I nodded as if mesmerized.

“…Yes. Never again.”

Then I spoke words I should have said much earlier.

“I will definitely repay the debt for saving me.”

“Oh? How will you repay it?”

At that, Dante immediately seized on my words. His eyes shining like a hunter who had found prey caught in a trap.

“…”

I was momentarily at a loss for words.

It was a difficult question. What could satisfy someone who seemed to lack nothing?

“Is it hard to answer?”

Noticing my difficulty, Dante raised the corner of his mouth.

“A life debt must be repaid with life.”

He whispered in a kind voice, as if giving the correct answer.

Then he suddenly brought his face close to mine as I stared blankly with wide eyes.

“You remember what I said before, don’t you?”

Another voice from my memory played in my head.

“After you’ve finished venting all your anger about the past… You’ll have to realize. Your reality is here. By the side of this Dante Heigenberg.”

“Our calculation will start from then.”

Dante whispered, reminding me of the deal from that time. In a seductive voice like a devil bewitching people.

“For now, give me all your breath.”

There was no time to give an answer.

Immediately, lips overlapped and hot flesh surged in. I helplessly opened my trembling lips.

If this was what he needed, I could give it as much as he wanted.

But this man was trying to arbitrarily take out something deeper than that. Something more formless than breath.

The thing I had vowed never to give to anyone again after being betrayed all at once by the people I loved.

The heart that had been mangled and crushed ugly after being brutally torn apart.

‘But…’

My heart was torn to shreds on that day when it died once.

Yet I could still breathe because I had patched together the torn fragments of my heart with a desire for revenge.

If that imperfect heart were to crack once more…

This time it would shatter completely.

Without a trace, miserably.

Though instinctive fear shook my heart, there was nothing I could do.

Just trapped immovably in his strong arms, unable to resist the pleasure offered by the man before me.

“Ah…”

I barely endured the surging sensations while trembling faintly.

Dante explored the tender flesh inside my mouth without hesitation, firmly gripping the back of my head.

Sensations I had never felt before dominated my mind.

More violent, rough… dangerous.

The man who said he would take my breath away instead pushed his hot breath into me relentlessly.

How long had I been helplessly overwhelmed like this?

“Why are you trembling?”

Dante asked in an impatient voice as he slightly parted his lips.

“I’m not going to eat you, so relax.”

Contrary to his words, the voice that flowed out scratching his Adam’s apple was uncharacteristically rough for him.

I answered, my lips quivering.

“…I’m sorry.”

It felt like I was barely keeping my balance in a storm that was sweeping me away completely.

“Just, the feeling is too…”

Scary, but not wanting to run away.

This contradictory emotion was actually the most frightening.

Wondering if I had already dipped my foot into the formless waves that would shake me.

“Too?”

“Strange… it feels strange.”

“Damn it.”

Dante chewed out a curse between parted lips. A low, husky voice scratched at my ear.

Red eyes stared piercingly at my lips, which must have been swollen. The face devoid of composure was something rarely seen on him.

“No matter what, a bastard who first embraces his wife in prison is too much of a scumbag.”

…Prison.

That word struck hard at my melting, fuzzy mind.

Only then did I realize where I was.

The white-faced man I had last seen before regaining my memories, who had acted as a catalyst, was nowhere to be seen.

Only the damp, cold air still proved that this was inside an underground prison.

It seemed Dante had moved me here while I was floundering in the flood of memories.

‘That means…’

Even now, that cursed white-faced man was close by.

“…My lord.”

“Yes, Ariana.”

Dante spoke in a voice as sweet as melted chocolate.

“Shall we go home?”

“…”

I momentarily forgot how to speak at the unfamiliar tone.

My cheeks suddenly burned as if on fire, but reason raised its hand. Don’t forget the purpose of coming this far, it said.

“Um, that’s not it.”

“…”

“The prisoner you were interrogating when I arrived, I want to see him again.”

Instead of answering, Dante slowly closed his eyes.

“…Alright.”

He released my neck with a suppressed sigh.

“Revenge must be taken.”

* * *

A moment later.

Bang!

With the most vicious face I had seen yet, Dante kicked open the cell door.

“Hic, hiik.”

The prisoner trembled violently, startled by the fierce aura that even I found terrifying.

