Celiya was at a loss for words due to the absurdity.

‘What is this?’

It wasn’t like there were ghosts, but suddenly knocking sounds were heard from all over the room, and now the bathroom door was forcibly closed.

Celiya pulled on the doorknob to get out of the bathroom.

However, no matter how much she pulled on the doorknob, the bathroom door remained tightly shut with no sign of opening.

The bathroom and room were completely sealed off by a seamless door, allowing almost no light to enter.

Celiya pondered deeply in the darkness.

‘Why did this suddenly happen? And right after Dietrich left.’

Just then.

The lamp hanging on the bathroom wall repeatedly turned on and off by itself.

Judging that all of this couldn’t be a coincidence, Celiya drew a dagger from her bosom and shouted.

“Stop this weird stuff and come out, you creep.”

At Celiya’s words, the flickering light that had been continuously blinking suddenly became quiet as if it were a lie.

Celiya let out a dry laugh as she looked at the now calm lamp light.

“Ah…!”

Simultaneously, an excited voice was heard directly behind Celiya.

As Celiya turned her head, a man who had approached silently was smiling brightly at her.

The man’s platinum hair reflected the lamp light on the wall, sparkling.

He had skin so pale it could be mistaken for a corpse, and snake-like golden eyes.

The man wearing a black robe had a jet-black pearl earring in one ear and was wearing a golden bracelet on his left arm.

He stretched out one arm to try to touch Celiya’s cheek.

Celiya struck down the man’s arm trying to touch her with her elbow and instantly held the dagger to his throat.

“Ah… I should have, should have come to meet you earlier. If I had known you would be this beautiful.”

Despite having a dagger at his throat, the man was far from frightened and instead had an excited expression with his mouth open.

“Ah… haa.”

Seeing the man moan with dilated pupils, a curse immediately sprang from between Celiya’s teeth.

“Are you insane?”

Celiya had seen countless men in her life, but she had never seen a man like this before.

“Ple-please, I beg of you! Curse at me more! Make me… make me even more of a mess! With that pretty face, with that enchanting voice, curse at me!”

The man before her eyes had a noticeably gorgeous appearance, but he seemed so insane that even his good looks couldn’t cover it up.

‘… Isn’t this guy completely crazy?’

For some reason, she felt instinctively that if she stabbed his throat with the dagger, he would beg for more.

Celiya received such a feeling instinctively.

She pointed the dagger at her own throat instead of the man’s.

The man who had been excited with even his pupils dilated, was startled and snatched Celiya’s dagger in an instant.

The man’s movement was so fast that it was barely visible to Celiya’s eyes.

From the fact that he intruded into Dietrich’s mansion so recklessly, it was clear that this man was no ordinary person.

However, she didn’t expect him to be this agile.

“No! Don’t do that! Cherish your beautiful self.”

“…”

“So I’m confiscating this bad thing.”

The man arbitrarily put the dagger inside his robe.

“Give it back. It’s mine.”

Celiya tried to retrieve the dagger from the man’s clothes.

Then, a snake-like sticky touch grabbed Celiya’s wrist.

The man who held Celiya’s wrist suddenly let out an excited moan.

“Ugh… haa.”

Celiya, feeling disgusted, immediately pulled her hand away from the man’s grasp.

“The stimulation is too… intense. So white, soft, and supple…”

Seeing the man muttering with his cheeks flushed red, a physiological revulsion arose.

The person in front of her seemed more like an unknown entity than a man.

Celiya glared at him with a look of disgust.

At that gaze, the man trembled and twisted his body.

Celiya took advantage of this moment to reach into the man’s robe to find her dagger.

In her haste to search, Celiya slightly cut her fingertip on the sharp blade.

But she succeeded in pulling out the dagger.

Celiya, having retrieved the dagger, swung it towards the man in front of her.

However, Celiya’s dagger couldn’t even scratch him, as if it had been blocked by a solid wall.

“You, what exactly are you?”

The man readily answered Celiya’s question.

“I am Arthur. A magician who loves beautiful things more than anything in the world.”

“… Could it be, Arthur Cervantes?”

At Celiya’s words, the man’s golden pupils rolled upwards.

“Huh. You, you know me. The most beautiful being in the world knows me. Calling my name like that is too stimulating…”

‘How can such a crazy person exist?’

Celiya felt goosebumps all over.

It wasn’t from fear or terror, but from the deep disgust of facing an incomprehensible pervert.

‘To think that such a crazy person is not only a Duke but also contributed to the downfall of my kingdom.’

Still, the pervert in front of her might be easier to handle than Ileon.

It’s worth a try. Celiya decided to test it out.

“Arthur.”

As she called his name, Arthur’s golden pupils shook as if an earthquake had occurred.

