Prologue

“What brings you here?”

“Please tell the Lieutenant Colonel that Liere would like to see him.”

The butler glanced at Cedine’s handbag. He seemed to be waiting for a business card to hand to his master. Cedine smiled faintly.

“I don’t have a business card yet. If you say Liere from the Intelligence Bureau, he’ll know right away.”

The butler nodded silently and closed the door. The mansion of Viscount Wintermore, the youngest lieutenant colonel in the entire Army Ministry, was famous for its strict security. Even if a visitor was a confirmed noble, they were never allowed to wait inside the entrance. They must stand outside the firmly closed door until the master’s approval comes.

‘It’s taking quite a while…’

Unlike earlier when she was confident with the butler, now, she became a bit anxious. There’s no way he wouldn’t remember her. Does it mean he doesn’t need to meet with her instead of her sister? If she had known this would happen, she should have brought her sister’s business card.

As her mind became complicated, the heavy front door opened.

“Miss Liere, please come in.”

Cedine almost smiled unconsciously at the butler’s greeting, which she hadn’t heard in a long time. She had to be careful not to be seen as a strange person. While she had seen the butler for a long time, to the butler, she was a stranger.

Following the butler, she crossed the wide central hall and moved to the study. When the butler knocked on the door, a voice was heard saying to come in. Cedine took a deep breath before entering.

She saw him standing next to the desk in his officer’s uniform. The face of a sharp-featured handsome man. An atmosphere that was not just ascetic but bordering on coldness. People said he looked like he wouldn’t bleed even if pricked with a needle. Cedine somewhat agreed.

Anyway, the twenty-eight-year-old Ivlik was a sight she hadn’t seen in a long time. Even at thirty-four, he had looked young, but now he was really young in comparison.

“Impeccable timing, Miss Liere. Most unannounced visitors to my mansion turn back when the master is absent, but you…”

Ivlik put his service cap down on the desk with a thud.

“You didn’t miss the moment when I briefly stopped by home today.”

“……”

“Is it a coincidence? Or does the Intelligence Bureau teach such things?”

“…Thank you for meeting me.”

“Seeing that you introduced yourself as Liere instead of Karen’s sister, it seems you briefly considered impersonating your sister.”

It’s not surprising that he saw through it immediately. He was known as a master of psychological warfare in the Army Ministry. Of course, his skill in cruel torture was also top-notch.

Cedine stared blankly at his hair that was like breaking waves. Ivlik had never covered that smooth chin with a beard, but due to his blue hair color and his interrogation skills that always made people confess, he earned the nickname ‘Bluebeard’.

[You can go anywhere in this mansion, Cedine. Except for one place. Don’t go down to the basement.]

That’s probably Lieutenant Colonel Ivlik Wintermore’s private interrogation room. He must have strictly forbidden entry to prevent his sister-in-law from seeing anything unpleasant. Cedine spent many seasons here before she died, but never went down to the basement.

But was that all? What if it wasn’t an interrogation room, but a room for some other purpose? What if there was a secret hidden that no outsider should ever know?

‘Did sister ever go down there?’

Cedine bit the inside of her lip.

‘Is that why sister died?’

Bluebeard. She recalled his nickname again.

In the fairy tale, Bluebeard is a wealthy lord. One day, as he’s about to leave the castle for a long time, he entrusts his wife with a bundle of keys and says. You can look around everywhere in this castle, but never enter the room at the end of the downstairs corridor.

However, the wife ultimately can’t overcome her curiosity and opens the forbidden door. There, the corpses of women who were her husband’s previous wives are hanging. Shocked by the horrific sight, the wife drops the bundle of keys on the floor. She quickly picks them up, but by then, the blood splattered on the floor has already stained the keys.

She remembered what her sister said when they were reading the fairy tale side by side as children.

[I guess they didn’t have hydrogen peroxide back then. It’s the best for removing bloodstains.]

How did such a smart sister end up dying during a not-so-difficult mission?

“It’s been a while, Trainee Cedine Liere.”

While Cedine was briefly lost in thought, Ivlik, seated in the leather chair, slowly interlaced his fingers on the desk. A face without a hint of a smile and a gaze that seemed to see right through people. It was the same attitude he had when teaching her psychological tactics for 6 weeks.

“May I ask about your business now?”

“Th-the proposal you made to Sister Karen.”

She ended up stuttering due to being too nervous. This is as good as losing the battle of wits from the start, they said. The training instructor said it’s better to just keep your mouth shut than to stutter. The very person who taught Cedine that was right in front of her.

“I want to accept it instead. Please have a fake marriage with me.”