Serine no longer had the energy to feel angry. Everything felt exhausting.

“What do you want? Did you come to mock me?”

“That too—and to share some good news, dear sister.”

Suzanna clasped her pale, delicate hands together in front of her chest.

“Brother Enrique is getting engaged soon. His match is Lady Gloria from the Cornwall family. They’ve been seeing each other for quite some time, but only recently received permission. Why do you think that is?”

Probably because she had disappeared. Because Serine—the only blemish on the Penrose name—was gone.

“Oh my, not even a word of congratulations? How cold. Brother Enrique is right outside, you know. Shall I call him in so you can greet him?”

Serine shook her head.

Unbothered, Suzanna placed a hand against her cheek and smiled brightly.

“As for me, I’ve received an excellent proposal as well. It’s all thanks to your ‘cooperation,’ dear sister. From now on, our household will be filled with nothing but good fortune, don’t you think? Father seems to have softened as well, so I thought I’d stop by on my way.”

Serine simply listened, giving no reaction.

Seeing her like that—like a completely broken doll—only improved Suzanna’s mood.

“Has the Grand Duke of Cardinel visited you even once? No, of course not.”

“……”

“How pitiful. But it’s not surprising. To him, you were just a bit of entertainment.”

Suzanna leaned closer, her carefully made-up face drawing near.

“You took something that day, didn’t you? A drug.”

There was no one else in the visiting room, but Suzanna still spoke with deliberate caution, forming the words silently with her lips.

“You must’ve been burning up, throwing yourself at any man you saw. Why would the Grand Duke refuse? Especially when it was being offered for free.”

She looked Serine up and down, as if she were no different from a woman off the streets.

“And somehow, even though we tried so hard to keep it quiet, rumors still spread through society. Everyone knows you were involved with the Grand Duke of Cardinel. He must’ve been the one who spread it. What a terrible man.”

“You’re the one who spread it, aren’t you?”

“Hm?”

Serine, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke.

“It was you, Suzanna. You spread the rumors—just like you always do. You wanted to make sure there wasn’t even the slightest chance of me ever coming back, didn’t you?”

“Oh.”

Suzanna covered her mouth as if she’d been caught, letting out a soft giggle. The complete lack of remorse on her face snapped something inside Serine.

She swung her hand and struck Suzanna across the head.

“Ahh! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Unbothered, Serine raised her arm again—this time aiming for her face.

But Suzanna quickly grabbed her thin wrist.

“Will you stop that?! What do you think you’re doing? Have you gone mad?”

Serine used her other hand to seize the frilled front of Suzanna’s dress and tore at it. The fabric ripped with a sharp sound, and Suzanna screamed.

“Let go!”

Though frail as a thorn, Serine lunged at her with a vicious intensity. No matter how much Suzanna pushed or struck her, she refused to release her grip.

“Help! Someone, please help me!!”

“What’s going on?”

Enrique, who had just opened the door, rushed in, startled.

“Hey! What are you doing to Suz? Let go! I said let go!”

Even Serine couldn’t overpower a trained knight like Enrique. He shoved her back so hard her feet lifted off the ground, forcing her to release Suzanna.

“Are you alright, Suz?”

“It was my favorite dress… and then she suddenly—”

Suzanna sobbed, clutching the torn fabric to cover herself. Enrique quickly removed his coat and draped it over her.

“That’s why I said we shouldn’t have come to see her in the first place! Honestly, that girl—Serine, what the h*ll is—”

He turned in irritation, then suddenly froze.

Blood was running from Serine’s ear, dripping down her neck and soaking the front of her clothes.

“What the—what’s wrong with you now?”

Startled, he grabbed her arm and pulled her upright. Looking closer, he saw a jagged nail protruding from the spot where she had been shoved.

Enrique was so shocked that he forgot his anger entirely.

“Hey, I didn’t do that on purpose—”

“That’s enough.”

Everything felt unbearable.

Pressing her torn ear with her hand, Serine spoke flatly.

“Don’t waste your time here. Just go. And don’t ever come back.”

***

The next dawn.

The moment she opened her eyes, Serine knew something was wrong.

