She leaned in, her eyes gleaming with absolute certainty. "Let me use your tunnel tonight. In exchange, I won't just tell you exactly where your missing boys are being kept—I will use the entire military might of the Marquisate to bring them home and ensure no one ever touches them again."
Jiyoung's posture shattered as he burst into a sudden, loud laugh, the sound echoing hollowly against the silk drapes. "Oh my God... My Lady, do you really think I am such a pathetic fool?"
But as the laughter left his lips, a raw, suffocating wave of pain slashed violently through his amber eyes. His mask completely fell away, leaving his voice trembling with a dark, heavy grief. "All of my boys... they are already dead. Do you really think I don't know that? Do you think I haven't tracked their fates?"
Heena looked down at him, her expression entirely unmoving. "Are you sure?"
