A large crow flew up into the shadowy sky. Today’s hunters had lost interest in things that fly.

They had better prey right in front of them.

“The day the young lady came to the dress shop. Was she with you in the carriage? I’m asking if the tie the young lady was wearing was indeed the Duke’s.”

Theo’s eyes burned with an unquenchable spark, but Edwin’s blue eyes remained calm. They were so ordinary that one might think the contents of the letter Vivian had sent could possibly be true.

But Edwin’s rising lips, the smile that spread pleasantly, revealed the truth of that day.

“Well, whose else would it be? It’s mine.”

His unusually clear voice instilled an inexplicable unpleasantness. It was as if he had taken everything without ever taking anything, as if everything had been stolen without ever being stolen.

“I still remember how the young lady looked that day. Or more precisely, I can’t forget how she looked. That day… did you touch her?”

“Theo Evans.”

At the calm calling of his name, the fiercely glaring eyes narrowed slightly.

“I wonder why Eveline’s friend didn’t hear about what happened in the carriage that day. I’m curious too. Why didn’t Vivian tell you about that day?”

The Duke was mocking, yet consistently slow and calm. The irrefutable fact pierced the heart. The leisure to sit on a tree stump and talk about completely unrelated matters was arrogant. The Duke sat on a large rock that came up to his shins. Even his breathing was buried in the shadows of the forest.

“Is it difficult to say that I strangled her?”

The faint laughter in his voice stopped Theo’s world. He doubted and doubted again what his ears had heard from Edwin.

Whose neck did he strangle? Who strangled whose neck?

At the same time, the quickly flashing image of Vivian stabbed his heart. He hadn’t imagined what kind of wound might have been behind the Duke’s tie she was wearing.

What paralyzed Theo’s reason was seeing the Duke’s unblemished smile afterwards. Because he smiled without guilt after carelessly grabbing the neck of a noble woman. The cause for gripping the gun he was carrying with both hands was solely the Duke of Baitness’s responsibility.

“I think I might.”

The determined muzzle aimed at Edwin.

“Kill you today.”

A volatile situation. A mere tailor from a small town pointed a gun at the Duke of Newway. He threatened to kill him and glared recklessly. This could be considered treason and could end his life with hanging, but Theo, whose reason had snapped, did not think of the future.

If he had to die like that, he surely wouldn’t die alone. He had no intention of dying alone.

He filled that intention into the gun pointed at the Duke.

“Can you really do it?”

Edwin calmly sneered. He wasn’t afraid even while looking at the gun barrel pointed at him. Shouldn’t he know that such an attitude provokes the opponent’s stubbornness? That’s what Theo, holding the weapon, thought.

“You had an intention in buying this mansion. I know well enough that you’re no different from dirty men. But I have no intention of letting the young lady play into your filthy lust.”

“Filthy. Lust?”

Edwin slowly chewed on the words amidst the ripples Theo had caused.

Well. Is that so? Had he ever lusted after Vivian Eveline?

Edwin’s gaze deepened. Whether he had ever thought of making her his own even after seeing that skinny and unsightly figure.

By the time his distant consciousness returned, he was tired of Theo glaring while pointing the gun. Come to think of it, there was no reason to include Theo Evans in the hunt.

What did I intend to gain by dragging Theo Evans to the hunting ground? If his very existence was bothersome, I could just kill him and be done with it. Thinking that he had done something so useless and troublesome, a laugh escaped involuntarily.

“I have a duty to protect the young lady, so I will take her away from the mansion…”

“Duty?”

Edwin pulled up the corner of his mouth as if it were ridiculous.

“Who imposed such a duty? Did Eveline ask you to do so? Don’t be mistaken, Evans. You have no such duty. Your duty is to keep the dress shop and make clothes for customers who pay. So I intend to pay too. Eveline’s dress was pretty.”

“There’s no reason to take payment for the dress.”

“I have no ill feelings towards you. But if there’s a reason I want to hold a gun, it’s probably because.”

Edwin slowly stood up from his seat. But the movement of shouldering the gun was so fast there was no time to follow it with the eyes.

“You’re annoying.”

Now Edwin’s gun barrel was also aimed at Theo.

The tension that filled the damp air of the forest brought the smell of blood. This place, where neither could back down, was a battlefield where a bloody wind was blowing.

“From today on, I will take the young lady away.”

“Did Eveline say she would do that?”

“I will make it so.”

“Well. Can Evans do something so easy?”

“When it comes to Miss Eveline, I have no thoughts of hesitation.”

Click. Theo loaded the gun without fear.

“Do you think I’m any different?”

The noise of the metal loading in response echoed through the forest. They had reached a situation where it wouldn’t be strange if either pulled the trigger on the other. This forest, where either could lead the other to death, where only the determination to kill each other lay, was hell.

“Kyaak! Your Grace!”

As Charlotte’s scream echoed through the forest, the heat of the forest quickly subsided as if doused with cold water.

The gazes of the two men turned to one place. A pale Charlotte came running breathlessly, and behind her, another woman could be seen.

A strange Vivian Eveline in a beautiful light green dress.

Vivian’s ash-gray eyes brushed past Edwin aiming the gun at Theo and reached Theo. With a face that had turned pale white, she shouted without hesitation.

“Theo!”

Vivian’s feet turned direction towards Theo. As Theo’s concentration broke, his gun barrel lowered and he prepared to embrace the approaching Vivian.

“Young lady!”

The place the small feet in shoes ran to with all their might was Theo Evans’ arms.

A foolish woman jumping into such arms that she could neither rely on nor trust.

The noise of the small feet striking the ground as they ran, buried in the voluminous dress that didn’t suit her, was enormous.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

It was then that the gun barrel aimed at Theo moved to Vivian.

Vivian. Eveline. Eveline. Vivian.

