After enduring Felix’s hellish training, Damon finally became one of Yvette’s guards.

Three weeks had passed from the day he was purchased as a sl*ve to the day he received final approval to join the guard.

The training had been worse than hell. Every time a recruit failed to withstand its intensity, punishment followed.

Even the existing guards regularly collapsed under Felix’s brutal regimen.

There was a reason he was called the “instructor from hell.”

A strict man of principle, Felix made no exceptions.

Not for the sons of nobles.

Not even for the sons of five-star generals.

No bribe, money, or land could sway him.

And Damon was the only man who had ever broken Felix’s spirit.

In the span of three weeks, every trace of the grime from his days as a sl*ve had vanished. Wearing the guard’s armband, Damon made his way toward the Princess’s palace.

“Theo!”

Dressed in a yellow muslin gown, Yvette smiled brightly and skipped down the stone steps of the garden.

During the guard’s hellish training, Damon had heard stories about her.

The second daughter of the Grand Duke, ruler of the Grand Duchy of Conrad.

Aside from her older brother Daniel, who had been designated the heir early on, Yvette was a sheltered flower who had grown up without a single hardship.

A naive, immature girl.

Winning over the heart of such an innocent young woman would be effortless.

Yvette ran toward Damon, her radiant honey-blond hair swaying in the sunlight.

Her cheeks, flushed apricot against skin as white as snow, had begun to turn rosy.

As she looked over Damon’s guard uniform with his head bowed, a mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

Thump.

Perhaps because she was holding a bouquet of peonies, a faint floral fragrance drifted from Yvette.

Damon’s nape reddened in an instant, and his blue eyes settled quietly on her.

‘This innocent young lady is interested in me.’

‘She has no prejudice against someone who was once a sl*ve.’

‘How can a member of the royal family be so unguarded?’

Damon regarded Yvette with wary eyes.

The hand that had been gloved while she handled the flowers was now bare and linked through his arm.

“Now that it’s just the two of us, you don’t have to speak formally.”

“……”

“You promised. When we’re alone together, neither of us has to use formal speech.”

This innocent young lady seemed unaware of just how cruel the class system could be.

She did not know how sl*ves, who were treated as less than human, and servants were treated simply because of their status.

Damon lowered his lifeless gaze.

A pale, soft touch clung to his arm.

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Yvette tugged him closer.

“Now that you’ve passed the guard training, you may choose whichever palace or residence you wish to serve in. You’re free now. You don’t belong to anyone.”

“…I can choose any place I want?”

Damon’s voice was low and concise.

“Yes.”

Yvette did not know why her heart suddenly clenched, but there was something strange about being held beneath the relentless gaze of his blue eyes.

The inside of her mouth went dry, and her heart pounded wildly.

The tips of her ears reddened, and the nape of her neck flushed scarlet.

Feeling that she was standing far too close to Damon, Yvette slipped her arm free.

But Damon’s uniformed arm caught hers and pulled her back.

Yvette’s body slid helplessly toward him until she was pressed against his side.

“Wh-what?!”

“I’ve decided.”

“…!”

“Where I belong.”

“You said I was the one who could decide, Master.”

“Y-yes. You’re free. You’re no longer a sl*ve.”

“I’ve decided. I want to remain beside Yvette Clovis.”

His eyes, filled with surging blue waves, seemed to sweep over Yvette’s entire body.

‘This feels strange.’

‘Why am I shivering?’

‘It feels as though my heart might burst.’

‘Why is it so hot?’

Yvette carefully slipped her arm away as Damon drew closer.

This time, he did not stop her.

“Today, we’re leaving Erined Palace to look around some new shops.”

“Where?”

“Northwind Street. A new general store and toy shop are opening there. It’s the birthday of my nanny’s child and the chef’s child.”

“…No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

A quiet breath slipped through Damon’s teeth.

The only place the young lady may visit is Villes’s bustling district during the day. It is not far from the palace. Everywhere else is dangerous, so you must never allow her to go.

