Three consecutive gunshots shook the forest. And a fierce wind struck Jane’s heart.

“Cain… Cain…”

Jane sat on the ground, looking at Cain. The red blood spreading around his fallen body seemed unreal.

“…Don’t cry.”

Cain frowned. Rather than being in pain, he was upset that Jane was crying.

“Jane.”

At the weakly scattered sound, Jane crawled over to Cain. Her dress, a mess with dirt, became soaked with Cain’s blood.

Jane lowered her raised hand. Her hands were too dirty to apply pressure to the wound.

“Why, why did you do that? Why did you come alone?”

It was neither a question nor a reproach. It was simply an outcry of unbearable anguish at this situation.

Her beautiful face was a mess of dirt and tears.

Cain wanted to wipe away Jane’s tears, but he didn’t have the strength to move a finger.

Cain had survived many brushes with death while participating in wars and pursuing the Rose Faction.

Surely among the scars on his body that Jane had once asked about in bed, there must have been some caused by gunshots.

But this was the first time he had been shot so squarely.

In a situation where it wouldn’t be strange to lose consciousness immediately, the only reason Cain was holding on was because of Jane.

He couldn’t lose consciousness until someone appeared to protect her.

Since gunshots had rung out, Nathan would soon arrive leading the Black Hawks.

So just a little bit, just a little bit longer, let’s hold on.

Cain forcibly lifted his eyelids that were trying to close.

“Cain… I…”

Shh, Cain made a hissing sound between his teeth.

“You don’t need to, haa, feel guilty. I.”

Cain caught his breath. His voice was trembling terribly.

“I did what I had to do. As your husband.”

“Still, you should have dodged!”

Cain smiled faintly.

Dodging flying bullets is only possible in novels.

And even then, only in childish fairy tales. Or in kingdom propaganda leaflets encouraging participation in war.

And even if Cain had the ability to dodge bullets, he wouldn’t have done so.

Because if he had dodged, Jane would have been hit.

So when Cain realized the gun had been fired, he actually puffed up his body even more.

So that even if the direction was slightly off, he would be hit instead of her.

But Cain, who neither needed nor had the strength to explain all this in detail, could only say one thing.

“I’m glad. That you’re safe.”

That it was an honor to take the bullet instead of you, that selfishly, if my injury allows you to stay by my side even a moment longer it would be good, and that with this, could you hate me a little less when you found out about what happened 7 years ago…

There was a mountain of things he wanted to say, but Cain couldn’t continue speaking.

“I’m sorry.”

Even as he was losing consciousness, Cain apologized to Jane.

“Don’t speak. Sob, don’t speak and look at me, Cain. Okay? You can’t fall asleep, I’m telling you.”

Jane didn’t know how to treat a gunshot wound, but somehow she felt he shouldn’t be allowed to sleep. So she kept grabbing his face, which kept trying to turn away weakly, and fixing it in place.

The speed at which Cain opened and closed his eyes became noticeably slower.

“Cain… Cain…”

Jane called his name over and over again.

At her desperate calls, Cain’s eyelids opened and closed repeatedly.

He was confused whether the Jane touching his hand was real or an illusion. The events of the day mixed together. It was by no means a good sign. Meanwhile, the pain only became more vivid.

“Urgh. Jane, Jane…”

His willpower could no longer hold out.

“Cain, I’m here.”

Cain’s eyes gradually lost focus. Jane urgently gripped his hand tightly.

“Cain, say something, anything. Please.”

Jane’s tears soaked his clothes. She kept whispering in his ear. Thanks to her fervent pleas, Cain barely held onto consciousness.

His blurred vision captured Jane sobbing. The sight resembled him on the day he lost her, making Cain sorrowful.

‘So this is how we lose each other again. If this is the last moment, what words should I say to you?’

The answer was already decided.

Gradually, the strength left Cain’s body.

“No, Cain. You can’t sleep. Sob, don’t do this. You’re not a weak person. Please, don’t do this.”

