At those words, the Seor ambassador, Cylon, turned pale.

“Marquis Yeongsik, if you still have any sense of chivalry, stop insulting the lady and keep your mouth shut…”

“The words of a loser end here.”

“Marquis Yeongsik!”

“Prepare to be summoned back to your homeland and face charges of treason, esteemed ‘ambassador.'”

Marquis Yeongsik made a casual gesture with his hand, and the Seor soldiers who had gathered around swiftly surrounded Cylon.

“Stop!”

“Better surrender, young lord Cylon. If you don’t want to face a worse fate.”

“How can you all…!”

“Ha. This is annoying. Someone shut him up!”

Cylon shouted desperately, but his cries went unheard. The soldiers quickly bound him and pressed him to the ground.

“Ma’am!”
Ruben quickly stepped forward to protect Elliopé, but soon dozens of soldiers were rushing towards him. The sounds of clashing swords and cutting blades could be heard from all directions. 

“Get him!” 

“Madam! Please run!” 

Elliopé had also considered running. But before she could take a step, the soldiers surrounded her as well. Seeing this, Ruben did his best to swing his sword. 

“Ugh!” 

“Ahh!” 

“Come closer! The enemy is stronger than we thought!” 

“Madam!” 

The soldiers swarmed around Ruben. Even as he fought them off with his sword, he kept calling to Elliopé.

“Ma’am! Ma’am!”

“Ma’am, you say? That’s a rather exaggerated term to call your wife.”

Marquis Yeongsik sneered.

“Do they treat you like royalty back home? How amusing.”

Elliope stared at Marquis Yeongsik with a calm, cold gaze as he approached. The closer they got, the more the corners of Marquis Yeongsik’s mouth turned up.

“Isn’t she too much for a coward like you?”

The woman, seen up close, was certainly exceptional.

Her pink hair, though casually tied, appeared to be of high quality. She didn’t appear to be wearing perfume, but it still had a subtle, seductive scent. Her large eyes, well-defined nose and crimson lips, framed by her soft features, were truly striking. It was rare to find such beauty, even in Seor’s high society.

“Indeed… there must be a reason why he chose a woman from the Empire as his wife.”

Marquis Yeongsik’s eyes scanned Elliopé’s body. While he was taken with her beautiful face, he couldn’t help but notice that despite her slender and fair appearance, her body also had an alluring shape that would tempt anyone.

“Can she control two men with such a body and such a face?”

With such a serene and immaculate appearance, yet she can’t be satisfied with just one man? Somehow, a sense of carnal desire began to stir from deep within. A smile involuntarily formed as the words slipped out.

“You must be quite a greedy woman to have two husbands.”

“……”

“How about bringing in a third man for some fun?”

A sharp hand reached out and gripped the woman’s chin.

“Ma’am!”

Ruben’s urgent voice echoed down the street.

“How about it? If you can handle two husbands, wouldn’t three be possible?”

At these words, Elliope’s face became even calmer. Her eyes met Yeongsik’s with a steady gaze.

The moment their eyes locked, Yeongsik, who had been looking excited, tilted his head slightly.

“Hmm.”

Exhaling slowly, he turned her head gently, the soft skin under his fingertips seeming to crush.

“Tempting indeed.”

Yeongsik felt a strange satisfaction as he watched the woman’s cheek and jaw crumple under his fingers. But when he looked back into her eyes, he flinched.
A strangely cold sensation ran through his chest.

“……”

Every moment the emotionless eyes stared at him, an unsettling feeling pressing down on the back of his head. Those eyes. He was sure he had seen those eyes, devoid of emotion, dissecting and analysing everything about her. Where had he seen her?

“Ah.”

Unconsciously, he tightened his grip. The woman, who had maintained a neutral expression throughout, furrowed her brow slightly. The crack that appeared on her marble-like skin had a strangely mesmerising effect, stirring something deep within him.

The growing excitement urged him to humiliate his wife right there in front of the defeated man. Memories of the past, when he had to bow to a man who boasted the title of Duke despite his family’s decline, fuelled his growing desire. But there was also a coldness that kept pressing down on that feeling. It was too disturbing to ignore. Something in his mind was beating like a warning drum.

“This is strange. Somehow…”

“……”

“Your eyes always remind me of someone.”

That was the moment when a strange feeling gripped the back of Marquis Yeongsik’s head.

Thud!

The next moment, the brown-haired man pushed his way through the soldiers and slapped Yeongsik’s hand away.

“Madam!”

Despite the blood dripping from cuts all over his body, the man was desperate.

“Catch him!”

“Kill him!”

“Ma’am!”

