Chapter 5

“What are you talking about, you shriveled-up hag? How would you know?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I’m a witch.”

Mia smiled brightly for the first time in a while. The boy, who seemed half-convinced and half-doubtful of her words, gradually looked more and more dejected.

Goodness, he was so innocent. He really was just a child.

“Then… what am I supposed to do about my mom’s present?”

“Hmm. Since you’re a good boy, I’ll help you. Here.”

Mia slipped the silver ring from her finger and held it out.

The curly-haired boy’s eyes widened.

As though entranced, he slowly held out his hand. Mia gently dropped the silver ring into his palm.

The ring gleamed smoothly against his brown palm.

A sparkle appeared in the boy’s eyes as well.

“Wow, it’s pretty…”

“But in return, I want you to help me with one little thing.”

The boy took a couple of steps backward while clutching the ring. His face was filled with suspicion.

“Shriveled-up… No, prisoner lady!”

At least the little brat had a conscience.

After receiving the ring, he had upgraded her title from “shriveled-up hag” to “lady.”

Was she supposed to be grateful for that?

Mia sighed quietly.

“Even if I give you the ring, I can’t help you escape or anything like that!”

“That’s not what I mean. It’s something very simple.”

The boy was still eyeing her warily.

This was the moment when she needed to put her acting skills to use.

Mia suddenly felt ashamed of herself.

But she had no choice.

At the very least, this was something she had to endure if she wanted to clear herself of the accusation that she was a blackmailer.

Mia lowered her eyelashes and put on the saddest expression she could manage.

“You probably heard about it too, but the truth is, I love the Grand Duke. I want to convey my feelings to His Grace one last time. Could you secretly deliver a letter to the Grand Duke for me?”

The boy hesitated for a moment before nodding.

“Okay! Trust me, lady! I’ll bring some paper and a pen right away.”

The word “lady,” which the boy stubbornly refused to leave out, continued to grate on her nerves until the very end.

Still, Mia managed to put on the most heartbroken smile she could.

The boy carefully picked up the wooden bucket and seemed about to leave, but then he turned around one last time and said,

“Once you’ve written your last letter, give up, lady. You’re not exactly ugly, but our Grand Duke is kind of special, you know? You should just go for that tanned adjutant guy next to him instead… You know what I mean, right?”

“Uh-huh. I understand.”

Mia waved her hand repeatedly while desperately maintaining her expression.

It was irritating how he added “lady” to every sentence, but he was still a cute and innocent child.

More importantly, this boy was the only lifeline Mia had to rely on right now.

Unlike the clear morning, dark clouds gathered in the afternoon as though on cue.

Asad was sitting at his desk in his study inside the mansion, repeatedly writing something.

Someone entered with the quiet footsteps of a cat, without even knocking.

“Shuri.”

Asad spoke without looking up.

There was only one person who would dare enter the office of the fearsome Grand Duke Uliel without permission.

“I’ve told you countless times to knock. It’s basic etiquette.”

“Hehe. Thanks to my habit of not knocking, just think about how much information I’ve learned and brought to Your Grace.”

He had a point.

Asad pursed his lips sullenly.

Shuri was carrying a bucket full of firewood in one hand.

“What is that inappropriate object?”

“Ah, I almost forgot about this.”

Shuri opened the lid of the fireplace on one side of the study and began putting the firewood inside.

After stirring the embers a few times with a poker, the flames quickly roared to life.

“It looked like it was going to rain soon. Maid Sophia prepared some firewood in case Your Grace caught a cold.”

Asad briefly glanced toward the pale sky outside the window.

After finishing with the fire, Shuri brushed off his clothes and stood up.

“There. All done.”

“But why did you bring it yourself?”

“Well…”

There was no way he could say, I wanted Sophia to have to see His Grace at least once less.

Shuri hurriedly looked away.

Through the half-empty bucket, he noticed a familiar cream-colored envelope.

He picked it up with an expression of disbelief.

“Your Grace. Look at this.”

Asad absentmindedly took the envelope Shuri handed him.

After reading the letter, a look of puzzlement appeared on Asad’s face.

“It’s that blackmailer. The handwriting is the same.”

“That makes no sense. Mia Lisicha is definitely imprisoned in the tower right now…”

“There are only two possibilities. Either she has an accomplice…”

“That can’t be. The old jailer at the Eastern Tower has served the Uliel family faithfully for many years. He’s an upright man.”

“…If not, then we’ve accused the wrong noble lady of being the blackmailer.”

The two exchanged glances and sighed almost simultaneously.

Shuri was the first to speak.

“Mia Lisicha is also guilty of other things, like theft and assault.”

“Those came from an immature unrequited love affair. And pushing me was probably an accident. She’s spent several days in the Eastern Tower, so I’d say she’s already paid for her crimes.”

“…Can’t we just assume that woman was the one who sent the threats too?”

