The atmosphere in the office was suffocatingly tense.
Kyle, who had cautiously opened his eyes after some time, found himself unable to meet Ian’s gaze, his eyes darting around aimlessly.
Ian, leaning slightly back in his chair, didn’t miss a single move, his eyes fixed relentlessly on Kyle.
This is bad, Kyle thought, feeling the oppressive weight of his master’s menacing aura tighten around his chest.
Judging by that piercing gaze, there was no chance of brushing this off as usual.
If he didn’t give a proper answer, he would die.
If he tried to bluff with a flimsy lie, he would die.
If he couldn’t provide an answer that satisfied his master, he would die.
Kyle, who knew better than anyone about Ian’s obsessive persistence and refusal to let anything slide, understood that this was no ordinary situation.
“……”
And the current circumstances were unmistakable.
Even though Ian hadn’t explicitly mentioned a subject, Kyle wasn’t foolish enough to miss that this interrogation was related to the Grand Duchess.
Recently, his lord had become irrationally sensitive about anything involving her.
The fact that Ian had gone all the way to her office, sensed something suspicious, then returned to grill him like this was proof enough.
Despite all that, Ian’s affection for Eloise seemed boundless.
If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve just gone along with it instead of trying to mediate, Kyle regretted belatedly.
“You’re still not answering,” Ian murmured, his tone lethargic as he lifted a long, pale finger to tap on the wooden desk.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The faint sound of his fingertip meeting the polished wood echoed intermittently, and with every tap, Kyle felt years being shaved off his lifespan.
“Are you planning to stay silent to the end?”
“N-no, it’s just…”
“I must have raised an awfully disloyal aide, to think you would defy me like this.”
Kyle drew a sharp breath at the scornful tone that carried no discernible emotion.
If I screw this up, it won’t just be my job—I’ll lose my head too.
Through experience, Kyle knew that his lord was at his most dangerous when exuding this kind of cold, threatening atmosphere.
It wasn’t just the intensity of it; Ian never let anyone go until he got the answer he wanted. The smartest move here was to spill the truth.
But if he revealed everything as it was…
‘I swear, I would never betray the Grand Duke. I love him.’
‘I don’t want to hurt Ian. I also want to stay by his side as long as possible. That’s why I’m asking you to help me.’
Eloise’s face came to mind as she had spoken to him without a hint of hesitation or deceit.
Kyle knew Eloise well enough to be sure—she was not someone who could lie easily, let alone do so with a straight face.
If she had gone so far as to ask for his help, there had to be a reason she couldn’t confide in anyone else.
Damn it. This is exactly why I didn’t want to get involved. I’m the one getting crushed here.
Kyle ground his teeth nervously.
Life or loyalty to the Grand Duchess—he couldn’t come up with an easy answer to this impossible dilemma.
“……”
“……”
After what felt like an eternity of oppressive silence, Ian closed his eyes tightly for a moment before opening them again.
“Kyle Elzeier.”
“…Yes, my lord.”
“I’ll give you three seconds.”
Ian’s voice dropped to a chillingly low tone, making Kyle flinch.
He knew all too well what that icy tone signified: Ian’s patience had run out.
“Three.”
“……”
“Two.”
“……”
“On—”
“I-I’ll talk! I’ll talk, alright?!”
Oh, damn it. I’m screwed.
Kyle blurted out his answer before Ian could finish counting, then squeezed his eyes shut.
No matter how much he was indebted to the Grand Duchess or valued his loyalty to her, Kyle wasn’t bold enough to risk his life over it.
After all, wasn’t he just a regular guy, collecting his paycheck and daydreaming about retiring someday?
Granted, his “regularity” was undermined by his exceptional competence, but still.
I’m sorry, Your Grace, truly. But I really tried my best.
Inwardly begging Eloise for forgiveness, Kyle cautiously opened one eye that had been squeezed shut.
