Shed’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the wound that refused to heal.

Even with every secret laid bare, her stubborn attempt to keep hiding her power grated on him.

Once more, Shed raised his sword.

And this time, the hand he seized was—

“Unlike you, the child doesn’t seem to be able to.”

—Eve’s sleeping hand.

Luise lunged forward, shaking her head in panic.

“Stop it. The child has done nothing wrong.”

Her plea fell on deaf ears. Shed, still holding Eve’s hand, simply gazed down at her. And in that moment, Luise understood—he would not release Eve until she revealed her power herself.

He had already pieced it all together. Yet he insisted on forcing her to prove it, to deliver the final blow of confirmation.

This was not mere suspicion; it was the executioner’s demand for undeniable evidence.

Luise lifted her blood-soaked palm before his eyes, as if daring him to look. And then, after years of suppression, denial, and desperate concealment, she opened the floodgates of her own power.

At once, black light seeped from the wound.

A sensation more harrowing than pain itself—dark magic’s vile touch. The curse she bore surged vividly through her veins, an abhorrent reminder that twisted every fiber of her being.

Her outstretched palm quivered violently.

Shed’s eyes never left it as the dark crimson gash slowly knit itself closed.

Like a trick of sorcery, the wound disappeared without a trace, save for the smear of blood staining her palm, proof that it had ever been there at all.

“…Hah.”

A short, hollow laugh slipped from Shed’s lips. He had known it in his mind, yet seeing the heresy with his own eyes left his head stripped bare, as if scoured clean.

He had thought he understood her. Not everything, perhaps, but enough—more than anyone else.
It was a conceited illusion.

Luise Ideana had hidden far more, and far more perfectly, than he had ever imagined. And now, at last, the scattered pieces that had never quite aligned began to fall into place.

That constant fear trembling behind her gaze. Those reckless, audacious moments that had seemed so out of character. And… the reason she always insisted she was fine.

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

The meaning of those words—words she had once spoken—he finally understood.

“You… were Ideana all along.”

The name that had become heresy itself.

Felix had always believed the fault lay entirely with Ideana. He wanted to think she was only dragged down by the shackles of guilt through association. But the truth was that she was Ideana itself, no different from Felix Ideana.

An undeniable, perfect accomplice—and instigator.

“I’ll ask.”

Shed, his blade still wet with her blood, parted his lips.

“Are you… a demon?”

The word demon pierced Luise’s ears like a knife. He was asking her if she was a complete heretic like Mephisto, a monster who had gained power so absolute it required no life to sustain it. And—whether he could even kill her.

Luise realized then that the moment she could no longer evade had arrived. She had only postponed it until now, knowing this secret would one day be revealed. She had only hoped that Shed, at least, would never learn of this sin.

Quietly, she closed her eyes and steadied the storming waves of her heart.

“Yes, Shed.”

Lifting her gaze, her trembling lips parted.

“All the heretical research conducted in the House of Ideana… was for me.”

The confession spilled from her lips more calmly than she had ever imagined. In a way, it even felt like relief, as though she were finally expelling the filth she had choked down and held back for so long.

Of course, to say it wasn’t painful would have been a lie. But now, even that no longer mattered.

For she had something more important—something that would not let her break, even after revealing her secret. Something far greater than clinging to her feelings for him.

The child she had to protect.

Luise pulled Eve closer to her.

Her confession was also a threat. A warning that he could never kill her, that his revenge could never be fulfilled.

Before that stubborn defiance, Shed’s grip on the hilt tightened.

“So, what do you intend to do now?”

Luise asked, her eyes unwavering. They revealed her determination to face him fearlessly, shining with such unshakable clarity that it seemed as though nothing could hurt her.

The corners of Shed’s mouth turned down. Luise was not the same person anymore. It was because of the child in her arms.

Was that child truly so precious to her?

Precious enough to give her such eyes?

The muscles in his jaw twitched. And even if she hadn’t looked at him with those eyes, he had always known, long ago—

That he could never kill her.

“But you’d best not think of running. Not unless you want the child’s secret revealed to the world.”

Instead, he had gained the perfect shackle for her.

A shackle that could bind her forever.

