Delphine certainly did not miss that moment.

The sight of his true feelings, hidden deep in his heart, revealed in his eyes.

However, he seemed to have no intention of acknowledging his true identity until the end.

He forced a twisted smile on his lips.

“…My. Your words about another make me feel a petty jealousy, my lady.”

“Ioan.”

When she called his name in a voice that sounded resigned, he slowly pulled her towards him.

Then, in a low, deep voice, he whispered in her ear.

“But from now on, don’t go anywhere near the barrier. It’s a dangerous and dirty place, unfit for you to approach, my lady.”

As she lifted her head, he looked down at her with a cold expression and declared:

“For the time being, going out is forbidden.”

Delphine cried out with an expression mixed with sorrow and anger.

“By what right!”

“By right of being your husband.”

“There’s no right in this empire for a husband to imprison his wife!”

“Then.”

He spat out in an icy tone, as if grinding his words.

“Shall I say it’s the right of having taken responsibility for your life, which should have already been severed due to your father’s treason?”

Delphine’s face turned pale.

She bit her lower lip until it bled, as was her habit.

Even in his anger, he instinctively raised his hand immediately.

His thick index finger dug between her lips.

“Don’t hurt yourself.”

It was too deep an insertion to simply prevent biting.

The tip of his well-groomed fingernail touched her tongue.

At the moist, soft sensation, the corner of the angry man’s mouth twitched.

However, Delphine, completely unaware of how she looked, glared at the man as if to kill him, with his finger in her mouth.

Looking down at her, the man let out a very small groan, as if in pain.

Glaring at him, Delphine moved her tongue.

“…Just try it.”

As her tongue lightly touched his fingertip while speaking, he quickly withdrew his finger, as if afraid he might be overcome by impulse.

“The blizzard has stopped now, and you can’t keep me confined in the mansion.”

“Is that so? …My lady?”

He muttered in an ominous tone, then turned and left the room.

[This is the timeline separator]

As she sat blankly in the room alone, suddenly a cautious knock was heard.

“…Come in.”

The one who opened the door and entered was not one of the maids she cherished.

A maid with an excessively polite face bowed her head and asked.

“The master has ordered me to check for any injuries.”

“…What if I refuse?”

“Well…”

At that, a look of embarrassment settled on the face of the overly tense maid.

Fighting here would only trouble the innocent maid unnecessarily.

He must have predicted all this and sent the maid instead of coming himself.

Delphine heaved a deep sigh and began to remove the maid’s uniform she was still wearing, piece by piece.

[This is the timeline separator]

The maid only withdrew after examining every small scratch on Delphine’s body and preparing the bath water.

Utterly exhausted, Delphine first immersed her body in the warm water filled with rose oil.

Soaking in the warm, fragrant water, she finally felt like she had returned to her own world.

Yes. This was how her world smelled.

In the water city where she was born and raised.

Clean water that gushed out abundantly with just a turn of the faucet.

Fountains installed everywhere.

A place where everyone was prosperous and happy, without a single beggar on the streets.

The Astrax Empire.

…Was all of this built upon the exploitation of the labor and tears of the people in Zone 3?

Delphine curled up, hugging her knees in the water.

Even though she was immersed in warm water, she felt a chill.

It was as if ice-cold snow was falling on the large hole in her chest.

Ioan.

Then, have you too been living on such polluted water?

Do you remain loyal to the Emperor who exploits them, even while knowing all these circumstances?

Do you also use that strange thing called black crystal?

Did you become a marquis by borrowing such suspicious power, and is that why you appear like magic whenever she’s in danger?

Just what…

‘What kind of person have you become, Ioan?’

Her body began to tremble uncontrollably.

She knew to some extent that Ioan worked in Zone 3, and sometimes came back with the smell of blood on him.

However, until now, she had only thought he was suppressing forces that threatened the Emperor and the peace of Zone 1.

Even if his methods were a bit cruel, she had never thought that even his purpose could be wrong…

Even after the water had long since cooled, Delphine remained in the bathtub for a long time, her head buried, unable to come out.

[This is the timeline separator]

In the late dawn, when the moon had hidden its face behind clouds.

Hally, a low-ranking knight of the barrier defense squad, sat shivering on a waiting chair in the corridor in front of the interrogation room.

