Vivian and Dietrich took shelter in a cave.

Unlike the quiet cave interior, the outside was teeming with monsters.

Dietrich’s expression darkened as he surveyed outside. The situation was not good.

Vivian was in a state of complete exhaustion, unable to move a finger.

As soon as she entered the cave, she fell asleep as if fainting.

“Miss Vivian. Wake up. This is not the time.”

He tried shaking her as she slept soundly with her head on his lap. But she showed no sign of waking.

No, it seemed she couldn’t wake up.

‘I heard that using abilities to their limit makes one tired, but to this extent…’

He had certainly heard explanations about abilities before, but this was more severe than expected.

To faint completely just from using power. Moreover, it couldn’t even be used for long.

Perhaps Vivian could increase the duration if she trained her stamina… But that was mere speculation.

‘She possesses a power that doesn’t suit her.’

It was as if she was borrowing someone else’s power.

More importantly, now was not the time to be lost in such thoughts.

‘We need to escape from this forest quickly…’

There were too many monsters to fight while carrying her or to flee with her in his arms.

No matter how great his magic swordsmanship and he himself were, fighting while holding someone was no easy task.

Moreover, magic swordsmanship was originally a sword technique for annihilation, not protection.

It was difficult to use in this situation.

Alone he might manage, but no suitable plan came to mind for the two of them to overcome this situation.

‘Do we have no choice but to wait until those monsters disperse again?’

Dietrich sighed with a complicated expression.

Until following Vivian into the forest, he hadn’t anticipated things would turn out like this.

When they arrived at the forest entrance, what first caught Dietrich’s eye were sword marks of X’s carved into the trees.

A sign that hadn’t been there before.

Naturally realizing Vivian had made them, he continued following those traces.

And finally, he was able to find her in the deepest part of the forest.

Dietrich wanted to ask. Why on earth did she come here?

The Black Tree Forest was far too dangerous a place for ordinary people.

Above all, this place belonged to none other than the Belvedere family.

No one was supposed to enter without his permission. He wouldn’t have given permission in the first place anyway.

Dietrich couldn’t understand why Vivian had snuck in here on her own.

No, was that the only thing he didn’t understand right now?

What was that alien hole the monsters had sprung from, and what was this creature called a ‘devil’?

He had been ignoring it, focused on the thought of getting Vivian out, but there were many strange points.

And among them, the strangest was…

Vivian, who seemed to know about those bizarre things.

Dietrich had entered this forest many times before for subjugation.

He didn’t know much about the deeper parts of the forest, as he always dealt with monsters near the entrance and returned.

He had become curious.

But having personally experienced the forest’s dangers before, he couldn’t enter just for curiosity’s sake.

So how did Vivian, who had likely never been to the forest before, know about those things?

She was clearly hiding something.

‘Once we escape from here, I’ll have to hear the details.’

He could wake her and question her now, but Dietrich knew this wasn’t the time.

Several hours had already passed since Vivian entered the forest.

He had to get her out before a day passed.

If not, he might have to kill her with his own hands.

His heart raced, feeling as if his insides were burning up.

Suddenly, a nightmare from the past came to mind.

It happened 9 years ago, when Dietrich was sixteen.

When the perfectly fine Duke and Duchess suddenly began secluding themselves in the mansion’s basement.

They disappeared without even explaining why, merely ‘notifying’ of their decision.

An unexpected move unlike them, who normally didn’t engage in impulsive behavior.

At that time, Dietrich was the only one who could fill their sudden absence.

Thus, he ended up taking over the Duke and Duchess’s duties without knowing why.

Fortunately, having received strict heir education in advance, handling duties as a proxy wasn’t too difficult.

Also, Dietrich had a capable and responsible aide. Luckily, the two worked very well together.

Thanks to that, despite his young age of sixteen, he was able to fill the void left by the family head and mistress.

However, his smoothly sailing life took an unexpected turn.

As a member of the Belvedere family, one had to fulfill the duty of subjugating monsters in the Black Tree Forest every year.

