I resisted until the last moment, but I couldn’t overcome Tobias’s strength and was dragged into the passage.
“Lady Saint, you must be well aware…”
In the darkness, Tobias’s voice echoed.
“If you let go of my hand here, you will say goodbye to the outside world forever.”
My body trembled uncontrollably. Tobias was right. As Hades had warned me, resisting here could lead to my death.
‘I must endure until I can get out.’
But that doesn’t mean I have to stay silent just because I have to withstand his touch.
“You intend to open the report.”
“You know well.”
“Your Grace doesn’t know me well. I will never open that report.”
Tobias’s eyebrows dropped.
“Oh, have you reverted to formality? I liked it when you called me by my name.”
“Then become someone I would like to call by name.”
Tobias laughed out loud.
“That will happen.”
“… ”
I looked up at him, but due to the darkness, I couldn’t see anything.
“Rox.”
A light flashed for a moment, illuminating only his face before fading away.
“Rox!”
This time, there was no illumination at all.
“Give up, Lady Saint. With your feeble divine power, you can’t do anything.”
If glares could kill, Tobias would have died three times by now, his chest punctured through.
‘I have no choice but to follow here.’
I have nothing now.
Denesor must be lying somewhere in the room we escaped from, and my already weak divine power has been rendered useless by Tobias’s ‘Tatiana’s Halo.’
I tightly closed my eyes.
‘Why?’
Now that I knew he was a Croitner, it wasn’t without reason.
No one thinks of Tobias as a member of the Duke’s family, and considering his age, he is likely someone’s illegitimate child in the Duke’s household.
Naturally, hidden.
“……So you’re His Grace’s brother.”
Tobias did not deny it.
“I wondered when you would find out.”
Despite having suspected as much, hearing it confirmed stirred complicated emotions.
‘Did Hades know?’
I remembered the similarities between Tobias and Hades. Exceptional swordsmanship, quick judgment, independent character, and above all, those amethyst eyes.
‘Did he know, and purposely keep him close?’
There was only one way to find out.
“Does His Grace know?”
Tobias let out a faint laugh.
“Do you think I’d be alive if he did?”
I tensed up.
I had never thought about the political situation while playing the game.
I had assumed that, even if an illegitimate child would be looked down upon, their life wouldn’t be endangered…
‘They would be treated as a political enemy.’
Of course, he had to hide it.
But that didn’t mean I understood Tobias.
With his skills, he could have lived far away from the Duke’s Castle, establishing his own domain.
Yet he had entered the Duke’s Castle and even risen to the position of vice commander…
His cold voice flowed out.
“You approached His Grace deliberately.”
“That’s right.”
“Are you planning to take revenge on His Grace?”
Tobias stopped, and I felt him getting closer to me. His hot breath touched my forehead, sending chills down my spine.
“Why would I take revenge on my beloved brother? He’s a good man.”
I furrowed my eyebrows. It didn’t seem like Tobias was merely being sarcastic.
His voice had even sounded slightly affectionate when referring to Hades as ‘brother.’
“Then why…”
“Revenge will happen.”
Tobias answered icily.
“Just not against my brother.”
I wanted to ask more, but my lips sealed shut at the burst of light. Tobias had unlocked the exit and pulled me out of the passage.
With trembling legs, I managed to take a step, only to be greeted by a heavy iron door.
It was the entrance to the report room.
(This is a time separator.)
“More training! This is absurd!”
One of the members of the delegation raised his voice in protest.
“Do we really have to go through this until the day before the farewell banquet?”
“Be quiet.”
Shuzhechin grumbled.
“Since we’re learning how to deal with demons, none of us should have any complaints.”
“But Duke Gyeongbaek….”
“No buts.”
Shuzhechin pointed to Hades with his fingertips.
“In training, prioritize not my commands, but those of the Duke.”
“Excellent, Gyeongbaek.”
Hades smiled.
“I must retract my previous underestimation of you.”
“…….”
Shuzhechin narrowed his eyes. Something about Hades’ words was unsettling.
However, it was too trivial a matter to point out, so he turned his head towards the delegation.
“Does anyone have a complaint?”
“……No.”
Murmurs flowed from various corners.
‘As expected.’
Shuzhechin looked at them with a cold gaze.
‘Useless lot. At least they should be useful this way.’
The real reason he was encouraging Hades was separate. He needed to buy time for that ‘bat’, i.e., Tobias, to act.
‘At first, I was really surprised.’
The deputy commander that Hades firmly believed in was the bat!
At first, he even suspected Tobias might be a double agent. But the various information Tobias had relayed to the empire under the name ‘bat’ was enough to quell those suspicions.
The problem was persuading Tobias.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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