‘My soul has already been torn to pieces and left on the battlefield among the corpses. And he speaks of happiness?’

He had deceived her about the truth for all those years and even toyed with her heart. Yet he dared speak of a happy future.

‘If that was truly what you wanted, you should never have done this to me. You proposed to Lady Roselina right in front of me, making certain I saw everything. At the very least, you… You should never have done that.’

“And yet, I endured. The first time I killed someone, it felt as though my soul had been torn apart, and I was disgusted with myself. But I kept swinging my sword. I kept stabbing people.”

“Haah…. Laila, stop.”

Tears began streaming from his eyes. But even as Carlo trembled and clutched his hair with both hands, Laila’s bitter resentment did not subside.

If she forgave him merely because of his tears, she would feel far too sorry for herself after everything she had endured.

“But I could endure it all. No, I had to. It was the only way I could stand beside you. I believed your worthless promise that once the war ended, you would look only at me.”

“I haven’t forgotten that promise. So please….”

“So I should wait? Until when? Until I’ve watched you marry Lady Roselina and even have children with her?”

“No. That will never happen. So please believe me, Laila.”

“Haah…. You truly never change.”

He meant that he would marry Roselina but eventually divorce her. It was exactly like him.

“Surely you aren’t asking me to wait until you abandon Lady Roselina? But what makes her and me any different?”

“What are you talking about? You are different. You could never be the same.”

“How are we different? Both she and I were used for your revenge, only to be discarded.”

“…!”

Carlo sprang to his feet and moved close to Laila, shaking his head. He seized her desperately, pleading that it was not true—that he had not abandoned her.

“You never loved me.”

“I love you. I still love you.”

Love? How could he possibly call this love?

At Carlo’s desperate confession, Laila burst into bitter laughter, his words echoing hollowly in her mind.

Then she was forced to accept the painful truth.

Her love had failed completely.

She had believed that love meant remaining silently by his side, no matter what he did. She had granted his every wish and continued waiting for him in the same place, even as he smiled at other noblewomen.

She knew Carlo was changing, consumed more deeply each day by his thirst for revenge. Even so, she had believed that the bond between them would remain steadfast until the very end.

‘Our relationship began with a lie.’

“From the moment you hid my past, to when you sold me off to war, and even now—you have done nothing but deceive and use me.”

“No, I…. I….”

Smack!

Laila coldly slapped Carlo’s hand away, as though casting aside the feelings she had carried for so long.

“I never want to see you again. From this moment onward, you no longer exist in my life.”

Carlo’s red eyes trembled and Laila turned away from him, adopting a cold demeanor. She was so determined that it was hard to believe she was the same woman who had devoted herself to him all those years ago.

After seven years of unrequited love and devotion, this felt like a bitterly disappointing ending.

***

Laila could no longer be found at Carlo’s estate.

As though those seven years had been nothing but a lie, every trace of her disappeared without a trace.

And Carlo shut himself inside his room for several days, arousing everyone’s curiosity.

Knock, knock.

“My lord, Lady Roselina has sent someone for you.”

“….”

The person most distressed by Carlo’s inexplicable behavior was Roselina.

Having received the perfect proposal, she was now making a tremendous fuss about preparing for the wedding. When Carlo refused to act, she sent messengers to him several times a day.

“She requests that you come to the duke’s estate.”

Alone in the darkened room, Carlo sat on the floor with his head resting against the wall. Bottles of strong liquor lay scattered around him, and his haggard face made it appear as though he had not slept at all.

“She also said that if you ignore her message again… she will cancel the wedding.”

Cancel the wedding! That’s exactly what he wanted.

Smiling coldly, Carlo repeated the anxious words of the chief steward from beyond the door.

This marriage had driven Laila away. His heart felt hollow and aching, as though it had been ripped from his chest. And yet they expected him to prepare for the wedding.

Carlo finished the bottle beside him and closed his eyes.

“I never want to see you again.”

He thought about the last thing Laila had said.

She couldn’t have meant them. Maybe she had said them in a fit of anger and betrayal, but perhaps she would forgive him in time.

Laila was kind. She had always forgiven him before.

“Yes, she will.”

Despite his confident words, Carlo continued to drink uneasily. He wanted the alcohol to help him forget his fear.

But his unease soon turned to terror.

What if that really was the end? Could she really have left him? Their relationship could not have ended so easily.

“Laila….”

