Alex Zeroden was a man who followed through on what he said.

Whether it was by officially challenging Serad to a duel and killing him or disguising it as an accident, making him disappear from the continent would be an easy task.

Lucellia grit her teeth but eventually nodded.

“Fine, a letter… If you insist, I’ll write it.”

Her compliance lasted only a moment before her eyes turned cold.

“But tell me, Duke. Have you really thought this through?”

“…”

“If your wife truly loved you, would she have kept that knight by her side without a word?”

It was a cunning question, deliberately aimed at shaking Alex’s resolve.

“If it were me, I would have pretended to keep him close but sent him elsewhere, knowing my lover wouldn’t like it.”

The veins on Alex’s hand, which gripped his sword, slowly began to rise. Lucellia let out a small hum of amusement.

“Could it be that your wife actually has some feelings for Serad…?”

“I’ll say it again.”

It was then.

Their eyes met as his cold voice cut through the air.

“What happens between my wife and me is none of Your Highness’s concern.”

His crimson eyes glowed. For a moment, Lucellia felt as if her body was freezing from the toes up.

It was fear.

Despite the overpowering scent of flowers, it felt as if the air was thick with gunpowder and the stench of blood.

The sensation of hot blood trickling down the back of her neck… As if at any moment, the blade would be drawn and pierce the delicate skin of her throat. The feeling that her thin skin would be crushed and torn apart, spilling everything inside—an utterly horrifying sensation.

More than anything, the man’s shadow stretched before her like a black swamp. A mire of resentment and screams, formed by the dead.

If she took even one wrong step, she, too, would be swallowed by that darkness.

In the midst of her daze, she recalled her younger brother’s handsome face.

—My foolish sister, please, come to your senses. The Duke is beyond your control.

She had thought his words meant merely that the Duke was too exceptional. But had that not been his true meaning?

The thick air pressed down on her body. It was a terrifyingly dreadful feeling.

Lucellia was a beautiful rose. Even if she committed acts of cruelty without hesitation, she was merely the most exquisitely crafted jewel in the king’s treasure box.

But to a monster, what significance did roses, jewels, or accessories hold? Faced with the very real terror of death, her limbs began to tremble uncontrollably.

The once-proud princess was now shaking in fear. Unable to stand idly by, Lexion instinctively reached for his sword hilt.

At that moment, the killing intent vanished in an instant. As if it had been nothing but a dream, the air warmed once more.

Lexion’s arm relaxed. The royal guard knight himself had nearly dropped his sword.

“So.”

Amidst the stunned silence, a calm voice rang out, deep and heavy.

Lucellia lifted her trembling gaze to look at Alex.

“Mind your own business.”

It was not something a duke should say to royalty. The sheer pressure of it crashed down on Lucellia like a tidal wave.

Yet no one dared to point out his disrespectful, commanding tone. How could they, when the princess herself had turned deathly pale and was unable to speak?

Lucellia remained frozen for a long moment before she finally managed to nod stiffly.

***

Leaving behind the dazzling golden palace, Alex returned in silence to the guest quarters.

Several attendants offered meals and a bath, but he refused them all and simply collapsed onto the bed. In truth, he hardly even remembered how he had made it back to his room.

Outside, the rain continued to fall. It had started when he had ridden out from the duchy and showed no signs of stopping.

The sound of raindrops drumming against the window frame was irritating. The corner of Alex’s mouth twitched slightly.

But it wasn’t the rain that disturbed him.

It felt as though the actions he had taken against Elicity in his past life were now falling like heavy raindrops, washing over him.

Just like this time.

Regret surged through him like a storm.

Alex tossed and turned on the bed. He couldn’t stay still, as if something had fiercely clawed at his chest. It was suffocating and unbearable.

He knew the only way to rid himself of this wretched feeling was to return immediately to the duchy. And yet, he couldn’t.

No matter how great a steed Segal was, it had galloped for four days straight. It needed rest.

But more than that, the truth was that the princess’s words bound him tighter than chains of iron.

—If it were me, I would have pretended to keep him close but sent him elsewhere, knowing my lover wouldn’t like it..

—Could it be that your wife actually has some feelings for Serad?

No.

No.

Elicity would never do that.

She was a woman who had never once spared a glance at another man in her entire life.

Even when noblewomen with strained marriages kept lovers or sought thrilling affairs, Elicity never did.

Of course, it wasn’t because she loved him, but rather because she was upholding the dignity of a virtuous noblewoman. But that didn’t matter. It was proof that she had never betrayed him.

So there was no way Elicity had done anything dishonorable this time either.

And yet, the ember of doubt in the corner of his heart refused to be extinguished. He felt like he was wandering through a maze with no way out.

