Prologue

No matter how vast the world may be and how many lunatics exist within it, this was simply too much.

“Boris, let me go.”

How many times had it been now? Livie stopped herself from counting how often she had repeated those same words in her mind. It wasn’t as if his answer would ever change.

“No.”

His exquisitely shaped lips curved slightly, forming a smile that was undeniably beautiful yet eerily unsettling. Resisting was meaningless—each attempt only caused the rope binding her wrists to tighten further.

“Don’t do this. Just untie me and let us talk, okay?”

“…‘Us’?”

It was as if he had finally heard a word he liked for the first time. The corners of his mouth lifted into a grin. Seeing his expression, a shiver ran down Livie’s spine. But after countless failed attempts to negotiate, this was the first time he had reacted at all. She couldn’t afford to let the opportunity slip away.

Livie tried her best to make herself look as pitiful as possible.

“Yes. I’m hurt, Boris. Look, it’s all red.”

Her words weren’t a lie. The delicate skin of her wrists, tied to the bedpost, had been chafed raw against the thin rope, turning bright red. She lifted her arms high enough for him to see clearly. The action made the rope bite even deeper into her skin. Boris quickly reached out and pulled her hands down.

“It hurts…?”

He brushed his fingers over her wrists. The playful smile he had worn just moments ago disappeared, replaced by a shadow of concern.

“Yes, it hurts. Ow, ow.”  

A deep sense of self-loathing threatened to consume her, but she decided to save such thoughts for later. Right now, she had to focus all her energy on persuading him, drawing on every memory from their childhood.

Boris could never stand to see her in pain. She still remembered the time when she had fallen ill with a fever. He had stayed up all night by her side, saying he would rather be the one suffering instead.

“I am in pain… because of you, Boris.”

She squeezed out the words, forcing herself to sound as miserable as possible. Soon, she could even feel tears pooling at the corners of her eyes.

‘Gather as much as you can… Squeeze out every last bit… Even my soul…’

She let out a forced yawn and swallowed it down, causing more tears to well up. Then, with perfect timing, she let them roll down her cheeks.

“Hic…”

The combination of tears and a trembling voice worked like a charm. Boris looked at her, at a complete loss, before finally reaching for the rope binding her wrists.

‘Finally.’

Livie fought to suppress the victorious grin that threatened to surface. She quickly averted her gaze, pretending to look elsewhere.

“…”

Boris was sitting on the bed, straddling her between his legs. Every time he moved, their bodies pressed against each other. The embarrassing position made it impossible not to notice certain things.

Because of his loosely unbuttoned shirt, each time he leaned forward, she caught a glimpse of his firm, sculpted chest. Each time, Livie found herself momentarily holding her breath.

‘When did he get muscles like that?’

She suddenly became acutely aware of how much time had passed since they had last seen each other. It was hard to believe that the boy she once knew had grown into a man so large that he could completely overshadow her.

Of course, the most unbelievable part wasn’t his physical transformation.

It was the fact that the moment they reunited, she had been kidnapped and dragged here.

Everything had happened so quickly that she still felt dazed.

“Livie?”

“Huh?”

Feeling the rope around her wrists loosen slightly, she let her guard down for just a moment. Her lips twitched unconsciously into a relieved smile—just for an instant.

Boris caught it.

His eyes darkened once more, dangerously so.

“No, Livie. I can’t let you go.”

His voice was a whisper, laced with quiet desperation.

“Why?”

She looked up at him, bewildered. He had tied her up. He had pinned her beneath him—her, a woman who was supposed to be a bride today, trapped under a man who wasn’t her groom. And yet, he looked hurt.

Like an abandoned dog.

That was the most baffling part.

Why was he the one looking like that?

“Untie me! Let go, you lunatic!”

The last remnants of her patience snapped. Livie kicked wildly and screamed at the top of her lungs.

“I said let me go, you crazy bastard!!”

She yanked her arms as hard as she could, but the rope only dug deeper into her wrists. Her hands turned ghostly white from the lack of circulation.

“Don’t do that, Livie. You’ll hurt yourself.”

Boris sounded genuinely pained. Then, as if to stop her from thrashing, he lowered his massive frame, pressing down on her.

“Let me go!”

She struggled beneath him, yelling and cursing, but the more she fought, the heavier his body pressed against her.

At last, when exhaustion overtook her and she lay limp beneath him, he finally spoke again.

“You made a promise.”

What? When?

Livie snapped her head up to look at him. His sorrowful gaze met hers once more.

“You promised to marry me.”

For a moment, she simply stared, speechless.

“I… I never did that.”

She didn’t. She was sure she didn’t. She racked her brain, combing through every memory, but nothing came up. No such promise had ever been made.

But—

“You did, Livie. You definitely did.”  

He spoke with certainty, recalling a memory from a distant past.

***

Life for the daughter of an Earl from a small, remote estate was no different from that of any other ordinary child.

Her father, Nicholas Hayden, had once been a knight serving in the royal castle. He had been awarded the title of Earl for his merits but had no other significant achievements to his name.

The knight who had left home eventually returned, carrying an infant in his arms. That child was Livie.

No one knew who her mother was. Earl Hayden never spoke of her.

There were endless rumors in the village. Some speculated that she was an aristocratic lady from an ill-fated romance, while others suggested she was a woman he met on the road. None of these theories were ever confirmed.