“My wife wishes to speak with you personally. Listen respectfully and confess only the truth without a single mistake.”

At the threatening tone more like a vicious thug than a duke, the prisoner turned to look at me with fearful eyes.

I glared at him silently.

‘White face.’

I glared at the man’s pale face and features that looked like holes punched in leather.

He was no longer much taller than me, nor was his body monstrously huge like before.

I slowly walked towards him.

The closer I got, the better I could see what kind of man he was.

Just a pathetically trembling man, aged a decade more but with no trace of wisdom or maturity to be found…

Just an ordinary human. The kind found everywhere, that kind of human.

The reality of the nightmare faced in broad daylight while sober was much more insignificant than the size of the fear.

‘To think that grandfather and mother…’

Lost their lives so miserably to someone like this.

“What do you want to do?”

Dante’s arm stretched out behind me as if to embrace me.

“If you want to kill him, kill him.”

He placed a knife in my hand and whispered like a tempting devil.

“If it’s a shame to kill him in one go, you can play with him as much as you like.”

“Pl-please…”

The white-faced man begged, trembling like an aspen.

I gazed down at that face thoughtfully.

Edward, Elena, Lucas.

I thought revenge would be over after paying them back.

Forgetting that the real enemy was elsewhere.

‘I’m sorry, grandfather. Mother.’

But please don’t worry, I whispered in my heart.

From now on, I will avenge the real enemy and let you close your eyes in peace.

“Please, please have mercy, my lady.”

The white face sobbed, trembling.

It was completely different from the memory of ten years ago, when he hunted me so cruelly.

It was a detestable sight that made me want to stab him right away.

‘But this man is just a hired knife.’

The one who really wielded the blade is out there.

I barely suppressed my emotions and turned to Dante.

“Don’t say such scary things about killing, my lord.”

Then I smiled in feigned bewilderment, pretending not to know anything.

“Interrogating traitors is your job, isn’t it? I couldn’t do even half as well as you.”

The white-faced man rolled his eyes, watching my expression.

It was a face unable to grasp how much I remembered about that day, or if I didn’t remember at all.

‘That’s right. Be confused.’

Memories of the future have been my greatest weapon so far.

Memories of the past will be the same.

There was no need to let my enemies know that I had recalled such a weapon.

‘But how much does the duke know?’

How had he been interrogating the white-faced man that even I had forgotten?

That’s when it happened.

Click, click.

From above, the sound of military boots walking down the stairs could be heard.

The sound quickly approached this direction, and soon a soldier appeared through the open door.

“Greetings, Your Grace. My lady.”

The eagle insignia on the epaulette caught my eye. It meant a soldier directly employed by the imperial family.

I could see the soldier’s eyes assessing our mood while pretending not to.

“I came to see if there was any discomfort upon hearing news of your visit.”

If it had been before I recalled my memories, I might have believed those words at face value.

But not now.

‘The crown prince sent him.’

He must be anxious, wondering if the events from ten years ago might be revealed since Dante was interrogating that man, the white face.

The crown prince probably doesn’t know that I was also at the scene of that “accident” ten years ago.

If he had known, he would have killed me already, just like grandfather and mother.

Which meant that man had not reported about me to his client.

The reason was obvious.

‘Because he failed to kill me then.’

I was never supposed to be there in the first place.

Just as even grandfather and mother didn’t expect me to hide in the carriage.

So instead of searching for my corpse that should have fallen off the cliff, that man decided to simply keep silent about my existence.

That carelessness was what saved me, in a way.

I gazed blankly at the soldier, then suddenly turned my head towards Dante.

“Let’s go back now, my lord.”

Dante’s gaze turned to me.

I smiled a little more deeply and rested my cheek on his arm.

“You said you’d take care of me all day today.”

Like a lovesick, spoiled new bride.

Then I looked up at Dante and whispered with slightly upturned eyes.

“When I woke up and you weren’t by my side again, I had to come find you like this.”

As if that was the sole purpose of visiting the prison.

The question was whether Dante would play along with my act.

The red eyes just rested on me as if watching what I would do.

Feeling a faint anxiety, I shook his arm as if urging him.

“So let’s go back and…”

As I moved my swollen lips, I could feel Dante’s gaze blatantly lingering on them.

“Continue what we were doing earlier.”