“There is no place for dirty things to take root in your mind or head, Your Grace.”

With a face as straight as a bamboo pole that looked like it wouldn’t bleed even if pricked with a needle, the Marchioness elegantly promised to keep the secret.

Valentin quietly moved his steps and returned to his room.

Although it was too early to lay his body on the bed, after receiving Dawson’s assistance to change into pajamas, he immediately buried himself under the covers.

He didn’t fall asleep even when Reynard returned after finishing his duties, but he pretended to be asleep until the end.

Hoping the melancholy would dissolve and permeate into this night.

He slowly sank under the bed like that. Very slowly.

*

When Valentin fell into a deep sleep, Reynard quietly got up. He had been constantly embracing Valentin, who had been lying still, pretending to be asleep, perhaps because he wasn’t feeling well or in a good mood.

He could have fallen asleep together, but he didn’t.

The ultra-dominant alpha’s sensitive senses were capturing the sound from the next room.

‘Intruder.’

Reynard slowly moved his steps and opened the door.

It was a calmness and indifference unlike someone who thought an intruder had entered the room right next door.

The source of the very faint rustling sound was the cozy inner room connected to their bedroom. More precisely, it was a not-so-wide individual space attached to the inner room. A place where servants boiled water, prepared simple teas, and replaced mobile trays so that the master wouldn’t see their busyness, doing miscellaneous preparations. A space where no one should be at this pitch-black night. An unusual sound was coming from there.

Reynard didn’t even open the door to that small room and just sat leisurely on the sofa.

That’s when it happened.

“Ugh. Urgh!”

A groan as if someone was blocked by something and a sound of rolling around, unable to endure, rang out sharply and loudly from inside the small room.

As the sound of suffocation, like someone drowning in water, gradually subsided, someone appeared with a very fast movement.

“Viscount! Stop! Stop it!”

The agile and thin man ran into the room where the intruder was while saying those words.

Only then did Reynard indifferently get up and move his steps to where they were.

“It would be troublesome if this guy dies! I left him like that because there’s still more to dig up…!”

The man hurriedly spoke and laid the intruder’s body on its side.

The appearance of the intruder, which Reynard was still looking at with indifferent eyes, was very bizarre. It was such an unknown and strange scene that anyone seeing this sight for the first time would probably think, ‘What on earth is going on?’

It was water. The intruder’s head, no, more precisely, his face was covered with a thick layer of water. As if wearing an upside-down round fishbowl or a large glass jar.

The water was perfectly blocking all the holes in the intruder’s face. The sound of someone suffocating as if drowning in water was not a metaphor but a literal expression. The water did not budge despite the intruder’s struggles, as if some force was at work.

“Viscount!”

Splash!

Only then, at the man’s urgent request, those things scattered like ordinary water. Reynard had withdrawn that power.

“Keh-hek!”

The intruder, who had been driven to the point of almost complete suffocation, had lost consciousness and was only coughing physiologically. The man laid the intruder’s body face down, sighed, and very simply tied his wrists without much effort.

“We almost killed the guy we barely caught!”

The tone was too casual for a servant. Moreover, the clothes the man was wearing were simple commoner’s attire. He wasn’t even a member of the grand ducal house. He sighed, brushing back his common brown hair.

“No matter what, you let this bastard come all the way here?”

“No, we need to know what his purpose is!”

“Felix.”

Reynard warned in a stern voice.

“Whoa. The third guy said that when the Viscount involves his companion in work, he becomes so sensitive, and it’s true? You even used your ‘ability’ that you don’t use well in front of others.”

“Shut up. Quickly take this guy and go there. And call everyone, including the fourth. The fact that you’re here now means the second is also here.”

“That’s right. Big brother is already in the basement.”

“Good. I’ll go down right away.”

“Yes, sir!”

Felix, the first, who answered in a playful tone until the end, disappeared while effortlessly carrying the unconscious intruder on his shoulder. As expected, he was one of the top people in the organization when it came to strength and speed.

