“What, are you−.”

Perhaps due to the effects of the drug, Reus awkwardly stopped mid-sentence and swayed slightly.

“You’ve been having nightmares continuously since the day I said I would stay, haven’t you?”

“…”

“Actually, I knew you were having nightmares all along, but I pretended not to notice. Because that’s what you wanted.”

It was true that Reus had recently started having nightmares he hadn’t had in a while, so he couldn’t immediately respond.

“The reason I pretended not to know… was also because I didn’t know what kind of nightmares you were having.”

However, Roel could no longer ignore this after recently hearing Reus desperately calling out for his father in his sleep without realizing it.

“… You’re dreaming about your father, aren’t you?”

That was a misunderstanding. It would be a lie to say there was no guilt after abandoning revenge on his parents out of a desire to live, but rather, the nightmares that often troubled Reus were always dreams of a woman turning her back on him and walking away.

“Ah, no. That’s…”

Suddenly, Reus’s vision blurred drastically. He tried to focus his wavering gaze, but his eyes couldn’t properly capture the woman.

“You, this is why you…”

Reus was beginning to understand Roel’s slightly changed behavior over the past few days. The reason she had only been making very small requests that he would like.

For a brief moment, he had hoped that maybe she could finally see him, or perhaps she had changed her mind about accepting him, but those actions were merely to lower his guard.

“I’m sorry, Reus.”

“No… Don’t, leave… You promised, with me…”

“My existence is of no help to you.”

Reus, trying to hold onto Roel, couldn’t endure any longer and collapsed onto the table. Roel briefly caressed the cheek of the man who was groaning, trying to fight off the effects of the drug.

“You’ll realize that this is the right thing too.”

“You promised…! Don’t go…”

“So please don’t resent me too much.”

“Don’t, go. No… Roel−!”

Reus gritted his teeth, squeezing out his last bit of strength, but Roel only cast a pitying gaze. Soon, Roel stroked his cheek once more and left a small kiss on it.

This would probably be their last night together, after all.

“I’m sorry that this is all I can do for you. I’m truly sorry for lying too. But… please don’t get hurt. Don’t die either.”

I hope you survive and succeed in your revenge.

With those words, Reus’s eyes closed. He could no longer fight off the overwhelming drowsiness.

He tried to move his arm one last time to grab the woman, but not even a finger twitched. His gradually blurring vision soon went completely dark.

The feeling of betrayal at being deceived by Roel, the anxiety that always followed him like a shadow, and the emotion of falling into an abyss all gradually faded and eventually disappeared completely.

And when he finally opened his eyes again at dawn, Roel, who had never left his sight, was already gone.

“Roel…”

The woman’s face as she bid her final farewell. The cold words spoken in a gentle voice. The empty bedroom. Even though he had seen and felt it all with his own eyes, Reus still couldn’t accept the situation he was in.

“No. It can’t be.”

She said she wouldn’t leave. Roel had whispered to him, comforting him without being asked, telling him not to worry.

So this must surely be the worst nightmare he had ever had.

There’s no way Roel would have abandoned me.

Reus left the bedroom. His slippers were gone, and he trampled the carpet barefoot.

Reus didn’t care at all about what he looked like as he walked through the Grand Duke’s castle. He just focused all his attention on finding any trace of the woman.

But there was no sign of her to be found. No matter how much Reus denied it, the fact that Roel had left wouldn’t change. But Reus continued to deny it until the end.

“No… There’s no way Roel would have left me and gone away.”

He went down the stairs and arrived at the first floor. After the main gate of the castle closed, the spacious hall had become eerily desolate. But such things weren’t important to Reus now.

“Roel…”

Reus crossed the hall, opened the door, and stepped outside. From where the roof ended, snow had piled up thickly. Even though winter was slowly passing, the wind that brushed past the Grand Duke’s castle was still sharp.

Of all times to run away, she chose a day like this. If she was going to run, why not flee in spring when flowers bloom? Why would she leave me on such a cold day…

‘No. Roel didn’t run away.’

The words she said as she left him, even this moment, must be a dream. Yes, this is just the nightmare he had every day.

Soon, Reus stepped onto the stairs leading down. With each step, his feet sank into the ankle-deep snow.

