Prologue

The ‘Forest of the Recluse’ is, as always, dark without a trace of moonlight.

The darkness filling the forest exudes a chilling energy, as if refusing to permit visitors, just like its name suggests.

Roen ‘Simonetta’ Roxburgh, who was crossing the forest with familiarity, stopped her steps and surveyed her surroundings cautiously.

With each labored breath, the cold air piercing her lungs penetrated to her bones, creating an eerie sensation.

“Was it still too much?”

A month ago, there had been another assassination attempt.

It wasn’t particularly surprising, as such incidents had occurred with some regularity during the ten years since she was ten years old.

However, what troubled her was…

The fact that she had been there under a different identity, not as Roen Simonetta Roxburgh.

“I thought I had concealed it well, but perhaps not?”

Anxiety swept over her once again.

The cold, viscous blood flowing through her body spread like a poisonous mushroom, intensifying her unease.

Roen Simonetta Roxburgh was the sole heiress who inherited the title of the Roxburgh dukedom, and an orphan covered in scars who had lost her parents in a carriage accident ten years ago.

After the unfortunate accident, the nobles gave her the nickname “monster who brings misfortune” and pointed fingers at her, as she was the only one who survived alone.

The wealthy heiress, who had lost her protective shield overnight, had to survive alone among those who pounced like a pack of wolves, trying to bite her vital points and strip her flesh and bones in the cruel hunting ground that was high society.
She had to protect the Roxburgh dukedom.

Ten years had passed like that.

Time had healed the wounds on her body and mind and dulled the pain.

Scabs formed over her wounds, and her hardened heart became unshakable by anything.

The cruel tongues of nobles and assassins’ daggers no longer posed a threat to her.

Thus, Duchess Roen Simonetta Roxburgh had survived the cruel reality with resilience.

Roen wiped the sweat from her forehead with a stern expression.

Was it because she was tense? Despite being a forest she frequented, today her steps kept slowing.

With an impatient expression, Roen took out her pocket watch.

11 o’clock. Only an hour remained until midnight.

She needed to hurry to reach Argus Cliff, located in the deepest part of the Forest of the Recluse.

Roen pushed the pocket watch back into her bosom and resumed her steps.

“Haa, ha.”

The more she hastened her steps, the more her hot breath dispersed into the air like hazy smoke through the black cloth covering her face.

Roen ignored the sharp sensation constricting her heart.

‘D*mn it, it hurts…’

Roen pressed firmly near her heart.

A month ago, what the assassin had used was none other than poison.

Ironically, the reason she could survive despite being afflicted by a poison without an antidote was because of the curse passed down in the Roxburgh dukedom.

The curse of Roxburgh, which brought misfortune to the family, dated back 200 years.

“Every female child of Roxburgh is born with a flower in her heart.”

The beautiful flower blooming in the heart, called ‘blood toxicity,’ literally contained deadly poison within its petals. So, every time the child breathed in pursuit of life, the deadly poison contained in the flower penetrated the heart, causing poison to be carried in the blood.

It was exactly 100 days. That was the time a Roxburgh female child could live with deadly poison throughout her body.

‘To think that the more desperately you breathe to live, the closer you get to death. What a cruel curse.’

Roen, too, was born under the desperate curse of Roxburgh without exception.

Naturally, everyone believed that Roen would not survive beyond 100 days.

However, defying everyone’s expectations, Roen survived.

The previous duke, Roen’s father, called this a miracle.

Because of this, her father came to believe that Roen was the key to breaking the Roxburgh curse.

“It seems to be related to the annular solar eclipse. The eclipse mentioned in Radin’s prophecy must also be related to the Roxburgh curse. Roen, you must find out. The third prophecy of Radin that Zonderburgh I concealed.”

Those were the last words her father left for Roen on the day of the carriage accident, as he faced death.

‘The annular solar eclipse.’

Roen was born on the day of the annular solar eclipse. Her father had described the scene of that day repeatedly, as if driving a nail into her ear.

