However, Gideon spoke calmly. 

 “Piece it back together. If you want it that badly, just put it back together.” 

 “Won’t the credibility be compromised if it’s damaged……” 

 “Then trace it over with paper on top.” 

 Gideon shot them an icy glare as if asking if they couldn’t even do something that simple. 

 His mood was more irritable than usual. It was the result of going several days without proper sleep while being on edge. 

 Then Kay spoke quietly. 

 “I have some men who can imitate handwriting. They can forge simple documents.” 

 So perhaps the content of the statement wasn’t important from the start. 

 Even if the Duke cooperated with Gideon’s side and shifted all blame to the Queen, she would surely find a way to escape. She was already doing so. 

 ‘Well now. This is the first I’m hearing of it. Sometimes there are those whose loyalty clouds their judgment. It doesn’t end well for such dull-witted people. To think the Duke would also……” 

 Hadn’t Gideon thought before? That while the Queen was capable, she wasn’t someone to be trusted. 

 From the beginning, the Duke was nothing more than kindling to her — meant to irritate Gideon and fuel the succession war. He was a card she could discard anytime once his usefulness ended. 

 But Gideon had another question. Wouldn’t the Duke have known this too? 

 Gideon gestured with his chin for his subordinates to seat the Duke. 

 The sound of iron chair legs dragging across the dungeon floor echoed chillingly. 

 Gideon sat across from the Duke and stroked his chin for a while. Then he looked at Tatiana’s adoptive father who had fallen to being a criminal. 

 When the Duke lowered his gaze, Gideon smiled steadily and spoke. 

 “I was actually glad when you volunteered to be my wife’s guardian.” 

 The royal family doesn’t fulfill their courtesy and responsibility to all families of fallen knights. But Count Bloom was a war hero and the prince’s teacher. They couldn’t just dump his daughter on anyone like baggage. 

 When the royal family’s concerns were deepening, Duke Muller stepped forward as Tatiana’s guardian and solved the troublesome problem. 

 The Duke came from an excellent family and was both Count Bloom’s superior and friend. During the Fullman War, he had commanded Sir Bloom’s unit. In many ways, he had sufficient justification and qualifications to become Tatiana’s guardian. 

 But there was another private reason why Gideon welcomed this decision. 

 He had already decided then to propose to Tatiana. She was the perfect woman for him, both then and now. 

 But being a Duke’s daughter would be easier for her to enter the royal family than being a Count’s daughter. It created another background that people couldn’t treat carelessly. For Gideon too, forming a marriage alliance with the Royal Guard Commander wouldn’t be bad. 

 “As you know, the royal family even paid your family child support then.” 

 It was Gideon who had stubbornly inserted such detailed provisions into the compensation plan. 

 It wasn’t because he felt sorry for his teacher and wanted to take responsibility until the end. Rather, his desire for Tatiana to live without lacking anything was much stronger. 

 That’s not all. Through Kay when she went outside, through Scarlet’s connections when she attended parties, he gathered rumors about her. 

 It was around then that he started paying attention to the Duke. 

 “But at some point you started acting strange. About a year or two ago. Constantly meeting with the Queen, watching my reactions. I thought you must have had some weakness the Queen was holding over you.” 

 “……” 

 “Until then, I had planned to treat you well. You’re my wife’s adoptive father after all. Which means you would eventually become my father-in-law.” 

 Gideon said this while rolling his eyes and laughing as though he found it very amusing. 

 This wasn’t actually the only reason he had started viewing the Duke with suspicion. However, Gideon had no intention of telling the Duke everything. One always saves the decisive card until the end. Besides, the Duke had already crossed a river he couldn’t return from. 

 Gideon couldn’t let him live anyway. Not only had he weighed between Vaikal and himself, but he had also carried out the Queen’s orders. 

 Yet Gideon still wore a smile like someone with more to say. 

 “That injury to your arm. Well……” 

 “……” 

 “It was actually me.” 

 Gideon smiled and asked ‘You knew, didn’t you?’ 

