‘More than anyone else. Do you really not know that you will be in an especially dangerous situation.’

What appeared on his beautiful face was a smile twisted with self-loathing.

However, despite hearing such harsh words, Kasha merely looked at him with a face that seemed to pity him.

“I’m… fine.”

“What do you mean you’re fine?”

He snapped in a sharp voice.

“Are you fine even if a beast enslaved by lust pounces on you? Don’t tell me that’s your preference?”

Leon, who had blurted out such an unsalvageable nonsense, bit his lip in regret.

‘He’s quite agitated. To make such a slip of the tongue.’

It seemed he truly was not in a good state. Usually, he would rather not open his mouth at all than make a slip of the tongue.

Leon raised his eyes, stained with self-loathing and guilt, to look at Kasha.

However, the Kasha who entered his gaze was looking at him with a completely unexpected smile.

“I just… feel like I understand. What kind of person you are, how much you’ve struggled. Even at this moment, how much you’re suffering. All of it.”

Despite Leon’s harsh words, Kasha was not angry at all. Rather, what she felt was affection and sympathy.

‘Do you want your body to be ravaged and defiled by a beastly pervert? Is that your preference? Heh heh… ugh… *cough*.’

The reason was that overlapping with Leon’s face, as he hurled sharp criticisms at Kasha, was the image of a broken holy knight wandering alone in an abandoned temple.

Truly, Leon was an unchanging man.

He was so in that even while hurling such sharp criticisms, he would never actually forcibly touch her in any situation.

His stubbornness rather evoked pity.

‘You can demand a little more from me. Don’t just hold back like that.’

Just because you always hold back, swallow your feelings, and hide your weaknesses doesn’t mean the pain disappears. Rather, you’re suffering alone even more inside that shell.

Kasha’s own image, who was always swallowing her pain alone without realizing she was being used, and ultimately got stabbed in the back and executed, overlapped with him.

The crown prince’s wedding.

That day before the regression was the day Leon, unable to endure the curse of lust any longer, finally went berserk.

With bloodshot eyes, he attacked many guests that day and finally even committed self-harm in front of the public. The rampaging lust was expressed as aggression. In the end, subdued by the Holy Knight Order, he was subjected to a month of house arrest.

It was Odette who reached out to him when he was on the verge of even losing his position in the Holy Knight Order.

Odette was one of the victims of Leon’s rampage that day. Using the excuse of the slight injury she sustained, she pressured Leon, and finally obtained him who was driven into a corner.

In exchange for marrying him, she used the status and wealth of the Tyrot ducal family to put an end to the criticism directed at Leon.

And their married life was merely the beginning of a long nightmare.

Kasha, looking at Leon’s confused expression, inwardly repeated.

‘You have the right to be angry at me. Because I bear the responsibility of pushing you into that nightmare.’

At last, Kasha opened her mouth haltingly.

“I just… feel like I understand. What kind of person you are, how much you’ve struggled. Even at this moment, how much you’re suffering. All of it.”

When she finally finished speaking, Leon looked bewildered and confused, as if he had seen something crumbling before his eyes.

He soon stood up from his seat, and left the room without even a word of farewell, opening the door.

The day of the crown prince and Princess Jasmine’s wedding.

The front of the grand temple was bustling with thousands of people.

Not only the nobles formally invited to the wedding, but even commoners wanted to witness the wedding from afar.

The popularity of the crown prince, who had returned from his diplomatic tour, was soaring to unprecedented heights.

“Even the rough and fierce Berman clan became docile before His Highness the Crown Prince?”

“I heard they finally signed the agreement. How much more comfortable will the sea routes for merchant ships crossing the North Sea become?”

“Above all, the most thankful thing is that relations with the Kingdom of Kazim have improved and the atmosphere at the border has become peaceful.”

“Who would have guessed that the strong-willed princess of Kazim would fall for our crown prince at first sight?”

“They say Princess Jasmine would do anything for His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Come on. Even so, for that high-and-mighty Princess of Kazim to go that far.”

“It’s true, I tell you. At the crown prince’s welcoming ceremony three days ago, she almost came running out barefoot.”

“What kind of princess does that? Without any pride.”

“Well, that’s because our crown prince is so outstanding.”

“These days, even minstrels are composing and singing songs praising His Highness the Crown Prince’s eyes.”

“Well, the purple eyes have been a symbol passed down only in the imperial family for generations.”

“Actually, if we’re talking about beauty, Sir Leon of the Grand Duke Osilote’s family was more famous originally.”

“True. The combination of platinum blonde hair and purple eyes is quite powerful. Plus, he has unrivaled holy power even in the grand temple, and his swordsmanship is second to none.”

“Come on. No matter what, he can’t compare to His Highness the Crown Prince. He’s the legitimate heir of the Aranias imperial family.”

“Isn’t Sir Leon of imperial blood too? Grand Duke Osilote is the only brother of His Majesty the Emperor.”

