“What on earth are you doing?!”

“What exactly are you so upset about?”

“You’re seriously asking me that?”

“Look at me!”

Their shouting filled the room, and the metal shackle on her ankle clanked as she moved. Lian gave it a brief glance, his expression unreadable, and answered calmly.

“So what?”

“You…”

“I told you before I started.”

“…”

“I wouldn’t stop once I started.”

One of Hailla’s legs, barely exposed under the blanket, was roughly pulled downwards. The man grabbed her ankle firmly, removed her undergarments and spread her legs apart. A pool of s*men spilled out in a sluggish drip.

“Like this. As I said from the start, I’ll keep going until the edges of my c*ck are raw.”

“Ugh, let go…”

“You agreed to keep going until I was satisfied.”

He spoke as if he had a right to do it; his face was disturbingly sincere, as if he genuinely didn’t understand why she was angry. Hailla finally realised that there was no reasoning with him. In his eyes, she saw a raw, unrefined violence.

“You were planning to sleep with me once and then push me away. If that’s your plan, don’t you think you should last a little longer?”

“I never intended to sleep with you and walk away. Not from the start.”

“…”

“You were the one who lied to me first. You’re the one who fooled me with something even crueller!”

The conversation had come full circle again. Every time they had spoken in the past few days, it had ended like this. Ever since Lian revealed that he was the duke’s son, Hailla had been consumed by feelings of betrayal.

He couldn’t say he didn’t understand. They had lived together for over three years, with Lian clinging to her under the pretext that he had nowhere else to go. He played the part of someone with no family or roots, carefully evoking her sympathy. Now she had found out that he was the son of a powerful duke. Who wouldn’t feel betrayed? Even worse, when she demanded an explanation, Lian silenced her with his body.

“Deception.”

“That’s right! You knew everything from the start. About my parents… and yet you still lied to me — lied about everything…”

Hailla’s voice trembled as she mentioned her parents. She was always fragile when she thought about their deaths.

“I never did that.”

Lian curled his lip in a crooked smirk as he replied. Hailla murmured bitterly in a low, shaky voice, afraid someone might hear her.

“You… no, you killed your own parents…”

She killed them. She couldn’t even finish the sentence. Lian, however, finished it for her. Looking even paler than the man who had spoken such depraved words, Hailla glanced around the room in panic. But they were still the only two people in the large chamber.

“Yeah. But the Duke of Huriet is still alive.”

Lian once confessed to Hailla that he was both a parricide and a monster, asking if she could still accept him. At the time, Hailla vowed to stand by him no matter what. She promised herself that she would help him build a life for himself, blending in with others and leading a normal existence.

When he spoke about killing his parents, he looked so exhausted that his expression resembled Rethe’s. She simply couldn’t ignore it.

However, now that she knew it had all been a lie, Hailla couldn’t help but feel deceived. She couldn’t shake the thought that maybe Lian had known that Rethe was responsible for their parents’ deaths, and had used this knowledge to manipulate her. Although she wished it wasn’t the case, when she thought back to all of Lian’s lies and his obsessive behaviour towards her, the idea no longer seemed impossible.

“And you never even explained any of it to me.”

“…”

“How can I trust you when you act like this?”

Her voice was heavy with resentment and betrayal, and it struck him hard. Lian stared at her for a moment, then suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace. For a moment, Hailla felt the urge to push him away, but she resisted.

“All right.”

He sounded resolute, as if he had made up his mind. Startled by his sudden change in tone, Hailla stiffened slightly.

“If you want me to tell you, then I guess I can.”

Lian’s voice was casual, though his reluctance was clear.

“But don’t be afraid, okay?”

Like someone under a spell, Hailla slowly nodded. Lian gently brushed her hair, as though praising her.

“I never lied about the things I told you.”

Like anyone confronted with the truth they had longed for, Hailla swallowed hard. She didn’t avoid Lian’s gaze as he searched her face for the slightest change in expression.

“My mother died giving birth to me.”

“…”

“And I’m going to kill my father.”

A heavy silence fell between them. Hailla couldn’t find the words. She had never even imagined hearing such a thing in her wildest dreams.

