Baharf, noticing her concern, responded quickly. Azela, nodding her head to his trusting reply, grabbed Zagnac’s hand.

“Let’s go change clothes. I will help you.”

“…Alright.”

He was meekly dragged by her hand and started walking.

As they headed towards the bedroom, neither Zagnac nor Azela said a word to each other. Entering his bedroom, she shut the door tightly and carefully removed the clothes from Zagnac. His wound from being stabbed with the knife had stopped bleeding and was healing.

Looking at the wound that was healing, she finally opened her mouth.

“There was no need to reveal your true identity.”

Azela was surprised and uttered with a frightened look, almost as if she was about to collapse.

Zagnac laughed at Azela’s words before taking out the paper from his pocket and waving it over. It was an unwritten letter from the sender.

The content of the letter was simple.

It was a short story that the one who killed Benjamin was Duke Ferial. Benjamin’s body was drawn on a map showing where it was buried. Perhaps Findar first visited the place where Benjamin’s body was buried. And after confirming that the place belonged to the Ferial family, she would have realized that the contents of the letter were true.

“The Emperor must have sent it because the only ones who know that Benjamin is dead are you and me, and the Emperor, who hired him.”

“…What?”

Azela crumpled the paper in her hand.

“I don’t know what the Emperor will do to her if Findar doesn’t completely turn away from me. He tried to use Findar to kill me, but he failed.”

“….”

“If there is no other useful information from Findar, he will probably try to kill her.”

Azela closed her eyes tightly and touched her forehead.

“So, you’re saying that’s why you revealed your identity first?”

Previously, Zagnac had said that Findar was nothing, just like someone he had, because he needed it on a calculation basis.

“Yes. Perhaps the Emperor has approached her by now.… Findar will tell the emperor about my identity.”

However, now he was different. Unlike back then, Zagnac was now extremely human. He tried to protect Findar.

Azela covered her eyes, filled with mixed feelings, with her hand on her forehead.

“You should have told her the truth that I killed him.”

“Azela.”

“Why are you… instead of me.”

She bit her lip again. Why was he trying to handle everything for her? Even revealing his identity that he had hidden until now…

“Azela.”

Zagnac grabbed Azela’s hand, which had covered her eyes.

“You told me.”

“….”

“Human emotions… the feeling of loving someone and the feeling of cherishing something. Everything you told me. I want to cherish these.”

“Zagnac.”

“You promised Benjamin that you would protect Findar, and I want to keep your promise. With Findar, of course.”

“But…”

“If I don’t cherish the feeling of love that I learned from you, I’m still like a devil who doesn’t know how to feel.… but I love you, and for that reason, I don’t mind my identity being known to everyone.”

At his words, she took Zagnac into her arms. Even in the midst of that, he was trying to protect her. She tried to keep her promise, and he kept her safe from danger… even if he got hated.

She carefully ran her fingers through his black hair.

“Don’t worry.”

Zagnac raised his hand and comforted her, as if saying that he would handle everything about her himself.

* * *

“….”

As Findar looked at the beer in front of her, she saw a smirking man on the other side.

“I thought you might need alcohol, so I prepared it instead of tea but you don’t seem to like it.”

“…Is it Your Majesty who sent me that letter?”

It was the imperial carriage that approached Findar, who was kicked out of the Ferial mansion and crying in front of the door. The Emperor, as if he had waited, brought her to the Imperial Palace as soon as her was driven out of the mansion.

“That’s right.”

The Emperor, who saw her red eyes, smiled kindly and nodded his head gently. Then, with a sad face, he continued his words in a grievous voice.

“Actually, Benjamin was secretly helping me with my work.”

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“…Benjamin?”

“Yes. The reason he came up to the Capital this time was because he had a mission.”

His words made her frown. She had never heard of it. The fact that Benjamin helped the Emperor, and he came up to the Capital at the Emperor’s order.

Findar, with a complicated face, picked up the beer in front of her and drank it down. After wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she asked, putting her beer glass down on the table with a rather rough gesture.

“What did Benjamin do?”

“He did several things, but the last thing he did was research on Duke Ferial.”

“…Research about Duke Ferial?”

Findar frowned.

“I’m not human, I’m a devil.”

She suddenly remembered what Zagnac had said to her. As Findar grimaced in memory, the Emperor’s eyes shone. The emperor quickly spoke again.

“While investigating Duke Ferial’s identity, he was killed by him.”

“….!”

Of course, it was all lies, but Findar, who had no way of knowing it, seemed to believe his words.

Seeing her vengeful eyes and fists shaking with anger, the Emperor smiled softly. Then, with a relaxed gesture, he rubbed his chin and said.

“I heard that Miss Findar spent a long time beside Duke Ferial and working with him.”

“…Yes.”

“That’s why I’m asking you.”

The Emperor bent his upper body forward, observing Findar’s expression, and carefully spoke his words.

“Do you know anything about Duke Ferial’s true identity?”

Findar’s eyebrows twitched. Seeing that, the Emperor was convinced that she knew about Duke Ferial’s true identity. When she did not open her tightly closed lips, he continued speaking again in a mournful voice.

“I can’t help it if you don’t know, but I want to get revenge for Benjamin’s death.”

“…Revenge for Benjamin?”

“Yes. Benjamin worked for me, so I must avenge him.”

Of course, it was false. However, the sadness of losing her family, the sense of betrayal of the person she trusted, and vengeance for her brother blinded Findar, so there was no way she could have sensed such things right now.

Findar’s quivering eyes looked at the Emperor.

“So, even if it’s small, think of avenging your brother. Could you let me know?”

With the Emperor’s question, Findar quietly closed her eyes. Benjamin’s smiling face was drawn over her closed eyes. He was an older brother who sacrificed his whole life for her… and even the image of Zagnac killing Benjamin was drawn together.

Even as he killed his brother, he calmly and casually lied about Benjamin going down to the outskirts. He showed no remorse or guilt at all.

“Duke Ferial.”

Findar bit her lip hard, that blood dripped from her bitten lip.

“He is a devil, not a human being.”

The Emperor drew a bright smile at Findar’s words.

* * *

Findar disappeared, leaving a vengeful gaze at Zagnac. Not to mention the boutique shop, she wasn’t seen anywhere. Even though she was worried about her, Zagnac said to help her, Azela should not seek her out if he had concealed her appearance.

She couldn’t be calm by the side of the murderer who killed her family.

Zagnac’s scars left by Findar healed within a few hours. However, he had to live an uncomfortable life wearing bandages for a while to deceive the viewers. In addition, according to Baharf, all the employees who saw it that day decided to keep their mouths shut for a large sum of money.

Fortunately, everything worked out just fine.

“Hmm, well, I guess it’s good.”

Livia, who was drinking the tea, whispered softly with a slightly blushing face. Azela, who was drinking tea across from her, tilted her head, not knowing what that meant. Even after that, when she had time, She would visit her and enjoy tea time together.

“Duke Ferial.”

“How, how did you know?”

“Hmm. That…”

When Azela asked how she knew, Livia smiled embarrassedly.