Olentia staggered momentarily inside the carriage, startled, before managing to sit down opposite the man and catch her breath.

“Haa… I’m sorry. Did I startle you suddenly?”

“Yes, indeed. I thought a wild buffalo had leaped in.”

His manner of speech was still as unpleasant as ever.

‘Just a moment ago, he clearly said rabbit!’

Olentia frowned slightly, then forcibly pulled up the corners of her mouth. It was time to at least attempt a smile. After all, she had received his help.

And unlike when she first saw him, he now seemed to exude a somewhat gentle atmosphere.

“Whew! I encountered some ruffians up ahead. I ran like a buffalo. Anyway, thank you so much for helping me.”

She narrowed her eyes into crescents and waved her arms, mimicking how she had leaped in. To the man, she would probably be just a face he’d forget by tomorrow, no different from a buffalo jumping into the street. In any case, it was fortunate enough not to have to face those ruffians right now.

However, she couldn’t keep riding in this carriage. She didn’t even know where the man’s destination was.

Although they hadn’t gone far from the ruffians, Olentia spoke to the man first.

“I’ll get off here.”

Olentia looked at the man with wide eyes, but he ignored her words, maintaining his arms-crossed posture.

“Excuse me?”

Not wanting to get angry at someone who had helped her, she asked in the most polite tone possible.

In response, the man uncrossed his arms, drew the curtain, and said while looking out the window.

“Why don’t you have an escort knight?”

‘Why is he asking that now?’

“I have my reasons.”

“A lady who doesn’t know the ways of the world needs an escort knight all the more.”

When he touched upon a very sensitive issue, she immediately felt upset.

“Why do you speak like that? What’s it to you?”

“Those fellows. Do you know who those men in satin suits roaming in groups are?”

“I don’t!”

“They’re human traffickers who lure people under the pretext of recruiting theater actors. They may look decent on the outside and speak sweetly, but if you look inside, it’s utterly disgusting.”

Human traffickers. She had thought something was off, but they were far more dangerous than she’d imagined.

‘I could have been in serious trouble.’

Olentia bit her lower lip and exhaled sharply. She wanted to calm down, but couldn’t stop her body from trembling.

Looking at Olentia trying to act nonchalant, the man drew the curtain again.

“So don’t even think about wandering around Shine Street alone. I don’t want to see a lady’s corpse because of me.”

“Why do you have to speak like that!”

She couldn’t understand why he was being so harsh. Someone who used such a large four-horse carriage must be a person of considerable status. He didn’t seem like someone who would be ignorant of basic noble etiquette.

Come to think of it, was there really a nobleman in the capital Geranium who stood out this much with such a large build and traveled in a four-horse carriage?

Olentia stared intently at the man who had turned his head. Thanks to him turning, his sturdy jaw and ear were visible.

Now that she thought about it, her dream husband also had a strong rather than a slender jaw, which she liked better. Especially since his eyes were a beautiful red color.

Olentia swallowed hard and tried to peer through the eye holes of the man’s mask to see his eyes.

She hadn’t paid much attention until now, but the eyes of the man in front of her also seemed to be red. Could such a coincidence exist in this world? People with red eyes were quite rare.

Olentia was filled with an increasingly strange feeling.

It was just a dream, but it felt like she had had a prophetic dream.

She was also concerned about how the people of the Armenica family were born with divine power for generations long ago. She had looked cool using divine power in her dream.

It was then.

“You’ll wear a hole in my mask at this rate, my lady.”

As the man joked, Olentia cleared her throat in embarrassment and changed the subject.

“Where are you heading? Isn’t this far enough from them by now?”

“Where is your destination?”

“Are you planning to take me there?”

There was no particular need for that. Her two legs were fine, so she could just find her way to Karunda’s law office.

But then he said something that crossed the line.

“Well, if the lady properly reflects on today’s events, I might consider it.”

“No!”

Clunk!

At that moment, the carriage shook violently.

As Olentia’s body lurched forward, the man reached out and grabbed her shoulder as if it were only natural. It was quite an agile movement.

“Ah, thank you.”

His hand on her shoulder was very large and firm.

When the carriage shook heavily again, Olentia unconsciously grabbed the man’s hand. It was large, thick, and warm.

