I nodded gently to the coachman. The coachman closed the door and retreated, and the carriage departed.

After the banquet, Edmond became a duke and a ducal family-exclusive portal was created. It was a commemorative gift bestowed by the Emperor on the day of the banquet.

In the empire, only the imperial family had exclusive portals, and even in the world, it was rare for a single family that wasn’t a monarch to own one. This showed how much favor he received from the Emperor.

Thanks to this, travel time was twice as fast, and I was also benefiting. Above all, the worry that Devon might try to steal the will had disappeared.

The portal was strictly managed under Duke Mifidian, and his people were equipped with rigorous procedures and some degree of self-defense skills.

Seeing this, being under surveillance isn’t all bad.

I rested my arm on the window frame and listlessly looked around at the passing shops.

Weapon shops, fortune-telling houses, bakeries, outdoor cafes, general stores, and so on…

Though they had everything, they were strangely old and worn-down shops.

Then suddenly I realized that the place we arrived at through the portal wasn’t the capital.

‘Did we arrive at the wrong place?’

I hurriedly looked out the window.

We were leaving the village.

It was a rural village showing a clear cultural difference from the capital, with lush forests and huge mountain ridges visible.

With a strange sense of unease, I drew back the curtain and tapped on the inner wall to call the coachman on the other side.

But the coachman showed no reaction. The surroundings were quiet and desolate, so he should have heard.

I tried pulling hard on the carriage door. It made a rattling sound but didn’t open.

It’s locked after all. I bit my lip with growing anxiety.

Should I try shouting out the carriage window? No, we’ve passed the village and there are no people. Yelling might provoke the coachman or attract wild animals.

Should I try persuading again, would that work? He’s already not even attempting to listen…

As I was frantically thinking, the carriage stopped. It was a very dark and desolate alley without a sign of life.

Creeak-.

The moment the carriage door opened. Without time to react, a masked man covered my mouth with a damp handkerchief.

“Mmph!”

For an instant, I inhaled. The powerful drug made my head spin and my eyelids grow heavy, but I resisted fiercely and kicked the assailant in the abdomen.

Ugh! As the assailant fell backwards, I jumped out of the carriage. After taking a few steps, my strength gave out and I collapsed.

Haah, rough breaths burst out and my mind grew hazy.

Was there some drug on the handkerchief? Unable to keep my balance, my body swayed and finally fell heavily to the side.

With my head on the ground, I looked up at the dim sky. In my gradually narrowing vision, a blurry man stood with folded arms, looking down at me.

Recognizing the familiar figure, I stretched out a trembling hand towards the man with all my remaining strength.

“Ugh, you…”

But soon my hand fell limply and my vision flickered like a blown fuse.

I swallowed the name that never left my lips and was carried away by someone. By the time a little while had passed, even the thin thread of nerves to feel that had disappeared.

Ha! I opened my eyes with a start, my chest heaving as if I’d emerged from water onto land.

Haah, haah, I looked around with blurry eyes while exhaling rough breaths.

As my vision cleared, I saw a space that looked like a shabby private home.

I was lying on a bed.

The moment I tried to move to get up, there was a clanking sound and a taut force pulled at my arms. I belatedly realized that both arms were bound to the sides of the bed.

I hurriedly tried to exert force on my wrists, but I only felt the firmness of the restraints.

Damn it. As I cursed and took ragged breaths, I suddenly flinched at the sound of the door opening.

All my nerves were focused on the approaching presence and my body stiffened. When the other party came to the bedside, I slowly raised my head.

I let out a cold laugh at the man visible through my disheveled red hair.

“So it was you after all, Devon…”

Devon was looking down at me nonchalantly with his chin raised, despite being the kidnapper. A chill ran down my spine at his cold gaze.

“You guessed right, madam. Should I applaud? Or.”

Devon bent down and whispered softly as he brushed back my hair.

“Should I pat your head?”

An unpleasant shiver ran through my whole body.

His hand in my rough hair was so abhorrent I wanted to cut it off immediately, and his breath falling on my forehead was so filthy I wanted to peel off my skin.

When I turned my head to avoid his touch, a rough hand grabbed my chin.

