At that very moment, the imperial knights and Callius's men were locked in a bitter standoff in the inn's lower halls.
The knights of Callius had attempted to search the fourth floor—the floor where Princess Chloe was supposedly sleeping—but the imperial knights blocked their path with barely contained fury.
To them, this wasn't simply a request for cooperation.
It was an invasion of their territory. An insult to their authority.
"We've been told that no one—no one—has set foot on the fourth floor except Her Highness the Princess's personal maids."
"Then you won't mind if we simply check. Just to be certain."
"We checked everything when we first arrived. Are you questioning our competence? Are you accusing us of negligence?"
The imperial knights' arrogance was palpable. They treated Callius's men with open contempt—a blatant display of disrespect born from the certainty of their royal authority.
Even Chloe's maids joined the chorus, siding firmly with the imperial guards.
"Her Highness the Princess is asleep. Stop this ridiculous fuss and go back downstairs. We just finished inspecting Her Highness's chamber ourselves."
Alex felt frustration coil tight in his chest.
He knew the real Princess was hiding in a different room. He knew the woman lying in Chloe's bed was an impostor.
But Chloe had made him swear to keep it secret—to tell no one that she had personally witnessed the suspicious figure. She wanted the truth hidden, even from her own attendants.
Because of Chloe's request for discretion, Callius's men were unable to press their case with the one piece of evidence that would have ended the argument immediately: the Princess herself had seen the intruder and asked them to search.
Instead, all they had was a weak excuse—one of Callius's knights claiming to have glimpsed someone suspicious. A flimsy reason easily dismissed.
The imperial knights raised their voices even louder.
"We were watching with our eyes wide open! If anyone had come up to the fourth floor, they wouldn't have been able to avoid our sight!"
Such boastful certainty left only two possibilities.
Either the royal knights had been bribed—bought and blinded by coin.
Or Chloe had lied.
Alex heard his fellow knights murmuring in the same hallway, their voices low but audible.
"It's strange, isn't it? We were stationed on the third floor. If someone had gone up to the fourth, someone would have seen them."
"I was standing guard outside the entire time. If anyone had entered the building from the street, I would have known immediately."
One of them lowered his voice even further—barely a whisper.
"Doesn't this seem... odd? If what the Princess said was true, why did she keep it secret from her own maids and knights? Why come to us in secret?"
Alex remembered Chloe's desperate question.
"Do you think I'm crazy, too?"
She had told him exactly why she needed to keep the sighting hidden.
"If I told them, none of my attendants would believe me. So please—keep it a secret."
And now, hearing his own comrades gossiping in hushed tones, Alex understood just how right she had been.
"Isn't it possible she's having some kind of... mental episode? When we went to the palace, didn't people whisper that the Princess seemed unstable? I heard it more than once."
"I heard the same rumors."
"Really?"
Chloe had asked Callius's men for help precisely because her own entourage wouldn't believe her.
But now Callius's men were beginning to doubt her too.
Andrew grumbled, recalling a conversation he had overheard between the Princess and her maid in the carriage.
"Maybe the Princess has gone mad and is seeing things that aren't there. Or perhaps she's deliberately trying to create conflict between the imperial attendants and us."
"Why would she do that?"
"Who knows? Maybe she gains something from the chaos."
"Well... Southerners do have a talent for scheming."
Public opinion among Callius's men was turning sour.
Suspicion spread like poison through their ranks. The Princess was either mad or manipulative—either way, she couldn't be trusted.
Alex scratched his head, frustration and confusion warring in his mind.
While Alex stood tangled in uncertainty, Callius arrived at the inn.
Hawick hurried forward and delivered his report in clipped, apologetic tones.
"...And so, we haven't found the intruder yet. I apologize, my lord."
This was something that should have been handled swiftly and silently. Instead, the entire inn had descended into chaos—giving whoever was hiding ample time to escape.
Hawick lowered his head, shame written across his features.
Callius placed a hand on Hawick's shoulder.
"As long as Her Highness is safe, that's all that matters."
The innkeeper, who had only just noticed Callius's arrival, rushed over with a panicked expression.
"Marquis Rodrian, please—the people who work at this inn are all of reliable character. They've been employed here for years. You know this yourself, as you've stayed here many times before."
"I apologize for the disturbance."
"Oh, no, no! Of course you must be vigilant, my lord. But please understand—we have nothing to do with this..."
The innkeeper's face was tight with worry, his hands twisting nervously.
