"Oh, and the second report on the matter you previously ordered me to investigate has arrived."
Ron handed Jeremiah a document containing Selena and Hasten's personal information.
"It seems that this is not simply a request, but an information agency created specifically by the Grand Duchess."
Jeremiah, who received the documents, was not surprised as if he had already expected it. He had seen them in the North and had confirmed through previous investigation that they were staying at the inn in the capital that Karina had rented out. Even when Karina was rescued from the Cursed Forest, these two people were not there. Aside from figuring out how they got there, he was certain that they were not simply clients and information dealers.
"I found out while doing some more research on them that a woman named Selena recently asked a fairly skilled document forger to create a certificate of infertility."
"Infertility certificate?"
"Yes. I guess this was also a request from the Grand Duchess."
Jeremiah felt bitter. It was not a guess, but it seemed clear that Karina had asked him to do this. She had said that she would reveal that she was infertile to divorce him, so she had probably been preparing a certificate in case she could verify the truth later.
"..."
He felt bad when he found out the truth, but that wasn't the end of it.
"And there's one more thing..."
Ron trailed off as he watched Jeremiah look over the documents. Jeremiah looked up with a puzzled expression at the troubled voice.
"What?"
Ron, who had been hesitating, finally continued speaking.
"She asked them to get her some fertility pills."
"...!"
Jeremiah's eyes opened wide in shock.
"Did you just say fertility drugs?"
"... Yes."
Jeremiah's expression hardened to the point where it couldn't have been colder at Ron's confirmation. In contrast to his expression which was as cold as ice, he felt a fire rising and throbbing inside.
Suddenly, he remembered what Karina had said in the carriage on the way to the capital
'Wouldn't there have to be at least this level of reason to get a divorce?'
'Surely not... That would make it this bad?'
Jeremiah felt a heat rush to his head and a burning sensation. His heart was pounding as he realized that she truly did not want children with him. He had a hard time coming to his senses as various emotions were swirling inside him. Meanwhile, Ron continued his report.
"I also looked into fertility drugs just in case, but they weren't just convenient pills that prevent pregnancy. When I asked the doctor, he said that the side effects were so severe that they were not good for taking to prevent pregnancy."
Ron handed over a piece of paper with the doctor's advice written on it.
"Side effect...?"
"Yes. It is said that if taken for a long period, it can cause rare diseases or serious damage to the internal organs of the body."
"...!"
The papers in Jeremiah's hands were crumpled. Jeremiah, with a stiff expression, barely opened his mouth and asked.
"Surely Karina hasn't already taken the fertility pills?"
"That's not it."
Ron answered immediately.
"It was a request made by the Grand Duchess just before she was captured by the demon, so she probably hasn't received it yet."
"Yeah, I see."
Jeremiah breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ron. We have to make sure that Karina doesn't take the pills. We have to do whatever it takes!"
His voice was more serious than ever as he spoke.
"She can't even notice. If she finds out that it's not a fertility drug, she'll try to get it some other way."
"I'll put someone useful and trustworthy in charge. Don't worry about that. There are other issues."
Jeremiah's nerves were on edge at the mention of another problem. He looked as if he was wondering what bigger problem there could be.
"I have confirmed that the Grand Duchess is in contact with another information broker, not the one she personally created, and that broker happens to be owned by a man named Perso."
"If it's that place...."
Ron nodded with an embarrassed look on his face.
"That's right. It's an information agency run by the Crown Prince."
Jeremiah's brow furrowed. He knew that David had created a separate information center without the Emperor and the Imperial nobles knowing about it. Of course, the scale was not that large, but it was something to be aware of and monitored.
"They say Karina was going in and out of there."
Jeremiah swallowed a laugh inside. Who knew that Karina and the Crown Prince had met like that?
He kept thinking of David, who had shown interest in Karina. He was madly curious about what conversations had been going on between her and him.
"What commission Karina gave there, when she started coming and going, how she found out about the place, investigate everything from the beginning without leaving anything out. As soon as possible."
"Yes, I understand."
Jeremiah's eyes shone brightly
***
Meanwhile, in the Grand Duke's private residence, Karina's room. Mikhail gazed intently at Karina. Her face, with her snow-white skin, thin eyebrows, and graceful features, was so beautiful. He gently touched Karina's long eyelashes with his fingertips and called her name softly.
"Karina."
Karina didn't wake up because she was deeply asleep. He loved the sight of her sleeping comfortably in front of him. Mikhail's face, looking at her sleeping face as if he was engraving it in his eyes, seemed calm at first glance. However, his mind was not like that.
