It was studying. In the previous future, letters were something I could never learn. They didn’t want me to become smart.

Through this opportunity, I plan to learn letters and find information on my own by reading books or documents related to Ella’s child.

I firmly believed it was love. But after being trampled on by such love once, I can’t trust anyone anymore. No, I’m scared to trust. I’m afraid that if I trust, everything will turn out to be a lie. Like Ruans.

It’s a painful emotion you don’t have to experience if you don’t trust people from the start. If someone asks me what I believe in, I can just say potato soup and Leo. Because that’s the truth.

I don’t care if they call me a witch or Ella’s child. No matter what anyone says, Lorencia is Lorencia herself. Moreover, she’s Lorencia Pol Heredian who decided to become a terrible monster. So I just need to trample on them like a monster.

“Ah…”

Meru, who had been walking ahead, stopped. Lorencia’s steps naturally stopped as well.

“What’s wrong, Meru?”

Lorencia looked in the direction Meru was looking. And she discovered Teishar with black hair. And she found Ruans with him.

The atmosphere was unusual.

“It’s Duke Spencer and Prince Ruans.”

“Yes. It seems they are conversing in the corridor, Lady Lorencia.”

“Wait a moment, Meru.”

Lorencia moved her steps.

“Duke Spencer. And Prince Ruans?”

“Lady Lorencia.”

“Lorencia!”

Ruans was dumbfounded to see Teishar’s face, which had been glaring at him as if to kill him, relaxing like a bright flower. It even looked like an invisible dog’s tail was wagging vigorously.

Teishar’s joy was short-lived. He became upset that Ruans saw Lorencia. He even felt anxious at the thought that the young tree might be swept away like this.

“Princess Charlotte is looking for… Did Lady Illina hit you like this?”

Teishar’s face twisted horribly when he saw her left cheek swollen bright red, though slightly covered by her hair. The sound of teeth grinding reached Lorencia’s ears.

Teishar slightly lifted Lorencia’s chin with his trembling hand. He examined left and right. No matter what, Teishar’s eyes turned red with anger at the thought of laying hands on the young tree in the imperial palace. And he regretted. He shouldn’t have sent her no matter how much Lorencia wanted.

“It’s okay. I hit back just as hard as I was hit.”

Lorencia told Teishar proudly. But Teishar instead trembled and began examining both of Lorencia’s wrists.

“Did you hit with these thin wrists? Which palm did you use to hit? I’m worried Lady Lorencia’s wrists might be hurt.”

“When I said I hit…”

Teishar sighed heavily.

“From now on, if you want to hit anyone, please tell me and I’ll hit them as much as you want on your behalf.”

Lorencia blinked. When she said she hit, she meant she mentally beat them with words, not physically. But Teishar seemed to have understood it completely differently.

“With your delicate body, where do you have the strength and fists to hit? From now on, you must unconditionally ask me to hit on your behalf.”

Without realizing it, Lorencia let out a chuckle.

“Can’t I hit myself? I can hit well…”

“If you get hurt while hitting, I’ll be upset, so you can’t.”

“What should I do when I want to hit?”

“I’ll teach Lady Lorencia how to hit people well. Then it’s okay to hit at that time. But not now.”

“I understand, Duke Spencer. Then is it okay to curse at the other person?”

“You can curse as much as you want. But if there’s someone who cursed at Lady Lorencia, you must remember and tell me without fail.”

“Why?”

“It’s to ensure they never curse at Lady Lorencia again.”

Lorencia nodded at Teishar, who answered her playful question so seriously. She felt that if she asked any more questions, she might hear strange things from Teishar.

“I’ll use a scroll containing healing spells for you later. It seems we should reject all visits from members of the Pol Heredian Count family.”

“Lorencia!”

Teishar glared fiercely at Ruans, who interrupted his important conversation with Lorencia.

“Prince Ruans.”

“I came to fetch you. Let’s go back.”

Ruans stood still, clenching his fists, looking at Lorencia and Teishar, then slowly walked over.

“Go back where?”

“Have you forgotten where you should be?”

It would be madness to go back to the Pol Heredian Count’s mansion when she was planning to escape safely and live in luxury at the imperial palace. And once she returned to the Count’s mansion, she could never escape again. Lorencia knew this better than anyone.

Knowing that she had awakened the power to see the future, Ruans would try to take her back somehow, but unless she was crazy, she had no intention of returning.

“I must stay at the imperial palace by order of Her Majesty the Empress and Princess Charlotte. I don’t want to bring shame to the family by disobeying orders.”

“Lorencia. Why do you keep picking at my words?”

Teishar frowned involuntarily at Ruans’ words. The irritation he had felt towards Ruans had melted away like sherbet while talking with Lorencia, but from the moment Ruans spoke, he felt like he was eating dry potatoes without water or salt.

“Prince Rua…”

Ruans cut off Lorencia’s words.

“Don’t tell me you’re being mindful of Duke Spencer’s presence? Listen well, Lorencia. Are you being mindful of someone who’s going back to the Polroid Empire soon, but not at all mindful of me, who will be by your side in the Isuter Empire?”

“Prince Ruans.”

“It’s because I really care for you. That’s why I came to fetch you like this. Let’s quickly return to the Count’s mansion.”

Lorencia had always been hurt by this kind of conversation.

“Why are you making me out to be someone who’s being mindful?”

“What?”

“I’m not being mindful of anyone here. Why are you speaking as if I should be being mindful?”

“What are you saying now, Lorencia.”

Ruans was flustered, moistening his dry lips. Until now, Lorencia had always followed his words unconditionally. But now she was picking at his words and persisting.

“Lorencia, what’s wrong with you. This isn’t like you.”

“I should be the one asking. Prince Ruans. Why are you telling me to be mindful? Don’t tell me.”

Ruans felt that Lorencia’s gaze had become instantly crooked, and the thought that something had gone wrong began to dominate his mind.

“Are you saying I should be mindful because I’m an illegitimate child?”

In Lorencia’s purple eyes, which looked up at Ruans with a calm gaze without blinking, no emotion was visible. Ruans sighed deeply in frustration.

“That’s not what I mean.”

Ruans had certainly thought that Lorencia loved him. No, he had thought so. But now he couldn’t feel any love from Lorencia.

Daniel’s words came to mind. Lorencia had been confined to the Count’s mansion all this time. She, who had no self-esteem and no willpower, should have had only him to lean on, and should have loved him.

“Lorencia! Didn’t I clearly tell you to come when I say come, and go when I say go?”

When Ruans spoke roughly, Teishar’s red eyes pulled his wrist as if unable to bear it, separating him from Lorencia.

“What are you doing! Duke Spencer.”

The closer Ruans got to Lorencia, the more the young tree’s branches were cut off. In just a few hours, the leaves he had nurtured with such care withered and fell. Teishar’s heart fell with them. The more he exchanged words with Ruans, the more the young tree changed into a bare tree dying in the cold winter. It was a terrible sight.

“I clearly warned you.”

Teishar knew it too. That Lorencia should be the one more angry than himself right now. But Lorencia couldn’t scare or hit Ruans. So he had to do it for her.

“That you shouldn’t anger a snake.”

Teishar put his hand on the scabbard at his waist. At Teishar’s red gaze glaring as if about to draw his sword, Ruans was so surprised that his body stiffened.