Yvonne crawls out of the wreckage with her face melted and her exposed flesh is burnt black with exposed bone. She turns her gaze away from her mangled body thinking that it wasn't long ago that she had devoured the two servants to sustain her body. It's not good to kill right away but she needs to eat. Then she notices the wizard the duke had tailing her and calls the Duke a sly fox. As he tries to step away and flee she uses her brainwashing to get him to come closer saying she's his g** now. It's close to mid night when Yvonne arrives back at the estate. The duke is waiting for her at the door. The knights who were hiding appear as the duke raises his hand. Derek is at his side staring at her with cold eyes. The duke asks her where she's been until now. She tries to lie and say she got back earlier and went for a walk in the forest and fell asleep there. He tells her she's lying as he watched the empty carriage return.
She tells him the carriage left her first and she took a wagon to the back door and the duke comments that the horseman was talking gibberish like a crazy person as if he was under some kind of magic. She thinks he's a sly fox who even checked with wizards and clenches her fist behind her back. When the duke asks why she didn't tell him she says she didn't know and she thought he would send her away so she pretended she didn't know and began to cry. Derick tries to interrupt asking for them to do it in the morning as it's late and she came back safely.
I like to post spoilers for the stories I find interesting because I don't have much time to read novel due to busy schedule you will find me in most romantic historical manhwa comment sections
The duke continues and ask why she went to the top street. She tries to deny that she knows where that is. He then said there had been a testimony that Becky also went there before Penelope's coming of age ceremony. Derick tries to stop him but the Duke tells him to shut his mouth. They had interrogated the head maid whilst Yvonne was out. She had been left out of the original investigation as she had worked loyally in the house for so many years but when confronted today she admitted the maid had went to top street to buy something for Yvonne. The duke thought back to Vinter's words about why would Penelope ignore her loyal maid and would use Yvonne's maid to buy poison. It didn't make sense.
Why did the maid suddenly commit suicide and why did Emily disappear after Penelope ran away. He then asks Yvonne did she order the head maid to prepare the poisoned cup as she could participate in the ceremony. Derek asks if this is true. Reynald (who is still drunk fyi) says in wonder that so Penelope wasn't doing a self play and that Yvonne was trying to poison her? But then he remembers he found an antidote and that the cups had been changed. Then realization hits him that it was meant to be Yvonne's self play. He remembers Yvonne crying with a dead face when Penelope fell but to think it was all an act. Derick tells not to jump to any conclusions yet and asks her again is it true.
She tries to deny it and says she doesn't know where top street is. The Duke calls the butler who tells them that the wizard who was reporting every 30 mins had seen Yvonne go into top street and the reports were lost after a monster appeared. The duke tells her he has one last question and asks why she has no reflection in water. When you have the status of the Duke you come across ancient secrets in the imperial palace and find ancient documents describing bizarre beings. Reynold and Derick narrow their eyes asking what he's talking about. Yvonne's sobbing gradually turns into laughter. She tells him he should have pretended he didn't notice and he would have been able to keep his life a little longer.
She mutters a spell and the ground trembles violently. A giant preying mantis appears from the ground. Reynold says he's less drunk now but is that a monster to the butler. A scream rings out and more monsters appear from the ground. Reynold asks the duke what is she as he draws his sword. The duke orders the knights to kill the monsters and seize Yvonne and then tells the butler to send a message to the imperial palace immediately and evacuate the estate. He is cut off as a shadow hits his head and sends his flying and Leonard yells at Derick asking him what he's doing and protect their father. Derek is frozen as Yvonne's voice rings in his head asking him to see the festival and saying she missed him. Derek calls her name and stretches out his hand and moves forward. He can't hear Reynald's calls or curses. He's stuck remembering her disappearing in the crowd of people in the parade.
Yvonne calls him brother and he opens his eyes to her adult self. She tells him to be her hostage until the end of the hunt. He's woken up to the situation. He looks around to see a monster swinging its scythe-like arms and the screams of the knights and Reynold. He sees his father with a monster approaching from behind as the butler is trying to support him. He grabs his knife and tries to run to help but can't move - there is a black haze holding him down. He screams desperately out to his father as the monster raises its arm to take down the duke. As it cuts through the air, someone calls out a spell and a mass of light hits the monster.
Penelope and Callisto arrive at the north gate of the city late at night accompanied by 1 wizard and 6 escorts. Callisto tries to delay Penelope going to the Eckart estate until daylight but Penelope is insistent. He didn't like her idea of heading straight to the duke's and attacking Yvonne. Ever since she fainted after fighting Eclise and the monsters, the prince began to treat her like a feather that was about to blow away. When she first opened her eyes, Cedric looked exhausted. Callisto also refuses to go back to the north as no one would be there to take care of her if she faints again. She thinks that the systems warning about using the magic wasn't a exaggeration. After the spell ended, all the strength left her body and she slept for 3 days worrying Callisto. She doesn't know how many it'll take to defeat Yvonne and it's troubling if she faints every time. the wizards had given her a total of 5 health potions to use.
As they arrive at the estate, they realize there are no gatekeepers and the ground begins to vibrate and they hear cries in the distance. Penelope realizes that Yvonne has revealed her identity and Callisto tries to convince her to go to the imperial palace instead as there's likely more than one monster. She refuses saying she'll go herself and he tells her she's not going anywhere with that body. She tries to tell him she's fine now but he says she won't be fine if she uses that magic again and tells her to stay in the carriage. They can hear the turmoil from the manor. Penelope tells him that he promised her he would do whatever she wants and he counters her saying that was when her body was fine. Callisto also doesn't want to help them because of their treatment to Penelope. She tells him if she falls again he cant save her which he agrees to. She tells him she's scared too. She was scared and beat it up and ran away but Callisto followed and caught her. She remembers their conversation in the cave during the hunting competition and him telling her how he wanted to become emperor to destroy the empire. But she thinks maybe he really had a dream of being a solider who rules the empire like she did of being an archaeologist. She wants him to become a perfect emperor in a safe world. She tells him that she knows that because he'll be by her side, she'll be safe from danger. But she's looking for courage and the duke wants to save the people. Callisto tells her that he's scared every time she closes her eyes she won't wake up. He finds himself counting her breath even though he knows she's awake. He keeps seeing her face falling over and over. She realizes why he was so sensitive to her fainting. He keeps remembering when she drank the poison. She tries to assure him she'll go easy this time with her magic making him laugh. She says she doesn't need to faint if she takes the potions the wizards gave her.