When Laurencia woke from sleep, she slowly blinked her heavy eyelids.

The moment focus returned to her eyes that had been staring blankly into space for a while, memories she wanted to forget came flooding back without fail.

After that incident two days ago, memories from the past she’d barely managed to forget kept resurfacing.

Five years ago—when she had just started learning swordsmanship from Jedrian.

Back then, her days revolved around receiving his praise. So she worked hard at everything and pestered him to teach her even tactics she didn’t need to know.

Jedrian taught her even more devotedly, saying she was admirable, and Laurencia absorbed everything he said into her mind, down to the smallest detail.

There was no need to think about right or wrong.

At the time, she believed that anything the heroic man who had made the empire a great power again said was the truth, no matter what it was.

Moreover, since her whole heart already belonged to him, Jedrian’s actions and words were simply cool and admirable, regardless of whether they were right or wrong.

Then one day, the man suddenly showed up wearing armor and asked an unexpected question.

‘What did I say you must do to win completely in war?’

‘You must not let emotions interfere.’

‘Why?’

‘Because unnecessary sympathy and compassion can endanger my comrades.’

‘That’s right. Even if you spare a child out of pity, in the future it will be our children who die at that child’s hands.’

Not knowing what that question meant or what kind of spark her answer was igniting in his heart, she spoke clearly.

After that, Jedrian asked several more questions, and Laurencia answered smoothly, just like he had taught her.

‘Finally, how should we deal with captured royals?’

‘We must kill them all.’

‘That’s right, we must kill them. And?’

‘We must show them to the kingdom’s people as an example. That way they won’t harbor other intentions.’

‘As expected, you’re brilliant. I couldn’t be more proud to be Your Highness the Princess’s teacher.’

She loved that smile. She simply loved that face smiling brightly at her.

So she didn’t ask.

Why he was wearing armor. Where he was going. Why he suddenly came and asked these questions.

Though curiosity arose belatedly, that evening Jedrian left the imperial palace immediately. According to what she heard from the emperor the next day, it was only described as a secret operation.

Usually secret operations mostly involved sending capable knights or spies.

She found it strange that he, the knight commander, went personally, but that wasn’t something the princess needed to be involved in.

All she had to do was hope that Jedrian and the empire’s knights would return safely.

A month passed like that, and finally he returned.

And Jedrian came to see her immediately upon entering the palace. Before she could even be happy to see him, the man’s expression was extremely flushed as he held out something, calling it a gift.

What he brought was a bracelet made of gold.

‘I brought back a bracelet that a kingdom’s princess was wearing as war spoils. They said this was that kingdom’s treasure. Since it belonged to a dead person, you don’t need to wear it. Just look at it and savor the victory, Your Highness.’

‘I heard it was a secret operation—did you go to war?’

‘It’s not grand enough to call it a war. I simply caught them off guard. We swept through the entire royal palace with just a few men. Isn’t that impressive?’

‘You occupied a royal palace with just a few knights?’

‘Yes. We targeted the gap when that place’s elite knights and prince were away from the kingdom. The result was a great success. This is also a tactic.’

Laurencia didn’t know why she had that thought in that moment. For just a brief instant, the smile of the man who had always seemed beautiful felt extremely cruel.

‘Then, the royals…’

‘Just like Your Highness said, I executed them all. It’s regrettable that I couldn’t kill the prince… but we’re pursuing him, so we’ll catch him soon.’

Sensing her stiffened expression, Jedrian carefully took hold of her pale, delicate hand.

Then with an affectionate voice, he firmly grasped her tender heart.

‘Countless countries still point their swords at the empire. My duty is to protect Your Highness completely from that danger. So trust me. This Jedrian will lay this world at your feet. Your Highness need only watch the empire’s prosperity from beside me.’

Laurencia’s cheeks flushed. With those words, the doubt that had briefly arisen vanished instantly.

She had watched from closer than anyone how hard he worked to protect the empire. His loyalty was beyond question.

Above all, it was a war he had risked his life for. Killing the enemy in war was natural.

Otherwise, it would be her and her comrades who died.

So he had done the right thing. It was what a knight should naturally do.

Just when she was building her trust in him even more solidly, what shook Laurencia’s faith again was the scandal that rocked the imperial palace a few days after he returned.

What Jedrian had done to the royals of the kingdom he said he’d caught off guard and swept through became the talk of the palace.