He was saying that he planned to kill the Duke of the Talon Empire — his own father. She didn’t know if she could truly believe such a shocking confession. But at this point, there was no reason for Lian to lie. If his relationship with his father really had been that bad, that would explain why he had stayed at Hailla’s house for so long.

Hailla didn’t press for more. She didn’t ask for details or reasons. She simply bit her lip and hesitated. She didn’t want to delve into someone’s pain when they were already suffering. Or rather, she was afraid. She was afraid that if she heard about his sorrow and understood it, she might end up forgiving him. If she heard about his unhappiness firsthand, she knew she would want to comfort him.

Struggling with her gentle nature, she mumbled.

“Why are you telling me this now?”

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

“What doesn’t?”

“There’s a big difference between killing someone by accident and waiting for the right moment to strike them from behind.”

He was still watching her carefully.

Ah, I see. Hailla finally understood what he was afraid of.

“It doesn’t bother me.”

“…”

“It just makes me sad.”

Something swelled unexpectedly inside her.

“There are a lot of parents in this world who don’t act like parents. So there’s no way I’d ever hate you because of that. I just feel sorry for you. And that makes me sad.”

Hailla remembered how her vision would blur whenever she thought of her parents, who had treated her like a possession. Having spent her whole life longing for their death, Hailla could empathise with Rethe when she killed them out of vengeance and because they were dying of disease. That was why she had helped Rethe dispose of the bodies. She had no right to condemn Lian.

“That’s a relief.”

Lian let out a long breath and looked visibly more at ease as he pulled Hailla into his arms again. The tension in her body eased too — after so long, they were finally having a real conversation. Then, suddenly, a new question surfaced in her mind:

“But then how did you get into the temple?”

Only someone with real power, like a duke, could gain access to the temple. Lian hesitated for a moment, a rare frown forming between his brows as he thought. Eventually, having decided to tell her everything, he began to explain slowly, so as not to startle her.

“I have a relative who’s helping me.”

“A relative?”

“My mother’s sister.”

Hailla gasped and quickly covered her mouth. Every citizen in the Empire knew that the Duke of Huriet had married a princess. The princess’s only sister was the Empress. Hailla blinked in stunned silence, overwhelmed by the distance between them.

Lian immediately sensed her shifting thoughts and tightened his arms around her.

“There you go again, thinking unnecessary things.”

“…”

“You can’t leave me.”

Even as he spoke, all Hailla could think about was the vast difference in their social standing. Her head was throbbing from the avalanche of shocking revelations. No matter how she looked at it, she and Lian were simply not meant to be together.

Muttering bitterly, Hailla glanced up at Lian’s face and froze. There was something dangerous about his expression. Now that she had come to recognise Lian’s madness, she realised that this was a clear warning sign.

“I… have another question.”

He raised an eyebrow, pulling back to look her straight in the eye as if to say, ‘Go on.’ Hailla hesitated for a moment, then asked.

“Then why now?”

She bit her lip hard and trailed off. Lian understood what she meant without needing to hear the rest. She wanted to know why he had held back until now — why, given his power and resources, he hadn’t used them to control her sooner.

“Ah.”

He nodded slowly, his expression calm. After choosing his words carefully, he spoke gently.

“If I did things the way I was taught, you would have been too pitiful.”

Hailla looked puzzled, then horrified.

Lian had started to tell her about something from his childhood.

He was around five years old at the time. One pleasant spring day, he found a cute rabbit and caught it. Looking after the rabbit wasn’t easy, but Lian built it a cage, fed it every day and stroked it. Eventually, the rabbit became tame and would approach him without trying to run away.

Seeing the rabbit made Lian feel good. It stirred something inside him. It was strange. Until then, the only emotions he had experienced were pain and aversion. This new sensation was unfamiliar, but he couldn’t resist it. After naming the rabbit at his father’s suggestion, he started to feel joyful. As instructed, he reported his feelings to his father daily.

Then, one day…

“Then you should keep that rabbit forever.”

His father said quietly, leading his son into the study. Inside were many animals.

“You have to make it happen. It’ll only mean something if you do it yourself.”

To the boy, Lian’s father seemed both distant and godlike. He had been taught to obey him unquestioningly. And so, Lian obeyed the duke’s instructions.

Like the stuffed and mounted animals in his father’s room, the rabbit ended up as a decoration in Lian’s chamber.