The only certainty was that her mother was most likely no longer alive.

As time passed, people stopped wondering about Livie’s parentage. Though they addressed her as ‘Young Lady,’ they treated her no differently from the other village girls.

There was no one to stop her from running wildly across the open fields, even in a short skirt that barely reached her knees.

Livie rolled around in the mud with the village children and played all sorts of rough games without hesitation as she grew up. The balls and parties that supposedly took place every night in the capital felt like stories from a faraway land.

No, similar events did happen. Even here.

During the grape harvest season, they would hold small festivals, gathering at the village hall dressed in their best outfits, dancing, and drinking freshly made wine.

But in terms of scale, people, dresses, and everything else, it was far from what happened in the capital.

As distant as their location was from it.

Still, it wasn’t bad. Since she had never experienced those grand occasions, she could only think, ‘Ah, so that’s how it is,’ without feeling particularly envious or longing for them.

That day was just another among the many.

Livie lay sprawled on the grass. On her head, she wore a wreath made of white roses.

A round piece of candy rolled inside her mouth, making her cheeks bulge and flatten alternately.

Sitting beside her and watching her adorable cheeks move was Boris.

His slender frame, glossy black hair scattered over his forehead, and striking purple eyes gave him the appearance of the most beautiful girl in the area at first glance. Even the way he sat gracefully was perfect.

That boy had been persistently clinging to Livie for some time.

“Since you’re wearing the flower crown I made, you’re my bride now.”

He spoke with an excited face.

“That’s not how it works.”

Livie replied indifferently.

“Why can’t we get married?”

He had just voiced his first-ever proposal, prepared over a long time, only to be outright rejected.

“Livie, why? Why not?”

He couldn’t accept reality so easily. He kept asking, hoping that understanding the problem might allow him to solve it.

“Because you and I don’t match.”

Unlike the tearful boy, the girl lying carelessly on the grass looked utterly unconcerned.

His face darkened like a stormy sky, while hers remained bright as ever.

“……”

At her answer, his purple eyes wavered in shock. They looked as if they might spill tears at any moment.

“Why? Livie, you like me. You said you did.”

Boris’s eyes welled up, his tears threatening to fall. Seeing that, Livie made a face as if to say, ‘Are you crying again?’ before replying in a tone of annoyance.

“Because your status is lower than mine. My father wouldn’t approve of it.”

She shifted the candy in her mouth from her right cheek to her left as she spoke.

More than the words she was saying, she was focused on the texture of the candy rolling over her tongue. So her response was half-hearted, spoken as an afterthought.

“……Then what should I do?”

Boris was serious.

Livie, savoring the sweetness of the candy, had her eyes closed, completely unaware that Boris was looking as if his world had just ended.

“I don’t know. If you became a Duke, maybe then…”

She shifted the candy again before answering.

“Really? Then you’ll marry me? For real?”

His eyes sparkled like a galaxy had been poured into them.

But Livie didn’t see that either.

“Of course.”

She answered his serious question as if it were obvious.

……That was a mistake.

***

“……”

A memory struck her like a fierce blow to the back of her head, making Livie shudder.

“Livie, are you okay?”

Seeing her trembling, Boris asked with concern. But she was too shocked to hear his voice properly.

“Livie? Livie?”

All of this—everything—was a disaster brought upon by her own careless words.

Unbelievable.

‘No, this can’t be happening.’

She desperately tried to deny reality.

“Livie……”

Suddenly, his voice came soft and trembling. Boris leaned in, bringing his lips close to her ear, exhaling lightly.

The hot and ticklish sensation made Livie flail like a fish struck by a harpoon.

“Huh? Huh?!”

Only then did she properly look at Boris again.

His once tear-filled purple eyes now held a different kind of light.

‘Dangerous.’

It was clearly a dangerous sign.

The tear-streaked corners of his eyes shimmered with an unidentifiable gleam, and it didn’t take long for her to realize it was madness.

“Why… Why are you looking at me like that?”

Livie tried to move, attempting to escape his intense gaze, but it was futile. Her delicate body was already pinned down beneath him.

There was a limit to how much she could avoid his stare or flee somewhere else.

And she wasn’t particularly skilled at hiding her emotions.

As he observed her face closely, a faint smile flickered across his lips.

“You remember everything now, don’t you?”

“……”

Livie couldn’t say a word. She could only stare at him, opening and closing her mouth like a frozen statue.

“Boris, that…”

“Livie.”

Suddenly, his voice dropped to a chilling tone.

Every time he called her name, she felt like she was going insane.

“I-I…”

Her body kept trembling against her will. His eerie, glowing purple eyes seemed to cast a spell over her.

“That was… just a joke…”

It was a joke. A childhood game. Didn’t kids often play like that? Saying things like, ‘Marry me when we grow up.’

Why was she being held accountable for a mere childhood promise now?

She suddenly felt unfairly trapped and glared at him, ready to protest.

“A joke?”

His eyes widened as he repeated her words, making her hesitate to insist that it was all just play, that he was taking it too seriously.

“……”

“A promise must be kept, right?”

He confirmed it again, a smile playing on his lips.

Seeing that smile, Livie’s face filled with despair.

‘I’m doomed.’

She should never have made a promise about marriage so lightly.