In response to Sinclair’s question, Eloise smiled brightly.

“Yes, it seems to have gotten warmer after a long time, so I thought I’d go for a walk.”

At Eloise’s answer, Sinclair looked up at the sky. It was the darkest sky among recent weather. And just then, a cold wind blew.

As Sinclair smiled awkwardly, Eloise added:

“I think I get depressed when I stay indoors too long. So I thought I’d just walk around the nearby park for a while.”

“I see. Walking is good for your health. But don’t stay out too long or you might catch a cold. Come back quickly. If you’d like, shall we have dinner together?”

In the past, whenever she heard such words, she felt apologetic. She felt as if she was causing unnecessary concern.

‘But not anymore!’

Eloise had spent the entire night before lying awake.

Everything she had seen in this mansion, and what she could understand from the conversation she overheard between Sinclair and some man.

All of it mixed and scattered repeatedly in her mind. And when dawn broke, Eloise was able to organize her jumbled thoughts.

Lady Sinclair had approached her deliberately from the beginning. And she had tried to extract information about Ryan.

Also, she was a spy working with Lensk and was exchanging indecipherable codes regarding affairs between Albion and Gilia.

As her thoughts cleared, a chill ran through her. Who would have thought that this overwhelmingly cozy place was actually the most dangerous place in the capital?

Escaping from here wasn’t difficult. Sinclair still didn’t suspect her.

So she could just leave and go to the Army Headquarters to ask Richard for protection.

And that was her plan now.

However, it seemed a shame to just leave like this. There was personal betrayal, but more than that, thinking about how much information was leaking from Sinclair made her dizzy.

‘Sinclair has been meeting with many people.’

Even during Eloise’s stay, numerous parties and gatherings were held at this mansion.

Concerned that her presence might be a blemish on Sinclair, she didn’t attend those events and only observed from above, but she could see how many notable figures from Albion’s social circles met with her.

Naturally, many of those notable figures were military personnel. She had seen Sinclair several times talking separately with high-ranking military officials.

How many of Albion’s secrets had leaked in those private conversations that others couldn’t hear?

And that information would soon become a sword aimed at Albion.

Thinking that far, Eloise felt anger boiling over inside her.

The long war had finally ended. During that time, many young men from Feltham had left for the battlefield and never returned.

Even those who did return didn’t all come back whole.

An arm, a leg, or an eye.

Some had left one of their paired body parts beside a comrade’s corpse.

It was fortunate if they left just one. There were those who returned having lost both legs, carried in the arms of their fellow soldiers.

No one could tell whether the tears their families shed upon seeing them were tears of joy or sorrow.

That’s why everyone cheered when news of the war’s end arrived. Finally, no more people would be injured or killed.

But Sinclair was clearly trying to start that war again.

‘Ryan.’

Her lover, whether he was Ryan Thornton or Ryan Wilgrave.

Whatever the case, it was certain that he had gone to Gilia because of what Sinclair’s forces were trying to do.

Sinclair was an enemy. To herself, to Ryan, and to this country.

Eloise bit her lip. Merely escaping from such a person wouldn’t quell her anger.

“Yes, I’ll see you again this evening.”

At these words promising to meet again, Sinclair’s expression softened. After all, it meant she would return to this house of her own accord again today.

Turning away, Eloise exhaled a small sigh of relief and felt for her bag.

Sinclair wouldn’t know. The fact that inside this bag were the code book she had been using and other code sequences that Eloise had discovered.

In the morning, while the maids were cleaning, Eloise had entered the reception room where she had seen the letters.

Though they looked like ordinary letters, someone like herself might have noticed the strangeness of the addresses.

If so, what would they have done with such letters?

‘They would have burned them.’

As expected, she found the remains of envelope-shaped ashes with some partially unburned pieces in the corner of the fireplace.

For those already burned, she quickly memorized the numbers by looking at the ink marks, and she collected what remained as evidence.

‘Fortunately, all the women in the capital wear gloves.’

Otherwise, Sinclair might have become suspicious seeing the soot marks on her fingers, despite how thoroughly she washed them.

Just as Eloise was about to leave Sinclair’s mansion.

Someone hurriedly entered the mansion. Seeing the person rushing past her, Eloise immediately recognized who it was.

It was the Lenskian woman who had given her the code book that was now in her bag.

After she went inside, Eloise naturally turned around as if she had forgotten something and approached the mansion again.

And when she got close to the door.

“Gastaya! Gilia da birzhensda!”

Rough Lenskian words were heard. Eloise recognized the meaning and swallowed hard.

“It’s terrible. Gilia has been attacked,” she was shouting.

Perhaps worried that she had shouted too loudly, Sinclair’s voice could be heard telling her to be quiet.

But the excited woman could hardly lower her voice. Then, as she went inside, she said in somewhat awkward Albion language:

“Where on earth did the information leak from? Who passed it to the army?”

At those words, Eloise’s heart sank.

‘Could it be?’

She remembered what she had sent to Richard. Could it possibly be that?

But she had only written the date and location—how significant could that have been?

Thinking this, Eloise hurriedly went out to the street. Now she needed to send this to the address Richard had given her. Or she could go there directly.

Just as she thought that.

“…!”

Someone covered Eloise’s mouth.

* * *

Huinak Beach in Gilia. A place with several ports nearby, close to Albion.

Usually, it became quiet at night, but not today. In the distance, from the direction of Albion, several ships were approaching Gilia.

Ships coming and going wasn’t anything special, but anyone seeing the approaching ships now would be horrified.

That was because none of the ships were in good condition.

The mermaid figurehead hanging from the bow was missing its tail, which had broken off and disappeared.

It wasn’t just the figurehead that was shattered. There were burn marks all over the hull, and the sails that should have caught the wind were also full of burn marks and tears.

As the ship approached the beach, several people jumped off in a hurry. They swam frantically toward the shore as if they couldn’t bear to stay on the ship a moment longer.

On the beach, dozens of people who had been gathered around bonfires saw these approaching figures and rushed toward them in surprise.

One of those who ran forward grabbed someone who had just reached the shore and asked:

“What’s going on? Which unit are you from?”

To this question, the man who had swum to shore replied, gasping for breath:

“I’m from the 3rd Infantry Battalion of Saint-Chouan. More importantly, do you have any alcohol? Anything will do, something to drink…”

At these words, the man supporting him hurriedly pulled out a canteen from inside his coat. The soldier who received it opened the lid with trembling hands and drank its contents frantically. Only after drinking everything inside did some color return to the soldier’s face.

“This is Albion liquor. Whiskey, they call it? Nothing is as hateful to me today as those people, yet I find comfort in their alcohol—how absurd.”

Seeing him muttering like a madman, the one who had handed him the canteen asked:

“You were in the first wave that went to Albion. What on earth happened?”

At those words, the soldier who had drunk the liquor said, grinding his teeth:

“D*mn it, Albion knew about our surprise attack! When we arrived, everyone was happy to approach the seemingly empty beach. But when about half of us had disembarked and were about to advance, cannon fire suddenly erupted from all directions and the attack began!”

Having said that, the soldier suddenly began to sob.

“We were Gilia’s last hope! We’ve been annihilated! They already knew about our attack!”

The man who had given him the canteen listened quietly to these words.

In the dark night, with his back to the bonfire, the sobbing soldier couldn’t see the look of relief that appeared on Ryan’s face as he handed over the canteen.

Albion had successfully thwarted Gilia’s surprise attack.

It was possible thanks to information provided by someone.