“What?”

As expected, he let out a short, incredulous laugh and swept his fringe back. But that wasn’t the end of it. Rosie went even further. Even as she spoke, she was startled to find that she was capable of spitting out words this hostile.

“According to you, my future self regains the Moavis County and lives happily ever after.”

“……”

“So show me some respect. I’ll soon belong to another house.”

The black eyes that had been fixed on her face froze, then suddenly lit up with a dangerous glint. The change was so sudden that even Rosie, who had been responding easily until then, flinched.

“Are you planning to side with the Beisler family against me? Or with that servant you’ve become fond of lately? Is that worthless man the one you intend to leave me for?”

Since she had already crossed the line, Rosie decided to see it through. She strung the words together and embellished them slightly.

“Does status matter when it comes to love? If the heart goes, that’s enough.”

“…Love?”

A murderous intent surged through him, far stronger than anything he had felt before. Callios slowly tugged at the loosened black glove on his hand. Even this unhurried movement radiated a lethal aura, as if he were about to set out to temper his blade at any moment.

“You gave your heart away? To one of those two?”

“……”

“Since when?”

…Maybe she had gone too far.

As the heat of her impulsiveness cooled, everything she had just done came crashing back into view. She had provoked Callios far too deeply.

‘If I leave this any longer, something terrible might happen.’

She couldn’t let the misunderstanding continue. She decided to cut it off before it spiraled further.

Lowering her eyes, Rosie finally spoke—this time, obediently.

“What I said earlier was out of anger. You were accusing me of being a witch, it was absurd….”

With a face hot from rising fury, Callios ripped off his black glove and tossed it aside. His gaze dragged over her face, slow and obsessive, as if licking along her skin.

“Out of anger? You’d probably commit something immoral out of anger too.”

‘And that’s exactly what I’ve been worried about lately.’

She only said it inwardly.

At that moment, perhaps unable to endure the tension, Jenny’s trembling voice sounded from outside.

“Your Grace? My lady? Shall we depart now?”

Callios must have forced himself to speak, frightened yet trying to sound brave.

Rosie let out a small laugh and replied.

“Have them depart.”

“In a moment.”

They answered at the same time.

Their gazes collided in midair, drawn tight like a taut wire. Despite Jenny’s anxious presence outside, Rosie stared steadily at Callios.

In the darkness, her husband’s eyes gleamed with such fury they looked ready to burst.

“If you were trying to provoke me, you succeeded, Rosie.”

Callios’s bare hand came up and lightly gripped the back of her neck. The calloused, rough palm traced the delicate line of her throat with blatant intimacy.

A savage smile tilted across his lips.

“The time I wasn’t here must have been an opportunity for you.”

“……”

“I imagine you kept other men very pleased.”

“That’s an unfounded guess.”

“Unfounded?”

His low voice sank darkly, as if pushing down the rage thrashing inside him. His gaze, colder than before, slanted toward her.

“You keep bringing other men up. You must be starved for attention.”

“……”

“When we return, I’ll give you exactly what you want. And this time, I won’t be saying it just to say it.”

She flinched, clutching at her dress with white-knuckled hands. Her expression sharpened with anger.

“Is that a threat?”

“Is it a threat for a husband and wife to put their bodies together?”

“Watch your vulgar language.”

He laughed softly, as though she were being naïve for no reason at all, keeping her trapped in his gaze. His eyes rippled with a depth like an endless pit.

“Nightly affairs is vulgar by nature. Didn’t I teach you that with my body?”

Rosie’s hand moved upwards, almost touching it. But she forced it down and clenched her fist.

If she got any closer to him, he would twist everything to his advantage.

She had an instinctive feeling of warning. So, instead of answering, Rosie remained silent. Although she stood before him with cold composure, a chill crawled down her spine. It was as if she had caught a glimpse of the instincts Callios kept buried deep.

‘Was he always… like this?’

Since their engagement, he had never spoken crudely or coarsely. At least while they were in the capital, he had never said anything that could be used against him. But now, with nothing left to hide, he was showing his true colors.

Rosie felt utterly thrown.

‘Why is he acting like this?’

It was staggering that her husband, who had once been so indifferent, could react so violently to a request for divorce. Even worse was how he seemed determined to reveal their worst selves, growling and pushing her into corners.

And those eyes, on the verge of collapse, unable to tolerate the idea of her leaving.

