As soon as she realized that Seiard was right there, Kisa reflexively shouted.

“Please let me out of here!”

“Wait…!”

Daniel, startled, tried to stop Kisa from speaking while grabbing her, but at that moment the doorknob moved.

Originally, there wasn’t any special lock, he had just been physically blocking it from opening.

So when Daniel’s grip naturally loosened as he was distracted by Kisa, the other person was able to open the door without much effort.

Eventually the door opened completely, and a man in impeccable attire appeared.

The red hair that had felt somewhat uncomfortable until recently was now a welcome sight that brought tears to her eyes.

Just as Kisa was about to call Seiard’s name without realizing it, he spoke first.

“Is there a problem?”

The face that had worn a faint smile throughout the banquet now looked infinitely calm as he gazed at Kisa and Daniel in the room.

“Duke Hillan?”

Daniel, who had been holding Kisa’s shoulder while stepping back from the door, recognized him.

“Why are you here…”

“I heard a loud noise while passing by and came to check.”

In response to Daniel’s flustered question, Seiard slowly scanned the guest room before finally fixing his gaze on Kisa.

“Do you need any help?”

At the end of that gaze was Kisa’s shoulder, held by Daniel.

“Let go!”

Kisa, suddenly coming to her senses, shook off Daniel’s hand and ran to Seiard.

“Please help me!”

“What’s the matter?”

Feeling relieved by Seiard’s usual demeanor, Kisa glared at Daniel.

“That man tried to forcibly confine me.”

“Kisa! Don’t say things that can be misunderstood!”

Daniel shouted, sounding wronged.

“I just held you back because you were trying to leave when I still had things to say!”

“That’s no different from confinement!”

At that moment, Seiard stepped forward, blocking between the two. Bringing Kisa behind his back, he asked Daniel.

“Is what she’s saying true?”

His voice didn’t reveal any particular emotion. However, at his question that sounded almost like a perfunctory greeting, Daniel’s eyes twitched for some reason. Was it just because of Duke Hillan’s background?

“It’s none of your business.”

As Daniel subtly sharpened his tone, Seiard glanced back behind him.

“Well, it seems this person has a different opinion.”

“She is my fiancée. I know my fiancée’s will better than anyone.”

“Not better than the person herself. And I believe I heard that you two broke off the engagement.”

“What?”

“Your claim of her being your fiancée seems inaccurate.”

Kisa nodded vigorously as if fully agreeing with his opinion, and Daniel showed his discomfort more openly than before.

“Well. More importantly, Duke Hillan, what brings you here?”

His tone didn’t hide the underlying meaning of ‘mind your own business and leave quickly’.

“The princess… hadn’t been seen for quite some time. Someone mentioned seeing her come this way, so I was looking for her.”

“Ah, is that so? The princess just left after arranging a place for Kisa and me to have an open conversation. You must have missed each other, but she should be back in the hall by now, so you’d better hurry back.”

“I see. I didn’t know.”

Which should be more surprising? Daniel behaving disrespectfully even in front of the great Duke Hillan? Or Seiard showing not even a hint of perturbation in a situation that could justifiably upset him?

As Kisa pondered blankly, Seiard turned as if to leave as Daniel had suggested. Then he asked Kisa, who was facing him:

“Shall we return together then?”

Daniel immediately widened his eyes.

“Who are you to take Kisa away?”

In response, Seiard, turning his head slightly to the side, answered in a calm voice.

“Don’t worry. I have no intention of disregarding the wishes of the person concerned.”

“That’s not the point. Kisa still has more to say to me.”

Kisa leaned to the side to look at Daniel, then firmly expressed her opinion.

“I have nothing more to say to you. Moreover, I don’t want to exchange words with you ever again.”

Daniel’s handsome face contorted.

“Kisa! Now is not the time to be angry!”

“No, it is the time to be angry.”

Kisa, who had been moving her lips silently for a moment, continued with a somewhat bitter tone.

“In fact, I should have gotten angry earlier. Every time you treated me as less than a pet dog…”

But she couldn’t. Because she had been thirsting for the kindness that Daniel threw her way very occasionally, as if on a whim.

“If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have crossed this irreversible river.”

“What are you saying? It can be reversed!”

“It’s impossible.”

“…Alright, I understand that you have many grievances against me.”

