Minsoo froze, his eyes wide open; a trickle of sweat rolled down his temple. The last thing he wished was to wake up with a tall, muscular man pinning him down and threatening him with a blade.

"Y-your Grace?"

"Who are you?"

"I’m your loyal aide, Archievald Glennhort."

Duke Corvaliso pressed his lips in annoyance. "Liar. You’re an impostor; Archievald would never joke and smile with the knights."

Minsoo paled. Oh, fuck!

He shouldn’t have been gentle with the two guards that accompanied him to his room, especially because he didn’t know how the real Archievald would have behaved in that situation.

All right, let’s think of a way to calm him down without revealing who I really am.

"Fine, I’m not the real Archievald. I’m… a messenger! Sent by the gods!"

The duke furrowed his brows. "The Sun Goddess Alaira?"

"Yes!" Minsoo gave a nervous laugh. "He— She thought that you might need some help with… dealing with the Emperor, so she sent me."

He closed his eyes and waited to either hear the System's sound alarm or feel the pain of his own throat being cut open, but nothing happened.

Does he believe me?

"The Sun Goddess, you say?" The duke withdrew his dagger. "Why did she send you?"

"For helping His Grace." Minsoo gave a nervous smile. "I don’t have the details about the, uhm, situation here, but the goddess was sure that you might need help."

"Give me a reason why I should believe you."

"Because if you refuse to listen to me, you’ll end up dead by the hand of Prince Fabian. The goddess saw your future; you’ll fight for your people, but without me you’ll lose everything."

Minsoo smiled, but inwardly all he could think of was how good he was at telling lies. The duke surely didn’t fight for his people; he did what he did just because he was a prick obsessed with the female lead. And he deserved to be killed by Prince Fabian.

But Minsoo didn’t want to die either.

Duke Corvaliso gritted his teeth. "Prince Fabian?"

"Yes. A war will break out, and you’ll perish by his hand. But I can help you avoid it or… win it."

And let’s hope that the System will allow it.

"A war…" The duke seemed to think about it for a few moments, then stood up. "Fine. I’ll allow you to live for now. But if I find out you’re lying, I’ll kill you with my own hands."

"I’m not lying, Your Grace. I’m really a messenger sent by the goddess."

"Can you use divine power?"

"Well, no…"

"Magic?"

"…No."

The duke narrowed his eyes. "So how should you help me? With your sharp tongue?"

"My sharp tongue helped me gain the trust of our Sun Goddess Alaira." Minsoo sat up and smiled. "And it can help you as well, once I have a deep insight into your situation."

As if I need it. I already know what’s going on, and all I need is for the female lead to fall in love with this prick.

Duke Corvaliso pursed his lips. "Fine then. We’ll talk about it tomorrow." He moved toward the door. "Rest well, fake Archievald. But don’t lower your guard, because I’m watching you."

He left the room, and once alone, Minsoo sighed in relief and dropped back onto the mattress. He avoided dying that night, but he wasn’t safe yet. He needed yet to find a way to put the duke and Lady Iliana together.

He needed a plan.

"I’ll think about it tomorrow."

He closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

The next morning, Minsoo woke up late in the morning. The sun was already high in the clear sky, and warm light filtered through the wide windows; on a small table near the bed someone placed a cup with milk and tea, a few muffins, and a pastry.

Minsoo stood up, reached the table and sat down on the chair to eat. He enjoyed his breakfast while staring at the windows, then he opened the wardrobe and looked at his clothes. No, at the original Archievald’s clothes.

He pursed his lips. There were only plain shirts and dark trousers, and a few capes. No jackets, no formal attire, no cheerful colors; that psycho bastard had a horrible sense of fashion. Minsoo couldn’t possibly wear these clothes.

"I need new ones."

But I don’t have money for buying them.

A soft knock at the door caught his attention.

"Sir Glennhort, His Grace just summoned you to his study."

Minsoo rolled his eyes, then grabbed the first trousers he found, put on one of the plain shirts, and left the room.

The young knight of the day before guided him to the duke’s study. Minsoo stepped inside, and Duke Corvaliso glared at him over the edge of a letter he was reading.

"You’re here." He placed the paper on the desk and gestured for him to come closer. "I’ve just received a letter from Lady Loder."

Minsoo stepped forward and glanced at the letter, but the handwriting was so tiny that he couldn’t decipher it. He wasn’t even sure he could read it; he could comprehend people and communicate in their language just like he was speaking Italian or Korean, but maybe he couldn’t do the same thing with written texts.

"A letter?" he asked. "About what?"

Duke Corvaliso frowned. "She asked for a meeting. She wants to discuss our ‘divergence of opinions’."

Minsoo almost snorted.

He has the courage to call that a ‘divergence of opinions’. He just wanted to sleep with her, and when she rejected him, he threw a tantrum and burned down her parents’ palace.

But if the duke was telling the truth, then it meant that the scenario where Iliana Renetta Loder would be imprisoned in the duke’s palace was near. And Minsoo needed to think about a way to avoid that situation.

He looked back at the duke, who was staring at him with his cold, violet eyes.

"Do you wish to meet her, Your Grace?"

"I don’t know. What do you think?"

Minsoo raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"You’re the Sun Goddess’ messenger. Or did you lie to me last night?"

"I didn’t. I’m Alaira’s messenger."

"Then, what does our goddess think I should do? Should I meet her? Or should I kill her?"

"Of course, the sacred Alaira thinks you should meet her. If you kill her, then Prince Fabian would wage war on the North, and your people will suffer."

"My people are used to suffering. Moreover, if I killed Lady Loder here in my palace and got rid of her corpse, Prince Fabian won’t have any proof to use for asking for my head."

Minsoo stiffened, a shiver of fear running down his spine. Duke Corvaliso was a madman, a prick who enjoyed killing people; he already knew he wasn’t exactly the embodiment of the charming prince, but still, hearing him saying out loud his intentions of killing the female lead was unsettling.

"Killing her won’t do your people any good. Sun Goddess Alaira saw your future, Your Grace, and harming Lady Loder is the first step toward your demise."

Duke Corvaliso furrowed his brow, and for a moment he seemed quite displeased. "Then, what do you suggest, messenger?"