Marienne carefully climbed over the sharply broken tree trunk, holding the hem of her long nightgown.

Nigel’s brow furrowed as her injured heel stepped on wood splinters.

He pressed down with his foot on slippers under the table and pushed them toward Marienne.

“Put these on.”

“Thank you.”

Marienne bent down to brush off the debris from her feet, unaware that her neckline had stretched to reveal her chest clearly.

Nigel’s jaw muscle bulged as he turned away his gaze. Feeling the tension in his lower body, he roughly put on a robe.

“Duke, are you alright?”

Her small feet were buried in large wool slippers.

Images of her cute little toes he had bitten and her soft soles suddenly came to mind. Damn it.

Nigel pressed his forehead and scowled fiercely. The damned sunlight just had to seep through the cloth scraps, tantalizingly outlining her feminine curves.

He must have finally gone mad. This wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

Was his head smashed instead of the furniture? Indiscriminately, anytime, throbbing!

Without even touching a finger or catching a whiff of her skin, like a beast in heat!

“I’ll explain everything. There was a commotion last night. This happened while I was trying to stop it. The strange pattern on the floor wasn’t my doing. Please believe me. You know I don’t have that kind of ability.”

“I don’t know. You might have another identity.”

“Another identity?”

Nigel carefully looked around the mess she had created.

“The signs of your healing power were limited to flowers and grass growing. This goes beyond that. Besides, isn’t this the second time?”

Marienne clasped her hands together as she listened.

“Does that mean…… I might have some hidden power?”

“Perhaps.”

Marienne’s eyes widened as she gasped in excitement.

She spoke as if enchanted.

“I had imagined something like that might be possible. When I was young. A romantic story that maybe I wasn’t just an ordinary orphan but an illegitimate child that a noble lady had to abandon. If even you think my power is extraordinary…… Good heavens! Could I have a spirit’s blood flowing in me? The thought that God’s breath touched me gives me goosebumps. In a good way, of course. If, if that’s really true, I’ll become a great high priestess remembered in history and fight against the evil forces for the empire’s peace!”

“You could be a monster wearing human skin. Or a witch who bewitches men.”

“What?”

Remembering the hideous monsters from last night, Marienne unclasped her hands and became serious.

“Then I’ll pass. Being an ordinary orphan isn’t so bad. Besides, a witch who bewitches men? Can you say that after looking at me?”

Nigel looked down at the woman while deliberately sneering.

A witch. One who enchants with those red lips, steals gazes with beautiful eyes, and melts men’s souls with her fragrant body……

Why hadn’t he thought of it? Even his cold-blooded father had been bewitched by a Heath witch and created a monster that should never have been born.

Nigel’s darkening eyes fell to the floor.

Just then, a yellow creature sprawled in the corner stirred.

Nigel’s brow furrowed.

A lizard?

“……It hurts.”

When the creature raised its tiny head, the monster’s bright red eyes were revealed. And it even spoke!

It was clearly connected to the magic circle.

Nigel snatched up the suspicious, blood-covered creature. Then he grabbed the monster’s tail and slammed it against the stone wall. Blood sprayed diagonally.

“Rahta!”

Screaming, Marienne ran forward but stumbled after just a few steps. Her feet had gotten tangled in the large slippers.

Nigel stared in bewilderment at Marienne sprawled before him.

She jumped up and charged recklessly forward, oblivious to her embarrassment.

“Give Rahta back!”

“Who?”

“Rahta. My friend!”

Nigel lifted the limp creature.

“You tremble at mice but claim friendship with a monster?”

“Give her to me! Quickly!”

Marienne, who had been glaring at him, rushed forward and bit his forearm.

“What are you doing!”

Though he shook his arm hard, the woman rolled with the motion but wouldn’t open her mouth.

“Let go.”

Marienne held his forearm and shook her head while keeping her teeth sunk in. Tears streamed from her wide eyes.

Woof woof!

Luna joined the chaos and started barking.

“This is ridiculous. Marienne Rose, let go. If you don’t, I’ll kill your so-called friend.”

He deliberately tightened his grip, making the monster writhe without even being able to scream.

Marienne bit his forearm harder before falling away with a sob.

