Chapter 157
Unlike Alice who hesitated momentarily, Hasis did not stop walking.
He was approaching Alice with very disciplined steps.
‘Yes, I should be like that too.’
If she remained frozen like this, wouldn’t she look frightened?
Alice straightened her back and walked forward, putting strength into each step.
And finally, Alice came face to face with Hasis, maintaining a slight distance.
Naturally, it was Hasis who greeted her first.
“It’s been a while, Duchess.”
“It has been a while, Sir Winston.”
“It seems you’re on your way to see the Duke.”
“Yes. Well then, goodbye.”
Alice bid farewell immediately after exchanging greetings.
Ordinarily, she should have at least asked after his well-being out of courtesy, but Alice didn’t want to do that.
She wasn’t curious about the well-being of that madman.
So without bothering to hide her hardened expression, she attempted to walk past him.
Even if it was rude, there was no one else in this corridor besides Hasis, Alice, and Ruyd anyway.
But just as Alice was passing by Hasis, he spoke:
“Your complexion has truly improved since I saw you at the hunting grounds, Duchess.”
The hunting grounds…?
Alice stopped walking and turned to Hasis.
“What did you just say…”
Alice asked again, wondering if she had misheard.
After all, what Hasis had just said was related to a taboo that couldn’t be openly discussed between them—or rather, something he absolutely shouldn’t mention.
Hasis looked at Alice and spoke with even more precise pronunciation than before:
“I said, your complexion has improved greatly since I saw you at the hunting grounds, Duchess.”
She hadn’t misheard.
Hasis was indeed referring to what had happened in the hunting grounds—the subspace created with black magic.
Because Alice had never encountered the normal-looking Knight Hasis inside the hunting grounds that day.
The person she had encountered at the hunting grounds wasn’t pretending to be a proper knight as he was now, but Hasis Winston the murderer, wearing a black mask and with crazed eyes in the subspace.
Alice quietly observed Hasis for a moment.
‘He knows that I see through his true self.’
The Empress had probably informed him that Alice had figured everything out.
Alice knows that the masked assassin in the subspace was Hasis, you.
Well, she had never made any actions or statements with such a nuance.
And while Hasis was a murderer and an excellent assassin, he wasn’t smart enough to deduce and correctly guess facts that weren’t visibly apparent.
Even in the subspace that day, Hasis had simply tried to kill Alice and Viscountess Rosetta on the Empress’s orders, without realizing that Alice had been deliberately following the Viscountess.
So it was clear that the Empress had told him this time as well.
Hasis had always been the Empress’s puppet. Puppets don’t have the self-awareness to judge and interpret things.
But… did Hasis really volunteer to become her puppet due to his twisted love for the Empress?
Or was his mind bewitched by the Empress’s black magic?
Alice suddenly wondered about this.
In truth, Hasis appeared quite normal on the surface.
Perhaps even his becoming a murderer might have been due to being bewitched by the Empress’s black magic.
But whatever the case, Hasis was destined to die. And even if he had been bewitched by black magic, Alice wouldn’t feel an ounce of sympathy.
Whether bewitched or not, he had been someone who wanted to slice her piece by piece.
Sympathy, my foot. She would laugh with satisfaction when that madman died.
“Of course I look better. Haven’t I safely overcome a near-death experience and punished those who tried to kill me?”
Alice displayed a bright smile to Hasis, as if previewing that laugh.
“Ah. Of course, I haven’t caught that crazy bastard who said he would slice me up piece by piece yet.”
“…”
“Well, I’ll catch that bastard soon. And just as that madman said, I plan to slice him and his master up piece by piece.”
Alice looked straight at Hasis and gently gave him a pretty eye-smile.
Whether she had learned something from watching Sienna all this time, it wasn’t difficult to smile brightly while saying such brutal words.
In contrast to Alice’s smile, Hasis’s face hardened.
The disgusting murderer hidden beneath the perfect knight’s facade was slightly revealed.
He couldn’t control his emotions.
As Alice smiled even more deeply, satisfied with his reaction, Hasis took a step toward her.
“Becoming intoxicated with victory as if you’ve already won everything would be dangerous, Duchess.”
He said, shooting a gaze filled with murderous intent.
“Because the war isn’t over yet. What if your small body gets sliced up by an enemy while you’re being so careless?”
‘This bastard.’
Alice suppressed the curse that rose to her throat with a smile. Then she looked straight up into Hasis’s eyes, which were flashing with murderous intent.
“Don’t worry, Sir Winston. I absolutely won’t be careless until the moment I cut off their limbs one by one, and finally their necks.”
“…”
“Well, I’m busy, so I’ll be going now.”
Alice threw a sneer at Hasis, whose eye corners were twitching with anger, and turned around again.
And she never looked back.
‘Ah, I think I was pretty cool just now.’
Alice felt satisfied with her seemingly improved offensive capability as she headed toward the Commander-in-Chief’s office in the building.
At that moment, a familiar voice stopped her.
“My lady.”
Alice lowered her foot, which was about to climb the stairs, and turned toward the voice.
“Your Grace?”
The one who had called Alice was none other than Kylus.
‘Why is he coming from there?’
