Even amidst unusual circumstances, the daily lives of the imperial citizens flowed unchanged.

As an old saying in the empire goes, love happens and children are born even during times of war.

Especially Cassian was one of the people with the most composure among them.

He closed his eyes with a faint smile on his lips.

The image of the woman blinking in disbelief flashes by like an afterimage.

How dare she be surprised by his answer after she said she loved him first.

Those in love all want an answer befitting that.

The woman wearing a visibly fake mask reacted to him with an unusually honest body.

As if unable to hide her trembling breath and hot sighs that pulsed with life.

Holding onto that woman for quite a long time without letting go was quite an impulsive act.

It was unplanned to return to square one after deciding to act as a gentle man.

When she looks at him with such lustful eyes and whispers that she loves him, he can’t help it.

No, even if that wasn’t the case, he would have done the same.

While you run away wearing your mask, I’m putting on new shackles on my own.

This game where we don’t know who the winner is until everything ends is quite exciting.

It’s quite stupid to undo all the shackles one by one with my own hands that I shouldn’t have undone in the first place, and then repeat that act again.

But it’s okay to do something stupid that you’ll never do again once in your life.

Exceptions always add interest to boring daily life.

Tiobe stared in shock at him sipping coffee instead of a cigar.

It was the first time seeing his lord like this.

“Did you really… take her to heart?”

The languidly closed eyelids opened gently, and the red eyes that had been hidden within flickered brightly.

Facing Tiobe with worried eyes, Cassian gently curled up the corners of his mouth.

“What is that?”

“Are you asking… how to know if you’re in love?”

It was an unbelievable question coming from the mouth of the lord whom everyone calls a genius.

However, Tiobe soon packaged it as a rather philosophical question.

It was natural for a knight to answer his lord’s question, but this question was difficult.

To ask such a question to someone who has never been in love even once.

Tiobe squeezed out an answer to the question that was no different from a difficult problem.

“I don’t know since I’ve never experienced it myself, but I have read about it.”

Cassian sipped his coffee with a relaxed demeanor unlike someone who had asked the question.

As if telling him to continue.

“They say love is like a fever that comes without you knowing.”

“……”

“And it keeps coming.”

“……”

“Even if you try to push it away, it rushes in. Oh, now that I say it out loud, it sounds kind of creepy.”

Tiobe, who pretended to shudder, discovered his lord with a smile on his lips and shuddered even more.

His lord was definitely not normal.

Like someone suffering from a fever.

Overcome with uneasiness, Tiobe quietly added while observing his lord’s reaction.

“They say when the other person is sick, you also feel sick and angry and such. Like someone imprinted by that curse.”

At Tiobe’s words, one corner of Cassian’s lips twisted upwards.

That he would hurt as much as that woman hurts.

If that’s love, well.

Can it be said that he, who is trying to become a terrible worm burrowing into that woman’s heart to inflict punishment that will blacken it, is doing such a thing?

Indeed, what he’s doing resembles childish revenge rather than love.

Well, considering he inflicted the wounds with his own hands…

Over these bitter thoughts, that woman’s trembling breaths wash over him.

What was it that shook to its roots every time that woman uttered words of love?

Was it his heart, or just instinct?

The situation in Norton’s Gorge changed day by day.

Amid the noisy situation, urgent reports poured out that the conflict would soon turn into war.

The imperial court moved urgently, dispatching a considerable number from the foreign affairs department as an envoy.

Tiobe also reported all of this without fail.

Of course, her daily life was included between reports.

His lord’s face, usually calm, showed no subtle changes even when talking about her.

In reality, it was strange how unremarkable her daily life was, so it was understandable.

The woman named Yuriel, as if obsessed with work, only went between her lodgings, the administrative building, and the magic tower.

It was also her characteristic to arrive at work earlier than anyone and leave later than anyone.

Now that she no longer even met with the silver-haired man, even the remaining peculiarity in her daily life had completely disappeared.

