All the past wounds that had tormented him evaporated and disappeared in the face of this greater pain.

It was a twisted moment of salvation.

* * *

The fearsome-looking thorn bushes weren’t as formidable as expected. They’re just plants, after all. Though there was much to cut away—which was annoying—they were helplessly cut down with each swing of the blade. Or perhaps they were plants that had already died, rotting from the inside. In any case, the soldiers cut the thorn bushes as ordered, keeping noise to a minimum. Where the bushes were tough, they gently scorched them with torches, making the passage open more easily.

“We’ve opened it completely!”

At the soldier’s shout, the administrator, who had been waiting behind, walked forward confidently. Finally entering the ducal mansion that had been such a nuisance. His stride was majestic, like a victorious general returning from war. The soldiers following the administrator began working to widen the passage so more people could enter.

‘It would be better to push through all at once, but I’m the only one suffering because of that foolish emperor.’

The administrator spat on the ground, recalling the emperor who had made his job difficult. Originally, he wanted to lead numerous soldiers in a historically memorable attack on the ducal mansion, for all in the territory to see and marvel at. He had already imagined the thrilling picture of himself leading the emperor’s knights instead, but the emperor’s permission hadn’t come.

The administrator was one of the major suppliers of drugs and incense to the emperor. He had been gradually poisoning the emperor, clinging to him to slowly build his own power. By now, the emperor should have been unable to discern matters properly, but damn him, the emperor strangely always avoided the administrator’s most desired choices at crucial moments.

‘You must not kill him. He must not be seen by the people. Approach as quietly as possible and capture him alive without fail.’

The scenario of becoming a hero who defeated the cursed duke while receiving everyone’s admiring gazes was ruined. His remaining second-best option was to obediently capture the duke as the emperor ordered, hand him over, and then completely reshape the territory, which would be entirely without an owner, according to his taste.

Go to the mansion, call for the duke, provoke him by mentioning that woman, and when he gets excited, then……

While visualizing this simulation, as soon as he emerged from the thorn bushes, the administrator nearly fell ungracefully because of some strange pillar that stood tall, but he barely managed to stand upright.

“……”

My goodness, what a fright. Almost missed it, swallowed by the pitch-black darkness. The administrator narrowly examined the silhouette of a man kneeling beside a stump with squinted eyes. Is he dead or alive? It would have been better if he were dead, but the man’s silhouette slowly rose.

“Who are you, entering my forest without permission?”

The rigid sentence, devoid of any emotion, flowed out weakly. The man’s eyes, as he raised his lowered head, were like those of someone who couldn’t see anything. His cloudy eyeballs, unable to reflect any light, were strangely shaking, as if unable to focus.

“Well, if it isn’t the duke.”

Though he should have been surprised by Alois’s appearance, strangely, the administrator remained calm. Alois tilted his head to the side and looked up. His calmly lowered eyes stared at the administrator’s shiny face below.

“I heard rumors you had become a monster, but you seem to have maintained a human appearance?”

Despite this not being their first meeting, the administrator’s brazen pretense didn’t anger Alois. He merely drew his sword with the vague will to drive away the intruders. Shadow energy slowly began to frost over the blade.

Despite going through the motions, no powerful energy emanated from the duke, making the administrator sneer with an unpleasant smile. Though he held no particular ill will toward him, the administrator signaled to his soldiers out of greed—both for revenge against the duke who had arbitrarily killed his expensive chimeras and to drive him from this land to become its complete master. The soldiers, momentarily tense, scattered in all directions to surround Alois.

Alois’s eyes, with their lost light, slowly scanned the soldiers’ positions. The administrator closed his mouth and frantically pointed at Alois with his chin, urging the soldiers to finish quickly. The soldiers exchanged signals and, with coordinated movements, several of them swung their swords at the duke from all directions.

