It was Kaella. Even in the darkness, with her head covered by a hood, Peon immediately recognized her retreating figure.

Perhaps it was due to the power flowing in his blood. Perhaps it was because of that power he only realized he had after dying and coming back to life. Or, maybe it was just lingering attachment. An attachment no different from sin.

There was no honeymoon period, and certainly no married life throughout their marriage. For someone who had no interest in what Kaella did and couldn’t even remember, to recognize her immediately – wasn’t that too shameless?

She kept appearing before his eyes. It was instinctive, to the point where even Peon felt disgusted with himself. The image of Kaella dying with her eyes open wouldn’t leave his mind, yet he, the very cause of that death, still couldn’t come to his senses.

‘The night air is cold.’

When she, who had recently collapsed and barely regained consciousness, suddenly hired a carriage, Peon felt dizzy.

No one from the townhouse followed the young lady, and Kaella naturally blended in with the maids, gardeners, and other employees returning home from this wealthy street. As he hurriedly followed, he saw her fearlessly entering a dangerous neighborhood.

He could tell at a glance. She was running away. She was fleeing with her small face covered in black soot.

But she couldn’t walk through back alleys where dangerous criminals lurked. Even in Krain, the wealthy capital of the Krania Empire, there were places where stepping foot meant instant death. He had no choice but to stop Kaella.

“It’s a place where dozens of people die overnight without anyone knowing. You can’t go there.”

Peon knew well why she was here. The reason was clear at first glance.

She must have packed gems or gold coins under her hood and worn-out coat that clearly belonged to a maid. It was dangerous for an inexperienced young lady to come out dressed like that. Too dangerous.

In the pale moonlight, only her eyes were clear on her face. Kaella recognized him and took a sharp breath, then glared at him more fiercely.

“Then you can guide me directly.”

She didn’t ask any questions like why are you here, how did you know to follow me. In a way, it was very efficient, Lucenford style.

He should have told the young lady to go back, despite her terrible appearance and head held high. But Peon couldn’t bring himself to say those words.

Telling her to go back meant asking her to marry. He knew well that the dead duchess from before the regression and the current young lady were clearly different people.

Though they were clearly different people, he still couldn’t dare ask her to marry him. Even with all the political, economic, and diplomatic situations at stake, and even Ostein’s life on the line, he couldn’t say those words.

“You can escort me as much as you want. Even if I’m not Lady Lavalley.”

To Peon, women other than Beatrice were not ladies, and especially Kaella, even as the young lady of Ostein, was not even worth a maid working in Lucenford Castle.

Knowing he wouldn’t escort her, Kaella spoke through gritted teeth.

It was foolish. Right now, this man was facing her outburst without knowing the reason. He hadn’t done anything. Not yet.

Kaella, who had never mocked or ridiculed anyone, barely managed to cut off the anger that was about to pour out at Peon.

If she went any further, some old emotion or lingering attachment inside her would be revealed. That couldn’t happen. She turned abruptly and began walking down the dangerous street.

“Ka…!”

He couldn’t call out “Kaella” on this night street. “Young lady” was even worse.

Peon, who had always been careful of listening ears, wiped his mouth and immediately followed her. With his much wider stride compared to Kaella’s small steps, he could catch up to her in just one step.

But what should he say? His tongue, which moved so well in front of Beatrice and the Emperor, froze in front of Kaella. How could he stop Kaella, who was going to such lengths because she didn’t want to marry him?

And above all, Peon understood her perfectly. The young lady who grew up preciously in the warm southern Ostein didn’t match at all with him, full of flaws, and the cold, xenophobic north.

So no matter how much she surprised him or acted unpredictably, he couldn’t stop her. He couldn’t.

A giant man with a long sword and a hooded woman. Dangerous glances kept flicking towards this ill-fitting combination on the night street.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Did you propose again?”

Kaella lifted her chin sharply.

“You were rejected, right? Yes, I thought so.”

Nodding to herself as if she knew it would happen, she walked more earnestly. It was already too much for someone who had just collapsed and barely gotten up to come this far. In her mind, she was walking with determination, but her steps were already staggering.

But the more she struggled, the more Kaella gritted her teeth and walked. Feeling that will so clearly, Peon couldn’t dissuade her. He didn’t even have the right to do so.

It felt like being dragged into hell with limbs bound and neck forcibly pulled. Kaella, who must have felt even worse, suddenly stopped and looked up at him.

