Serine reflexively raised a hand to her throbbing head.

She could feel the thick bandages wrapped around it beneath her fingers.

When she managed to open her swollen eyes, she saw the familiar sight of a rose garden beyond the window.

It seemed that she had been taken back to the Grand Duke’s estate.

“Ah.”

As soon as she tried to sit up, she absentmindedly clutched her head again.

It felt as though her skull had been cleaved in two.

As she began to collapse backwards, someone caught her and supported her.

“Are you okay?”

Serine stared expressionlessly at the man who kept asking her the same question before finally moving her lips.

“Who are you?”

“What?”

“Who are you?”

The man looked as though he had just been struck.

Even with a face beautiful enough to resemble a scene from a painting, Valoid somehow managed to look utterly dumbfounded with all his might.

“You… don’t remember me?”

“Of course I remember you. Bastard.”

Serine lowered her eyes indifferently.

Barely within her blurry vision, she noticed the man’s lips tremble slightly.

As though trying to hide it, he pressed them tightly together before asking once more.

“Are you really alright? Do you remember what happened before you collapsed?”

“I smashed my head because I wanted to die. It seemed better than looking at your shameless face.”

Relief and pain surfaced in his eyes at the exact same time.

Perhaps, somewhere deep down, he had hoped Serine would lose all her memories instead.

“Are you going to let me leave now?”

Serine spoke weakly.

“If I keep seeing your face here, I think I’ll want to die again.”

Valoid’s lips tightened even further.

They no longer trembled, but all color had drained from them.

“I already told you. It’s dangerous for you to leave alone right now.”

“I know that too. So figure something out.”

She did not even have the strength to raise her voice.

She must have lost a great deal of blood.

“You’re a calculating person…”

The Valoid she knew would have already prepared a plan for the moment she stopped being useful to him.

At the very latest, he must have decided everything by the time he greeted Princess Ivory.

“Just do it. Like you originally planned.”

Serine no longer cared if that meant giving her the house and money he had promised and quietly sending her away, or eliminating her without leaving a trace.

Either way, it would bring their relationship to an end.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

You’re not deaf like me.

Suddenly, Serine found this entire conversation exhausting.

“Next time, don’t call a doctor.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It’ll be easier for both of us that way.”

The way his expression crumbled instantly was almost laughable.

If it was an act, it was disgustingly insincere.

And if he was being sincere, that made it even more absurd.

“So now you’re talking about dying? What are you, a child? Is this supposed to be a threat?”

“A threat… So that’s how you see it.”

She had merely voiced the thought that had crossed her mind.

For some reason, the muscles beneath his deep-set eyelids twitched violently.

He stared at Serine with a conflicted expression before speaking more carefully.

“You can’t leave. The situation really is that dangerous.”

Serine had no intention of running away recklessly and without a plan.

Even without consulting the list of Valoid’s enemies, she knew who would come for her first.

It would be her own family, trying to kill her.

Yet, at the same time, she no longer had the strength to remain by Valoid’s side and pretend that nothing had happened.

But if she stopped doing even that, what value would she have left?

“Stay by my side.”

Surely even this man understood that.

“I need to find a way to send you away safely too. And to do that, your family needs to be pressured hard enough that they can’t focus on anything else. Just give me some time.”

“How long?”

Serine had no intention of waiting around forever.

Her life had already fallen apart.

No one loved her.

Even if she continued to live, it seemed that all that awaited her was further hatred and humiliation at the hands of others.

Once these thoughts took root, even the prospect of revenge — the one thing that had kept her going all this time — began to lose its meaning.

How much longer was she supposed to endure this endless, exhausting cycle

“Until you get married?”

Serine did not believe his claim that he would not marry the princess.

She had only asked to confirm the timeline, yet Valoid denied it with unnecessary force.

“I’m not doing that. Any of it.”

“……”

“I finally understand now. What it is that I actually need.”

Serine could not understand his words.

Nor did she want to anymore.

“So when can I leave?”

“Leave, let me go. You just keep repeating the same thing over and over. Is that really the only thought inside your head?”

Suddenly, Valoid snapped angrily.

