Everything had seemed perfect.

But there was one thing he had overlooked.

Even after Delphius had dismissed so many servants, dozens remained on the estate.

Some of these had been instructed to monitor Ilenia’s every move.

His caution did not end there, though.

Unable to fully trust them, he had also secretly posted one of his own men to keep her under surveillance.

Although she never left the estate, she was someone who could cause chaos even within its confines.

In that sense, his caution had not been misplaced.

Two weak struggles.

Five desperate kicks.

In those brief moments as she hung suspended, her body moved on instinct — a futile, unconscious attempt to cling to life.

Then—

The sash snapped.

She collapsed to the floor.

The moment the pressure left her throat, her airway opened and she coughed violently.

Gasping, she took in air as if she were starving for it, desperate to reclaim what had been denied her.

The coughing burned her throat, sharp and painful. But compared to the overwhelming instinct to survive, it was a pain that meant nothing.

No —

Ilenia struggled, trying to shut out the air forcing its way into her throat and lungs.

Voices rang out beside her, saying, “Milady, Milady… Please calm down”, as though they had rushed in the moment they heard the noise.

But she shook her head violently and flailed her arms.

‘No. Don’t come any closer. Leave me alone.’

Her hand rose to the vivid red mark circling her neck, left by the sash. As she dug her nails into it, those around her gasped and grabbed her arms to stop her.

No. No.

Her strength had already drained from her body—she could barely control herself, gasping for breath.

‘Please… let me go see my child now.’

Her voice wouldn’t come out properly, strangled as it was. Between the fits of coughing, Ilenia pleaded in a faint, broken whisper.

‘Please… let me go see my baby now. Please…’

Until the dark sky emptied itself in a downpour, the chaos continued without pause.

***

“Where is Ilenia?”

“She is in the bedroom—”

Before the sentence was finished, the man turned around sharply.

Urgent footsteps led Delphius straight to the bedroom.

The door was open.

Perhaps it had been left that way for emergencies.

Through the doorway, he saw the familiar figure of the physician.

Beyond him—

— a woman sitting quietly on the bed and listening.

She looked calm.

For a moment, he wondered if he had come to the wrong place. The atmosphere was far too peaceful and composed for someone who had just attempted s*icide.

His breaths, ragged from the run, slowly began to steady. His heart, which had been pounding wildly, gradually returned to its normal rhythm.

Just seeing Ilenia was enough to ground him.

But as the heat drained from his body, anger rose to take its place.

At first glance, it seemed like a tranquil scene.

The longer he looked, however, the more it unraveled.

The bandage wrapped around her neck.

The tips of her nails were broken and reddened.

The bandages on her feet had come undone, as if all that effort had been for nothing.

His sharp, unyielding gaze took in every detail.

Every nerve in his body tightened.

A heightened, almost painful awareness overtook him completely.

On the way back, he was furious at the slow carriage that was the only way to reach her and countless thoughts raced through his mind: What he should say.

His raw emotions — his anger —all these feelings were tangled together and weighed heavily on him.

There were so many things he wanted to say.

Enough to fill an entire night.

But the moment he saw her face, his mind went blank.

All the words he had chosen so carefully disappeared without a trace.

He couldn’t say anything.

“…Delphius?”

It was Ilenia who spoke first.

Noticing him standing there, frozen, she turned her head toward him.

“Why are you back already? What about your work—”

“…Why did you do it?”

Swallowing every other question, he spoke quietly.

“You were doing fine. Weren’t you getting better?”

At that moment, more than anything else, he wanted to see her face.

Not just fragments of it. Not just briefly.

He wanted to see her whole face, as it really was.

He wanted to understand what people meant when they said the eyes were the window to the soul.

Even if that meant grasping at something vague and uncertain, he wanted to understand her.

But he couldn’t.

So, all he could do was ask her directly.

She wouldn’t understand if he spoke in circles.

This was the only way.

“Why would you suddenly do something like that? Do you have any idea how it felt? Was this some kind of belated rebellion? Did you hate the idea of me going out alone that much?”

“Sir, if you continue like this, it will affect the patient’s state—”

The physician tried to intervene, but Delphius ignored him and pressed on.

“Just say something, Ilenia. You used to talk so much. Didn’t you?”

For a moment, her gaze lifted.

There was something unfamiliar in her eyes.

Delphius looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.

“…I was never okay. Not even once, Delphius.”

Ilenia pressed a hand against her chest.

“Even now… it hurts so much. It hurts so badly that I want to tear it out… but I can’t. That’s why I did it. I just wanted to be free from this pain.”

