Why is this happening? Ansi tried to lift Damion. Of course, her hand passed through him. Though she had experienced this sensation before, it still felt unfamiliar and chilling.

‘Damion, wake up!’

Ansi lowered her head to examine his face. At that moment, her eyes wavered.

In the eyes of the man wearing a suit covered in dirt, there was clearly something that could be called fear.

He wasn’t afraid of his opponent, or the bullets flying now. If so, he should at least be frozen while looking ahead. Even if his legs were trembling and he couldn’t move properly, he should have made an effort to avoid them.

But instead, he just gritted his teeth and covered only one ear. With his other hand, he tightly gripped his side. As if he had been shot there and was trying to stop the bleeding.

“Stop it, Leo……”

In that moment, Ansi realized.

Damion was now in a hallucination of the past.

When Damion de Orfe was discharged in the past, the reason given was a light gunshot wound to his side.

Many articles speculated about this. That he, who had silently guarded the army even when he suffered greater gunshot wounds, retired due to such a light injury in order to expand his position as a businessman rather than a soldier.

But…

Was he betrayed?

Someone close enough to call him by name. That person shot Damion. So, like this…

But now was not the time for this. If he didn’t get up now, this time bullets might really pass through him.

‘Damion!’

Ansi called out to him frantically. Damion couldn’t hear. Just then, she heard the sound of someone’s footsteps approaching them.

Ansi quickly raised her head.

At that moment, her face turned pale.

Geris, holding a pistol, was walking towards Damion.

“Because of a vicious bastard like you, I can’t stand by and watch Rein suffer. That woman should suffer by my side, even if she’s in pain.”

Geris muttered incomprehensible words as he approached Damion. His brightly shining eyes were those of a madman.

Geris pointed the gun at Damion.

Ansi rushed towards Geris. She wildly waved her hands trying to snatch the gun from him. Yet her voice disappeared without being able to escape, and her hands kept passing through Geris.

But even knowing it was useless, she couldn’t help but continue flailing her hands.

“So you dying would help… Ugh!”

At that moment, Geris fell backwards.

Damion, who had risen from his place, had kicked him down.

Damion, straddling Geris’s body, pressed him down with his knee and snatched the gun. Geris let go of the gun surprisingly easily.

“…What are you?”

Damion was still holding one ear as if hearing strange sounds, his face contorted.

“Give it back!”

Geris, pinned under Damion, thrashed about wildly. Ansi shrank back at the sight of him shouting with bloodshot eyes.

But the gun was no longer in his hands.

So it should be alright…

Thud, a chilling and dull sound was heard.

Damion frowned and suddenly raised his body. Intense pain spread across his face.

What was that sound just now…?

Ansi shifted her trembling gaze.

“Damn it…”

Damion groaned as he raised the gun.

Bang! Bang! Two gunshots rang out.

“Aagh! Ahh!”

Geris’s screams echoed through the street. Damion had shot both his legs.

Leaving him behind, Damion moved away. While sharp screams could be heard from behind, he got into the car.

The winner of the fight was Damion. Anyone could see that.

Surely that must be the case…

Ansi stared blankly at Damion’s back.

She froze, unable to even swallow.

There was a knife stuck in his back. Even over the dark blue jacket, the spreading red blood was visible.

His hand trembled as he started the engine. The car departed. Red blood continued to flow from his back, soaking the seat.

“Ha… she won’t like this…”

Damion muttered something with a sneer. Soon the car stopped. The strength left his hand on the steering wheel. He collapsed sideways.

‘Damion!’

Ansi screamed to wake Damion. Fear washed over her entire body like a wave.

And shortly after.

Her vision went dark as well.

“Huk…!”

With the sensation of air suddenly rushing into her lungs, Ansi opened her eyes. Her whole body trembled violently. Even though she had experienced this before, it didn’t feel familiar at all.

But there was no time for this. A bluish light was seeping through the curtains. Morning was already breaking.

Ansi leapt out of bed and ran to Damion’s room. She felt like she might collapse from anxiety.

