Bianca momentarily failed to understand what she had heard.

“What did you say?”

“I will escort you out.”

Come with me.

The man had already sat up straight, extending his hand toward Bianca.

His fingers were long and straight, remarkably large.

Suddenly realizing he was a man, Bianca took an involuntary step back.

The man was nothing more than an overexcited merchant, yet a strange pressure emanated from him.

It felt like being dragged before an emperor and being forced to kneel.

It was a sense of powerlessness she hadn’t felt in a long time.

“What kind of place is this?”

The man’s tone changed in an instant.

Tch.

Slowly brushing back his disheveled hair with his tongue clicked, he seemed leisurely.

It wasn’t due to impatience.

He was thoroughly at ease.

Ease?

The moment she thought something was off, the man’s scathing eyes felt like they were smothering her.

A familiar wave of powerlessness washed over her, making her knees wobble as if they were about to collapse.

‘Lafin is outside!’

Biting her cheeks, she managed to stand tall, but she couldn’t prevent the chill that ran through her body.

“Isn’t this beneath you?”

“Watch your mouth.”

It was a short sentence, yet Bianca had to exert considerable effort not to grind her teeth.

How could she explain this?

Fear?

Trepidation?

Apathy?

These longforgotten feelings were hard to put into a single word.

“Something more?”

Watching the man slowly rise from his seat, Bianca had an epiphany.

This feeling, for the first time since coming to Barlock Territory!

It was the same emotion she felt, confined in the palace, burdened day after day.

The misery of being too noble to exist as ‘one person’.

That was exactly it.

The man looked at her with that kind of gaze.

“You saved me.”

His voice was exceedingly polite, yet he looked down.

As much as his voice was submissive, so was his gaze.

He didn’t look like someone who had received a favor.

Rather, he seemed like a condescending ruler willing to bestow favors.

Instinctively, she felt repulsion.

“I will take you out.”

“I decline.”

“You don’t have to be cautious. You didn’t come here of your own will.”

“You say I didn’t come of my own will?”

Something snapped in her mind.

Blinded by rage, she failed to sense the oppressive aura that had enveloped her body.

You say I didn’t come of my own will?

After being thrown out to die, now you say you’ll help me escape? How dare you, in front of whom?

When Silerus Barlock died and the Emperor cowardly wrapped his tail, pushing me to die under the name ‘marital alliance,’ who stepped in?

You dare to say now that I didn’t come here of my own will?

Her boiling anger passed the tipping point and exploded like a volcano.

Her thoughts were disjointed, and she couldn’t form a proper sentence.

Never in her life had she been this angry.

“How dare you!”

At the sound of Bianca’s infuriated voice, the man’s face momentarily tightened as he slowly raised his hands.

“Did I anger you again?”

“My lady!”

Before the man could finish, the door swung open, and Lafin and Julie entered.

Lafin immediately drew his sword and aimed it at the man.

“What’s happening?”

Both were visibly shocked.

The supposedly unconscious patient was standing upright, and Bianca was furious.

To them, Bianca was softer than a swan’s down.

A woman who always had a gentle face, spoke in a soft voice, and was tender and kind.

Someone who smiled at the maid’s nagging and nodded her head when scolded by the sixstar fortress commander.

Such a woman was angry.

Julie also tensed up and examined Bianca.

“Should we remove him?”

Now!

Yet, contrary to her thoughts, her mouth remained sealed, unable to move.
Bianca’s gaze never left the man who was waving his arms wildly.

Filled with the desire to punish the man who had disrespected her, she couldn’t look away from his wretched appearance.

How distasteful.

Is this what hypocrisy is?

What would Gillian do?

What would the master of Barlock do?

In a moment, numerous thoughts entered and exited her mind.

After a while, Bianca raised her hand to point at the man.

“Make sure you don’t catch my eye again. Your lack of manners constantly annoys me.”

“…I will be careful.”

Bianca didn’t respond, her face icy at the man’s words.

Exiting the room, Bianca was swiftly followed by Julia and Laphin.

“Are you alright?”

“…”

Not alright.

But she couldn’t bring herself to punish the man, as it would make her feel like a loser.

‘You didn’t come here willingly, did you?’

‘Is this cold alright with you?’

Could her anger be because he hit the mark?

The man was rude, but he wasn’t wrong.

She hadn’t come willingly.

She wasn’t adapted to the cold.

Her condition as seen from the outside was exactly as the man had said.

There was nothing more or less to it.

It might have been late kindness, in hindsight.

But kindness that came too late had turned into poison.

‘I will take you with me.’

‘Come with me.’

All of this should have happened in the summer.

Before Bianca met Gillian.

Before Bianca trembled alone in fear.