“By the way, how much do you know about my brother?”

Escal asked leisurely. Vanessa frowned, disgusted by his relaxed attitude, which was unbefitting of someone who had just committed kidnapping.

“You already know that my brother is a power user blessed by Vüs, right? Thanks to that power, he possesses inhuman strength. Even tearing a person apart with his bare hands is not a difficult task for him. Jurgen Drake is truly…”

Escal continued with a strange smile.

“…a dangerous monster. Not just his abilities, but his heart as well. So, can you understand? The day Jurgen brought you― I was so surprised to see my brother hovering around you.”

Escal let out a hollow laugh as if it was still unbelievable. Then, shaking his head from side to side, he continued in a voice of utter disbelief.

“Such a monster couldn’t possibly have a human heart. What could it be? You. What on earth could be the reason Jurgen Drake is so obsessed…”

“……”

Vanessa slightly furrowed her brow at the sense of discomfort she had been feeling for a while.

Vanessa also felt that Jurgen was inhumanly frightening and intimidating. But come to think of it… he did have human aspects.

Jurgen Drake was human. No matter how exceptional he was, or how iron-hearted he might be.

But this madman― Escal Drake, seemed to genuinely believe that Jurgen was a monster.

That belief… a fixed prejudice towards others. It was a kind of distortion.

“Do you know what the first thing Jurgen did after becoming a duke was?”

Escal took his hands off the oar and pulled something rustling from his pocket. Vanessa instinctively tensed and shrank back, but when she realized that what Escal had taken out was bread crumbs in an envelope, she completely relaxed her shoulders.

Escal continued his story while scattering the bread crumbs as fish food.

“It was to kill and dispose of the previous duchess and son. Of course, he disguised it as an accidental death due to public scrutiny. But everyone in the north knows that Jurgen killed them.”

…This was the first time she had heard this story. Well, Vanessa only knew fragmentary information about Jurgen.

“The reason I was able to survive that bloodbath was because I knelt before Jurgen and swore allegiance like a pathetic fool, without any pride or dignity…”

A twisted smile appeared on Escal’s lips. The blue veins on the back of his hand stood out as he crumpled the paper envelope that had run out of bread crumbs.

“It was a miserable and lowly life, like these fish in the lake that live on breadcrumbs thrown by others. …You know what, Your Highness? I actually despise Jurgen Drake terribly. And I guarantee, you too…”

Escal approached on his knees and leaned close to Vanessa. The boat tilted precariously as the weight suddenly shifted to one side.

Vanessa wanted to push Escal away, but she couldn’t move recklessly for fear of capsizing the boat.

“You will die because of Jurgen. Even if you don’t die, you will be broken and shattered by his hands. Because that monster doesn’t know how to cherish anything at all.”

Those words were like a curse.

Just as Vanessa, who had become uncomfortable, opened her mouth to retort, Escal’s body, which had been confining her, suddenly stiffened. From somewhere― nearby, the sound of horse hooves was heard.

Escal turned his head to look somewhere, and Vanessa followed his gaze. There―

“…He really came.”

The figure of Jurgen riding on horseback.

Escal’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he smiled crookedly. As Jurgen finally reached the lakeside, Escal hugged Vanessa tightly so she couldn’t move and whispered in an excited voice.

“Then shall we see? Whether Jurgen Drake will jump into this lake to save you, or not.”

“……!”

Vanessa, realizing Escal’s intention, resisted with all her might, but it was useless. As Escal rolled to the side while holding Vanessa, the boat’s balance collapsed and it began to overturn.

“You crazy… son of a b*tch!”

Vanessa struggled violently, furiously scratching Escal’s nape. Red nail marks appeared on his pale skin.

Vanessa gradually turned pale with fear that she might drown at this rate.

In an instant, the boat completely overturned, and the two figures were sucked into the water in the blink of an eye.

As soon as they submerged into the deep lake, Escal abandoned Vanessa and distanced himself. He silently laughed as he watched her flailing meaninglessly in the cold, dark water, and then poked his face above the surface.

He could see Jurgen standing frozen on the shore.

Escal grinned, intoxicated with cruel pleasure. Now, what will he do? Is the card I’ve drawn a bad one? Or…

Throwing away the sword he was holding and carelessly tossing off his thick fur coat, Jurgen hurriedly plunged into the water.

