Eugene rose from his seat and gazed out through the long window behind his desk.

Watching his upright figure, Natasha cautiously asked.

“Are you going to search for the lady yourself, my lord?”

“Yes. I need to leave as soon as I’m ready.”

“And what about me…?”

“Just keep doing as you are now until I return. I trust you, Nat.”

Eugene rarely used a nickname, but he addressed Natasha with one, his tone firm, almost sounding like a command.

Natasha hesitated, her expression filled with worry.

“But… will the advisors and servants listen to me? I may be your person now, but I came to the mansion so abruptly, and also…”

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll make sure they know. No one will dare to treat you lightly.”

Turning to face Natasha, Eugene reassured her gently. But the shadow on her face deepened.

“I’ll be left alone in this huge mansion starting tomorrow, and it’s frightening. Please give me a promise I can be sure of.”

Natasha approached him like a feather and held his arm. Eugene let out a heavy sigh.

He soon retracted his hand and rummaged through a bunch of keys on his desk. He handed her a small object.

“Take this.”

“What is this?”

“It’s the key to the drawer where the ledgers of the eastern mansion are kept. I’m entrusting you with the financial tasks. It’s limited to the eastern mansion, but it’ll serve as proof that I trust you. Is this enough to believe in me?”

Natasha carefully accepted the key. Her lush eyelashes trembled slightly.

Looking up at Eugene, she smiled brightly.

“I won’t disappoint you. Thank you, my lord.”

Natasha kissed Eugene’s cheek and then turned to leave.

The corners of her mouth were as straight as if they were drawn.

The next morning, Eugene stopped by Helena’s bedroom before leaving the mansion.

Since her disappearance, he had forbidden the servants from entering, so everything inside remained untouched.

The scattered jewelry, the casually thrown dresses, and the faint scent of her still lingering.

“We’re getting a divorce,” she had said, elegantly coiled her long hair, wearing the dress he gifted, looking straight into his eyes.

But she was no longer there.

‘Why did you decide to leave me, Helena? Why…’

While surveying the room, Eugene’s gaze suddenly stopped on an out-of-place item. A disc-shaped object, entangled with colorful threads, was hanging beside the bed.

An elderly maid passed by the open door and paused, seeing it. She had been Helena’s personal maid since Helena first arrived at the mansion.

Eugene called her in and pointed to the peculiar object with a nod of his chin.

“What’s this?”

“Th-that is… Well…”

“Madame Tara. You know my time isn’t as plentiful as yours.”

When the maid hesitated, Eugene chided her. She quickly bowed her head.

“Th-the lady often had nightmares. She asked a sorceress to make that to ward them off.”

“…Nightmares?”

“Yes, she would often wake up as if in a fit, grasping at her throat…”
Eugene was at a loss for words for a moment.

Reflecting on the past, he vaguely remembered hearing strange noises on nights when he worked until dawn.

It sounded like a young trapped animal whimpering in agony.

And the next day, Helena always appeared in dresses that covered up to her neck, as if hiding something.

Now understanding the source of those sounds, Eugene let out a bitter laugh.

“Ha… Helena, you truly are…!”

She was a woman who incessantly scratched at his nerves.

Even as he was about to leave to find her, she managed to unsettle him.

Sensing Eugene’s anger, the maid hunched over even more and apologized.

“I’m sorry, your grace. I know it was wrong, but the lady was so desperate… I’ll remove it right away.”

“No. Leave it.”

Eugene stopped the maid who was hurrying to take the object down.

“Keep everything in this room untouched. Make sure it’s clean and ready for Helena’s return every day. Understand?”

“Yes, your grace.”

The maid bowed her head with a strange expression. Eugene clenched his jaw and turned away.

‘Helena, wherever you are, it doesn’t matter. You’re still my wife.’

Even if she didn’t want to, her place was here, by Eugene Evergail’s side.

He didn’t understand why he longed for her so much. He just felt that if he stayed this way, he’d neither move forward nor make any progress, but rot away in stagnation.

Eugene didn’t want that. Somehow, he had to find the missing piece, put everything back as it was, and make everything work again.

‘Wait for me, Helena. I need to hear from you why you left.’

Stepping outside, he mounted his horse hastily. A few knights lined up neatly behind him.

Eugene glanced back at Helena’s room with its windows tightly closed, firmly believing that the next time he set foot in the mansion, it would be with her.

Helena was disoriented. She couldn’t even tell if she was breathing properly.

All she did was get cut, fall, get cut, fall, and repeat.

‘Please stop, enough!’

Though she screamed until her throat was raw, the scene didn’t end.