“The bright sky suddenly darkened, and the sun and moon began to align perfectly. As a blood-red ring appeared in the dark sky and shone most beautifully, Roen was born,” he had said.

Perhaps a miracle occurred at the moment when the moon swallowed the sun.

It seemed that the eclipse affected the blood toxicity blooming in her heart, allowing her to survive.

Afterward, her father devoured numerous ancient books and secret texts to discover the connection between the eclipse and the Roxburgh curse.

However, he ultimately failed to discover anything.

In the end, what happened to Roen remained the first miracle in the history of the Roxburgh family.

‘Why didn’t I realize it then? My survival wasn’t a miracle, but the beginning of a terrible misfortune.’

It’s still horrifying to think about.

She shuddered as the blood toxicity engraved in her heart felt like evidence of her sin.

‘I want to cut it off. This terrible lifeline.’

But Roen knew.

That even if she wanted to die, she couldn’t. And that she could never escape her cursed fate.

‘This too is the price for surviving after k*lling my parents.’

Roen caressed her cheek with her fingertips. The hideous scar from the carriage accident couldn’t be felt.

The skin beneath her fingertips was smooth like porcelain.

‘This too is merely evidence of my sin.’

Roen laughed hollowly.

After the accident, she discovered that the deadly poison flowing through her body healed her wounds.

That wasn’t all.

Ironically, this was also the reason she could survive the assassin’s attacks.

‘It’s terrible.’

The blood flowing through her body is a curse.

Although it healed and kept her alive, it was a fatal and cruel poison to others.

Because of it, her parents had died too.

She knew the truth—it wasn’t because of the accident, but because of the blood she had shed.

Roen removed her hand from her cheek to escape the terrible guilt and the sticky thoughts of the past that clung to her.

Then she began to move toward Argus Cliff, piercing through the dark veil.

With each step, nettles clung to her legs like a witch’s tongue.

Roen muttered a small curse and took out her dagger to cut away the nettles.

However, the weakly cut grass wrapped around her legs again as if nothing had happened.

“You’re too persistent. It’s as if the forest is under some spell.”

Otherwise, they wouldn’t continuously entangle despite being cut with a dagger.

Come to think of it, the air enveloping the forest was different from usual.

She hadn’t noticed, preoccupied with the thought of receiving the peacock’s tears to detoxify the poison remaining in her body.

However, as she got closer to Argus Cliff, where the peacock’s nest was located, the change became evident.

The cool air of the forest was rapidly changing.

Roen felt the coldness touching her cheek change to something as soft as bird feathers and tightened her lips.

What is this? How could the air surrounding the forest change in just a month…

It seemed something had happened here while she was lying in her bedroom, poisoned.

“The peacock’s tears.”

In “The Book of Radin,” authored by the great prophet, it is written that the tears shed by the peacock, known as the goddess’s guardian, mixed with the waterfall and gained special powers.
Perhaps because of this, those who believed in that power occasionally visited the Forest of the Recluse to receive the peacock’s tears.

Just like Roen was doing now.

When the cliff came into view, Roen hid in the grass, holding her breath.

Then she stared sharply at the silver waterfall falling from Argus Cliff.

Soon, Roen’s gaze settled on the massive bird’s nest perched on the steep cliff.

“Strange. Why isn’t the peacock incubating its eggs? Surely it should be a while before the chicks hatch from the eggs…”

Roen bit her lip at the series of things that were oddly out of place compared to usual.
Should she go back after all?

Her instinct was telling her so.

Roen rubbed her open palm against the black coat she was wearing.

She was nervous, as sweat kept pooling in her palms. Her heart was also beating faster than usual.

‘But I can’t turn back now.’

If she turned back now, she would have to wait another month.

It was the new moon. Today, when the moon’s energy was at its fullest, was when the deadly poison flowing through Roen’s body would be strongest.

So she needed to swallow the peacock’s tears to detoxify the poison’s energy.

Roen moved toward the lake, muffling her footsteps. Fortunately, the peacock didn’t seem to have detected the intruder.

Roen hid her body under the shadow of a large rock, waiting for the peacock to fall asleep.