‘It’s today.’

Ansi knew the place she had seen in her dream. A narrow path full of conifers. That place remained unchanged from its former appearance. The lakeside in Dede Forest where she had met that boy when she was young. The way there was clear.

Knock knock. Ansi waited anxiously in front of Damion’s door.

But there was no response from inside.

Finally, unable to wait any longer, Ansi flung the door open.

“…No.”

Ansi strode in. The bed was neatly made, and Damion was gone.

“Damion?”

Calling his name with a trembling voice, she searched the room, but he still didn’t appear.

Ansi hurriedly pulled the bell rope. Soon after, the butler Nubel entered the room. Surprised to see it was Ansi who had called him, Nubel’s eyes widened slightly, but he quickly asked politely.

“What is the matter, my lady?”

“When did Damion leave?”

“Not long ago. About 15 minutes ago…”

“Please prepare a horse. As quickly as possible.”

It was a strange order. A horse so early in the morning? But Ansi’s gaze was so resolute that Nubel couldn’t ask why and simply bowed his head.

“I will prepare it right away.”

Ansi immediately went to her room, threw on only a coat, and came outside. As she mounted the swiftly prepared horse, it fidgeted. It was understandable, as she had mounted abruptly without any process of bonding.

It couldn’t be helped. A carriage would be too slow, and Damion had taken the car himself. There was only one option left.

Ansi gently stroked the horse’s mane and whispered earnestly.

“Please. Help me save your master.”

As if understanding her words, the horse calmly accepted her touch.

Soon after, Ansi departed.

Towards the path in Dede Forest where Damion was.

The blue dawn had passed, and now it was fully light.

Geris leaned against a large tree, smoking a cigarette. It was a cheap cigarette that left his throat raw after smoking, but he needed it now.

He held a gun in his hand. Since Rein had taken his gun, he had to get a new one.

Through the smoke, he recalled the conversation he had heard the day he met Rein last time.

“I thought you might be able to save Rein.”

That’s what the noble gentleman who called him said. He couldn’t see his face because he was behind a screen. He only guessed he was a nobleman from his refined speech and the amount of the reward he threw.

His identity didn’t matter. What mattered was what came next.

“Do you know Rein has a husband?”

“A husband?”

Geris’s expression hardened at the preposterous story. Rein has a husband? Since when? No, how?

He couldn’t remember seeing any man with her in the South. Then was it after coming up to Pelitz? Did she leave home without a word to get married?

Without any goodbye…

A strange anger entwined Geris’s body like a vine. He had imagined trampling her, selling her off somewhere… But never imagined her being beside just one man.

Feeling constricted all over, blood rushed to Geris’s eyes.

The nobleman sighed, then muttered in a regretful voice.

“A man bought Rein. To make her do all sorts of things.”

“All sorts of things?”

“Exactly as I said. Things too difficult to say out loud… Those kinds of things. Rein is suffering terribly because of it.”

The voice was slow and insinuating. As he followed that voice like slow-paced music, images of Rein flashed through Geris’s mind. All of them were scenes he had only seen in his imagination.

Geris clenched his fist tightly.

The delicate Rein Arel, that woman as pure and clean as untouched snow that no one had conquered, should have been his to possess. But someone bought her? Bought her and dressed her up like a doll…

“Geris, Rein occasionally talked about you.”

For a moment, Geris was dazed.

“She said she liked you too.”

Geris’s thoughts began to swirl chaotically.

That woman liked me? It seemed the only time those stiff, noble lips called his name was when she was angry. Even when they met in the alley, it was clear. Didn’t she desperately try to shake him off?

But if she really did like him…

Geris’s whirling thoughts slowed down. And connected in one direction.

Regret that they couldn’t properly see each other because of the debt between them, a wish that such obstacles should no longer exist.

“Ha.”

Geris smiled a lewd smile mixed with excitement.

“Rein can’t approach you because she’s afraid of being caught by her husband.”

The nobleman held out a small map.

On it, one point was marked.