The name Vivian Eveline rolling like dice. And where the rolling dice stopped, Eveline’s name was engraved.

Now the time had come to conclude today’s hunt.

He hoped that Theo Evans, who had never experienced war, would learn one thing. That you shouldn’t be distracted by useless things during war.

Bang!

With the gunshot that shook the forest, Vivian’s body flew up. The gesture to save a precious friend was noble and beautiful. It was a moment when deep friendship that’s hard to watch without tears shone. Vivian, to whom life was not precious, willingly threw her body for her friend.

A dull and foolish woman. How can she save anyone when she can’t even take care of her own body.

Before they knew it, Vivian had fallen into Theo’s arms, and Charlotte, who had been running towards Edwin, sat down on the ground covering both ears.

The servants who had followed and the Zimmerman brothers also lowered their bodies in surprise at the gunshot.

Faint smoke rose from Edwin’s gun barrel. Beyond the blue smoke, the two embracing figures were captured.

“Young lady! Young lady, are you alright?”

The despairing Theo examined Vivian in his arms. When Vivian’s stiff eyelids fluttered, he seemed to be relieved for just a moment.

“…I’m fine.”

“What? But you were just shot…”

Vivian, who had straightened her upper body staggeringly, looked at her own body with a puzzled face. Then she noticed the light green skirt that had been penetrated by Edwin’s shot.

After grasping the situation, Vivian immediately glared at Edwin. He handed the gun to a servant with a calm smile.

“I’ll stop here, so please enjoy the rest of the hunt, guests. Seeing blood has made me very tired.”

Edwin calmly faced Vivian’s glare. He liked the fierce anger overflowing in her eyes. How much would Eveline, who was placing all blame in arms she couldn’t even trust, regret today’s events?

Thinking that the feelings Eveline had for him would soon become her regret made this moment quite enjoyable.

“When Evans leaves, give him the payment for Eveline’s dress. Pay him for providing an interesting hunt as well.”

After leaving instructions with the servant, Edwin mounted his horse and, after a final look at Theo and Vivian, left the place.

As Edwin disappeared from sight, the suppressed feelings suddenly subsided. Vivian, who was about to get up, collapsed back down as all her strength left her.

“Are you really alright, miss? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“What on earth were you doing!”

Instead of Vivian’s voice trying to answer, Charlotte’s scolding filled the forest. Charlotte’s angry face was flushed red. Her heaving shoulders were trembling slightly.

“How dare you point a gun at the Duke!”

“The Duke shot at the young lady! It could have penetrated her body instead of just this dress!”

As the voices of the two rose, Vivian grabbed Theo’s collar. Vivian also wanted to get angry, but that anger was not meant for Charlotte.

“Do you not know what you’ve done? At the Duke’s mansion, and as Eveline’s guest during a hunt, you pointed a gun at the Duke. Do you know what this means? It’s treason! Treason!”

Pushed back, Theo couldn’t retort and gritted his teeth. Charlotte’s contemptuous eyes passed over Theo and came down to Vivian.

“Because of this, only Eveline has been put in a difficult position. Today’s events will have to be cleaned up by Eveline. Let’s wrap this up and everyone go back. Throw that man out of the mansion quickly. Who knows? He might try to harm the Duke again.”

With a final sharp glance, Charlotte turned away. As they faded from view, tears were about to burst out. The throbbing heart couldn’t find the exact form of what it was reacting to.

“Young lady.”

Only when Theo’s voice reached her did Vivian’s eyes, which had been lingering where no one was, turn to him. The worried, naive eyes made Vivian’s heart ache even more.

“Are you… are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“I’m fine. I’m not hurt anywhere.”

The sigh of relief she let out trembled slightly. Vivian dropped her head as if collapsing. As Theo held her delicate shoulders to support her, Vivian gestured that she was fine.

“…How did it end up like this?”

Behind Edwin’s generosity lay bait. It was so at first, and it’s not much different now. He lures with sweet words, sits you down, and then strangles you.

To keep the promise made 14 years ago. And for revenge. If drawing Theo into the hunt was along similar lines, then Edwin had correctly identified his weakness.

“Did the Duke hurt you? Did he say he would kill you?”

“…Young lady.”

“Theo. Don’t come here anymore. Don’t face the Duke. I… I can’t have you…”

“Young lady.”

How can I lose anything more that I love here?

I left my beloved hometown. In the place where I announced a new beginning, my beloved father disappeared. My beloved mother, who left to clean things up, lost contact. You were the only love left in my life. Does Edwin know what it touched in me, the fact that I almost lost such a friend?

“Let’s leave the mansion. Stay at our house. I can’t leave you here any longer.”

If I follow Theo and escape Edwin’s shadow.

Edwin Baitness would bring a shame more intense than death to the Eveline family. He would report my mother and me to the authorities, and the whole family would be branded as frauds with a dirty stigma. That’s how the Eveline family would be completely exterminated.

Edwin Baitness had more than enough justification to do so.

So I can’t run away. I can’t leave the Duke’s side. I can’t bury my family, who have reached ruin, in even greater shame.

The tears that had filled her eyes wet the dirt floor. Theo pulled up his sleeve and carefully wiped the tears flowing down her white cheeks.

“If I leave you here any longer, I might get beaten up by Mr. Eveline. So, young lady. Come with me…”

“I’m sorry.”

That was all Vivian, who couldn’t follow Theo, could say.

“The dress you made… it’s ruined.”

I’m sorry for making you go through things you didn’t have to because of me.

“I’m really sorry, Theo.”

Vivian, half suppressing her true feelings, grabbed Theo’s collar and poured out her tears tangled with complex emotions. The depths of her heart were unfathomably deep and growing deeper, and the shadows of the forest stretching out rapidly were crude.