The garden of Grand Duke Osilote’s estate was unusually vast. When the Grand Duke was at the height of his power, backed by the authority of Empress Alisa, countless social events were held in this garden.

Larisa, Leon’s mother, who was saint-like and did not particularly enjoy noisy social events, often argued with the Grand Duke over this issue.

However, the Grand Duke, who was more enthusiastic than anyone about displaying his power, did not heed her words.

But now, with the Grand Duke’s power fallen to the ground, the vast garden of his estate was becoming more desolate by the day.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that it resembled the final, or current state of Larisa and the Grand Duke, who had left the estate in vain.

‘My mother loved the garden very much. Anthony said that after arguing with father, she would go out to the garden alone and not return for a long time. Once, Anthony got lost and cried while wandering around the garden looking for her,’ Eve shared this story while having tea with Kasha in the garden this morning, looking very gloomy with worry for Anthony.

‘He’s never stayed at the temple for more than three weeks to recuperate… I hope nothing has happened to him.’

Seeing Eve’s expression like that was heartbreaking. Kasha could only respond by silently embracing Eve.

“Was it around here…?”

Kasha wiped the sweat that had slightly formed on her forehead and continued through the overgrown garden. Her mind was occupied with the thought that she had to finish the search quickly and return.

‘Eve will be back soon, and she’ll be disappointed if she doesn’t see me. I need to hurry.’

Eve had gone out for the first time in a while to attend the tea party of her closest friend, Lady Juliana. It seemed Leon had no choice but to allow it, as she begged him, saying she had to attend out of loyalty since the lady didn’t have many friends like herself.

‘Sister, I’ll come back as soon as the tea party is over, so don’t leave while I’m gone! Understand?’

Recalling Eve’s lovely eyes as she made Kasha promise several times, a smile naturally spread across her face. The sight before her eyes suddenly reminded her of the memory of a flower with the same color as Eve’s eyes.

“Right. I picked and ate honeysuckle around here.”

Unfortunately, the honeysuckle flowers had already wilted, making it difficult to distinguish from other wild weeds. Looking at the green bushes swaying in the autumn breeze, the passage of time was keenly felt.

Four months ago, Kasha visited the Grand Duke’s estate to help with Eve’s tea party and happened to wander into the garden. And right here, she had picked a purple honeysuckle to taste when she encountered Anthony.

‘Anthony Aranias?’

‘You know my name. Even though we’re meeting for the first time.’

Back then, he was a neurotic and sickly-looking pretty boy. Despite his prickly demeanor, he personally wrapped Kasha’s wound with a handkerchief, showing he had a kind side to him.

There was a stark difference from his current self, who unhesitatingly harmed people as a Mayne Wolfbane.

Kasha furrowed her brow with a troubled expression and quickened her pace as she saw the sun beginning to set over the desolate garden landscape.

“Ah, there it is.”

Finally, the place she was looking for came into view.

An abandoned greenhouse, covered in overgrown grass and vines, exuding an eerie atmosphere.

‘It’s the greenhouse my late mother used for cultivating medicinal herbs,’ Anthony had replied with a somewhat unusual reaction when Kasha asked about the greenhouse back then. It seemed as if he was on edge, worried something he wanted to keep hidden might be exposed.

She had pretended not to notice at the time, but thanks to his sensitive reaction, the sight of this desolate greenhouse had ironically remained in her mind.

Moreover, this greenhouse was located at the far edge of the Grand Duke’s estate, where few people ventured, and it was also a point connected to the vast Chrysos Forest outside the capital.

In other words, considering his situation of needing to hide and move discreetly, it could serve as a suitable hideout in many ways.

‘…It’s quiet.’

Kasha approached the greenhouse slowly, muffling her footsteps.

She intended to be as careful as possible, in case Anthony really was here.

‘If traces of someone actually coming and going are found, it would be better to go back and inform Leon, then come together.’

With that resolution, Kasha began to carefully examine the surroundings of the greenhouse that looked like it might collapse at any moment.

‘Where’s the entrance?’

Tensely watching her every step with utmost caution, she quickly realized that this greenhouse was larger in scale than she had thought.

According to Eve, whenever Larisa had an argument with the Grand Duke, she would always disappear into the garden alone.

Perhaps she sought out this place every time?

A place where she, who did not feel much affection from her husband and children, could be herself. A place befitting someone shutting themselves away alone.

And for the young Anthony, who wandered around the greenhouse searching for his mother, it would have remained a place of love-hate and longing.