“Let go of this.”

“You should look at me.”

“I said let go!”

“I said look at me, didn’t I?”

Devon, who had been speaking gently at first, raised his voice when I resisted by tensing my neck.

“Look!”

“What’s there to see in that filthy face?”

“Ha! This isn’t the time to be so relaxed, Etricia.”

I blew away the hair that had fallen over my face while my head was raised, and smirked. It was amusing how smug this arrogant bastard was, thinking so highly of himself.

“What can you do?”

“What?”

Devon’s eyes narrowed fiercely as the muscles in his face tensed and trembled.

My pulse raced rapidly and cold sweat ran down my spine, but I struggled to maintain an indifferent attitude.

It wasn’t just a simple provocation. It was to avoid appearing weak. If I lost the upper hand in this state, I didn’t know which direction that bastard would go wild in.

“That’s right. What can you do when you’ve always lived like a parasite? Your only pride is being the legitimate heir of a noble family. Look at you now, kidnapping me is the extent of your capabilities.”

“You…!”

“Have you thought about what will happen next? Did you anticipate the consequences that will follow? Did you consider how to resolve it?”

Kuk. Devon swallowed a groan as if caught off guard.

I lowered my eyebrows and made an expression of great pity.

“Oh, Devon. You should have just signed the divorce papers and made a graceful exit. Then I would have only remembered you as a simple fool.”

“This…”

Devon’s face flushed with anger as he trembled, then abruptly released his grip on my hair.

“Fine, you’re right.”

Devon turned towards the mirror placed at the head of the bed. He clicked his tongue at his wrinkled shirt and pants. He took a few deep breaths, then brushed off and straightened his crumpled clothes. It was a very leisurely attitude, as if no one could interfere.

Devon glanced at my hardened expression and smirked. Then he sat down, smoothing back his hair.

“You know, I’ve decided to forgive you.”

“What?”

“If you hand over the will certificate now and write a note promising never to mention divorce again, this little… deviation? Hmm.”

Devon nodded with a rather generous expression, then met my gaze and sneered.

“Well, it’s not incomprehensible. We’re family after all.”

Family?

Ha, this is ridiculous.

I gritted my teeth and glared fiercely at Devon.

Right, there was a time I thought we were family.

But soon I realized the harsh reality.

When was that?

When I realized I could never be a true member of their family. So I became helpless in the face of Antra’s neglect and humiliation. When I gathered the courage to run away, only to realize I had nowhere to go… Yes, that’s when I collapsed in front of the mansion, crying my heart out, giving up in despair and buried in loneliness.

“Devon, you’re seriously mistaken. Who wants to pretend to be that kind of impossible family?”

“Ha, then what do you want me to do? I’m saying I’ll love you as my wife. What more do you want?”

Love, the moment I heard that word, an unprecedentedly deep anger swirled in my chest.

“You think just saying you love me makes it sweet? You’ve never loved me even once.”

“How would you know that?”

“How can I not feel it? I feel it in everything.”

“…”

“Your gestures, your gaze, your tone, even your breathing! I can feel that you never loved me…!”

Tears that had welled up in my eyes now fell in drops beside my temples. These were tears containing the frustrations of the past, certainly not because of him. Yes, it had to be so. My pride wouldn’t allow me to cry because of that bastard.

Even if I told him a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times, he would never realize how he had hurt me.

When my trembling breath calmed, I opened my mouth.

“Seeing you act like this, I guess you’ve been driven into a corner. You’d better untie me now. You won’t be able to do anything to me.”

“Well, is that so?”

Devon leisurely reached over my face. Holding something, he smiled coldly and showed me a small brown glass bottle, shaking it.

“Look at this, it’s medicine for you to drink. They say it was used in the past to make slaves obedient? It was hard to obtain.”

“What?”

“Even a small amount, once you drink it, your mind becomes dull and you recognize the other person’s words as commands. They say when used on women, it often has the side effect of acting like an aphrodisiac, but so what? We’re husband and wife after all.”

Then he leaned down and whispered in a chilling voice.

“You’ll drink this, and in a dazed state, you’ll write the note. A promise to be with me forever, written by your own hand.”