On a night when the moonlight shone dimly.

Would romantic music fitting for the full moon be echoing throughout the imperial palace?

Unlike the soft melody, Clayton, with a stiffened face, left the banquet hall.

‘Damn it.’

Searching for a deserted place with hurried steps, he muttered a low curse.

He should have acted when Dalia first arrived at the imperial palace.

Ignoring others’ gazes, he should have forcibly put her in a carriage and sent her to the mansion. Then he wouldn’t have had to see such an irritating sight, nor would he have felt this wretched thirst.

Belated regret heated up his mind.

The image of Dalia dancing hand in hand with the crown prince made his blood boil again.

Was he just angry at the woman who had ignored his words and stubbornly come here? He didn’t know why he felt so awful. Moreover.

“Urgh.”

Along with the anger boiling up inside, an unbearable impulse began to grip his reason.

Barely composing himself after nearly rushing onto the stage due to the extreme hunger he had been suppressing, he came outside.

He had to hide his body, avoiding people’s eyes as much as possible. Otherwise…….

His quick steps came to an abrupt halt as he reached a deep forest devoid of people.

Only then did Clayton, slightly relaxed, exhale heavily for a moment, like someone whose lungs had been completely emptied of air.

“Haa, haa…….”

The maddening hunger began to subside. A hunger that wouldn’t be resolved until he drank blood.

Clayton wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned against a tree, staggering.

He barely held onto his consciousness, which felt like it would snap at any moment of carelessness.

Truly, nothing was going according to plan.

No, rather, the situation was getting even worse.

Not only had the thirst started without warning, but Lloyd, who had come along in case of any unforeseen circumstances, had disappeared at some point.

‘The glass bottle is gone too.’

To make matters worse, even the glass bottle containing deer blood that he had put in his jacket pocket was nowhere to be seen. It was truly the worst situation.

‘Why have things gone so wrong?’

Until arriving at the imperial palace, there had been no hitch in his plan.

If there was one thing that bothered him, it was Dalia, who had been waiting for him, perfectly prepared despite being informed only the day before.

The image of Dalia watching him board the carriage with Lloyd had been etched in his mind throughout the journey to the imperial palace.

It felt unsettling, as if he had callously pushed away the hand of a child excited about going to the imperial palace for the first time. Above all.

He recalled the small scar visible between Dalia’s white nape.

The trace left by himself when he momentarily lost his reason a few days ago. Seeing that trace, he steeled his resolve again.

Yes, it’s fortunate I didn’t bring Dalia, he thought.

It was purely for Dalia’s sake.

The reason he had turned away from the problem that could have been solved by drinking only Dalia’s blood was to protect her from himself.

But mocking his efforts, Dalia had come here of her own accord.

Clayton bit his lip at the surge of emotion welling up from his chest.

‘That woman must have had a hand in this.’

And behind it all, surely that woman was involved. Margaret, his stepmother.

She had never gone against his wishes until now.

She hadn’t tried to act like his mother in any superficial way, nor had she thrown her weight around despite her family holding power.

Hence, Clayton too, though without affection, had treated her respectfully as an elder of the household, maintaining proper etiquette.

But to repeatedly stab him in the back over issues related to Dalia. He should have sent her to the estate after the poison herb incident last time.

Clayton chewed his lip in belated regret.

“Kugh.”

Along with blurring vision, strength left Clayton’s legs.

Leaning his body against the cold, upright tree trunk, he raised his head. The full moon, clearly visible through the leaves, caught his eye.

This was the limit now. The thirst he had forcibly suppressed seemed as persistent as if it would torment him until he gave it what it wanted.

His breathing gradually became ragged, and his heartbeat quickened.

Though he was barely maintaining his reason, he wasn’t sure how long he could hold out.

Clayton, biting his lip, raised his body again with the desperation of a drowning man grasping at straws.

Then, he hid himself deep in the forest, with the earnest hope that no one, absolutely no one, would come. Because if anyone caught his eye now, he didn’t know what he might do.

“Blood…….”

He needed blood. Desperately so.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dalia left the banquet hall after a brief conversation with Rachel.

Then, strolling through the garden, she made her way to a less crowded area.

As she went a bit further in, the occasional people she had seen suddenly disappeared.

Only then did Dalia slow her pace, sighing at the thought of being alone.

‘Every single one of them died before getting married. Three of them, at that. The cause of death for all was unexplained sudden death.’

Dalia’s expression was serious as she recalled what Rachel had said earlier.

“All dead, she says…….”

This was truly something she had never heard before. It had never been mentioned even once in the original work.

It felt very strange that there was no mention at all of a character with such a significant backstory. Moreover.

‘He seemed to know me for sure.’

It was quite a friendly tone for a proposal to someone he was meeting for the first time.

It would be surprising if another noble made such a proposal, let alone the crown prince. He clearly seemed to know the original female lead from before.

Just pretending not to know in front of others.

‘Should I find out more?’

She felt the need to investigate her relationship with the crown prince more closely.

Perhaps, if she had followed the man’s suggestion earlier and talked in a place without people, she could have clearly understood what kind of relationship they had. But…….

‘It doesn’t feel right.’

Though he seemed kind and good on the surface, perhaps because of Rachel’s words. She felt like she shouldn’t get close to the crown prince.

Moreover, she had an uneasy feeling as if she was missing something very important.

But without any proper answers coming to mind, it felt like walking on a foggy lakeside.

As she was lost in thought while walking for quite some time, Dalia suddenly came to her senses with the wind and looked up.

“Where am I, anyway?”

Looking around, she found herself in a forest surrounded by trees.

It seemed she had strayed from the walking path while walking absentmindedly, lost in thought.

When did she come this far? Though she didn’t know the way well, thinking she might find something if she went back the way she came, Dalia turned around. But then.

An unfamiliar noise reached her ears on the wind.

“……What was that sound just now.”

It was someone’s groan. Like someone enduring something…….

‘Is someone there?’

In this forest with nothing but trees?

The only light was the faint moonlight shining through the tall trees.

But a groan suddenly in a place like this?

Dalia, tilting her head, listened carefully to find the source of the noise.

Listening closely, she could hear shallow breathing along with what sounded like something being drunk. This feeling is…….

‘It sounds like they’re doing that?’

At the same time, Dalia suddenly remembered what the crown prince had told her while dancing.

At this time, many couples sneak out of the palace to have secret meetings, he had said.

‘Then the cause of this sound now is…….’

It seemed likely to be a couple who had hidden in the forest for a secret meeting. Realizing this, Dalia let out a short sigh.

‘Really now. Do they have to do such things outside?’

For nobles to play so dissolutely. But contrary to her inward tongue-clicking, Dalia’s feet were naturally heading towards the source of the sound.

‘Let’s just see who it is and go.’

With pure intentions, she was simply curious about which nobles were doing such an indecent act outside.

She firmly believed that even if Rachel were here in her place, she would have done the same.

Just as Dalia was justifying her actions to herself and approaching the source of the sound.

‘That’s…….’

Moonlight seeped through the curtain of leaves. And a man basking in that faint moonlight came into view.

He was a man she knew very well.

“Clayton……?”

After a moment of surprise at the unexpected encounter. She carefully observed the man who was absorbed in something, unaware of her arrival.

Only then did the scent of blood, masked by the smell of grass, tickle her nose.

The man with unusually red eyes today had his face buried in his right arm. No, more precisely.

‘He’s drinking, blood…….’

He was drinking his own blood.