The pistol touching her thigh was bitingly cold.

“Decorate it more lavishly. The guests will be arriving soon!”

Over the irritated voice of the head maid echoing through the hall, the cuckoo’s call was heard six times. It was announcing the hour. The head maid who had stopped turned to Ansi standing nearby and frowned.

“Rain, the ball is about to start. Why haven’t you put away the clock yet?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll put it away now.”

Although it wasn’t her responsibility to put away the clock, Ansi made no excuses. She didn’t want to cause unnecessary commotion and be removed from hall duty.

Ansi hurriedly approached the wall and set up a ladder. After confirming that she had detached the large clock from the wall, the head maid muttered,

“I heard that Viscount Orfe is coming too. We must be thorough.”

Viscount Orfe.

At those words, Ansi flinched.

Suddenly, the pistol tied to her thigh felt as heavy as a stone. All her senses were focused on that spot. Was it securely fastened? Was it visible outside her skirt?

She gripped the clock tightly.

One step, then another. With each step down the ladder, she trampled on Orfe’s name as she descended. She quickly turned around.

She left the hall carrying the large clock. It was a measure to allow guests to enjoy the party without being bound by time.

After setting down the clock in a deep inner room, she let out the breath she had been holding. After taking several deep breaths, when she left the room, the soft melody of string instruments could already be heard from the hall.

It was music announcing the start of the ball.

Ansi’s face tensed with nervousness.

‘It’s okay. You can do this.’

She smoothed her skirt to check if the gun was still there, and with a determined face, she began to walk. Hoping that Orfe’s viscount would be in that hall she was now entering.

Kardian de Orfe.

The man with wheat-colored hair and golden eyes.

She was planning to kill him today.

Many attendees had already entered the hall. They all looked excited.

‘Where is he?’

Ansi scanned the hall while hiding her trembling breath. Pretending to clear empty plates, pretending to rearrange disheveled glasses. She scrutinized the people one by one with sidelong glances.

The joyful noise mixed with instrumental music made her dizzy. A buzzing sound like the flapping of bees’ wings rang in her ears.

It was then that a clear voice caught her ear.

“Why is there such a crowd over there?”

“I heard someone from the Orfe ducal family has arrived.”

“Is that true? I should go greet them quickly.”

Ansi’s hand stopped as she was gathering plates. She slowly raised her head. At the end of where the young men were heading, there was a group of people gathered.

It was a crowd surrounding a wide sofa.

Ansi swallowed dryly. Her heart raced quickly.

Viscount Orfe is there.

Staring intently at the crowd, Ansi moved one step, then another. Not even a breath escaped through her tightly closed lips.

“How long will you be staying in the South?”

“Unfortunately, I’ll be returning tomorrow. I have things to do in the capital.”

Although the man’s appearance wasn’t visible, his voice became clearer as the distance shortened. Ansi’s trembling hand reached down to feel her skirt. She recalled the sensation of shooting the gun, which she had imagined countless times.

At that moment, the question of a drunk middle-aged baron was heard from within the crowd. His tone was confrontational.

“Well! It shows just by looking at your face. You’ve never experienced any hardship, have you?”

“I wonder.”

The man laughed softly. At the relaxed yet playful laughter, Ansi’s gaze wavered.

Something was off.

“Just by looking at your current appearance, one can’t tell what kind of life you’ve lived.”

Was Kardian’s voice like that?

Her steps slowed.

Her racing heart stuttered like it had broken down.

“I know people your age well. You live luxuriously like this because you were born to good parents, right?”

The baron’s voice grew louder. Discomfort gradually settled on the faces of the onlookers.

“Baron Langis, that’s enough.”

“Am I wrong! You’ve never experienced hardship, and with a bright future ahead, you have no thoughts. But you… what are you doing?”

The baron’s voice became dull.

The man answered calmly in a bright voice.

“The color of the Count’s hair is similar to the color of the Parma army’s hat.”

“What?”

“I was reminiscing about the past that pierced my head.”

“Wh-what…”

“Bang.”

Startled by the sound made with his mouth, the drunk man fell backward. In an instant, people stepped back, and the man landed on his bottom.

Pfft. Amidst the nobles’ laughter, the figure of the man sitting on the sofa was revealed.

Ansi stopped in her tracks with a blank face. The hand that had been holding her skirt fell limply.

The man before her eyes had neither wheat-colored hair nor golden eyes.

The platinum-blond man who had been pretending to hold a rifle lowered his hand. He smiled crookedly. His purple eyes turned towards Ansi for a moment.

