/
“
.”
I kept my mouth shut. Now, even Princess Hermia seemed to think I was half crazy.
“Oh, excuse me.”
Hermia eventually opened her mouth again in a cheerful voice.
“I see. So you’re confident enough, right?”
“
Yes.”
I nodded, but in reality, it was quite the opposite. There was no way I could be confident. Still, I couldn’t let go of my hands, so I just needed to keep moving.
“Well, if the Young Lady is going that far. I can open a formal trial enough.”
Hermia’s eyes sparkled.
“But, the Young Lady knows what you need to do, right?”
“What do you want?”
“It’s simple.”
With her eyes narrowed again, she smiled and opened her mouth again.
“Right now, the Young Lady has a complete grasp on Cassius Brudenell, right?”
“
.”
“So, if it’s the Young Lady’s words, the Lord will follow anything.”
“I can’t say that.”
“Hmm.”
She then gazed straight at me.
“It seems to me that the Young Lady already thinks so, right? And it really is.”
“
.”
“So
 if, if it turns out to be a failure
”
Hermia finished her words as if singing.
“I wish you to drag my dear older brother into the abyss with me.”
“
.!”
I jumped up from my seat.
There were several princes, but the elder brother of Princess Hermia was, no way

“
Are you referring to His Highness, Crown Prince Ludwig?”
“Shh.”
After silencing me, she tilted her head as her smile deepened.
“You can’t say it publicly like that, can you?”
“Your Imperial Highness
”
My voice trembled on its own.
“That’s impossible. Even if it’s Cassius, pulling him down is
”
“It’s possible.”
As she placed her hand on my shoulder, the chilling feeling naturally gave me goosebumps, and she uttered, “Recently, rumors about the Bynell Kingdom have been disturbing
 Doesn’t the Ducal family have a very special relationship with the Kingdom of Bynell?”
“
Do you call that a special relationship?”
“Well, it indeed is a special relationship.”
Hermia gave a sweet smile.
“You must’ve already dug into the enemy meticulously so you should be able to come up with a story that is credible enough?”
“Like I said, what good is it for Cassius
!”
“Isn’t it?”
Asking that, she tilted her head and went on.
“What the Young Lady wants is for a formal trial to be held. All I want is for the Lord to win there, or even if he doesn’t win, bring down my beloved brother. If you don’t understand this
. it will be difficult for the young lady to get anything from me.”
I bit my lip.
This was the only chance.
Still, to seize this opportunity, Cassius would have to make sacrifices. As long as he wouldn’t lose the trial, he had a good chance of escaping the death penalty. And even if it didn’t work out, I could still help him escape
 however, if the image of the Crown Prince was ruined

‘Both would become impossible.’
The death penalty would be confirmed. The security would also be even tighter, so it would be impossible to escape.
‘
In the first place, I wouldn’t even agree to this deal.’
I made up my mind.
It was a losing trade, no matter how I looked at it.
“Your Imperial Highness.”
I politely bent my knees.
“I’m sorry for asking you too much. I hope you’ll pretend you didn’t hear me.”
“
.”
The Princess gazed at me intently. The next moment, the words that came out of the slowly opened lips were quite surprising.
“If that’s what the Young Lady wants, then it can’t be helped. Though come back to visit me again whenever you change your mind.”
 : * ✧ * : 
It wasn’t that he didn’t gain any means from my meeting with Hermia. I realized two things that I hadn’t been aware of until now.
First of all

‘A formal trial is impossible.’
Considering her attitude, the treatment Cassius would receive by actually holding a formal trial would be

