Edmond bent his knee to meet Devon at eye level.

Devon gripped his waist and glared at Edmond with trembling lips.

“Where is the key to unlock the Countess’s hands?”

“You, bastard……”

“It’s better to speak quickly. I’m not good at dealing with people, so I can’t control myself.”

Edmond spat out the words and his eyes flashed like those of a beast. His gaze, cold as frost, seemed like it could freeze even blood vessels. Under that fierce stare, Devon felt as if his neck had been cut off hundreds of times in that short moment.

“Last chance. The key.”

“Ni-nightstand.”

Edmond, binding Devon’s wrists with one hand, headed towards the nightstand.

With both arms tied, Devon was helplessly dragged along, shedding a tear without the strength to resist.

Pop, Edmond threw down Devon’s hands and opened the nightstand to take out the key.

He used the key to unlock Etricia’s bound hands and carefully lowered them to her sides.

Moving cautiously so as not to wake her, Edmond frowned at the sight of her reddened wrists. They would likely bruise soon. And to think this was between husband and wife.

Edmond’s eyes returned to the nightstand. There were several bottles of drugs in addition to the key.

Behind him, he sensed Devon crawling towards the door.

‘He’s really something.’

Edmond slowly stood up and looked at Devon with contempt.

Devon, who had tried to check behind him and met Edmond’s eyes, flushed red with shame. But even in this utterly humiliating situation, he didn’t stop crawling while gritting his teeth.

It was then. Edmond stepped in front of Devon, who was crawling like a worm towards the door.

Devon looked up and his face turned pale as he met the cold eyes.

“We should check the effectiveness before you go, Count.”

Edmond had a bottle of medicine between each of his fingers. What followed was a scream no different from that of a beast.

Some time after the scream was heard, Rail, who had dealt with the group on the first floor, climbed the stairs.

“Master, I’ve dealt with the coachman and mercenaries…”

Tail, who entered the room after knocking, froze like a stone.

In front of the door was Devon, with several brown bottles stuck in his mouth, bloodied and with his eyes rolled back. Moreover, there were shoe prints on his groin…

Rail unconsciously covered his own groin and averted his eyes.

Edmond carefully lifted Etricia into his arms. Her breathing was rapid, but she was nestled against his chest with a face more stable than expected.

“Send that fellow back.”

“Send him back? Wouldn’t it be better to report this to the Imperial Palace and have him detained-”

Edmond’s cold eyes slowly glared at Rail.

“Do you intend to tarnish the Countess’s honor?”

“…I, I was short-sighted.”

This was a different kind of scandal than what Etricia had intended for divorce.

Edmond knew well that right and wrong didn’t matter in these kinds of incidents. In this type of case, the weak were hurt by mockery and ridicule. Moreover, with the noble society’s perception and social structure that was ungenerous to victims, all sorts of talk would go around, and she would find it unbearable, as if exposed naked.

He thought that even Etricia, as brazen as she could be, would find it difficult to handle. So for now, they should send him back, but make even breathing painful.

But disliking the idea of quietly sending him back right away, Edmond clicked his tongue and asked.

“What happened to the mercenary guild they hired?”

“We’ve made sure they can never operate a guild again.”

“Also find out Viscount Dien’s whereabouts. We need to tell him what results his son’s recklessness has brought.”

And that if he lays a hand on Devon again, the Mifidian family will move directly.

“Indeed, he’s the type to prioritize himself over his son, so he’ll likely ignore Devon’s plea for help. Understood.”

After giving these instructions, Edmond disappeared down the stairs carrying her.

Ha, Rail, left alone, buried his face in his hands.

Devon, who had collapsed unconscious, convulsed intermittently like a fish out of water.

Looking at the face swollen beyond recognition, more like a demon than a person, Rail clicked his tongue.

He had forgotten for a moment, having stayed in the system for so long. What kind of person his master was.

In fact, this was mild. In the forest, no one could match his cruelty and mercilessness.

‘Consider yourself lucky, trash.’

Rail loaded Devon into a carriage with a disgusted look and sent him to Viscount Dien’s residence.

“Oh my, Lady Etricia!”

Lilien ran out of the kitchen with flour on her nose. She didn’t even know that Etricia had been kidnapped.

As Edmond laid Etricia on the bed and stepped back, the maids moved in unison following Lilien’s instructions.

