When Reizen stepped out of the car, his eyes were filled with black smoke. It would have been nice if it rained, but the rain that had fallen so fiercely last night was nowhere to be seen today.

The fire that started at the hotel spread to the shopping district along the planted street trees. As if someone had laid out a path for them to follow.

“Transport those who are still alive to nearby hospitals, and gather the dead bodies in the square so their families can find them.”

After giving orders calmly, he got back in the car and put a cigar to his lips. Leaning back casually in the back seat, the man exhaled smoke instead of sighing as he stared into the distance.

The car departed immediately.

Whilton checked Reizen’s expression through the rearview mirror as he spoke.

“As you instructed, we were safely moving His Highness as soon as we noticed something strange. But His Highness…”

So he shouted to stop them because he was worried that crazy bastard might die? Even though he knew full well it would be dangerous if their location was discovered.

‘Did he still have lingering attachments?’

Reizen had countless times witnessed the two of them together since they were young. They were two people far beyond his reach, whom he could only watch from afar.

It used to make him frown in disgust at how Selheim, who showed sharp hostility toward all humans, would only smile gently and pretend to be a good person when it came to Melissa.

The naive young lady, not knowing anything, would follow him around saying she liked him and would hug him. Not even dreaming what kind of depraved thoughts might be in that crazy bastard’s head.

“…”

Or perhaps, what are the chances that Melissa Grey deliberately let herself be discovered and went to Selheim?

What if Melissa had been Selheim’s spy from the beginning?

Even Sion whom he trusted completely had betrayed him, so there was no law saying Melissa couldn’t do the same.

The reason he tried to keep the truth from her until the end and exclude her from work was because he had considered such possibilities…

‘Did she give up and run away because she couldn’t extract information from me?’

All sorts of assumptions tumbled through his mind.

He didn’t want to doubt, but it was a situation where he had to doubt. Reizen kept burning his cigar. The cigar burned at an impossibly fast rate.

The car arrived at its destination with a bump. When it parked in the Empress’s garden, knights rather than servants greeted him.

“Get out!”

When a tense knight pointed his gun at Reizen, he smirked and opened the car door to step out.

“I was going to get out anyway.”

I came to get out, not to just sit in the car.

What annoying treatment.

He smirked as he flicked away his cigar. The still-burning cigar smoked on the grass of the Empress’s garden. While a servant rushed to put out the fire, Reizen walked on with a composed gaze.

Arriving at the Empress’s room under escort, Reizen spoke his point before greeting.

“They say even if you bite all ten fingers, there’s no finger that doesn’t hurt.”

Isabella was sitting in her luxurious room receiving a massage from her maid. Showing her smooth legs, she pulled up one corner of her lips in a smile.

“You speak as if you’re keeping one of my fingers.”

“Would I be here if I wasn’t?”

Reizen sat cross-legged on the guest sofa. Seeing his casual posture, one of the Empress’s attendants shouted at him to show proper respect. The Empress’s knights tensed and adjusted their grip on their guns. With the sound of loading, they were ready to blow Reizen’s head off at any moment.

Whilton, who came with Reizen, also loaded his gun with a click. The knights gulped and faltered at his incredibly quick movements.

Tension flowed through the room.

“Let him be.”

Isabella commanded calmly. After dismissing her maid, she put on a robe and approached with eyes that had grown more gentle than before.

Walking right up to the sofa, she lifted Reizen’s chin and smiled as she looked down at him. Isabella’s eyes slowly traced over Reizen’s eyes, nose, and lips.

“I was just worrying because Owen, who was supposed to enter the country, couldn’t be contacted.”

When Reizen grinned back at her, the Empress’s eyes changed terrifyingly fierce.

“So you went to my brother’s house first?”

Tell me what you want, Reizen.

Isabella spoke as if spitting the words, without blinking once. In response, an intense emotion filled Reizen’s blue eyes as well.

* * *

Melissa had a dream.

She was sitting by a lake as blue as Reizen’s eyes, when a yellow butterfly came fluttering toward her over the water. When she reached out her hand, the butterfly landed gently on the back of her hand to rest its wings.

It was a beautiful scene. She hadn’t had a chance to see nature lately being confined to the hotel, but seeing it even like this brought peace to her mind.

Melissa sat by the lake humming a song with the butterfly perched on her shoulder. Then the butterfly circled around her as if dancing before flying off somewhere.

“Ah.”

Reluctant to let the butterfly go like this, Melissa followed after it. Past the dense forest behind the lake, a flower garden in full bloom spread out before her. A rainbow hung over the flower garden that was so vast its end couldn’t be seen. Among the colorful flowers, the butterfly met its friends and spun around as if greeting them happily.

Melissa walked into the warm light. When the yellow sunlight shone on her head, her legs moved with natural joy. As she passed through the flower garden dancing – something she had so disliked doing – butterflies surrounded her and danced with her.

Ah, it’s so warm.

It was such a sweet dream she had never experienced in her life that she didn’t want to wake up from it forever. Melissa smiled hazily and curled up her body. In her half-sleep, she felt someone picking her up.

It seemed like a muscular man, with a familiar scent.

Melissa naturally wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Her face wore a faint smile of pure serenity. She was still immersed in the happy dream. Not wanting to wake up, she danced again in the flower garden for days.

“Melissa.”

While she was dancing, immersed in happiness, she heard a man’s voice.

“I have something to tell you.”

The man who held her hand to her forehead whispered shocking words.

“Actually, I…”

That dream was a nightmare. Melissa stopped dancing and looked up at the sky. The sky in her dream was cracking and breaking apart.

With that, her eyes flew open.

It was a familiar ceiling. Seeing the old fresco and feather patterns on the wall, her eyes slowly widened. Was she still dreaming?

“My lady, are you conscious?”

Laila, who had been wringing out a wet cloth beside her, approached with a start.

“This is…”

What in the world had happened?

She couldn’t remember anything at all.

“It must be because of the drug. Dr. Horrux said it was a strong drug made for torture by the imperial family.”

“Ah.”

Her vision was still hazy. This seemed to be Miellin Castle. The breeze coming through the open window was soft and smelled of cypress trees.

The feel of the sun-dried blanket was familiar. The slow flow of air and the nostalgic scent of old books. Even with her eyes closed, she could tell this was Miellin Castle.

Melissa blinked her eyes while sitting up, trying to recover her vision. Then suddenly looking to the side, she saw a man in a black suit jacket decorated with silver foil sleeping with his chin propped up in a chair.

It seemed he had brought a chair usually used in the library and had been sitting there for quite some time.

Though her memories weren’t clear, seeing his face immediately upon waking brought her deep relief. The tension in Melissa’s chest dissolved like starch.

The breeze through the window ruffled the golden hair of the man sitting crookedly in the chair. As the fine strands scattered softly like golden threads, he slowly opened his eyes.

The handsome face gazed steadily at her.

Melissa also blinked as she looked back at Reizen. Her long eyelashes fluttered slowly a couple times. Melissa greeted him with a bright smile that crinkled her eyes.

“Reizen.”

Before asking how things had turned out, she was happy just by the fact that he was there in front of her. She knew what it felt like to wait by someone’s side not knowing when they would wake up.

She had felt it while nursing Rael. Being there for someone when they were sick held a very special meaning.

Reizen got up from the chair and came closer. He hugged her as she reached out and stroked her head. Though he said nothing, his passionless touch and lukewarm embrace told her.

That something had gone wrong.