“Wow……. It happened exactly as you predicted, Your Highness. It seems they truly have no intention of executing her.”

On their way back to the prince’s palace, Vernon drew close to Carden and whispered in astonishment.

“How did you predict it? Ordinarily, she would be executed.”

Vernon seemed unable to believe that the Emperor had chosen not to punish the Princess Consort following careful consideration, instead granting the confinement she had requested herself.

Attempting to harm a member of the imperial family was considered a grave crime.

Yet the true culprit had still not been identified.

The Princess Consort remained the most likely suspect. After all, she had been the only person with the prince when they drank the poison.

According to an ancient imperial custom, when the true culprit could not be apprehended, even a mere suspect would be executed as a warning to others.

The intention was to instil fear and ensure that such an incident would never happen again.

However, despite the Empress defending her and the Princess Consort proving her innocence, the matter ended with nothing more than the confinement she had requested.

Even if she had been spared execution, it would have been reasonable to expect her to be stripped of her position.

Carden let out a quiet chuckle.

“If they killed her, my ‘miracle’ would become far too significant.”

“What? What do you mean……?”

“A great crime warrants a great punishment, while a minor crime warrants a minor one.”

While Vernon’s eyes shifted in confusion, Monterol, who stood to Carden’s right, quickly understood his meaning.

“Since His Majesty cannot deny that you returned from the dead, he intends to diminish the incident itself.”

Instead of answering, Carden merely smiled.

Vernon was right.

If the Princess Consort were executed for poisoning him, Carden would be remembered as the ‘Prince who survived being poisoned to death’ even more fondly.

However, the moment she was sentenced to nothing more than confinement, the entire narrative changed.

Rather than being seen as having returned from the dead, he would simply be regarded as having survived another failed assassination attempt — a fate that any member of the imperial family might endure at least once.

If the official account established that the substance was not a deadly toxin but a sleeping drug that induced a deathlike slumber, Carden’s resurrection would eventually be dismissed as an exaggerated rumor.

While the Emperor appeared to fly into a rage and demand the culprit’s apprehension, Carden did not take this at face value.

If he had truly intended to apprehend the culprit, why was the Captain of the Imperial Guard sitting so leisurely in the banquet hall today, drinking wine poured by the Emperor himself?

To Carden, this was nothing more than the minimum display of outrage expected from an emperor whose son had nearly been assassinated.

The matter would most likely fade into obscurity without ever being resolved. After all, they could hardly produce a culprit who did not exist.

This was not an entirely unfavorable outcome for Carden, who had orchestrated the whole incident himself.

Nevertheless, the reward felt disappointingly meagre for a scheme he had carried out at the risk of his own life.

“Until the culprit is apprehended, please confine me to the Oult territory.”

Carden suddenly recalled those words and rubbed his chin.

Come to think of it, there had been one unexpected gain.

‘Roanne Oult.’

Her face and voice were the same, right down to her habit of tilting her head slightly.

Yet her gaze belonged to someone else entirely.

Before her death, she had never once managed to look him in the eye properly.

But she had boldly saved her own life in front of the Emperor and Empress, and had even volunteered to return to the Oult territory.

It was inconceivable that she had made the request because she genuinely intended to remain confined.

It was safe to assume that she had used the incident as an excuse because she wanted to return to her own territory.

‘What in the world is she hiding?’

At first, he had merely found her strange.

But now, he wanted to know the reason.

He wanted to discover whether her transformation was an act devised for some hidden purpose, or whether he had completely misjudged Roanne Oult for the past two years.

“Still, to think she is leaving tomorrow. It feels as though we have been completely blindsided.”

Vernon grumbled.

It was already difficult to accept that the matter would end with nothing more than confinement. Yet she was departing the very next day without any further investigation, making the situation utterly absurd.

“She is still His Highness’s consort. We nearly learned of her departure only after she had already left.”

“Exactly. Even the people we placed beside her only found out at the last moment and hurried to inform us.”

Just before they left the banquet hall, they received an urgent message from the maid they had placed among the Princess Consort’s attendants.

The Emperor’s faction had ordered her to leave the following morning, meaning they had to pack immediately. The maid wanted to know how she should proceed.