Callius noticed the man's fidgeting and realized something was being left unsaid.
"I won't make a fuss. Just tell me what you know."
"Really? You won't—? Well, I only just heard this from the staff, but... one of the servants' uniforms has gone missing..."
Hawick's expression turned thunderous.
"Why are you only telling us this now?!"
"I only just found out myself! The staff only noticed it moments ago. We truly don't know what happened—"
Callius cut through the innkeeper's stammering with calm authority.
"Hawick. Inform the imperial knights of this development and push forward. I will see Her Highness the Princess myself."
"Yes, my lord!"
Bolstered by the concrete evidence of the missing uniform and the arrival of their lord, Callius's men finally broke through the line of imperial knights and surged up to the fourth floor.
Alex watched the scene unfold with quiet relief flooding his chest.
'You were all just talking nonsense moments ago!'
They were his precious colleagues. Chloe was the daughter of an enemy empire.
Logically, he should have sided with his comrades. But he couldn't understand why he felt such sharp empathy for Chloe—why her situation stirred something protective and indignant in him.
It was right to be wary of her. She was from the Idelian royal family—longtime enemies of Callius's house.
But it didn't seem right to suspect and criticize her out of pure ill will, without even giving her a chance.
'Everyone's so blindly devoted to the lord that their judgment is clouded.'
Alex didn't realize the irony.
He was a frog who had forgotten he was once a tadpole.
Callius headed straight for Chloe's hiding place.
When he opened the door, he found her pacing anxiously back and forth, her hands clasped tightly together.
The moment she saw him, her face lit up with relief.
"Marquis! You're safe!"
One of Callius's eyebrows rose at the sight of her beaming smile.
"Were you worried about me?"
"I heard you went out alone. Did anything strange happen? Did it feel like suspicious people were following you?"
Callius recalled the ambush—the poorly coordinated assassins who had tried and failed to kill him. He shook his head.
"There was nothing to worry about."
Those sloppy assassins weren't worth mentioning.
He even added a leisurely joke, amused by the fact that Chloe—who had once trembled in fear, convinced he was a cannibal—was now genuinely concerned for his safety.
"It's a shame, really. If there had been people like that, we could have filled our bellies to our hearts' content."
"...!"
Chloe's eyes widened.
"Well... now that I think about it, that could have been the case. It might have been a good opportunity for the Marquis..."
She murmured under her breath, barely audible.
"Ah, so that's why everyone was so calm about it!"
"What?"
Callius tilted his head, not quite catching her words.
But Chloe quickly changed the subject, as if it wasn't important.
"Marquis, I saw the suspicious person. I know who it is. He's—"
At that exact moment, a shrill scream pierced the air from the fourth floor.
A woman's voice—high and terrified.
Chloe's face went deathly pale.
"Lamia!"
Callius's men had just pushed past the imperial knights and maids, finally breaking through to the fourth floor, when the scream rang out.
"This is Her Highness the Princess's room!"
Everyone rushed toward the door—but it was locked from the inside.
Callius's men wasted no time. They used their considerable size and strength to break down the door with brute force, splintering the wood as they charged inside.
In the center of the room stood Lamia.
Covered in blood.
No one else was visible.
Lamia had been using magic to disguise herself as Chloe, maintaining the illusion of the sleeping Princess. But in the chaos and excitement of the attack, the spell had faltered—and she had reverted to her true form.
One of the knights demanded urgently:
"Where did he go?!"
Lamia pointed toward the shattered window with a trembling, blood-slicked hand. Her face was flushed with adrenaline and exertion.
"He jumped out the window!"
Hawick, who had pushed through the crowd to enter, immediately looked outside.
At that exact moment, a triumphant shout rose from the courtyard below.
"We've got him!"
The men who had been searching the grounds were waving victoriously, their boots planted firmly on a struggling figure sprawled in the dirt.
"Thank the gods..."
Lamia exhaled in relief at the news.
"That bastard... Ugh!"
She tried to curse, but her knees buckled beneath her. She collapsed with a heavy thud onto the floor.
Blood streamed down her hand, soaking into the expensive carpet beneath her.
The entire room was already spattered with crimson.
Hawick rushed to Lamia's side and shouted to the knights crowding the doorway.
"Call a physician! We have an injured person here!"
Blood on the carpet. A shattered window. And a truth finally dragged into the light.
Trust, it seemed, was earned in blood.
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