“Ah! You called my name. I’m so happy. I, I, even if I die now, I would have no regrets…”

With reddened eyes, mouth open as if about to drool from excitement, and dilated pupils looking at Celiya, Arthur truly looked like a madman.

Celiya had many things she wanted to ask, but being with him was so unpleasant that she expressed her desire for him to leave in a roundabout way.

“Would you please go back for today?”

“… Yes!”

At Celiya’s words, Arthur melted into a puddle of liquid and disappeared without a trace on the spot.

After confirming his disappearance, Celiya looked at her own hand.

Red blood was beaded on her right index finger from reclaiming the dagger.

As if to prove that the events that just occurred were not lies but truth.

Celiya frowned and tried opening the bathroom door that had been locked until just now.

“… It’s open.”

After feeding the horses in the stable, Dietrich returned straight to his mansion without taking any detours.

“Were there any intruders while I was away?”

“There was no one.”

Dietrich nodded at the knight’s report and entered the mansion.

He passed through the corridor and climbed the marble stairs to the third floor.

“…?”

Although the knight had said there were no intruders, Dietrich felt a sense of discomfort as he entered the third floor.

It was an animal-like intuition.

At first glance, it seemed no different from usual, but something was bothering him.

‘If I didn’t feel it on the first and second floors, but I feel it on the third floor, did someone secretly enter through a window?’

Dietrich looked at the window. The sunset was already dyeing the imperial palace in red clothes.

‘How could someone have come to the third floor of the mansion without being noticed by anyone when it’s not even dark yet?’

A sense of unease crept over him.

Dietrich flung open Celiya’s door.

His gaze fell on Celiya sitting on the sofa.

“Oh, you’re back?”

Fortunately, Celiya was fine.

Dietrich let out a sigh of relief after confirming her presence.

“Did anyone come while I was away?”

Celiya’s face noticeably darkened.

“So my guess was right. Who was it?”

“Arthur Cervantes.”

Dietrich’s eyebrows furrowed at Celiya’s answer.

“What? Say that again.”

“Arthur Cervantes came and left.”

“…”

“He was the most perverted man I’ve ever seen.”

Celiya shook her head as if just recalling it made her shudder.

“That man came? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

Dietrich nodded in relief and lowered his head, only to notice the blood droplet on her right index finger.

“You’re hurt but why did you say you weren’t hurt?”

“Oh, this isn’t an injury, it’s just a slight scratch.”

Celiya answered nonchalantly.

“This kind of thing will heal if you leave it alone for a few days…”

Before Celiya could finish her sentence, Dietrich bent down and took her injured finger into his mouth.

Something soft and gentle licked and caressed the wounded area.

Celiya felt the knife cut healing smoothly.

Dietrich, who had been carefully licking her wound, rolled and licked her hand in his mouth as if it were candy.

It was clearly meant to treat her wound, but it felt like he was caressing her.

Celiya was startled by her own thoughts.

‘Did I become a pervert after meeting a pervert?’

No. Don’t think strange thoughts.

Dietrich was simply treating her because he was bothered by her injury.

The knife cut disappeared as if it had been washed away.

Only after seeing that the wound on her hand had disappeared did Dietrich remove his lips.

Unlike his ascetic gaze, Dietrich’s lips were moistly wet.

Celiya stared at his glistening lips for a while before turning her gaze away.

“Celiya.”

When Dietrich called her name, Celiya, who had been looking elsewhere, awkwardly turned her gaze to him.

Didn’t it become a strange atmosphere because he insisted on treating something that would have healed if left alone for a few days?

“I’m sorry for leaving you alone.”

Celiya was dumbfounded by Dietrich’s unexpected words.

He had no reason to apologize.

If blame were to be assigned, it would be that pervert who suddenly barged in, not Dietrich who had done nothing wrong.

“Why are you apologizing? You did nothing wrong.”

“No. I also bear responsibility. Because I did leave you alone.”

“Dietrich. You shouldn’t apologize too often. If you apologize for things you didn’t do wrong, the other person might mistakenly think, ‘Ah, this person is easy to take advantage of.'”

Dietrich looked at her with calm eyes at Celiya’s words.

“Celiya, you’re not that kind of person.”

“…”

“The kind of person who looks down on others because they apologized. You’re not like that.”

Celiya faced Dietrich, who was staring at her with unwavering eyes.

He always looked at her with such upright eyes.

Celiya didn’t know what to do when he looked at her like this.

She wanted to joke as usual, but perhaps because her body’s tension had eased, Celiya could only quietly look at Dietrich.

“Celiya.”

“What?”

“Be careful of Arthur. He’s more dangerous than Ileon.”

Celiya could only understand Dietrich’s words the next day.

Shortly after Arthur arrived at the imperial palace, Jeremy, who was confined in the tower, and Erphia, who was virtually imprisoned in the empress’s palace, were simultaneously murdered.

For all of this to be a coincidence was truly strange.