For some reason, trembling uncontrollably, the Second Prince, with a hysterical voice, shouted at the man. Ignoring such a reaction, the man continued to move forward, but he paused for a moment when he noticed something caught underfoot.

The man picked up the object entangled in his foot. It was the dagger that the Second Prince had taken from the Grand Duchess earlier. After briefly looking at the bloodstained dagger, the man tucked the gun into his chest and resumed walking.

“Oh, please don’t…!”

Instinctively feeling the threat, the Second Prince, terrified, shouted in a frightened voice, but the man kept walking towards the bed.

Finally, under the light of the lamp, the man’s face gradually became visible. In an instant, the Second Prince’s face, as if encountering a messenger from hell, turned pale.

“Gasp…! Yo-Your… Grace…”

The Second Prince’s eyes widened as if they were about to pop out in astonishment. The man’s true identity was Duke Elyos.

“Why… why is the Duke here…?”

Of course, the Duke was supposed to arrive here. However, only after all the planned events were concluded. Seeing the Duke arrive earlier than expected, the Second Prince froze on the spot, unable to move.

In an instant, the Duke, who walked towards the bed, gazed down at the situation the Second Prince had created with his usual emotionless face. His indifferent eyes shifted to the woman, who, restrained by the Second Prince, weakly dropped her head, her tangled golden hair almost telling the tale of her suffering. Even in the dim room, the woman’s face, with a stark contrast of red bruises against her pale skin, was vividly apparent.

The Duke’s gaze, passing over her suffering face, moved to the woman’s body, dressed only in a corset. The delicate nape of her neck, shoulders, and arms were covered in numerous bruise marks. The frail traces left on her delicate skin, like ruins after a bombardment, resembled a war-torn battlefield.

Just looking at it was enough to pierce the heart. Wearing only a jacket over his hunting attire, Khaeron spoke softly, revealing his thoughts.

“Come down.”

Responding to his sharp words, the Second Prince, who had lifted his knee from the woman’s thigh, quickly stood up, still frightened.
At that moment, she involuntarily sobbed, and fresh blood flowed down her thigh. Khaeron, who had covered her body with his jacket, discovered wounds stained red with white fox fur. He took out the Derringer he had placed in his embrace and looked down at it.

Now he knew whose blood was on the knife part of the Derringer. Looking at the wounded right thigh and the blood-stained sleeve of her right arm, Khaeron could tell that she had stabbed herself.

‘She must have tried to protect herself…’

Traces of incense burned outside the log house remained, and there was still a lingering scent inside. It was probably a sleeping fragrance. Perhaps, stabbing herself with a knife was the only way she could think of to avoid losing consciousness.

‘If I had known she would hurt herself like this…’

He regretted painfully giving her this gun in the past. The small Derringer, a gift recommended by Shade, was given to him after the kidnapping incident when she became particularly sensitive about her safety.

He had dismissed Shade’s words about the trend of small guns among women for self-defense. She, too, thought that having a self-defense item might give her a little peace of mind.

However, even as he gave her the gift, he had thought that she would probably never use this gun… His past arrogance now seemed ironic.

“Kuk…”

When Khaeron let out a low laughter as if in self-derision, the Second Prince, who had been watching nervously while crouched down, shivered. The sight of the Duke in such a state was even more frightening. He would have preferred Rainian’s rage to this.

As the Second Prince, with a disgusted face, slowly moved backward, Khaeron, who had quickly loaded the gun, pointed the muzzle at the Second Prince. With an expressionless face, he seemed ready to pull the trigger at any moment.

“Now, wait! There’s a m-misunderstanding!”

The Second Prince shouted with both hands raised. He desperately lowered his head and explained.

“I didn’t harm the Grand Duchess! I was just trying to wake her up when I found her unconscious!”

He had to somehow cover up the situation, taking advantage of the Grand Duchess’s unconsciousness. The Second Prince shouted desperately, proclaiming his innocence with false words.

For a moment, Khaeron’s eyes shone brightly and narrowed like a predator about to hunt. The Second Prince, caught in that intense gaze, trembled. It felt like becoming a herbivore meeting a fierce beast.

“T-There! It was Third Prince Rainian who did it. I saw him trying to plunder the Grand Duchess, and I rushed in and knocked him down.”

The Second Prince hurriedly pointed with his finger, and Khaeron’s gaze shifted to Rainian, who was lying on the floor, looking in their direction.

“Wha…t…”

With a face stained with tears of sorrow, Rainian tried to say something, but the Second Prince, as if trying to stop Rainian from speaking, shouted loudly towards the outside.

“Look…! Is anyone there? Come and attend to the injured Grand Duchess!”

The Second Prince shouted, but there was no response. Now that he thought about it, something had been strange since earlier.

He had arranged his subordinates around to watch for any unexpected accidents. If they had found the Duke, they wouldn’t have let him come in unharmed.

“Are you looking for the dogs that were watching outside?”

“W-What…”

“Yeah. They were bothering me, so I took care of all of them.”

When the Duke casually spoke with an indifferent face, the Second Prince, with a face full of terror, trembled in all his limbs. It was more terrifying to see the Duke in this state. He felt like a herbivore meeting a fierce predator.

“Uh, look…! It’s a misunderstanding! I haven’t harmed the Grand Duchess! I was just trying to wake up the unconscious Grand Duchess!”

The Second Prince, with both hands raised, desperately shouted.
“So, to catch a horny dog, one bullet should be enough.”

With the smile of a grim reaper, a merciless verdict was pronounced. In an instant, a chilling barrel touched the forehead of the Second Prince.