* * *

The carriage arrived in front of the Arendt mansion and stopped. Before Kaiden could open the door, someone outside opened it.

“What is this?”

Kaiden frowned as he saw his assistant, Henry, standing in front of the carriage.

Henry looked awkwardly at Violet before speaking.

“I have something to report…”

“In the study then.”

Kaiden instructed.

“Well… I think it would be better if Miss Violet heard this as well.”

Henry suggested hesitantly.

“Violet?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

Kaiden frowned at Henry as if trying to assess something, then held out his hand to Violet.

“Let’s go for now.”

Violet followed him into the office. It was only after Henry closed the door and cast a soundproofing spell that he came to the point.

“People believed to be under Eric Anderson’s command have attacked the orphanage again.”

“Attacked?”

Although she wasn’t the real ‘Sarah’, she had grown fond of the children who had cared for her during her stay at the orphanage. She had no intention of doing anything active for them, but at least she didn’t want them to suffer because of her.

In contrast to her excited reaction, Kaiden reacted calmly.

“An attack? What exactly happened?”

“They say that people suddenly burst in and tore the orphanage apart, searching every corner. They even grabbed the children and asked where Sarah was.”

“To destroy evidence…”

Violet covered her mouth with both hands. Kaiden looked at her briefly, then asked again.

“Were any of the children hurt?”

“Fortunately, it seems they didn’t hurt the children. But they were scared…”

Henry trailed off as he looked at Violet’s pale face. After taking a moment to gather her thoughts, Violet composed herself and managed her expression.

“I don’t regret going to the funeral that day and revealing the truth. As a commoner, there was nothing I could have done. And thanks to all the chaos that day, I got to meet you, Your Grace.”

“……”

“And the fact that Eric Anderson panicked and tried to kill me – maybe that could serve as good evidence later. Like you said, if he really had nothing to hide, he would have just ignored what I said. However…”

Violet took a deep breath and stared directly at Kaiden.

“I can’t just stand by and watch innocent children get hurt. We have to do something. He hasn’t hurt them yet, but if he gets desperate, there’s no telling what he might do.”

“You’re right.”

In truth, Violet hadn’t expected Kaiden to take the safety of the children seriously. So if he had reacted indifferently, she had planned to do her best to convince him.

But unexpectedly, Kaiden took her words seriously.

“You’re right. We can’t let innocent children get caught up in this.”

“Should we evacuate them to another place?”

“There is a safer way.”

Kaiden gave Henry an order.

“Bring in Sir Lindbergh.”

A short time later, the mage Elly Lindbergh entered the office with Henry.

“What’s going on? Oh-Miss Violet, you’re here too.”

Instead of explaining the situation, Kaiden got right to the point.

“Can you make a corpse?”

Violet’s face twisted in dismay, while Elly asked back with an intrigued expression.

“What kind of corpse are we talking about? Are you trying to disguise a real person as someone else? Or just make something that looks convincing?”

“The latter. Just a fake body that can pass for someone during identification and a funeral.”

“That much is doable. But what’s it for?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Got it. How soon?”

“Within three days.”

Elly grumbled under her breath.

“Your Grace, you’re asking too much. No matter how talented I am as a magician, aren’t you working me a little too hard?”

“So it’s impossible?”

“I didn’t say that. I’ll try to do it within three days. But if it’s just something in the form of a person, it will be obvious that it’s fake.”

“That’s okay. We’ll burn it anyway.”

“Oh my, how brave of you.”

Elly whistled and bowed slightly.

“Since it seems urgent, I’ll try to have it done by tomorrow.”

“Can you do that?”

“I’m Elly Lindbergh, you know. If I can’t even do that, I don’t deserve the support of the Arendt family.”

With that, Elly disappeared, saying she’d get to work on the fake body right away.

Violet rubbed her right arm, now covered in goose bumps.

“A corpse?”

“That’s right.”

