“Right now, he’s the only one beside me. There’s no one else.”

Yerena feared pushing Kian away. If he disappeared too, she would clearly be left alone and lonely in the desolate tower.

After Jane’s incident, she was reluctant to accept a new maid. The maid seemed to feel the same way. The visits from priestesses, including Alicia, decreased daily, making it difficult to see them even once a week. On top of that, Frederick no longer came to the tower, saying he had become busier. Kian alone remained as before beside the increasingly forgotten prisoner.

“So please forgive me just this once. Please……”

The nightmare where her family’s reproaches poured down was difficult to endure, but reality was no different. It was lonely and cold. It was hard to give up the one remaining warmth, the embrace that felt especially warm because it was unique.

When Yerena finally refused to say she would push the man away, her mother, who had been standing, knelt and bowed. Then, with a hand where flesh and skin had disappeared, leaving only bone, she clawed at Yerena’s neck.

Crack. The sound of something being torn. Feeling the stinging pain in her neck, Yerena touched it while looking at her mother. In the grotesque bony hand of her mother were the necklace chain the man had given her and her parents’ engagement rings.

‘You don’t deserve to wear this.’

Her mother coldly rebuked Yerena. Yerena looked sadly at her parents’ engagement rings.

The queen, having removed the rings that had originally belonged to Yerena, glanced disdainfully at the remaining necklace chain as if it were filth and threw it into the pool of blood where Yerena was sinking. Yerena flailed her hands, trying to at least grab the necklace chain.

“Mmph!”

And in that moment, the pool of blood deepened further. Yerena moved her feet, gasping for breath as she always did in the nightmare.

“Umph! Hah!”

Despite having experienced this situation dozens of times, the pain and fear never diminished. Yerena flailed about with her eyes tightly shut, trying not to drown. And when she reached her limit, something caught in her hand.

‘This is……’

A soft, plush cord. Like a cat’s tail, this too appeared regularly in the nightmare. Yerena hesitated at the sensation touching her fingers. She felt alive the moment she grasped it, but if she were pulled up by it……

‘……I can’t stand it.’

Despite knowing what the cord was, Yerena applied force with her hand. The cord pulled her up from the pool of blood like salvation. But as soon as she emerged from the pool, a chilling sensation crept up her hand.

Hiss.

What Yerena was holding was a snake. A hideous creature covered in scales black as the night sky. It watched her with eyes as red as its tongue.

The moment her eyes met the snake’s, Yerena released her hand. Now this nightmare would end too. She felt relieved. Letting go of the snake meant she would fall and it would be over. She could open her eyes and return to reality.

But today was different. Yerena couldn’t wake from the nightmare.

‘Why?’

She didn’t fall. Or rather, she couldn’t. The snake climbed up her hand, then coiled around her arm to prevent her fall. Dangling in mid-air, Yerena froze in shock at the unending nightmare.

Hiss.

Meanwhile, the snake steadily climbed up her body. From her arm to her waist, then moving its head down to her legs, it coiled around both legs before climbing back up.

Its body was impossibly long. The snake’s elongated body emerging from the void stretched endlessly.

Finally, the snake coiled up to Yerena’s chest. Having wrapped around her like a cocoon, it faced her.

The creature flicking its long tongue was horrifying. Disgusting. Yerena twisted her body, screaming.

“N-no. Go away!”

The vivid colors and lines slowly blurred. Simultaneously, golden waves gradually filled her vision. Only after seeing a distinct ball of light before her did Yerena realize she had awakened from the nightmare.

The princess gasped for breath. The sensation of the creepy monster still felt vivid. After catching her breath for quite some time, she slowly raised her head and glared at the person in front of her.

“Why are you here, Sir?”

* * *

The man didn’t answer Yerena’s question. Instead, he held what appeared to be a handkerchief and tried to wipe the cold sweat that drenched her face.

Slap.

Yerena immediately struck his hand away. Then she shouted in an irritated voice,

“I asked why you’re here!”

“……”

“No matter how much you’re my guard, is it right for you to be here at this hour? This is my bedroom. It’s a place you shouldn’t barge into anytime without my permission!”

Though it might have seemed like she was being touchy, Yerena’s words were absolutely correct. A woman’s bedroom is an intimate place. Even in noble houses, husbands and wives didn’t enter without permission.

But the man was in Yerena’s bedroom without her permission. Not only that. He had clearly been watching her secretly in the darkness.