 While he appeared thoroughly delighted, the atmosphere around was contrastingly quiet. Not only the gaunt Duke but also the adjutants were frozen, overwhelmed by the prince’s aura. 

 Gideon continued speaking nonchalantly as if unbothered by this. 

 “If I had killed you without anyone knowing, everything would have been so much easier. I actually spent quite a long time debating whether to do that.” 

 Of course, even then his wife would have been just as sad. She would have fallen into grief, losing her adoptive father after her birth father. But if he was destined to die anyway, wouldn’t it be better to think he was lost to an unfortunate accident? 

 If there were options between making his wife less sad or more sad, shouldn’t a husband naturally scheme for the less sad option? 

 “But you know what? When I tried to just send you off quietly, I really couldn’t stand my curiosity.” 

 Should he really stir this up and dig into it? That question still remains. He had already won Tatiana as his wife, and their married life was going very smoothly. 

 The past surrounding them. The lost three years. 

 Couldn’t he just cut that period out cleanly and connect her childhood directly to now? 

 But he couldn’t do that. He was someone who had to know absolutely everything that happened around her. Even if he hid the truth from her and covered her eyes with his palm. 

 Gideon looked at the Duke and smiled, showing his teeth. 

 His subordinates felt the prince’s eyes were spinning like that time before. When everyone was thinking he looked like a madman, Gideon asked. 

 “Why did you kill him?” 

 “……” 

 “Don’t know who I’m talking about? Too long ago to remember?” 

 “……” 

 “Count Bloom.” 

 The Duke, who had been unable to hide his anxiety throughout the prince’s interrogation, had his eyes flicker as hope died. Then they began to burn again as if overcome with defiance. 

 Watching this reaction closely, Gideon became calmer instead. 

 “It was you.” 

 “……” 

 “……It really was you.” 

 “You…… You already knew all this…… didn’t you?” 

 Gideon didn’t mind appearing mad to corner his opponent and set psychological traps. 

 But he wasn’t actually insane. The smile that had bloomed across his face had disappeared by now, and his eyes shone more coldly than ever before. 

 But now an aura his subordinates had never experienced before emanated from him. Pure, clean killing intent. 

 The already cold underground prison froze even colder. 

* * *

 What is the biggest warning sign of crisis in married life? There may be many, but Tatiana thought one of them was the breakdown of communication. 

 Then what reasons might there be for someone avoiding conversation? Perhaps as people often say, the other person might have a conflict-avoidant personality. 

 They might have a habit of only starting conversations after calming their emotions when angry. Maybe they’re just tired of repeating the same fights. 

 There’s a saying that yielding is winning between spouses, but no one likes becoming the guilty party and getting scolded. Generally speaking, unless they’re a pervert. 

 But if someone avoids fights because they’re tired of repeated patterns, the one who had been arguing passionately can only say this: 

 ‘Who told you to keep making the same mistakes? You think I like fighting? I’m tired of it too.’ 

 Then the other person listening silently would think inside: Yes, this is exactly what I hate. Even if I apologize or argue back, I hate this aggressive atmosphere itself where attacks keep coming endlessly by picking at every word. 

 But silence that starts for these reasons will pass eventually, though it may be frustrating. Humans are a species that can’t stand curiosity, so even in the middle of a cold war, they’ll casually start talking again. 

 ‘Where did you sleep last night?’ 

 Of course, this is when there are still some feelings left for the other person. The problem is when the affection has dropped so much that even breathing the same air while facing each other becomes unbearable. 

 If the other person is refusing conversation for such reasons, it might already be too late to turn things around. Because there’s really nothing you can do with someone who has no will to improve the situation. 

 Tatiana thought that Gideon’s complete absence wasn’t because he had grown to hate her, at least. That’s why she could barge into someone else’s office and make unreasonable demands like this, regardless of appearances.

Gideon had always treated her well since their marriage. It wasn’t just about giving her treatment befitting a legal wife. He made efforts to accommodate her even in areas that didn’t quite match his personality. If someone couldn’t notice that, they would need to reflect on themselves as a human being.