Suddenly, Lucifer’s wrist disappeared from my sight. The vanished hand strongly gripped my wrist instead of the shackles.

Gray eyes captured my gaze next.

“Awake now?”

His voice was deeply hoarse. Lucifer rose from his seat with an indifferent face.

Click. With the sound of flint striking, the surroundings brightened.

“Excuse me…”

“I’ll call a doctor.”

“Wait, just a moment please!”

He stopped walking. As he slowly turned around, his eyes were furrowed.

So you truly cannot forgive me.

Seeing that, courage tried to flee from me. I thought I was prepared to be resented, but apparently not.

“What is it?”

But this wasn’t something I could avoid.

I wanted to find Carden. Even if he would push me into hell, I would gladly jump in.

If only my precious friend was alive.

“Lord Croisen, are you perhaps… from Solanie?”

His eyes wavered briefly at my question.

“I mean… I was wondering if you might be someone I know.”

But he didn’t answer my question, only frowning. Though anxious, I calmly continued my questioning.

“Could you possibly be… my friend Carden?”

After finishing my question, I tried to calm my wildly beating heart. Half fear, half anticipation.

But his expression remained indifferent.

“Who is Carden?”

The response left me deeply disappointed. My eyes and lips drooped involuntarily. My shoulders, which had been tense with nervousness and excitement, slumped.

Perhaps because I showed such obvious disappointment?

One corner of Lucifer’s lips turned up with amusement.

“Ah, your first love story? That unfortunate man the Duchess of Belial killed for her daughter’s future?”

Both his eyes and lips mocked me.

Strangely, it scraped at my heart. The breath I had inhaled refused to be exhaled, making me feel suffocated. Feeling like I might die, I questioned him somewhat accusingly.

“But you said you’re from Solanie Village.”

Lucifer’s gaze changed.

His face looked like it wanted to stab my heart with a sharp, keen sword.

“Is every man from this village Carden?”

“At that time, in both the orphanage and the village, Carden was the only boy with black hair. Moreover, if there had been another person with the same gray eyes, I would have known.”

In response to my somewhat provocative retort, Lucifer’s cold face came very close to mine. His gray eyes dangerously sparkled.

“And what would you do if I were that man?”

“…”

“Would you sing some old love song?”

“That’s not it. I just want to apologize and ask for forgiveness.”

“So you can ease your conscience?”

His already cold gray eyes sank even deeper. Even his hot breath felt chilling.

“I’m sorry, but you’ll never get the chance to ease your guilty conscience. Your first love is already dead.”

I bit my lip at his assertion.

He reached out and stroked my head, treating me like a cat he was taming. Then suddenly, he grabbed my hair.

“Even in death, he must be wishing for your misfortune.”

As my hair was released again, goosebumps rose on my skin. My eyes reddened.

Feeling that I would give up everything if I started crying, I bit my lip. A metallic taste spread.

Lucifer extended his hand and grabbed my chin.

“So live your life atoning forever. Pay for the sin of killing my family.”

His cold heart transmitted through my chin. He was a completely different person from Carden.

He’s not the same person.

Yet why can’t I foolishly let go of this attachment?

“Your wrist… please show me your wrist.”

Lucifer twisted his eyebrow. I could feel his finger on my chin twitch. He removed his hand and looked down at me with a cold gaze.

“Does a slave dare to order her master?”

“Please.”

“Why should I show it to you?”

“You say you’re not Carden? What’s stopping you from showing me?”

Clearly, he’s hiding something.

A tiny hope remained by my side, refusing to leave me.

“Carden had a long scar on his right wrist. The wound was so deep that it wouldn’t have disappeared.”

His lips twitched with displeasure. Soon, he straightened his body and raised his eyebrows.

“Fine. I’ll let you confirm.”

Why is he so confident?

“Why not look at both sides while you’re at it?”

He rolled up both sleeves. Then he proudly extended his arms before my eyes.

Skin so smooth it was hard to believe he was a knight who had traversed battlefields. There was no trace of Carden on it.

My last hope was erased as cleanly as his fine skin.

“…”

“Now that you’ve confirmed, I trust you won’t speak of such nonsense again.”

Lucifer lowered his sleeves and went outside.

When he closed the door, the candle was suddenly extinguished by the wind, along with my last hope.

* * *

Terseon stood in front of the room holding a tray with warm beef soup, soft bread, and even a fresh salad he hadn’t seen in a long time.

He wore a troubled expression for various reasons.

Why, of all people?

He couldn’t understand why Lucifer had sent him among so many knights. There were even village women available.

“It’s me.”

He knocked and made his presence known. But there was no response.

“I’m coming in.”

He had to complete his mission. He quietly opened the door and entered.

“Hey, I’m the one who’s injured, so why am I taking care of you?”

He grumbled due to awkwardness. But the princess didn’t respond.

Leitria sat on the bed, just staring out the window.

“Hey, when someone comes in, you should acknowledge them.”

When he placed the food on the table with a thud, Leitria slowly turned her head.

Oh my, he almost stopped breathing.

Leitria’s yellow eyes, which had been gradually becoming gaunt, had lost their vitality. Three days ago, when she cried in front of the orphanage, it wasn’t this bad. No, even on the day she had to become a slave, she wasn’t dead inside.