Or rather, they tried to. But black stems that shot up from the ground caught the soldiers’ ankles and pulled them down. Before the fallen soldiers could even scream, similar stems shot up like spikes, precisely piercing their throats. Blood vessels burst and blood spurted out like fountains, forming long streams. All this happened with just a flick of the duke’s finger. After dispatching five soldiers who had rushed at him with just his finger, the duke tilted his head askew again and looked for the administrator.

“Did you come to see me become a monster?”

That’s unfortunate. You won’t be able to go out and brag about what you’ve seen. The emotionless voice calmly pronounced a death sentence. The administrator, who had been smirking confidently based on the duke’s seemingly powerless appearance and the number of soldiers he had brought, judged that it would be better to provoke and excite the duke after seeing how easily he subdued the soldiers. He pulled out the hidden card he had prepared just for today.

“Do you know Olivia Friche? I heard she escaped from here recently.”

“Escaped?”

He had certainly expected the duke to pretend to know her. Wasn’t she the woman the duke had willingly embraced and taken away that day? Though he didn’t know what kind of relationship they had, the administrator raised his voice, emboldened by the duke’s response to his words, expecting that the duke, having experienced betrayal once, would easily crumble at a similar small shock.

“Olivia begged me for help, which is why I personally came here with these soldiers. She said there was a terrifying beast living in the ducal mansion, that the cursed, mad duke was even conducting strange chimera research, that the village was in danger—so I! I who have protected this territory in place of the duke! Would I not come here despite the risk? Hahaha.”

The duke, who had been quietly listening to the story, snorted with laughter. It wasn’t even a sneer—it was literally a chuckle that burst out because the situation was so absurd. The administrator, who had been laughing pompously, bristled with wounded pride at this ridiculous reaction, his neck veins bulging.

“She begged me to kill the monster duke! She pleaded so much that I took on this great cause and entered your forest, Duke. So you must understand. After all, you are cursed!”

“You know nothing about me or Olivia.”

Though the story was meant to provoke him, it instead brought strength to the duke’s previously dry voice. With a faint but visible light returning to his eyes, Alois lightly shook his sword. The shadows flowing along the blade fell in droplets in all directions, as if shaking off blood.

“You know nothing about how much she suffered because of that.”

“W-what?”

“You dare mention that? You didn’t talk about it in front of Olivia, did you? You’d better not have. If Olivia were to suffer again like that time……”

Though he had expected the duke to be trembling with betrayal, every word he spoke showed nothing but pure love. The love of a monster. The administrator burst into laughter, clutching his stomach. If he cared so much about her, then defiling her would be more effective. The administrator narrowed his eyes vilely.

“Looks like that woman’s been with a monster, huh? How disgusting, sleeping with a monster.”

Alois’s expression, which had been moderately composed, froze coldly. He didn’t want to see this fool speak Olivia’s name anymore. First, he would have to gouge out this man’s eyes and mouth while he was still alive.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something……”

From Alois’s footsteps, a shadow spread like a net. The giant spider web woven from shadows instantly bound the feet of the intruders surrounding him. Though he didn’t want to answer each point because it was too trivial, he felt he should respond to the mention of Olivia’s name.

“My despair is mourning that I have lost her.”

One soldier who had been twisting his body to escape the spider web collapsed with a death rattle, spitting black blood. The blood the man spat flowed back along the spider web, seeking the next victim.

“I merely mourn the loss. Soon, that doesn’t negate that Olivia liked me and I loved her, yet you dare insult her?”

Alois’s figure disappeared and instantly appeared before the administrator. The duke, who grabbed the administrator’s neck in one motion, applied pressure as if he would break his neck bone at any moment.

“You all too easily forget who I was before I was cursed.”

Of all the numerous enemies Alois had faced, these were the most insignificant soldiers. It had been so long since he’d encountered such a fool who rushed in relying only on numbers, without proper tactics. If the administrator hadn’t mentioned Olivia, perhaps a few of them might have returned alive.