The man running towards her with his golden hair fluttering in the dawn breeze.

Ioan.

It was definitely Ioan.

But how?

Wasn’t he supposed to be sleeping, intoxicated by the poison?

Behind the army he was leading, the morning sun was finally rising in the sky, shaking off the dawn’s energy.

To have reached this place on horseback at this hour, when on earth did he regain consciousness?

His comrades also noticed his presence and shouted loudly in a tone of dismay.

“Damn it. That man is going to catch us again…!”

“Lin! Hurry!”

At the scream-like shouts, Lin began to chant the spell even faster.

However, Ioan was approaching them at an unbelievably overwhelming speed.

Now, Delphine could even make out his expression distorted with rage.

“We have to go now!”

“No, it’s too late!”

Delphine’s words and Melly’s words rang out simultaneously.

Melly, who still remained calm even in this urgent situation, shouted again in a resolute tone.

“It’s impossible to break through the barrier and escape. Teleport first!”

No.

If they missed this chance, the opportunity to escape beyond the barrier might be lost forever.

In this empire established by the demon, the chance to escape from the hands of that man who made a contract with the demon…

“Hurry!”

At Melly’s resolute shout, Lin spat out a rough curse and hastily chanted the teleportation spell, shouting.

“Everyone, touch me! We’re teleporting!”

“Delphine!”

From far away, the shout of Ioan, who was riding a horse at a crazy speed, could be heard.

How did he get so close in such a short time when there was quite a distance?

Delphine jumped into Lin’s arms in shock.

A bright light obscured her vision.

In the dizzying sensation of her body being sucked somewhere, Delphine saw a large hand approaching her like a vision.

And a voice desperately calling her name, Delphine!

The fact that they were all the same hand and voice that had been caressing her and calling her name until this very dawn made her heart feel like it was being torn apart.

Soon, the white light covering her entire vision disappeared, and the scenery before her eyes changed.

“Delphine!”

Pryde roared roughly.

Right in front. Right before his eyes, she was definitely there.

Within reach if he just stretched out his hand.

However, as the white light faded, her figure disappeared as if it had been a dream.

No matter how hard he grasped, all he caught was the cold morning air.

He let out a loud, rough curse.

Her face, looking at him in shock and fear.

At the last moment, the sight of her embracing the black-haired mage.

“Your… Eek.”

Wilson, who was running towards him, hastily turned his horse’s head.

Then he quickly took out a black crystal from his pocket and grasped it in his hand.

At the same time, a huge force emanating from Pryde exploded and spread across the plain.

The sturdy barrier, said to have been built three hundred years ago, vibrated finely at the overwhelming wave of power.

Wilson, who had put up a protective shield around himself, shouted in shock.

“Your Excellency! Lord Commander, please calm down! If the barrier collapses like this, we won’t be able to catch anyone!”

As soon as he heard that shout, Pryde immediately reined in the force that was making his skin tingle.

It was a reaction speed that was hard to believe belonged to someone who had completely lost his reason due to such rage.

Mounted on his warhorse, he muttered in a low voice.

“Yes. We can’t afford to lose that barrier…”

As long as it existed, she wouldn’t be able to recklessly leave this empire.

Only then did Wilson approach his superior while soothing his own frightened horse.

“Yes, yes. Now that you’ve calmed down a bit… No, you haven’t.”

The eyes of his boss, who had always been precariously perched on the boundary between human and beast, were already not in their right mind.

It seemed that the thread of reason, which had been thinly connected since the moment he found out she had left, had completely snapped due to what had just happened.

‘This seems dangerous.’

Wilson’s prediction was not wrong at all.

After staring blankly at the spot where his wife had been standing for a while, Pryde slowly opened his mouth.

“…Request additional troops from the Imperial Palace.”

“What? But we’ve already brought a brigade-level force, how much more here…”

“All of them.”

Pryde answered neatly.

Anyway, thanks to his own extermination operation two months ago, the rats had all scattered.

The forces threatening the Imperial Palace in this empire had long disappeared.

Besides, it was the power of the demon he had contracted with that was maintaining this corrupt empire anyway.

The Emperor would also know that fact clearly.

So he wouldn’t dare refuse his request.

“Deploy all the troops in the empire around the barrier. Bring all the black crystals that restrict magic usage as well.”

It was madness.

Bringing all the troops that existed in the empire.

All to catch a single woman who had run away.

It was truly an act of madness.

However, Wilson couldn’t bring himself to defy the order of his superior standing right in front of him.

Because he already had eyes that seemed half-crazed.

‘Yes. When a madman does something crazy, what’s the problem?’

Wilson was born with a naturally conforming personality and had lived his entire life as a soldier.

He had never once questioned or thought of defying this strange empire, or issues like demons or black crystals.

He just followed.

“Yes. Understood, Your Excellency.”

Wilson, who gave a sharp salute, ran back to the unit to relay his orders.

Left alone near the barrier, Pryde kept replaying the image of her he had just seen.

Her fluttering red hair.

Her emerald-colored eyes that were still like jewels, even though they were dilated in surprise upon seeing him.

His wife, who was still damn beautiful even in this situation.

But to jump into the arms of another man while wearing such a face…

‘She ran away with that witch’s child, even after seeing me.’

The last bit of patience remaining within him completely burned away.

Even the naive hope that there might be a chance to persuade her if he caught her again disappeared.

Anyway, his seed had already sprouted inside her.

Even if you asked God, demons, and humans, she was completely his.

That fact alone was an invariable truth, whether she was a saint or he was a demon’s contractor.

So go ahead and try to run away.

If you get caught again this time, there will be no second chance.

‘This is all your fault, Delphine Pembrook.’

Pryde cast a gaze filled with chilling anger toward the distant place where she would be.

The scenery before her eyes changed in an instant.

The vast plain and the huge barrier disappeared somewhere, and Delphine found herself in the middle of a forest with lush trees.

Because tall trees covered the sky, it was as dark as evening even though it was morning.

“Where are we…?”

“For now, I urgently teleported us to a nearby place.”

Lin answered, exhaling heavily as if exhausted from using magic continuously.

“It’s a forest near the border village.”

Marianne plopped down on a moss-covered tree trunk and shouted.

“Damn it! How did this happen? How did that man, who was supposed to be asleep, follow us all the way here?”

“I guess the effect of the poison was too weak. I concocted it according to the ancient demonology book, but…”

As Lin muttered with a dismayed face, Marianne shouted while roughly running her hand through her hair.

“Damn it! We missed a golden opportunity! Did you all see how that demon-like bastard’s eyes were rolled back?”

“…”

At those words, everyone couldn’t easily answer.

In fact, even at a glance, Duke Pryde seemed to be out of his mind with rage.

Delphine, who had been closely observing him, knew better than anyone that he was more enraged than ever before.

Even when she deceived him and rubbed his scarred back, when she was caught sneaking out in a maid’s uniform.

Even when she was caught secretly plotting a revolution behind his back, she had never seen him so angry.

‘This time it’s for real.’

The last time she was caught deceiving him, she was confined to the mansion for two months. Then she ended up getting pregnant with his child.

If she got caught this time, what would happen to her and the others?

Just thinking about it made Delphine shudder and wrap her arms around herself.

As always when she was under such stress, her stomach ached.

Delphine, who was holding her throbbing belly, was startled for a moment.

‘…No. It’s not my stomach, is it?’

The feeling was a little different from when she usually experienced stomach pain.

Come to think of it, it seemed to be aching below where her stomach was located.

Baby. Are you okay?

Suddenly, she felt scared.