The man held Olentia’s hand for quite a long time. And he held it very tightly. So tightly that she could feel every detail of his skin.

Realizing this, Olentia startled and withdrew her hand, saying:

“D-don’t joke around.”

The man seemed cold at first, but judging by how he helped her several times, he didn’t seem cold-hearted.

Olentia glanced at him and then continued in a small voice.

“If you’re not going to let me off, please take me to my destination. It’s in front of Karunda’s law office.”

Of course, she thought the man was being too meddlesome with his talk of reflection and whatnot, but it didn’t seem right to say so in front of someone who had helped her.

Before getting out of the carriage, Olentia really wanted to know the man’s name. Such an encounter was rare, and there was a high possibility of meeting in social circles later.

Olentia looked at the man with curious eyes. Her dream husband had a very pretty face, so what about him?

Would his eyebrows be thick? Would his nose be low or as high as a mountain? And would his lips be… soft and plump like multi-layered pastry?

Olentia swallowed hard and said to the man.

“If it’s not too presumptuous, may I ask who you are? I’d really like to remember your name.”

At that moment, the man’s demeanor, which had seemed unshakeable by any words, changed dramatically.

‘W-what?’

After a moment, the man bowed somewhat roguishly and then said coldly.

“I didn’t expect it, but you didn’t know who I was. Well, if you had known, you would have tried to avoid me rather than those ruffians.”

Olentia didn’t understand at all what he was saying. She rolled her eyes in bewilderment, but her mouth fell open at the man’s next words.

“If you’re so curious, I’ll tell you. Dimidius Belial. That’s my name.”

Dimidius Belial.

The moment she heard those words, her body froze and her heart sank. Even her fingers seemed to curl up.

Duke Belial was the only person in the Bonus Empire with demon blood. A descendant of Lilith, the queen of succubi. The former Duke Belial, who had been the emperor’s elder brother, had succumbed to Lilith’s temptation and bore a single child. That was Dimidius Belial.

‘A demon! A demon has appeared! Terrible misfortune will come! Volcanoes will erupt, lava will flow, ash will fly, the earth will split! Let’s all drive out the demon duke!’

That’s why sometimes fearless church people would protest in the streets to drive out Dimidius, the half-demon.

She had heard that Dimidius rarely left his duchy unless it was for important matters, yet such a coincidence had occurred. It was chilling.

She had only heard rumors, but had never encountered Duke Dimidius Belial in her life until now.

She thought all those rumors about the monstrous duke were just nonsense, but…

‘How foolish! Why didn’t I even think of it? They said the demon duke wears a bauta mask covering his entire face because his face is so hideous. So that was true.’

Olentia’s lips trembled in shock. She had treated the man casually until now, but it seemed she couldn’t do that anymore.

Seeing Olentia completely frozen, Dimidius sneered.

“I thought you were a lady who wouldn’t be afraid of even the demon duke, since you were acting strangely from the start.”

Though his voice was ice-cold, was it an exaggeration to sense a hint of disappointment?

Olentia could say nothing and only worried her lip. Honestly, as a believer in God, she couldn’t help but fear someone with demon blood. Demons were generally vicious creatures.

‘What should I do? I just thought he was an idle young noble who goes out for fun even during the day! I never imagined he could be the famous demon duke… Who would expect to meet a duke on the street!’

She wanted to take back everything she had said and done to him until now.

‘The demon duke can control people’s minds like his mother. It’s terrifying, isn’t it?’

‘They say he can even enter dreams and destroy minds, so he’s not human, just a demon!’

‘And his face is so hideous that he’s been wearing a mask for 15 years, right?’

The conversations she had overheard from ladies at social parties echoed in her mind.

As Olentia shook her head in confusion, the carriage came to a stop. They seemed to have arrived in front of Karunda’s law office.

Dimidius opened the carriage door first and said to Olentia.

“We’ve arrived, so please come out now, my lady.”

His voice was much more sensitive and prickly than before. And strangely, it also seemed a bit more polite.

Only then did Olentia open her eyes properly and look outside the carriage.

The street didn’t look chaotic, and there were a moderate number of people around. Now she really just had to get out, but her heart was pounding wildly. She felt like Dimidius might hear her heartbeat at this rate.