Crunch.

“……”

A single piece of wood debris crushed under her foot made a particularly loud noise.

With a tension that made the back of her neck tighten, Kasha paused for a moment and listened to the sounds around her.

After a long time passed without any sign of movement, she finally took another step. As she reached one corner of the large rectangular greenhouse and turned, the entrance finally revealed itself.

“…As I thought.”

Kasha swallowed a groan, her face tense. There was a narrow path between the dark forest behind the greenhouse and the entrance. The entrance itself also had the vines and grass cleared only around it, as if people frequently came and went.

Confirming that a lock was attached to the greenhouse entrance, Kasha quietly turned her body.

‘I’ll have to tell Leon to come here with me as soon as he returns.’

But perhaps because she was too tense and hasty, the moment she took a step, her foot caught on a protruding tree root, causing her to lose her balance.

Kasha suppressed the scream that threatened to escape. She couldn’t make a commotion even if she fell. She tightly closed her eyes, anticipating the impact with the ground.

“…?”

However, she realized that her tumbling body had suddenly regained balance. Someone had caught her waist as she fell and lifted her up.

“You always fall whenever you appear here.”

A sarcastic whisper in her ear. The moment she recognized whose voice it was, the fine hairs on her neck stood up.

“…Anthony?”

Kasha slowly turned around.

It really was Anthony standing there. Silver hair that looked gray in the shade, dull green eyes. And the corners of his mouth, with a neurotic sneer. It was undoubtedly him.

He seemed to have grown even larger than when she last saw him at the Battle of Gillistin Castle.

Perhaps he was now taller than even Leon. However, despite the bulging muscles all over his body, he looked very anxious and unstable.

His eyes couldn’t focus and kept darting around, and the corners of his mouth periodically twisted.

The robe he wore was inside out, with the seams fully exposed on the outside. Moreover, his hands and face were covered in wounds.

Unlike his nonchalant appearance, Anthony, who had been dazed for a moment, opened his mouth as if he had just thought of what to say.

“You’re quite something. I didn’t expect you to remember this place.”

“Anthony, I… well.”

As Kasha tried to take a step back, Anthony suddenly gripped her wrist with a strong grasp. Then he brought his face close enough for her to feel his breath.

“I thought I told you not to call me Anthony. Quietly follow me inside without making a fuss. I don’t want any more guests visiting.”

“Wait, let go of this…!”

Kasha tried to resist, but Anthony held her even more tightly and whispered.

“Screaming won’t do any good, no one will come here. I saw Leon leaving the mansion earlier too. So if you don’t want to get hurt, obediently come in, okay?”

Kasha bit her lip. She regretted her hasty action of moving alone without Leon.

With barely two and a half days left until the deadline set by Masin, the urgency of not being able to waste a single minute had backfired as a painful mistake.

“Hurry.”

Anthony urged, yet somehow looking anxious. Kasha could feel his palm holding her wrist becoming damp with sweat. His wrist also trembled and hesitated intermittently.

“…I understand, so let go.”

Kasha replied with a half-resigned heart.

She couldn’t physically confront a Mayne Wolfbane anyway, so she had no choice but to enter the tiger’s den and try to persuade him.

As soon as Kasha’s answer came out, Anthony unexpectedly released her wrist right away. As if he had been waiting for it, or as if he didn’t want something to be discovered, it was an excessively quick reaction.

About to search his robe pockets for the lock key, Anthony suddenly froze. Kasha, realizing the reason for his confusion, silently lifted the hem of his robe and pointed to the pocket turned inside out.

Realizing that he was wearing his robe inside out, Anthony seemed to have his pride hurt and exploded.

He tried to take off the robe and throw it away with a rough motion. However, because he put too much force into it haphazardly, the robe did not come off and instead got caught on his body and tore in half.

“Uwaaaaah!”

Instantly turned into a ridiculous sight, Anthony roared like a beast. His bloodshot eyes flickered wildly.

The sensitive yet refined and beautiful young man from before was nowhere to be seen, and only a violent madman existed in his place.

“Why, whyyyyy!!!!”

He threw off the robe that had become a rag. Then, as if to make a point, he violently tore off the lock on the greenhouse with his bare hands.

The greenhouse door itself was twisted due to his immense strength, but he paid no heed and even tore off the door and threw it away.

To make matters worse, the edge of the flying door firmly grazed the back of Kasha’s hand as she stood nearby.