Carla, who was dragged to the palace as a captive, and Rude, who is willing to risk his life to protect her.

The lives of precious people that Merche must protect, including them.

Power is needed to protect everyone.

For that, Merche must become the king, and to do so, she must first obtain the remaining divine object, the sword.

“What is needed for the sword to become a divine object?”

Merche gently pushed Rude, who was blocking her view, and took a step closer to Heyton.

“Please tell me what conditions must be met to obtain the last divine object.”

I don’t have time. So please.

Merche whispered. It was a desperate plea, but it didn’t sound servile at all, befitting her.

As if Merche was about to kneel, the surprised Heyton hurriedly stopped her and opened his mouth.

“No, this old man has dragged on the conversation too long. I will tell you right away, so please don’t do this.”

He quickly licked his dry lips with his tongue and grabbed the iron bars to stand up.

Accordingly, Merche’s body, which had lowered its posture to match his, stood up straight.

Heyton was flustered by Merche’s actions for a moment. But he soon became calm, as was his original self.

A scholar-like voice smoothly flowed from him, making it hard to believe he was a prisoner trapped behind iron bars.

“The sword comes with feelings of hatred. You must obtain a sword stained with the blood of one who hates you. That is the condition for the last remaining divine object.”

“…If it’s someone who hates me,”

“It wouldn’t be a very easy problem, would it?”

Prince Magnus.

Merche’s low voice and Heyton’s sharp voice overlapped and became one.

Eventually, Merche’s face hardened.

A sword stained with the blood of one who hates Merche.

The last divine object she must collect to become the king and the only one who can stop Prince Magnus.

“If you obtain the last divine object, you will have the power to suppress Prince Magnus and achieve victory.”

Merche sighed. This is fate. Fate is calling her.

Even to obtain a sword stained with Magnus’ blood, she must go to Magnus, who seeks to kill her.

Genovefa’s execution was set for the very next day. As Merche had hinted, he would be thrown into the midst of the wolf legion to die, and was promised a miserable end where not even his corpse would remain intact.

Heyton Rinan was released and became a free man by the order of the family head.

Although the sapphire ring he had attempted to steal was eventually recovered by Lupinus, Heyton seemed unconcerned.

−When you regain all your power and ascend to the throne as king in the future, please don’t forget to summon this old man.

Leaving behind a request to Merche, saying it was his wish before his death, he left the castle without any lingering attachment.

Rude grumbled, asking why they had to let him go and if they couldn’t send him away after cutting off at least one of his hands, but in the end, he also succumbed to Merche’s will and obediently opened the castle gate.

The castle was locked at night.

As the thick darkness enveloped the entire territory like a fortress, even the wolf legion lay down and fell into a deep sleep among themselves.

Perhaps Merche and Rude were the only ones inside the castle who couldn’t sleep.

Merche sat on the bed, holding a smooth cup. The cup was filled with warm milk.

Rude had brought it, saying that he would somehow make her fall into a deep sleep because she kept having insomnia.

“…My lord…”

Merche whispered quietly with her eyes closed.

Last night, she had trouble sleeping due to a nightmare. It was a nightmare involving Mariette.

She was crawling on the floor, covered in blood, with wide-open eyes.

Then she grabbed Merche’s ankle like a claw and said, shedding tears of blood,

‘Merche… because of you, I… Carla and I…!’

Crying, Merche embraced Mariette and begged.

She said it was her fault, all her fault. She shouldn’t have been greedy to stay in Venenum and become a family with her in the first place.

Then Mariette pushed Merche away and strangled her neck.

Even though she knew that Mariette’s hand had an unbearable force, she couldn’t move. Rather, she wished to die by that hand and let go of the strength in her body.

−Merche, open your eyes!

At that moment, Rude woke Merche up with an urgent voice.

When she came to her senses, she realized that she was strangling her own neck with her own hands.

Rude tried to get angry at her but only pressed his lips together several times, unable to say anything in the end.

Merche knew the reason for that when she looked into Rude’s eyes.

In Rude’s eyes, which resembled ripe grapes, there was a woman who seemed like she would crumble at any moment.

A woman who looked like her breath would escape with a single word. That was herself.

Merche looked into the cup where the milky white liquid swayed.

Hesitating, she tilted the cup to her lips, and a subtly sweet taste passed over her tongue. It seemed that honey had been added to the milk.

“Is it delicious?”

Rude, who had entered without her noticing, was standing and looking at her.

