The Deus Grand Duchy was located on the right island of Lasa, an empire composed of two massive islands.
Once, the right and left islands fiercely contested each other, but about 100 years ago, when the king of Lasa forced the king of the right island to his knees, only one nation could exist on the two islands.
Lasa, lacking the strength to completely conquer the right island, killed only its king and granted the title of Grand Duke to his five-year-old youngest son, beginning to manage the area as the Deus Grand Duchy.
From then on, the Grand Duke's family continued through marriages with the Lasa Empire.
The appearance of the Deus brothers, with blue eyes common among the right island people and black hair of the left islanders, testified to this history.
After completing his mission to arrest the suspect of the Fog Murders, Fejin relaxed somewhat.
Fortunately, his hatred for April, who had attempted to kill his brother and sister-in-law, remained unchanged. Therefore, he had no qualms about identifying April Lunos as a suspect.
However, the articles that appeared in all the Grand Duchy's newspapers afterwards left him uneasy.
[April Lunos, perpetrator of the serial killings in the fog, has been arrested.
...When April Lunos arrived in the capital, the floor was drenched in blood from an unknown source...
...Her sinister gaze made it hard to believe she was once the Grand Duke's fiancée...
...Therefore, the Grand Duke's foresight in preventing this villainess from becoming the Grand Duchess, and the current Grand Duchess's kindness...]
It seemed April's red dress had been mistaken for blood, but the last lines were likely more important than such factual details.
"Is this an article or a panegyric?" Fejin muttered.
Logan, the youngest of the police officers who had come from the Grand Duchy with Fejin, raised his hand and announced as if giving a presentation:
"It's propaganda for the Grand Duke's family, isn't it?"
"That's the most accurate description," Fejin replied.
As Logan puffed up with pride at Fejin's response, Paul smacked him with a look of disgust.
Logan exaggeratedly pretended to be knocked away, causing laughter among the police officers.
Fejin's first assignment upon returning to the Grand Duchy from the Empire was to solve the serial killings in the Grand Duchy.
Upon his promotion to Inspector, Fejin was appointed as the head of a newly established special investigation headquarters for a supernatural and seemingly unsolvable case.
This young Inspector, the Grand Duke's only blood relative, began investigating the problem of dozens of people in the capital dying on winter days when the Deus Grand Duchy was suddenly engulfed in fog.
A serial killer appearing with the fog.
The method, leaving no traces, could only be the work of someone with supernatural powers.
In retrospect, it seemed natural that April Lunos was identified as the only being confirmed to possess such supernatural powers during the preliminary investigation.
It had long been a rumor that had even reached the Empire.
The strange rumor that despite the gas lines being blocked, lights had been on in April Lunos's mansion every single day for seven years.
After Fejin sent an investigator from the headquarters to observe the mansion where only April Lunos lived for several days, the rumor was confirmed as fact.
Among those who hadn't seen the mansion up close, there were rumors that April was playing with fire inside the stake-enclosed mansion. False rumors circulated about a witch dancing in those flames.
According to the investigator's observations, it wasn't a fire but gas lamps. Of course, the latter wasn't any "less witchy."
Even if she had used fuel other than gas, it would have run out long ago in seven years.
The amount of fuel needed to light so many lamps would be enormous, and no matter how the investigators from the 3rd Division of the Special Investigation Headquarters calculated it, there was no way to explain this phenomenon.
After confirming this, the investigation headquarters arrested April Lunos.
Allowing the citizens of the Grand Duchy to witness April Lunos's arrest was among the most important parts of his mission.
The citizens felt relieved seeing the transport carriage.
To Fejin, April hadn't changed much except for growing a bit taller after puberty.
Her face was fine when she was young, and it still was. Her personality seemed the same too, just with a bit more gravitas.
He was glad she hadn't changed much. If there had been a big change, it might have bothered him when arresting her with everything so uncertain.
After completing their important mission, the police of the Empire's special investigation headquarters finally arrived at the Grand Duke's residence to greet the leader of the Grand Duchy.
As the appointment time with the Grand Duke approached, neither Fejin nor any of the police officers entered the mansion.
Pascal, the butler who had been taking care of the brothers since childhood and was waiting for them at the door, asked Logan, the young police officer who had come with Fejin:
"Why aren't you coming in?"