‘Elicity has never once told me that she loves me.’

Yes, that damned reason.

The fact that his wife had never uttered a direct expression of love was the problem.

Elicity was not someone who spoke empty words. She couldn’t have falsely said she loved him, so she must have been unable to express it.

‘My wife… doesn’t love me.’

At that moment, he recalled her amethyst eyes filled with fear. Her trembling lips. Her frail, quivering body.

That was certainly not the reaction of a wife welcoming her husband home after a long time. It was the reaction of someone facing a terrifying monster.

He felt like he was sinking deeper into the gutter. As his relentless thoughts turned into daggers stabbing himself, Alex shook his head roughly.

Pitter-patter. Pit, pat. Pitter-patter.

In the pitch-black, silent world, the sound of rain echoed faintly.

“Elicity…”

Alex pressed his fingers against his furrowed brow. Listening to the rain, he helplessly fell into the depths of his past.

***

Alex became a lower-ranked knight when he was 14, just past puberty and at the onset of his second growth spurt.

A lower-ranked knight wasn’t truly a knight. They were merely territorial guards.

Although they received knighthood certificates, their role was limited to guarding the territories owned by the lowest-ranking nobles or, if they were lucky, traveling to the capital to stand at a distance during royal events.

For years, Alex remained a lower-ranked knight, simply growing older until he turned 18. To become a higher-ranked knight, he needed to distinguish himself, but the times were too peaceful for that.

Then, one day—

“Hey, did you hear? The King of Salita has started military training.”

“Looks like he’s planning a war.”

“Sh*t, he wouldn’t actually invade our kingdom, would he?”

The knights around him chuckled, treating talk of war as nothing more than a joke.

After all, war seemed like a distant concern to them, and the King of Madonia was rumored to despise warfare.

“Hah, if war breaks out, I just hope I get to marry at least once before I die.”

“Hey, Alex. Aren’t you thinking about marriage?”

“My family is poor. I don’t want to add more mouths to feed.”

“Oh…”

What, are you some kind of eunuch? The so-called friends around him cackled, but Alex simply continued his work in silence.

But then, war truly broke out on the continent of Romancia.

Salita led its army and invaded Tutania—specifically, the Nakri Kingdom founded by the Tutanians.

Salita’s powerful cavalry force trampled the Nakri Kingdom in an instant, shattering its defenses and enslaving both the royal family and the citizens.

“Everyone, assemble!!”

For once, the knight commander, who usually didn’t even glance at his subordinates, called the unit together.

“The Kingdom of Salita has begun a colonial conquest! Whether they will invade our kingdom remains uncertain… but we must prepare for the possibility with training!”

At the knight commander’s words, everyone thought he was crazy. They scoffed at the idea—what could they possibly expect from lower-ranked knights?

But Alex, being a naturally diligent man, simply followed orders.

To be honest, he saw this as his last chance for social mobility.

He didn’t dare dream of restoring his family’s lost glory. He just wanted to earn a little more money. A lower-ranked knight’s salary wasn’t enough to feed a family of five.

Recognizing that war was imminent, Zeroden’s Duke ordered his knight commanders to travel across the land and recruit skilled warriors.

They were not fools. After just a few sparring matches, they could tell whose swordplay was sharp and whose movements were swift.

“We should take that knight.”

The commander of Zeroden’s Fifth Knight Order pointed to Alex and a few others.

And just like that, he was promoted from a lower-ranked knight to a member of Zeroden’s knights.

That was the year he turned 19.

And astonishingly, when he returned to Reten to inform them that he had become a knight of Zeroden, he met Elicity.

She was a pale and slender young lady.

Dressed in a tattered, dirty gown, she looked as if she were being forcibly dragged somewhere against her will.

“I refuse! I absolutely refuse!”

“Our master promised your mother 1,000 marks! That means you have to come with us!”

“Was my consent ever considered in that decision? You scoundrels! I said no!”

Even though he was just a knight, Alex suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of justice—an instinct that told him he couldn’t ignore injustice when he saw it.

He shoved the ruffian aside and gently pulled the unknown lady away from him.

“Are you alright?”

Now that he looked at her closely, even her shabby dress and disheveled hair couldn’t hide her beauty.

“……”

For a moment, Alex felt his heart plummet. He was so stunned that he couldn’t speak.

The young woman also seemed too shocked to part her lips. She simply stared at his face in silence.

“A-Ah, th… thank you… Thank you very much.”

Realizing that she was still in Alex’s arms, the lady hurriedly stepped back, hastily fixing her clothes and smoothing her hair.

Alex wanted to ask her name.

But he didn’t.

He had no intention of marrying anyone anyway. Love and marriage were luxuries he could not afford.

But as always, life had a way of going against his plans.