News that the Grand Duchess had been kidnapped on the day of the heatwave preparedness event sent shockwaves through the Grand Duchy.

Libero Max, the man behind Selina’s abduction who once fired an arrow at her on the day she first arrived at the Grand Ducal Castle, was imprisoned.

Under ordinary circumstances, he would have been beheaded immediately and erased from history. However, by sheer chance, he survived.

He was subjected to brutal interrogations intended to extract the names of everyone involved. Given what awaited him, it would be difficult to call his survival a blessing.

“The cut on her hand from the glass has been fully treated. Fortunately, there are no other injuries.”

After tending to Selina’s hand, the physician reported her condition to Calix.

Calix’s expression, however, remained dark.

‘No other injuries?’

He reached out and placed his hand on Selina’s forehead.

His hands were always warm, as though they held a hint of heat. Yet, even in contact with his warmth, her forehead felt burning hot beneath his palm.

“Have you practiced medicine carelessly your entire life? Or are the eyes on your face merely decorative?”

His voice was glacial as he rebuked the physician to his face.

“To claim someone is ‘fine’ when she hasn’t regained consciousness for two full days due to a raging fever—what kind of nonsense is that?”

“T-that is…”

Cold sweat trickled down the physician’s back.

Despite having served the Grand Ducal family as their personal physician for decades, he could say with absolute certainty that he had never seen the Grand Duke appear so dangerous.

“Given what Her Grace has endured, it seems that her body and mind are extremely exhausted. This is not an illness caused by physical injury, but a fever brought on by prolonged stress. With sufficient rest, she should recover naturally.”

Lowering his head, he finished explaining Selina’s condition.

Calix listened with an unmistakable look of dissatisfaction, then let out an irritated sigh.

“So you’re telling me to let her suffer through a fever quietly? Then at least provide medicine to bring the fever down.”

The physician suddenly recalled an incident from several years ago.

Back then, Her Grace, the Grand Duchess Calliope, had fallen ill and been ravaged by a terrible fever. At the time, the Grand Duke had simply stated that ‘fevers heal with time’.

The physician had assumed that he would react in the same way now.

“O-of course. Naturally, I will prepare medicine and leave it here, Your Grace.”

But circumstances change—and when they do, so do people.

Nodding hurriedly, the physician hastened to placate Calix.

Meanwhile—

“I think His Grace is suffering the most.”

Zenfri muttered, standing outside the Grand Duchess’s chambers at a distance and eavesdropping on the conversation between the physician and Calix.

“What did the doctor ever do to deserve having His Grace’s temper so blatantly taken out on him?”

Alter, who had been listening quietly, nodded in agreement.

“He really doesn’t seem like his usual self. It’s more like… he’s gone completely mad.”

Zenfri nodded along to Alter’s words.

His thoughts drifted back to the moment Calix found out where Selina was and went to rescue her.

The location was a remote mountainside. Dangerous wild beasts prowled around the hut, which was surrounded on all sides by thick brambles.

The only door was locked. To get inside, they would have had to painstakingly clear the thorn bushes one by one.

“The rest of you—get in however you want.”

Then Calix, that madman, walked straight through the brambles, n*ked.

His hands, face, and all his exposed skin were covered in thorn wounds. Drenched in blood, he advanced; the sight was so grotesque that it was hard to tell if he was human anymore.

Of course, they all knew that he possessed a special ability that allowed his wounds to heal at an unnatural speed. But that only meant he healed quickly; it did not mean he was immune to pain.

Since Calix had gone in alone, the rest of them had no choice but to follow. They hacked their way through the brambles, creating just enough of a path for them to follow in his wake.

What awaited them inside the hut was beyond horrific.

The floor was soaked in blood. Not a single part of Libero’s body was uninjured.

Every muscle that allowed movement had been cut through. The only part left untouched was his face.

There was only one reason for that.

“Take him away and make him reveal every last person involved.”

They needed him alive enough to speak.

“Still, I was surprised His Grace let that bastard live. If it were me, I’d have killed him on the spot.”

Alter said, nodding as though he understood Calix’s rage.

Then his expression darkened.

“But the real problem is Viktor.”

Viktor, the knight responsible for guarding Selina, crawled back, drenched in blood.

When they realized that he had dragged himself more than a kilometer with multiple blades still lodged in his body, they were all left utterly speechless.

