“Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

The man with the infinitely gentle voice and attitude seemed unaware that he was covered in blood.

It wasn’t splattered from somewhere, but rather new neck, arms, ears and nose had grown over the blood that flowed along the cut surfaces. On the neck, there was a clear bloodstain that had flowed down along the severed neck. If all the exposed parts were like this, what about the other parts buried in darkness?

“The castle, ah, ah, the dragon’s minions have invaded.”

Kaella managed to spit out the words she needed to say first while panting. Peon stared down at her for a moment, then reluctantly nodded.

Was he displeased that she had brought up business first? She wasn’t sure. Kaella had been covered in goosebumps for a while, and just enduring was difficult.

“Is that so? It’s alright.”

“Because Your Majesty was not there…”

She was out of breath and couldn’t speak properly. The falling tears were irritating.

“It’s alright. There won’t be any damage.”

Peon confidently stated this right here without even going to the castle to survey the situation. His confidence was so unwavering that Kaella found it rather strange.

She recalled the monster that had come to her crying tears. That one, and the other monsters, didn’t dare to enter this place. They were afraid.

“Don’t cry, Kaella. It’s alright. Were you scared because of that? You don’t need to be.”

Dried bloodstains were wrapped around each finger joint several times. Yet all the fingers were still attached. Very neatly, cleanly and firmly. The only parts not stained with blood were the fingertips.

Peon wiped Kaella’s eyes with those fingertips. He diligently wiped away each tear.

“No one will get hurt. Don’t be afraid. It’s alright.”

There was a clear trace of blood that had flowed down his mouth as he repeatedly said it was alright. Most of the blood hadn’t even dried yet.

With such severe bleeding, he shouldn’t even be able to stand properly, yet Peon was standing fine and worrying about Kaella. All of this was too bizarre.

“Take a slow, deep breath. Then exhale slowly.”

She shook her head while hiccuping severely. That wasn’t what was important right now.

“You, you need to go…”

“It’s alright without going. It’s quiet, isn’t it?”

Kaella looked up at him in shock at his calm but cold words. It’s alright if it’s quiet?

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes. Let’s just take one long breath. You might faint at this rate. Hurry.”

The man who diligently answered when called was completely unconcerned about what happened to Lüsenford Castle, and first checked if Kaella was breathing properly. As if that trivial thing was so important, he held onto Kaella and didn’t take his eyes off her.

“That’s right. You’re doing well.”

We can’t have you fainting and becoming useless. Kaella slowly took long breaths as instructed. The smell of blood came from somewhere.

“Don’t worry about Lüsenford, Kaella. Let’s take one more breath. That’s it.”

Her breathing gradually stabilized. The heaving of her narrow chest subsided. Are you hurt anywhere? Peon kept checking while brushing off the dirt on Kaella’s hands that had touched the wall.

“Are you in pain anywhere?”

“Blood… There’s blood.”

“Blood? Where?”

His expression immediately hardened as he asked.

“Where?”

Where indeed. Kaella raised her finger and pointed at him.

She pointed at him – his face that looked as if he had shed bloody tears or had his eyes gouged out, his barely visible neck and shoulders, his arms and hands that all showed clear signs of having been severed and reattached. Her pointing finger trembled.

“There’s a lot of blood…”

“Ah.”

Only then did the darkness covering him fluctuate greatly. As the darkness moved as if alive, it revealed a tightly packed solid chest below the neck and collarbone.

The blood-soaked chest that looked as if it had been butchered, especially near where the heart would be, had been split open and was just now closing up.

As the empty space inside the split chest was newly filled, blood flowed out, and then the skin cleanly reattached.

As if nothing had happened. Although the darkness quickly covered his chest again, Kaella clearly saw the brief moment revealed by the flustered darkness.

Any proper lady would faint immediately, but Kaella had seen all sorts of injuries in Lüsenford. She herself had looked quite horrific in the end, so she managed not to faint.

“It’s nothing.”

Peon seemed to have just realized anew that he was covered in blood. His purple eyes wavered.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine. See, I’m perfectly alright?”

He forced a smile, but Kaella stepped back frozen. Then what was the state of his body hidden in that darkness?

“It’s nothing, Kaella. Really, I’m fine.”