‘Were honor and responsibility truly that important to him?’

Lost in her swirling confusion, Rosie sighed quietly.

“I told you it was something I said in anger.”

“Yes. And it was filled with quite a bit of sincerity.”

“……”

“Sincerity you could act on at any moment, if the impulse strikes.”

He clenched his jaw as if forcing down the last of his patience, then removed his hand from the back of Rosie’s neck.

A thick vein rose beneath the firm line of his throat before slowly sinking again.

“Enough with the games. Let’s be serious.”

“I am serious.”

“You call it serious, saying you gave your heart to another man?”

His voice was flat with disbelief. Even the mere recollection of it seemed to anger him further; his fist tightened and the vein on the back of his hand bulged again.

Rosie’s gaze drifted to the black leather glove that Callios had pulled off and thrown aside. Black was the color that suited him best — the shade that hid the stain of blood.

She calmly picked up the glove. It was heavier than it looked. Rosie thought back on his usual attire. He always wore a heavy metal gauntlet over this glove and, on top of that, suffocating gold armor and a helmet when he roamed the battlefield.

Holding his gaze, Rosie brushed the dust from the glove with a soft breath and tightened her grip on it.

Perhaps there was a reason. Something that had driven him to such fury? But she had been through too much to turn back now.

They had each fought their own battles. She had chosen to retreat from hers, bearing scars that would never fully heal.

‘I decided to live differently from my previous life.’

All she wanted was to leave this place; she didn’t want to keep fighting until the moment she stepped outside. Yet somehow, they had ended up clashing again.

‘When did I get pulled back into this again…’

She let out a silent sigh and carefully straightened the glove before offering it to him with sincerity.

“In any case, I’m not a witch, or a prophet. And I’m certainly not some gifted astrologer.”

She didn’t want to lie all the way to the end.

“But there’s one thing I can say with absolute certainty.”

Her large, brown eyes never wavered.

“If you ever thought of me as your partner—even once—then this time, just trust me.”

Callios slowly shifted his gaze from the glove she held out to her face. The darkness in his eyes narrowed as he read the truth in her expression.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached out and accepted the glove.

The tension that had filled the carriage eased ever so slightly.

“Let’s go. There’s a lot to do once we arrive.”

Callios looked at her with a conflicted expression, then turned his head away. He put his glove back on, opened the window and gave a cold order.

“Depart.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Jenny glanced anxiously into the carriage before climbing into the seat beside the coachman.

Meanwhile, Callios stared out of the window thoughtfully before looking back at her. He narrowed his thick eyebrows, looking puzzled.

“…Why are you in such a hurry?”

He had sensed it, too the way she was pressed for time.

Rosie looked off into the distance and answered quietly.

“Because I don’t have time.”

Callios still looked as though he didn’t understand. She suddenly wondered what expression he would pull once she had left.

Would he become angry? Or would he feel even the slightest bit of sorrow?

‘Likely neither.’

Rosie asked him something that she had wanted to ask countless times in her previous life, yet had never been able to before.

“Have you never once regretted this marriage?”

His eyes darkened further still. Callios lifted one corner of his mouth in amusement and asked back.

“What answer do you want?”

“…Never mind. I think I already know.”

The heavy gaze he fixed on her felt too unfamiliar. She hadn’t expected him to respond, yet he unexpectedly spoke.

“Even if I went back, I’d make the same choice.”

“……”

“I’d catch you before you could run and drag you back here, all the way to the end.”

His voice was calm and almost emotionless, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. To Rosie, it felt like a noose tightening around her neck.

“Even if I die in the enormous cage you built?” Even though you never understood how miserable the ending would be?’

In order to free herself from everything, the little bird that Callios had marked had to die — she had to shatter her own fragility so that she could take flight again.

The deep wounds of her previous life were still festering painfully inside her. But once she had purged them all, perhaps she would finally be free.

Rosie leaned back against the soft interior of the carriage and closed her eyes.

“We really do think very differently. That’s unfortunate.”

She could feel his gaze on her, but she kept her eyes closed.

Rosie wondered why God had turned back time for her by only six months. If he had gone further back, she could have called off the engagement and prevented this tragedy from unfolding. Then she wouldn’t have had to suffer for a love that could never be returned.

Never again, she told herself. She would never endure such painful love again.

The fragile soldier, who had returned with grievous wounds, remained silent inside the swaying carriage.