“Haah, Shuri. How many times do I have to tell you? The chivalric code…”

“Yes, yes. I understand. I’ll release her immediately.”

Asad turned his gaze toward the window.

The sky looked even more overcast than before.

It seemed a heavy downpour would begin soon.

“No, Shuri. It would be better to release her after this rain stops. If her family doesn’t come to pick her up, she’ll have to walk a long way through the rain.”

“Oh my, our Grand Duke is so kind-hearted. As you wish, I’ll release her once the rain stops.”

His voice carried equal parts complaint and teasing.

The Grand Duke gave his adjutant a reproachful look for a moment before returning his attention to the documents in his hands.

Shuri sneakily glanced at the documents Asad was holding.

“You’re preparing the handover documents. Is it already time to transfer the duties of Magistrate to the Freydiel family?”

“Yes. I need to finish everything properly so that the fussy old woman can’t find fault with anything.”

At the mention of Morin Freydiel, the head of one of the four great families, Shuri shuddered.

“Ugh, Lady Morin really is something. She must be over eighty, yet look at how quickly she calculates and how precise her judgment is. If there’s even the slightest flaw in the handover, she’ll immediately come down on you.”

“Yes. Which reminds me, Shuri.”

Asad looked as though he wanted to finally silence his noisy visitor.

“My workload is already this excessive. As my adjutant, why aren’t you helping me instead of standing there chattering?”

“Come on, you know. I’m busy with that thing you ordered me to do. If it’s interfering with your work, then you should hire a secretary.”

Asad sighed.

Shuri let out a smug little hum.

It was obvious.

That prickly Grand Duke simply didn’t like having new people around him.

Shuri, who knew his master’s personality like the back of his hand, slipped out of the crisis as smoothly as a loach.

“Oh, right. Even if you’re busy, you’ll have to make time the night after tomorrow. A messenger hawk arrived at dawn.”

Shuri’s voice became more subdued.

“Someone from the territory will be arriving the night after tomorrow.”

Night fell.

Outside, rain poured down noisily.

Mia was lying spread-eagle on the stone floor, lost in thought.

Despite her relaxed posture, she was extremely anxious.

‘The little brat said he delivered the letter in the afternoon. So why hasn’t the Grand Duke shown any reaction?’

Half a day was more than enough time for Mia to be released.

Mia moistened her dry lips with her tongue.

‘Could he have figured out that I used the little brat to deliver the threatening letter?’

If so, her crimes would now include theft, assaulting a member of the imperial family, and blackmail, with fraud added on top.

That made four charges.

No, she would practically be a four-time offender.

Mia squeezed her eyes shut.

‘If he found out, the Grand Duke definitely won’t let me off easily.’

She remembered the story the prisoner in the neighboring cell had told her.

His ruined legs.

His story about his fiancée.

Just thinking about it made her heart feel as though it were being squeezed.

‘How did the original story get so completely twisted?’

Mia thought back to the beginning of The Moon That Reflects Your Face.

The original Mia Lisicha had been nothing more than a supporting character.

Her only role had been to bring the male and female leads together.

What if Mia had become Grand Duke Asad Uliel’s secretary, just as the original story intended?

By now, Valentina and the Crown Prince would probably have happened to meet each other in the theater’s special seats.

They wouldn’t have had the chance to talk because they would have hurried back to their respective mansions due to the sudden rain, but…

‘Their next meeting was at the debutante ball, I think.’

As public sentiment rapidly deteriorated due to the damage caused by three consecutive days of heavy rain, the imperial family would move the debutante ball forward.

Valentina and the Crown Prince would meet again at the debutante ball, dance together, and fall in love.

After that, the supporting character Mia Lisicha’s role was practically reduced to dust.

She could have simply lived quietly and eventually enjoyed the favor of Valentina once she became Empress.

That was supposed to be her life.

‘No! I can’t let the life I finally possessed end like this!’

The word that flashed through Mia’s aggrieved mind was—

Escape.

But this was the mansion of Grand Duke Uliel, a man who could strike fear into even those who flew high above the ground.

According to the prisoner in the neighboring cell, the grounds were enormous and heavily guarded on all sides.

More importantly, Mia was trapped inside a tower made entirely of stone.

‘The only ways out are the staircase the jailer uses… or that.’

Mia’s eyes stopped at the window set into the wall.

Sturdy iron bars blocked it as though mocking her.

At that moment, a drop of water leaking through the shabby ceiling landed squarely on Mia’s forehead.

Tap.

Mia abruptly sat up.

Her gaze fell on the wooden bowls beside her.

The soup bowl was empty, but the water bowl remained completely untouched.

Mia’s hand tightly gripped the bowl of water.

Splash!

The water she threw splashed against the area around the window.

Outside, the rain was still falling.

Running her fingers over the now-damp wall, Mia finally smiled.

There was a way out.