Although her whole body was too heavy and her head ached, Letia, who had faintly regained consciousness but couldn’t properly open her eyes, finally caught her breath and slowly opened her eyes.

“Haa, haa……”

She blinked several times, trying to come to her senses.

But strangely, her chest felt heavy and her heart ached.

‘What is this? Why does my heart hurt so much? Did I get injured? Back then, I was definitely attacked, and he…… Wait a minute.’

Letia recalled that day and suddenly sat up.

“What about him? What happened to him?”

She looked around.

Seeing an unfamiliar space, Letia felt anxious.

‘Where is this? What on earth happened? Nothing bad happened to him because of me, right?’

Just as Letia got out of bed and took a few steps, the door suddenly burst open and Kallion entered nonchalantly.

“Haa……”

As soon as she saw Kallion, a wave of relief washed over her, and she rushed towards him without realizing it.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere? You were stabbed with a sword. There was so much blood…… You’re safe, right? Because of me, because of me……”

Seeing Letia rambling incoherently, Kallion gently placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Calm down. Everything is fine. We safely made it out of the Red Forest.”

“Really? But you were definitely badly injured, how did we get out?”

‘She doesn’t remember. As expected, the Spinel hasn’t fully awakened yet.’

Is this fortunate for now?

In fact, I don’t understand why she, born into the Cristalos family, is a Spinel, but since the Spinel were exterminated for treason, her existence had to be thoroughly hidden for the time being.

‘Even you shouldn’t know about yourself.’

“The wounds have already healed. You wouldn’t have known, but a day has already passed.”

“A day has passed……”

Letia’s eyes widened at Kallion’s words.

Then, as her heart throbbed again, she unknowingly let out a groan and staggered.

“Ugh!”

Kallion immediately caught her, furrowing his brow.

“I wonder who’s worrying about whom.”

“I’m sorry. Wa-wait!”

He lifted Letia and laid her back down on the bed.

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Letia obediently lay on the bed and tightly gripped the edge of the blanket.

“No need to apologize. Just rest until your body recovers.”

“Thank you……”

As she slightly bowed her head, her shortened hair swayed.

He unconsciously reached out and stroked her hair.

At his touch, Letia’s whole body tensed up, and her heart raced in a different way.

“Um……”

“I heard hair is important to women. I damaged it.”

“It’s alright. It wasn’t particularly beautiful hair anyway.”

After all, her fate had taken a nosedive because of this hair color alone.

“Things will be different from now on.”

Puzzled by his words, Letia tilted her head.

“From now on, I won’t let even a single strand of this hair be harmed. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I won’t let anyone dare to touch you.”

Kallion’s hand, which had been touching her hair, moved to her cheek and lifted her face.

Letia was captivated by his red eyes and couldn’t move.

But Kallion pulled her closer with a gaze filled with strong desire.

“You will become a jewel that shines brighter than anyone else.”

At the word ‘jewel’, a chilling uneasiness swept over her.

“I-I don’t understand what you’re saying……”

“My name is Kallion Luka Harencloud.”

At the name Harencloud, Letia’s breath stopped.

The Ghost of the Battlefield.

There was no way she, who had grown up as the crown prince’s fiancée in the imperial palace, wouldn’t know about Harencloud.

But to think that this person before her was the Duke of Harencloud?

“You said you would run away after escaping the Red Forest, right?”

“Y-yes, but……”

Letia felt extremely uneasy and tried to look away from Kallion, but her whole body froze at his unbelievable words.

“Then run away to me.”

“……Pardon?”

“Since you’ve been jilted, now you can choose your own husband.”

He held out his hand with an incredibly nonchalant expression.

His palm was full of terrible scars, unbelievable for someone of noble blood.

Letia couldn’t take her eyes off his scars, which seemed somehow familiar.

“Is it horrifying? But don’t worry. That’s why I’ll be the one to get dirty for you from now on.”

For a moment, a strange thrill could be felt in his previously emotionless voice.

“For you, who will shine brilliantly.”

Letia, unable to move under his gaze and voice, suddenly felt her mind go cold at his words about changing husbands.

“……Change my husband? What do you mean by that?”

As her demeanor suddenly changed from that of a frightened small animal to something else, the corners of Kallion’s mouth curved upwards involuntarily.

He continued speaking while still holding out his hand to her.

“It means exactly what I said. Take this hand and stand beside me as the Duchess.”

At these unexpected words, Letia’s eyes widened, then immediately narrowed with a cold gaze as she spoke calmly, almost dryly.

