In that brief moment, Valoid snatched the shard of glass from Serine’s hand.

Not caring at all that his hands were now drenched in blood, he pressed desperately against her wound and shouted towards the door.

“Doctor! Get the doctor! Right now!”

Looking up at him, Serine asked quietly,

“Three months. That was the promise, right?”

“Something to stop the bleeding! Bandages, medicine… anything!”

“You’ll keep it this time?”

As she had expected, this man was impossible to trust.

Looking back, she felt as though she had been deceived once again. Serine twisted her hand, trying to pull away from him.

The horrific wounds split open even further, fresh blood spilling out.

“Fine. I’ll swear it, so please! Serine!!”

Although she could not hear him, she could feel the vibrations in the air against her skin.

Just how loudly had he shouted?

Valoid’s eyes were bloodshot.

His face was so red that it looked as if it might burst, and his hands, which were pressing against her wounds, were trembling violently.

“I don’t think I can trust your oath…”

“Then I swear on my mother. Exactly three months. After that, I’ll let you go.”

Swear on his dead mother?

What a convenient thing to say.

Besides, she wasn’t my mother.

“I’ll make you believe me! I’ll place proof you can see directly into your hands. So please…”

Don’t hurt yourself.

Feeling as though he might break down sobbing at any moment, Valoid gripped her delicate hand even tighter.

“No, but how long has it even been since your head was stitched up, and now your hand is in this state?!”

The doctor hurried over moments later and his eyes widened in alarm at the sight of her.

Serine had carelessly clenched the shattered glass in her hand, resulting in countless fragments needing to be removed. The bleeding wouldn’t stop and it took a long time to locate and remove every piece.

“There is a possibility the nerves in her fingers may have been severed. Let us hope that is not the case.”

The treatment must have been excruciating, with her wounds being repeatedly forced open for examination. Yet Serine never let out so much as a groan.

She simply sat there with her head lowered, her complexion pale from blood loss.

An invisible wall stood firmly between her and Valoid.

He knew instinctively that breaking through it would be painfully difficult, if not impossible.

Perhaps he would never be able to tear it down, even over the course of his entire lifetime.

Unlike emotional wounds, physical wounds could at least be stitched back together.

After finishing the treatment, the physician calmly and expertly wrapped fresh bandages around her injuries before neatly tying them off.

He did what Valoid could not with ease.

“Now give it to me.”

Her bandaged hand suddenly stretched out toward him.

“That proof you mentioned earlier. Are you really going to give it to me?”

There was no accusation in her voice.

Sirene simply wanted confirmation.

Had he deceived her again?

If so, then the moment his attention wavered, she would do the same thing all over again.

Even if he bound and locked her away, she would find a way to hurt herself.

Valoid was confident that he could protect Serine from anything else in the world.

But he had no power to protect her from herself.

“I’ll give it to you. Just wait a little. It won’t take long.”

“How long?”

“Maybe fifteen minutes… even at most, it won’t take longer than thirty.”

Serine lowered her hand and nodded slightly.

The sight of her bandaged body had long since become painfully familiar to him.

Yet he knew he would never be able to see it as ordinary.

As they waited for Rivi to arrive, Valoid kept glancing back at Serine.

He was terrified that she might lose patience and act recklessly the moment he wasn’t looking.

“You called for me, Your Highness?”

He turned his back on Serine and started talking to Rivi.

Now, Serine could no longer read Valoid’s lips.

However, she could clearly see the shock on Rivi’s face.

“What?! You mean to say you’re going to bring that here?’

If Rivi’s deathly pale complexion and trembling eyes were an act, she was the world’s greatest actress.

“But, Your Highness! At least not that—”

Whatever Valoid said to cut her off made Rivi clamp her mouth shut immediately.

With an expression of complete dissatisfaction, she turned away.

“Serine. Lean against something while you wait. Your face is pale.”

“I don’t want to.”

She should never have relied on him in the first place.

It was precisely because of that that she ended up in such a miserable state.

Rivi returned soon after.

She arrived with Sir Hart, carrying a large metal box heavy enough to hold around twenty books.

It seemed that Rivi had called Sir Hart purely because she could not carry it alone.

“Set it down here.”

Sir Hart flinched as he obeyed the order.

As a knight, he could not fail to notice the strong smell of blood.

His expression hardened as he looked from the blood on the floor to Serine’s injured hand. Nevertheless, he remained silent as he put down the box and took a step back.

“The two of you, leave.”

“Your Highness… not that. You know as well as I do, don’t you? Those are documents that must never be made public.”

“I said leave.”

Completely dismissed in the end, Rivi let her shoulders slump as she followed Sir Hart out.

