She stood up and walked over to the window again, staring out into the dark duchy.

The mana lamps behind her cast her shadow long across the stone floor, and the silence of the room felt less like peace and more like something held underwater, struggling to surface.

"This makes the situation far more complicated," she murmured, pressing two fingers lightly against the cold glass. Her breath fogged it in a small circle and then vanished.

"If he has truly learned to suppress his desires toward other women, then sending beautiful instruments like you will be useless. He sees through them immediately."

Cathy remained silent.

She had said nothing for nearly a minute now, and the silence was its own kind of answer. Louisa had long ago learned that what a person chose not to say was often more truthful than what they offered freely.

Louisa then turned back around. Her eyes settled on Cathy with such intensity that the young woman felt the chill travel up her spine.

"I believe you have something more to say."

It was not a question. Louisa never asked questions she already knew the answers to.

Cathy hesitated. She shifted slightly in her seat, the fabric of her dress rustling against the chair in a sound that felt absurdly loud.

After a few seconds of visible internal struggle, her lips parted.

"The only ones who can maybe move Lord Kraven... are either Duchess Olivia, Lady Vanessa... or..."

She paused.

Louisa raised her brow.

"Or?" she asked, her tone demanding the soldier to complete her sentence.

Cathy lowered her eyes respectfully. Her hands, folded in her lap, pressed slightly tighter together.

"Someone close to him. Someone of importance. And someone extremely pretty and valuable."

The room fell into a heavy silence.

Louisa remained perfectly still. She knew exactly what Cathy was implying. The "someone of importance" Cathy referred to was none other than herself. Louisa Astran. Wife of Liam Astran, the ambitious man whose rise she had quietly engineered from shadows.

And now Cathy was suggesting she use that assembled power as bait.

She did not speak immediately. Instead, she just stood silently, her sharp eyes narrowing by the smallest degree as she processed the suggestion.

Cathy kept her head slightly bowed, waiting. The position was appropriately submissive, but Louisa had known Cathy long enough to recognize the difference between humility and strategy. The girl was watching her from beneath those lowered lashes.

After nearly a full minute of silence, Louisa let out a soft breath.

"So," she said. "You are suggesting that I should be the one to approach him."

Her voice was smooth, but there was a dangerous undertone beneath it.

"That I should use my own body and charm to seduce my nephew-by-marriage."

Cathy didn’t dare look up.

"I would never presume to order my lady to do anything," Cathy said carefully. "I am only stating what I observed. Lord Kraven ignores ordinary beauty. He ignores seduction attempts from maids and soldiers alike. But when it comes to Duchess Olivia and Lady Vanessa... there is still a reaction."

She paused.

"If someone of even higher status and beauty were to approach him... someone he cannot easily dismiss... perhaps the result would be different."

Louisa’s lips curved into a thin, cold smile. It did not reach her eyes.

"You mean someone like me."

Cathy remained silent. But she did not deny it. And silence, as Louisa knew better than most, was confirmation wearing a polite mask.

Louisa stepped forward and walked over to the large mirror on the wall. The mirror was old, its silver frame slightly worn at the edges, and it reflected her in all her glory.

She studied what she saw. The elegant shape of her face, the intelligence behind her eyes that had never dulled, not in her twenties, not in her thirties, and she doubted it would dull in her forties either. The attractive figure hiding underneath that refined her even more.

She adjusted the silk robe slightly, letting it slip open just enough to reveal the smooth curve of her shoulder and the swell of her breast. She studied the effect the way an artist studies a painting.

"Do you truly believe I could succeed where you failed?" she asked, still looking at her reflection.

There was something in the question that was not quite vanity and not quite doubt. It was something in between.

Cathy answered without hesitation.

"I believe you have the highest chance, my lady. You are not just beautiful. You are important. You are the wife of Lord Liam. You carry status, power, and allure that no maid or soldier can match. If Lord Kraven still has lingering weaknesses toward women of his own bloodline... then someone like you might be the only one who can exploit that."

Louisa stared at her own eyes in the mirror for another long moment. Then she turned away and walked back to her chair.

She sat down, folded her hands and let her expression return to its usual composed mask.

"It is a risky move," she said. Her voice had dropped slightly. "If I fail, it could damage our position even further. Everything Liam and I have built could fracture at precisely the moment it needs to hold."

She looked at Cathy directly.

"And if I succeed... it could give us a powerful lever inside the Duke’s camp. One that no one would anticipate."

The corner of her mouth moved.

"However." She let the word sit alone for a moment. "I will not throw myself at him like some common whore. If I decide to act, it will be on my terms. Carefully. Subtly. With every shred of dignity I possess intact."

Cathy bowed her head deeply.

"I understand, my lady."

Louisa studied her for a long moment.

"You did well tonight, Cathy. Despite failing to seduce him, your observation is valuable. What you brought back to this room is worth more than success would have been." She paused. "Go rest. I will speak with Liam about this new development in the morning."

Cathy rose from her chair and bowed once more.

As she turned to leave, Louisa’s voice reached her just before she touched the door handle.

"One more thing."