His pupils shook wildly.

“Ah…”

Constantine felt dizzy as if the hot spring had turned into a volcano and was boiling over.

Her skin glistened, completely soaked, with only undergarments clinging to her body—barely covering what they needed to. Even those wet garments adhered to her, revealing every contour beneath.

Even the sight of water droplets falling from her wet hair strands, following her body’s curves and seeping between intimate gaps and valleys.

He turned around hastily and stumbled away.

If he didn’t get away immediately, he felt he might do something.

“Constantine? Are you okay?”

“I’m… fine.”

“Does your head hurt a lot? Are you dizzy? You’re stumbling…”

“The water, it’s just a bit hot.”

Making an excuse that anyone would recognize as an excuse, he left the spring.

Having been unsteadily stumbling since earlier, he finally steadied himself by grabbing a nearby rock. And unfortunately, the luggage bag Saena had placed on the rock fell down from the rebound of his flailing.

The bag plunging into the spring happened in an instant.

“Ah, ah? Ah!”

Saena rushed toward the rock in surprise.

Though she had deliberately brought a waterproof pouch-type bag, the problem was that she had left the opening unsealed after taking out the translation to read earlier.

The bag contained not only the translation papers but also her clothes, change of undergarments, and most importantly, the black diamond. She had secretly packed it without telling Constantine, having a feeling she might find the keyhole.

Saena frantically searched underwater following the trajectory of the sunken bag.

But it was already too late.

The papers were soaked and mushy, and all the clothes were completely wet.

“What should I do…”

Moreover, for some reason, the black diamond was nowhere to be seen.

“Saena?”

“It should be… right here…”

Her heart dropped with a thud.

The Kramer family heirloom(?) had disappeared.

No, whether it was an heirloom or not, it was still an important item passed down through generations!

Saena roughly tossed the wet bag nearby and quickly dove back in. She frantically searched the bottom near the spring’s edge but couldn’t find it.

If it fell, shouldn’t it be around here? Where did it go?

The visibility in the spring was already poor, making it impossible to see far, but even though the black diamond’s color should stand out clearly, she couldn’t see it, which made her very anxious.

Despite searching frantically, she couldn’t even see anything resembling black.

‘Ugh?!’

Someone grabbed her waist while she was urgently scanning the bottom and pulled her up to the surface.

It could only be Constantine, of course.

“Cough!”

“Saena!”

Having swallowed water from being startled while diving, Saena glared at Constantine while coughing lightly.

“You scared me. What are you doing?”

“I was more scared. What’s going on?”

“Ah, the diamond!”

Saena immediately remembered her mistake again.

“What should we do! Duke, please help me look for it too!”

“I think an explanation is needed first.”

“Well…”

Saena briefly explained the situation with the black diamond’s translation so far, and said she had brought it just in case.

While in the capital, Constantine would unlock the black wooden box and hand it to her every Wednesday, but at Cream Castle, he had left it entirely in Saena’s care.

And now she had lost it.

“…You really think you found the keyhole?”

But Constantine seemed more concerned about something other than the loss of the black diamond.

His expression was beyond strange, it was bizarre.

“Yes. Why…?”

“No, it’s just…”

Was it real? Is this allowed? His muttered words were filled with confusion.

Really? Really possible? The translation? Now?

As question-filled words kept pouring out, Saena felt confused along with him.

‘Didn’t he want it translated? What’s the problem?’

Saena couldn’t understand why he was reacting this way at all.

“Is there some problem?”

“No, well…”

Constantine rubbed his face several times, then spoke.

“Actually, I never thought it would be translated in my generation. Though it’s been passed down as the head of the family’s duty for hundreds of years…”

“Ah…”

That made sense.

True, if it weren’t for that last book she bought at Bellua Antiquarian Bookstore, it probably wouldn’t have been possible…

“But I think I’ve almost done it? Though we need to try fitting the diamond in the keyhole to be completely sure…”

When things lined up this well, shouldn’t it be considered correct?

“Yes…”

But Constantine still spoke in a tone lacking reality.

“Since it definitely fell in the water, I’ll search again. Duke, please stay out.”

