“Are you alright?”

The firmly closed underground door of Ranke opened.

Laurel, who was going down with Jean to watch the gladiatorial match, asked with concern.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“No reason.”

“What do you mean, no reason? Boss just kissed a woman. And didn’t even kill her. Normally, you’d be fuming and slicing her throat with your sword like this!”

Sage, who was following behind, made a gesture of cutting his own throat.

“We’re not on a battlefield, so I held back. I couldn’t kill a woman who isn’t a soldier.”

“Are you joking, Boss? I clearly saw with my own eyes how you were strangling another woman to death. And didn’t you strangle that merchant woman too?”

Jean’s brow furrowed with displeasure at Sage’s observation.

He wasn’t wrong at all.

The excuses about not being on a battlefield or her not being a soldier were all nonsense.

For Jean, anything that bothered him was something to be removed. Nothing more, nothing less.

Above all, no woman had ever survived after kissing him as she just did.

But now there was an exception.

If not that, the only explanation was that he had momentarily lost his mind and abandoned his innately cruel and cold nature. Moreover, he had even consumed her lips with an unbearable heat.

“So what?”

“It’s strange. You’re the Boss who despises anyone touching your body, whether man or woman, and cuts off hands that have touched you with your sword. Yet you say what just happened was nothing?”

His tone suggested that Jean might fool ghosts, but not him.

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, go back. You’re annoying me.”

Jean glared at Sage with an intimidating expression.

At the sudden chill that descended, Sage scratched the back of his neck and closed his mouth.

No matter how much his master overlooked his disrespectful and even licentious attitude, there was a line that must not be crossed.

“I must have seen wrong. My eyes must finally be rotting. So forgive me just this once. I won’t talk nonsense again, Boss.”

Jean turned his head away from Sage, who was submissively lowering his tail.

The cold aura emanating from him gradually subsided.

Laurel, who was following behind, clicked his tongue at Sage with an expression that said “I knew this would happen.”

Sage, who had been intimidated, regained his spirit as if nothing had happened and whispered softly to Laurel.

“But it is strange. That the Boss would allow a kiss. And in a place where everyone could see.”

Laurel shared the same thought.

What was clear was that Jean did have special feelings for Ranke’s Peirasmos.

Jean forcibly held his breath at the whispered voices of the two.

In truth, he too was puzzled.

Why hadn’t he killed her?

No, more than that, he couldn’t understand why he had closed his eyes like a fool at the woman’s command.

The place where the dragon’s scales had appeared was tingling. The spot that had been oozing blood with terrible pain no longer hurt.

What could be the reason?

Just as he was pondering this, a roaring cheer erupted.

Jean, coming to his senses, hurriedly headed toward where the gladiatorial match was being held.

The match had already begun, with two mercenaries facing each other in the arena.

“Duke, it’s Basilius.”

“I know. I’ve seen him.”

Jean took a seat in a suitable spot.

He was a knight from the Black Knight Order who had fought alongside him on the battlefield for five years.

“With the founding day celebration approaching, nobles from all over Adrian will flock to Ranke.”

Jean nodded.

It was an opportunity. To reassemble the Black Knight Order that had been disbanded by the Emperor.

“Move discreetly. Especially make sure the owner of Ranke doesn’t notice.”

“Do you believe the owner of Ranke is on the Emperor’s side?”

“We can’t be certain, but we must keep that possibility open.”

Jean’s gaze also turned toward Ventus.

When he had received information that a gladiatorial match would be held in Ranke’s underground, he saw it as an opportunity to secretly gather the Black Knight Order.

Like all noble houses in the Adrian Empire, the Reushden duchy was also obligated to participate in the gladiatorial matches organized by the imperial court.

“Laurel, we need to investigate Ranke. Especially whose man Ventus is.”

“Understood, Duke.”

Throughout the match, Jean kept thinking of Simonetta.

Simonetta was a merchant who ran a small general store in Carlisle. Yet today, she was here as a Peirasmos of Ranke.

‘Could it be…? No, she can’t possibly be a Peirasmos.’

Although she performed with the dancers, she wasn’t a Peirasmos.

For a very brief moment, he had read the look in Ventus’s eyes as he gazed at Simonetta.

It wasn’t the look one gives an employee. There was some deep trust in that slightly concerned gaze.

Trust between the owner of Ranke and a general store owner.

‘What kind of relationship do they have?’

Jean’s questions about Simonetta grew even more. Above all, he felt he needed to meet her.

‘Three days later, in the Recluse’s Forest, wasn’t it?’