Her small fists struck her chest over and over again, over bruises that had formed in layers, unseen, from blows she had dealt herself in secret.

“I keep hearing our child crying. They’re calling for me… asking me to hold them… begging me not to leave them alone. But I can’t comfort them, and it feels like I’m going to lose my mind.”

Her voice broke.

“I should be holding them… but I can’t. Our baby… didn’t like being alone…”

Now, even Ilenia understood.

This wasn’t something mild.

She wasn’t simply “a little unwell.”

She was broken beyond what even she herself could bear.

“You said I would be fine. You said I’d get better… that time would heal everything. I believed you.”

“I thought I would be fine too.”

“……”

“Because it was you who said it… because it was the path you gave me… I thought I’d be okay. But I wasn’t. For the first time… you were wrong.”

She managed for the first few days somehow.

But little by little, with every step she took back into her daily life, Ilenia began to feel as though the breath was being squeezed out of her.

She was breathing — in and out, again and again — and yet she couldn’t breathe.

Each time she looked over the ledgers, she did so as if nothing had happened. Each time she walked through the garden—

—her throat tightened.

The more her life seemed to return to normal, the more it felt as though something were crushing her from within.

Only after forcing herself to confront the truth repeatedly did she finally understand.

She could never go back.

She could never return to the time before it happened.

Could she truly carry another child as if nothing had happened?

Could she endure the countless eyes that would be on her?

Ilenia shook her head.

She couldn’t endure it anymore.

Her heart was worn thin and frayed beyond repair.

There was nothing left in her that was strong enough to withstand it.

“I don’t have the strength to face what comes next.”

Tears fell freely from her eyes.

“I can’t do anything anymore. It’s too much. It’s too much… This place—it’s suffocating me.”

“……”

“Let me go… I can’t do this anymore. Just leave me as I am… like the day you picked me up off the streets—just throw me away again…”

“And you dare say you’ll leave my side?”

He cut her off, his voice turning cold.

“Ilenia, your contract isn’t over yet. I upheld my part of the agreement long ago, and now you’re trying to walk away without honoring yours?”

“……I—”

“Who gave you that right?”

His lips curled, his expression twisting into something sharp and unmistakably angry.

“If you want to do as you please, then finish what you owe first. Don’t even think about leaving.”

“…Delphius.”

“If this place torments you that much, then leave for a while.”

His tone shifted, though it remained firm.

“Stay somewhere else. One of the places my father—the former Duke—had prepared. It’s empty. No one will be there to judge you or say anything.”

He spoke in a light tone, almost as if he were suggesting she take a short trip.

As if that alone would solve everything.

Even after she had barely managed to pour out what was on her mind, Delphius did not change.

Even when she told him he was wrong, he was the kind of man who would draw a circle around the wrong answer and call it correct.

Ilenia, who belonged to him, was no exception.

“Live as you please for a while. And when those thoughts no longer come to you… you can return then.”

“……”

“So—never again.”

He paused, swallowing his breath.

“Don’t ever ask me to let you go. And don’t ever try something so extreme just to escape me. No matter how much you grieve our child, remember this—our contract comes first.”

“……”

“Understood?”

It was a declaration that he would never let her go.

Ilenia could not answer.

***

Before the dim light of dawn had fully faded. Following Delphius’s instructions, Ilenia left the estate without anyone noticing.

She left the capital behind and arrived in a quiet village in the countryside.

The land had once been purchased by the former Duke of Lukehardt — Delphius’s father — as a retirement home.

It was a place of slow rhythms and gentle silence. It was so quiet that it almost felt as though there was no estate to manage at all.

That was where Ilenia stayed.

She had originally been intended to live in the castle, but when she voiced her concerns, her accommodation was changed immediately.

A vacant manor not far from the village was prepared for her.

And soon it became her home.

There, she met a new doctor.

Unlike the doctor at the estate, this one had a warm, gentle smile.

Specializing in women’s health, she understood Ilenia’s emotions, responding with quiet empathy.

Ilenia was never left alone.

Not while eating.

Not while sleeping.

Not even when she bathed, which was always done under someone’s supervision

This was because Delphius could not stay with her himself.

And yet, he visited often.

It was as if he longed to stay with her; however, each time he left, claiming that there was still work to be done.

Time passed without Ilenia even realizing it.

Days blurred into one another, empty, quiet and uneventful.

Until one day, the physician arrived with someone new.

“This is my assistant.”

“Hello. My name is Raymond.”

He introduced himself as the physician’s son, offering a bright, unguarded smile.