The crackling sound of the campfire alone echoed through the quiet forest.

Delphine felt cold sweat running down her back as she muttered to herself,

“Another dream……”

It had already been a month since she left the mansion and fled to escape Ioan.

Every night, she dreamt of him like this.

Of course, they were all nightmares.

Lin, who was on night watch, asked her with concern,

“Are you alright? You seemed to be having a nightmare, so I woke you up.”

He glanced over her noticeably thinner appearance in the past month and added worriedly,

“……These days, you don’t seem to be eating well either.”

At those words, Delphine hastily lowered her head to hide her startled expression.

Just as he said, the severe morning sickness had recently begun.

Moreover, she couldn’t possibly tell him that she dreamed of Ioan every day.

Feeling like she had shown weakness, Delphine quickly shook her head and said,

“I’m fine. I’m sorry for causing a commotion for no reason.”

Perhaps because it was late at night.

Or perhaps he pitied her, unable to swallow a single piece of meat properly these days.

Lin looked at her with a rather tender gaze and asked in a low voice,

“……It’s hard to endure, isn’t it?”

At those words, Delphine, who had been pretending to be fine, couldn’t help but make a slightly tearful face.

It would certainly be a lie to say it wasn’t difficult.

It was also true that she was worrying alone about whether the child would be alright at this rate.

However, after swallowing all those tear-filled complaints, she smiled brightly.

“……Really, I’m okay.”

Then she laid her tired body down again on the spot where dry leaves had been spread.

Although a blanket was laid out, the damp and cool energy from the ground rose directly.

Feeling chilled to the bone, Delphine curled up tightly and hugged her stomach.

In the month or so that had passed, her belly had swollen very slightly.

Fortunately, she hadn’t been found out since she was wearing comfortable pants instead of a dress that tightened at the waist.

‘When does the belly usually start to show prominently?’

Knowing very little about pregnancy and childbirth, she grew increasingly anxious.

Ioan had been stationing troops near the barrier for a month with no signs of retreating.

The method of escaping this empire seemed far-fetched.

Delphine tossed and turned uncomfortably, unable to fall asleep easily.

The chills that assaulted her body every night still hadn’t become familiar even after a month.

It wasn’t simply difficult because she had to sleep outdoors in the forest.

Surely she had this much resolve when she gave up her noble status and left the mansion.

Delphine knew the identity of what was making her so lonely.

It was the memory of sleeping warmly next to him, who called her Del.

“I just want to lie with you like this forever. Del……”

Before leaving him, every day for two months she fell asleep and woke up embraced in his firm, warm arms.

When she vaguely opened her eyes, there was always his arm wrapped around her waist……

‘I was the one who left him.’

So let’s abandon any meaningless lingering attachments.

Never think that you miss that warmth……

Delphine curled up tightly and fell asleep uncomfortably.

It was the day marking one month since she realized her feelings were love, and at the same time, resolved to leave him and ran away.

“This is definitely the place.”

Pryde followed the hunter with an axe at his waist and entered deep into the forest.

“There are those who saw smoke rising from the forest at night.”

Offering a huge bounty and reward was the right decision after all.

Reports poured in from all over Area 3 every day.

“Here! Over here, Viscount!”

The hunter pointed to a small clearing in the forest and shouted.

Indeed. There were traces of a fire being lit and extinguished on the ground.

There were also traces of digging to make a place to lie down.

Even in midsummer, it would have been impossible to endure the night without lighting a fire, especially in the forest.

Still, it must have been cold.

“……”

Pryde quietly knelt down at the spot with the smallest trace.

When he touched it, it felt as if he could feel her warmth even though it was impossible.

He stayed like that for a while, quietly placing his hand on her trace.

“It seems they have already left this Evingwood Forest.”

Before long, Walter, who had spread the guards throughout the forest, approached and reported.

“I’m terribly sorry, sir. Tracking is not easy as the opponent knows instant movement.”

“……”

Pryde clenched a handful of dry leaves.

Seeing the dangerous look in his eyes, Walter inwardly sighed.

‘Oh dear. He seems to be reaching his limit.’