It was to protect the villages around the forest by preventing monsters from escaping the barrier.

Originally, the subjugation expedition was the Duke couple’s responsibility, but in their sudden seclusion, this too fell to Dietrich.

Worried about the young Marquis entering the monster-filled forest alone, the family’s knights accompanied him.

Dietrich’s misfortune began there.

There was no problem until they first entered the forest.

Though not as skilled as magic swordsmen, the family knights were capable.

They could easily take down a few monsters.

About a day passed as they smoothly subjugated monsters.

That’s when the youngest knight in the unit suddenly attacked another member.

Caught off guard by an attack from an ally, the nearby member suffered a fatal wound.

What followed was chaos. Half of the previously normal members went mad and began attacking each other.

They tried to subdue them, but to no avail.

As if feeling no pain, they would rise and attack even after losing an arm.

Dietrich, at a loss how to respond to this first-time situation, fled with the still sane members.

Until then, he had no intention of abandoning the maddened members, so he earnestly sought a solution with the remaining members.

How much time passed like that?

Once again, one of the sane members suddenly lost their mind and lunged at Dietrich.

Chaos erupted again. Before his eyes, comrades swung swords to kill each other.

The panicked Dietrich kept calling their names, hoping his comrades would regain their senses.

But nothing changed. The situation spiraled towards catastrophe.

In the end, one of the sane knights died in the fighting.

‘No. At this rate, I’ll lose everyone.’

A decision had to be made.

To save at least the remaining sane comrades.

The boy raised his magic sword high. Then he swiftly cut down those who were once comrades.

The only thing he could do was to strike them down in one blow.

Praying they would suffer less.

Through the vibrating sword, he vividly felt his comrades’ last moments.

At the young age of sixteen, too young to be called mature.

Dietrich had an experience he should never have had at that age.

Still, he didn’t regret it.

Because his decision saved at least three comrades.

The four tried to escape the forest, avoiding fights with monsters as much as possible.

Believing things would be alright once they left, since the members lost their minds after entering the forest.

That belief was soon shattered.

Except for Dietrich, the rest didn’t make it out of the forest.

They all went mad before escaping.

The boy had no choice but to leave his comrades behind and depart alone.

When he barely managed to escape, people demanded to know what had happened.

Fifteen had entered. But only one person, Dietrich, returned alive.

Covered in human blood from head to toe, Dietrich, filled with self-loathing, answered. That he had killed them.

The sensational story of the sixteen-year-old young Marquis personally killing the family knights became the talk of the town.

The rumors grew and grew, and soon distorted lies took root in people’s minds.

Thus, Dietrich came to bear the stigma of a brutal murderer.

Bang bang bang!

Someone urgently knocked on the door of Dietrich’s office.

‘There shouldn’t be anyone looking for the young Marquis at this hour.’

Nils, who was inside, answered for Dietrich to come in. Because he wasn’t in the mansion right now.

The person who opened the door seemed to be a servant, dressed similarly to the mansion’s maids, but with an unfamiliar face.

In this mansion where security was so tight that outsiders couldn’t enter…

Nils instinctively realized.

That this maid was one of those serving the Duke and Duchess Belvedere underground.

Not long after being appointed as the young Marquis’s aide, half the servants had gone underground, so there were several people he hadn’t met.

“I-I’m looking for the young master, is he not here by any chance?”

The maid asked for Dietrich with an anxious expression, trembling.

The title ‘young master’ was only used 9 years ago.

It seemed she hadn’t seen Dietrich while underground.

“I am the young Marquis’s aide. He is currently absent, so you can relay the message to me.”

“He’s not in the mansion right now? This won’t do, ah. Ah.”

Upon hearing Dietrich was gone, she fell into a panic. Soon she began muttering to herself as if insane.

Realizing the maid’s condition was not good, Nils urgently approached her.

“Are you alright?”

Nils’s question didn’t seem to reach the maid’s ears.

“I must, I must quickly tell the young master…”

Constantly muttering to herself, she suddenly fainted and collapsed.

Nils realized something ominous was happening underground.