Each minute, each second felt like an eternity.

“Is it time now?”

Roen hurriedly rose to her feet.

However, just as she was about to step into the lake, her body froze. She hadn’t noticed because she was busy hiding, but there was someone beneath the silver waterfall.

The moment she raised her head to observe the stranger, Roen gasped in surprise.

It was a man.

He was standing, taking the cascading silver waterfall all over his body.

His wet black hair clinging to his nape looked strangely sensual.

The firm shoulders and chest muscles that curved gracefully below his strong jawline were provocative as they were wet with water.

She couldn’t breathe. She needed to look away immediately.

She couldn’t understand herself for lustfully exploring the man’s body. It even felt as if she were under a spell.

She had never felt this way looking at a man’s body before…

Roen swallowed hard at the mysterious and powerful presence the man exuded.

At that moment, the man also seemed to feel her gaze and slowly turned his head.

It was silvery blue.

His gaze, like a well-honed blade, flew toward Roen with coldness.

Those emotionless eyes held only the cruelty of a beast.

It was dangerous. She should run away or hide. But it was too…

‘Too late?’

Roen held her breath in fear, like a herbivore caught in a trap.

It’s him.

The knight who sat on the black horse on the day Roen was attacked by an assassin.

The knight who led the conquest war that had continued for 200 years to victory, and the master of the Reushden dukedom.

Jean Saint Louis Reushden.

Though it was just a brief moment, and only their eyes had met from a distance, his image engraved in her mind appeared like a vision.

“Impossible! Why is he…?”

As she stepped backward, Roen narrowed her eyes. Her emerald eyes trembled in confusion.
She barely swallowed the scream of shock that was about to burst from her throat.

‘Oh, no…’

It seems she had seen something she shouldn’t have.

Jean’s expression, as he stood under the moonlight and turned his body completely toward her, also changed dangerously.

“Why does his heart have a dragon’s scale…?”

A black dragon’s scale cannot possibly exist in a human body.

If what she saw was true, then he was the only human who had swallowed a dragon’s heart—something that existed only in legends—and survived.

‘This is… unbelievable.’

Roen leaned against a rock as her legs gave way.

She didn’t even realize that the hood of her coat had fallen off her head in her surprise.

Moonlight seeped into her beautiful hair that shone like wheat.

When she pulled down the black cloth that had been covering half her face as if it were stifling, her beautiful face was instantly revealed.

A straight forehead and clean cheeks without a single blemish. And aristocratically curved lips and a straight nose bridge.

A warm breeze approached like a feather and wrapped around Roen’s tired face.
The shock did not easily subside.

In her confusion, she didn’t even notice Jean approaching. This was a mistake she would never make under normal circumstances.

“Gasp!”

As she raised her head at the cold sensation touching her neck, she met his silvery blue eyes.
The tense, sharp air froze as if warning of danger.

She was afraid.

Roen’s entire body turned cold with a fear she had never felt before.

The large hand gripping her neck gradually tightened, making it difficult to breathe.

He smelled entirely of blood.

Though there was clearly no blood on his body, he smelled of sl*ughter. Like a cruel beast possessed by madness.

“Who sent you?”

His low, resonating voice dripped with coldness.

Though a chill ran down her spine, Roen ridiculously thought that his voice suited him well.

Now that she was on the brink of death, she must have gone mad.

“Did the Emperor send you?”

Surprisingly, his voice was calm. His silvery blue eyes were also emotionless. As if he already knew everything and had given up in advance.

At that moment, Roen realized.

What secret Duke Jean Saint Louis Reushden was trying to hide.

And that he terribly hated his secret.

There might be a way. A way to survive from one who had swallowed a dragon’s heart.

No, perhaps death wasn’t even the issue. This might be an opportunity to hold his leash.

But that would only be possible if she could escape this forest unharmed.

“I heard that a dragon’s scale is a symbol of treason…”

Jean’s eyebrow twitched at Roen’s provocation.

But only for a moment, as his lips twisted into a cold sneer. His emotionless silvery blue eyes also flashed with sharp k*lling intent.

