“Already twenty have gone missing. Be careful too, Shed.”

The countless disappearances of the Lupus. Shed and his lifelong brother Parmen pursued the trail. When Pamen vanished, Shed finally bore witness to the fate of the Lupus.

It was no mere killing. It was sl*ughter, like the butchering of livestock.

Uncontrollable rage consumed him. Shed drew his blade and charged the unsuspecting count.

But he failed.

After the knights had subdued him, he felt nothing. When he woke up again, he was in a t*rture chamber.

It was a subterranean part of House Ideana that he hadn’t even known existed.

The air was thick with blood and decay. The people locked behind the bars were no longer treated as human beings. They were beasts or emotionless objects.

They were beaten, broken, seared, injected with unknown substances, while their guards vented their stress on them.

“Now that the experiments are done, what reason is there to keep him alive?”

“Exactly. Why bother giving such power to a Lupus?”

They spoke carelessly, as though stabbing forks into meat, and jabbed at Shed with long skewers.

Sadism was as natural and routine as breathing.

Could humanity truly fall so low?

He had lived on the front lines since childhood, witnessing death and inhumanity in every form. Yet, when faced with Ideana’s vile nakedness, he found himself questioning God.

With blood filling his mouth, Shed clenched his jaw.

He should have killed Count Felix Ideana.

He should have killed him properly.

Standing before mountains of Lupus corpses, he should never have lost his head.

He had moved too rashly, too driven by emotion—and in the one moment that mattered most, he failed.

He should have struck more calmly, more precisely, more ruthlessly.

Even as pain lanced through his body, he chewed on his fury.

Perhaps it was the heat of that unquenchable anger. Or perhaps it was fever, seeping from the countless wounds on his body.

Bound hand and foot, his limp body burned uncontrollably.

Amidst that fever and rage, his thoughts strayed to Luise Ideana.

The daughter of his enemy — the one who had massacred his comrades. His master. The girl.

‘…Luise.’

Did she know?

Was she aware of the massacre that her father had committed here, where t*rture had been carried out as if it were part of the daily routine?

Through the haze of pain, he caught a glimpse of the girl sitting by the bedside of a patient and smiling. Her face was clear and gentle.

A high fever burned through him, tormenting him with waves of agony.

He hated Ideana.

And yet, he loved Ideana.

What he resented most was the Ideana that clung to Luise’s name.

Why did she have to bear that bloodline?

If only she had been born a Lupus instead…

No—he would not wish this fate on her. He would never drag her into this hell, into the place of slaughtered cattle.

Then what if it had been the other way around? If he had been born a noble like her?

Would anything have changed?

If he had been a noble, could he have stood at her side? Could he have been honest? Would he have looked away from all this butchery?

Her image blurred and sharpened in turn within his dizzy mind.

“…Luise.”

Her name escaped from his bloodied lips, mingling with the blood.

“What the hell is he babbling?”

“A beast dares to speak the lady’s name?”

The guards sneered at his mangled voice.

“Seems he thought her favor meant he was worth something.”

They kicked him hard and his body swung like butchered meat on a hook.

A hiss of air escaped from his empty gut, foul and bitter. Another wave of violence crashed over him.

Then—

“Enough.”

A trembling voice pierced his ringing ears. At the same time, a sweet fragrance—utterly out of place here—filled his lungs.

Shed, hanging limp, lifted his head on instinct.

His swollen eyes could barely open, but when they did, the face that had haunted his thoughts appeared before him.

Like an illusion, a girl so beautiful it hurt to look at her stood there.

“M-my lady…!”

“H-how are you here…!”

The guards faltered, their voices shaking. The blows they had been raining down ceased. At the flick of her gaze, they took a step back.

Chains rattled harshly as his body instinctively strained towards her.

Through the blur, he could not make out her expression as she looked at him.

“Luise…!”

His voice was closer to the sound of rusting metal than speech, yet he still called her name.

She gave no answer. She only looked at him in silence.

In that instant, an even fiercer heat rose in his chest.

A ragged growl escaped through his clenched teeth.

“…Shed.”

The moment she spoke his name, the anger he felt towards Ideana seemed to blur and fade.

Shed wished desperately that Luis presence here was only an illusion. Even as he looked at Luise, she wished that the girl before his eyes would prove to be false.