But Reus kept walking forward as if he had no sensation at all.

Soon, Roteo, who discovered this sight, ran out in surprise.

“Your Highness…!”

But Reus acted as if he hadn’t heard anything this time as well.

Roteo, who had been guarding the Grand Duke’s castle for a very long time, had watched Reus longer than anyone else. But he had never seen his master so completely out of his mind like this.

Even when his parents passed away, he had endured everything with composure.

“Your Highness, why are you doing this!”

“Roel…”

But the moment Roteo heard the Grand Duchess’s name, he couldn’t help but realize why Reus was so out of it.

“Roel, I can’t see her… She didn’t leave. Just for a moment… just for a moment…”

So Her Highness has finally left His Highness’s side.

Everyone in the Grand Duke’s castle knew that this day would come someday.

Only Reus didn’t know. He thought that if he could just keep the woman by his side, even if they couldn’t be happy, they could at least pretend to be happy.

Even if it was an unstable happiness created by force, it would be much better than not having any at all.

But because he lost Roel… no, because Roel had run away from him forever, he was left alone in hell.

“Your Highness…”

“She said she would never leave. She’ll come back. Roel will definitely come back…”

But contrary to his words, the tears wouldn’t stop.

I’ll probably have to live alone in this hell for the rest of my life. With all my senses numbed by pain, neither dead nor alive, just like that. As long as Roel is alive, I can never take my own life.

What had happened was beyond what Reus could handle. To Reus, Roel wasn’t just the person he loved.

She was his benefactor who saved his life, the savior who ended the eternity-like hell, and a whole world that cleared his airways just by looking at her and touching her.

But that world had denied him and disappeared.

The reality he didn’t want to believe was too overwhelming, causing Reus to stagger and finally collapse on the spot.

After the main gate of the Grand Duke’s castle closed completely, the story of the Grand Duke and his wife was always a topic of conversation.

It had already been quite a while since rumors spread that the Grand Duke had gone mad and was holding his wife captive, and the reason their story resurfaced recently was for a different reason.

“I heard Her Highness finally ran away?”

“Watch your words! What if someone hears you…”

“I heard she was actually ill?”

“Does that make sense? The Grand Duke has been searching all over the empire these days, obviously she ran away because she couldn’t stand him anymore.”

As the whispering noblewomen said, Reus had put everything aside and headed anywhere human feet could reach.

So it didn’t take long for rumors to spread that the Grand Duke had gone insane.

However, contrary to the rumors, Reus was in his right mind. He wanted to let go of everything, but he couldn’t afford to lose his mind at will because he hadn’t found Roel yet.

Even if he deployed all the knights of the Grand Duke’s household, they couldn’t find even a small clue, let alone a glimpse of Roel.

How dare he lose his mind when he couldn’t even find her in remote villages and small islands. He even searched thoroughly through the kingdoms of Belliata and Leveren just in case, but still to no avail.

Roel had disappeared completely.

It was now difficult for Reus to count the days he spent without crying. When night came and he was left alone, he would cry as if he had returned to the day he first lost her.

He even tried praying to a god he had never believed in before, but the miracle of Roel appearing before him didn’t happen. Reus despaired once more at that fact.

But as always, the moment of resignation beyond despair came.

Just like when he had frantically searched the Forest of Silence for his father’s heart and finally gave up.

The moment finally came when he had to accept the fact that unless Roel returned of her own will, he would never be able to find her.

However, resignation didn’t mean he was fine, so Reus often collapsed for no reason and couldn’t get up for days.

It was because even the power of healing couldn’t cure diseases of the heart.

The Emperor, who had heard all about this, laughed with glee. Everything was going according to his wishes.

“It’s a bit regrettable that we couldn’t capture the Grand Duchess right after she ran away, but…”

He didn’t know how she had managed to escape perfectly while evading Reus’s surveillance, but such trivial matters were none of his concern.

As long as the situation unfolding was entertaining, that was enough.

Originally, he had planned to torment Reus further by holding the Grand Duchess hostage, but it seemed there was no need for that anymore.

“Tsk tsk… He’s completely broken.”

Hearing stories that he was barely living, unable to die, it seemed there was nothing more for him to do. He could just sit back and slowly enjoy watching Reus go mad.