“Then you must die. If I let you live, I will be the one to die.”

As the hand gripping her neck applied pressure, Roen’s face instantly turned pale.

Her breath was choked off, and it felt like she would stop breathing at any moment.

“I know a way. I can help you.”

It seemed to have an effect, as the force choking her neck loosened slightly at her faint voice.

Seeing him waver at her words, Roen placed her hand on top of his hand that was strangling her.

Then, looking up at him with unwavering eyes, she spoke firmly.

“You’ll regret it if you kill me. You would be eliminating the only person who can break your curse with your own hands.”

“How can I believe you? You might be lying to save your life.”

It was natural that he couldn’t trust her.

If her secret was discovered by a stranger she had never met before, she too would be most wary of sweet temptations.

But someone who has carried a dangerous secret is different.

Someone who knows that desperation would develop cracks in his solid wall with just a tiny spark of hope.

Like herself…

“I’m just like you.”

Roen bit her finger.

As her sharp teeth tore into her flesh, red blood flowed down her lips with a stinging pain.
In that instant, a pungent blood scent along with a thick floral fragrance enveloped the two of them through the forest air.

Realizing what the floral scent hidden within the blood scent meant, Jean released his hand from her neck, quickly stepped back, and covered his nose and mouth with his hand.
Unbelievable, but it was blood toxicity.

The blood flowing through this woman’s small body was deadly poison.

“Cough, cough!”

Suddenly released, Roen coughed while shaking her shoulders. Only after her coughing subsided did Roen straighten her body.

Then she met the silvery blue eyes that were glaring at her.

“Judging by your expression, I don’t need to explain who I am.”

“Who are you? Why is forbidden sorcery…”

It’s not forbidden sorcery. It’s just a more persistent and vicious curse.

But the man before her wouldn’t know that fact.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to ask me such things either. Unless you deliberately swallowed the dragon’s heart yourself.”

Seeing his glaring eyes as he kept his mouth shut, his expression seemed to say they were in the same cursed situation and knew everything.

Roen, without taking her eyes off him, slowly licked the blood flowing from her hand with her red tongue.

Like a herbivore treating its wound, her red tongue licked the wounded finger.

Then, the scent floating in the air gradually disappeared, and the bite wound also became smooth as if it had never existed.

It was an unbelievable sight to behold.

Jean slowly removed the hand covering his nose and mouth.

“Now it’s your turn. Tell me how I can meet you.”

At his question, Roen wanted to laugh hysterically right then and there.

‘Does he know? How desperately I’ve been waiting for this moment?’

No, of course he wouldn’t know. If he did, he would have killed her on the spot.

Roen, with a languid smile on her lips, extended her hand as if to a newfound comrade and gave her other name.

Just because they shared a secret didn’t mean she had an obligation to reveal all truths to him.

“Come to Simonetta’s Curiosity Shop. I’m the owner of that shop.”

He seemed to have no intention of taking her hand, only glaring at the extended hand before him.

Roen didn’t mind.

She never dreamed she would find a clue to breaking the curse she had been searching for in a place like this.

Her heart raced with excitement.

But Roen wasn’t foolish enough to pour out her emotions.

She simply lowered her hand and firmly stated in a calm voice.

“I can help you.”

“And what do you want in return?”

“A fair trade.”

Fair, indeed. Even as she said it, she felt like laughing at herself.

In truth, the fair trade she spoke of would be as bitter as swallowing poison for him.

But he wouldn’t know until the deal was done, so it didn’t matter.

Even if he did know, he couldn’t let go of her hand.

The highest knight family in the Adrian Empire.

The Reushden dukedom, known as the “Unbreakable Sword,” wouldn’t want to collapse with the dishonor of being traitors.

Finally, the secret that had been kept in strict silence for 200 years was about to be broken.

‘To think that the prophecy of the great prophet Radin was true.’

Well, it doesn’t matter. Now it was time to escape the curse of the Roxburgh dukedom.
Using the sacrificial lamb standing before her, who knew nothing, as a stepping stone.