Seeing Yuta frozen in shock, Chloe began rifling through the folds of her skirt.

“Here—wasn’t this the letter you sent, Lord Yuta? Telling me to deal with Rosie. I only followed that…”

Yuta frowned and took the letter from her hand.

“It’s unfortunate, Young Lord.”

A low voice came from behind a wide pillar.

Chloe flinched violently.

Caliban, along with several knights—and even Zahid—stepped into view.

“To think that you would come all the way to the Count’s estate and make contact with Temple spies to harm my granddaughter.”

From Yuta and Chloe’s perspective, the situation was clearly catastrophic.

The contents of the letters they had received contained information known only within the Temple.

Not even the Noart Count estate—or the four great ducal families—would be expected to know about it.

Because of that, they had no doubt that they’d been contacting each other under Temple authorization.

“I also found out that you’re not my granddaughter, but a Temple pawn that was planted here.”

Caliban spoke in a low voice. At the same time, the knights behind him restrained Yuta and Chloe and gagged them with handkerchiefs.

Before they could even resist, they slumped unconscious with a soft thud.

“We caught them in the act, so we’ve got the most important evidence. Lock them up in the underground cells. I’ll interrogate them myself once they wake.”

Caliban issued the cold command.

One of his loyal retainers hesitated and muttered,

“Forgive me, Count, but locking the Young Lord of Orgon in the dungeon is a bit…”

“True. Treating a duke’s adopted son like a criminal and putting him in a dungeon is too much. Put the Young Lord of Orgon in the tower.”

Meanwhile, the rabbit Divine Beast at Yuta’s feet clung to his collapsed body.

“Send the Divine Beast to the Orgon estate. Why was it forcibly brought here in the first place?”

“…Count.”

Seeing that, Zahid hesitated, then stepped forward.

“That rabbit Divine Beast… it would be best to leave it with Assistant Yuta.”

He couldn’t explain everything, but as someone who possessed a Divine Beast himself, Zahid could instinctively feel it.

That Divine Beast wanted to be with Yuta.

No matter what he thought of Yuta, Zahid believed that separating a Divine Beast from its chosen person was unbearably cruel to the creature.

Of course, Yuta wasn’t officially its master yet, but the emotional bond between them already seemed that deep.

“The rabbit Divine Beast followed him. It seems to wish to stay at the Young Lord’s side.”

“…The Young Lord isn’t its master yet, is he? There’s no way he could be planning something with that Divine Beast, right?”

“That’s certain. The current master of this Divine Beast is still the Duchess of Orgon.”

“Well then, do it that way. We’ll respect the Duchess’s wishes regarding the handling of the Divine Beast.”

Caliban even addressed her as “Duchess,” not the usual “brat,” showing his respect. After all, the management of Divine Beasts had always been the domain of the ducal houses since ancient times.

Even the Imperial family deferred to the dukes when it came to Divine Beasts.

“Thank you.”

Zahid spoke quietly and let out a breath.

Though Caliban maintained his cold, expressionless face, his mouth was tight with suppressed emotion.

“Bring Felide to me.”

He had spent his entire life in opposition to the Temple.

In fact, all his wealth and power had been for the sole purpose of fighting the Temple.

And yet… his own son had gone to the Temple?

And tried to install one of their agents as his heir?

Even preparing for years of political maneuvering?

It made sense that Chloe had shown such dazzling results each day. The Temple had been feeding her all the information and helping her fabricate everything.

But that trap—was dug by none other than his own son?

He suddenly remembered Monica’s letter forgery involving the apprentice priest and realized it must also be tied to this incident. His face darkened.

Surely this wasn’t the first time such collusion ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) had occurred.

A deep shadow fell over Caliban’s face.

“Ethan? I’ll go to his room.”

Zahid could guess at Caliban’s devastated feelings. So he spoke with a bitter expression.

“Rosie should be there. I’ll take care of her.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

It was his way of saying: Don’t worry about Rosie for now—she’ll be unconscious anyway.

“…Alright.”

Caliban murmured in a strangely hollow voice.

“I leave it to you…”

Zahid gave a single nod. Then, asking a knight for directions, he rode Fire toward ‘Garnet.’

* * *

“Wow, what the… this place is chaos.”

Ethan whistled as he stepped down from the carriage.

The Count’s estate was packed with people. Yet no one spared a glance at the robed figure he had wrapped around himself.

“Ugh. What a mess. Gotta get to my room first.”

He had brought luggage from the Magic Tower, so he immediately headed toward his room, ‘Garnet.’

“Oh my, Lord Ethan?”

A few maids recognized Ethan and widened their eyes.

They were simply surprised to see him after a long time. But Ethan puffed up his cheeks and tilted his chin as if he were some celebrity.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t stare. I think it’s too early for this kind of attention. I haven’t had enough practice yet.”

“…Excuse me?”

The maids didn’t understand him at all.

“It’s like that.”

Ethan waved his hand haughtily. Then, in contrast to his dramatic gestures, he briskly hurried off toward his room. He was afraid he might run into Roystan. The Count’s estate still didn’t feel comfortable to him.

And as he approached the remote wing where his long-vacant room was located, not even the servants passed by anymore.

“Huh? What the heck!”

And right then, he ran into someone entirely unexpected in front of the stairs.

“That… isn’t that the slick-looking guy from Dyfenril? What are you doing here…”

It was Zahid, riding Fire.

“Ah, perfect.”

Zahid grabbed Ethan by the arm. His chilling violet eyes flashed as he urgently asked,

“Where’s your room? I was told it’s this way, but why are there no servants around?”

Ethan was startled, but instinctively deflated and replied immediately.

“My room is that gloomy corner with no sunlight… Wait. Why are you looking for my room?”

“There’s no time to explain in detail. Rosie’s trapped in there.”

“What? Wait, what?!”

“That’s why we need to go. Now. She’s locked in the wardrobe or something.”

At those words, all the color drained from Ethan’s face.

“Please… please… I’m sorry! Open the window, please! I’m sorry, it’s my fault!”

He remembered how Rosie had panicked just because the curtains in the carriage had been drawn.

And now—Rosie was locked in a wardrobe?

“N-No, no, no, no, this is bad!”

Ethan shouted, mouth agape.

“Rosie can’t be trapped! Absolutely not! We have to go now!”

And he sprinted down the corridor in a panic.

Seeing that reaction, a memory flashed through Zahid’s mind.

“I’m scared of dark, tight spaces. So if I ever get kidnapped and locked up somewhere like that, forget the mission or whatever, just drop everything and come save me with your life on the line. Got it?”

Rosie had definitely said that.

But she’d said it so lightly, he hadn’t taken it seriously. He’d assumed it was just a normal dislike of dark, cramped places like most kids.

But Ethan’s reaction was not normal.

‘If that’s true, before she wakes up—’

Zahid spurred Fire to follow Ethan in haste.

“Aaaaaaaagh!”

Suddenly, a scream rang out from ahead.

“I’m sorry! No, no! Please… please forgive me! Don’t lock me up! I’ll be good! Aaaaagh!”

It was an unimaginable voice—so raw and desperate it bordered on inhuman.

Zahid’s heart dropped like a stone.

His hands trembled, and his body froze.

“Please, please stop! Aaaaaaagh! Just the window, the window… aaaaaaaagh!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep