After Sirion walked away, Cairo and I continued moving forward at a deliberately slow pace, our steps forced, as if pretending that nothing weighed on our shoulders.
We tried to appear as natural as possible—
as if what we were carrying was nothing more than a worthless blanket.
As if we had not lied.
As if we had not deceived anyone.
As if we had not sunk ourselves into a swamp of illusion.
We approached the door of the guard room.
Only a few steps separated us from what felt like a "safe zone."
We had hidden the blanket.
We had acted our parts.
We had fooled Sirion.
Everything had gone exactly as we wanted…
—or so we thought.
But suddenly, from behind us, a calm and familiar voice pierced the fragile wall of reassurance we had carefully built.
"So… how long do you intend to continue this little performance of yours?"
We both stopped instantly.
It felt as though time itself had frozen, and the blood in my veins had stopped flowing.
That voice…
I whispered to Cairo without even daring to turn around.
"Hey, Cairo… did you hear what I heard?"
He replied in a trembling voice, barely audible.
"Y…yes. I heard it."
My heartbeat quickened.
"S…so I'm not imagining things?"
He shook his head.
"N…no. You're not."
This is bad…
I took a deep breath, trying to gather myself.
I searched desperately for a logical explanation—any possibility that might save us.
"It's fine… maybe he wasn't talking to us… maybe… he was speaking to someone else?"
But that fragile hope almost vanished the moment Cairo and I turned around.
Noble Valis was walking toward us with calm, measured steps.
Cold steps.
His face carried nothing but a piercing gaze.
An awkward smile appeared on my face as I tried to keep myself together.
"What brings you to this humble place, Lord Valis?"
He did not answer immediately.
Instead, he simply looked at us—as if staring directly into our souls—before saying in a low voice filled with accusation:
"So… you two will not admit the truth."
His words struck my chest like an arrow.
My head began spinning.
Had we been exposed?
Was my plan really that terrible?!
No… no! It had been perfect! Everything had been calculated! There was no way he could have discovered us—
—or at least… not completely.
I tried to act confused, forcing a stiff smile.
"I don't understand what you mean, my lord."
But Valis did not step back.
He showed no mercy.
Not even a single step of retreat.
"Are you truly going to continue this farce? It would be better if you admitted the truth."
Sweat began to drip down my forehead.
The air itself felt too heavy to breathe.
He knows…
He knows.
Without a doubt.
I glanced at Cairo, who looked just as tense as I felt. Finally, he spoke hesitantly.
"W…we don't know what you mean… c…could you explain further?"
I had hoped Lord Valis would spare us some courtesy—some way out, some word we could cling to in order to save ourselves.
But what happened next cut off our last thread of hope.
"I believe you both already know what Lord Valis is referring to."
The voice came from another direction.
A voice we knew very well.
I turned toward its source—
and the shock hit me.
It was the employer.
My heart stopped for a moment.
His face showed no expression, yet it carried complete condemnation.
I had forgotten…
…I had completely forgotten that I had already told him about the doll.
I had told him that it had left the castle.
He must have told Lord Valis everything.
I looked at Cairo.
His face had turned pale, his eyes wide, as if he too had just remembered the disaster we had caused.
How foolish we had been.
We had dug our own graves.
…
And yet, I continued lying, though my voice began collapsing under the weight of tension.
"I…I don't know what you mean…"
Cairo quickly followed my act, his voice trembling.
"I…I think you've mistaken us for someone else… y…you must be referring to different people… w…we don't know what you're talking about."
But our words did not move Lord Valis in the slightest.
He showed no confusion.
No hesitation.
Instead, he sighed deeply before speaking in a firm, decisive tone.
"This is the last chance I am giving you… admit the truth. Now."
Those words felt like a door slowly closing behind us.
The last door.
With no escape.
I looked at Cairo, searching his face for even the smallest spark of hope.
But I found nothing.
Only lost eyes.
Red from tension.
Drops of sweat streaming down his forehead as if even his body had surrendered.
So I spoke in a defeated, trembling voice.
"A…alright… w…we'll tell the truth… but first… please explain exactly what you mean."
Lord Valis answered immediately.
Coldly.
"I am talking about the doll."
That moment shattered all my doubts and turned them into absolute certainty.
There was no more denial.
No escape from the truth.
We had been exposed.
I let out a long breath.
"W…we're sorry."
Beside me, Cairo added in a voice barely audible:
"W…we didn't mean to deceive you… please believe us…"
I raised my head and forced the words out as if pulling them from the depths of my suffering.
"We intended to tell you the truth… but when we heard the price of the doll… we were afraid. We were afraid you would be angry and punish us because it had left… so we decided to lie… we tried to hide it."
Cairo added quietly:
"A…and of course we didn't want the reward you said you would give us if we succeeded… we weren't trying to take advantage of you… we just wanted to get out of the situation without being harmed."
A heavy silence followed our words.
So heavy that I could hear my own heartbeat.
Then Lord Valis finally broke the silence.
"Do you know what I hate the most?"
We exchanged glances but did not dare answer.
He continued coldly.
"What I hate most is when someone treats me as if I were a fool… when they try to deceive me as though I cannot see or understand."
I shrank where I stood.
Cairo even stepped back slightly.
For a moment, I thought this might be the end.
That we would disappear from this castle just as others had before us.
But no.
I would not collapse so easily.
I would fight until the last moment.
"We apologize… we never meant to insult you… please believe me."
Cairo quickly added:
"We truly regret it… we know we were wrong… we should have been honest from the beginning."
Valis remained silent for a long moment before asking slowly:
"Do you think an apology is enough?"
We did not answer.
We had nothing left but silence and shame.
"You should have told the truth from the start."
I looked at him and asked, hoping my question might offer some escape.
"B…but… since when did you know the doll had left?"
He answered calmly.
"Before you came to me and began talking about the doll… the employer had already come to me and told me everything."
It felt as if the ground had been pulled out from beneath my feet.
So he had known all along?
Even while we were lying straight to his face?
How naive we had been.
Valis continued, his words aimed straight at my heart.
"I was waiting for you to be honest… to admit that the doll had left… but you did not."
Cairo finally spoke, trying to defend himself.
"T…that's because we didn't know what kind of person you were… we were afraid you might get angry and punish us…"
Valis looked at him with genuine confusion.
"Punish you? Me? Why would I do that?"
I shook my head and finished Cairo's explanation.
"Because the doll's price was… extremely high…"
The noble gave a faint smile.
"Yes, it was expensive. But what fault would that be of yours if it had left?"
Slowly, I raised my head.
A small spark of hope appeared in the distance.
"So… you won't punish us?"
He laughed softly.
"Hahaha… that's right. I will not punish you for the doll leaving…"
Did we survive?
Would we not be punished?
But then he paused.
And continued in a lighter—but far heavier—tone.
"…But deceiving me? That is an entirely different matter."
"Huh?" I said in confusion.
"Do you regret it now?" he asked.
His voice had regained its firmness.
Cairo and I answered at the same time.
"Y…yes! We regret it! Truly!"
He nodded slowly.
"That is good… but regret alone is not enough."
He paused for a moment before adding coldly:
"You will be punished."
My blood froze in my veins once again.
We had been waiting for the verdict.
And now…
it had been delivered.