And his gaze met head-on with his master, who was staring daggers at him, still in the same posture as before.
Oh no.
If looks could kill, Kyle was certain he would already be lying sprawled on the office floor, pierced through by Ian’s sharp glare.
With a deep sigh, Kyle finally opened his mouth.
“Before I tell you the truth, there’s something I need to say first.”
“……”
“The Grand Duchess absolutely, without a doubt, has no intention of betraying you, my lord. She even said she didn’t want to hurt you. And, most importantly, she said she lo— lo—…”
“Lo?”
“…loves you.”
Kyle’s voice trailed off, shrinking smaller and smaller as he forced out the final words.
I never thought I’d live to say something like this, he lamented.
Meanwhile, for the first time, a crack appeared in Ian’s composed expression.
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t hear all the details, so I can’t say for sure… but it didn’t seem like the Grand Duchess was planning anything that would cause trouble between you two.”
Even before getting to the point, Kyle was already desperately trying to defend Eloise.
“Your preamble is long,” Ian remarked coldly.
Of course, Ian was not the type to humor such explanations.
I should’ve known, Kyle sighed inwardly, lamenting his fate.
Reluctantly, he finally began to spill the truth.
“The Grand Duchess summoned me a few days ago and gave me a discreet command. She asked if I knew anything about the ‘sorcery’ you had been searching for in the past and told me to gather information about it.”
“…Sorcery?”
Kyle nodded so vigorously it seemed his head might fall off.
“Yes, you know… from last year. Back when the atmosphere among the staff at the Grand Duke’s manor was unusually tense. Word was that the Grand Duchess was desperately looking for a way to escape somewhere.”
“A place to escape…”
“Back then, my lord, you didn’t pay much attention to the Grand Duchess, so you might not know about it. But rumors were spreading quietly through social circles. They said the Grand Duchess was searching for sorcery to disappear to a place where no one could find her…”
Ian’s eyes narrowed briefly before returning to their normal state.
There were rumors like that?
He vaguely recalled hearing something to that effect.
As Kyle said, back then Eloise had been outside Ian’s sphere of interest.
As long as she fulfilled her duties as the Grand Duchess perfectly, her personal affairs hadn’t been his concern.
And at some point, the rumors had simply ceased, fading from memory.
“So, she’s searching for the same sorcery she was looking for a year ago?”
“Yes.”
Ian pressed his lips together tightly.
At the same time, the divorce papers he had discovered in Eloise’s room suddenly came to mind.
…No, that can’t be.
But just as quickly, the image of Eloise sobbing desperately and saying she didn’t want to part with him flashed through his mind, and he shook his head.
His beloved wife had no talent for lying.
Especially when it came to matters of the heart, she was completely transparent.
Not only was she bad at lying, but her attempts were so clumsy that even a child wouldn’t be fooled. Watching her try was almost laughable—though Ian found that part of her incredibly endearing.
Just earlier, when he had asked what she had been doing, she hadn’t even managed to come up with a proper excuse and had avoided his gaze instead.
Her confession that day couldn’t possibly have been a lie.
“……”
Then why?
While Ian fell silent, lost in thought, Kyle cautiously raised a hand and waved it in the air.
The next moment, books and documents identical to those he had delivered to Eloise appeared on Ian’s desk.
Kyle knew exactly what he needed to do in this situation.
“Is this all?”
“For now, yes. This is everything I’ve gathered.”
Ian showed no reaction to the sudden appearance of the pile of documents.
With an impassive face, he flipped through the topmost pages before narrowing his eyes again.
The materials Kyle had provided were filled with descriptions of strange sorcery.
Spells to completely disappear from the world, to cross into another dimension, or to transform one’s appearance and identity to reach a place where no one could find them…
Among the dozens of unimaginable, incomprehensible spells listed, Ian’s gaze suddenly stopped on one particular title.
〈Exchange of Body and Soul〉
• • •
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