“He’s the kind of man who even killed his fiancée. With his temper, he won’t stop until he sees Sarah dead.”

“……”

Violet couldn’t say anything in response.

It was an extreme measure, but Kaiden was right.

‘If we pretend she ran far away, he’ll just chase her down to silence her.’

But there was one problem.

“Will he really believe it?”

Kaiden gave a chilling smile.

“We’ll make him believe it.”

***

Two days later, a fire broke out in an abandoned house in the capital’s slums. A single body was found in the ashes.

“This is our Sarah.”

The director of the orphanage wept as she looked at the necklace found on the body.

“She wore it from the day she arrived at the orphanage. She never took it off. I’m sure it’s her.”

People at the orphanage said they couldn’t understand why Sarah would leave and end up living in such a rundown part of the slums, only to fall victim to a fire.

But after hearing testimony from children who lived nearby – “That brown-haired lady always looked like she was being chased. She seemed really scared” – they came to believe that Sarah had been hiding from someone.

Her funeral was held quietly, with only a few people in attendance.

From a distance, one of Kaiden’s men observed the scene and confirmed that a group of people dressed in black had watched the funeral before disappearing.

And just like that, the commoner named Sarah died that day.

***

Eric Anderson nervously downed his drink, anxiously waiting for his subordinate to arrive.

‘That damned commoner girl.’

Ten days ago, he had killed his fiancée, Olivia Grosvenor, with his own hands.

He hadn’t meant to kill her. He just wanted to intimidate her so that she wouldn’t dare mention the word “break up”.

But he must have overreacted. When he came to at the sound of Scarlett’s piercing scream, Olivia was limping underneath him.

He checked quickly, but she wasn’t breathing—no pulse, no sign of life.

—”We need to call someone, right now! Hurry!”

As Scarlett sobbed and rushed out, Eric grabbed her arm and pinned her against the wall.

Holding the frightened girl in his arms as she tried to flee, he whispered coldly:

—”And what do you think will happen if you call people? Is a dead person going to come back to life?”

—”But still—!”

—”Stay still. Don’t make this bigger than it already is.”

Scarlett glared at him, her eyes wide with rage.

To be honest, Eric found her pathetic. She had no problem clinging to him before – and now she wanted to play the role of Olivia’s concerned friend?

Trembling and crying, Scarlett finally screamed in rage.

—”You murderer! I’m going to go out there right now and tell everyone the truth!”

For a split second, Eric snapped. His vision went white as he slapped Scarlett hard across the face.

—”Watch your mouth. Who do you think you’re calling a murderer?”

—”Hrk… h-hngg…”

He grabbed the front of Scarlett’s half-disheveled clothes with both hands and threatened her.

—”If you go down that road, you think I’m just going to sit back and watch? We’ll go down together, got it?”

His eyes gleamed with madness.

—”Or should I just send you off to join your dear friend right here and now?”

—”Please… please don’t. I won’t say anything, I swear.”

Eric rubbed his palms together quickly as he looked down at the pleading Scarlett, a twisted sense of pleasure washing over him – the thrill of knowing he could now completely control this woman’s life.

—”Listen carefully. You and I? We’re in the same boat now.”

—”O-Okay… I understand.”

—”Just try saying a single word about what happened today to anyone. You, and that bastard, you’ll both be dead. Got it?”

—”I-I won’t tell anyone. Please, just let me go.”

As soon as Eric released her, Scarlett ran off without even fixing her clothes.

Left alone, Eric spat curses as he looked down at Olivia’s lifeless body on the floor.

—”Still causing trouble, even in death.”

If someone asked him if he had loved Olivia, the answer would be no.

He had liked her pretty face well enough, but if he was honest, Scarlett was more his type.

Olivia, with her feigned innocence and her fluttering eyes constantly begging for affection, had always been a nuisance.

What mattered was that she was the daughter of the Marquis of Grosvenor – a daughter he valued more than his own life.