Now it was like a withered leaf about to fall.

“Princess, what are you doing? Aren’t you going to eat?”

Leitria just nodded briefly and then shifted her gaze back to the window.

Eyes so precarious they might extinguish at any moment. Strangely, it made his insides churn.

“I thought you didn’t want to die as a sacrifice, but now you’re trying to starve yourself to death?”

The princess had become like a doll that couldn’t hear his urging. A pitiful toy losing its soul and dying.

Despite coaxing and pleading for a long time, the princess refused to eat and just sat there.

“Tsk, tsk, the shock must have been great. Well, the villagers came in turns and caused a commotion.”

Some of the villagers brought in to care for the injured princess had grabbed her hair and even cursed her.

“You should die too!”

Leitria, who already seemed broken, had closed her mouth since then. Well, it was remarkable she had endured this far.

Terseon’s face slightly hardened as he gave up persuading her and left with the dishes. An inexplicable sympathy crept through him.

“Vice-Commander. Did you take good care of the slave girl?”

When he came out into the corridor, his colleagues approached him teasingly.

“Well, at this rate, she might die trying to follow her first love or whatever.”

“Wow, our slave girl, they said she was different from the Dark Clan, but she seems quite romantic.”

“She does seem different from them. Considering they tried to use her as a sacrifice and kill her.”

“I can’t believe you trust that, wow.”

Perhaps because they had been harassed by rebels all the way back to the empire, there was considerable hostility toward the princess. After all, the reason for returning to the empire was to transport the princess.

“She resisted being dragged away by them so much that her wrists were bruised blue and her nails were all torn.”

“All the other royals died, right? She probably didn’t want to go back because there would only be disorganized rebels.”

The knights began to criticize Leitria. Especially the mockery from a young knight with blond hair and blue eyes was excessive.

“Right. Besides, she became the slave of a young and capable knight like our commander, so it would be easier to make a living by becoming his mistress.”

Terseon couldn’t agree with their ridicule. Perhaps if they had seen the princess up close, they would feel the same as him.

She was someone who didn’t know how to calculate, jumping toward the rebels for his sake even though she might become a sacrifice.

Intense sympathy and compassion.

The powerless smile she showed while asking him to bring Lucifer. That wouldn’t leave Terseon’s mind.

“That’s enough.”

Terseon spoke through gritted teeth. Especially to Kires with the blond hair.

“Oh my, already enchanted. Indeed, being the witch’s daughter makes her different. To seduce a knight who participated in the Holy Empire’s holy war.”

Everyone snickered at Kires’s mockery.

“When we return to the imperial palace, don’t you need to be purified along with the slave?”

“Hey! You bastards!”

Was it because they had been on familiar terms? Now these guys couldn’t distinguish between superiors and subordinates. Perhaps they looked down on him because they were of noble birth while he was a commoner.

Terseon tried to rush at his colleagues despite his injured body.

“What is everyone doing here?”

What held back his reason was the Knight of Light whom he respected.

Those who had been mocking the pitiful princess and himself became docile cats in front of Lucifer, who intended to take the princess as spoils of war and drag her away as a slave.

“They were harassing and mocking the pitiful princess, so I was scolding them.”

Terseon tattled to Lucifer with a confident face. But Lucifer’s expression remained blank.

His colleagues were excited by this.

“Vice-Commander seems to have been enchanted by the Dark Clan, Commander.”

“He was defending that evil slave.”

“Commander, I think she’s a dangerous woman no matter how you look at it. Just execute her immediately and receive a better reward? Like asking for the princess as your wife…”

“Enough.”

Just two syllables. The large knights’ mouths closed at Lucifer’s cold voice.

“Terseon, what about the task I gave you?”

“I brought food, but she didn’t touch it.”

Before Terseon finished speaking, Lucifer walked into Leitria’s room.

The knights tried to peek into the room with curious eyes. But the door closed with a thud.

Despite the loud noise, Leitria on the bed still showed no reaction and just stared out the window. What was she longing for so much…

“Pathetic.”

This was also directed at Lucifer himself.

The filthy woman before him was breaking down just as he wished. She was suffering all kinds of humiliation, just as he had wanted for the past 10 years.

But why did he feel angry?

She should be more broken and shattered until she begged for forgiveness. Was it because she collapsed too easily, making it no fun?

“Never be deceived by the pitiful appearance shown by the Dark Clan.” 

Recalling the Emperor’s advice, he briefly gritted his teeth with a grinding sound. Then, he strode toward Leitria.

“If you were planning to starve yourself to death, you would have been better off following the duchy’s rebels and dying by drowning in the lake.”

Leitria slowly turned her head at his words.

Drooping eye corners without strength, lifeless cheeks, and rough lips. Her bruised and scratched hands still had dried blood caked on them, having refused treatment.

“…You’re right. I should have done that.”

She opened her mouth for the first time in three days.

Lucifer liked neither Leitria’s answer nor her current state.

“Yes, if you want to die so badly, you can go die right now. There are many people in this village who want to kill you.”

If Leitria was going to give up on life like this, he could just abandon her first. She would be an empty shell not worth taking revenge on.