It was Felix’s final warning when he allowed Damon into Erined Palace.

The new shops Yvette wanted to visit were on Northwind Street. New general stores lined the area, and merchants from the New Continent had also opened businesses there.

But it was a high-crime district where illegal imports and illicit transactions took place. It was no place for an innocent young lady who spent her days picking flowers.

Yvette’s pride was wounded by his immediate refusal.

The only people who could tell her no were her father, Grand Duke Denerion, and her brother Daniel.

But both were mild-tempered and had never once refused a request from the stubborn Yvette.

Yet this guard dared to reject her.

“I know it’s a dangerous district. But I don’t want to get caught up in the nobles’ scrutiny either. I especially hate hearing them gossip that the Grand Duke’s daughter is indulging in luxury.”

Anger flared like a spark in Yvette’s chest.

Outwardly, however, she clenched her teeth and swallowed her wounded pride.

The moment she appeared in a glamorous shopping district, high society—always eager to gossip—would spread false rumors in an instant that the Grand Princess had recently become extravagant.

And Muriel, the queen of society, and her followers would undoubtedly go around pouring oil on the flames.

Yvette pleaded with Damon again.

“I’ll only buy gifts for the servants and come straight back.”

“There are plenty of general stores in Villes’s shopping district. There’s no need to go all the way to a dangerous area.”

Yvette lifted her chin.

“I want to go to Northwind. Have the carriage brought around.”

“No. Deputy Captain Felix only gave permission for you to visit Villes’s shopping district.”

“Hmph! Felix is easy enough for me to handle. I—”

“…You should have outgrown throwing childish tantrums when you were five, Yvette.”

At Damon’s firm words, a crease appeared between Yvette’s brows.

She had wanted a guard who would grant her every request, not someone who opposed her at every turn.

‘How dare he.’

Her fine brows arched sharply over her gentle features.

Clutching the skirt of her muslin dress, Yvette spun around.

“Leave. And don’t come back here until I call for you!”

Her pale fingers trembled.

Seeing that her gaze had turned sharp and imperious once more, Damon bowed his head and left the garden.

That immature, innocent young lady would not abandon her stubbornness.

True to a flower raised in a greenhouse, she would insist on buying gifts for the servants’ families no matter what.

There was no way a lady who had lived her entire life as royalty would give up that sweet temptation after being refused only once.

Once he was outside the door, Damon slowly raised the corner of his lips.

Yvette Clovis would venture into the dangerous district tonight.

* * *

Three months and three weeks later.

Urgent footsteps echoed through the main hall corridor on the first floor of Graves Palace in the Kingdom of Conwell.

Viscount Herbert Morier, dressed in a stiff, structured frock coat, strode forward with forceful steps.

The viscount hurriedly pulled at the golden doorknob and knocked.

“Come in.”

A low, tranquil voice without the slightest tremor.

The opulent room beyond was oppressively dark.

A fireplace stood to the left, and a beautiful velvet carpet covered the floor.

The room’s lavish yet suffocating atmosphere was overwhelming.

Marchioness Catherine Brigard set down her teacup, her ash-gray eyes closing and opening once.

She wore only a thin robe that left the shape of her br*asts plainly visible, and the viscount swallowed hard at the sight.

Catherine laced her fingers together and merely regarded the panting Viscount Herbert for a moment with eyes as still as water.

For months, they had brought in every man resembling Damon from the area surrounding the cliff where he had disappeared, but each attempt had come to nothing.

Damon’s body had never been found, and he was still officially missing.

Beads of sweat rolled down the viscount’s forehead as he struggled to catch his breath.

“We searched every inch of the cliffside, but no body was found. We still haven’t found anyone who saw anything resembling a corpse in the area…”

“I see.”

“He is dead. He was struck by two poisoned arrows, his head was split open, and he fell into the sea below. There is no possibility that he survived.”

At the viscount’s report, Catherine’s eyes flashed sharply.

The room fell so silent that not even a breath could be heard.

‘That monster is dead.’