“Exactly, where would that lowly nature go? You just pretended to be nice because there’s something for you to scrounge, hiding your vulgar tongue. I never even imagined. I guess I should give you a round of applause?”

Cassel shook his head with a snicker. Then he suddenly turned pale and chewed his words coldly.

“The lowly thing has gone mad, how dare you…”

Cassel growled with a demonic face.

“Get on your knees and beg now, before I strip you naked and drag you around.”

He was serious. With his current mood, he felt like he could do anything.

So he roared menacingly, but Evie just sat still. Cassel’s rage boiled over at her appearance.

“Can’t you hear me?”

“I hear you well. But it doesn’t sound like you mean it.”

Evie’s voice remained gentle, and Cassel’s eyes finally rolled back.

Unable to contain himself, he lunged across the pergola toward Evie and reached out for her.

But before Cassel could grab Evie’s hair, Evie caught his arm first and then twisted it behind his back.

“Kraak!”

Cassel’s robust arm turned too easily. And in an instant, his arm was twisted, and he involuntarily knelt and collapsed.

Startled, he struggled to shake Evie off. But for some reason, he couldn’t escape from the small hand gripping his wrist.

“You, you won’t let go? You really want to die!?”

As Cassel shouted, Evie casually replied, “No, I don’t want to die,” and plopped down on his back.

“You, you…!”

Pinned down by Evie, Cassel waved his free hand, but that arm was quickly seized and pulled back in the same way.

“You crazy! Get down now!”

Cassel was furious, kneeling and lying down.

It was unbelievable. He was physically larger, yet he couldn’t resist being subdued like this.

Moreover, Evie, who had flattened him, was light. But somehow, he couldn’t lift her at all.

Was it the alcohol from earlier? He couldn’t muster any strength. He felt dizzy and had trouble breathing.

His weakened upper body leaned further forward, and Cassel’s face eventually touched the ground.

Once he had settled into the position of a martyr or prisoner, Evie, seated above him, suddenly began her confession.

“It’s nice to say everything I want to. People really should live honestly.”

Evie spoke cheerfully, like someone who had put down a heavy burden. She then turned her neck to glare at Cassel.

“So I’m really grateful to Your Grace. Um, it’s not polite to say this while sitting on you like this, but since Your Grace is also an impolite child, I’ll just talk like this.”

Evie laughed with a lantern on her back.
So Cassel flinched without realizing it, as he was grinding his teeth. The atmosphere of Evie, looking down on herself, backlit, was slightly different from that of Pengsoo.

“Thanks to Your Grace, I’ve realized a lot. Earlier, you asked who ordered it, right? How lightly do you take me, not even suspecting that it was my doing? But I was the same.”

Evie spoke, leisurely crossing her legs on Cassel’s back.

“I was overestimating instead. I thought that the Tiena nobles, all born nobly, would be difficult people. They’re all terrifying beasts, and I thought they’d be entities I could never approach.”

Rabbits live as rabbits, lions as lions, crows as crows, but somehow, people live as emperors, as nobles, as miserable commoners.

He thought it strange, but he thought he had to bear it. Blaming himself for having drawn the lot very wrongly.

“But seeing Your Grace, my thoughts changed. Born beautifully, living easily, Cassel Mont, who knows that’s all a great thing, seems much closer to a domestic pig than a beast.”

“Wha, what? This is real……!”

“Stay still.”

“Ugh!”

As Cassel writhed again, Evie slapped his back hard. Startled by the unexpected blow, Cassel opened his eyes wide, and Evie scolded sternly.

“That way, you’ll get it all out before you pass out.”

Pass out? Cassel only realized that his consciousness was blurry after hearing that. His breath quickened. His forehead was already damp with sweat.

“You thought you’d be fine, right? Even if you played around and threw me away.”

Evie’s voice penetrated Cassel’s bewildered ears.

“But no. You touched the wrong one. Today’s events are just the tip of the iceberg, and you’ll keep getting in trouble with me. Until you’re totally ruined.”

“You, what are you going to ruin……!”

“Do you know how I’ve lived so far?”

As Cassel panted and snapped back, Evie laughed and questioned.

“How do you think I got here while you were born as the heir to the Count’s family and naturally became the Count?”

Evie waited for an answer, for once.

But Cassel could only gasp for breath and couldn’t open his mouth.

He realized something was wrong in his confusion.

Just like Evie said, he thought he’d be fine. That nothing would happen.

But in the blink of an eye, a crucial supporter left, he formed an even more vicious karma with old lovers, and he earned the resentment of his cousin. It was all painfully bitter.

As if that weren’t embarrassing enough, the perpetrator of such deeds threatens, saying he hasn’t even started yet.

Cassel wanted to shout at her not to be cocky. At the same time, he felt a chilling sense of crisis in Evie’s unfamiliar expression and tone.

Cassel felt his vision blurring and moaned with humiliation and defeat.

He wouldn’t want to admit it, but the pitiful animal he lightly pushed and rolled off the cliff turned out to be a lion cub.

And now that its drug had fully kicked in, it was ready to tear him apart without mercy.