He walked up to Merche with big strides, checked the amount of milk in the cup, and narrowed his eyes.

“You’re done after eating only that much? Eat more. How much is that one cup that you can’t finish it all?”

“I’m already full from the ample dinner.”

“What are you saying, even if you’re full, you can easily swallow a cup of milk. I even added honey to make it tasty.”

Rude, who grumbled dissatisfiedly, tapped the cup with his finger.

“I boiled this myself to warm it up. So stop talking nonsense and empty it.”

“You… you warmed it up yourself, not ordering a servant to do it?”

“What kind of bastard would add something other than honey without me knowing?”

“That can’t be. Who would dare to do such a thing when you, the master of the castle and the head of the family, are here?”

“You’re just naive. The world is full of trashy bastards.”

Rude said with a cold laugh.

“I don’t trust anyone but you.”

He declared it with such a confident face that she couldn’t even think of how to retort.

Merche stared at Rude blankly, then had no choice but to lift the cup again and drank all the remaining milk.

Rude had a satisfied look in his eyes and twitched his lips.

It seemed like he wanted to openly laugh but held back, thinking that Merche might not like it.

“Give me a reward just once.”

Then, leaning diagonally against one of the bedposts, he said. Merche immediately asked back.

“What reward?”

“I warmed up the milk for you, added honey for you, and… also killed that senile bastard of my father. I did a lot, didn’t I? So give me a reward just once.”

Rude dragged out his words as if he himself found the topic lacking, but at the end, he threw a tantrum with overflowing confidence.

He even looked at Merche, slightly lifting his chin as if not trying to read the mood at all, but one of his feet was busily tapping the floor and the air, unable to hide his impatience.

Should I let him win once? Merche tried hard to suppress the laughter that was about to spread across her face and asked subtly.

“What kind of reward do you want?”

“If I’m being honest, I want to say let’s do it just once, but it’s obvious that you’ll be terrified as if you’re about to die right away, so I’ll greatly reduce it to a kiss. But if you want, we can change it to doing it once.”

“…What, what do you mean by doing it just once?”

“What, what. What’s wrong with that? You asked what I want? I just listed the things I want, what’s the big deal?”

Rude grumbled loudly, as if he knew it would turn out this way.

He glared at Merche as if he had something to say, then got angry with a face that looked like his pride had been shattered.

“You, are you confident you won’t regret it?”

I’ll be incredibly good at it. Rude added in a voice that sounded like he was gently coaxing a child.

But at his words, Merche fell into a different thought.

Regret, something that she might regret when looking back on this day in the future.

“…Forget it. Just give me a kiss once. I’ll roughly let it go with that.”

Merche stared blankly at Rude, who was shaking his head with a resigned look in his eyes.

Perhaps, after the ten days that Iler had told her pass, she might part with that man forever.

Why had she forgotten? How close the death that had befallen her was.

A hot lump rose up and her throat felt choked up.

It was difficult to control the strangely surging emotions.

As if possessed, Merche reached out and grabbed the wrist of Rude, who had approached her.

“Why?”

“…How can you be sure that you’ll be good at it?”

She asked teasingly, trying to bring up a silly topic. It was to escape from the emotions that kept trying to take over her body and mind.

“That’s because, as you know, I’m good at everything I do with my body.”

As if he thought Merche’s question was a kind of opportunity, Rude brought his face close to her.

His purple eyes seemed to turn somewhat reddish due to the fiercely surging desire.

He abruptly took Merche’s hand with his own and completely enveloped it.

Then he led her hand to the knot of the robe he was wearing.

“This, don’t you think it’s made to be easy to untie?”

If you just tap it with your finger, it will come loose. Rude whispered with a see-through smile.

As he said, the knot that tied the robe was very loose. It looked like it would smoothly come undone if touched.

…Will I regret it?

Will I regret not spending the night with Rude, thinking that I could have faced the last moment without any lingering attachments?

No. That won’t be the case. Merche was convinced. Her heart told her that it would never be like that.

That’s why, even though she knew that the moment she touched that knot, Rude’s robe would come off and fall to the floor, Merche moved her hand as Rude led her.

Eventually, the knot came undone, and the robe fell off.

Was it the moment when their gazes met closely?

Rude swallowed Merche’s lips and embraced her waist.

As if they had originally been one body, and as if they had been sharing the same breath.

Merche threw her entire body to Rude.

And Rude devoured Merche without a single moment of hesitation.