Faced with Siegfried revealing his demonic form, Leonie unknowingly tried to scream.

However, this was stopped by Siegfried’s large hand.

With his hand covering her nose and mouth, Leonie couldn’t even breathe properly, let alone scream.

All she could do was shed tears.

Watching this quietly, Siegfried grinned cunningly.

“Wouldn’t I be hurt if you’re so shocked by your husband’s true appearance? Don’t you think so, wife?”

The demon spat out words he didn’t even mean, as if he was playing with her.

Leonie’s fear grew stronger and stronger at his nonchalant attitude.

She trembled like an aspen tree as she slowly retreated.

But behind her was not the bed, but a cliff. In the end, she tumbled to the floor.

‘Run, I have to run……’

To humans, demons were still a mysterious existence.

Each individual used different abilities, and they were far superior to ordinary humans, making them difficult to capture.

So Leonie also had no way of knowing exactly what that demon would do to her……

But one thing was certain.

If she didn’t escape from this place, she would surely meet a terrible end.

So it was clear that she had to get up and run away immediately…… but her legs wouldn’t move as she wanted.

No matter how she tried to stand up, her strength would give out and she would fall again.

Leonie began crawling on the floor with the sole thought of surviving.

Dressed in thin clothes, crawling on all fours like a beast with shaking arms and legs, it was somewhat ridiculous.

Siegfried followed slowly behind her, as if she was his plaything.

Always able to catch her, only giving her the vague hope that she might be able to escape.

Leaving the bedroom and entering the corridor, Leonie glanced behind her.

Her husband-turned-demon’s expression was in contrast to her terrified one.

‘…… I absolutely can’t escape like this.’

In her own way, she was trying hard to run away, but even she could guess that these efforts were meaningless.

However, she couldn’t think of any other suitable method. She was not a trained knight, nor could she use magic.

This was all she could do.

But at that moment, something flashed in her mind.

It was what Vivian had said a few months ago when she visited her home.

“Make sure to wear this on your wedding night. You’ll find out why that night.”

Vivian’s expression was as serious as if she was giving an important piece of advice.

At that time, there was no way to understand why she suddenly blurted out such words after getting angry.

Of course, Leonie had no intention of trying to understand Vivian’s advice.

But now that this happened on the wedding night of all times, she came to understand it even though she didn’t want to.

‘No way…… did elder sister know that Siegfried was a demon?’

Anger welled up inside her.

It was clear. Her elder sister knew that the man who would become her husband was a demon.

She must have also been well aware that this would happen on their wedding night.

Nevertheless, she didn’t even give her a hint about the truth.

All she did was irresponsibly hand over a single necklace, putting on an act of being kind and pitiful.

Vivian was always being hypocritical, only pretending to be kind.

If she was truly a good person, she should have tried to stop this marriage somehow!

Resentment toward Vivian swirled like a vortex in Leonie’s mind.

She didn’t recall the things she herself had done to her. Including sending an assassin not long ago.

‘If I make it back alive…… I will never forgive you. This time, I will ruin that face that pretends to be so good!’

But to do that, she first had to escape from this situation somehow.

Leonie hurried to her room. Now that she thought there was a way to survive, her legs that wouldn’t move gained speed.

Siegfried was still following a few steps behind her, but that was enough.

All she needed was to get that necklace before he laid hands on her body.

However, her brief hope crumbled like sand blown by the wind in an instant.

The moment she touched the jewelry box in her room, Siegfried was standing in front of her as if he had teleported, despite having been some distance away.

“Oh…… I was wondering what my wife was looking for.”

Opening the jewelry box, Siegfried exclaimed as if interested.

He then took out the necklace from inside.

Seeing this, Leonie’s expression was dyed with despair.

A necklace with a black gemstone on a silver chain. It was what Vivian had given her.

“It seems Vivian Schmidt cared for you quite a bit as a younger sister. Even preparing something like this for you.”

“Give it back!”

“Hmm? If it was such a precious item, you should have worn it. Instead of neglecting it like this. Then something like this wouldn’t have happened.”

Crunch.

The necklace was mercilessly shattered in the demon’s hand.

Cracks appeared in Leonie’s expression, just like the terribly shattered gemstone.

Siegfried opened his fist above Leonie’s head.

The black gemstone that had been reduced to powder scattered over her hair.

