Although they were clearly the same human body, Duke Lysenford ignored all the obvious laws of nature.

The prince’s ankle, which he had gripped, was crushed by his strength. After tossing aside the leg that had been helplessly pulled off, the Duke removed the other leg as well and looked down at the Marchioness Schroese, who was covered in her son’s blood.

The son, who had lost both legs in an instant, spoke with a pale face as blood gushed from where his legs had been.

“I’m truly sorry, Kaella. Things should be handled according to imperial law, but it seems there’s been a big misunderstanding. I apologize, Duke.”

The son, drained of blood and white to the point of being blue, had a deathly pallor like a corpse. The Duke tossed the son’s leg onto the floor again with a thud. The Marchioness’s gray-blue dress was stained black with spreading blood.

“This is impossible. I’m truly sorry.”

“It seems the Marchioness is very upset, but if you listen to me calmly, I’m sure you’ll feel better,” said the Duchess of Lysenford in a small voice.

“No. This is impossible. Call a doctor. Treat the Duchess.”

The prince, limp like a doll with only his upper body dangling from Duke Lysenford’s hand, ordered.

“No. It was only for a moment. There’s no need for treatment.”

“But you had your knees on the cold floor. That can’t be. Quickly, call a doctor!”

The Marchioness Schroese stared at the horrific scene, barely able to breathe.

“Mother, apologize quickly. No matter how much the Duchess made a mistake, you shouldn’t handle things like this in the imperial palace.”

The dead son turned his eyes sharply and urged the Marchioness Schroese.

“As an adult, you should have reasoned with her and scolded her with words. You went too far.”

Hiiik, the Marchioness Schroese made a sound like her breath was being taken away as she saw her son, limp with eyes wide open, coming closer and closer.

“Mother!”

Someone shook the Marchioness violently. Huk, coming to her senses, she blinked while sweating profusely.

The one shaking her was the Crown Prince, standing with both legs intact. There was no trace of the blood that had filled the surroundings or the legs that had been carelessly pulled off and thrown about.

Though a scene too vivid to be a dream or hallucination had clearly passed, when she came to her senses, it was as if nothing had happened, and everyone was looking at her strangely.

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince.”

The Duke opened his mouth. The Marchioness Schroese flinched at that voice full of dignity and absolute power.

“It seems all the ladies present here have been shocked. How about letting them rest for a moment? I’ll also take care of my wife for a bit. Your Highness, please look after this place.”

Gregory, who was embarrassed and ashamed because of his mother who had caused trouble properly and then stood blankly without a single apology, and also very sorry for not being able to face Kaella and Peon, suddenly thought:

Could it be that Duke Lysenford came this way with him because he knew something like this had happened?

“Let’s do that. I’ll leave it to you.”

“I’ll see you in a moment.”

The Duke, who had embraced his wife rather than grabbing the Crown Prince, bowed his head and immediately turned to leave. As soon as he left, the Crown Prince turned an angry face to his mother.

“Mother, are you in your right mind? Are you determined to block my future? Don’t you understand the situation? You should have been more moderate!”

The Marchioness Schroese trembled her lips and then collapsed in her seat.

“Oh my!”

“Marchioness!”

As the maids rushed to support the Marchioness, Crown Prince Gregory closed his eyes tightly with a sigh. This incident would surely reach the Emperor’s ears.

*

“Your Highness, I’m fine. Please put me down.”

Although Kaella called and asked him several times, Peon ignored her. He led her to another quiet room, sat her down, and personally examined the condition of her knees.

“Lift your dress a bit.”

Sir Renard quickly turned around to guard the doorway.

“I wasn’t kneeling that long.”

“Lift it.”

Kaella reluctantly lifted the hem of her dress. Her knees were bright red. Peon, with an expression that clearly showed he was suppressing his anger, carefully placed his hand on the reddened skin.

“Does it hurt?”

“I’m not sure. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine, it’s already bruising.”

“Your Highness. The Marchioness Schroese also struck Her Grace’s cheek with a fan,” Cecil carefully reported.

With his pupils dilated, Peon also gently stroked Kaella’s soft cheek.

