“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“I promised I’d think about it with you.”

Mr. Schleicher’s smile seemed unusually anxious today. Diez’s gaze shifted from her father to the brandy in his hand.

Surely it’s not what I think it is.

“……Is this your conclusion, Dad?”

He had come to her room with a bottle of alcohol. She already seemed to understand without needing an explanation. Anyone would have realized it.

He wants me to go to Jürgen while drunk.

The moment she realized this, a deep depression began to consume Diez. The fact that it was her father, of all people, making such a suggestion made it even worse.

How did it come to this?

She wanted to refuse. She wanted to shout that even though things were bad, this was going too far. But Diez couldn’t do that.

After all, wasn’t Diez’s assigned role to offer her body to Jürgen?

Getting angry at her father and refusing his suggestion would be tantamount to declaring that she wouldn’t offer herself to Jürgen—in other words, that she would abandon her parents and escape alone.

Mr. Schleicher was having trouble telling her to drink the alcohol. She didn’t want to put her father in an awkward position.

She had long since lost the ability to escape anyway.

“I understand, Dad.”

“Diez. I……”

“I understood everything. I’ll try…… I’ll keep my promise somehow, so please go back now, Dad.”

Diez closed the door in front of Mr. Schleicher, who somehow looked uncertain, and sat down at the table with the brandy.

After sitting motionless like that, Diez eventually opened the bottle and poured it into a glass. Although she couldn’t handle alcohol well, that no longer mattered.

After forcing herself to drink the alcohol she had poured into the glass, Diez immediately took a sharp breath. Her stomach burned, and her throat felt like it was on fire. Without time to catch her breath, her head began to spin, her vision blurred, and her mind became hazy.

Mr. Schleicher wanted her to go to Jürgen. But if she stood up now, she would surely lose her balance and fall.

‘Just a little…… I need to sit a little longer.’

Diez waited for her body to adjust to the alcohol while half-leaning on the table. But as time passed, instead of getting better, an unfamiliar sensation tickled her toes and climbed up to the deep place between her legs.

Whether due to the alcohol or not, her entire body heated up. She didn’t want water, yet she felt an unidentifiable thirst. Diez unconsciously curled up and trembled.

I need to go to the Duke.

She was afraid. If she met Jürgen like this, there would be no turning back. She feared what would happen if she went to his room more than ever before.

At that moment, she felt someone barging through the door. She just then remembered that she hadn’t locked the door after her father left.

The sound of approaching footsteps clearly didn’t belong to her father. When a large man’s hand grabbed her shoulder, a frightened Diez turned around.

“Are you alright?”

The one who had entered the room was Jürgen. Overtaken by instinctive fear before she could even examine his expression, Diez shook her head.

“N-no……”

“Calm down and drink some water first.”

Jürgen threw open the window to let in the cool night air and offered her a cup of water. When Diez, unable to understand his intentions, struggled to avoid him, Jürgen grabbed her and shouted.

“Get a hold of yourself and do as I say! You’re under the influence of drugs right now. Don’t you need to wake up from the effects quickly?”

Looking again, Jürgen appeared filled with anger and shock. Why is he making such a face? If I’m under the influence of drugs, shouldn’t he be pleased?

Even though he said he only wanted my body.

It didn’t make sense. Perhaps all of this was just her delusion. After all, there was no way Jürgen would genuinely care about her.

“……I told you before. That I’m stupid and easily fall into misunderstandings.”

“Is that important right now? You……”

“You told me not to misunderstand again, yet you’re the one who keeps encouraging me, Duke.”

Perhaps due to the alcohol, Diez could look Jürgen straight in the eyes and freely say what she wanted to say. This was the first time she hadn’t felt intimidated while doing so.

“……Yet is everything still entirely my fault?”

“Miss Schleicher.”

“I know. I drank it deliberately! Because I didn’t have the confidence to fall into your arms while sober. I didn’t care if there was something strange in the alcohol. If I didn’t do this, my parents’ lives would be ruined. After all I’ve done to protect them…… If that happens, the five years I spent being beaten by the late Duke would become meaningless.”