‘
D*mn it.’
As I bit my lip, the fishy taste of blood reminded me of my first meeting with Cassius. The moment blood splattered in front of my eyes.
‘
.’
I breathed in.
Until now, I’d been overly dependent on Hermia. Didn’t I run to her whenever something happened? No matter how much she was the leader of the investigation, even holding the life and death of Cassius in her hands, in the end, she was just a powerful person who wanted to take care of her own interests.
‘
Cassius will listen to whatever I say.’
This was the second fact I realized from the conversation with Hermia.
No, in this case, it would be correct to say that I knew the meaning unconsciously. I had taken for granted that he would obey me.
I closed my eyes.
Wouldn’t it be better to stop struggling to save him at this point and take him out of the country?
‘And, if I run away with him
’
I lowered my head at the thought.
Even though it was sweet, this, too, was just a delusion. What would happen after running away? Where would Cassius Brudenell go to live as a fugitive for the rest of his life
?
‘
Still, it’s better than dying.’
I made up my mind.
Really, I’ll be trying to save him one last time
 and if it doesn’t work, I’ll throw away everything and run away with him.
 : * ✧ * : 
The only hope left for me was a list that had been handed down by the owners of the Aisle from generation to generation.
Even though I hadn’t been able to look at it properly because I’d been busy, I started reading it diligently, thinking that there might be a clue to save Cassius. My reading speed was slow because I was relying on the dim light inside the hallway headquarters while reading, but I couldn’t miss the content as well.
‘Huh?’
I blinked my eyes.
At first, I thought it was simply a list of the members of the Aisle, but it didn’t seem to be the case. The list sorted out who to trust and whom I shouldn’t trust. Considering that most of them were already dead or missing, I could fully guess what the literature was used for.
‘Originally, it must have been a document passed from father to son.’
However, before Cassius could properly inherit the family, Duke Brudenell died, and it fell now into my hands, who was an outsider.
My hand, which was quickly flipping through the list, stopped and hesitated for a moment.
‘
Cesare?’
He was an informant in charge of the Kingdom of Bynell, so he was a person I communicated with often. However, in this list

‘It wasn’t easy to keep an eye on him as he has become immature as he has grown older, so it’s written that you shouldn’t send him overseas. Instead, he’s bright and cheerful, so he has a good affinity
’
Everywhere I looked, it seemed different from the description of ‘Cesare’ I had known.
‘He was very serious and polite, and he was in charge of the Kingdom of Bynell, right?’
At that moment, many members of the organization appeared on the doorstep all of a sudden.
I frowned.
“What’s going on?”
“
.”
There was no answer, only silence returned.
My body started to tense up on its own. If they had a bad intention
.
‘Consuming is natural.’
I suddenly realized.
Even though the Aisle had been passed over by Cassius to me, I was an outsider while the person who gave the order was sentenced to death and imprisoned. Aisle was simply a convenient tool, but in reality, it was a rampaging beast.
A man gradually entered the room the next moment.
It was Cesare.
‘What a coincidence.’
The urge to laugh at this absurd situation surged up. Just as soon as I found some suspicious documents about him, he came in here like this?
“
I want you to tell me quickly what you want.”
I opened my mouth slowly.
It seemed that they had no intention of killing me anyway since they could have been exposed if they had killed me, who was in everyone’s eyes because I was pregnant with Cassius Brudenell’s child.
‘Is it money, freedom, or support? Whatever it is, it’s completely out of my control.’
Right now, Duke Brudenell was Cassius, no matter what anyone said. Because of that, I couldn’t do anything without his decision. They would be well aware of such a fact as well. So no matter what they wanted, it’s clear that it wouldn’t be a big deal.
“I missed you, Eve.”
I froze.
It was because the title that flowed from Cesare’s mouth and the way he spoke reminded me of someone very familiar to me.
I automatically stepped back.

It couldn’t be the person I thought it would be. It couldn’t be the person who called me Eve. Not only that, but his hair color, eye color, and body shape were all different.
He was a completely different person!
‘And above all, he’s dead. I mean dead! When Cassius asked if I wanted him to kill him
 I made the request myself, and I also even checked the body
’
However, that gaze looking at me mournfully, it was just

“
Gabriel?”
“You noticed quickly.”
An unfamiliar voice tickled my ear, not Gabriel’s.
“Didn’t you call me Lucifer again for a while, Eve?”