"Phew."
Mikhail's eyes became heavy as he sighed carefully so as not to wake Karina.
'I have something to do...'
That was her answer as she declined his offer to leave together.
'What I have to do is probably get a divorce.'
Mikhail had said something similar to her before. Even then, Karina had been firm as if she had to get a divorce and leave. He couldn't understand why she was so obsessed with divorce. He also wondered why she had to stay here because of divorce. He wanted to take her to the magic tower right away.
'Even if you go far away and try to persuade or threaten her, wouldn't it be enough to just get a divorce paper?'
It didn't matter to him whether the target was the Emperor or Jeremiah. What mattered to Mikhail was the fact that Karina might be in danger again at any moment.
He stroked Karina's cheek and recalled the memories of the previous night. The warlocks he had encountered in the Cursed Forest. Mikhail planned to make them tell everything they knew. The warlocks, who thought they were the best and had sky-high pride and arrogance, resisted stubbornly at first. However, it meant nothing to Mikhail. When he tortured them without mercy, a few who cared about their own lives began to speak.
When he heard the details, he found that they were regularly giving the herbs they were growing there to a small number of high-ranking nobles. The nobles who received the herbs made illegal drugs with them and secretly distributed them throughout the empire, making huge profits. And the warlocks were receiving a portion of the profits back. The reason was to obtain magic stones. It took a lot of magic stones to implement powerful magic. Originally, they heard that there was a large amount of magic stones buried in a stone mountain somewhere in the north, so they tried to secure them.
However, things went wrong In the middle, and the plan fell through. They confessed that they were making money this way to obtain magic stones in other ways.
Mikhail clicked his tongue.
'So that's why he was mentioned.'
When he heard Max's report, he had a hunch that Revals was somehow connected to an illegal force. He didn't rule out the possibility that it could be the dark magician's force. In the end, his guess turned out to be correct, but Mikhail was not happy at all.
'This is so annoying.'
The kidnapping incident where Karina risked her life to infiltrate the mine and rescue the children.
'In the end, it turns out that the black magicians were involved in that incident too.'
Just as Mikhail, who was furious, was about to ask more questions, one of the big guys, who had been waiting for an opportunity, scattered several small magic bombs he had hidden in his arms on the ground. It seemed like he had prepared from the beginning to destroy the herb garden and the hut. With a series of large explosions, the surrounding area exploded like a landslide. Two people escaped in the meantime, and the rest all died on the spot. It was a painful mistake that he had not paid attention to the other guys for a moment while listening to their confessions.
'Haa. If only I could use magic freely, I would never have missed it.'
Mikhail's jaw clenched tightly as he frowned. His anxiety did not subside. Fortunately, he found and secured the documents that had remained in the basement of the cabin that the bastards had not destroyed.
'If we investigate that, we'll probably find something.'
He didn't know what they were planning. behind the scenes, but if it was even the slightest threat to Karina, he had no intention of just sitting back and watching. And that thought applied equally to Jeremiah, who failed to properly protect Karina.
'I can't leave her in the hands of a fool who couldn't even stop Karina from being taken away by a monster.'
Mikhail decided that he had to take Karina to the Tower, even if she didn't want to. He planned to explain the situation to her when she woke up.
'Right now, it's more important to rest and get treatment.'
So even though he didn't agree with her at all, he pretended to understand and acted obediently. Mikhail hugged Karina tightly. She smelled good.
"Trust me, Karina."
Mikhail smiled, the corners of his lips rising gently. Immediately afterward, he used magic to take her, who was still sleeping, to the magic tower.
Karina opened her eyes to a familiar feeling of floating.
'Ah...'
The darkness that spread far away was deep and quiet. She couldn't tell where she was up or down, let alone time direct the pitch-black darkness where there was nothing but herself. Even in that, Karina was calm. She felt a strange sense of foreboding.
'Where on earth am I?'
There must have been a time like this before. Karina looked around with certainty.
But all she could see was endless darkness. Karina had no idea why she was there. When she thought about how much time had passed, the darkness suddenly cleared away with a gentle breeze. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the office of the Grand Duke's private residence in the capital.
'Ah, this is a dream.'
It wasn't exactly a dream, but a time in the past before returning. Karina realized that she wasn't in reality. She looked around and this time, she looked at something in her hand. It was a small jewelry box the size of half a hand, with a luxurious pattern delicately embossed on it.
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