‘Why isn’t anyone coming out…’

His accomplices in the crime had already been called into the interrogation room one by one.

His turn was last.

Hally anxiously clutched his bandaged thigh, inwardly complaining.

‘Who would have thought that a woman in a maid’s outfit would be Marquis Pryde’s wife.’

Even he, a low-ranking knight, was well aware of the infamous rumors about Marquis Pryde.

That he never forgives mistakes, not only from enemies but even from his own knights…

Honestly, he thought he would be summarily executed on the spot.

But perhaps even that marquis doesn’t punish unfairly just for accidentally bothering one woman.

‘Honestly, what’s the big deal about messing with one woman walking down the street.’

Maybe the other three people who were called into the interrogation room and haven’t come out yet are just receiving a light reprimand and being sent home…

Just as he was trying to calm his nervousness with such thoughts, the door to the interrogation room opened.

“Come in.”

Hally deliberately exaggerated his limp as he dragged his injured leg into the room.

He was there, in the dim room where faint electric lights flickered.

Marquis Pryde.

Fortunately, he did not look particularly angry.
At least, compared to what Hally had seen in the alley last evening.

Hally swallowed hard as he observed the overwhelmingly large, robust build compared to an average man.

“What are you doing? Take a seat.”

At that moment, the man slightly tilted his head up and elegantly commanded.

As Hally sat down in the chair opposite the man, dragging his leg, he noticed that the Marquis had a very delicate face unlike his physique.
With white skin and red lips, he exuded a somewhat seductive atmosphere even to a man’s eyes.

‘They called him a devil, a mad dog, but he’s rather…’

“Hally. Is that right?”

“Yes, yes, my lord!”

Hally, who had been absentmindedly examining the Marquis’ face without realizing it, quickly straightened his back.

The Marquis smiled gracefully and asked in a gentle tone.

“Did you see?”

At the sudden question without context, Hally was momentarily stunned and asked back.

“Pardon? I apologize, I did not understand the question!”

At the brave response, the Marquis gently curved his lips upward.
However, his eyes remained fixed on Hally without the slightest movement, like a predator just before the hunt.

“I asked if you saw. My wife’s face. …The handkerchief was on the ground.”

What?
What kind of absurd question was this?

After hesitating for a moment on how to answer, Hally decided to believe in the maxim that honesty is the best policy.
In any case, lying was meaningless to the Marquis who had witnessed the entire situation.

“Yes, that’s right! But I never… Aaagh!”

Hally clutched one of his eyes and fell off the chair.

As he trembled in fear and pain that had suddenly overwhelmed him, he heard a voice that was still soft and utterly elegant.

“Again.”

“Urgh… P-please spare…”

“Answer the question properly. Only then might I feel inclined to show even a little mercy.”

At the silky smooth words, Hally stammered, his body shaking.

“A-again…?”

“Who pushed my wife? The one I interrogated earlier said you were the culprit.”

“N-no! I just… Aaaagh!”

A pain-filled scream once again echoed through the dark interrogation room.

Hally writhed on the cold floor, clutching his broken left hand with the other.

“…Two eyes. Two hands.”

The still elegant voice settled over him.

The Marquis’ eyes, looking down at the human struggling in pain beneath his feet, held no emotion, as if gazing at an inanimate object.

“When you look at it this way, humans are quite symmetrical, aren’t they?”

His tone was as if he himself was not human, but some other being.

“Urgh… Please, please forgive me…”

“Ah, of course there are singular parts too.”

Ioan Pryde smiled slightly.

He had to keep his word that he would show mercy if answered honestly.

With an unfeeling motion, he flung a dagger.

Hot blood spurted from the singular neck on the man’s body.

He had sent him off without pain, so this was a great kindness on his part.

“Walter.”

At the soft call, Walter, who had been waiting in the room next to the interrogation room, quickly rushed out.

His superior, who exuded a strange beauty even covered in blood, commanded briefly.

“Clean up.”

“Yes.”

The response was as crisp as always.

Walter soon called in lower-ranking knights to remove the fourth corpse from the interrogation room.

“Did my wife really not go outside the wall?”

Ioan Pryde asked as he wiped the blood from his face.

“No. There were no entry or exit records related to the lady, including the name of the maid you mentioned.”

Ioan Pryde fell into thought for a moment.