“Why did you love so weakly?”

Kaella, who had endured all sorts of humiliation and performed her role as duchess to the end despite her husband’s cold treatment, couldn’t understand.

“Why did you make such a fuss, known throughout all of Krania, over such a trivial romance?”

If it was about showing how much one loved, Kaella was confident she could do it better than anyone.

Was it because of her immaturity? It was a love that didn’t completely turn away even after hearing that she had contributed to her father’s death. She loved Peon with everything she had. It was a heart she guarded until the very end.

But to have such a strong heart disregarded because of this cowardly love. Kaella felt terribly wronged and furious.

“…I apologize.”

The question he heard for the first time was filled with various meanings. He felt ashamed that he could only say such words in response to such a question, but Kaella seemed to interpret those words as “We must marry.” She walked even faster.

Peon was lost in thought. Should he tell her to leave?

But unless it was in a manner befitting the young lady of Ostein and acceptable to the entire empire, it was obvious that the Ostein family would be dissolved just for the reason of embarrassing the Emperor. Before that, Kaella would surely be caught.

If the current Emperor were in his right mind, he wouldn’t have worried like this. Peon wished for her to marry Prince Elkanan of Kerujian and leave. She had to leave Krania no matter what. Whether through marriage or running away, she had to leave somehow.

“Do you have a plan once you’re out? What about guards?”

Peon, who had been invisibly fending off the street ruffians trying to cling to them, finally asked after walking for a while. It was because the gates of Krain Castle were starting to appear in the distance.

“Even if I have a plan, I won’t tell Your Highness.”

Indeed, only a fool would tell. Who would tell their runaway plan to someone who was likely to stop them?

Peon had already given up on the idea of stopping Kaella. If her safety could be ensured, he wanted to let her do as she wished.

He was only worried about the well-being of the Duke of Ostein, but he could protect that with his life. Either way, he had to take responsibility. This new life had nothing to do with the previous Duchess, but he still carried guilt.

“You need to escape safely, don’t you?”

He cursed his lack of eloquence. His heart was full, but those feelings couldn’t be converted into words and poured out. So Kaella, uninterested in him, looked ahead with wide eyes.

“Ah…!”

Even with her face completely blackened with ash, she was beautiful. Those eyes, clear as the winter sky without a single dark outline, were directed not at Peon but at the gate.

The gate leading to death is over there. It was also a brutal gate that absolutely could not be passed by anyone whose identity was not confirmed due to the current imperial order.

The face of someone who thought of breaking a taboo rather than dying without doing anything brightened. At the same time, Peon, who had better eyesight than Kaella, immediately stopped her.

“You can’t.”

“Let go of me.”

“Not now. Please. The Emperor’s administrator is over there, Kaella.”

He didn’t know why that administrator had appeared at the gate now, but that person and the scribes he dragged along all knew Kaella and Peon’s faces.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the scribes. The security at the gate, which was already brutal, became even stricter due to the guard forces they brought along.

“If not now…!”

If not now, the city gates will soon close. And when they realize at the family townhouse that the young lady has disappeared, there will be chaos, so if not now, there won’t be another chance.

Kaella pushed his arm away and ran forward. But Peon gritted his teeth and stopped her. The administrator is the Emperor’s arm and leg. If they’re caught here, it’s over. It would be something the Emperor would be extremely angry about.

“Kaella, please!”

“Please, Your Highness. Please, please let me go.”

In the shadows of the dark, smelly alley, the two struggled. Kaella hit him and struggled, but Peon held her tightly and wouldn’t let go.

“Not now. Please. If you go now, the Ostein family will be finished by tomorrow morning.”

It would literally be the end. He whispered lowly as he held onto the struggling Kaella. She looked at the administrator, then at the gate keeper talking with the administrator.

A young knight was nodding at the administrator’s words. Wasn’t that Lord Isidore Dachten, the gate keeper? Above all, he was Peon’s cousin. It wouldn’t be good to encounter that man here.

“I can go, there’s a way…!”

But that way was something Peon shouldn’t know, and only she should know, so Kaella couldn’t say more. If she mentioned Brother Isidore in front of Peon, Lord Isidore Dachten, the gate keeper, would also get involved.

And above all, she couldn’t overcome Peon’s strong grip. A familiar situation was happening again.

