Ahel stared open-mouthed at the knight’s reaction, not understanding why he had fallen onto his back.

“My deepest apologies for not recognizing you, sir!” The man said from his spot on the ground.

“This was rather unamusing. I began to truly wonder if you would ever recognize me,” Ray said, his voice quiet, a stark contrast between his and the knight’s tone.

Ahel, after seeing all pretence at warmth leave Ray’s face, gulped loudly. She wondered what would have happened to the man if he had never recalled who Ray was? Frightened out of her mind thinking about the consequences, she quickly shook her head. She didn’t want to imagine, didn’t want to know.

As she heard Ray’s voice, she cut off that terrifying train of thought.

Clearing his throat and giving the knight an icy glare, Ray said, “Is this going to take all day. I think you’ve wasted enough of my time, don’t you?”

The knight, who was still on the ground, pulled himself to his feet. He stood tall, straight and stiff. Then he barked an order to another man who had watched the recent events unfold, “Open the gate! Open it right now! I said, open it!”

The second man looked taken aback by the knight’s frantic tone but did as he was told, moving to open the gate.

The original knight, who now stood near the carriage window, looked at Ray with a pale face. He glanced over towards the gate to ensure that it was indeed opening, and when he saw that it was, he turned to Ray.

“I am d… de… deeply sorry, Emper…” the man said, stumbling over his words.

Before he could finish apologizing, Ray shut the window to the carriage, effectively cutting the man off mid-sentence. Ray looked away from the knight who stood there with his face confused and a little terrified. Seeing Ahel standing in the carriage, Ray frowned his brow.

“What are you doing?” he asked in genuine puzzlement.

She smiled nonchalantly at his frowning face as if nothing was going on. However, the trembling corners of her curled-up mouth had failed her, showing her distress at what had just happened.

Ray, looking up at Ahel and her awkward smile, asked, leaning his upper body against the back of the seat, “So how long are you going to stand there like that?”

“I was just about to sit down,” she responded. With that, she plopped down into her seat, as if she had been waiting for him to say something before she would allow herself to sit down.

The carriage started to move as soon as her butt hit the cushion. It smoothly passed through the wide-opened gate without being stopped again.

It wasn’t until the Imperial Palace’s main gate was no longer visible that Ahel studied the man sitting opposite her.

Perhaps tired, Ray was leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed. His long eyelashes formed faint shadows under his eyes. With his eyes closed, he looked so odd, so calm, that Ahel wondered if he were the same person she’d seen a few moments ago.

The suspicion she had been carrying around with her for a while came to the forefront of her mind; she wondered if the man in front of her was actually the eldest son of Count Herman.

Thinking back to the gate, she came to the realization that he was not who he said he was. Ray had lied to her about his identity. There was no reason for an imperial knight to have reacted like that if Ray was only the eldest son of a count.

Then who in the hell is he…? she asked herself. Ahel examined the face of the man peacefully sleeping in front of her.

At first glance, she noted how handsome he was. So handsome in fact that she couldn’t take her eyes off him. His bright pink hair looked so soft, it made her want to run her fingers through it; his fresh green eyes hidden behind his closed eyelids.

Realizing that he could open his eyes at any moment to see her admiring him, she straightened her back and leaned comfortably in her seat. Then she raised her hand and pressed her fingers between her eyes, a small headache manifesting.

A new suspicion entered her mind at that moment; Why had Ray acted that way earlier?

Ray had shown his ID card, introducing himself as Count Herman’s son. If he had planned to lie until the end, he would have shown the same ID card to the knight as he’d shown to Ahel before.

But he hadn’t. He might have gotten upset and furious since the knight hadn’t recognized him. Or the ID card might have been a fake.

Ahel shook her head, trying to dislodge the assumptions floating around in her mind. No. It’s more complicated than that… she thought to herself. Narrowing her eyebrows, she replayed the situation at the main gate in her head.

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Ray had been blatantly arrogant and had purposely given the knight enough time to look at him.

After carefully reflecting on his actions, she was surprised to realize one fact, he had done it all purposely.

What if he did that on purpose to show me? She lifted her hand to cover her mouth, worried that she would scream if she didn’t. Goosebumps covered her body, and her throat suddenly went very dry.

Ray knew that she had always been suspicious of his identity, though she’d never once voiced it out loud. He had orchestrated it all, giving her a hint to help her to figure him out.

Ahel felt like a pawn, and Ray was controlling the game of chess.