He wanted to see her. He staggered to his feet, only to realize too late that he no longer knew where to go. The beautiful Laila, who had always stood by him, was no longer there. After turning away from him so coldly, she had not come back.

She had never once stepped beyond his reach. She had always been close enough for him to touch by simply reaching out his hand, but now she had vanished completely.

‘Where did you go…? Surely you haven’t returned to the Adelina Empire.’

More than that, he wondered how Laila had discovered the truth about her past.

Her memories did not seem to have returned, yet she had come to him knowing that she had once been a princess.

“From this moment onward, you no longer exist in my life.”

His betrayal in choosing to marry Roselina, compounded by his deception in concealing her past, had made her turn away from him coldly.

“Should I have told her that I was the one who saved her life?”

Might that have eased her pain, even if only slightly? She might still have been disappointed in him, but perhaps she would eventually have forgiven him.

He regretted being too shaken to say anything at the time. Even if he told her now, though, he doubted she would listen. Did the fact that he had saved her in the past even matter to her anymore?

Laila’s blue eyes, which had once blazed with fury, were now cold as she rejected him — as though everything between them had truly come to an end.

“Haah…. D*mn it!”

Carlo hurled the bottle against the wall, then closed his eyes as he breathed harshly.

What should he do? How could he return everything to the way it had been?

“Yes. I need to bring my revenge to an end as quickly as possible.”

It was the only way to win Laila’s heart back.

Once he had taken his revenge and escaped his bleak past, he could start a new life with her, just as she had always hoped.

Carlo staggered towards the bathroom. Before he could leave, he had to wash away the overpowering stench of alcohol.

‘Since she is searching for me so desperately, I suppose I should go.’

The wedding preparations were meaningless, but there was another important reason he needed to visit the duke’s estate.

“You must tell me now whether my mother is truly alive, Your Grace.”

Carlo’s cold murmur was filled with contempt and rage.

The duke had tormented him by refusing to hand over the crucial evidence until the marriage was guaranteed. Now, however, he would have no excuse to withhold it.

Carlo had proposed in front of everyone. Had he not endured enough?

‘First, I need to obtain the information about my mother. Then I must use the evidence His Highness Crown Prince Theodor found to pressure the duke.’

Carlo washed his hair with cold water, trying to cleanse himself of his anguish.

“Laila…. Wait just a little longer. I will come to you once everything is over.”

Now he had one more reason to seek revenge: to win back Laila, who was disappointed in him for being selfish, and to give her the future she had always dreamed of.

Looking at his dripping reflection, Carlo smiled coldly.

“I will go to the Crussian estate.”

“Yes, my lord.”

By the time he left his room, all traces of intoxication and anger had disappeared, as had the smell of alcohol.

The chief steward looked relieved at Carlo’s words. Had he ignored this message as well, Roselina would undoubtedly have started whining as usual.

When Carlo arrived at the duke’s estate, he ignored the servant who told him that Roselina was waiting and went straight to the duke.

The duke smiled as though he had been expecting him.

“You have finally come.”

“I did not realize you were waiting for me.”

“Is that not only natural? Roselina has been waiting so eagerly for you.”

Was the duke also going to talk about those damned wedding preparations?

Carlo released a short sigh and looked at him with cold eyes utterly devoid of warmth or amusement.

“I proposed to your daughter before everyone. Now, please tell me everything concerning my mother.”

It had been a horrific proposal. Carlo had known that Laila was watching, trembling with shock and betrayal, but the hope that his mother might still be alive had left him no room to hesitate.

“You make it sound as though you proposed solely to uncover the truth. Roselina would be hurt if she heard you.”

“Whew.”

Roselina again! He had done everything they demanded, yet it still was not enough? Unable to tolerate the duke’s sly evasiveness any longer, Carlo frowned.

“Your Grace, this matter is exceedingly important to me. How could I possibly remain composed after learning that the mother I believed died long ago may still be alive?”

“Naturally, it must be important.”

‘No, you know nothing. You have no idea what I am feeling—or how much fury I am suppressing.’

Carlo gritted his teeth and continued.

“Then please tell me.”

“But it must not take precedence over the wedding.”

The duke’s obsession with his daughter was so appalling that it made Carlo boil with anger. He feared that, at this rate, he would not receive the information until after they had conceived, rather than after the wedding. So, Carlo decided to take a risk.

“If Your Grace continues to behave this way, I will have no choice but to end this.”

“…What?!”