It would take half a day to move from here to the warp gate.

But Raffin said one day.

The remaining time was half a day.

Juliette could only lie down like this for half a day.

It felt like tears would burst from gratitude and despair.

But Bianca, wiping away the welling tears, got up from her seat and rallied the knights.

She was the owner who had to take responsibility for the North with Jilian.

Tears didn’t suit her.

“Please have a safe return after a day.”

The situation where she had to send the frozen knights away without even giving them time to melt was too cruel, making her voice dry and crispy.

“Sending you like this…”.
In a moment when Bianca was about to bow lightly with a sorry feeling, a broad back came out in front of her and covered her.

“No matter how busy you are, you must have time to drink water.”

“Alex.”

“I’m a nature butler, Alex.”

Although he looked like a knight, Alex naturally guided the knights to the 1st floor.

“After sending you like this, the Duchess will be heartbroken for a long time, so please have at least a warm drink and depart.”

It was polite, warm, and also a kindness that was not burdensome.

The knights gladly accepted the ‘warm drink’.

The crowded knights went straight down with Alex, and only Raffin, Juliette, and Bianca remained.

Bianca slowly turned her body and bowed deeply to Raffin.

“Why are you doing this!”

Surprised, Raffin tried to stop her, but Bianca stubbornly did not lift her head.

“Thank you.”

“…Madam.”

“Another owner of Balorok… I said it on purpose. Because Juliette can’t be moved right away… right?”

Raffin didn’t answer.

But not answering didn’t mean he didn’t know.

Seeing Raffin, who avoided her gaze, even with his neck turning red, smiling for a moment, Bianca lowered her voice and asked.

“Is the situation really bad? This is my first wave, so I don’t know much, but it seems serious enough to evacuate the territory completely…”

“There has never been an enemy like this before.”

Bianca’s heart sank at the answer without any hesitation or contemplation.

“Could it be that Jilian did something wrong?”

“I don’t know.”

What?

She didn’t expect such an answer to the question she threw, just in case…

“I, I don’t know? So, could Jilian be wrong?”

If her heart was pounding a while ago, now it felt like the ground under her feet was crumbling.

Bianca had an unhappy life, but she had never experienced hell like this.

Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, there was a bottom worse than that waiting for her.

The ruined consulate that sided with her.

The execution of Silas, the Duke who had been by her side.

Bianca had to let go of these breath-like beings one by one, and even forcibly.

It was so horrible that it couldn’t be explained simply by the word ‘loss’.

This could be called hell.

And then the Emperor called.

‘You don’t want to let go of the competent Elian Viscount.’

Terrified by the ominous threat of murder, Bianca, who was scared to death and vowed to die on her own, set out to find Jilian Balorok.

She had no strength to endure anymore.

If the end of such a life became someone’s salvation, she was willing to endure it.

However, Jilian Balorok did not kill Bianca Termina.

Not only that, he shared warmth that Bianca had never experienced before.

The warmth she tasted for the first time in her life was sweet, thick, and electrifying to the point of fear.
Bianca knew that her emotions were growing frighteningly like a rain-soaked sprout. Despite the vague anticipation that the end wouldn’t be good, she couldn’t stop the growing emotions. No, she rather let them go with a sense of relief, knowing that it would be a fleeting daydream that wouldn’t come back. Of course, she had anticipated the end. But.

“Jillian is from Balorok, right?”

But.

“He is the Duke of Balorok.”

But.

This is too much.

He claimed to be stronger than anyone under this sky.

He said he would come back.

He never broke the oath even once!

Resentment for the unexpected betrayal accumulated in her chest without end. Bianca felt like her heart was being torn apart as if it were on a chopping block. Whether it was right to be cursed, born by devouring her mother, she didn’t know. Bianca recalled each of those who had perished by her side. The consulate, Silas Balorok, Juliette, and Jillian. Every time she recalled them, her breath felt suffocating.

If she hadn’t been involved with them…

The overwhelming despair that flooded in without any resistance felt like it was swallowing her.

“There is still nothing certain.”

Ah…

Bianca exhaled a long breath as if vomiting out the despair that had piled up blackly.

“Wait a moment, please. I will go down to the 1st floor to find out the exact situation.”

Raffin’s words overlapped with Hailey’s voice.

‘I’ll be right up. Other than protecting the rear, the commanders don’t have much to do. Since the wave is almost handled by the Duke alone, we’re just clearing a few stragglers away.’

What does it mean that the commanders who were supposed to protect the Duke in the rear are protecting the retreating knights? No matter how much she thought about it, there was only one answer.

“Was he afraid?”

The breath-taking cold and the accumulating white snow.

Standing alone against everything, and more than anything, was he…

“Was he lonely?”

“Madam. It’s premature to conclude.”

“Raffin Kyeong. As you said, I am another owner of Balorok.”

Bianca wiped her wet cheek cleanly and tidied up her disheveled hair.

“I will stay here and wait for him to return.”

“It can’t be done.”

“If he doesn’t come back, then as the ‘owner,’ I will face the end together with Balorok’s castle.”

Raffin shouted at her words.

“Madam!”