in disbelief.

“How strong was that drug for her to faint after just one sip……”

Maria Tartien probably thought she had hidden the act of drugging the wine with her body, but it was all reflected in the window glass.

Karl had quickly switched the glasses while diverting his gaze to her childhood photos.

And that led to the current situation.

“……Should I be thankful for this?”

Karl pondered what to do with Maria collapsed on the floor, then stood up.

‘Since I’ve gained some time, I should look into that card game they mentioned.’

From his observations while coming here, there were no servants in the second-floor corridor, probably because of the card game gathering.

It was fortunate that Maria Tartien’s room was on the second floor.

He swiftly searched the corridor with nimble steps.

Not far away, he heard some bustling sounds.

‘This must be it.’

He peeked inside through the crack in the door.

The scene inside could only be described as spectacular.

Despite being called a gathering for a game of cards, no cards were visible, and the room was filled with hazy smoke.

Yellow flower bouquets decorated the room lavishly.

And inside, about ten nobles were floundering.

Most of them were sprawled out as if intoxicated, drooling or muttering to themselves.

Their expressions were uniformly steeped in ecstasy and rapture, with some vomiting into trash cans while still smoking.

‘The Tartiens must be supplying that tobacco and making addicts into their people.’

Karl decided to move more boldly.

Those people’s eyes were all dilated anyway, and there were no guards.

He infiltrated the room and collected tobacco and flower powder from the floor.

Looking closely, they all had their wrists exposed, with “Tars” tattooed on them.

That seemed to be the real name of this gathering.

He quickly collected evidence and left the room.

Even though Maria Tartien was unconscious, lingering too long in front of an unconscious woman might raise unnecessary suspicion.

Karl returned to the room immediately, unbuttoned his shirt, and half-opened it.

After exposing his side just enough to be visible, he slapped Maria’s cheek hard and shook her.

“Maria! Maria Tartien! Wake up!”

He gripped her shoulders and shook her forcefully, but she didn’t move at all.

She must have put quite a strong drug in the wine.

‘This is troublesome.’

He couldn’t just leave her collapsed like this.

“Maria Tartien!”

“Mmmm. Mmm……”

“Wake up!”

He slapped Maria’s cheek once more loudly as she began to regain consciousness.

She looked at him with hazy eyes and said,

“Wow….. Have we already spent the night together?”