Jane felt and shook Cain’s face, shoulders, and various parts of his body.

“Jane…”

Not missing his fading voice, Jane brought her ear close to Cain’s lips.

At Jane’s approaching breath, her warmth, a faint smile appeared on Cain’s lips.

There were words he absolutely had to say before closing his eyes.

“…Jane, never… forgive me… our family…”

The strength left his hand that had been holding onto Jane.

“Cain!”

At the scream as loud as the gunshot, birds flew up with a flutter. But Cain’s closed eyes did not open again.

* * *

“My lady, here are this month’s expenditure details. Please review them.”

In Cain’s office, the person occupying that space was Jane.

“My lady.”

She sat at Cain’s desk, gazing endlessly out the window. In front of her was a mountain of various documents Jane had processed over the past week.

Norbert sighed and tapped the desk. At that sound, Jane startled as if waking from sleep.

“Ah, Norbert.”

Though he had been there for quite some time, Jane only now recognized Norbert’s presence. Thinking Jane might feel embarrassed, Norbert spoke as if he had just arrived.

“Here are this month’s expenditure details. Is it alright to proceed with these?”

Jane received the documents Norbert handed over and scanned the papers with emotionless eyes.

The report was so full of numbers and letters that it would make the viewer feel stifled just looking at it.

And there wasn’t just one or two such reports. Jane slowly went through the details, rubbing her dry eyes.

Her hand turning the pages one by one was very careful.

“The rainy season is coming soon. I’d like to set aside a reserve fund for flood damage prevention.”

Jane said as she signed the documents that Norbert had reviewed several times.

“Yes, understood.”

“Thank you, Norbert. Is there anything else I need to take care of?”

“Even if there is, there isn’t. Please rest today, I beg you.”

At the butler’s firmness, Jane smiled sincerely for the first time in a long while.

“I’m fine. If there’s anything important, tell me anytime.”

“You haven’t rested a single day since experiencing that ordeal. For a week now, you’ve been sleeping only two or three hours, nursing the master, acting as duchess… The servants are extremely worried that you’ll collapse at this rate, my lady.”

Nagging and worrying was usually Mary’s job, but today Norbert joined in as well.

“Norbert, please let me do at least this. I can’t sleep anyway even if I lie in bed.”

When she closed her eyes, gunshots rang in her ears, and the image of Cain lying in a pool of blood appeared. It was so vivid that Jane screamed in shock each time.

“Then at least take this.”

Norbert took out a small bottle from his breast pocket. It was a medicine specially commissioned from the Hastings family doctor.

“What is this?”

“It’s said to be good for restoring vitality. You’re to take this and rest your eyes for exactly this much time.”

This time, Norbert took out an hourglass from his other pocket. As soon as he turned it over, fine sand dyed blue began pouring down.

“Please take it now.”

If she refused to take it, Norbert looked ready to open the lid and feed it to her himself. Jane, who hated medicine, repeated “for the Hastings” to herself as she downed the medicine in one gulp. The medicine was unexpectedly sweet.

“You need to close your eyes too.”

Jane leaned her head against the back of the chair, still clutching the report. And she closed her eyes.

Inevitably, the sound of gunshots and the image of Cain collapsing came to mind. Jane’s hand gripping the report tightened.

Jane deliberately tried to think of something else.

But her thoughts couldn’t move far from the time when Cain was shot.

To be honest, due to the successive shocks of that day, Jane’s memory was full of holes, and even what she did remember wasn’t much.

She remembered Nathan and Cain’s subordinates moving him, but Jane couldn’t remember how she herself had returned to Hastings.

And she had completely forgotten about Jessie and Augustus. It was only during Nathan’s report two days after returning home that she recalled them.

In the end, Jessie died after indulging in too much greed. Jane was quite surprised at herself for not feeling the need to mourn her. But it was too early to be surprised.

Jane was so firm and showed not a shred of mercy that even Nathan hesitated.