The breath leaving her lips was hot, her nose and mouth dry and parched. Worse still—when she tried to move her neck, a sharp, throbbing pain shot through her head, forcing a groan from her lips.

Carefully, she touched her injured ear. Even without removing the bandage, she could feel how swollen it was.

“Hurry up! What are you doing not coming out to pray? Number 37!”

The nuns stripped her clothes with rough hands that felt more like blows than assistance.

“Um… I think the place I hurt yesterday might be—”

“Are you whining? Princess?”

All that came back was mockery—and the sting of the rod.

Rubbing her aching shoulder, Serine forced down a few mouthfuls of thin soup with her dry, scratchy throat.

In the freezing dawn air, she bent over to pick cotton. Again and again, her vision blurred.

“Why are you like this today?”

The green-haired woman who had often looked after her approached with concern.

“You haven’t even picked half your usual amount. Are you sick?”

“…Yeah.”

“Oh dear, just look at your face. What should we do?”

Glancing around nervously, the woman slipped a handful of the cotton she had picked into Serine’s sack. She had heard she was brought in for swindling men outside—but surprisingly, she was kind.

“I’m fine. Take it back.”

“But still…”

“I won’t meet my quota today anyway. At least you should meet yours.”

Serine returned the cotton to her bag.

The green-haired woman lingered for a moment, then hurried off when a supervising nun approached.

“Well, well.”

The nun rummaged through Serine’s cotton sack.

“I always thought you had a pretty face. Looks like we’ll finally get to have some fun together.”

After barking threats for a while, the nun left.

Pretending to continue working, Serine slowly edged toward the perimeter.

Before long, she reached the loosely built wooden fence.

Beyond it lay a sheer cliff, plunging into darkness.

To some, it might have been a terrifying sight—but to Serine, it brought relief.

‘From that height… there’s no coming back alive.’

The jagged rocks below would surely shatter her bones.

But even now, living and breathing as she was, every single day already hurt enough.

Painfully enough to make her tremble.

The supervising nun had completely turned her back.

This was her only chance.

Serine climbed over the waist-high fence.

She squeezed her eyes shut—and just as she was about to throw herself off the cliff—someone grabbed her by the waist and dragged her back, slamming her into the cotton field.

“Hello, pretty.”

The scattered cotton burst into the air, white fluff drifting and obscuring her vision.

As her vision cleared, she saw the cold gray sky—and beneath it, a strikingly handsome man with jet-black hair, utterly out of place against that bleak backdrop.

“Did you miss me?”

The Shepherd Monastery was a place forbidden to men. And here he was—Valoid—standing in the most isolated cotton field within it, like some cruel joke made real.

“I finally let you go, and look at the state you’re in. Who hurt you?”

His fingers toyed with the bandage at her ear, and her entire body tensed with wariness.

“Why are you here again?”

“Obviously because I missed you. You’ve grown thinner. It’s almost painful to look at.”

She slapped his hand away as it traced the sharp line of her cheek.

She couldn’t endure his deception any longer.

“You knew this would happen to me, didn’t you? That’s why you let me go.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You made it look like I was your accomplice. You fed that story to my family.”

Valoid didn’t deny it.

His golden eyes curved slightly, almost as if in approval.

“Have you realized it now? That you need me?”

Pretending to release her had only been a ploy—to drive her into a trap.

In truth, there had never been any escape.

Not even for a moment.

Her head spun.

It felt as though the ground beneath her had given way, the world around her tilting and spinning out of control.

“I told you not to go home. Why didn’t you listen?”

Valoid tilted his head, smiling lightly—as if all of this were nothing more than a trivial amusement to him.

“Shall I take you out of here?”

The languid question sent a chill through her, like cold water poured over her skin.

If Valoid had appeared two weeks earlier—even just a few days earlier—she might have resisted out of pride.

But now, Serine didn’t even have the strength for that.

“I don’t show kindness to strangers. But a lover? That’s a different matter.”

Casually, Valoid reached out and snapped off a cotton branch. Under his merciless grip, the stems seemed to cry out as they gave up their soft white blooms.

Holding them in his hand, he dropped to one knee.

“So, Serine Penrose… will you be with me this time?”