Jean recalled Simonetta’s voice as she recited the love letter. And the soft, tender sensation on his lips.

Jean unconsciously rubbed his lips with the back of his hand.

The heat wouldn’t fade. His lips burned as if branded.

He must really be going crazy.

As Sage had said, it was strange. The fever that had risen wouldn’t subside.

A peculiar thirst raged within him.

It was somewhat different from the bloodlust he often felt on the battlefield, but the intensity was the same.

‘Should I kill her? No, I must kill her.’

Jean pushed away the unfamiliar sensation and came to that conclusion.

* * *

It was a moonless night, engulfed in darkness.

Roen waited for Lucy, the daughter of Count Greensburgh, at the entrance to the Recluse’s Forest.

She seemed to be running late. It was already past 11 o’clock, their agreed meeting time.

“My lady, please go ahead. You said the Peacock’s Tears can only be obtained until midnight. What if you’re late?”

Cecil pushed Roen’s back, anxiously checking her pocket watch.

“Will you be alright alone?”

“What do you take me for? Of course I’ll be fine. Besides, Lady Lucy will be here soon.”

At Cecil’s words, Roen stared into the darkness.

Could she have taken a wrong turn?

Or did she make the appointment with no intention of coming?

Roen frowned.

It was the first time a client hadn’t shown up at the meeting place, and she was a bit perplexed.

“If Lady Lucy doesn’t come, wait here. I’ll be back soon.”

“Honestly, I’d prefer if Lady Lucy didn’t come. What if the Duke happens to show up…”

“Stop talking nonsense. And if Lady Lucy comes, hide behind that rock over there. As you said, we shouldn’t interfere if the Duke appears.”

“Don’t worry. Just go already.”

Roen checked her pocket watch once more and nodded to Cecil.

Then she began walking toward the Argus Cliff, located in the innermost part of the Recluse’s Forest.

“Lady Lucy? Are you coming now?”

At Cecil’s voice, Roen stopped and turned around.

A shadow flickered in the darkness, and then Lucy appeared.

“I’m sorry. My father, who had been out, suddenly returned. I had to wait until he fell asleep.”

She looked around as if searching for someone.

“He hasn’t arrived yet.”

Cecil quickly answered, realizing what Lucy was looking for.

Disappointment appeared on Lucy’s face. She must have been anticipating it the whole way to the meeting place.

“It’s only been a short while since our appointment time. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until midnight?”

Lucy’s expression brightened slightly at Roen’s comforting words.

But conversely, Roen’s heart grew heavier.

It felt like she was giving Lucy false hope, knowing full well that Jean wouldn’t come.

“Yes, Lady Lucy. You should wait until midnight since you’ve come all this way. You never know. The Duke might have circumstances that are making him late.”

Lucy nodded as if reassured by Cecil’s words.

“I suppose so?”

“Yes. And my lady, you should go quickly, before it gets any later.”

“Where are you going? Weren’t you going to wait with me?”

Lucy looked at Roen with slight anxiety. She seemed to want to hold her back.

“I have business at Argus Cliff. There are also ingredients there for making a medicinal remedy.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Lady Lucy, don’t worry. I’ll stay by your side until midnight.”

Lucy nodded as Cecil perceptively added this reassurance.

“Then I’ll…”

Roen turned to leave but stopped as if someone had caught her foot.

She unwrapped the shawl from her neck and wrapped it around Lucy’s.

“Oh, you don’t have to do this…”

“The forest air is cold. Wait only until midnight, Lady Lucy. And don’t forget that even if not today, there will be other opportunities.”

Lucy’s brown eyes wavered slightly.

The moment their eyes met, Roen understood.

Lucy also didn’t really expect Jean to come.

It was just that the hope he might come and the excitement of waiting were greater than the disappointment, which was why she had to come here.

Unlike usual, Roen felt heavy-hearted.

There had been many cases where, after delivering a love letter, the recipient didn’t show up at the meeting place.

There had also been instances like this one, where the recipient expressed reluctance and refused when she visited their mansion.

So today wasn’t particularly unusual.

She knew that people’s feelings weren’t always fully conveyed to others.

Yet Roen found it difficult to take steps, as if someone were holding her feet.

“You don’t need to worry about me, Simonetta. I came knowing this, and I don’t regret it. Even waiting without certainty is my joy.”

Lucy was unexpectedly strong.

Perhaps she was a lady much more suitable for Jean than herself, who was only trying to use him.

But despite all that, she couldn’t let him go.

Selfishly.

For Roen too, he was desperately needed.

“Then I’ll see you again.”