“I’m about to hang this noose around your neck.”

“Please, I’ve made a mistake. Ines, please, spare me. I was just doing what Count Graham told me to do. It’s you that I love!”

But Ines continued as if she heard nothing.

“What will become of you then?”

He couldn’t answer, his face twisted in terror and revulsion.

For the first time, emotion crossed Ines’s face as she looked at his terrified expression. It was an indescribable fissure of feeling.

If the noose stayed around his neck, he would die soon enough—a death as meaningless as Count Graham’s.

‘What will happen next after I kill you?’

While setting up this device, Ines felt no actual guilt.

Had ten years of worse-than-hell torment turned her into a monster? Even so… Ines couldn’t stop here.

“You know what, Joseph?”

He didn’t answer, just shot her a resentful look.

“I’ve already paid for killing you. I’ve lived through those unimaginable ten years of suffering. Because I killed you… so this is just a change in sequence.”

Ignoring her trembling hand, Ines reached to put the noose around his neck. Though he struggled mightily, he was hanging and couldn’t easily resist. She easily restrained him.

Still, Joseph thought it better to die knowing the reason than she.

The wind blew, and the reeds made a strange sound. Winter was beginning atop the mountain, unnoticed.

〈Stop causing trouble, Lady Ines Swalden.〉

Just as she was about to touch Joseph’s head, Ines heard a voice she had missed. She froze, too shocked even to breathe.

〈I… did tell you to stop causing trouble.〉

It was definitely him—Carson’s voice tinged with amusement.

She looked around swiftly but saw no one who could have produced the voice echoing in her head.

Ah, Ines finally sank down, unable to do anything.

She examined herself and wiped her face with her hand.

Even without looking, she knew she must look filthy and disgusting. Just the idea that Carson might see her now made her feel as if her heart would tear.

“Ines?”

Noticing her change, Joseph called out to her in a desperate voice. But she couldn’t hear him.

A sudden revelation hit her like a fierce wind. She couldn’t become a monster, no matter how suffocating and uncontrollable her urges.

How could she face him again with the face of a real murderer?

There was something more sacred and complete in Ines’s life than mere vengeance.

She had thought killing him would end her incessant pain. The long, unthinkable time had turned her into an animal like them.

Thinking of Carson, Ines hesitated no more. She rose from the ground and rewound the rope she had extended. Watching this, Joseph started to yell.

“Ines, you’re going to save me, right? Then, quickly untie me. Huh?”

Though he spoke in an expectant voice, she didn’t lower him to the ground.

“You won’t be able to use your legs for a while.”

She spoke, still carrying him on her back.

“I knew all along about your plan to make me a murderer. Then, I would have ended up in Romfield.”

“What? How did you…?”
Ines untied the rope that had bound his legs, hearing his flustered voice. With a thud, he fell to the ground.

Behind her, she felt Joseph stirring. Even if he came at her to kill her now, it couldn’t be helped. She wanted to end this unbearable pain. If she were to die now, at least she would die as a human, not a beast.

“Did, did I lose my mind?”

But he did not. Had Joseph, too, turned back from the brink of death and abandoned becoming a beast?

Just then, they felt movement from the mountain path they had climbed. Squinting, Ines tried to identify the figure—whether it was a beast or a man. It suddenly lunged at Joseph.

‘Zemuren?’

Immediately, a muffled groan was heard. Turning around, Ines saw Zemuren had stabbed Joseph in the stomach. Joseph looked at the knife in disbelief, and their eyes met.

As he fell, Zemuren swept back his bloodied hair with his hand.

Then he smiled at her.

In that moment, Ines realized her sins were not yet over.

“Ines.”

He called her as he used to in Lomfield.

“Lady Ines Swelden.”

Then a gust of wind came from behind Ines. Zemuren took a deep breath, trembling as he closed his eyes. Moments later, he sprinted toward her. Her arm was grabbed in an instant.

“You’d feel disgusted by a mere Viscount’s touch.”

Instead of shaking off his hand, Ines let out a long, sigh-like laugh. It was destined to end like this.

From the moment he saw her in Lomfield, Zemuren had started to obsess over her. His face showed confusion at her resigned laughter.

“You find this funny?”

“….”

“If you’re planning stunts like this, you’re not sane either. Was he your lover? A lord last time, and who this time? A commoner? How many have there been?”

“Why are you doing this to me?”

“If I can’t rise, I have to pull you down.”

“So, your goal is to crush me beneath you?”

He bowed his head and buried his face in the nape of her neck. He took a wet, heavy breath, just like Zemuren of old.

“Yes, that’s my goal. Your scent… it drives me mad. So, this is not my fault.”

Ines stood straight and glanced at Joseph. He lay motionless.