Baron Este wandered through the forest, his face twitching with frustration.

“Where did that brat learn to be so defiant?” he muttered.

As Baron Este grumbled, the moneylender beside him fueled his anger.

“Hey, without that girl, your debt won’t be forgiven. You know that, right?”

“I know! I know!” Baron Este snapped back.

The moneylender puffed on a thick cigarette and mocked him further.

“What kind of fool tries to bring someone along without tying them up?”

‘That guy, all talk and no action,’ Baron Este thought to himself as he picked up the broken necklace Titiana had left behind. It was a testament to her ferocity, with bits of flesh still clinging to the chain.

“What’s that? A necklace?” the moneylender asked.

“I tried to grab her, but this was all I got. I should have grabbed her by the hair instead,” Baron Este admitted, spitting on the ground as he examined the transparent pendant.

“What is this? She’s carrying around some pebble. It’s not even a jewel.”

As Baron Este noted, the pendant seemed worthless.

The moneylender offered some advice suited to his profession.

“The chain might be gold, so don’t throw it away. Keep it.”

Baron Este tossed the necklace aside with a grumble.

“Who hangs a gold chain on a pebble? It’s probably just brass pretending to be gold.”

“Ugh, no wonder you’re living like a beggar, with no eye for value,” the moneylender retorted, clicking his tongue as he picked up the necklace from the ground.

‘Huh? This is really unique,’ he thought, rolling the necklace in his palm and tilting his head in curiosity. Although transparent crystals were often used in jewelry, he had never seen a mineral that reflected light as smoothly as glass.

“This might actually be worth something,” he speculated.

Just then, the temperature in the forest changed. What had been a comfortably cool autumn day suddenly felt as cold as a winter’s night before a blizzard.

“What… what is this?” Baron Este stammered.

“Yeah, what’s happening?” the moneylender echoed.

As the two men shivered and looked around, a chilling voice echoed from behind them.

“Why do you have that?” the voice demanded.

It felt as if a ghostly presence had enveloped the entire forest.

“Who… who are you?” Baron Este asked, bewildered.

They had been sure no one else was in the forest, making the situation all the more bizarre. The moneylender felt a chill of fear at this mysterious phenomenon.

‘What is this? A ghost?’ he wondered.

The atmosphere was so eerie that the thought crossed his mind. Tense and on edge, he turned around to find someone standing there who hadn’t been visible moments before. The man behind them was young, with a face that still bore the freshness of youth.

With light pink hair and delicate features, he didn’t look threatening at all.

Even if he were a ghost, he wouldn’t look so radiant. The moneylender forgot his instinctive fear and sneered.

“What are you? You look like some pretty boy,” he taunted.

The moneylender chuckled, but Baron Este frowned.

‘That guy? Isn’t he the one who came with Titiana?’ he thought.

Though he couldn’t remember clearly at first glance, the unique pink hair jogged his memory.

‘Damn, did he follow us all the way here?’ he wondered.

If it came down to it, he figured he could knock the guy out and sell him off somewhere. If there were companions, they could report quickly, so it was better to deal with them all at once.

As the two men entertained different thoughts, they both regarded Yuri with disdain.

Yuri furrowed his brow, his lips twisting in displeasure.

“Is that a common insult around here? Pretty boy,” he retorted.

“You’re not from around here, are you? Tough luck. If you’d just passed by, you wouldn’t be in trouble,” the moneylender sneered.

As if he had any right to talk, Yuri thought.

Yuri had already been in a foul mood after tracking the artifact’s location only to find someone other than Titiana. He asked again in a cold voice.

“I asked you. Why do you have that?”

The moneylender, his patience exhausted, threw a cigarette butt at Yuri and growled.

“What a joke. Do I have to bow down and explain everything just because you ask?”

And then it happened.

“Ahhhh!” the moneylender screamed.

Neither the moneylender nor Baron Este, who was watching the scene, understood what had occurred.

Something like a fiery snake crawled over the moneylender’s body, causing him immense pain. He screamed and rolled on the ground.

“My body is on fire! Fire…! Put it out!” he cried.

Strangely, he only felt pain without any heat or visible flames.

‘Damn! What is this now?’ Baron Este thought, realizing the severity of the situation as he began to sweat profusely.

Yuri, who had picked up the necklace from the ground where the moneylender had dropped it, noticed the blood on the chain. Veins stood out on the back of his hand as he clenched it tightly.

Yuri glared at Baron Este with icy blue eyes and asked, “Let me ask you again. Where is the owner of this necklace?”

“I-I don’t know! We’re searching the forest too.”

“Didn’t she run away because of you?”

“Absolutely not! I’m her father! Why would I do anything to my daughter?”

Yuri, who had an excellent memory, clearly recalled his face. Titiana had warned him repeatedly about this human trash.

‘After tormenting Titi so much, he had the nerve to call himself her father?’

Yuri glared at him with eyes as cold as ice.

Right on cue, as if to expose his lie, a group of men burst out of the forest and shouted loudly.

“Boss, we can’t find the girl! It seems like she escaped outside the forest!”

‘Ah, those idiots!’

Baron Este realized his excuse wasn’t working and quickly changed his approach.

Gone was his confident demeanor; he immediately dropped to his knees and pointed at the moneylender, shouting.

“It’s him! He suddenly dragged her here! I met him today because it was the due date for the debt, and this bastard said he’d take Titiana instead of money…!”

Where was the money he had been desperate for until yesterday, claiming he was going to pay it back? Yuri smirked and countered.

“You brought her to pay off the debt, didn’t you?”

With his lie completely exposed, Baron Este shamelessly lifted his chin.

“So what if a father controls his child? She wouldn’t even exist without me! And you’re an outsider! Why are you interfering in family matters?”

He would have been better off not saying that.

Yuri was already upset by the fact that Titiana kept drawing lines between them. Hearing the blatant accusation that it was none of his business made his insides churn.

“I tried to be kind for once.”

He wanted to burn him to ashes with real flames, not just fake ones. He was someone who deserved it.

But he held back, knowing Titiana wouldn’t be happy with such a resolution.

He decided to wait patiently for Titiana’s decision, in the way she wanted.

“Living kindly is really hard, isn’t it?”

Yuri couldn’t hold back any longer.

***

Yuri twisted his lips. Even after teaching them a lesson, he still felt unsettled.

His heart wanted to throw them into the most miserable hell on earth, but…

No, hadn’t he already done that? Yuri wiggled his fingers.

‘I’ve left them breathing, after all.’

That was merciful enough. It was a mercy he wouldn’t have granted if Titiana’s face hadn’t come to mind.

‘Where is Titi?’

The forest was complicated, with too many life forms, making it hard to find her even with magic. Yuri tirelessly searched suspicious areas with his sturdy legs, looking for Titiana.

Finding her silvery, thread-like hair was a miraculous coincidence.

“…!”

Yuri was about to call out to Titiana, his face a mix of relief and worry, when he froze. A voice, not his, rang out.

“Titi?”

It was Yujin, not him.

In this vast forest, how did Yujin find Titiana before he, using magic to detect her, could…?

Titiana, apparently not expecting to meet Yujin here, widened her eyes in surprise.

“Count?”

A brief silence passed between them. Titiana, staring blankly at Yujin, belatedly wrapped her arms around herself and began to speak in a jumble.

“H-how did you get here? Wait, my appearance… No, this isn’t the time for us to be chatting here…”

Covered in dust from running along the mountain path and with blood trickling from her head wound, Titiana was a mess.

Yujin extended his hand toward her.