I tried to reach out in the darkness. Toward my light that always watched over me during nightmares.

“Car…den…”

Strangely, my mouth wouldn’t open properly. My eyes wouldn’t open either. My entire body felt like it had heavy lead weights on it, refusing to move at my command. My right hand especially felt like it didn’t belong to me.

A feeling of sinking deeper into the dark abyss.

If I just give up now, all the pain will end. So let’s give up, Lea. Then you can go to Carden’s side.

-Lea. I’m always by your side.-

Lies. Then why don’t you come save me? When everyone ignores and hates me, why do you leave me alone?

-I’m sorry. For not protecting you.-

My resentment toward Carden melted away at his apology. But perhaps sensing my continued blame, my light gradually moved further away.

Don’t leave me alone in the darkness.

Suddenly, light broke through the blackness. When my eyes adjusted, I saw the ceiling of my room.

My vision blurred considerably. Tears threatened to spill. Instinctively, I tried to raise both hands to cover my face.

But my right hand was held by someone, preventing it from moving.

“You shouldn’t move your hand.”

“Duke…sir…”

His eyes were no different from yesterday. Still those emotionless, colorless eyes. Seeing them, the pooled tears streamed down all at once.

I was already depending on this man.

Those gray eyes that once seemed only frightening now gave me comfort, like Carden’s.

“I’m sorry. I seem to have upset the Imperial Princess again.”

I apologized to him first. It wasn’t an evasive apology to lessen punishment.

I truly felt sorry.

I might have ruined the relationship between them. Moreover, I couldn’t even do the task he had finally permitted me to do.

“On my way to the stables, I ran into the Imperial Princess… But when my hand heals, I’ll definitely… try again…”

“You might never be able to use your hand again.”

My thoughts froze at his words. In a daze, I tried to press my hand against the bed to sit up.

“Ugh!”

Immediately, extreme pain shot through my right hand.

“Are you trying to permanently disable your hand?”

Lucifer’s sharp rebuke fell. He showed no intention of helping me sit up. Well, a duke couldn’t be expected to nurse a slave.

“If I can’t use my right hand… I…”

Would I become a useless burden who only consumes bread? I wasn’t Lucifer’s war trophy but simply a troublesome burden.

“I’ll work with my left hand if I have to.”

I pleaded with him, afraid of being thrown out.

The way people looked at me. Today I fully realized what those looks meant. It wasn’t just Kelly and the maids. Most people in the Empire despised me and considered me a horrible being. Among those who despised me, those with power sought to kill the sight they couldn’t stand.

I could clearly see how I would be treated if I were cast out now. Belial or the Empire, both were the same hell for me.

“So please don’t throw me away for being useless.”

At least here, there was Grandmother Fabella. Terseon was also relatively kind.

I didn’t want to be driven away from a place with such people.

“I have no intention of abandoning you.”

Thank goodness. My anxious heart finally relaxed. I placed my left hand, which I could move freely, on my chest and let out a small sigh of relief.

“But from now on, you cannot take a single step outside this room.”

I looked up at his sudden statement. There awaited Lucifer’s furious face.

“Others are also forbidden from entering the annex.”

“But…!”

I hadn’t even visited the garden yet.

I couldn’t express my disappointment. Lucifer’s face was too cold for that.

“Can’t I even have meals with Fabella?”

Carefully, I asked about my only conversation partner, not wanting to lose that time with her.

“If you leave your room without my permission or meet anyone I haven’t approved of, both the old woman and Terseon will be punished along with you.”

I should have kept quiet.

His temple seemed to twitch with particular displeasure. The veins on his fist bulged with tension as he walked out.

* * *

“Duke, you’ve arrived?”

Terseon, sitting at a table set up in the garden, jumped to his feet. After being unable to relax in front of the intimidating princess, Terseon turned into an eager puppy wagging its tail upon seeing his master.

Lucifer glared at Terseon for a moment. He flinched at the sight.

Oh no, did he hear all the nonsense he was spouting? Feeling guilty, he quickly stepped aside.

“My, Duke. It’s so hard to see your face these days?”

The voice of the princess, still sitting with her legs crossed and chin resting on her hand, didn’t sound like it belonged to the cruel person who had damaged a pitiful woman’s hand.

Just a sheltered child who grew up knowing only love, unaware of the world’s harshness.

Something about her nasal laugh irritated Lucifer deeply.

A woman from another world he had no desire to understand.

“Hey, the Duke’s teacup is empty.”

When Lucifer sat down, she called for Fabella. Fabella quietly came to the Duke’s side and poured tea.

“What? Why is your tea different from mine?”