He hurriedly repeated, as if trying to forcibly hold onto the retreating Kaella. The thick darkness began to cover and hide him more thoroughly. Even his face was disappearing.

“I’m sorry for startling you. Just wait there for a moment.”

Below his chest, perhaps everything was split open with his entrails spilling out. Were his legs even properly attached? Kaella realized her thoughts were increasingly departing from the normal range.

So, nothing was normal. Last night her husband confessed that they had done something called regression and begged forgiveness for his sins before disappearing as if by magic. Today Kaella was suddenly abducted by monsters and brought here.

But was this Peon she met here really Peon?

“It’s not a very pretty sight to show you.”

The smiling Peon was quite different from his usual stiff and taciturn self. She retreated further back. Her breathing that had briefly calmed began to heave again.

‘This could all be a trap set by the evil dragon. But what benefit is there in kidnapping me? No, if this person is fake, where is the real Your Majesty?’

All sorts of speculations caused by fear mixed chaotically in her mind.

“I didn’t know I looked like this. Wait there for a moment.”

Kaella tried to find Peon in the darkness as he grinned and asked for understanding. His expression and attitude of trying to care for her did seem like the Peon she had seen lately.

But her husband had clearly been using honorific speech with her until now, and above all, he was human. He was not a being that transcended humanity.

This place belonged to the evil dragon’s minions, so who knows what might be wearing Peon’s shell and imitating Peon. There was, coincidentally, just one way to confirm if it was her real husband or not.

“Your Majesty.”

Part of his face that was about to be completely covered was unveiled. The bloodstains had been hastily wiped away with moisture, leaving smears.

“Last night, I made a request.”

If this was her husband, he would certainly know that.

“You agreed to grant it, didn’t you?”

With bloodstains smeared around his eyes, Peon stared at Kaella for a while. The darkness rippled and moved, briefly revealing him before hiding him again repeatedly.

Even in the darkness, the clear wound drawn on those purple eyes was visible. Kaella got her answer just from that gaze, without him needing to reply.

This man was indeed her husband. He was the husband who had come first and knelt down, saying he would accept punishment for his sins.

“…Tell me a different wish instead, Kaella. I can grant anything else.”

Even if he gouged out his eyes countless times – eyes that could not see his wife as she truly was and only misunderstood her – they would grow back and continue to only pursue his wife. It was enough to make one’s teeth chatter, but now he didn’t care. What could be done about looking like this?

“Confirm who I am with a different memory instead.”

Peon immediately realized why Kaella brought up last night’s events, what she was trying to confirm.

“Why do you insist on saying something I can’t grant?”

Red bloodstains colored his tears the same color as they flowed down together.

“Now I can truly fulfill many things.”

Even if he cut off every joint of the fingers that had never worn a wedding ring, gouged out the eyes that failed to recognize her, and ripped out his heart for ignoring her, he was still alive.

But there are clearly limits, and knowing this, the evil dragon acted before losing his son. So Peon, who returned just before completely transforming into a living disaster, could now do many more things for Kaella.

Neither the emperor, nor the empire itself, nor anything else could restrict him. If she wished for his death, even with this disgusting body that doesn’t get injured easily, he could still die painfully, trying his best.

Until Kaella arrived, though unintended, he had been well on his way towards death, consumed by madness and losing his reason.

“That’s all you wish for.”

Wishes or hopes were not allowed for Peon.

Yes. Now I understand. Quickly reconstructing his body that had been broken, torn, cut, and gouged, the one who had shed his humanity smiled. Tears mixed with blood fell again onto the blood he had shed in abundance the night before.

“So resent me for the rest of your life.”

Rather than dying by his own hands, he would endure a lifetime of resentment and hatred. That would still make him happy. His distorted face shed blood and tears as he smiled grimly.

“After all, I’m the incompetent husband who has never granted what you wanted.”

The darkness suddenly sank down, and the bloodstains disappeared along with the tears. The perfectly regenerated body without a single scar stood upright, and even impeccable clothing was perfectly draped over it.

Kaella caught a glimpse of liquid pooled between the sunken darkness and various lumps scattered here and there disappearing.

The realization that they were all parts that made up a human body flashed through her mind, and her legs that had barely been holding up lost strength. Even her hand that quickly grasped the cave wall slipped down.

