“The entire family of Maldevois was killed in a fire accident.”Cassey’s lips parted. She was unable to speak, shuddered in her seat.“H-How many days... How many days has it been since they...?”Sondre sighed and handed Cassey a black folder.“It contains all the information you may need related to their deaths. The family head, Sire Dorawo Maldevois, was hunted by the husband of his mistress who turned out to be a noble. He was forced to pay a compensation fee.”“How much was he supposed to pay?”“A million golden cents or he will be hung according to the severity of their adultery. The sources say that he got his mistress pregnant with a bastard child.”“That is quite normal in adultery, Sire Sondre.”“But the noble is not a Febrez, Cassey. They take matters like adultery seriously. Aside from the adultery, they also stole an heirloom, and us

The atmosphere in the hall was full of tension. Even Cassey can’t afford to yawn in the session. She stared at the exposed golden eyes of the fedora man, who stared back at her as if he is judging her entire existence.The fedora man gave Sondre a folder, which he accepted and examined. He took out the papers and started clearing his throat again.“The accused, Cassey Maharlika, formerly Lady Cassey Timmerhaus, has reached the court of Amara. Miss Cassey Maharlika is accused of embezzlement and violence against her sister, the esteemed daughter of Timmerhaus, Lady Ashanti Kaia Timmerhaus, and the entirety of the Timmerhaus lineage.”Cassey rolled her eyes. She has heard of it for a million times now.“The accused has claimed that the case is not embezzlement, but a forgery. The court of Amara does not trust her words at all, but since there is no enough evidence to support the hypothesis of the court that the accused lied, this hum

“Let’s get married.”“What?”Cai squeezed himself in the slightly open door and slouched on the sofa.“I wanted to accept your proposal, since it is what you needed the most now.”Cassey gave him a glass of water and slouched on the couch beside him.“You were so scared of that idea that you even ran away last time. That makes me wonder, who convinced you?”Cai, who was staring at her eyes, shifted his gaze in an instant.“Not telling me?”“Yeah. Not telling.”“Pfft. Even if you don’t say a thing, I know it is Markus. I wonder what he told you this time.”He took a sip from the water goblet, as if he was drinking the finest wine. This made Cassey swallow an enormous amount of air into her esophagus.“Butterflies...”“Excuse me?”“Nothing.”“Nothing?&r

Dinner was set in an intimate space, where the lights are low and the violin is playing high.On the table awaits the two early birds, Cassey and Cai.“Shall I serve you some water, Signor?”Cai nodded and talked with the blushing attendant. This saddens Cassey, who was obviously recognized and ignored by the worker.‘She does not talk to me nor ask for my opinions because she is hostile to a former detainee.’What she had thought was indeed true. As the attendant returned to the pantry to fill the goblets with lukewarm water, the other attendants went near her.“So how was she?”She rolled her eyes.“Even a working peasant like me could easily defeat her. Imagine the horror I felt when I saw her monstrous black eyes staring at me, and her pale lips curving a smile for me. I pity for the illegitimate Febrez who dined with her.”“You should have seduced him. That vixen

“Navis?”The child who was just grumpily stomping her feet earlier suddenly turned into a happy lamb.“Mom?”Cassey was flustered being called ‘mom’ in front of everyone, especially when all her pupils looked at her with such sparkling eyes and wagged their tails like cute doggies.“Ah, uhm, she calls me ‘mom’ because I fed her.”“You fed her, mom?”Now how should Cassey explain to these poor young children that she was called ‘mom’ for a really trivial thing?“Yes, she called me ‘mom’ for feeding them.”“So you were the woman who gave her the seeds?”“The angel who bought us meat!”“The hero who named Navis!”“A dragon tamer!”“Wait that’s a bit... if the clergy heard that I might be punished to death.”“She is our