It felt like an unpleasant chill was spreading all over my body.

Roselia, who never expected this to happen while disguised as a man, began to struggle violently in confusion and fear.

The more she struggled, the more Denver, who had pinned her down with force, began to pant like a dog with his nose pressed against her neck.

“You perverted bastard!”

As Roselia raised her hand roughly as if to slap him, Denver grabbed both her hands with one of his and sneered.

“Pretending to resist when you’re enjoying it.”

As he said this, Denver was already unbuckling his pants with his free hand.

She wanted to kick him with her legs, but they were too close together for her to move them easily.

Having unbuckled his pants and pulled them down halfway, Denver began fumbling with her belt buckle as well.

Blood tinted her lips as she bit them in shame.

That’s when it happened.

Bang-!!

With a tremendous sound, the warehouse door flew open as if it would fall off.

Roselia’s eyes squinted in the dark warehouse as light poured in from outside.

And soon she saw Klaus’s face, completely frozen.

His expression, which had been stiff with surprise, soon contorted with indescribable anger and murderous intent.

Klaus approached the frozen Denver, yanked him off Roselia by the scruff of his neck, and punched him with all his might.

Crash bang bang bang-!!

As the 190cm tall man punched with all his strength, Denver flew like a rag doll and crashed into the corner of the warehouse.

A loud noise filled the warehouse as Denver crashed into the corner where various odds and ends were piled up.

Denver, who had been in a daze, belatedly realized he had been knocked down by Klaus and looked up at him with a mixture of confusion and fear in his eyes.

Klaus slowly approached Denver and firmly stepped on his wrist as he lay fallen.

“Ugh…!”

Ignoring Denver’s pained groan, Klaus applied more pressure with his foot and murmured in a low, threatening voice.

“Shall I teach you what happens when you move your hands carelessly?”

Rather than shouting or openly venting his anger, his calm eyes filled with murderous intent made Denver tremble in fear.

“I-I’m sorry…!”

“I’d like to cut out that shameless tongue of yours too.”

Denver’s spine chilled at the dry words spoken with an expressionless face.

Is this how prey caught in a black panther’s claws feels?

As Denver froze, forgetting even to breathe in the suffocating atmosphere, the voice of the butler, who seemed to have rushed over hearing the commotion in the warehouse, was heard.

“What’s all this noise… My Lord!”

Jeffrey, who had been peering into the warehouse, spotted the Duke radiating killing intent at the center of the chaotic scene and cried out in surprise.

Klaus glanced at Jeffrey and spoke coldly, still stepping on Denver’s wrist.

“Have the servants tie this man up.”

“What is this…”

Seeing Jeffrey rolling his eyes, unable to grasp the situation, Klaus continued firmly.

“Working as a servant of the Duke’s house, yet he dared to covet what’s mine.”

As he said this, Klaus’s brow furrowed slightly as if recalling the earlier scene.

At the Duke’s words, Denver, his wrist still pinned, protested with a pained expression.

“I-I never coveted anything belonging to the Duke’s house!”

In that moment, a murderous glint flashed in Klaus’s eyes.

And instantly, a terrible cracking sound echoed from under Klaus’s foot as he applied force.

Crack!

“Aaaargh!!!”

Denver writhed in agony, clinging to Klaus’s foot that was crushing his wrist.

Looking at him impassively, Klaus spoke coldly.

“What you called with your filthy mouth and touched with your disgusting hands belongs to me.”

Finally realizing that Klaus was referring to Antonio, Denver looked up at him with a face drained of blood.

“T-that…”

Noticing that Klaus’s state was not normal, Jeffrey quickly cut off Denver’s words.

“What are you all doing? Seize Denver. I apologize for the trouble, My Lord.”

At Jeffrey’s composure as he hurriedly approached and bowed his head, Klaus finally removed his foot from Denver’s wrist.

Though his wrist was grotesquely twisted as if broken from the force of the stomping, there was not a drop of sympathy in Klaus’s gaze.

“Confiscate all the Duke’s property in his possession. Then throw him out of the mansion naked, with his broken wrist as is. If anyone dares to treat him, I’ll throw them out too. Understood?”

At the Duke’s savage order to throw him out naked with his mangled wrist, Jeffrey bowed his head without protest.

“I’ll do as you command.”

It was the first time since the death of the former Duke and Duchess that Jeffrey had seen Klaus this angry.

Whatever the truth of the incident, calming Klaus’s anger was the priority, so Jeffrey calmly directed the servants to handle the situation.

Leaving them behind, Klaus approached Roselia, who was standing stunned.

Klaus took off the suit jacket he was wearing and draped it over her head, which seemed to be in a daze.

As if finally regaining some sense of reality, Roselia’s trembling gaze turned towards Klaus.

Looking at her, Klaus furrowed his brow slightly before grabbing her wrist and leaving the warehouse.

Unable to come to her senses, Roselia silently followed his lead.

Thanks to his jacket covering her head, she couldn’t see the expressions of the servants around her, but she could imagine what kind of looks they were giving her.

