Yu-an, in a daze, watched their elongated shadows stretch towards her feet before she stumbled after them.

She saw Emperor Igor following Clad upstairs, and suddenly, Crown Prince Boloniko appeared and passed by Yu-an like a shadow, trailing behind them.

A parrot brought by Boloniko and dozens of foreign servants followed them into Clad Upris’ private space like ducklings.

The atmosphere was excited, the murmuring voices filled with anticipation, like people entering a circus.

Standing alone at the top of the stairs, Yu-an wrapped her face with both hands.

Tears, seemingly endless, soaked through her splayed fingers.

Yu-an cried without even realizing she was crying.

Soon, a man’s wailing voice seemed to echo distantly, as if in her head, shaking her.

Covering her ears with both hands, unable to stop the torrent of tears, she also silently sobbed there.

Just as she had sobbed behind locked doors in the Peliesse mansion for the past ten years.

Hiding her pain and struggles desperately from others.

Perhaps Clad Upris had locked himself in his bedroom for the same reason – to preserve the last shred of his dignity.

“Stop, please stop…”

The mere thought of becoming a spectacle was mortifying to Yu-an.

Clad, who had refused to step out of his bedroom to hide his disfigurement, was now there, in front of countless people, turned into a jester.

Regardless of the intention.

Just for not ignoring Yu-an.

That night.

For the first time in days, Clad Upris’ painful screams echoed through the second floor.

Along with strange sounds.

The giggles of spectators.

And the parrot’s eerie voice repeating, ‘Look at that. Look at that. My goodness. My goodness.’

The spectators on the second floor returned to their rooms only at dawn.

In the dimly lit bedroom before sunrise.

Yu-an saw a long figure sprawled on the floor like discarded rags.

With swollen eyes, she entered the room and reassured Clad, who flinched at her approach.

“It’s me, it’s me.”

Clad, without relaxing his body, lifted his head while lying face down.

The man, now with only half his face restored, staggered to his feet.

Clad, striding towards her, grabbed her shoulders and pinned her against the wall, gnashing his teeth as if nursing an aftermath.

“I told you not to wander alone.”

“I need treatment.”

“Why are you lingering here now, huh?”

It was the first time Yu-an saw Clad genuinely angry.

Even when he had unwanted guests or on their unwilling wedding night, such intense emotion never showed in his eyes.

Yu-an, tears flowing uncontrollably, nodded.

Tears trembled on her chin, but Clad seemed unsatisfied, continuing to rebuke her.

“I told you not to wander alone. On your own accord. Not to make a mess. Without permission. Alone. I told you not to.”

He was clearly referring to the events of last night and now.

Yu-an, remembering the agonizing moans that had pierced the night, nodded soothingly.

“I’m sorry. It was my fault. I thought it would be safe at home.”

“Home?”

Clad stretched his bloodied lips into a smirk, his shoulders shaking a few times in hollow laughter.
Yu-an held her breath, fearing that Clad would immediately tell her that this was not her home and to leave.

Was it contempt, disgust, or… anxiety?

She felt his eyes, brimming with an indefinable emotion, piercing her face.

What could she say to prevent him from looking at her that way?

Yu-an, instead of provoking him further, reached out with trembling arms.

She extended her slender hand, gently touching his torn and dirtied uniform before carefully embracing him.

She buried herself into his rigid body, her tear-soaked cheek pressing against Clad’s hardened chest, rumored to be rotting.

Holding him tightly, Yu-an whispered, “I’m sorry. I wasn’t careful. I didn’t know the Emperor would go that far. I’m sorry, really sorry.”

Yu-an repeated the same words like a child throwing a tantrum, pleading and simultaneously absorbing his pain.

The agony he must have endured in front of the tyrant all night poured into her like rain.

Yu-an, now fully accepting her deserving punishment, absorbed much more pain than she usually would.

“Don’t leave me,” she pleaded.

‘Don’t throw me out of this house. I was wrong, I’ll accept my punishment…’

Throughout her pleading, Yu-an couldn’t bear the realization that she was making such requests only to escape the hellish Peliesse.

The only way to overcome her guilt was to ensure Clad could finally sleep peacefully.

Clad, who had been panting heavily, gradually relaxed.

Yu-an laid him down and then sobbed loudly for a long time, just as he had done the previous night.

The night Yu-an sobbed in despair, Regina stealthily went to the black mansion’s backyard to carefully open a letter that had arrived that evening.

[Count Trelloni will arrive late to the party and join on the second day. Thinking of you anxiously waiting makes my heart ache. If you too find it hard to sleep, will you wait for me in the mansion’s backyard?]