“So what if he’s His Majesty’s brother? He’s about to be ruined for foolishly plotting against Her Majesty the Empress.”

“Shh. Don’t say unnecessary things. If the Imperial Knight Order hears, we’ll be in trouble.”

The voices of the onlookers naturally lowered as they observed the knights strictly controlling the crowd.

“Ahem. By the way, did you hear about the body of a boy that floated up in the Arnin River yesterday?”

“They say it was the body of a street urchin? He must have been stabbed for recklessly messing with gangsters or something.”

“No, but last month a girl’s body was also found in the Chrysos Forest. She was about ten years old. The age is similar to the body found yesterday.”

“What? Are you saying there might be serial killings happening?”

“Come on. No way. I’m just saying.”

Just as the chatter of the crowd filling the square in front of the grand temple was beginning to tire, beautiful bell sounds rang out from the bell tower of the grand temple as the sun rose overhead.

“Long live His Highness the Crown Prince!”

“Long live Her Highness the Crown Princess!”

The guests gathered under the dizzyingly high ceiling of the grand temple shouted in unison.

The figure of the crown prince walking confidently down the central aisle covered with a red carpet was the very embodiment of dignity.

The straight nose bridge and sparkling amethyst eyes under the flowing golden-brown hair.

His flawless smile and confident attitude drew everyone’s admiration.

“Doesn’t he seem to have grown even taller somehow?”

“Not just his appearance, but his composure is extraordinary. With that kind of nerve, no wonder he can manipulate the neighboring countries with his silver tongue.”

Kasha listened to the nobles’ admiring whispers as she sat at the end of the long pew, watching the crown prince’s powerful march.

Daril was seated next to her, and across the aisle, Margaret could be seen accompanied by her parents.

As she looked around absentmindedly, her eyes met Simon’s, who was staring intently at Kasha from the back row of the pews.

His face immediately lit up and he waved at her, but Kasha stiffened her face as if she had seen something unpleasant and quickly turned her gaze away.

‘I can’t guess what will happen today, so I absolutely must not get involved with that person.’

Apart from the story Leon had told her before the regression, Kasha knew nothing about the incident that occurred on the day of the crown prince’s wedding.

However, even if it wasn’t just because of worry about Leon’s outburst, there was one more reason why she had to attend the wedding.

‘It’s an opportunity to see Princess Jasmine up close.’

The two clues left by the mastermind Kasha had encountered just before her death: the overwhelmingly strong perfume smell and the sound of a folding fan being opened.

In fact, both clues were almost useless now.

Even that perfume smell was wafting from more than half of the nobles packed into this grand temple.

‘Still, the fact that Princess Jasmine was the first to bring this perfume into this country could be an important clue.’

Kasha tried not to feel impatient as she waited for the bride’s entrance.

Meanwhile, from the front row of the guest seats, the emperor’s low complaints could be heard incessantly.

The aged emperor was being supported by Princess Melisa today as well. Princess Melisa looked as composed as she had at the hunting competition, but she looked visibly tired from soothing the emperor’s constant complaints.

The empress, who had been in a coma for several years already, could not attend, and since the empress consort and the second prince were no longer of this world, the family of Grand Duke Osilote was seated in the next row.

Eve’s sparkling platinum blonde hair and Anthony’s silver hair stood out even from afar. Next to them sat the grand duke with a haggard impression.

Although they were a family of extremely beautiful appearances, due to the gloomy atmosphere the grand duke exuded, people’s gazes did not linger on them for long.

And Leon, the vice-captain of the Holy Knight Order, was standing as if guarding the platform where the high priest stood, shoulder to shoulder with the high-ranking priests.

His handsome appearance in a dazzlingly white ceremonial uniform was uniquely beautiful today as well.

‘…But he looks very tired.’

Even from afar, the shadows under his eyes were noticeable. His cheeks were visibly sunken as well. Though his posture and expression were upright and calm, his eyes were dull and lifeless.

He must have been overworking himself without proper sleep for several days.

‘The full-fledged seizures have begun.’

Kasha felt anxious as she realized her concerns were becoming reality.

Meanwhile, the crown prince, who had come down the central aisle between the guests without hesitation, stood beside the priest on the platform with a radiant smile.

Unfortunately, because his position was right above Leon who was guarding the bottom of the platform, the contrasting atmospheres they emitted drew people’s attention.

Like the sun and moon simultaneously in the sky, Leon looked even more haggard under the crown prince’s brilliant presence.

“Why does Sir Leon look so gloomy again today?”

“I know. That noble atmosphere he used to have is all gone. I heard he’s been associating with Kasha Lyuschino lately, is that why?”

People whispered openly.

However, there was also someone who was licking their lips while looking at his unusually haggard appearance.

‘That kind of atmosphere is exactly my type.’

Odette, seated next to Duke Tyrot in a glamorous dress, couldn’t take her eyes off Leon while biting her lip.

Leon, for his part, didn’t even glance in her direction once.