“People call me the Witch of Aisha. A witch seems…… an appropriate partner to deal with a mad dog, doesn’t it? You’ll need my cooperation once we reach Decan. Let’s not fight. Let’s not waste energy here.”

For a fleeting moment, interest flickered across Kaiden’s expression. Ajean didn’t miss the opportunity and pressed him.

“You need a living witch, don’t you? Exactly like me.”

She’d determined her 「symbolic value」 could be the core of their deal.

Intrigued by her unexpected shrewdness, Kaiden belatedly released her br*ast.

Red handprints remained as pressure marks on her pale br*ast. Ridiculously, they only proved Kaiden’s brutal grip strength.

Ajean calmly smoothed down her disheveled black hair and pulled up her half-stripped dress.

She’d already been put up for auction. There was nothing left to hurt her. Her opponent was the mad dog of the battlefield, after all.

Soon deductions poured from between Ajean’s teeth like a flood tide. Her smooth voice flowed without hesitation.

“Your Highness has led many wars to victory. As a consequence, you must constantly face assassination threats. Yet you ventured across the border with just one horse and no escort…… Strange, isn’t it? You must have come here in utmost secrecy.”

“So?”

“There’s probably someone else besides Your Highness who needed to secure me. Or perhaps I should have been killed so no one could have me.”

“That’s quite a leap. Think simply. The Decan scoundrel Crown Prince is showing off with expensive entertainment.”

Kaiden surveyed Ajean up and down like examining a trophy, readily acknowledging she was a beautiful woman.

Her small, pale face framed by coldly gleaming black hair, striking eyes and a prominent nose bridge. Below that, plump red lips parted slightly.

A rare and beautiful trophy for today.

“Your pretty face is certainly entertaining enough.”

He insulted her with an attitude devoid of personal feeling, but she immediately countered.

“If showing off and entertainment were your goals, you’d have assembled a royal guard for a conspicuous procession and bought me in a more humiliating manner. So it would be remembered through the ages as 「Decan’s Crown Prince bought an Aisha Princess at auction」 rather than just 「a man bought a woman」.”

Ajean smiled sweetly, dismantling his lie. Competitive spirit surged in her black eyes like a young predator just learning to hunt.

“But you didn’t. You ended the auction as quickly and efficiently as possible. Because securing the 「witch」 was your only goal—entertainment was unnecessary.”

Why would a hostage need to be clever?

Kaiden narrowed his eyes, gauging Ajean’s utility value.

A few strands of Ajean’s black hair that had been caught on his fingertips fell to the floor.

Kaiden’s original plan was to pressure the Grand Temple by taking the 「saintess」 from the oracle as hostage.

For that, he needed a 「docile, obedient hostage」—not a clever one.

This was troubling. She definitely wouldn’t be easy to handle.

Regardless, that was Kaiden’s problem. Ajean boldly touched the contours of Kaiden’s face with her fingertips.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

He narrowed his brow in displeasure, but Ajean, gaining momentum, didn’t stop.

“Looking at your complexion, you haven’t been sleeping properly. Something urgent enough to move Your Highness like this, something valuable enough to hand over 「cotton trade rights」—what could it be?”

Kaiden’s golden eyes gleamed coldly. He was still pondering the value of a 「clever hostage」.

“The Empire’s survival? Or perhaps the Crown Prince’s own life or death……that’s it.”

Kaiden’s eyebrow twitched faintly.

This change in expression only gave Ajean stronger conviction. She finished tidying her disheveled black hair and continued in a firm voice.

“Your own life or death, correct. For someone of Crown Prince status, life or death means…… only succession rights. I read it in books. In the Decan Empire, one can only ascend to Emperor with the Grand Temple’s support. What could be more certain as an offering to the temple than a 「witch」? A Crown Prince who hunted a witch would have sufficient justification to win over the temple.”

Kaiden’s lips curved upward beautifully. An ambiguous expression, mocking yet not, suited him well.

“Is that all? I’m starting to get bored.”

Ajean’s heart pounded loudly. She clenched her teeth to regain composure and once again threw her life down as a card.

“If you refuse, I really will die. A dead witch is useless. For a witch hunt, you need a witch with breath still in her. I…… won’t behave.”

“……Ha. Amusing.”

Kaiden exhaled a short laugh like a sigh.

Was she sane, so calmly predicting her own witch hunt? Witch hunts meant 「death」, didn’t they?

He decided to change his plan. No matter how much ownership he had, such a ruthless woman willing to die for her purpose could never become a 「docile, obedient hostage」. The judgment came easily that she’d be far more useful as a 「spirited ally」.

In warfare, this is called 「military strategy」 or commonly 「tactics」.

Among allies, the strongest alliance is marriage.