“But don’t worry too much, young lady Leonie.”

“Eek, get away!”

Leonie screamed in terror at the demon’s action of getting down on one knee, as if to match her eye level as she sat there.

But the demon paid no heed to her reaction and only continued with what he wanted to say.

“I’m not so cruel as to kill a woman who became my wife with my own hands, even if only for a day.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Siegfried, no, Belial, raised one corner of his mouth crookedly.

Overwhelmed by his evil gaze, Leonie could no longer move.

Then Siegfried grabbed her chin with his fingers.

Through the surface of the skin that made contact, a strange energy that was difficult to describe began seeping into her body.

Was it pain? No, it was too bizarre to be called pain.

It was as if all the negative emotions in her heart were being drawn out and amplified hundreds and thousands of times.

From her childhood to recent events. The memories from that time were being replayed in front of her eyes in a distorted manner.

Anger. Despair. Resentment. Her emotions rode on a rollercoaster, but the fact that it was an unpleasant feeling remained unchanged.

She felt like she would suffocate and die from the ever-intensifying vortex of emotions.

“Stop, please stop……”

Leonie rolled on the floor, tearing at her hair frantically.

Then she began scratching her entire body so hard that it started bleeding.

The pain of feeling like her mind was splitting apart was so terrible that she’d rather her body hurt instead.

But no matter how much she stabbed and tore at her body in a frenzy, the bizarre pain dominating her mind wouldn’t lessen.

Leonie prayed countless times in her head. Begging to be killed. No matter how painful dying was, it would surely be better than this.

But there was no way the demon would grant her wish.

Leonie writhed in agony worse than death for a long time.

Cracks were forming in her soul, but there was nothing else she could do.

In the end, Leonie’s soul was split into hundreds of fragments. Demonic energy endlessly seeped through those cracks.

Siegfried removed his hand that had been touching Leonie’s body.

Then she collapsed to the floor with a thud like a dead person.

‘Is it finally over……?’

Even if the soul was shattered, consciousness didn’t completely disappear.

Even if she completely lost control over her body, it was still possible to have limited thoughts through the pieces of her soul.

However, this was by no means a good thing. Because she was forced to watch her body move according to the demon’s orders.

Even if she didn’t want to see, she couldn’t close her eyes as she wished. Every single movement of her eyelids was controlled by the demon.

“Young lady Leonie, you should get up. How can the crown princess look so unsightly?”

Leonie’s body immediately reacted to Siegfried’s voice.

Like a puppet with strings attached, her joints moved grotesquely with creaking sounds.

Siegfried, who was in front of her after she stood on two feet, shook his head as if displeased with something.

“You shouldn’t make that expression in front of your husband.”

Immediately, the corners of her mouth shot up towards the sky.

It was clear she was smiling, but her eyes were lifelessly empty.

Similar to the eyes of a frozen dead fish.

She tried to move her body somehow with her mind. But this was impossible.

Her shattered soul had already lost control of her body.

And so, Leonie became the demon’s puppet.

A puppet that breathed and moved according to the demon’s orders.

Unlike an ordinary doll, the soul that was the owner of her body was screaming inside to stop, but it was a meaningless cry.

The puppet show would not stop until the day the puppeteer allowed it.

Two days had passed.

Vivian looked at the newsletter Ren handed her with an unbelievable expression.

In fact, it was only natural for anyone, not just her, to have a serious reaction. That’s how shocking the contents of the newsletter were.

The incident occurred yesterday.

The location was the celebratory banquet held the day after the wedding of Prince Siegfried.

In front of people, the crown princess was caught trying to assassinate the prince.

Through investigation, it was revealed that the one who instigated this was the crown princess’s family.

The Schmidt Marquis family had devised a meticulous scheme to assassinate the royal family.

The exact purpose was not revealed.

The emperor, enraged, ordered all members of the marquis family to be arrested.

The marquis and marchioness were quickly apprehended. The emperor handed over their identities to Prince Siegfried.

However, not all family members had been arrested yet.

The illegitimate child, who was said to have left the family, had not been caught.

Siegfried ordered soldiers to be deployed to find even the last member.

Vivian, who learned all these facts through the newsletter, fell silent in confusion.

It was because she realized in an instant that Siegfried, that demon, had not only brainwashed Leonie, but was also making moves to catch her.