Jürgen silently listened to the words she poured out like a wail. Only after Diez closed her mouth did he try to soothe her in a low, calm voice.

“I’m sorry. I’ll help make sure what you fear never happens, so please drink some water first. I have no intention of taking you. At least right now, I have no such thoughts at all. So give up and drink.”

Diez silently looked down at the glass he offered before finally reaching out her hand. After instantly gulping down the cold water, she felt a bit better, but the room still spun before her eyes.

Jürgen supported Diez, who was losing her balance and staggering, and laid her on the bed. He cooled her heated body by wiping it with a water-soaked towel. Even for him, maintaining composure while looking down at her under the influence of drugs was not easy.

From the moment Diez made a request she didn’t truly want, Jürgen had noticed that something was going wrong. It was clear she was under pressure from someone else, but he couldn’t easily identify who might have such influence over Diez.

Soon he learned that the Schleicher couple had been invited to and were attending the Victory Day celebration. Even after hearing this, questions still remained.

Were Diez’s parents the ones who made her say such things?

It didn’t make sense. What’s even more confusing was the fact that Diez had understood and accepted what they said.

Perhaps I’ve been missing something important.

If it was true that the Schleicher couple had persuaded Diez to change her mind, there seemed to be only one reason for it.

When he finally witnessed Diez’s father entering her room carrying something, it became clear what they wanted from their only daughter.

The result was now before his eyes. Diez was simultaneously drunk and drugged, unable to come to her senses. As he looked down at her, Jürgen sank into self-loathing.

He thought he had made a decision for Diez’s benefit, but in the end, he had only ended up hurting her.

He thought everything would be fine if he just let her go free. He believed that keeping Diez by his side would inevitably hurt her someday. But that too seemed to have been Jürgen’s delusion.

It was his mistake not to realize how sharply the outside world would bare its fangs against someone as weakened as she was.

Diez. What should I do with you?

Her body, which had been hot, was gradually returning to its normal temperature. Jürgen wiped Diez’s face with a wet towel, unsure whether she had fainted or simply fallen asleep, and hoped she would be alright.

If she was asleep, he hoped she wouldn’t dream at all, and that she would forget everything that had happened today.

* * *

The maids of House Klaus staying nearby rushed to the hotel as soon as they received the Duke’s call. Their task was to guard Diez’s room and take care of her while she slept.

There was no need to explain everything to the servants. It was enough to tell them that she had fallen ill from overexerting herself while attending the banquet, and to instruct them to attend to the young lady with the utmost care.

After giving instructions to the maids who stood before him with their usual respectful demeanor, Jürgen immediately left Diez’s room.

When Jürgen returned to his own room, he was greeted by his secretary who had received the call and was already waiting.

“Do you have any instructions, Duke?”

Jürgen handed him a paper card with a room number and said,

“Bring Wilhelm Schleicher here as quickly as possible.”

“Understood.”

The secretary left his room with swift movements.

The secretary, whom he had sent out with a simple task, returned to his side not long after. The middle-aged man he had ordered to be brought followed and appeared before him.

Wilhelm Schleicher appeared somewhat tense, but not frightened. Rather, he seemed to believe he might hear some good news from Jürgen.

Of course, there was no good news to deliver to him. As soon as Jürgen faced Mr. Schleicher, he could easily guess how this ‘interview’ would unfold.

“Duke. May I ask why you called for me?”

Mr. Schleicher, who hadn’t even noticed his intentions, asked with a stiff smile. Meanwhile, Jürgen stood at the edge of the room and gazed steadily at Diez’s father.

He could have sat on the sofa, but he didn’t want to. At least not now.

“Mr. Schleicher.”

As he began speaking in a controlled voice, the man immediately responded.

“Yes, Duke.”

“Let me skip the preamble and ask you directly.”

“W-what about……”

“Why did you make Diez drink alcohol?”