Moreover, the Princess would know well that imperial marriages are products of politics, so there’d be no problem. Kaiden’s lips twisted in cynicism.

“You got most of it right, but one thing wrong. You’ll be my consort and Decan’s Crown Princess. Play your role well until my ascension to Emperor is complete, and I’ll give you freedom. Of course, I’ll save your servants too.”

Ajean’s eyes lost focus and wavered. Feeling her mind bleach white, she looked up at Kaiden. Their gazes collided in midair.

She’d intended to save Netty and Milla through death, but she could live?

That wasn’t all.

Decan was the continent’s undisputed hegemonic empire. Therefore, becoming Decan’s Crown Princess would give her powerful means to take revenge on her uncle.

The 「pride as the rightful heir to the throne」 that Netty had urged like a dying wish.

This might be the only opportunity to realize it. Cruel bloodlust filled Ajean’s black eyes.

Whether to share her fate with Kaiden or be violated by her uncle and Federik’s schemes, there was no choice. The formula for turning destiny around was this simple.

Two people fleeing imperial tragedies met. That was all it took.

“Let’s depart. My consort.”

The dry proposal ended the deal between the mad dog and the witch. After a silence that stretched like eternity, Ajean spoke in a small voice.

“……I want to say goodbye.”

The green-eyed man shedding tears remained vivid in Kaiden’s mind. The aftertaste of stealing another man’s woman was foul. Kaiden granted mercy rather readily.

“I’ll bring the horse, so wait a moment. If you have things to settle, do it now.”

Unnecessary emotional turbulence—just pay the price and be done with it.

“The cotton trade rights. I’ll get him a seat at the negotiating table. His name was Allen Montezo, wasn’t it?”

Ajean’s large eyes widened further at the unexpected offer. Before she could even respond, she ran out of the cramped room. So urgent was her heart that she tripped on her dress hem and fell. Kaiden shouted.

“Remember, we don’t have time. Don’t test the mad dog’s patience any further. It ran out long ago.”

Blood flowed from Ajean’s knee. The bright red blood soaking into her pure white dress spread like a rose in full bloom.

In the clearing behind the auction house, Allen wept endlessly. His handsome face twisted, consumed by frustration and rage. Unable to bear the agony, he slammed his head against the ground. Blood flowed from his split forehead, and his tear-stained face turned bright red.

Finding Allen, Ajean poured out words without even breathing properly.

“There’s no time. Listen carefully. The Montezo family will gain negotiating rights for cotton trade. Of course, the family’s eldest son—you, Allen Montezo—will sit at the negotiating table.”

Allen pulled Ajean into an embrace as if possessed. He couldn’t understand what she was saying. No, rather, he was so out of his mind that it would be more accurate to say he couldn’t hear.

“What are you talking about! What good is any of that without you?”

Thick teardrops poured endlessly from Allen’s eyes. His long lashes soaked with tears, his brown hair matted to his forehead. His broad shoulders heaved pitifully in rhythm with his sobbing.

The sight of a grown man crying as miserably as a child was heartbreaking. Ajean’s heart crumbled watching him, but there truly was no time now.

Ajean pushed his chest away with both hands. The moment Allen, pushed back, spread his arms and approached again, a chilling friction sound rang out.

Smack!

Ajean struck Allen’s cheek hard. She hit him so sharply her hand stung, but far from getting angry, he didn’t even lift his turned head.

“Stop being weak! Have you already forgotten? The Montezo family walked the path to ruin to save me. This is our last chance.”

Decan’s mad dog has no patience, and that patience has nearly run out—Kaiden’s words echoed loudly in her mind. She could delay no longer. Ajean was practically begging.

“Please, Allen…… The Montezo family will regain its lost power, and Allen Montezo will be at its center. You know what I mean, don’t you?”

In childhood, Allen had wanted to become a caring older brother figure to Ajean, and he succeeded. Growing older, they wanted to remain by each other’s side as lovers, but failed.

Lost power.

If they’d had it from the start, he could have saved Ajean from this damned auction. Allen’s expression turned tragic as he realized his own powerlessness. A desolate voice cracked between his lips.

“……If it’s what you want, I’ll do it.”

Leaving Aisha. Would she ever see Allen again? Ajean finally released the tears she’d been holding back and extended the back of her hand to him.

Allen pressed a long kiss to the back of her hand. Tears streaming down his cheeks fell onto Ajean’s hand. Tears as warm as his gentle heart.

“I, Allen Montezo, pledge my loyalty to the sole heir to Aisha’s throne, Imperial Princess Ajean Turandeus. I swear to dedicate my life solely to my liege until death claims my body.”

Ajean tried to say something, but no sentence seemed appropriate. She couldn’t rashly make promises to return soon or vows to meet again.