“You wouldn’t want me appearing before His Grace with handprints on my face, would you?”

Today was the one day of the week when Kyle couldn’t harm her at will.

Because today was the day Hayden Havernian, the master of power even he couldn’t move against carelessly, came to the Count’s estate.

Though she hadn’t planned it, watching Kyle’s face crumple so satisfyingly made the resentment in her heart subside a little.

“You seem to think you’re something special just because you have the Grand Duke backing you.”

A familiar sneer hung on his lips, which had twisted momentarily.

“Do you think the Grand Duke will get angry on your behalf just because something already no better than filth gets a few more scratches?”

His words were true.

Using Hayden was merely relying on Kyle’s aristocratic temperament—if he refused to maintain propriety, the fact that her face bore handprints wouldn’t matter to Hayden at all.

‘But if it’s Kyle.’

Kyle, whose aristocratic arrogance was ingrained deep in his bones, would never harm her.

Serena, meeting his gaze, unconsciously chewed her lower lip hard.

“…”

Kyle, who’d kept his cold gaze on Serena for a long while, finally turned away.

He seemed to have no regrets since he could punish her anytime except now.

He might try to wring her neck the moment Hayden left.

She didn’t care.

Serena had no intention of ending things here anyway.

Before he could leave the wardrobe room, before he could disappear like nothing had happened, she moved first.

Her quickly raised arm struck the cheek of the maid who’d been watching them blankly.

“Kyaah!”

Chaos erupted in the wardrobe room in an instant.

The nearby maid flinched and cowered, and Kyle looked at Serena with subtly widened pupils.

The pupils of the great Kyle Ashterton wavered at the suddenly unfolding situation.

A low laugh leaked between her red lips at the reaction she’d wanted.

Only after seeing her smile did Kyle realize what had happened.

His wavering green eyes rippled, then soon filled with blazing fury.

His lips twisted viciously.

“What the hell do you think you’re…”

“Since you gave permission, brother, I should continue what I was doing.”

Kyle, who’d been trying not to show emotion all along, ground his teeth audibly.

She deliberately curled up the corners of her mouth in a grin to provoke him further.

“Wasn’t your not hitting me the same as giving permission?”

As Kyle grew furious, her heart grew calmer instead.

Seeing his ruined face was enjoyable, making her laugh naturally.

What Serena had done was directly challenge Kyle’s authority.

She’d refused something he said he’d do, and even though he’d backed down, Serena wasn’t permitted to act on her own.

Since Kyle had stepped back, she should have stayed quiet and held her breath so he could do as he pleased later.

So her slapping the maid’s cheek was the same as ignoring his words about punishing them himself.

Even though she’d so blatantly disrespected Kyle’s words, he couldn’t do anything.

‘Because he’s the noble Kyle Ashterton.’

After he’d grown older, the instances of him crudely attacking Serena had noticeably decreased.

It was the same method the Count couple had used to *buse her for a long time.

No matter how angry, remain noble and aristocratic.

Corporal punishment only within the family.

Contempt and disdain kept unknown to anyone outside the Count’s estate.

It was far from true noble dignity, but the Ashertons firmly believed themselves to be aristocrats.

‘Maybe they’re right.’

Seeing that the Emperor himself took the lead in the insane act of offering a perfectly alive person as a sacrifice to appease divine wrath, perhaps what the Ashertons did could also be called aristocratic.

So to properly punish this incident that had grown too large to end with just a slap here, he needed time to prepare.

‘How devoted of him.’

That kind of hypocritical aspect disgusted Serena to no end.

Her enjoyment at his openly displayed emotions was brief—she felt this wasn’t enough.

It had to get worse, make him so angry he’d have no choice but to throw away his pretenses.

Let your rage consume you until you throw away that precious nobility with your own hands.

So she couldn’t end it here.

Like a ship facing a storm, Serena stared straight into his furious eyes.

And spoke like spitting in his face.

“You may see me as just a life to be offered up, but I hope you won’t forget from now on that I at least have the right to punish my own maids. That I don’t need the noble brother’s help for such matters.”

