I pondered for a long time at the Duke’s question.

But it was not easy to answer.

My life right now was enough to say it was overflowing.

Living in a spacious and luxurious mansion, I ate gourmet food every day, and possessed an abundance of money and jewels.

I wasn’t greedy.

But if there was something I wanted, I could get it easily, so what more could I ask for?

“Well, I don’t really want anything……”

When I couldn’t make a decision easily, the Duke said,

“Didn’t you say you wanted a tiara last year?”

“Yes.”

At the Duke’s words, I nodded and swallowed the bitterness.

When Roxana said that she wanted a tiara, it wasn’t just a desire for jewelry.

The crown was a representative object that symbolized the imperial family.

What she really wanted was a seat next to the Crown Prince.

In the end, the Duke fulfilled the wishes of his only daughter by taking on many impossible tasks.

He would probably be willing to give me anything I asked for.

“Since you were young, you liked shiny and colorful things, so would you like jewelry? If jewelry is too common, would you prefer land or buildings?”

I was taken aback by the excessive gift, so I hurriedly stopped him.

“I think jewelry would be good.”

In a situation where I was already enjoying all kinds of luxuries with other people’s money while eating free food, it was too much to receive such things.

“Okay. If there’s anything else you’d like to have, let me know.”

“Yes, I will.”

I nodded my head with a smile.

After eating, I grabbed my stomach and returned to my room.

Instead of going straight to bed to digest, I sat on the sofa and read a book.

But none of the letters in the book caught my eye.

Then, Stephen knocked on my door.

“Lady, it’s Stephen.”

“Come in.”

“I just finished the funeral of Viscountess Willis. The ashes were well buried in a sunny place near her house, and a monument was up.”

“Good work. It must have been inconvenient because it was raining outside. You must have worked hard.”

“It was fine. Then I’ll go now.”

After Stephen left, I looked into the burning fireplace.

Because of the rain, the air was humid and the sky was darker and gloomier than usual.

It was a gloomy atmosphere.

The death of a person was unpleasant.

Even if it was someone I didn’t get along with.

Above all, the fact that the Crown Prince was behind the death of the nanny came to me terribly. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but how many people in the Imperial Palace can boldly use their hands like this? The nanny had raised Roxana for a long time.

Their bond was strong, and at one time Roxana treated her like family.

However, the Crown Prince casually killed his fiancée’s nanny for Claire’s sake.

I felt even worse when I remembered the Crown Prince who told me he loved me with a sincere face at the Imperial Palace the other day. What would Roxana do if she found out about this?

For the first time, I felt fortunate that Roxana was not in this world.

If she had known that her dearest fiancé had killed a person whom she considered family for his mistress….

At least, it was clear that she would be more shocked than I was now.

My stomach churned when I thought about it.

I felt hot and nauseous.

I went to open the window, then laid down on the bed.

The ceiling in front of me seemed unreachable today.

I already knew that some nobles considered human life like a fly.

Even more so with the Imperial family.

But actually feeling what I knew in my head was completely different.

I closed my eyes with a tired face.

Somehow, it didn’t seem like I could fall asleep easily tonight.

***

Imperial palace.

When everyone was asleep, the dim light of the lamp hanging on the wall illuminated the hallway.

The sound of someone’s footsteps echoed through the quiet hallway.

He was walking with a small lamp in one hand.

After a while, he saw a light leaking through the gap in the slightly opened door and stopped with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Chief, are you not sleeping yet?”

Ellen, the deputy commander of the Knight Order led by the 2nd Prince, opened the door and asked.

“What happened? I thought you left.”

The second Prince looked at him for a moment, then with a calm face he turned his gaze back to the pile of paper in front of him.

Calm silver hair, white skin, a fine face and long eyelashes cast long shadows under the light.

The appearance of the second Prince, who concentrated on his work in neat clothes, was so beautiful.

But Ellen, who had seen it every day for several years, was not impressed.

It was already midnight, but his superior was still the same as he had been a few hours ago.

He was already familiar with the second Prince’s monstrous stamina, but couldn’t he rest a little when he got back to the capital?

Ellen made a tired face.

“I left something behind. By the way, is the document you’re looking at related to the work you ordered during the day?”

“Yes.”

The second Prince meekly nodded his head.

A document in his hand was written about Viscountess Willis.

“Why are you working so hard on something with no income? This small thing can’t shake him (the Crown Prince) anyway. It’s nothing more than a love affair.”

“Didn’t you say that you came back because you forgot something? If you’re done, go home. But from the way you meddle, it seems like you still have energy left. If that’s the case, go run a few laps at the training ground.”