“If that’s all you’re going to think about, then just empty your head entirely. You’re prettiest when you’re like that.”

He stared at her with darkened eyes, then suddenly captured her lips in a kiss.

Like a hunter seizing fleeing prey, he held her tightly, afraid that she would slip away if he loosened his grip even slightly.

The kiss was desperate.

His lips moved against hers with frantic hunger, as if trying to consume her entirely.

His tongue forced its way into her mouth and moved slowly and greedily, brushing against the roof of her mouth, tracing her teeth and tangling with her tongue as if trying to elicit a response.

This only irritated her more.

‘I’m not giving you what you want anymore.’

Before she could stop herself, she snapped her teeth shut and bit down hard on his tongue.

The sharp taste and metallic scent of blood spread instantly through her mouth.

She expected him to pull away in irritation.

But he did not.

In fact, as though he were pleased by the wound she had inflicted, he slowly licked the edge of her canine teeth.

He appeared completely unperturbed, as though he wouldn’t care even if his tongue were torn apart.

However, Serine no longer had the strength to resist him.

“Stop.”

Serine shook her head weakly.

Despite sensing her rejection, Valoid ignored her completely.

He pulled away from her lips and trailed kisses down her neck, sliding a hand beneath her clothes at the front.

“I said no.”

How many times had she said those words now?

“Don’t.”

Serine shook her head weakly.

Despite sensing her rejection, Valoid ignored her completely.

He pulled away from her lips and trailed kisses down her neck, sliding a hand beneath her clothes at the front.

‘I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate everything so much I can’t stand it.’

Her thoughts flickered wildly as though her mind were splintering apart.

Without thinking, she reached for the water glass nearby.

The instant it shattered against the wall, Valoid finally jerked his head up at the sound.

But before he could stop her, Serine picked up one of the shards and tried to cut her own throat with it.

There was not the slightest hesitation in her movements, nor any of the instinctive fear that any living creature should possess.

“Serine! What the hell are you doing?!”

His grip on her wrist was painfully strong.

When she groaned faintly, he loosened his grip in surprise.

Serine seized the opportunity to grip the glass shard even tighter.

“Let go of that, d*mn it! Let go right now!”

No matter how loudly he shouted, Serine could not hear him.

The harder they struggled, the deeper the glass shard cut into her palm, pouring blood down her hand.

Something had gone terribly wrong.

It felt as though her fourth finger might be completely severed.

The harder Valoid tried to stop her, the worse the situation became, and his face drained of all color.

He could neither let go nor tighten his grip.

Like a man on the verge of losing his mind, he shouted desperately.

“Then stab me instead, for f*ck’s sake! Not yourself!!”

“When can I leave?”

“What?”

“The question I asked earlier.”

She did not raise her voice even once.

“I don’t think I can wait very long, Valoid.”

Her bloodstained face remained pale and eerily calm.

Like a delicate doll painstakingly crafted by a master artisan.

“At least give me a timeframe. You have to.”

Valoid recoiled in horror, but Serine didn’t even flinch.

Blood spread thickly across the floor beneath them.

He had to take that damned shard away from her somehow.

But his limbs had gone numb, and his body refused to obey him.

Despair threatened to suffocate him, almost crushing him to physical paralysis.

“Answer me.”

He did not want to.

He did not want to answer the question that would mean letting her go, even if it resulted in his neck being twisted and his body being crushed.

Crack.

The shard buried deep in her hand scraped horribly against bone.

At this point, it was Serine herself who was being destroyed.

Unable to endure the pain any longer, he shouted, sounding as though he were coughing up blood.

“One year!”

Serine thought quietly for a moment before gripping the glass tighter.

“I don’t think I can.”

“Then half a year.”

“That’s still too long.”

“Three months! That much is possible, isn’t it? You can do that, right?”

He no longer cared how pathetic he looked, begging like this.

“You can stay that long… can’t you…?”

He made desperate promises, but they lacked a solid foundation.

Even then, it felt like too long to Serine.

But there was something wrong with her hand.

Suddenly, all the strength drained from it and her fingers stopped moving.