The last glance she cast toward Serine carried unmistakable resentment.

‘What in the world is inside that box?’

As though he had read her mind, Valoid opened the box.

Despite its grand appearance, it contained mostly old, worn-thin letters.

The way he looked down at them was like a man staring at the noose intended for his own execution.

“These are my mother’s disgrace, and they could become my greatest weakness. They are no different from a leash around my neck. Now they belong to you. If I ever deceive or betray you again, take them to Marquis Penrose. The moment you hand them over, he will forgive you for everything.”

For the first time, Serine frowned deeply.

Had her deafness ever felt this painfully real before?

She understood every word he said.

And yet, her mind could not fully grasp it.

“Why?”

The doubt had come too late.

She had believed that Valoid would discard her like a broken card without hesitation.

Now that she could no longer be controlled the way he wanted, it would have been only natural for him to abandon her.

And yet, even at the very end, he refused to let her go.

He handed over documents capable of staining the reputation of the late Queen herself, all while risking the possibility that they might fall into the hands of his father, whom he despised more than anyone.

Serine did not know exactly what kind of documents he had given her.

But she could not stop herself from asking.

“Why are you going this far?”

“Well.”

Valoid lifted a hand.

His lips were always curled into a crooked smile, but now he looked like a completely different person.

“I suppose… I just don’t want to lose you.”

When he spoke again, a smile that was impossible to read lingered on his lips.

But, unlike usual, he could not maintain it.

The corners of his mouth trembled pathetically.

***

Recently, a new habit had quietly become part of Serine’s morning routine.

She would sit halfway up in bed and pour herself half a glass of water from the pitcher beside her, which she would then drink slowly. Then she would run her fingers through her tangled hair, smooth the wrinkles out of her nightdress and call for the maid to bring water for washing.

Up until then, her routine had remained the same. But while waiting for the maid to arrive, she would lift the bed skirt that brushed the floor and check the box hidden beneath the bed.

That part was new.

Several days had already passed, yet the box remained exactly where it had been left, untouched.

Each time she confirmed this, Serine would feel a strange, inexplicable sense of defeat settle inside her.

‘What a cunning man.’

Not a ‘bastard’ dog.

A bastard snake.

Serine recalled the letters she had seen inside the box as she handed it over.

[My dear, dear Turello. You’re learning your letters properly, aren’t you?]

The letters began with lines like These days, you’re the only thing that makes me smile.

Every single one was gentle and pure.

Almost as though they had been written to a child.

But the moment she read the line—

[If I had met you sooner, I surely would have taken your hand and run away with you.]

—her mind went blank.

This was not affection directed toward a child.

It was the heart of a woman yearning for a man.

They were love letters from the late Queen Xsanna to Turello, the clown who had made her smile.

[…Sevi told me you’ve been neglecting your studies lately, Turello. Do you think writing will become useless the moment you leave the palace? Foolish child.]

[I envy you. You must be excited to leave this suffocating palace. As for me, perhaps I’ll only remain as a memory that occasionally appears in the playful jokes you tell. Even so, I hope you’ll remember me that way. Because I know I’ll remember you for the rest of my life.]

At some point, the letters began speaking of farewell.

The more time passed, the more affectionate and sorrowful they became.

[I’m scared. Of being left alone. Without you and Sevi, how am I supposed to endure this cold and lonely place?]

[Ah, I take back the part about being alone. Perhaps I may not be alone after all.]

Was this perhaps when she discovered she was pregnant with Valoid?

[…Please take good care of Sevi. I don’t want to send either of you away, but because I love you, I have no choice but to let you go. I hate this so much.]

And the final letter contained no words at all.

Only a small advertisement flyer slipped out from inside it.

It was unusually written in Hakkansa, but Serine could still read it.

[Estate for Sale. Second house in Red Cactus Village, Roskani Crimson Desert. Green roof.]

The crude drawing of the house looked as though it had been sketched by hand, with deep pen marks pressed into the paper.

As Serine traced the grooves with her fingertips, she realized something: The clowns Turello and Sevi must have come to this house.

Whether they still lived there now was impossible to know, though.

“If these letters fall into Father’s hands, disaster will follow.”

There was no direct confession of adultery written anywhere in the letters.

And yet, the implied affection was undeniably dangerous.

If these documents fell into the wrong hands, they could easily be used as proof of the late Queen’s infidelity.

And that was not the only problem.

If they were shown to Princess Ivry, who was currently staying at the Eone Palace, the marriage negotiations could collapse entirely.

“He’s insane.”

To place something this dangerous in her hands as collateral —Valoid had clearly lost his mind.