“Our Duke prefers herbal tea to black tea. It has a strong calming effect when he’s anxious.”

“What? The Duke gets anxious too? I thought he was a fearless knight, but I guess not?”

Still that mocking tone. If not for the princess, Terseon would surely have been ordered to run ten laps around the training grounds.

Terseon suppressed his anger, imagining Lucifer’s usual reaction. But Lucifer remained calm, only making Terseon’s heart grow darker.

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Why did you disable the slave’s hand?”

Terseon beside him drew in a breath.

Winter suddenly arrived in the spring garden. With each lift of the princess’s eyes, the surrounding air seemed to grow colder.

“Why? Are you confronting me because I hurt your mistress?”

The princess’s voice was dry, unlike her earlier nasal tone.

“This is ridiculous. I’m the Imperial Princess. Can’t I do that much?”

“She is not a citizen of the Empire.”

“What?”

“Therefore, the Imperial Princess cannot impose personal punishment on her.”

“Why isn’t she an imperial citizen?”

“Because she went directly from being a prisoner of a fallen duchy to a slave.”

Unless she belongs to any imperial territory, she is not an imperial citizen. The princess’s eyes narrowed at those words.

“What? Then what is she?”

“That slave is merely my private property.”

“If she’s property and not a person, then it doesn’t matter if she’s damaged, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

The princess’s lips curled slightly at Lucifer’s answer. So he was just making a fuss despite not being able to do anything against her, the Imperial Princess.

“But shouldn’t the imperial family compensate me for the damage to my property?”

“What?”

“Shall I report directly to His Majesty the Emperor? About how the Imperial Princess is tarnishing the imperial image?”

Delia jumped to her feet. Her face looked ready to claw Lucifer’s. Normally, she would have been screaming by now.

But Lucifer’s threat made her take a deep breath. She could get revenge without throwing a tantrum.

“Duke, do you know? All the tribute maidens adopted into Belial didn’t survive even a year. But how did that child you call property endure for ten years?”

Terseon gulped at the princess’s words. But his master maintained a composed face.

That seemed to provoke the princess even more.

“Father told me. The Belial people were such filthy creatures that fathers and sons would share the same woman and mix bodies.”

Terseon’s eyes widened. But Lucifer’s face remained undisturbed.

“Go ahead and keep such a filthy mistress. You’ll become just like those dirty dark clan members.”

After spewing her venom, the princess rose from her seat. The steward who had been waiting at a distance approached her.

“Call the escort knights! We’re returning to the imperial palace immediately!”

“Your Highness, please wait a moment!”

“I’ll tell Father to forget about the marriage talks with the Duke. I’d rather discuss marriage with the Marquis Kires’s eldest son.”

“That’s impossible! That would be a second wife position!”

“I don’t care! Didn’t his second son die participating in the war recently? I’ll ask to elevate the Marquis to Duke for that merit.”

The princess spoke loudly enough for Lucifer to hear.

The steward struggled to appease her while Lucifer paid no attention.

Terseon watched the situation with somewhat worried eyes.

“Will this be alright?”

“Terseon.”

Terseon flinched slightly at Lucifer calling his name without answering his question. There was a hint of killing intent in the call.

“Yes, Duke.”

“Seal all doors to the annex. No one except one resident maid and the doctor is to enter or leave.”

“What?”

“That includes you. Remember that.”

Lucifer’s gray eyes, now sharp with hostility, resembled a male wolf whose territory had been invaded. Eyes ready to tear out the throat of an opponent to monopolize what was in his domain.

“Understood.”

Terseon sensed it was time to abandon the feelings he hadn’t even fully developed.

* * *

I was truly imprisoned. The door, locked from outside, opened only four times a day when Kelly brought meals or when the doctor visited for treatment. This has been going on for two weeks now.

My last spring to enjoy was slipping away… Would I just die here, locked away?

Day after day, I remained trapped in the room, once again consumed by depression and despair.

“Meal time.”

Kelly was displeased about having to attend to me again. She alone had to handle everything from changing my clothes to bathing me.

Today too, after finishing dinner, I received a bath with her assistance. Afterward, she unwrapped the bandage from my hand. She frowned at the sight of the hideous slave brand that was revealed.

But she quietly applied the medicine the doctor had left on the affected area. There didn’t seem to be much improvement.

The bruising and swelling remained unchanged. It still hurt when touched. Would this really heal?

“When will the Duke return…?”

“He’s not at the mansion.”

“Where did he go?”

“I heard he couldn’t come to the mansion for a few days because something came up? But do I need to report everything to you?”

Having finished her duties, Kelly left the room. But the closing sound was somehow different.

She didn’t lock it.

Is this a trap set by Kelly?