Peon caught and lifted her in his arms before she completely collapsed. Kaella, who had endured to the end in a situation where fainting would not have been strange, looked down at the hand that had touched the wall.

Before she could properly see the hand stained with blood splattered on the wall, Peon grabbed it. There was a slightly cool sensation, and when Peon released her hand again, it had become perfectly clean.

“Your Majesty.”

The man who could hold her with just one arm leaned in closer to her at the dazed voice calling him.

“Are you still human?”

Peon, unexpectedly realizing there was no disgust in that small voice, chuckled wryly. This woman is indifferent to everything.

That question was also half out of necessity as the Grand Duchess, and half out of curiosity. She calmly prepared only for death, and showed no emotion towards him.

So Peon found himself unknowingly struggling to find even resentment or disgust directed at him.

“I am still human, but this time I’ve become closer to another species.”

He carefully began walking while holding his wife.

*

Beatrice Lavalle was busy. Well, she was always busy, of course. Invitations were naturally sent to her for parties, tea parties, music gatherings, and small gatherings for writing poetry and painting, whenever and wherever they were held.

Not only that. When new plays, operas, ballets and concerts were featured prominently in theaters, composers, playwrights, and famous actors all hoped that Beatrice would come to see them.

The Klein social scene, which the empress could not oversee and discipline, rolled along haphazardly as the nobles appeased the emperor to their liking.

Beatrice Lavalle had ridden that flow best to occupy the queenly position in the spotlight of high society. Today too, of course, she should have been darting around Klein attending only the choicest gatherings. That’s what she should have been doing.

“What is this?”

Her voice echoed hollowly as it hit the ceiling of Lülnori Castle in the Mondé duchy, not a grand mansion in Klein.

Having barely completed the dubious task of strengthening Peon’s ban in the cold Lüsenford and returned, she went to Klein, only to have to come back to Mondé again.

“What, is this, Mother.”

Though the ban on entering the imperial palace had been lifted, it was still a time to be more careful. Then she should either be busily preparing for a splendid return in Klein, or at least pretending to repent properly while lying even flatter.

“Mother!”

Finally, Beatrice’s voice rang out clearly. Only then did the Duchess of Mondé, who had collapsed on the floor sleeping, stir. She reeked strongly of alcohol.

“What is this! Get a hold of yourself! Why are you drinking so much in broad daylight!”

“Don’t shout, my head is ringing…”

With her hair in complete disarray, the Duchess of Mondé grimaced and barely moved little by little at her daughter’s nagging. Beatrice shoved several documents at her mother, who couldn’t even open her eyes properly.

“What is this, Mother. What exactly happened while I was in Lüsenford? Why has our debt been transferred elsewhere? What is ? I’ve never heard of this merchant company. Why does this company have our debt?”

“Ow, hey… One at a time. I can’t think straight. Is there any water?”

Beatrice furrowed her brow deeply and nodded to the maid. The maid set down a tray with a glass and water pitcher and withdrew.

“All our creditors have been settled.”

“Ah, yes. Right. It’s gotten quiet. Too quiet these days.”

The Duchess of Mondé muttered in a cracked voice after taking a sip of water.

“No one comes around these days. It’s too quiet. It’s really strange, isn’t it? At least when our creditors came, it wasn’t boring.”

“Ah, Mother, I’m telling you all the creditors have transferred their debts and left?”

Someone had cleared all the debts of the Mondé ducal family and taken them over.

“Hmm? Who did such a kind thing? Was it you, Beatrice? Oh my, my child.”

“Where would I have that kind of money? Mother, do you really not know?”

Debts were always there until you died, and after death, it wasn’t your concern. Beatrice looked at her mother who couldn’t get her wits about her.

“Well, I don’t know. But get a grip. Our debt hasn’t decreased, it’s just that now we have only one creditor.”

“Oh my, how boring.”

“And that creditor wants to see Father!”

“Father?”

The Duchess of Mondé giggled.

“Your father is dead, you know.”

“Others don’t know that!”

Hmm? The Duchess of Mondé opened her eyes again.

“Oh, stop drinking so much! Don’t you know that’s a secret?”

Only then did the Duchess of Mondé snap to her senses.