As the report was nearing its end, Tiobe placed the letters that had come for him in front of him as usual.

“There’s also a letter from her this time.”

Glancing at Tiobe, Cassian flipped through the letters several times without even opening them.

He stopped at the unsealed letter at the end and opened it first.

The letter unfolded under his casually moving fingertips.

As usual, neat handwriting resembling the woman filled his vision.

The sentences she used to write in detail when writing letters occasionally were nowhere to be found, and only the woman’s tired emotions were condensed into one sentence.

Cassian read the sentence that could be finished in just a few seconds several times again.

It was clearly a letter saying she was leaving, no matter how you looked at it.

It was ridiculous.

This woman who could give up her own life but not her mother’s life.

This woman who never wrote to him first except when asking for favors.

The veins on Cassian’s fist stood out prominently.

Cassian rose, immediately grabbed his scabbard, and walked out.

Tiobe was momentarily surprised by his sudden movement but soon followed right behind him.

Discovering the sword attached to Cassian’s waist, Tiobe couldn’t hide his shock.

Cassian’s tightly clenched jawline looked as if he could kill someone right away.

Would it become a bloody night of slaughter? Tiobe squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Surely that sword isn’t aimed at her.’

No matter what, she was once someone he held in his heart.

However, Tiobe knew that he only emitted such a fierce aura when it was related to ‘her’.

Tiobe swallowed hard and stared at Cassian’s chillingly emotionless profile.

After dinner, Yuriel hurriedly finished her makeup, put on a suitable necklace, and took out one of the dresses the man had bought for her.

Her steps moving to match the time written on the note were faster than usual.

It was because of the sudden note and the little time left that she had to hurry.

Recalling the past when the time and place were generally the same, it was strange that today was much later.

But where had the man’s whims been just a day or two?

Thinking of him who usually called her to Marriott in the early evening, it was unexpected, but there was nothing strange about it.

It would just be another whim.

Her hurried steps soon reached the back of the square.

Perhaps because it was late at night, not a single person was visible at the back of the square.

To exaggerate a little, the atmosphere of the space was chilly and somewhat eerie, to the point where not even an ant could be seen.

Maybe it’s natural that there are no people at night since he chose this place because there were no people during the day.

Well, who would meet someone in such a secluded back of the square?

Anyway, it was a good thing for her who prefers spaces without people.

Blanchet’s carriage, which always came early and waited, seemed to be a little late today.

As she settled into the empty space, the cool temperature rapidly lowered her body temperature.

Pulling up her jacket against the chilly wind whipping her face, she wrapped her cold arms, and some warmth returned.

Suddenly, the man’s voice seemed to brush past her ear.

Saying he loved her.

Remembering the man who whispered that he loved her made her heart turbulent.

Over the rippling afterimage, his red eyes seemed to be looking at her.

If he really liked her…

Only after the pointless agonizing continued did the sound of hooves gradually approach.

The carriage gradually grew larger, revealing its form.

It was a somewhat shabby carriage compared to the Blanchet-exclusive carriages she had seen so far. But she got on the carriage without much suspicion, and then the door closed with a click.

‘Where is the man?’

Only then did the suspicious points come into view.

The interior without a single Blanchet seal, the carriage turned in a different direction, the absence of the familiar coachman who was always waiting…

Unlike the coachman’s words to just wait a little after getting on, the carriage started moving as soon as she boarded.

As soon as she grasped the situation, she shouted where they were going and to stop, but the carriage moved forward as if galloping.

The scream she let out from the fear enveloping her whole body was an instinctive cry for help.

However, the desperate scream couldn’t penetrate the closed window and returned as an echo.

The window wouldn’t budge at all with her strength, as if it had been fixed somehow.

All she could do was pound on the carriage walls.

The instinctive cries that escaped her lips continued without stopping.

“Let me out!”

But the more she screamed, the more the carriage increased its speed.

It feels like the strange puzzle pieces are gradually falling into place.

‘Could I have been kidnapped?’