Everything closes, is taken away, and disappears right before her eyes. Frustration and despair were easy, and her efforts hadn’t fulfilled her wishes for a long time.

There was no reason for the administrator and scribes, who are the Emperor’s eyes and ears, to come out to the gate at this hour. But they had come out, so her escape was over. It was always like this.

The light in Kaella’s eyes gradually faded. She had tried to escape through her long-standing connection with Lord Dachten visible over there, but the imperial administrator outranks the gate keeper Lord Dachten. It was over. It had always been like this. Her life had always been like this.

The strength drained from her hands that had been pushing him away violently. Peon felt the temperature rising in the body he held tightly. She was developing a fever.

“I, I will let you leave later. I promise.”

Such words are of no use. He knows. She probably won’t even hear them. But Peon pleaded as he hid her in the shadows of the dirty alley, shielding her from the Emperor’s eyes.

“You will be free. You’ll become someone with no connection to Lucenford, so please, I beg you, just endure a little longer.”

Even as he spoke, Peon felt a throbbing pain in his heart. Yes. Kaella had to be someone with no connection to him. As she gradually lost strength and fell lower and lower, he forcibly lifted her up and bit his lip.

*

“Right now, His Majesty the Emperor has staked his reputation on the marriage between myself and the young lady.”

While Peon barely managed to resolve the situation and return, Kaella didn’t cry. She just sat in deep, silent contemplation inside the carriage.

Peon, who had experienced countless battlefields, couldn’t hide his unease as he felt that her attitude was similar to that of someone facing death.

He wanted to make the marriage as if it had never happened. He truly wished for it desperately. But having regressed only a few days ago, he didn’t have enough power yet.

It was even more impossible now that the Emperor was trying to prove “proper role as head of the imperial family” through their marriage.

The Kaella who wore a veil with a pale face before the regression must have hated this too. It would be the same then and now.

What a humiliating marriage for the noble young lady of Ostein. He was also very pained to have taken on the role of rambling on about the current reality in front of her.

“If this marriage doesn’t happen, it will damage His Majesty’s reputation, and it’s too obvious where his anger will be directed.”

Was she even listening? Kaella, beautiful enough to be dazzling even in that miserable state, seemed uninterested in his words. Her ears were closed and the light in her eyes had gone out.

“For now, you must live, young lady. Kaella.”

He never, ever wanted to see her die with her eyes open again.

“If you live, divorce me, and succeed the Ostein duchy, you might someday think you made the right choice to live.”

Throughout his speech, he was anxious and his blood ran cold. He was begging her not to die.

“Can’t you give me just 3 years, just 3 years?”

It was actually a very tight timeline, but Peon dared to promise.

“After 3 years, I’ll divorce you. I’ll never covet Ostein. I’ll write all this down and sign it. Just 3 years. After that…”

After that, he would have to completely cut himself out of Kaella’s life. He wouldn’t be able to cut Kaella out of his life. He felt suffocated.

“After that, go south.”

Peon lowered his gaze. He didn’t have the face to look at her directly while saying these words, being a shameless person who was hurting even as he spoke.

“Return to the south.”

But Kaella wasn’t listening to his words.

‘I… I’m really stupid and can’t do anything properly.’

Foolish and stupid, everything she does is clumsy.

Why don’t you just stay still, why do you cause trouble for everyone by stepping up?

No matter how hard Kaella tried, she couldn’t even keep up with the toes of ordinary people.

You just cause problems and we have to clean up after you. While you speak strangely.

What can you do when you couldn’t even properly play the role of a duchess, you half-wit?

If you don’t know anything, staying still is how you can help, Your Grace.

Everything she did was like that. How could a stupid fool succeed just by acting out once? She couldn’t even die properly and needed others to help her die.

Bring the rain inside.

Because she’s a fool who can’t do anything, because she can’t even speak properly, she should just stay still. This time too, she should just die quietly.

Even if she came back, there was no way she could accomplish anything. What could she do when she couldn’t even get recognition despite working without proper sleep for 4 years before dying? She should just sit still and die obediently.

At some point, Kaella slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

‘What could I possibly do.’

Not even able to distinguish whether this was reality or if she had gone mad.

Peon’s eyes shook painfully as he watched Kaella wander in the darkness with an abnormal smile. She wasn’t listening to his words.

The carriage quietly returned to the Ostein family townhouse.