The 2nd prince was annoyed by the meddling of his subordinate.

However, Ellen, who had been with the second Prince for a long time, did not care.

He pretended not to hear and said,

“Despite how hard life in prison is, it is certainly suspicious that two people involved in the same incident die so quickly. But even so, there is no evidence.”

The second Prince frowned.

Ellen was right.

There was no physical evidence.

He searched the prison several times to see how thorough the culprit was, but couldn’t find any traces of it.

Since the body had already been burned, an autopsy could not be performed.

“Oh, come to think of it… there was one survivor. Lady Dana?”

Ellen said in a voice that seemed to realize something.

“If she was locked up in the opposite room, she might have seen something. How about interrogating her?”

Suddenly, the eyes of the second Prince became cold.

As Ellen said, if Lady Dana had witnessed this, she would be the only witness.

However, the influential person behind this incident was the Crown Prince, and he must have done this for her sake.

However, Lady Dana wouldn’t openly confide in the truth.

Of course, there were many ways to get her to open her mouth.

On the battlefield, there were hundreds of ways to torture prisoners of war to reveal their secrets.

If only one of them were used, Lady Dana would be forced to reveal what she knew in less than half a day.

However, as Ellen said, it was not a good way to use energy to work on a job that had no income.

Moreover, he had the subordinate in charge of this case investigate the truth of this incident…

The second Prince lowered his gaze with a complicated face.

He always had a cold face, but he wasn’t really that kind of person.

How would the Princess react when she finds out about this, who was trying to protect even a maid of a commoner status?

Recalling the Princess’s reaction, the second Prince became confused.

“Let’s just cover this up.”

“Yes? But you’ve been looking into it for over half a day. Now that we have all the clues, isn’t it a waste?”

“Lady Dana is the Crown Prince’s mistress. That’s why he intervened in this matter. You might get caught for touching something you shouldn’t have.”

Ellen made an incomprehensible face.

“You have invested a lot of time in the middle of your busy schedule and give up so easily?

He couldn’t quite understand his boss’s mind.

“Get out of here. Otherwise, I think you want to work overtime.”

“Okay, I’m going. Then you go to sleep.”

At the serious threat, Ellen quickly ran away.

After he left, the second Prince, who was left alone in the room, finally took off his coat and turned off the lights in the room.

He took off his uniform and changed into comfortable clothes.

Then he walked into the bedroom attached to the back of the room.

The room had dark blue curtains and a wool carpet on the floor.

The furnishings were all high-end, but there were only a few things he really needed.

Except for the portrait of the empress on the wall and a few swords, there were no luxuries to be found.

The room was spacious and neat, but it looked desolate and somewhat lonely.

The second Prince lay on the bed and looked up at the ceiling.

The high ceilings were dotted with star-shaped gold carvings.

As he gazed at the quietly shining pieces in the dark, he suddenly remembered someone’s face.

Princess Lillian, her eyes were dark and vivid.

Duke Lillian was the Crown Prince’s biggest support base.

If he found out who was behind this incident and was disappointed and had a conflict with the Crown Prince, it would be good for him (2nd Prince).

But he didn’t feel like doing that.

Rather, he wished that the Princess did not know about this even more.

Why?

The Princess and him had nothing to do with each other.

He couldn’t understand himself.

However, when he remembered the Princess who kept her seat at the banquet hall with a pale face, a corner of his heart became uncomfortable.

The second Prince frowned.

He couldn’t figure out why he was feeling this way.

****

The night grew deeper and deeper.

There was no moon to be seen in the sky dyed with ink.

It was complete darkness.

Late at night, there was one other person other than the second Prince who could not sleep.

It was Claire.

In the imperial prison.

Claire was crouching in the cell.

At the entrance, there was a plate with the food she left behind.

It was a sandwich and soup.

The simple food tasted ordinary, but in prison, it was a huge feast for the soul.

Perhaps the other prisoners in the prison would open their eyes wide and try to jump at it.

However, more than half of the food remained untouched, and there were a lot of insects on it because it was not removed quickly.

It had only been a few days, but Claire’s complexion was very haggard.

Her big, round, cute eyes were red because she couldn’t sleep.

Her hair was messy, and the clothes she was wearing got dirty from living on a dirty floor. She looked down at the floor and blinked. Then, when her eyes slowly closed, she slapped herself on the cheek with a clattering sound.

Claire was doing her best not to fall asleep. At the same time, in order not to look ahead. To be precise… She was trying not to look at the iron bars on the other side. (*the other side was where the nanny and the maid died)