Kyla leaned against the terrace railing and looked up at the night sky.

In the darkness of night, countless stars twinkled as though diamond dust had been scattered across the heavens.

Less than five minutes had passed since Jayden left when she heard someone step out onto the terrace.

Thinking it was him, she turned around.

But it wasn’t.

A young man was standing unsteadily near the doorway.

Kyla studied him for a moment, wondering if he was unwell. His tie was undone and hanging loosely; his face was flushed; and his eyes were unfocused.

He was clearly drunk.

Kyla quickly looked away, pretending she hadn’t seen him. There was no point in meeting the gaze of a man like that.

Once he had passed, she would return to the ballroom and wait for Jayden.

Just as that thought crossed her mind, the man slowly began walking towards her.

— the man slowly began walking towards her.

This was bad.

Kyla immediately decided to avoid him, starting to walk in the opposite direction.

Suddenly, however, she heard footsteps behind her quicken. In an instant, the man had caught up with her, stepped in front of her and blocked her path.

“Well, well… missss… why are you pretending to run away…?”

The man’s words were slow and slurred.

Even in such a drunken state, he had still been faster than her.

Kyla clenched her empty hands in despair.

“Earlier… because of Jayyyden and Silaasss… those bastards… you must’ve been disappoinnted… huh?”

Kyla looked at his face more closely, confused by what he meant.

He was one of the men who had asked her to dance earlier, but Jayden had stopped them before they could speak properly.

It was obvious now.

His wounded pride had brought him there to take out his frustration on her.

Kyla glared directly into his eyes and slowly began to back away.

Even if she tried to run, he would catch her almost immediately.

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m waiting to meet my brother.”

She deliberately implied that Jayden would be back at any moment. Surely, unless he had lost his senses completely, he would understand the hint and leave once she had said that?

“No, miss… Are you saying that because you don’t really know, or are you just playing hard to get? I saw Jayden leave for the lobby. If you make it too difficult, it won’t be attractive.”

The man chuckled and leaned his face closer to hers.

The smell of alcohol poured off him.

Kyla’s expression twisted with disgust, as though she might vomit.

When she turned her head away sharply, the man suddenly grabbed her arm.

Was he insane?

Did he think she was easy prey just because she was adopted? Or was he simply the kind of wretched creature who turned into a beast whenever he drank?

Realizing there was no point trying to reason with him, Kyla tried to wrench her arm free.

But his grip only tightened.

“Let go! I’ll scream!”

Kyla raised her voice.

“Go ahead and scream… it’s your reputation that’ll be ruined… heh heh.”

With one hand, the man twisted her arm.

With the other, he pulled her roughly into his embrace and wrapped his arm around her waist.

It was horrifying.

Goosebumps spread across her body as she desperately tried to push him away.

Her own reputation meant nothing to her. But if this caused trouble for her mother, her father or Jayden, what then?

“I just want to have a little fun… no need to act so prickly… You like it deep down anyway… heh. Don’t you?”

The man pulled her closer and lowered his head, pressing his face against the nape of her neck. It felt as though hundreds of insects were crawling across her skin.

Kyla nearly lost her mind.

She pounded her fists against him and struggled with all her might, but no matter how hard she fought, she couldn’t overpower him.

A sudden wave of fear seized her.

What if he did something unspeakable to her?

She had to escape this madman, no matter what it took.

There was only one way. She had to succeed on the first attempt.

Kyla clenched her teeth.

Gathering every last ounce of strength in her right leg, she swung her foot and kicked his shin as hard as she could.

“Ghk!”

The man staggered back a step.

In that instant, Kyla lifted the hem of her skirt —

— and drove her knee upwards with all her might, striking him directly between the legs.

***

Silas had been watching Kyla and Jayden walk out toward the terrace.

‘Are they going to look around the garden? Or just step outside for some air?’

Either way, it was none of his business. And yet, the crude remarks those foolish men had made about Kyla earlier continued to linger in his mind.

If she happened to overhear such vulgar talk about herself, she would undoubtedly be deeply shocked.

A faint, self-mocking smile slipped across Silas’s lips.

Jayden would handle it if anything happened. What business did he have interfering?

While Penelope went to touch up her make-up, Silas stood in a corner, sipping champagne and watching the crowd.

A short while later, Jayden returned to the ballroom from the terrace. After speaking briefly with a servant who approached him, he headed straight towards the lobby.

Considering how fiercely protective Jayden was of Kyla, Silas had assumed he would return immediately. But Jayden didn’t come back.

Silas gradually began to feel uneasy as he watched the lobby.

At the very least, he wanted to check from a distance that everything was all right.

‘Showing this much kindness to a friend’s sister should be acceptable.’

He put his champagne glass down on a nearby table and walked over to the terrace.

He opened the door and stepped outside.

There was no one there.

Looking around, he spotted two figures on the right-hand side of the terrace in the distance.

A man and a woman were locked in a tight embrace.

At first glance, it looked like the kind of careless display of affection typical of foolish young lovers.

Frowning, Silas was about to turn away—

— when he suddenly realized that the woman’s back looked strangely familiar.

Just then—

A scream rang out.

A man’s scream.

The man who had been embracing the woman cried out in pain.

As he pulled away from her, she lifted the hem of her skirt —

—and kicked him brutally between the legs.

“Ugh…!”

The man collapsed to the ground with a thud, curling into himself.

He couldn’t even scream properly, only groaning in agony.

“Hngh… y-you crazy… b*tch…”

He couldn’t finish the insult because he was gasping for breath.

Meanwhile, the woman staggered backwards.

Then she slowly turned around.

The light from the street lamp fell across her face.

It was her: Kyla Feilding.

Her once carefully styled hair had fallen into complete disarray. Her face was deathly pale, and she was trembling uncontrollably. Her lips were parted as she struggled to breathe, and her teeth were clenched tightly.

Fear and fury swirled together in her wide blue eyes.

The man lying helplessly on the ground seemed to be recovering slightly from the pain.

He began to move.

Slowly and painfully, he crawled forward—

—and suddenly grabbed the hem of Kyla’s skirt as she continued to step backwards.

“Do you want to die? After doing this, where do you think you’re going?”

His face twisted grotesquely as he crouched on the ground, gasping for breath. Nevertheless, he clung tightly to the hem of Kyla’s dress and refused to let go.

Silas strode towards them.

“Let go of that hand.”

At his low, commanding voice, the man flinched.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Silas stepped down hard on the man’s hand with his shoe.

“AAAGH!”

The man shrieked in agony and released her dress.

Kyla staggered back from the sudden impact, nearly losing her balance.

Silas immediately grabbed her arm firmly.

He looked at her face.

Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to regain her equilibrium.

“Silas! This b*tch—! She… she kicked me!”

Silas glanced down indifferently at the man whose hand was still pinned beneath his shoe.

“So what? Are you planning to spread the story around town that you were beaten by a fragile woman? Surely that’s not what you want.”

A cold, arrogant smile curved across Silas’s lips.

“Well… if that’s what you want, I could certainly make it happen.”

He pressed down harder with his shoe, grinding the man’s hand beneath it.

A sickening cracking sound echoed.

“AAAAAGH!”

The man’s scream turned into something closer to the howl of a wounded animal.

“Ah—! No! Hngh… no, that’s not it! Sob….”

“Oh? So that’s not what you want?”

“Y-yes… that’s right…! Sob…”

With tears and mucus smeared across his face, the man lay sprawled on the ground, begging.

“Then get lost.”

Silas lifted his foot from the man’s crushed hand.

The man, still clearly suffering from the pain between his legs, crawled away on all fours.