Without a trace of a smile, she passed him and left the room.

She felt Kyle’s gaze clinging persistently to her through the back of her head.

It didn’t matter.

To her, Kyle was no longer a frightening existence.

* * *

‘But it’s strange.’

Serena, waiting for Hayden to appear in a corner of the garden, fell deep in thought.

The incident with Kyle just now wasn’t simply satisfying for her.

Standing up to Kyle, whom she’d feared more than anyone.

That was practically the beginning of a new life.

So that part at least was undeniably joyful.

Yet the more she thought about it, the more something bothered her.

When she’d said words she’d believed she could never say to him, when she’d left the room before even hearing his response.

When she’d thoroughly ignored Kyle’s existence.

Kyle’s gaze that wouldn’t leave her definitely had a strange energy swirling in it.

‘What was it?’

No matter how deeply she pondered, the answer didn’t come easily.

Just as the recent incident was a first for Serena, it was also a first for Kyle, so even though she’d spent her life reading his moods, it was difficult to figure out.

‘Kyle was never that normal to begin with.’

Just the way he treated her life, which should be offered as a sacrifice, carelessly showed that.

Not satisfied with that, forcing her to call him brother every time was utterly ridiculous.

Publicly, Kyle was Serena’s older brother, but in reality, she was the same age as him.

It had only been established that way because she’d entered the Ashertons late through adoption.

Of course, the Count couple, who only saw her as sacrifice material, had ordered her to thoroughly treat Kyle as her older brother, but Kyle, who took that situation for granted, was equally detestable.

All of it was ridiculous to her.

That they, who weren’t even like family, forced the familiar title of brother.

When not a trace of sibling affection existed no matter how hard you looked.

“Ha.”

A short sigh escaped.

She didn’t want to worry about Kyle anymore, but his gaze kept giving her an ominous feeling.

Even more irritating because she didn’t know why.

She quietly rubbed her temples, which had started throbbing painfully again.

No matter how much she rubbed, the pain that had been with her all her life wouldn’t disappear.

“Serena.”

A familiar voice permeated the air.

When she lifted her furrowed eyelids, she saw Hayden in his usual neat appearance.

His appearance, arranged like a painting without a single thing out of place, always exhausted her.

Jet-black hair with a fine texture and deep blue eyes.

Unlike her blue eyes that resembled a clear lake, his pupils always brought to mind a frozen deep sea.

So solid and so deep that just looking made her shiver.

His excessively neat appearance only amplified Hayden’s cool atmosphere.

“…”

He called her name like always and sat in the chair across from her.

That was all.

The meeting with the person called her fiancé.

Serena, turning her gaze to the familiar silence, looked at the wildflowers blooming leisurely.

Hayden had always been like this from the start.

Like he found her existence disagreeable and unbearable, he didn’t offer a single ordinary word, let alone any warmth.

No matter that he came at her request.

Despite carrying the title of fiancé, he was cruelly cold.

Yet he always called her name.

Once when he arrived—so only once a week—but always.

And naturally, his action held no meaning whatsoever.

Three years of clinging to that meaningless act, repeating hope and disappointment.

Finding herself utterly pathetic, mockery hung on her dry lips.

Hayden, who’d briefly shifted his gaze to Serena at the sudden laugh, quickly returned his eyes to the documents he held.

As he moved, her eyes also moved toward him.

She’d never seen the documents fall from Hayden’s hands.

Though it was only once a week.

He didn’t put down his documents even when he came to meet her.

‘Does he do it even more because he’s meeting me?’

Because the time is precious.

Because without doing this, this time would just be wasted.

She felt she knew what he was thinking without pondering long.

Once she acknowledged that he didn’t love her, that he had not even a shred of interest let alone love, it became so clearly visible.

Not wanting to believe that obvious fact, Serena had lived in his grasp for a full three years.

As Serena stared blankly at the wildflowers swaying in the gentle breeze, a voice from beyond memory reached her ears.