As if to prove it, Kardian approached Damion closely and asked, leaning in.

“Where is she?”

“Who?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

“I really don’t know.”

“I’m asking where you hid Ansi.”

As expected.

It wasn’t Kardian who took Ansi.

Damion was convinced of that fact. If he had taken Ansi, he would never react like this.

At that moment, the description of the mercenary he had heard earlier came to his mind again.

Silver-grey hair and blue eyes.

‘…… Derel de Rübel.’

It matched the description of Ansi’s elder brother.

Exhilaration flashed in Damion’s eyes.

“She’s not here anymore.”

Damion said with a smile. Kardian’s eyes rolled, scanning his face to read Damion’s true intentions. Damion spoke again.

“You should have sent more capable men.”

“Damion, do you think you can hide Ansi for the rest of your life? I just have to track you. If you meet Ansi even once, I can capture her then.”

“What to do. I have no intention of seeing Ansi ever again. That’s why I divorced her in the first place. To make her free from you, in exchange for separating her from me.”

Kardian’s face hardened.

“You…… You’re serious.”

Kardian closed his eyes to suppress his rising anger. His closed eyes trembled.

Damion just laughed. He couldn’t help but laugh. Ansi met Derel as she wanted and escaped from Kardian’s hands.

As long as Damion doesn’t meet Ansi, Kardian has no clue to find her for now.

Ansi’s freedom. That was what Damion wanted.

Realizing that he could get nothing from Damion, Kardian turned around abruptly. And he left, slamming the door.

Damion took a few steps back and leaned against the desk. The relief that Ansi was not in Kardian’s hands overtook him.

“Follow Kardian. Monitor and interfere with everything he does to find Ansi.”

“Understood.”

When Damion gave the low order, the mercenary hiding quietly answered. Damion added instructions.

“If Ansi is found around here, prevent her from ever coming to me, and send her somewhere she can hide her identity. And don’t tell me where she went……”

Completely cutting off news of Ansi from himself. It was a cruel order for Damion himself. But it was necessary now.

The hope of seeing Ansi should not become a threat to her. If she could reunite with her family and live safely as she wanted, his own feelings didn’t matter.

“Then go.”

The mercenary left the room.

Damion moved his steps unsteadily and buried himself in the sofa.

He had no strength to stand.

Silence flowed through the room. When it felt like it was pressing on his ears, he moved his lips and held her name.

“Ansi.”

No answer came.

In fact, he thought he would see her once before their complete separation. He thought he would properly say goodbye and send her off after rescuing Derel.

Knowing that Ansi was not happy by his side, he could not hold her any longer, but he had decided to live on with the consolation of a final farewell.

But the opportunity disappeared in vain.

Now Damion could not see Ansi.

Perhaps until the day Damion dies.

Realizing that fact, it felt like his insides were tangled.

“Ah……”

A sound like a beast’s roar escaped from Damion’s mouth. He closed his eyes and covered his face.

In the darkness, Ansi’s face was drawn even more vividly. It seemed like she would whisper something in his ear at any moment.

A sound that could be laughter or crying burst out endlessly. Suppressing and suppressing emotions only made him miserable.

It was like standing at the edge of a cliff in front of the black sea.

It was futile, and he just wanted to disappear into bubbles like this.

Ansi got up and opened the window. The salty dawn breeze enveloped Ansi’s cheeks. It was the smell of the sea she had greeted every day until a year ago.

The place they arrived at was the south again. This Marel was quite a distance from Saul, where they had previously lived, but it shared the same temperature and atmosphere.

It was Roma who found the house. She said it was one of the candidate locations she had looked into while preparing an identity for Sofia.

The single-story house was modest but spacious enough for three people to live in. The fact that it seemed to be a quiet neighborhood, not too noisy, was also appealing.

After bringing Ansi’s family here, Roma immediately returned to the capital.

And now, left behind, they had to live here under new names, hiding their identities.

This was not only because they did not know how Kardian would harm them, but also for Derel’s sake.

Derel said he was fine, but when Ansi examined him, his body had not properly recovered.

Due to minimal movement while living in prison for a year and a half, his body was stiff. It seemed he had not been able to eat proper food either.

It was a wonder he had run so fast to save Ansi.

Until Derel recovers, they need to take sufficient rest and live quietly. Just so he can focus on recovery.

But if Derel lives as Derel de Rübel, it will be difficult. If he, who was known to be dead, reappears alive, the world will surely become noisy.

For now, it is best to hide and live here. Forgetting everything and living together, that was also Sofia’s wish.

At this rate, it was not much different from a year and a half ago when they fled the capital and came down to the south. But Ansi also thought this was right.

Perhaps this life is fitting for their station, she rationalized.

Ansi, wearing a cardigan, quietly left the room. She was going to look around the village.

“Where are you going?”

A quiet question was thrown at Ansi, who was heading to the front door. Ansi turned around. Derel, who was sitting in front of the kitchen table, was staring at her.

“You’re up early.”

“I didn’t sleep. I couldn’t fall asleep.”

Ansi narrowed her brows. If he couldn’t sleep, why was he sitting here?

“Even if you can’t, you should sleep. You already don’t look like before, what if your health gets worse?”

Derel let out a chuckle.

“Why are you laughing?”

“You worrying about me, it’s unfamiliar.”

She spat it out like a rebuke to him, but it was indeed worry. The fact that Derel knew that too felt strange anew. It was a reaction that would never have come out before.

Before, when the two of them were living ordinary days, they bickered a lot. Ansi did not hesitate to point out Derel’s actions, and Derel was always quick to pick on Ansi’s every word.

Honestly, at that time, they didn’t really worry about each other or try to understand each other. There was no need to.

But now it was different. After losing it once, you realize how precious it was. Especially now, when they are left alone together in a place with no one else, having to rely on each other.

“If you know, go inside and sleep.”

“Where are you trying to go?”

“I’ll look around the village and come back. I’ll also see if there’s a place to use a telephone.”

Obviously, there was no way this house would have a telephone.

Ansi couldn’t sit still. Even though she knew it was impossible to borrow a phone right now at this dawn, she felt like she had to move.

“I’ll be back……”

“You can’t call that man, Ansi.”

At Derel’s words, Ansi, who was about to step toward the door, stopped.

She turned around. Derel’s face was resolute. He genuinely wanted to stop Ansi. Ansi narrowed her brows.

“Why should I?”

“Kardian Orphe is meticulous and cunning.”

“So?”

“What if he taps Damion Orphe’s phone? What if he finds this place?”

“…… He won’t go that far.”

“You know it too. That he could go that far.”

Ansi stared at Derel without answering. She wanted to refute more, but she couldn’t. Kardian was someone who could do that, and now was not the time to take even a small possibility lightly.

She couldn’t be stubborn at the risk of everyone’s safety.

Ansi gripped the hem of her skirt tightly. And eventually, she moved her steps back toward the room.

At least for the time being, she must not directly approach Damion. Until Kardian’s interest sufficiently dies down, whenever that may be.

That’s how it should be.

That was right.

Ansi grabbed the doorknob of the room. Like that, she turned her head and looked at Derel.

“…… Derel.”

There was something bothering her about Derel’s reaction.

“When Kardian settles down, then? Can I contact Damion then?”

“……”

Derel did not answer. But a dark look crossed his face. Ansi let go of the doorknob and approached the table.

“Why do you want to contact him?”

Derel asked a heavy question to Ansi sitting in front of him. He lowered his voice so Sofia in the room wouldn’t hear.

“Ansi, you said it yourself. That you approached the Orphes for revenge. You had to bow your head to those bastards for that reason…… Why are you thinking of him now? I don’t understand.”