“Well, it’s okay because it’s actually natural. It’s true that I’ve done many things to be hated… I’m a bad person here…”

“Serena.”

“I know I should die. But…”

“Serena Kelahinum.”

At Magnus’s low but firm call, Serena hesitated and nodded.

“Yes, Magnus.”

“That wasn’t your doing.”

Magnus had a mountain of things he wanted to say, but among them, he chose and uttered the words closest to the truth while revealing the least of his emotions.

It was a statement with minimal personal sentiment.

“…Yes.”

She nodded with gritted teeth.

Her shoulders trembled, as if she had been holding back for a long time.

“Don’t feel guilty for things you didn’t do.”

“…I don’t.”

Serena answered.

“But everyone thinks I did it. I, I… In the end, I’m Serena Lavernia and Serena Kelahinum. So how can I…”

Serena, who was shouting like that, flinched and raised her body.

“I’m sorry for suddenly raising my voice.”

Whether she was trying to go to the bathroom or back to her room, he didn’t know, but he made her sit back down on his stomach as she tried to leave his embrace.

As he applied pressure to the hand holding her waist, tears fell from her lowered cheeks.

“I don’t know anymore…”

She grabbed Magnus’s clothes.

“Magnus, I just…”

Serena bit her lip hard. He reached out his hand seeing the blood flow, but Serena shook her head.

She opened her mouth in a very painful tone with a distorted face.

“…Wouldn’t it be better if I died? It seems like everything would be solved if only I disappeared. If only I disappeared…”

Black energy swirled around Serena as she lowered her head.

“Yes, if only I disappeared…”

Magnus’s eyes widened.

Just as the energy was about to engulf her, there was a knock on the door from outside.

When Magnus didn’t respond, the door swung open from outside.

“…Drukan?”

Drukan walked in with a stern face.

Drukan, who had entered with his hand on the hilt of his sword, froze when he saw Serena.

“…What is this.”

He looked alternately at Serena and Magnus as if demanding an explanation.

“What’s going on, Your Grace?”

Hop–!

A black rabbit hopped through the half-open door.

“Serena.”

“Just, just disappearing would be fine, right? If I…”

“Serena!”

Magnus raised his voice.

Still, her tear-soaked, unfocused gaze showed no sign of returning.

Nyx, the rabbit standing in the corner, tilted its head.

“Ha.”

Magnus placed his large hand on Serena’s nape.

“Push me away if you don’t like it, Serena.”

He murmured softly and gently pressed down on her nape as he kissed her.

“Hup…!”

Serena’s eyes widened as her breath was suddenly cut off.

“Serena, how many times do I have to say I love you? Don’t talk about dying in front of me.”

Magnus said, gently stroking the back of her head as if trying to soothe her surprise.

Looking at her trembling eyes, he once again devoured Serena’s lips.

Serena’s eyes widened.

“……”

Her pupils, still not fully grasping the situation, trembled finely.

Seeing Serena quieted down as if her confusion had surpassed her depression, Magnus smiled slightly and pressed his body closer to her.

Magnus deliberately overwhelmed Serena so that she couldn’t think of anything.

It felt like he had to.

It was his intuition and instinct.

It seemed like he needed to blow away those useless thoughts from that small head first.

“Haa, haa…”

Finally, Magnus slightly withdrew from Serena, whose focus had completely returned.

As he lightly bit his lower lip, Serena looked up at him with a shiver down her spine.

He exhaled a hot breath between Serena’s lips.

“…Mag… nus.”

Serena’s voice flowed through her heated breaths.

“Yes. Have you calmed down now?”

Magnus asked, carefully examining Serena’s eyes.

Nyx, who had been blinking its red eyes in the corner, was now on the windowsill, looking outside.

“…Yes.”

She blinked slowly and nodded, exhaling a short breath.

Listening to her still rapid breathing, Magnus lightly patted Serena’s back.

“Serena. You’re okay.”