Thinking that she had shown the sight of herself suffering from nightmares to the man, anger surged to the top of her head. At the same time, Yerena found her situation unbearably pitiful.

“How little must you think of me…… Do you look down on me as a prisoner brought here, a cursed woman?”

That he could enter her private space so easily. Yerena, born and raised as a princess, had never imagined such a situation. She had always been surrounded and protected by others.

Thus, Yerena felt great anxiety and fear at her changed circumstances. From a noble princess to a mere prisoner, she was not only blind but also bore the stigma of being cursed.

And if she were forgotten like this. If someone like this man could enter her bedroom as if it were his own home and harm her, and no one would care…… For instance, hadn’t Bianca tried to kill her several times using Jane?

“How many times have you sneaked in here without my knowledge? Looking at how you’re sitting, it wasn’t just once!”

The situation was already underway, which made it more frightening. Yerena shed large tears as she poured out her resentment toward the man.

“You disrespectful person!”

Yerena clenched her fists and pounded on the man. Though much smaller compared to his hands, her fists, filled with strength, were quite fierce.

But the man merely watched as Yerena continuously struck his shoulders and chest. He simply took the blows, waiting for her to tire herself out and stop.

How much time passed? Yerena, lacking in stamina, gradually relaxed her strength while breathing heavily. Her fists slowly unclenched, and her palms touched the man’s chest.

With her head lowered, Yerena burst into tears like a child and buried her forehead in the man’s embrace. He slowly adjusted his position to allow her to lean on him comfortably, then placed his hand on her back. His hand, gently stroking her thin back, felt warm.

“……I apologize. It’s all my fault.”

When Yerena’s breathing became somewhat regular, the man opened his mouth to apologize. Listening to his rapidly beating heart, she asked,

“……Since when?”

“I’ve been entering without permission for five days. But this is the first time I’ve come into this room.”

The man’s words were a lie. He had been watching Yerena from her bedroom for quite some time. But this small lie was as tiny as a grain compared to the biggest lie he harbored. Therefore, neither his voice nor his heartbeat revealed the falsehood.

“I knew it was a grave offense, that you would hate it, that you would be angry if discovered.”

“Then why did you do it? Did you really think so little of me?”

Unaware that the man’s words were false, Yerena moved even closer to him. Stroking her hair from top to bottom as she completely entered his embrace, the man this time spoke the truth.

“I was worried about you and couldn’t just stand by.”

“What……”

“Even when the sun is at its highest, the area under your eyes is dark. Do you know that?”

The man gloomily spoke as he stroked beneath Yerena’s eyes, which had slightly lifted her head. Unable to know what her face looked like, Yerena showed a confused expression at the sadness in his voice. The man stared intensely at her and continued,

“I was concerned when you couldn’t fight off drowsiness even while talking with me.”

“……”

“I was worried when you occasionally lost consciousness even while walking.”

“……”

“With your body still not recovered, I absolutely couldn’t take my eyes off you for fear something serious might happen.”

“……”

“Every time you went to bed, I couldn’t help but think of you. I couldn’t bear the worry that you might not be sleeping properly tonight as well.”

His initially leisurely words quickened with excitement toward the end. The grip on Yerena’s waist also tightened. The man brought his lips to her eyes and moved them as if scraping, then kissed her with a smacking sound several times before calmly confessing his sin.

“So I entered this place without permission.”

“……”

“If I knew why you couldn’t sleep at night…… If I saw the cause and found a solution, I thought I could worry less.”

After finishing his excuse, the man now reverently pressed his lips to Yerena’s forehead. She received his kiss silently, at a loss for words.

As she always felt, the man was unpredictable. He would maintain proper etiquette and behave like a perfect gentleman, then suddenly kiss her like this, rub against her skin, and speak such embarrassing words with ease.

Yerena thought that was why she was so helplessly drawn to him. She slowly raised her hand to the man’s face. Then, with her hand on his cheek, she said,

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

“……”

“But please don’t do this anymore. No matter how good your intentions, entering without permission makes me uncomfortable.”

This was a natural statement from Yerena. But the man’s face hardened at her words.

Is she keeping me at a distance? He looked at her as if he would devour her, barely suppressing the emotion that had instantly surged up.

“And the problem of lack of sleep is entirely mine to bear. So until I ask for help, please just leave it be. Don’t worry about it.”