Just as the brown-haired man charged again, Seor’s knights, who had rushed up from behind, quickly pinned the man down.

As a sword was about to strike the man’s neck, Marquis Yeongsik quietly raised his hand.

“Don’t kill him.”

“But, Commander.”

“His desperation to protect her only makes it more exciting.”

“……!”
“If he’s willing to risk his life to protect her… wouldn’t it be more satisfying to humiliate her in front of him?”

At these words, several Seor knights wore cruel smiles, the kind reserved for men sworn to defend the honour of their lord and lady.

The cold, insistent warning that echoed in Yeongsik’s mind was eventually drowned out by a fierce desire that coursed through him.

Behind him, Cylon, the ambassador of Seor, pulled the cloth from his mouth and continued to shout.

“Ugh! Stop! You’ll really regret this!”

“Shut up! Loser! Why don’t you worry about your family being purged back home!”

Yeongsik shouted and grabbed the woman.

Just as his hand was about to touch her hair.

Thud.
He was sure he had felt something, but when he looked there was nothing. Something blunt had brushed past his arm. His first instinct was to scold the knights – they couldn’t even hold on to one man properly. The man must have pushed him again.

His second thought was that his arm felt like it had been burned.

Suddenly an excruciating pain shot up from his wrist and gripped his forehead like a vicious claw.

“Ahhhhhhhh!”

Marquis Yeongsik writhed on the ground in agony. The knights and soldiers stood frozen, stunned, staring at the hand of their fallen commander.

Thud! Thud!
One by one, the necks of his comrades were cut off. Before they could fully comprehend the situation, his arm was twisted and his heart pierced.

One of the soldiers at the far end gasped in horror and opened his mouth.

“The hunting dog of Ilmos…”

Soon, the soldier’s neck was cut cleanly as well. Elliopé pressed down on her pounding heart.

“Lady.”

The man who had been thought to have disappeared walked slowly towards her with a calm demeanour. Even as she was threatened by the grip on her chin, the man she had been thinking about with determination all along.

“Kallian.”

Behind Kallian, the Duke’s knights followed closely, hidden in ambush.

“Ahhhhh! Ughhhhh!”

The commander rolled to the ground, screaming. When Kallian kicked the man’s stomach in annoyance, a choking sound followed. Kallian then aimed his sword at the commander’s throat. In the midst of the massacre, Cylon, the Seor ambassador who had barely survived, cried out in panic.

“Stop! Hunting dogs!”

“I don’t have to listen to you.”

“There will be trouble if you kill the child of a high-ranking noble! I suspect he has gone into hiding to avoid all-out war! The hunt will begin!”

Kallian stared at Cylon. Cylon, struggling to overcome the feeling of being overwhelmed, shouted.

“When the pursuit begins and your location is discovered, I don’t know what your objective is, but things are going to get bad! Do not kill him!”

Kallian let out a long sigh, as if annoyed. Then he tilted his head and asked,

“Is he an only child?”

“What?”

“I mean, does he have any brothers or sisters to carry on the family?”

It was the moment when Cylon nodded reluctantly.

Snap!

“Ugh.”

The knights watching turned their heads and recoiled. The commander, his lower body nearly severed and crushed by the sharp blade of the sword, rolled his eyes and fainted.

“K-kuh… ugh…”

The Cylon opened his mouth, his face pale. Kallian smiled crookedly.

“At least I spared your life and your family.”

“….”

“Take the Seor Ambassador.”

Kallian said this to the knights following him and then turned to Ruben and Elliopé.

Ruben, who tried to get up quickly, was pushed back down by the bodies of the Seor knights lying on top of him, causing him to collapse again.

“Kallian.”

“You never fail to disappoint me.”

“Please bear with me.”

Kallian’s eyes were cold as he watched Ruben bury his head in the ground.

Elliopé quickly pulled Kallian close and their eyes locked.

Kallian reached for her and an impulsive kiss followed. His rough lips, despite their texture, gently parted Elliopé’s, teasing her slightly as they brushed against her. Unlike usual, his movements were slow and deliberate, taking their time.

“…….”

As he lazily explored, tasting and teasing her tongue and the inside of her mouth, Kallian’s warmth suddenly disappeared. Only then did Elliope realise she hadn’t heard Kallian respond to Leanne.

“Honey.”

At the moment she called him that, Kallian’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. At that moment, Elliope’s heart sank with a thud.

“Ah!”

Kallian quickly lifted her into his arms and began to move.

“Do not disturb us for now.”

The knights who were about to follow jumped at his command.

Instinctively, Elliope wrapped her arms around Kallian’s neck, her face flushing red.