“Kasha.”

Leon called out to her in a low voice, against the background of Nigel’s laughter.

Hearing Leon’s somber voice, Kasha realized that he was extremely angry, and at the same time, deeply saddened.

However, she coldly turned away from him once more. Then, she meekly bowed her head towards Nigel.

“As I mentioned earlier, I now wish to follow Your Highness the Crown Prince’s orders. If you command me to go to the Magic Tower, I shall do so. And even if you give me another… command, I will obey.”

“Oh ho. You’ll do anything I tell you to?”

Nigel asked back in a voice filled with delightful laughter, as if he was going crazy with joy.

“Yes. Anything. In exchange… I only have one request to make.”

At the condition Kasha added, Nigel made a displeased face.

“Hmm. I had a feeling it would be like this, but you’re being stingy. What is it?”

“Please, ensure that the people in this room… can return safely.”

“Kasha…!”

“Elder sister… sob.”

Margaret and Eve’s stifled moans could be heard, but Kasha did not look back. She only focused all her attention on holding Nigel’s gaze, who was narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Nigel stroked the loose knot of his robe and replied half-heartedly.

“Hmm. Why should I do that? If I really wanted to, I could drag you away right now by force.”

“Of course, Your Highness the Crown Prince has the power to do so. However, on this solemn day when the Emperor has passed away and Your Highness ascends to the supreme position of the empire, you wouldn’t want a bloody wind to blow through the imperial palace.”

Hearing Kasha’s calm point, Nigel’s face scrunched up in displeasure. But at the same time, he clearly understood Kasha’s warning.

If he tried to take Kasha away by force, Leon would probably resist to the death.

Nigel didn’t think Leon would truly defeat the entire Imperial Knights. However, he also didn’t optimistically believe the process would be easy. After all, wasn’t Leon Aranias the best force of the Holy Knights?

Moreover, it would be better the easier it was to win Kasha over. It was an undeniable fact that she was useful in many ways.

‘Besides…’

Nigel suddenly furrowed his brows and gazed at Kasha as if appraising an object. His eyes twitched as he looked at the white neckline where her dark blue hair curled down, and her small, red lips.

‘The more I look, the more I desire her.’

He could understand why that stiff Leon Aranias was swayed by that tiny woman.

‘Moreover, perhaps because I haven’t been able to satisfy my desires today, I’m gradually becoming aroused.’

Nigel sensed the energy of lust slowly rising from deep within his core.

This damned desire grew stronger by the day and required new prey every single day.

‘But somehow, I feel like I wouldn’t get tired of that woman.’

Nigel thought, openly licking his lips.

‘It’s strange how there’s no scent at all even when I’m this close to her.’

As he thought this far, his desire was now properly ignited. His mind was already filled with all sorts of lewd acts he would commit with Kasha as the target.

‘Furthermore…’

Suddenly feeling Leon’s intense gaze, the corners of Nigel’s mouth lifted even more satisfactorily.

Leon was literally glaring at him as if he would kill him. There was only one reason he couldn’t rush at him.

Kasha Lyuschino. That great Leon Aranias couldn’t move an inch at that woman’s single glance, like a dog on a leash.

Blocked by Kasha’s restraint, Leon’s complexion had already darkened and his eyes were shaking uncontrollably. Just seeing that made Nigel feel as if ten years’ worth of frustration was being released.

‘I think it would be quite amusing to see how crazy that bastard Leon goes when he watches that woman meekly come to me right in front of his eyes.’

For the third Magic Stone’s sacrificial offering, the candidate didn’t necessarily have to be Eve Aranias. There were plenty of other options.

As a suitable opponent he had been wanting to teach a lesson came to mind, there was no need to hesitate any further.

“Alright, fine.”

Finally, a willing permission fell from Nigel’s mouth.

“I guarantee they will return safely. In exchange, from this very moment, you must obey only my orders.”

“…Yes.”

Kasha replied briefly and bowed deeply in front of Nigel.

In that instant, Nigel noticed Leon literally biting his lips until they bled. The hand gripping his scabbard had also turned white from how hard he was clenching it.

Even so, it was curious how he was blindly staring only at Kasha like a beast that had lost its master. It was almost doubtful if it was the same lofty Leon.

However, Kasha didn’t spare Leon a single glance, to the point of being heartless. Nigel was very pleased with that decisiveness above all else.

‘Indeed, she’s not a foolish woman. The moment she realized I would ascend to the throne, she flipped her attitude like the back of her hand.’