Gasp. Ansi held her breath. However, the man quickly averted his gaze and rose from the sofa. Then he extended his hand towards the baron who had fallen on his bottom.

“I apologize if I startled you. You were joking, so I played along.”

“I-I see.”

Ansi turned around immediately. Her heart, which had seemed to stop, started beating rapidly again. Her hands trembled. She picked up some dishes from the table haphazardly and left the hall.

The night had deepened before she knew it.

Sitting by an old, poorly maintained fountain deep in the backyard, Ansi pressed firmly on her thigh. The hard gun could be felt through the fabric.

Until dawn, Kardian de Orfe did not appear. No matter how much she searched the banquet hall, he wasn’t there. None of the numerous people filling the mansion was Kardian.

She lifted her skirt and took out the gun.

It was the gun she had brought along when she left the Rubella estate and went into hiding, vowing to surely pierce his head.

She had really intended to kill him if he came today. Because it felt like this maddening hatred building up every day would only end that way.

Kardian de Orfe.

The viscount of the Orfe ducal family.

He was the one who had killed Ansi’s father and brother, and dragged the honor of the Rubella count’s family to the ground.

〈I’ll be back soon.〉

A year ago, her father, Count Rubella, had left for a temporary commander position in a border region. Her brother, a soldier, had gone with him.

It was an unremarkable place where troops had been reduced due to years of ceasefire.

But one night, a battle broke out.

Count Rubella had initiated the attack.

When informed that secret ceasefire negotiations between Belgader and Parma had been successfully concluded, the count launched an attack, unable to accept reconciliation with the enemy.

It was a reckless and arrogant decision.

The Belgader army was miserably defeated, and the enemy forces swept through and occupied the adjacent areas.

Many people died.

Count Rubella was no exception.

He was shot by enemy fire and died instantly. Her brother Derl was said to have been in the middle of exploding bombs.

〈Holding Rubella responsible for inflicting massive material and human damage on the Belgader Empire, all property of Count Rubella is to be confiscated.〉

Rubella lost everything. All the land and valuable items, rights in the company, even the servants.

Ansi’s insistence that there must have been a mistake was taken as insolence, refusing to accept the facts.

A traitor who tarnished the nation’s honor. Garbage who used young soldiers’ lives to satisfy his own greed. Only angry and hateful gazes remained, piercing Ansi and her mother.

It was out of desperation, like grasping at straws, that Ansi sought out Viscount Orfe, who was said to have conveyed the ceasefire negotiations. Thinking there might have been a misunderstanding when relaying the message, hoping he could defend them even a little.

However, Kardian’s phone conversation that she overheard secretly in that house revealed a shocking truth.

〈I told the count that the ceasefire negotiations had failed and that Parma would soon invade.〉

The voice of that man, Kardian de Orfe, was gentle and soft. As if relaying an unremarkable daily occurrence.

〈Count Rubella probably judged it more advantageous to surprise attack the Parma forces before being attacked. Not knowing if Parma had reinforced their troops.〉

False information to induce an attack. It was something unimaginable. And the reason he had done such a thing was.

〈Just… because he annoyed me.〉

The man let out a laugh. It was a transparently sadistic laugh that was hard to believe came from a human.

Since that day, Ansi imagined killing Kardian in her mind every day.

Even when she was denied entry after visiting the Orfe ducal residence again.

Even when she hid in the South to escape from people who threw stones at the mother and daughter almost daily.

Even now, as she clings to life working at Baron Ziden’s estate under the alias Rain, having abandoned the name Ansi de Rubella.

And today was a golden opportunity to realize his death.

It was a chance to get close to him with lowered guards that wouldn’t come again. She had thoroughly hidden and prepared for this.

But that bastard didn’t show up.

Blankly staring at the pistol in her hand, Ansi brought it to her head. The cold muzzle touched her head. It was an eerie sensation.

If only she could gift this sensation to Kardian, that son of a bitch…

“I’d prefer you avoid it today.”

Suddenly, a man’s voice was heard. Ansi hurriedly lowered the gun and hid it under her skirt while scanning her surroundings.

In the distance, she could see the silhouette of a man leaning crookedly against a pergola pillar.

Did he see? Her holding the gun.

Ansi’s heart raced quickly. If she claimed he had seen wrong in the dark night…

At that moment, the clouds that had covered the sky cleared, and moonlight began to brightly illuminate the world. She unconsciously held her breath.

“I detest nightmares.”

A calm voice filled the quiet backyard. The platinum-blond man with skin so pale it seemed transparent smiled as he looked at her.

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.