There seemed to be not a moment’s hesitation in his action.

Escal burst into a maniacal laugh as he swam to the opposite shore.

He had doubted it, but… was it true? Was the card he had drawn, Vanessa Roengreen, really Jurgen’s weakness?

He couldn’t tell if his trembling body was due to the cold or excitement. If he had finally found the weakness of Jurgen, who had always made him feel fearful and miserable…

A short while later, Jurgen emerged from the water dragging Vanessa and urgently swam to bring her to the shore.

Vanessa was motionless, perhaps unconscious. Or maybe she was already dead.

It wouldn’t matter if she died, but still…

‘It would be much better if she’s alive.’

That way, he could have more fun in the future.

Crawling out of the water and grinning, Escal watched the opposite shore where Jurgen and Vanessa were.

Jurgen was attempting CPR to revive Vanessa. Compressing her chest, opening her lips to breathe into her…

He looked truly desperate.

At this point, he became genuinely curious. Who on earth was that woman? What was she to Jurgen?

Finally, Vanessa seemed to regain consciousness, coughing and shaking her body. The card to shake Jurgen seemed to have a long lifeline for something so unfortunate. Escal chuckled and lay down on the grass. The clear sky entered his view.

It was mercilessly blue. A vivid navy blue.

Just like that woman’s eyes.

✦ ✦ ✦

This time, she really thought she was going to die.

She seemed to have seen a vision of her father waving from across the river of the afterlife.

Vanessa shivered like a pitiful animal soaked in rain, coughing repeatedly. It was so cold that she felt she might freeze to death.

“Duke, um, I’m really cold.”

“……”

When Vanessa spoke in a voice like a goat’s bleat, Jurgen glared at her with a cold gaze before irritably picking up his outer garment.

He wrapped Vanessa from head to toe tightly in that thick fur coat, then lifted her up. And he walked steadily towards where the horse was stationed.

Vanessa’s mind wasn’t working quickly, still in shock from nearly dying and being too cold. So she babbled without knowing what she was saying.

“In case you misunderstand, I want to tell you in advance, I didn’t come along willingly. That bas― Lord Escal kidnapped me.”

“……”

“Of course, you probably won’t believe me. But I swear on my wrist, it’s true. And anyway… thank you for saving me.”

Despite both being soaked like drowned rats, Jurgen’s body temperature was high like a self-heating stove. Vanessa unconsciously burrowed into his embrace, then suddenly came to her senses and blushed. Her mind went blank with the realization that she had done something embarrassing.

Jurgen seemed to quietly mock Vanessa before lifting her up and placing her on the horse. Although she didn’t know how to swim, she was skilled at horseback riding, so Vanessa comfortably leaned against the muscular stallion.

Escal, who had approached nearby at some point, was watching them with a brazen grin. Jurgen, who had paused as he was about to mount the horse, glared fiercely at Escal and spat out in a frosty voice.

“Escal, why did you do this? How dare you touch what has come into my hands. Have you grown tired of living and wish to die?”

At this, Escal made a pitiful face like he was wronged and explained in a servile voice.

“What do you mean by ‘this’? I merely took Her Highness, who must have been stifled from being confined, out for some fresh air.”

Vanessa, dumbfounded by Escal’s brazenness, opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. How could there be such a guy. She openly pointed at him, pulling out only her hand from between the coat.

Jurgen stared at Escal with turbulent eyes full of boiling emotions and coldly declared.

“I’d like to cut off your wrist right here, but… I’ll give you one last chance in consideration of your past merits. Crawl back to the castle in that soaked state. If you’re lucky, you might not freeze to death. I’ll decide what punishment to give you later.”

It was essentially a death sentence, implying that he didn’t care whether Escal froze to death or not.

However, Escal smiled broadly, raising his blue lips, and nodded his head like an idiot. Vanessa frowned at his behavior, grinning despite being on the verge of death from hypothermia. What a madman.

Then Jurgen mounted the horse, and for a moment, Escal and Vanessa’s gazes met.

Escal smiled ominously and mouthed each word clearly.

‘I. Will. Be. Back.’

―he said…

Vanessa was about to hurl some insults at him, but she had to close her mouth as Jurgen set the horse in motion.