‘You shouldn’t be here. You mustn’t know that a place like this even exists. You must remain untouched by Felix Ideana’s sins.’

But, as she drew closer, her presence became undeniable. His senses reacted to her alone, confirming with clarity that she was real.

“You… you knew, didn’t you?”

His bloodied lips parted to voice the question. He wanted her to deny it.

But—

“…If I hadn’t known, I couldn’t have come here.”

Her cruel words echoed through his skull.

In that instant, Shed felt his heart boil and his veins swell as if they were about to burst. His breath was caught in his throat, suffocating him. The fragrance emanating from her only served to further muddle his thoughts.

“…Parmen… all my comrades… they’re all dead.”

Did you know even that?

His bloodied hands clutched the chains, rage tearing his wounds wider, fresh blood spilling down. Luise turned her face away.

“…They were only slaves, weren’t they?”

Her voice trembled. Despite the ringing in his ears, he could hear her clearly.

He knew she was lying.

He had known her for long enough to recognize that. Whenever she lied, she could never look him in the eye. Her voice quivered with fear.

But what was she afraid of? Why?

“Why are you lying…?”

“What did you expect? You’re a Lupus—did you think you could ever be anything more…?”

She tried to deceive him with clumsy lies, her trembling voice straining to mimic calm.

Shed could not understand her. He wanted to demand answers, to see her face more clearly—but his throat, clogged with blood and phlegm, refused to give him voice.

It drove him mad.

His helplessly bound body filled him with rage.

“Don’t lie to me…!”

Clang!

The chains tightened, pulling him back as his body thrashed against them.

He couldn’t understand why she bothered with such clumsy lies. Her false bravado suggested that she wanted to destroy everything between them.

His body burned hotter. Amidst the rage and despair, a strange desire stirred within him. He thought himself mad.

He longed to tear away her trembling, unconvincing mask and demand: Wasn’t it love? Isn’t that why you kept me by your side? Then what were those eyes—the ones that looked at me back then?

“Bring him out.”

Luise turned her back on him as if to leave Shed behind.

“Luise…!”

“My lady, but this man—”

“Are you saying you would defy my orders?”

Her cold voice cut through the guards’ protests.

At once, their faces drained of color before the frail girl, and they shook their heads in fear. It was as if a mere flick of her hand could sever their throats. They dreaded her.

At her signal, the guards fumbled to unfasten the chains with trembling hands, then dragged Shed from the cell, half-carrying his battered body.

From behind, he fixed his gaze on her back as she walked ahead. He had to know. He had to hear it—what was she thinking? What was he to her?

Clatter!

“Stop him!”

Shoving off the hands that held him, he lunged forward, crashing into Luise. Her body fell into his blood-soaked arms.

The sweet fragrance that filled his head made him lose the last of his reason.

“Ugh—!”

Instinct drove him—his teeth sank into her neck.

Why had he done it? Was it rebellion against Ideana? Was it rage at her deceit?

Even he himself could not say.

“You bastard!”

The guards pulled at the chains that were still fastened to him. It was only when two of them pulled with all their strength that he was wrenched away from her.

The taste of Luise’s blood spread bitter in his mouth.

“This lunatic dares lay hands on the lady!”

They threw him down, chaining him once more, and pressed his head to the floor beneath their boots as though subduing a rabid beast.

Face in the dirt, he panted heavily like a dog.

Heavy boots struck his body mercilessly.

“Khff—!”

Every kick tore his wounds wider.

“Enough…!”

The guards only stopped kicking him when Luise intervened. She pulled her collar up to hide the faint blood seeping from her neck and turned her gaze away.

“…I’m fine. Bring him out.”

At her command, the guards — still muttering curses under their breath — bound Shed’s arms and legs tightly with chains. Like a sack of grain, he was dragged across the floor, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

When they finally emerged from underground, the blinding sunlight stabbed into his eyes.

Through his half-closed, feverish eyes, Shed looked up at Luise, who was standing with the light behind her.

“My lady… why…”

Her name fell from his lips, drop by drop, as though he were bleeding it out.

Luise answered.

“I… value my house more than a slave.”

Her words struck his chest with a heavy thud.

And he understood.

Ah. In the end, you are Ideana too.

Her beautiful platinum hair—so like Felix Ideana’s—shimmered in the sunlight, cruel as it scattered around her.