They said he tied ropes to the royals’ hands, connected them to horses, and knights on horseback dragged them across the ground until they died.

The targets included men, women, and children without discrimination, and all those of royal blood were executed that way.

They said the aftermath was even more horrific, but Laurencia didn’t listen further.

No, she couldn’t listen. It was too terrible and cruel.

At that time, she felt afraid of Jedrian for the first time.

She felt like somehow, if he became an enemy instead of an ally, she would suffer that fate.

The repercussions of that incident were bigger than expected, and due to fierce protests from the nobles, Jedrian eventually received disciplinary confinement.

The reason was that he had violated human dignity, war aside.

But Laurencia knew that wasn’t the real reason.

From the nobles’ perspective, they resented that a lowly mercenary, even though it was during war, had executed royals like beasts.

Sure enough, Jedrian, who had figured out that fact, was enraged.

He raged that those who sat around comfortably doing nothing were misconstruing his loyalty. 

He poured out curses, saying they rebelled against the emperor’s will every day but only pretended to be loyal at times like this.

Though she was afraid of Jedrian’s true colors that she was seeing for the first time, Laurencia had no choice but to comfort him.

In case his changed heart made him an enemy.

And also because her foolish heart still held him.

But he eventually became an enemy. And on the day he forcibly embraced her, he said this.

‘It was because of you. Because I wanted to look cooler to you. Because you admired me, I wanted to live up to those expectations.’

After that, every time he held her, he whispered like war stories about how the people who had died by his hands had struggled.

And at the end, he always added that it was for her sake.

In great shock, having lost all will, Laurencia felt like she was the one who had made him into this monster, and for a while she wasn’t in her right mind.

When even her father collapsed, she lost all will to fight.

To her in that state, Jedrian spoke every night like brainwashing.

‘I can do anything for you. The reason I committed treason was all to protect you. So you just need to smile looking only at me like before. I’ll remove everything that troubles you. Now there’s no one to interfere with our love, Lauren.’

On the day she had everything taken from her by him and was finally abandoned, Laurencia realized as she left the empire.

That Jedrian becoming a monster wasn’t anyone’s fault—it was simply the natural choice of a wicked man blinded by ambition.

* * *

“Please, eat.”

“Leave it. I’ll eat it later.”

“No. You’ll say that and not eat again. You’re already thin, and in just a few days you’ve become nothing but bones. Just open your mouth. Come on, ah…”

The man who had been gone all day finally returned after sunset, suddenly bringing food and insisting she eat.

Laurencia’s face twisted with annoyance at Ashar’s unexpected stubbornness. As though that weren’t enough, she was dumbfounded by the man’s behavior, nagging like he was dealing with a younger sister.

The spoon of soup poked at her tightly closed lips, urging her to open her mouth quickly.

Though she wanted to swat away that impudent hand, she lacked even the energy to argue, so she reluctantly opened her mouth.

Like a parent happy to see food enter their child’s mouth, he raised the corners of his mouth pleasantly and carefully poured the soup into her mouth.

Then he quickly scooped more soup and acted even more absurdly, blowing on it.

“That’s right, well done. Now, let’s eat just five more times. Then I won’t ask you to eat more.”

The soup that had been steaming hot gradually cooled under his careful breath.

He looked somehow skilled at it. It didn’t seem like something he’d done just once or twice.

Laurencia was about to ask out of sudden curiosity whether he had siblings or children, but just closed her mouth.

Because she knew that unnecessary conversation creates unnecessary relationships.

He was bait to be used and discarded anyway. There was no need to know about such a person’s private life.

“It’s all cooled down. Ah…”

Watching the spoon approach again, she suddenly asked in a cold voice.

“Have I become your enemy in the meantime?”

Ashar’s eyes widened round, like he didn’t know what she was talking about.

Laurencia, who suddenly found the man’s affectionate behavior suspicious, openly expressed her doubt.

“Seeing you suddenly act like this, it seems something has changed in your feelings.”

Like he’d heard something completely unexpected, Ashar, who had been staring blankly, suddenly laughed loudly.

After laughing for a while about what was so funny, he suddenly wiped away his laughter and gently wiped the soup on her lips with his thumb.

She tried to push away his hand at the somehow irritating feeling, but Ashar, who had snatched her hand in an instant, kissed her pure white hand ostentatiously and whispered.

“This is what I meant by seduction.”