There was nothing bad about it. It would be much easier to handle her when playing around in bed.

The most satisfactory smile of the day spread across Nigel’s lips.

“Now, shall we all leave the room? Our queen mother seems quite fatigued from entertaining a guest after so long. Hahaha.”

There was no one who dared to oppose the order of the Crown Prince who would soon sit on the position of the supreme ruler.

The Crown Prince left the room first, and Kasha immediately followed behind him. Leon, Eve, Melissa, and Margaret could only blankly watch the backs of the huge procession filing out of the royal villa.

“Elder brother…”

Leon silently picked up Eve, who called out to him pale as a sheet.

Realizing his lips were all torn and in a terrible state, and the hand that had been gripping the scabbard was also covered in nail marks and blood, Eve quietly burst into tears.

Leon expressionlessly comforted Eve, never taking his eyes off Kasha’s receding back until the end.

With her eyes covered, Kasha was dragged here and there, and finally thrown into a cold and narrow room.

Clang.

She quietly listened to the sound of the door closing.

‘I’ll be back as soon as I take care of the urgent matters, so keep her locked up there. Watch her closely so she absolutely can’t escape.’

Before leaving for a meeting to prepare for the Emperor’s funeral, Nigel firmly ordered the knights while pointing at Kasha.

Just before leaving his seat, the motion of caressing Kasha’s cheek with the folding fan in his hand was quite intimate and sticky.

The moment she met those bloodshot eyes, Kasha realized. The curse of lust had already been triggered.

When he finished his business and returned, a rather unpleasant situation would likely unfold.

Kasha tried to think of something else as she hugged her knees and curled up her body.

‘Where could this be?’

The floor was cold and the air was so chilly it made her bones ache. Smelling the musty odor wafting into her nostrils, Kasha realized this situation felt strangely familiar.

‘It’s similar to the situation before the regression… before I was executed.’

The prison where she had been confined for three months after being arrested by the Imperial Knights at the Wanua Temple.

Of course, now her toes weren’t falling off from frostbite or she wasn’t being tortured like back then. But in terms of facing a kind of ‘end’, the situation was surprisingly similar.

‘Back then, I was facing death. Now, an unwanted immortality with a demon awaits me. That’s the only difference.’

Having her eyes covered so she couldn’t see ahead like back then was also, in a way, similar to that time. Whenever she experienced something like this after the regression, she would often get goosebumps at the intricacy of fate.

‘How much time do I have left?’

Kasha traced the flow of time with a bleak heart.

‘Probably… just about a day.’

The time the demon Giloth had granted her was now truly running out. In that short time, she had to do everything she could.

No matter how hard she tried not to be anxious, waves of fear that made her dizzy washed over her from time to time.

‘The thought of never seeing everyone again suffocates me.’

Daril, who may be tactless but always stubbornly takes her side.

The kind and loyal Margaret.

Senna, who is always sincere in prettying Kasha up.

The lovely Eve, who always opens her heart wider than anyone else to embrace her.

Her stepfather Malik, who becomes the gentlest person in the world at the single title of ‘father’.

And, Leon.

When his last image of being unable to take his eyes off her as she heartlessly turned to follow Nigel came to mind, tears suddenly welled up and her chest heaved.

Thinking of those dazed eyes and painful expression was truly difficult to bear.

‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But there was no other way.’

In that moment, a way to keep everyone safe was needed. A way to approach Nigel, who had crawled up to the position of the supreme ruler, and retrieve the Magic Stone was also desperately necessary.

Although she knew how much it would hurt Leon, in that moment, she really had no other choice.

Kasha knew well. What kind of feelings he had as he let her go in that moment.

‘Leon. If… I do things you can’t understand in there, could you trust me and wait just this once?’

Right before sneaking into the imperial palace tracking Eve, Kasha had Leon make that promise.

As if he had a premonition, Leon seemed quite reluctant, but at Kasha’s persistent request, he finally nodded. Even so, he didn’t forget to make one request until the end.

‘No matter what happens, promise me you won’t put yourself in danger.’

“Leon.”

Curled up in the cold air, Kasha suddenly muttered his name.

Strangely, just that seemed to make her feel as if her body temperature was rising.

When she buried her face in her knees due to a sudden rush of longing, it happened.

Clang. Creak.

Along with the sound of the prison door opening, the voice of a completely unexpected person was heard.

“Kasha… Lyuschino? Is that you there?”