According to what she had heard from the Third Prince, the Commander-in-Chief’s office was supposed to be on the third floor of the Galeo building.
As Alice stood still with rounded eyes, Kylus approached quickly.
He too looked a bit surprised to see Alice.
“What brings you here, my lady?”
“Well… of course I came to see you…?”
Alice answered slowly.
“To see me? Didn’t you say you were going straight back to the mansion after meeting the Third Prince?”
Kylus’s eyebrows rose slightly.
Alice exhaled with regret at her failed surprise event and said:
“I did. I lied so I could surprise you by appearing in your office with a ‘ta-da!’ But… it seems I’ve failed. I didn’t expect to meet you here like this.”
“Hmm, you haven’t failed. What does it matter if it’s not my office? You appeared before me with a ‘ta-da’ just like this.”
“What?”
As Alice looked up at Kylus with wide eyes, he smiled and said:
“Although it’s not the surprise meeting you wanted, this coincidence alone is enough to make me happy.”
‘Rien, because you came to see me first.’
Kylus added softly as he moved closer to her.
At that, Alice’s disappointment melted away like snow in the sun.
‘How can he say such beautiful things?’
Alice smiled at Kylus and asked:
“But where are you coming from?”
Kylus hadn’t come out of the Galeo building but had followed her in from behind.
Wondering if he might have been at the knights’ training grounds, she asked, and Kylus answered with a faint smile:
“Yes. I had something to look into… I was just on my way back after stepping out briefly.”
Kylus’s gaze darkened slightly. Could something unpleasant have happened?
“Has there been any movement from the Empress’s side?”
As Alice asked quietly, just in case, Kylus shook his head.
“No. I was just organizing some matters related to the Third Prince’s knightly order.”
“Ah…”
Alice let out a small exclamation of relief.
She had been slightly anxious due to Kylus’s dark gaze, especially after hearing Hasis’s meaningful words that the war wasn’t over yet.
But since he said it wasn’t so, she felt relieved.
‘Yes, come to think of it, it’s just like in movies or novels where villains say “Do you think this is the end?” before they ultimately die.’
So Hasis was just saying such things because his time to die was approaching.
Alice relaxed her expression and asked Kylus:
“Then are you done with your busy work?”
“Yes.”
“And your… conversation with Count Latrang went well too?”
“Yes. The conversation went well, and we’ve decided to go there in two days.”
‘There.’ Since they were in an open space, Kylus had appropriately changed his words, but Alice understood perfectly.
‘So we’re going to meet the First Prince in two days.’
As Alice slowly nodded, Kylus asked this time:
“Did you have a pleasant time with the Third Prince?”
“Yes. It was very enjoyable. I also sightsaw around the palace while walking here… though at the end, I did encounter an unpleasant person, like a flaw in a gem.”
“An unpleasant person?”
Kylus’s eyebrows shot up.
“I met Sir Hasis Winston. Sir Winston told me that the war isn’t over yet, and if I’m careless, my small body might get sliced up.”
Having sworn not to lie to Kylus, Alice relayed what Hasis had said exactly.
And upon hearing those words, Kylus’s face hardened like frost.
As if he would go dismember Hasis right away.
Since she had told him knowing he would get extremely angry like this, Alice wasn’t surprised and took his hand.
“You don’t need to be so angry. I already landed a counterattack, telling him I wouldn’t be careless until his neck was cut off.”
Alice grinned slightly and added:
‘I did well, didn’t I?’
It was like a rabbit proudly showing off its cotton-soft fist to a tiger.
But that appearance was so lovable and cute that Kylus couldn’t help but soften his hardened expression.
Because the rabbit’s cotton-soft fist had struck his heart.
Kylus smiled gently and replied:
“You did well.”
Alice was smiling when she suddenly remembered something and told Kylus:
“Oh, by the way, today when I was leaving for the palace, Sienna gave me Mont Blanc chocolate tarts to deliver to the Third Prince. She said she went out herself in the morning to buy them.”
“Sienna did?”
Kylus widened his eyes in surprise, then immediately chuckled.
“It seems Sienna and His Highness have become quite close.”
“Very much so.”
Alice winked.
“Then it would be good to change Sienna’s surname to Dearrut. For the future.”
“My goodness. That’s a really good idea.”
It was natural that the gap would widen significantly when the Third Prince became Crown Prince, as Sienna’s status was that of the daughter of the Meltain Barony.
But if Sienna were adopted into the Dearrut family, that gap would be drastically reduced.
She would become the daughter of the empire’s most prestigious family.
She would be more than qualified to become the Crown Prince’s consort.
‘If only there wasn’t the Wraith of Darkness, everything would be going so well.’
‘No, let’s not think negatively today.’
Alice erased the Wraith of Darkness from her mind momentarily and held Kylus’s hand more tightly.
“Your Grace. Can you leave the palace now?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s go eat walnut pie together.”
“Now?”
“Yes, now. Don’t even think about refusing. This is my first date request to Kail.”
Alice looked up at him brazenly, overcoming her embarrassment.
Kylus, with his black eyes filled with the image of Alice, soon said,
“It would be my honor, my lady.”
And properly interlaced his fingers with hers, forming a charming smile.
