The Leon she knew was a boy with a quirky but innocent side.

Why was he here…?

‘I, I need to go back…’

One fact was clear. She only thought about running away and informing her master as soon as possible.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Terrified, Dave let out a groan. Seren hurriedly covered his mouth, but the sound had already escaped.

And then she made eye contact with Leon. The book she was holding fell with a thud.

“Did you see?”

She shook her head frantically, scared out of her wits.

“Why lie when you clearly saw?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“If you did something wrong, you need to be punished. Right?”

Thinking that his voice sounded somewhat bitter, Seren lost consciousness.

* * *

It didn’t take long to realize that Seren hadn’t disappeared alone. The man she was seeing, Dave, had also disappeared.

There were rumors that the lovers had eloped, disappearing on the same day.

‘That can’t be true.’

Dave clearly said he was willing to follow Seren to Arcadia.

But an unexpected elopement like this?

Most importantly, my jewelry box was untouched.

If Seren planned to run away at night, she wouldn’t have left my jewels untouched.

Although the Crown Prince promised to find her, I wasn’t very confident in him.

‘I don’t need the Crown Prince’s help.’

I firmly believed that I could find her quickly with the help of the vampire and Shahar.

And a day later, the Holy Kingdom’s delegation reported the disappearance of High Priest Emmanuel.

Only then did the Grand Duke of Pontos order a full-scale investigation.

It was fortunate that High Priest Emmanuel had also disappeared. If only a maid and a low-ranking priestess had vanished, it wouldn’t have attracted much attention. Thanks to the High Priest, the search gained significant momentum.

Maybe it was because I was born to be a villain. I was a bit surprised at my selfishness, but I was used to it.

Anyway, all banquets were canceled, and outings were prohibited under the pretext of searching for the missing people.

With armed holy knights scouring the castle all day, the atmosphere naturally became tense.

But no clues emerged even after several days.

I also had Michalis and Janet thoroughly search the castle, but the priests’ restrictions hindered our efforts, yielding no results.

Most importantly, the two vampires couldn’t enter the castle’s interior as they hadn’t been invited by Iscallion, the lord of the castle.

“No one has died yet, right?”

I asked Shahar every day.

“Yeah.”

Shahar’s answer was always the same.

‘Where on earth is Seren?’

I stared blankly at the book on the table. It was the last trace Seren had left behind.

The cover alone made my face flush, and I wondered where she had found such a thing. I thought it was just a novel with illustrations, but it turned out to be a full-on s*x education book.

Indeed, the Seren I knew wouldn’t just disappear, leaving a thing like this behind.

She took great pride in serving the Duke’s family and cared a lot about her reputation. We often joked about burning our collections before we died.

‘I hope she’s just too embarrassed to show up.’

If that were the case, I could easily claim that embarrassing book as mine.

But that hope vanished like a bubble when I saw Gined.

As Seren’s master, I had to testify as a witness about what happened at that time, and the investigator was none other than Gined and Margarita.

“So, you were discussing how to seduce a man, and the maid Seren went to get this illustrated book and disappeared, correct?”

Gined’s voice was extremely businesslike, as if my sad confession that day had been a dream.

“Y-yes. That book really belonged to Seren. I swear, I had never seen that book before. Let me reiterate, it’s definitely not mine.”

I emphasized repeatedly.

‘I’m sorry, Seren.’

Even if our roles were reversed, Seren would have quickly abandoned me, so I felt no guilt. This was separate from my concern for her.

Gined, with his usual stern face, turned the pages of the book, which detailed some bizarre positions.

It was the first time I had opened the book properly, and each page described actions that seemed impossible.

‘Should I just die…?’

As I seriously contemplated that, Gined, who had been flipping through the pages perfunctorily, finally closed the book.

“I understand. Thank you for cooperating with the investigation. I’ll keep this book as evidence for now and return it once the investigation is over.”

“There’s no need to return it! It’s not mine, so it doesn’t matter. You can keep it!”

I resolved to clean up my collection as soon as I returned to the capital.

After Gined and Margarita left, I belatedly wondered if Iscallion was aware of this situation.

He was inexperienced in everything except combat, which worried me. For some reason, I hadn’t seen him since our meeting a few days ago.

His questions from that day kept bothering me.

What on earth was he thinking when he said those things?

Anyway, I wanted to tell Iscallion to be careful for a while, but I couldn’t find the time to meet him as I was being called here and there.

* * *

The atmosphere among the delegations became heavy due to the consecutive disappearance cases.

Some frightened members of the delegation insisted on leaving Pontos immediately. Indeed, some delegations from other countries that had arrived around the same time had already left Pontos.

Although the Grand Duke of Pontos was supporting the search for the missing people in every possible way, there was a high possibility that this could escalate into a national dispute.

‘Of all times, this had to happen on our first visit…’

“After all the effort we put in to get here, are you suggesting we abandon the negotiations and return?”

Duke Poel opposed. Perhaps wanting to make up for his daughter’s accident, he hoped to achieve concrete results this time.

“There’s nothing to gain from getting swept up in unnecessary trouble.”

The Crown Prince, who had been watching the tense standoff between both sides, calmly shared his thoughts.

“Our side has suffered minimal damage so far, so it’s not too late to wait until the situation becomes clearer before returning. If we ignore the priests’ cooperation and leave now, our relationship with the Holy Kingdom could be strained later.”

In the end, everyone agreed with the Crown Prince’s opinion.

After the meeting, I pretended to tidy up and left the conference room last, not wanting to run into the Crown Prince.

‘He must have gone back by now, right?’

But as soon as I closed the door and stepped out, I heard his voice calling my name.

“Lou.”

I hid my nervousness and barely managed to look at him calmly.

“Some of the delegation will return to the capital tomorrow. You should go with them.”

“What? But you said in the meeting that we should wait and see how things develop.”

“Yes. But not everyone needs to stay.”

I shook my head firmly.

“No. Seren is here. She’s someone who followed me all the way here, trusting only me. Even if the worst happens, I need to see everything with my own eyes. I won’t be a burden to Your Highness, so don’t worry.”

“Do you think High Priest Emmanuel disappeared because he was incompetent? He was one of the most powerful individuals in the temple, possessing exceptional holy power. We don’t know who might disappear tomorrow. I can’t guarantee your safety either. I will take responsibility for finding your maid, so do as I say.”

But I didn’t believe him. How many times had I been betrayed by his sweet words?

A maid’s life, a promise to a former fiancée.

The Crown Prince was someone who could easily abandon such trivial things at any time.

Knowing that no amount of persuasion would change my mind, the Crown Prince didn’t waste any more time.

“Fine, then I’ll make it an order. Return tomorrow.”

“I said no. Besides, the journey back is dangerous too. You know that. I can’t even imagine how much more difficult it would have been without you and Sir Roengreen on the way here.”

“Don’t exaggerate. I know it would be much safer if you used your mate, the stone, and the vampire.”

His words hit the mark, so this time I chose to ask back.

“Why are you so intent on sending me away? Using them would be more efficient. You’re not someone who likes unnecessary trouble.”

“You really… No, never mind. There’s no need to say more. I’ll send someone to pack your things immediately, so be prepared.”

As though he didn’t want to hear any rebuttal, he quickly turned his back after throwing out his words.