She suddenly wrapped her arms around Nigel’s waist.

“It’s my friend. I’m not lying. Please spare her. You don’t know anything! Last night when monsters came from the magic circle, Rahta fought against them to protect you!”

“This monster fought against its own kind for me, their enemy? You expect me to believe that?”

Marienne’s sobs grew stronger as she pressed her forehead against Nigel’s chest. She struck everywhere she could reach — his forearm, his sides — with her bare fists.

Nigel’s patience was wearing thin as he waited for her crying to subside while enduring her ineffectual blows.

“Do you know what monsters are? Do you even know what a monster is? Friend? Don’t talk nonsense.”

Marienne lifted her head from his embrace.

“I don’t care if it’s a monster or a beast. You probably don’t want it, but I’ll give you all the money I’ve saved. That’s all I have to give. So…… please spare her. Duke, please show mercy. I’m begging you so desperately.”

“Why doesn’t it matter! They’re monsters whose disgusting true nature is revealed just by peeling off one layer of their plausible exterior!”

“Who decided what’s considered a plausible appearance? What exactly is this disgusting true nature? It might be a monster to you, but Rahta is my precious and dear friend!”

Cracks appeared in Nigel’s ice-like face.

Through the subtle fissures, his grip on the monster loosened.

Seizing the opportunity, Marienne snatched Rahta away and breathed healing breath into it.

Holding the peacefully sleeping Rahta, Marienne shed tears of relief.

“Moon Goddess, thank you. Thank you for letting me save Rahta’s life. Thank you so much.”

Nigel spoke dejectedly.

“You say it doesn’t matter that it’s a monster with red eyes…… Don’t lie. You’d be disgusted if it showed its true form, yet here you are breathing life into it. You’re a detestable hypocrite.”

“You shouldn’t speak so freely about red eyes, Duke. And you know what? The one who can’t see the essence and obsesses over appearances isn’t me but you! That’s more monstrous!”

Nigel watched with dumbfounded eyes as Marienne Rose ran away holding the monster.

He should have felt angry, but he could only laugh in disbelief.

Now she even makes friends with monsters and cries for their lives?

Her teeth marks were clear on his forearm. What a crazy woman.

As he tried to erase his expression as usual, his chest tightened heavily. Finding it hard to breathe, he expanded his ribcage. Then his heart leaped with a thump.

Nigel rubbed around his chest area, rolling his eyes in confusion.

Thump. Thump.

No patterns appeared on the back of his hand. Yet his heart pounded as if being chased by something.

Frowning, Nigel took out tobacco from a box rolling on the floor.

Damn it, no fire.

Was he under the magic circle’s curse, or was this the red witch’s scheme?

Nigel ran his fingers through his hair irritably as he threw away the tobacco.

He remembered Aaron’s nagging to cut down on smoking.

Right. It must be a side effect. The cause of this disturbing heartbeat.

Nigel gripped his forearm hard where her teeth marks remained.

* * *

“Your Majesty! What brings you to the separate palace?”

“Have I come at a wrong time?”

The Emperor of the Grencia Empire visited the Princess’s separate palace, accompanied by Count Bernan Godwin, his advisor, and his attendants.

“Not at all.”

Princess Elizabeth welcomed him brightly as she rose from her pergola chair.

The garden of the separate palace built for the Princess was full of enchanting flowers.

The head lady-in-waiting and four maids paid their respects while armed guards strictly surrounded the pergola.

The knights’ eyes were rather fierce for a father’s leisurely noontime visit to his daughter’s separate palace.

But the Princess drank her tea as if used to it.

The Emperor crossed his legs leisurely and lifted his teacup to meet his daughter’s gaze.

His amber eyes were clear without any trace of age, and not a single wrinkle creased around them.

A young maid couldn’t contain her curiosity and glanced at the Emperor.

In the Imperial year 587, the Emperor had turned 189.

Yet his appearance was so youthful he could have passed for the Princess’s slightly older brother, though she was born just twenty years ago.

Indeed, worthy of being called the Son of the Sun God, an Emperor bestowed by the divine!

The maid swallowed hard in admiration as she stole glances.