“……”

Serena, breathing heavily, buried her face in his chest and trembled.

‘What on earth was that?’

Serena thought as she shook.

It was strange.

Her urge to die right away was so strong.

If someone had just put a gun in her hand, she might have pulled the trigger.

“You’re okay. My world exists because you do.”

“……!”

“Nothing will be solved by your disappearance.”

Hearing those words, which were neither accusatory nor merely quiet, Serena slowly nodded.

“Yes, yes…”

“Don’t worry about what the young master of Lavernia said. He was probably upset that you didn’t pay attention to him.”

Magnus said, letting out appropriate words.

‘But a warning might be necessary.’

He thought, recalling Nocturne Lavernia’s remarks that had crossed the line.

Of course, Magnus doesn’t want to get involved in family quarrels, nor does he intend to.

That thought remains the same now.

But Serena is no longer a member of the Lavernia Marquis family.

She’s the mistress of the Kelahinum ducal family.

“In the first place…”

Magnus pulled her up from his chest and lightly kissed her cheek as he opened his mouth.

“Am I not enough?”

“……”

Serena’s face flushed red.

With that reddened face, she struggled to break free from Magnus’s embrace.

Judging by her flustered state, she seemed more than just ordinarily embarrassed.

“To have so little immunity to words you’ll hear every day, it’s troublesome.”

He whispered with a slight smile in his voice.

“I’m also waiting for the answer you’ll return someday.”

“I… I…”

“There’s no rush.”

Magnus added with a smile in his voice, looking at her trembling and unable to meet his eyes.

“I already know how much you like me.”

“…N-no, I don’t?”

“Right, let’s just say you like me to the point where your heart is about to burst.”

He could hear the pulsing heartbeat on the palm of his hand holding her.

Magnus lightly ruffled Serena’s hair.

Serena buried her face deep in his neck as if searching for warmth.

Although no answer came from Serena, Magnus wasn’t particularly anxious.

Seeing her whole body flushed red and unable to even meet his eyes, no one could be anxious.

Magnus had become quite accustomed to waiting for someone who was clumsy with words.

“…Don’t you find me annoying?”

Serena mumbled her question. Magnus kissed her neckline in return, his voice tinged with laughter.

“How could I be annoyed when everything about you is new every time I see you?”

“…I thought you were weird from the pig thing, but your taste is really strange.”

“Wouldn’t I get bored if you were common?”

“…And you’re shameless too.”

Serena was now almost calm, sprawled on Magnus’s stomach.

Drukan, who had been tense, also relaxed a bit around that time.

Magnus gestured to Drukan, seemingly telling him to leave.

Drukan hesitated for a moment, then slightly bowed his head and turned to leave the room.

‘Strange.’

Drukan’s eyes narrowed as he left the two behind.

‘Is this why the World Tree gave such a revelation?’

What he had just witnessed was an evil so great it sent chills down Drukan’s spine.

If Magnus hadn’t exuded killing intent to warn him, he would have drawn his sword to annihilate the opponent immediately, such was the magnitude of the darkness.

‘How can something so enormous…’

Exist in this world?

Drukan had annihilated countless evils and eliminated darkness throughout his life.

He had lived that way, half willingly and half unwillingly, since being chosen by the World Tree.

But he had never seen such an enormous darkness.

Darkness, and evil, are not something one is born with from the beginning, but rather something that is born from a complex mix of injustice, resentment, anger, and grudges as one lives in the world.

In the end, darkness and evil could be seen as born from human misfortune.

And that’s called corruption.

‘…How could a person who’s carrying such darkness still be alive?’

Drukan thought with a rare look of astonishment on his face.

That state is not one where one can hurt others or do anything.

It wouldn’t be strange if she had just died, unable to overcome the darkness herself. The enormous darkness he had just felt was of that magnitude.

‘I guess… I should meet her after a long time.’

Drukan slightly raised the corners of his mouth at the thought of meeting his wife along with his daughter Riphi.