🌺⟡───⟡🌺 🌺⟡───⟡🌺

Knight Hedrick bowed his head to the duke as he stepped out of the cabin. The master’s stride upon the deck seemed lighter than usual.

‘…Did something go well?’

For years, his lord had carried an air of unrelenting severity. Even at his triumphal procession, at the victory feast with beautiful dancers pouring his wine, even when the king of Blancas knelt before him—his face had remained impassive.

And yet, for the first time in years, Shed’s expression seemed eased. Not one of joy or satisfaction, but of relief—like a man who, after being hunted, had at last found a way to breathe. Like someone who had discovered a path of escape.

‘He insisted on heading to the Scizlon Isles the moment we returned… Is it because of that woman?’

Hedrick’s eyes flicked toward the cabin. He remembered the woman Shed had brought back with him. Not the sort of man to recall the faces of maids one by one, but her face had been impossible to forget.

She was the first woman he had ever brought with him, and she was strikingly beautiful to boot. In fact, she was so beautiful that the knights often talked about her amongst themselves.

Her name—was it Liana?

As Hedrick sifted through old memories, Shed spoke.

“We’ll have to turn the bow.”

The words echoed the decision of a man who had discovered the location of a treasure island — a selfish, unilateral choice, with his secret thrill hidden deep and his determination to set sail for a forbidden isle concealing priceless jewels.

“You won’t be going to Castle Muenher?”

The helmsman frowned at the sudden change of course. Shed’s head shook once, curt and resolute.

Muenher, the chief fortress of Lester, housed the High Priest.

To take heretics like Luise and Eve there was too great a risk.

He had considered returning to Faradel, but Dietrich was there.

After the heretic had been executed, Dietrich had remained behind in Ideana, the land tainted by heresy, as its High Priest. He was stationed there so that no trace of heretical movement would ever arise again.

Shed fixed his gaze on the star-swallowed horizon and spoke once more.

“We’ll head to Recherdam.”

The heart of Ideana, a city that in recent years had regained its form, yet still without a temple.

A place where Luise and Eve could remain beyond the church’s watchful eyes.

“Mommy…”

At dawn, without a wink of sleep, Luise stirred at the sound of Eve mumbling and rustling.

“Eve. You’re awake?”

She pressed a kiss to her daughter’s soft cheek, and a sleepy smile bloomed across the little face, eyes still closed. Eve nestled deeper into her mother’s embrace, comforted by her scent.

Luise gently stroked the child’s hair where it pressed against her chest.

Yes—if it was for this smile, she would do anything. As long as she cooperated, Shed would not recklessly expose Eve’s secret.

“Mommy, where are we?”

Rubbing her eyes, Eve sat up and peered outside the cabin where the crash of waves resounded. The deep blue sea swayed beyond, dotted with islands.

Only then did she recall boarding a great ship the day before and that the man she called the bad man was with them.

“Mommy, where are we going?”

Swaying with the slow tilt of the vessel, Eve asked, wobbling slightly. One might expect her to be frightened by the unfamiliar scene, but instead, her eyes shone with curiosity.

Luise felt relief at that.

“We’re moving far away. Didn’t you love exploring, Eve?”

“Mm-hm!”

“This time we’ll see all the new places you’ve never been to.”

Luise forced a smile and nodded.

“Then… with the bad man too?”

“…Yes.”

So the one Eve had always called the bad man was Shed. A strange feeling overcame Luise. Twisted though everything was, he was still Eve’s father…

“The bad man’s actually a good person~!”

Whether it was the joy of waking up cheerful or the thought of going on a great adventure, Eve grinned, showing her tiny baby teeth.

Luise blinked at her daughter’s innocent reaction.

“Eve, aren’t you afraid of the bad man…?”

After all, Shed had been the one to abduct her child. He had even sent her a threatening letter, holding Eve hostage.

‘Who knows what he might have done while he had her…’

He had certainly not treated Eve kindly. She could picture him with his menacing face, intimidating and threatening her child. Then, without warning, he had leapt recklessly from a cliff while holding them both, whisking them away to some distant place.

It was only natural to fear him. Yet Eve’s face was unusually bright.

“At first, I was scared. But he’s nice!”

Eve spoke in an excited voice.

“He’s nice…?”

“Yeah! Mommy and the bad man are friends!”