Daniel ran his hand through his bangs with evident anxiety.

“I’ll listen to what you have to say and apologize if there’s anything to apologize for. So let’s start with a conversation first. If we talk things through calmly, we can understand each other.”

“See? It’s impossible.”

A sneer escaped Kisa’s lips.

“Even after I burst out with everything I had been holding inside earlier, you still maintain that patronizing attitude. What? You’ll listen and apologize if there’s anything to apologize for?”

“Don’t nitpick my words.”

“Don’t order me around.”

It was a moment when Kisa once again clearly realized that she could never be an equal to someone like Daniel Lowens.

People don’t change easily. Daniel probably won’t change forever either.

‘No.’

Even if he were to change, it would be irrelevant to her. They were no longer in any relationship.

Kisa’s heart felt incredibly cold, even to herself.

She thought it couldn’t get any lower, but when Daniel forcibly tried to keep her in this room, the last bit of faith remaining in Kisa scattered like dust.

Although he had subjected Kisa to all sorts of humiliation, he had never once tried to physically restrain her actions.

Whether this stemmed from an arrogant value system of not holding back those who want to leave or welcoming those who want to come, Kisa had secretly trusted this aspect of Daniel.

It was the same right after the broken engagement, when she faced him, full of anger, in the reception room of the Vanspelt estate.

When he raised his voice in an angry tone, she instinctively shrank back, but the thought that Daniel might physically harm her didn’t even exist in Kisa’s mind.

But not anymore. Kisa now knew that Daniel Lowens was the kind of person who could tell her to go ahead and scream when she threatened to do so as a self-protective measure, knowing no one would come.

In some ways, this was more unforgivable than swearing eternity to another woman while having a fiancée, or looking down on Kisa in his heart.

Because it was, more than anything, an atrocity that trampled on a person’s will in the most direct way.

“I’m not an object.”

Kisa spat out the words as if chewing them. At first, her thoughts weren’t well organized, but they gradually transformed into clear words.

“I’m a human being like you. I’m not a toy you can handle as you please.”

Simultaneously, a certain fragment of memory unfolded in her mind.

“…That day, you definitely said it.”

On a particularly cold late winter evening, when she found out that her fiancé had another woman. Daniel, with a look of disgust at Kisa pressing him, said this:

“I’m not your possession.”

Although most of what came out of his mouth that day hurt Kisa’s heart, those words particularly remained in her chest, causing a dull pain for a long time.

Now she understood why.

“I’ll return those words to you.”

It had been unfair. She had never, not for a single moment, felt that she had Daniel, or that he was hers.

Rather, it was Kisa who belonged to Daniel.

Daniel Lowens’ beautiful fiancée. A fairly important component that would someday marry him and complete him as a proper adult. A well-bred lady who should bear him an heir.

Daniel himself treated Kisa like that. When he felt like it, he would act sweetly and give gifts, but as soon as he felt even slightly bothered, he would mercilessly discard her.

Kisa had been trained by him over many years. She waited, craning her neck, for the time when Daniel’s mood would improve.

Then, when his mood seemed good, she would dress up prettily and chatter beside him, and when it seemed bad, she would keep as quiet as possible and just wish for this time to pass. She fluctuated with the emotions of a man who didn’t even love her.

She was truly his possession.

How unjust it must have felt. To be told not to try to possess when she had never even thought she could have him.

Kisa faced the man who had dominated her soul for a long time, in a different way from Count Vanspelt.

“Kisa?”

The man who was always full of confidence couldn’t hide the anxiety stirring within him today.

“I’m not your possession.”

Daniel wore an expression as if he didn’t quite understand those words, but Kisa didn’t care and continued speaking.

“I might have been at one time, but not anymore. I’m grateful for that one thing. Because you discarded me first, I decided to break free from you.”

“…When did I ever discard you?”

“You did. A long time ago.”

Leaving Daniel, who seemed to have much more to say, Kisa turned around.

“So don’t try to take me back.”

Seiard naturally followed behind Kisa as she headed towards the door.

Just before the door closed, Daniel shouted loudly, “Wait!” but didn’t follow.

He looked as if he was afraid of encountering something terrible if he did.

Ah, he must have finally accepted it.

The fact that their relationship had ended long ago.