Reynard watched Felix disappear, then moved his steps and very carefully opened the bedroom door again. Fortunately, Valentin did not wake up from that small commotion.

Reynard gently pulled up the sheet Valentin had covered and tucked him in, then left a kiss on his forehead and got up. As he closed the door and came out, the grand ducal guards lined up in their designated positions. They had already received orders, forming a more meticulous formation around the room than usual.

After checking their discipline, Reynard strode towards the basement.

A sinister smile appeared on his perfect face. It was an expression he would never show to his peacefully sleeping husband. A small sound of gritting molars was heard.

‘…Impudent fellow.’

It was time to stretch his body after a long time.

*

Somewhere deep underground in the Dennox Grand Ducal Palace.

Few people knew about that room that existed in a deep and intimate place. It was a secret space where only designated individuals came and went, and it would be fine even if a bomb exploded outside. It was a special room that could be said to be safe in all directions, like a bomb shelter.

Bang!

At the sound of the thick iron door opening, the heads of those who were talking with their heads together all turned towards the entrance.

“Viscount.”

“Captain.”

Short, abbreviated greetings were exchanged. Reynard nodded at their greetings and immediately took a seat at the table with them.

“Where’s Powell?”

“The fourth will be down soon. According to Felix, he said he’ll investigate the place where the incident occurred a moment ago in detail and come down.”

Reynard nodded at the words of Sedgwick Benson, the second, a lawyer who mainly dealt with the shady affairs of the grand ducal house.

“Oh! Viscount, you came quickly.”

“Felix, watch your mouth.”

Benson scolded his younger brother Felix’s overly casual speech.

“Even if I speak like this, our Viscount doesn’t mind at all. Right?”

“Yeah. As long as you do your job well as usual.”

“My work is always perfect, anytime, anywhere.”

At Reynard’s agreement, Felix bowed exaggeratedly like a clown and tied the intruder he had just woken up to a chair. It was a quick and perfect skill.

At that moment, the thick iron door opened again, and Powell, the young butler of the grand ducal house, entered. He was holding some kind of bundle in his hand. He walked over with a disciplined gait, bowed his head, and sat together at the table where everyone had gathered.

With this, all of Reynard’s true hands and feet were gathered.

Those who had numbers instead of their respective names. Even within the organization that Reynard had created secretly over a long time, the four people in this place were Reynard’s true close aides and literally his hands and feet.

First, Felix, who infiltrates with an ordinary appearance that can be seen anywhere, gathers information, and extracts it.

Second, Sedgwick Benson, a lawyer who handles legal matters based on confidential information and creates evidence.

Third, Shane Wilgrave, a commander who assists Reynard in the military and handles his official duties.

Fourth, Powell, a butler who secretly guards Reynard and his surroundings and is in charge of handling intimate tasks.

It had been a very long time since they had gathered with Reynard in one place. Perhaps the last time they had gathered was before Reynard’s departure.

“I investigated the place where the intruder was and came back.”

As soon as Powell sat down, he spoke while taking out a few items from the bundle he was holding. As he took out the items, his wrist, which was agile but packed with muscles, was revealed.

“Isn’t this just black tea?”

Shane said, picking up one of the items Powell was laying out on the table with a gloved hand. The sound of tea leaves in a luxurious tin case shaking was heard in his hand.

“These are the things bestowed by the Emperor. Especially… they were mixed in with the edible things that the master ordered to be disposed of.”

At those words, Shane put it back down and opened the lid. What came out from inside looked like ordinary tea leaves without a doubt. However, there was no way this could be just tea leaves.

“Have this investigated separately.”

It was so ‘honestly’ suspicious, just as he thought it was suspicious, that it was ridiculous. What on earth was the ingredient inside that made it so? Reynard twisted one corner of his mouth, unable to hold back the sneer that was coming out.

Urgh! Ugh! The tied-up intruder seemed to have regained consciousness and began to make unpleasant and fierce noises. The gag was blocking his mouth, so it was incomprehensible.