She couldn’t ask him to help search in water with attributes that didn’t suit him. Instead, she simply said not to interfere this time and dove back in.

But even after searching all around where the bag had fallen, the black diamond was nowhere to be seen.

‘Where did it go? Surely it didn’t dissolve in the water?’

A diamond dissolving in water. Though it was an impossible assumption, seeing how it had completely vanished made such thoughts cross her mind.

Besides, if it was a material that dissolved in water, the keyhole wouldn’t be underwater either.

‘Did I translate something wrong?’

Should she try interpreting it again? She thought to that extent.

‘…Let’s keep looking for now.’

Saena dove back to where she had suspected the keyhole was, just in case.

‘…Huh?!’

What? Did the key roll here by itself?

She caught a glimpse of something darkish.

Saena had thought the hot spring’s bottom was flat, so she hadn’t considered it. But she thought it might be possible if there was a subtle slope.

She dove deeper and reached toward the dark area.

But what was this?

‘……?!’

The black form suddenly seemed to elongate.

No, looking closely, the floor began to split wide open around the keyhole, creating a black path in the gap.

Startled, Saena froze for a moment. As she stared at the gap with surprised eyes, intense rays of light began to leak through it.

‘Ugh!’

Unable to bear the light with open eyes, Saena squeezed them shut.

Moreover, she felt water currents flowing against her skin. Though the spring had been completely still before.

‘…Could the key be in the keyhole…?’

Without even inserting it? It opened?

Then does the diamond just need to be put in the water and it automatically finds and inserts itself into the keyhole? Is that possible?

But this wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

Unlike before, she felt the water flow becoming increasingly violent. She felt vibrations against her skin too. It felt like resonance rising from somewhere deep below.

‘…I think we should get out.’

As the current grew increasingly violent, making it difficult to control her body, Saena pushed off the bottom with a strong kick, using the rebound to propel herself farther.

‘……?!!’

But to her surprise,

She couldn’t lift her feet from the bottom where she had stepped.

As if they were stuck.

‘Ugh!’

As her breathing became increasingly labored, struggling more violently to free her feet only made her lose air faster.

‘What, what should I do…!’

Finally, her feet came loose.

Just when she thought this was her chance to rise to the surface, this time a whirlpool in the water caught her body.

‘The spring was so small, why does this whirlpool feel so big….’

As her body spun round and round in the rapid current, Saena had such a slightly absurd thought.

‘Don’t tell me, am I… going to die like this?’

In her previous life, she died young from an illness, and this time it’s death by drowning?

If her life was destined to end in premature death no matter what she did, why was she even brought back…

She couldn’t understand it. And she felt wronged.

So Saena struggled again.

Somehow…! Please!

Her struggle seemed to have an effect for a moment. Somehow, the rapid current felt like it had weakened a bit.

Riding the weakened current, she managed to raise her head above the surface and desperately gasped for air. And then she saw.

‘…Constantine!’

Morev and Caligo’s black energy could be seen fighting against the rapid current. It was through this gap that she had been able to briefly surface.

“Saena! Your hand–!”

Following his urgent cry, Saena stretched out her hand. As Morev and Caligo seemed busy blocking the current, Constantine approached directly. Their desperately outstretched hands trembled as they tried to meet.

Just before their hands could touch—

“……!”

Whoosh! The whirlpool shot up into the air.

“…No–!”

A wall of water separated them again as Saena was pulled back under the water.

Just before submerging beneath the surface, his expression in that fleeting moment was etched into her mind.

Grief. Despair. Shock.

How could that expression be described?

The most extreme grief. The worst despair. Or perhaps a shock like no other in the world.

It wasn’t just disappointment or sadness about losing someone before his eyes.

Far beyond that, deep…

‘He… me…’

She thought she understood.

‘And I… him…’

That must be why his expression shattered her heart like this.

‘I’m sorry….’

She felt terribly sorry for showing him such a sight as her last.

Ah, she should have treated him better.

She shouldn’t have been so petulant.

‘I should have… told him I love him.’

Yes. This was… love.

It was love.

Though it was far too late a realization.

But even such realizations of hers were soon swallowed up.

Following the current seeping into the darkness, her consciousness too faded away.