Lilien held Etricia’s hand tightly, wiping her sweat as she gasped for breath with cold sweats.

“Edmond, what happened, hm?”

“…It seems she’s caught a cold.”

“A cold?”

Edmond nodded slightly. If he told his weak-hearted sister the details of the incident, she might faint foaming at the mouth.

Although she found it strange that Etricia seemed to be suffering severely for just a cold, Lilien’s face was again filled with worry, seemingly having accepted the explanation somehow.

A doctor visited and examined Etricia, then administered medicine.

He said she would be in pain for a while, but the patient had to endure it and her condition would gradually improve as time passed. Instead, he instructed to frequently place cold wet towels on her forehead to draw out the heat.

After the doctor left the bedroom, Lilien went out to personally wet a handkerchief in cold water. She told Edmond not to move an inch until she returned.

In the silent bedroom, only Etricia’s breathing filled the air.

Her labored breathing was so fragile and precarious that it wouldn’t be strange if it stopped at any moment. Is she really alright? Just as Edmond was about to leave, unable to bear it any longer, thinking he might have to wake her to check,

“Ugh……”

Etricia twisted her body as if in pain. She looked like she was suffering from heat that couldn’t be expelled from her body.

Her reddened eyes and remaining moisture showed how bitterly she had cried.

The marks on her rubbed-raw wrists and unstable breathing. The traces of violent resistance were evident.

He had received reports monitoring Devon’s movements after he visited the mansion, but they were all about how Etricia was helplessly falling victim to his revenge.

So he had been reassured, but this was the result.

Although it wasn’t confirmed in the investigation, he thought that perhaps the inference that she might have been exposed to violence throughout her married life could be true.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it was obvious what kind of treatment she had endured from that man.

Reaching this thought, Edmond felt his insides burning for reasons he couldn’t understand about the inevitable past events. At the same time, he was angry at himself.

To let such a thing happen even when he was around.

To a woman in his domain, a woman he had been monitoring 24 hours a day… A woman who was startled even by ice, who was afraid of heights unlike her usual self, who was clever and intelligent but insensitive to his threats…

Maybe I should have killed that bastard after all. He muttered a small curse and sighed again as if to subdue his anger.

He knew the description of Etricia was contradictory, but Edmond didn’t think much of it.

Lilien would be coming up soon. Even if she didn’t notice the covered wrists, if she faced him with his face full of anger, the lie about it being a cold would be exposed.

Judging that it would be better to leave, even if he got scolded later, Edmond was about to turn his body to the opposite side of the bed.

That’s when Etricia grabbed the sleeve of his coat while tossing and turning.

Edmond stopped and opened his eyes a little wider. He looked back at the bed.

“Ugh……”

Etricia was making groaning sounds, biting her lips. Her brows were deeply furrowed as if having a bad dream.

She looked pitiful and heartbreaking. For him, it was an unfamiliar feeling towards Etricia as a person.

He knew that a seed of sympathy was sprouting inside him, but he couldn’t stop it. Just for today, she looked entirely like a wounded woman to him.

The time she spent running after divorce and revenge must not have been smooth. It was an act of rotting inside while smiling on the outside.

He knew that darkness better than anyone.

Even now, he has nightmares. Repeatedly running through an endlessly dark place like a plain, and having to helplessly let the enemy go out of fear, even with his parents’ bloody corpses lying there, in his childhood.

Edmond reached out his free hand and placed it on her forehead.

This much should be fine, right?

To lower his guard for a moment and comfort her fully. Wouldn’t it be alright?

‘I believe you.’

Just as he had been comforted by her. Just as he had been able to sleep soundly that day.

“Sleep well.”

Edmond hoped that, just for today, her nightmare would pass safely.

“La-Lady Etricia, slowly…!”

I gulped down the water Lilien handed me, panting as I sat leaning against the bed’s headboard.

Thud! After quenching my thirst, I slammed it down on the nightstand and glared into space with wide eyes.

‘That bastard dared to……”

I gritted my teeth and glared into the void.

Not content with disgracing me and fabricating my scandal, he kidnapped me to cover up his adultery scandal and prevent the divorce…

I squeezed my eyes shut. The rest was too horrible to think about anymore.

My insides were boiling and I felt disgusted, but one thing was certain – that incident had become a self-defeating move for the foolish Devon.

What an idiot.