Kaella was weak. Her skin was so delicate that Peon didn’t know how careful he had to be when holding her. Would the noble duchess have ever knelt before? No, she had knelt once.

Before her confinement, when she was dragged in to hear crimes she hadn’t committed, she knelt before them. At that time, she must have knelt for a longer period, probably resulting in bruises. She probably couldn’t walk properly. Just like now.

Since he had committed sins, he silently applied the medicine that the doctor had hurriedly brought, gently spreading it.

“Be careful not to touch the knees. It should heal in a few days.”

The doctor bowed and left again. He probably didn’t want to stay here long either. After all, Duke Lysenford, who usually instills vague fear in ordinary people, looked rather ominous.

“Kaella.”

Cecil, who had quickly brought water for Kaella, also discreetly stepped back to the doorway where Sir Renard was. Peon closed his eyes with a miserable and painful expression.

“Last time, we had already requested cooperation from the Empress’s Palace and all related departments to proceed with the work, but it seems there were some changes. The head maids of the Empress’s Palace didn’t leave it alone and said something to the Marchioness… I guess.”

This wasn’t a story Peon was interested in. He just listened silently without interrupting since Kaella was speaking.

“The Marchioness misunderstood and thought I was behind it. It’s okay.”

“If it’s okay, were you planning to keep kneeling?”

If he hadn’t noticed and brought Gregory, Kaella might have continued kneeling, perhaps for the entire day. If Cecil hadn’t said anything, she wouldn’t have even mentioned being slapped.

“I didn’t do it without thinking. It’s clear to anyone that I’m innocent, and although the Marchioness Schroese has done many problematic things, in the current situation, it’s better to be the wronged party.”

Kaella wasn’t ignorant of the palace affairs. She took a sip of the water Peon gave her and quickly continued.

“We’ve already displeased His Majesty once. We were summoned to the Monster’s Garden. The Marchioness is His Highness the Crown Prince’s mother and the official supervisor appointed by His Majesty the Emperor, while I’m just someone who checks in once every four days. So we should sort out right and wrong later, and for now, we need to be the ones who endure.”

As if the ‘request’ from the Emperor to participate in overseeing the engagement ceremony wasn’t enough of a sin, Peon had even drunk poison. Kaella could never confront the Marchioness Schroese.

“Yes, if that’s what you think, then that’s what you should do. But why didn’t you send a maid?”

Peon sat in front of Kaella’s knees with a completely crumbled expression, looking up at her.

“You know I’m here. You know I can solve it.”

In reality, he had resolved it smoothly without any problems.

“If I hadn’t gone, you would have been kneeling all day today. You probably wouldn’t have been able to walk properly.”

She would have sat quietly until the very end, to the point where the Marchioness Schroese would have been dumbfounded, without offering a single explanation.

“You could have called me.”

But she didn’t call. Cecil is the most senior maid who has served Kaella from Ostein through Cline to Lysenford. She has frequented the imperial palace with Kaella many times and would know well what to do in such situations.

Renard also knew very well that if anything happened, he must absolutely call the Duke. The fact that these two remained quiet meant that Kaella had stopped them.

“You don’t like pain.”

She disliked it so much that she secretly brought a painless poison to die, yet while hating it so much, she was enduring the pain again.

“You shouldn’t do things you don’t like, so why didn’t you call me?”

She drew lines neatly and precisely and resolved everything on her own. Because her husband had never helped her before, she took care of things herself. He knew.

Because he knew, he was pretending to be human, wearing a human shell. He was holding back from crushing all the squirming insects that were biting at Kaella.

“You’re busy, so you can’t pay attention to me.”

Because he’s busy. Her husband is always so busy that it’s hard to even meet, and he doesn’t pay attention to the Duchess. So it’s natural not to say anything no matter what happens, and she didn’t call or bother him.

It was an obvious result. So obvious that it was ridiculous for him to suddenly talk about pain or anything. Honestly, it was absurd if it hurt. Even though he knew, Peon swallowed the rising pain again.

“I do pay attention.”

The answer was terrible.

“From now on, call me. Or at least, don’t stop the maid who says she’ll tell me.”

The request was a mess too. So Kaella didn’t answer right away, thinking of something else. She was clearly thinking of solving it alone. He was someone who would be better off not existing for Kaella.