The Emperor was determined to conclude the matter as quickly as possible. Consequently, Monterol was under pressure.

“Send our people to the Oult territory with her.”

“Yes. I have already arranged that for now. However, since she is effectively being banished under the pretext of confinement, I doubt we will be able to assign many people to her.”

“Then send only one—the most reliable person we have. If we send several and they begin suspecting one another, it will only become troublesome.”

Monterol immediately bowed his head.

“Still, it truly is strange.”

Vernon muttered once more that he could never understand the thoughts of those in power.

“Of all places, she chose to return to the Oult territory. It is practically a declaration that she intends to kill herself. What could she possibly have been thinking?”

“It is the Princess Consort’s homeland. It may be dangerous to others, but the place would hold a different meaning for her.”

“Hmm. Would it? Could she truly miss that cursed land simply because it is her homeland?”

Vernon shrugged, looking thoroughly unconvinced.

Meanwhile, they had arrived at Carden’s bedchamber.

After giving one final instruction to confirm the Princess Consort’s departure the following morning, Carden opened the door.

He crossed the silent antechamber and stepped through the archway into his bedroom. At that moment, he stopped abruptly.

The night breeze drifted through the open window.

As the curtains fluttered softly in the breeze, he saw a woman sitting on the windowsill.

Her silver hair, illuminated from behind by the moon, streamed gently in the breeze.

“You are late, Your Highness.”

Roanne Oult was waiting for him with perfect composure.

***

Mokyeong watched in amusement as the Prince’s expression stiffened slightly the instant he saw her.

Carden squeezed his eyes shut for a moment as though he had seen an apparition, then opened them again.

When he found Mokyeong still sitting on the windowsill, he let out an incredulous laugh.

“How did you get in here?”

Through the window.

But saying that would make her seem strange.

The knights of this land usually fought with weapons. Consequently, martial arts involving the channeling of energy into swords had developed tremendously, while techniques using the body as a weapon were virtually non-existent.

If she told him that she had concentrated energy into the tips of her feet, jumped over the wall and climbed up to the window, she would undoubtedly have to start by explaining the level of skill required.

“Let us simply say I entered through a secret passage unknown to Your Highness.”

Mokyeong lightly hopped down from the windowsill.

“More importantly, may I have a cup of tea? Ah, I do not mind if you add poison.”

She was entirely sincere.

However, Carden’s expression stiffened subtly.

Perhaps his conscience had been pricked because he had already served her poisoned tea once before.

“……I have no tea, but would you care for some whiskey? I recently acquired an excellent bottle.”

Whiskey was alcohol.

Mokyeong loved alcohol as much as tea, so she had no reason to refuse.

Besides, depending on how one viewed it, alcohol was another kind of poison.

“Gladly.”

Carden took a glass from the drawer and poured in the dark, oak-colored whiskey.

Mokyeong accepted the glass, closed her eyes, and inhaled its fragrance first.

It was deep and rich.

It was entirely unlike the liquor she had drunk in the martial world, but it possessed a charm of its own.

When she took a sip, the fragrant liquor scraped hotly down her throat and seeped into her stomach.

‘This is quite good.’

She was just about to steal a glance at the name on the bottle so she could remember it when—

“You truly seem like a different person.”

Mokyeong froze.

She slowly turned towards the prince, her expression guarded.

Carden stood bathed in the moonlight streaming through the window.

His golden hair gleamed as though spun from molten moonlight and his vivid eyes, like expertly cut blue gemstones, stared directly at Mokyeong.

His lips curved into an unmistakable smile, but his eyes showed no trace of amusement.

His piercing blue gaze scrutinized her relentlessly, as though attempting to see straight through her. However, rather than wariness, Mokyeong sensed something closer to admiration in his eyes.

‘Goodness, at least his outer shell is truly magnificent.’

Even if she searched the vast Central Plains from end to end, it would be rare to find beauty comparable to his.

Perhaps only Namgung Hwan or Dan Wolyak would be worthy of standing beside him.

Then again, with a face that beautiful, it was no wonder the original owner of this body had fallen helplessly in love with him despite knowing that he despised her.

Mokyeong clicked her tongue inwardly, drained the remaining whiskey in one swallow, and murmured,

“That is because I am a different person.”