“M-milady has been kidnapped. Hurry—tell His Grace the truth…”

With those words, Viktor lost consciousness.

Judging by his injuries, his body had long since reached its limit; yet he had endured purely through willpower, driven by his desire to save Selina.

Thanks to that, they had been able to move quickly and rescue her.

“Viktor failed to fulfill his duty. He is hereby relieved of his position as captain.”

His Grace had been cold and precise, like a finely honed blade. Viktor, in turn, accepted the judgment in silence.

“So Sir Viktor is being demoted to an ordinary knight now? That’s absurd…”

Alter, who had trained alongside him, looked deeply dejected.

“…It’s true that he failed his mission. And honestly, it was a grave enough failure to warrant dismissal outright.”

Rocheste, who had been listening without a word, finally spoke.

“I should be punished as well. I saw Libero abduct milady right in front of me—and still failed to recognize it.”

Deep regret and guilt weighed heavily on his heart.

Only afterwards did he realize that the sound coming from the cart that Libero was pushing had been Selina’s signal to him.

“What an idiot. To hear that and still not realize…”

Although he had always been praised for his sharp instincts, he had noticed nothing in that crucial moment. The self-loathing was unbearable.

“Honestly, I doubt anyone would have realized. Libero was always quiet and unassuming. Who would have imagined that he was plotting something like that?”

Alter tried to console him, but it did little to ease his suffering. Above all, Rocheste wanted to drop to his knees before Selina and beg her forgiveness for failing to protect her.

“Milady will recover soon, so don’t worry too much. More importantly…”

As the atmosphere grew heavy, Zenfri spoke quietly.

“I think this incident is… a kind of sign.”

“A sign?”

“Yes. A sign foretelling the storms yet to come.”

“Wow. Sir Zenfri, did you eat something strange today? You’re being unusually cryptic.”

“……”

Zenfri reached out as if to smack Alter on the head. Alter hastily tried to dodge—

Just then, the firmly closed door opened, and Calix stepped out.

“Ah! You’ve come out, Your Grace.”

Alter bowed politely, and Zenfri seized the moment to smack the back of his head.

“H-hey! That’s dirty—who attacks someone while they’re greeting?”

“Got you, you cheeky little bastard.”

Before the two could continue their banter, a cold command cut through the air.

“Both of you—silence.”

Calix’s voice dripped with an icy chill, instantly subduing them.

“All three of you look rather idle. Have you got nothing better to do? If not, I’ll find something for you to do. Run to the training grounds. Now.”

“…Yes, sir!”

No one dared to oppose Calix when he was in such a bad mood.

Alter hurried off towards the training grounds, eager to put some distance between himself and the Grand Duke. Rocheste followed at a slower pace.

‘He recently said that he wanted Milady to gather information about the Empire.’

As if! Any talk of turning Selina into a spy was long gone. After this, Calix would undoubtedly keep Selina close and never let her out of his sight.

Anyone could see that from the way he lost all reason when he heard she had been kidnapped.

‘Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing… I honestly can’t say.’

Zenfri lingered a moment longer, casting a thoughtful, uncertain glance behind him before heading off to the training grounds as well.

“Selina.”

Meanwhile, Selina was trapped in a feverish nightmare.

She had been stuck in a dark, cramped room for more than a week, beside her dead mother. Her mother had not moved for days. She was not breathing. The venomous words she had used to hurl at Selina every day were finally silent.

Only then did Selina realize that it was death.

Standing numbly, she stared at her mother’s corpse, witnessing death for the first time.

Suddenly, the body snapped its eyes open and let out a piercing scream.

“Because of you, I died trapped in this hell without ever escaping! I should never have given birth to you!”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

As Selina begged it over and over, the corpse began to blur and collapse. It morphed into Libero, the man who had kidnapped her.

“I told you,” said Libero, gripping a dagger as he walked towards her. “You bring misfortune wherever you go. Before you can cause any more harm, I’ll kill you myself.”

—Gasp.

Selina jolted awake from the nightmare, a silent scream tearing through her chest.

Her clothes were soaked in sweat, and her hair clung messily to her skin. She hurriedly looked around. Outside, night had fallen and all around her lay an eerie stillness, as though nothing had ever happened.

Lowering her gaze, she looked at her hand.

The wound from the glass shard had been carefully treated, with a clean bandage wrapped neatly around it.

Then she caught sight of something familiar encircling her wrist.