The shadows heavily settled under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept for a very long time.

The veins on his neck and the back of his hands were tense and bulging, as if he would jump out at any moment.

His golden hair, which had always been neatly groomed, was disheveled on his sleek forehead.

It was an unimaginable appearance compared to his previous self, who always maintained an obsessively neat and aristocratic appearance.

As if all his grooming until now had been solely for the disappeared woman.

Even before, his excessively neat features and cool overwhelming presence gave off an inhuman atmosphere.

But recently, he was something beyond that.

He looked like a beast or a demon itself, as if he had taken off the mask he had been trying to be human.

Even the hunter chasing the beast took a step back in fear.

“……Give the reward.”

Even if he kept missing her like this, even if it was only to chase her traces, he would continue.

Pryde’s figure, muttering the order in a low voice, suddenly disappeared from the dense forest.

Walter handed the promised hundred gold to the trembling hunter.

Then he took out a black crystal from his pocket and followed his superior.

“They will certainly try to secure more possum.”

Pryde Mansion.

Sitting on the bed in the bedchamber, not the office, Pryde spoke in a tired tone.

A month ago, when he found her at the barrier, the possum the witch’s son was holding was quite small in size.

There was a limit to the amount Delphine could charge, so they would certainly try to secure additional possum.

“Strengthen the surveillance on smuggled goods from the Northern Continent. Crack down on those who illegally trade it as well.”

“Yes. Then, sir……”

Walter hesitated for a moment, looking at his superior’s rough face.

Pryde Mansion was eerily quiet.

His superior still didn’t keep a single servant in this mansion.

In this huge mansion without even the woman he was so desperately searching for, what kind of nights was he spending?

“You may leave now.”

“……Yes, then.”

In the end, Walter bowed his head without finding the right words to say and withdrew.

The door to the bedchamber closed carefully.

Pryde laid his huge body on the bed with a thud.

He sold his soul to the devil and gained a body stronger than anyone else’s.

He no longer got sick from not eating, nor did he die from not sleeping.

So why was this body, which shouldn’t know fatigue, so heavy?

Even she left his soulless heart.

Was it because his mind was still human?

He buried his face painfully on the bed stained with deep memories.

He couldn’t sleep a wink since she left.

Even if he laid down, only the sweet memories with her came to his mind.

“Ioan……”

When he told her he wanted to be with her forever while holding her, what was her answer?

Was sleeping alone such a lonely and desolate thing?

It seemed that falling asleep while holding her every day for the past two months had somehow become a habit.

Delphine.

Where are you?

Where are you, leaving me……

You shouldn’t have pretended to love me in the first place.

If it weren’t for the memories of that night when we shared secret laughter, it wouldn’t have been this lonely and painful.

If only I hadn’t harbored presumptuous desires for you from the beginning……

Tonight will surely be terribly long again.

He knew that this cursed body would never fall asleep until he found her.

He didn’t even hope for sleep, but he just wanted to dream.

Of course, there was no way she would come to him willingly.

“Even if he’s a ‘Contractor’, this is an excessive abuse of power!”

Bang.

With an extremely intentional and theatrical manner, Duke Grupford slammed his fist on the table.

In a sealed room deep within the Imperial Palace.

The members of Veritas, led by the Emperor, gathered there secretly.

The one who requested the convening of this meeting was none other than Duke Grupford.

The new power broker of the group who confidently took on the role of the Emperor’s right-hand man after Duke Persell disappeared.

Being the most recent member to join Veritas, he, ignorant of Viscount Pryde’s prestige, repeatedly shouted,

“If you take the Imperial army to the border, who will protect the country?”

Then one member, who was unnecessarily looking around as if Viscount Pryde was there, carefully refuted,

“Well. Actually, as long as those barriers are there, there’s no possibility of anyone invading this empire……”

The person next to him quickly added,

“Viscount Pryde has already dealt with the rebels in Area 3.”

“No! This is a matter of authority, Your Majesty!”

However, Duke Grupford did not back down and shouted loudly.

“We must clearly show that presumptuous Viscount who the master of this empire is!”