“I don’t know if you’re joking or not, but if you’re not joking, I’ll answer seriously as well.”

“……”

“I refuse, Your Grace.”

Not wanting to utter words like marriage or husband, Letia expressed her firm rejection with the most restrained emotions possible as she got up from the bed.

But she couldn’t move a single step from that spot.

His pitch-black shadow poured over her from head to toe, blocking her path.

Letia lowered her gaze and spoke, suppressing her trembling breath.

“Please move aside, Your Grace.”

“There’s no need to call me ‘Your Grace’ at the end of every sentence. I didn’t reveal my identity because I wanted you to call me that.”

“No, Your Grace. I couldn’t possibly dare to do otherwise.”

Finally, Letia raised her head to face Kallion.

His blood-red eyes were fixed on her without the slightest movement, and as she continued to look into those eyes, Letia felt increasingly strange.

‘I want to get away quickly……’

“Please step aside, Your Grace.”

Letia spoke again with emphasis, but Kallion still didn’t move and said something else.

“You haven’t answered yet.”

“I already answered. I said no.”

“That’s not the answer I want though?”

Seeing Kallion completely disregard her answer, Letia realized that there wasn’t a shred of jest in this situation.

‘Of course. He wouldn’t speak so lightly about such matters.’

Who was he after all?

Although the son of the defeated, he was still direct imperial bloodline.

Moreover, he had rebuilt the once-fallen House Harencloud solely through bloodshed, and as a result, the merits he had accumulated on the battlefield had become honors that could not be ignored.

Thus, starting from chilling rumors and considering various factors, he seemed like someone who would never be interested in women, let alone marriage, so there must be some other meaning behind this, but.

‘I don’t need to know. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me.’

Letia didn’t want to hear about Kallion’s other intentions either.

‘I don’t want to be entangled with the imperial family anymore.’

Especially if the other reason Kallion wanted to marry involved using her.

Her eyes grew even colder, and Kallion found her expression not unfamiliar, causing his own expression to soften.

“Please stop when I’m asking politely, Your Grace.”

“Then don’t ask politely.”

“Then, I’ll properly raise my voice. No matter how long you’ve been away from the capital, have you forgotten all noble etiquette and manners? Is that why you’re troubling and mocking a lady like this?”

Seeing her face him rather well while clearly hiding her fear, a hint of amusement flickered in Kallion’s eyes.

‘Her memory is a mess, but everything else really hasn’t changed at all.’

She had never once run away.

She had properly met Asiz again after 5 years and ended things without regret, she had endured her fear and saved him at the Winter Spire, and in the Red Forest, she had cut her own hair without hesitation to face the hallucinations.

Because she hadn’t changed one bit, the same thought from back then resurfaced in him.

Kallion closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them, fixing her with a completely different gaze than before.

Letia’s heart sank for a moment.

Somehow feeling as if something hot was rushing towards her, her body tensed up involuntarily.

“Did noble etiquette change while I was away from the capital? Since when did proposing to an unmarried lady become mockery?”

Seeing his attitude that showed no intention of backing down, Letia thought she should use her last resort to escape from here.

‘Should I really scream? Then at least one person passing by might hear, right?’

Of course, if someone overheard them like this, it wouldn’t be good for a lady’s reputation.

‘Well, what reputation do I have left anyway?’

She had already become gossip fodder for the nobles in high society from the moment she was jilted.

Just as Letia was about to open her mouth wide.

“Or do you really have someone you’re going to marry?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said it yourself. Have you forgotten this too already?”

“When did I ever say such a thing!”

But as one memory quickly flashed by, Letia’s complexion turned pale.

“Don’t tell me, you were there? Did you hear everything?”

“So. Is there really someone?”

Kallion slowly approached her again.

As soon as his suffocating presence touched her skin, her hair stood on end, and Letia unconsciously curled her fingers slowly and took a step back.

But Kallion instantly caught her slender wrist.

“Y-Your Grace?”

Letia flinched in surprise and tried to twist her captured hand free, but his hand didn’t budge at all.

Instead, he calmly caressed her empty ring finger.

“Even if there is, it doesn’t matter. As long as there’s no ring on this finger, I still have a chance.”

His finger that was caressing her ring finger thrust deeply between her fingers.

Letia unknowingly swallowed hard enough to move her Adam’s apple.

In an instant, a frighteningly low voice was sucked into her ear.

“I will never. Let go of a second chance given to me.”

His rough fingers and her equally unbeautiful fingers were terrifyingly tightly intertwined.