“Call me, please.”

Kaella reluctantly nodded.

“Yes.”

It’s still not a “yeah.” The sister who used to be by his side obediently is no longer there. The woman who used to smile at him sincerely is also gone.

Looking at Kaella, who reluctantly nodded, Peon suppressed the wild power that was rising uncontrollably, threatening to sweep away the entire palace. Kaella dislikes it. Kaella will be scared. It can’t be done.

No matter how hard he tries to pretend to be human, wearing a shell, now even that shell can’t handle him and is tearing and burning, revealing his true nature.

“I will. So please don’t… scare the Marchioness Schroese.”

Kaella, who had been hesitating, completed her sentence clearly, as if she had made a firm decision.

“I’m already holding back enough.”

He had to try hard to put on the tattered human skin from head to toe and somehow pretend to be human.

“…You’ve already done it.”

Because Kaella, without fear, looked at him clearly and demanded that he be human.

“That much is holding back a lot.”

The gently smiling man became increasingly elegant to the point where it was strange that he existed in this world.

Although his carved face hadn’t changed, it became increasingly perfect, and at the same time, his existence seemed terribly fragmented and abnormally tangled.

But he was beautiful. Unknowingly, she was so entranced that she couldn’t take her eyes off him, cruelly beautiful to the point where she might give up her life completely without realizing it.

“Rest a bit.”

Rest? There’s work to do. Now she had to look into the work that the Marchioness Schroese had messed up to an unknown extent, appease the head maids guarding the Empress’s Palace, placate the Marchioness as well, there was so much to do, but her eyes closed drowsily.

Peon picked up Kaella, who had fallen asleep in an instant, and quietly walked around the room. Because she was someone who would think about going out to work again as if nothing had happened even after experiencing such an incident, she needed to be put to sleep, even if just for a little while.

Kaella would take a short nap until the Marchioness Schroese was sufficiently steeped in fear to reconsider her attitude towards Kaella, and until she replenished her strength to do that stubborn work that simply couldn’t be dissuaded.

The sound of the Crown Prince shouting in the distance was so loud that it reached Peon’s ears.

“If this reaches His Majesty the Emperor’s ears, what are you going to do! It’s probably already reached him! I understand you trying to catch Kaella. I know why you’re doing this, Mother! It’s for me, I know! But still, you need to do it properly!”

Peon was quite irritated by Gregory. While feeling inferior to him and being cautious, yet still thinking of somehow breaking him down, that guy called Kaella very familiarly.

Apart from everything else, his attitude and way of addressing Kaella was irritating. Just like his cousin, Isidore Dakiten.

He wanted to rip out the Crown Prince’s spine right away, but he had to be satisfied with pulling out his legs in front of the Marchioness Schroese. Because Kaella had said not to do it.

She was still the only person for Peon.

She was the only person who could look at him clearly without going mad with fear or showing severe revulsion even after seeing his true form. Because she had experienced enough fear to willingly throw her whole body towards death even if she was scared.

He looked down at Kaella sleeping in his arms.

‘But for you, I am…’

I must be like a natural disaster that should never have been encountered. She had so many people around her to love and be loved by, that he wasn’t the only one.

He sits curled up next to Kaella, forcibly grasping the increasingly distant human form and awkwardly pretending to be human.

He held his too-light wife tightly. You knelt when told to kneel, right? If told to be hit, you would have been hit, and if told to drink poison, you would have drunk it, right, Kaella?

Even if you’re afraid of pain, you would have endured it. Because you’re always ready to die. Because you want to be free in death. Well, with a husband like this, it’s natural.

The clear sky suddenly turned black. Peon held his wife tightly and trembled with the only fear and anxiety he knew. He had lost so much, the loss was so terrible that he didn’t want to lose any more. He won’t lose anything.

No matter how much Kaella pushed him away, he would hold on tightly and even kill death itself. After all, he had already leapt through time and caught up with her.

If she wouldn’t take care of herself, he could take care of her instead, and he could prevent such incidents in the future. Peon trembled with anxiety and fear that would forever dominate him as he held her tightly.

A faint warm southern flower scent, which might disappear at any moment, emanated from within his embrace.