Logan replied cheerfully with a smile befitting his youth:
"As you can see, they're all heavy smokers."
"But they could smoke later..."
"Yes, but the Inspector has no reason to do so."
"No reason?"
"No reason to delay smoking for the Grand Duke's sake."
Pascal glanced at Logan, who answered with wide eyes, and unconsciously clicked his tongue.
Everyone in the Grand Duchy learns that this island was once a single country. This was true even for the Deus Grand Duke's family, who had mixed imperial blood.
However, Fejin Deus was now entirely a person of the Empire, an imperial police officer who had come here on the Emperor's orders.
It was unreasonable to expect respect for the Grand Duchy from Fejin Deus, who had started his police career in the Empire at the age of sixteen, when he came of age.
While they were taking their time, Fejin briefly recalled the April Lunos he knew as a child.
April, the sole heir of the wealthy Lunos family, naturally enjoyed overwhelming material abundance.
There was no girl as glamorous as her on the right island.
The Lunos couple ordered their countless servants to clean the streets their daughter would pass through in advance, and they landscaped the garden so that only beautiful scenery could be seen from April's window.
It was the natural order of things for the most preciously raised girl on the right island to become the Grand Duchess.
When the Grand Duke's family first proposed marriage, the Lunos couple expressed one refusal due to the ten-year age difference.
However, by the time the second proposal came, April was completely smitten with Miller Deus, who was as fresh as a newly bloomed flower, so they accepted the proposal.
By then, Miller Deus already had a woman he loved, Heidi Basanta, the daughter of his nanny who had grown up studying with him since childhood.
However, this engagement was an unavoidable duty for the heir of the Deus family.
The only way to avoid a marriage between the two most powerful families in the Grand Duchy was for one of them to die or fall from grace.
April, who was head over heels for Miller, diligently bullied Heidi as soon as she became aware of her existence.
Fejin felt sorry for his brother, who was bound by the engagement, a promise he didn't even want.
So he hated April.
Of course, now that he was older, he realized that his love for Heidi had been added to his hatred for April.
Looking back now, the situation had turned out astonishingly favorable for Miller.
The once-great Lunos family had fallen in vain.
With that incident, Miller Deus had gained both control over the entire Grand Duchy and love.
Recalling this fact, Fejin finished his cigarette and slowly entered the Grand Duke's residence.
The Grand Duke was leaning back in his chair, and the Grand Duchess was sitting next to him with a welcoming expression.
As Fejin entered, the Grand Duke spoke:
"You should have greeted us first when you arrived in the Grand Duchy."
"On the contrary, I should avoid it."
"Avoid?"
Fejin replied, hands behind his back:
"I came here as an imperial police officer. I should avoid any influence I might receive from my blood relatives."
"How inflexible."
"What are you talking about? I'm too flexible for my own good."
As a child, what the late-blooming Fejin envied most was his brother. He could have Fejin's first love. Because he was an adult.
Fejin, who had now grown much taller than his brother, stared intently at the Grand Duchess.
The Grand Duchess, now twenty-eight, was dazzlingly beautiful just as when Fejin first knew her, and she still looked at him with kind eyes, as if examining him.
Are there people who dislike recalling kindness because it's painful?
Fejin thought as he slowly shifted his gaze to his brother Miller.
Miller said:
"Come closer and greet the Grand Duchess."
"Why should I?"
"'Why should I?' Because she's happy to see the little boy she cared for after so long."
Heidi agreed:
"That's right. It's been such a long time."
"You both still think I'm a child."
Fejin grumbled but strode towards them. Standing in front of the Grand Duchess, who had risen to greet him, he bowed his head and said:
"Since I'm the little boy you cared for, are you going to pat my head?"
At his words, Heidi looked up at Fejin. The smell of strong tobacco wafted. The young man's shadow grew like a mountain, enveloping her.
Miller, still seated in his chair, watched the scene intently.
Heidi narrowed her eyes, then said in a mischievous tone:
"What kind of joke is that? How could I do that to such a grown young man?"
"Well, the Grand Duke called me a little boy."
As Fejin said this with a smile, Miller spoke:
"Let's eat first. Now that you're back, we should have a party for about five days. We need to find you a bride.”
"I'll pass on the bride."
"Why?"
"I still can't forget my first love."
At his nonchalant words, the Grand Duke and Duchess were momentarily speechless, staring at Fejin.
