Eventually, tears welled up in Alexa’s brown eyes.

“Contrary to what you said, young duke, His Highness the Grand Duke didn’t mention anything. Moreover, the lady instructed me to organize the teacups for the charity event by today.”

Hesion felt a bitter taste as tears streamed down her cheeks.

He sighed and spoke.

“Of course. Dismissing you is entirely my unilateral action.”

“What?”

Hesion looked up at Alexa as if truly troubled.

“I know you’re Marquis Beckford’s person.”

At Hesion’s final words, Alexa’s trembling shoulders stopped.

She stood frozen, blinking stupidly.

“You’ve been gradually passing information about the Rekton family to the Marquis. The person most curious about whether my father intends to succeed the throne after his brother, His Majesty the Emperor, would be the Marquis.”

“Marquis Beckford? I don’t know who that is! How could a mere servant like me do such a thing? If you accuse someone without evidence……”

Before Alexa could finish, documents bearing the seal of the Beckford Orphanage Director scattered at her feet.

[Name: Alexa Heburn]

[Date of Birth: Unknown]

[Place of Origin: Unknown]

[Characteristics: Navy blue hair, brown eyes, large red spot on left cheek.]

[Sponsor: Jordy Beckford]

Another document clearly stated that she had continuously received sponsorship from the Marquis’s family.

[Night of Sponsorship]

[Incentive Sponsor: Jordy Beckford]

[Academic Incentive Recipient: Alexa Heburn.]

All the information had been found by hiring someone separately under the pretense of going to buy books.

“It was quite troublesome to obtain these without Father knowing, Alexa.”

Examining the documents, Alexa didn’t hear Hesion’s words.

After confirming her signature written alongside Marquis Beckford’s name, she slumped weakly to the floor.

The scattered documents showed a summary of her life.

Hesion also casually tossed onto the floor the letters she had sent to communicate with the Marquis.

She couldn’t raise her head at the clearly written “Beckford” in the recipient field.

“May I ask why, with grades good enough to become a tutor for any decent noble family, you became a maid in this household?”

Instead of answering, Alexa frantically gathered the scattered documents, but Hesion stepped on her hand as she reached for them.

Hesion crouched down and met her eyes.

“I’m not trying to punish you, Alexa.”

Alexa’s eyes wavered at the sincerity in Hesion’s gaze.

“So don’t run to the Marquis to report that your cover has been blown.”

He put weight on the foot stepping on her hand.

“You might end up dead at the Marquis’s hands if you’re unlucky.”

Alexa, clutching the documents she hadn’t managed to gather, clearly showed an expression filled with anxiety and fear.

Despite her appearance, Hesion spoke calmly.

“You know very well that your existence could be poisonous to Leytan, who occupies the precarious position of Imperial Prince, don’t you?”

After his continued words, Alexa could only exhale labored breaths.

How on earth did the young duke, who could barely read fairy tales, know what even the Grand Duke hadn’t noticed?

‘But why did he come to me first instead of alerting the Grand Duke?’

She couldn’t understand why Hesion was giving her a chance.

“Why are you letting me off?”

At Alexa’s questioning expression, Hesion released her hand that he had been stepping on.

The reason he was letting Alexa go was simple.

She was someone who would die at the Marquis’s hands anyway, even without his intervention.

For now, she was merely reporting to the Marquis about the list of visitors to the grand ducal residence and what she had seen and heard, but in the future, she collected letters Hesion had discarded, traced his handwriting, and even created perfect evidence that he was aiming for the Emperor’s position by forging letters.

Moreover, hadn’t she even appeared in the witness stand to personally testify?

Hesion put aside his memories of the past and spoke.

“I’m giving you a chance. I don’t think you’re a bad person. You’re just acting as a spy because you received help from the Marquis. This isn’t your true heart, is it?”

After finishing his words, Hesion removed the ruby brooch attached to his right chest and placed it in Alexa’s swollen hand.

“You were just used by the Marquis; you’ve done nothing wrong, Alexa.”

Seeing the red ruby in her hand, Alexa looked back at Hesion with a dumbfounded expression.

“Why are you giving this to me……”

“You’ll need that much capital to escape far from the Marquis’s eyes.”

Alexa, who had been alternately looking at the ruby and the documents on the floor, rose hurriedly as if she had made her decision.

‘The Marquis has planted many spies besides me. So he won’t miss me much if just one disappears.’

She didn’t think deeply about Hesion’s kindness.

Alexa felt quite profound boredom with living an unwanted life according to the Marquis’s wishes, all because she had received his sponsorship during childhood.

The hope that she could live a different life if she successfully escaped stirred her heart.

“Th-thank you, young duke.”

Alexa bowed excessively to Hesion before disappearing.

The brooch he had given her was an heirloom passed down to the heirs of the Rekton family.

Hesion handed over the brooch without hesitation, thinking it would play an important role in tracking Alexa’s certain death.

After confirming Alexa had left the mansion, Hesion used Ray to report that his brooch had gone missing.

The Rekton family’s butler searched the mansion for the brooch while simultaneously inspecting the servants’ rooms.

Before long, they discovered Alexa’s room, where she had packed all her belongings and fled.

The Grand Duke issued orders to track Alexa down, keeping the command confidential.

If it became known that Alexa had stolen the grand ducal family’s expensive brooch, she could face threats to her safety from those targeting the family heirloom, and in the worst case, the family might never recover their precious brooch.

Hesion had expected it would take about a week for Alexa to meet her death at the Marquis’s hands, but that was his miscalculation.

Less than a day after Alexa Heburn left the grand ducal residence, news reached the Rekton family in the early morning that an unidentified woman with a red spot on one cheek had been found dead by the Hedlton riverside, clutching the brooch tightly.

In the dawn while darkness still lingered, Hesion, who had been eavesdropping on the news delivered by the butler, woke Ray and headed to the Hedlton River.

Upon arriving at the Hedlton bridge, he hurriedly got out of the carriage in his nightclothes and walked across the bridge.

Ray, following behind, quickly draped Hesion’s coat over his shoulders.

“Taking a walk by the Hedlton River in this cold? I’ll be in trouble if you catch a cold from the biting river wind, young duke.”

Ray urged him with genuine concern, and unable to keep listening to him, Hesion requested a blanket from the carriage using the cold as an excuse.

The moment Ray turned back toward the carriage, Hesion spotted lights approaching the Hedlton riverside beneath the bridge railing.

He moved closer to the railing and observed his father accompanied by the butler and several knights.

The Grand Duke hastily turned his head after confirming the identity of the cloth-covered person, and the knight barely extracted the brooch clutched in her hand, wrapped it in a handkerchief, and handed it to the butler.

Hesion quietly gazed at the cloth-covered form of Alexa.

Her slightly protruding hair and clothes were wet, but nowhere on the frozen river was the ice broken.

‘She clearly lost her life elsewhere.’

As Ray’s footsteps drew near, Hesion turned back and walked toward the carriage.

“Walk’s over. Let’s go back now.”

“Pardon?”

Though bewildered, Ray hurriedly draped the blanket over Hesion’s shoulders.

Hesion boarded the carriage promptly and arrived at the Rekton residence before his father.

Entering his dark room, he walked to the window, pulled back the curtains, and faced the deep navy blue sky.

It resembled Alexa’s hair color to an uncanny degree.