Roselia bit her lip, holding back tears that threatened to fall.

The metallic taste in her mouth lingered from biting her lip so hard when she was being humiliated by Denver.

[This is the timeline separator]

As Klaus dragged Roselia into his study, she finally managed to move her heavy lips.

“Thank you for helping me.”

Ashamed that Klaus had witnessed such a scene, she couldn’t properly face him.

Seeing her like this, Klaus irritably ran his hand through his hair.

“Since when?”

“Pardon?”

At his irritated question, Roselia’s gaze turned to him in confusion.

“Since when has Denver been looking at you that way?”

“That’s…”

Roselia was at a loss for words.

She hadn’t expected Denver to do such a thing either. She had only thought he disliked her, but to suddenly assault her like that…

“Has he done similar things to you before?”

“No. Before this, he never…”

For a moment, the image of Denver groping her body flashed through Klaus’s mind, and his face contorted in anger.

“You should have noticed his ill intentions earlier and told me.”

Roselia was dumbfounded by Klaus’s anger when she was the one who was shocked and confused.

Who could have known this would happen?

“How was I supposed to know all that?”

Roselia’s voice came out sharp, filled with hurt and indignation.

Realizing he had gone too far at her reaction, Klaus continued in a somewhat deflated voice.

“From now on, don’t get involved in any mansion work.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m saying there’s no need for you to mingle with the servants when we have more than enough hands without you.”

At his forceful tone, Roselia let out an exasperated sigh.

“Why don’t you just tell me not to leave my room at all?”

Klaus’s brow furrowed at Roselia’s sarcastic remark.

“Antonio.”

At his voice, as if scolding a child, Roselia couldn’t hold back and burst out:

“I didn’t do anything wrong, so why do I feel like I’m being punished?”

Hearing Roselia’s angry voice, Klaus let out a deep sigh and carefully reached his hand towards her face.

“I just…”

For a moment, the image of Denver’s rough hands flashed in Roselia’s mind, and she instinctively flinched and stepped back.

Their gazes met – Roselia’s startled and Klaus’s bewildered.

Roselia quickly averted her eyes and took a few more steps back.

“I’ll be going now.”

With those words, she turned abruptly and left the room, leaving Klaus frozen in place for a long while.

[This is the timeline separator]

Closet wore an expression as fierce as Klaus’s and growled under her breath.

“My goodness. I had a bad feeling about him before, but I never imagined Denver was such trash.”

In Closet’s room, Roselia was drinking warm tea prepared by Melda, gripping the teacup tightly with both hands to calm her still trembling fingers.

“Are you alright?”

Hearing the concern in Closet’s voice, Roselia forced a smile.

“Yes…”

Looking at her, Closet let out a deep sigh and spoke matter-of-factly.

“It seems Klaus gathered the servants and made quite a scene.”

“…”

“Why don’t you just reveal that you’re a woman? Klaus seems to care about you a lot now. Is there really a need to keep hiding it?”

At Closet’s careful words, Roselia shook her head with a hardened expression.

“No, I can’t.”

“Why? Are you afraid Klaus will get angry? Sure, he might be upset for a while, but it’ll be fine. I can tell he really cares for you.”

“Still, I can’t. Your Highness, please keep it a secret for now.”

“Alright…”

Even now, being so entangled with Klaus, she felt that if she were to be herself as a woman, she wouldn’t be able to control herself.

Her head told her not to rely on him, but even in the warehouse, she had desperately wished for him to appear.

At this rate, she felt like she might give him everything.

If that happened… death would be waiting for them at the end, just like in the original story.

The moment she had that thought, pain struck her heart again.

With the suffocating pain, Roselia lost consciousness.

[This is the timeline separator]

Klaus sat at his desk in the office, his clasped hands pressed against his mouth, deep in thought for a long time.

He had gone to Antonio’s room after hearing he had collapsed, but thanks to Closet’s dismissal, he was driven out without even seeing his face.

Though he didn’t force his way in after hearing Antonio wanted to be alone, his mind kept drifting to his room.

Finally unable to resist, Klaus got up and strode towards Antonio’s room.

After hesitating for a while in front of the door, Klaus carefully knocked.

But as expected, no voice answered.

“Antonio, are you asleep?”

Even at his question, there was still no response from inside.

With an anxious heart, Klaus carefully placed his hand on the doorknob. With a slight push, the doorknob turned easily.

The door, which was usually locked tight at night, seemed to have been left unlocked for Closet to come and go for nursing.

After hesitating, Klaus quietly entered the room, intending only to see Antonio’s face before leaving.

The room was filled with Antonio’s scent.

Furrowing his brow slightly, Klaus carefully approached Antonio’s bedside.

As expected, he was sound asleep.

Klaus, mesmerized by the sight, slowly reached out his hand towards Antonio’s face.

As he brushed aside the hair stuck to his forehead and caressed Antonio’s cheek, Antonio unconsciously nuzzled into Klaus’s hand, as if enjoying the touch.

In that moment, Klaus felt his heart drop.