It happened in an instant.

With her cheeks held, Adeline had no way to avoid Casius’s gaze.

Before she could feel discomfort from his red eyes, something touched and left her lips.

“What is this now…”

Adeline looked at Casius with eyes stained with bewilderment.

As their gazes met directly, Casius raised the corner of his mouth obliquely.

“Now you’re not avoiding it.”

Adeline couldn’t take her eyes off the duke.

The duke’s red eyes seemed to have embers rising from within.

The small embers gradually expanded their force at Adeline’s direct gaze, seeming to blaze.

“Never avoid it again.”

The red eyes that couldn’t get any redder were shining mischievously towards Adeline.

The duke slowly lifted Adeline’s chin and tilted his head obliquely as he approached.

Adeline unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut at his face gradually coming closer.

Eventually, their lips met and Casius invaded, parting Adeline’s teeth.

A hot breath rushed in. As if bound by that hot breath, she couldn’t move a finger.

Her mind became distant.

The two focused on each other as if they had lost their reason. Even the sound of rain pouring ruthlessly seemed inaudible to them.

As the kiss became more and more intense, a flash of lightning brightly lit up the bedroom and disappeared.

At that momentary blinding flash, Adeline suddenly came to her senses.

“Ah!”

Startled, Adeline pushed the duke away with force on the hand placed on her chest.

At the urgent touch, the duke obediently stepped back from Adeline.

“Um…”

Adeline couldn’t finish her words, not knowing what to say or how.

Looking at Adeline’s endlessly trembling eyes, the duke raised his hand and rubbed her reddened mouth.

“Go wash up now.”

The heat in his red eyes hadn’t cooled at all, but he smiled gently and slowly moved away from Adeline.

Adeline, seemingly embarrassed by this situation, hurriedly entered the bathroom.

Leaning against the bathroom door, she clutched her heart that was pounding as if it would burst any moment.

Why have I become so different!

She never thought she would end up kissing like this just for helping with a zipper.

‘What should I do…’

Adeline gently touched her swollen red lips. Her mind was filled entirely with the moment her lips met Casius’s.

Adeline’s face flushed hot. Even pouring cold water didn’t calm her down at all.

Adeline hadn’t realized. That looking into Casius’s eyes was no longer as frightening as before.

[This is the timeline separator]

The sky outside was clear as if it had never rained heavily.

After finishing her shower, Adeline encountered the duke standing in the hallway as she was leaving the bedroom.

Meeting those red eyes again, memories of earlier began to resurface.

Adeline quickly lowered her head to hide her flushing face.

“Mel, I’m going out to town!”

“Now? Why suddenly to town…”

Casius naturally seemed to intend to follow along.

But Adeline had no intention of waiting for Casius to get ready.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t follow me. Keep the house safe!”

Without even waiting for Casius’s reply, Adeline hurriedly left the mansion after saying what she needed to.

Because if she stayed in the same space with Casius, thoughts of earlier wouldn’t leave her mind.

It felt like she absolutely couldn’t be with him.

Though partly due to embarrassment from kissing Casius, she really did have business in town.

The broken window. If she didn’t fix that window, Casius would surely call a repairman.

So Adeline headed towards the village.

She was on her way out after buying some simple tools at the hardware store.

A boy selling newspapers in front of the store caught Adeline’s eye.

‘I wonder if there’s any news?’

For some unknown reason, the empire’s only duke was in this remote village, injured.

Surely, quite some time must have passed since the duke disappeared from the capital.

Thinking the duke’s disappearance would be no different from going missing, she expected there would be a huge article in the capital’s daily newspaper.

“Boy, give me a newspaper too.”

Adeline called the boy over and gave him one copper coin for a newspaper.

Contrary to expectations, there was nothing written about the duke anywhere in the newspaper.

The newspaper headline was covering the disappearance of a marquis’s daughter in very large letters, not the duke.

[ Special Report! Beautiful Daughter of Credion Marquis Family. Missing ] [ The Credion family’s marquis daughter has wheat-colored hair and gray eyes… ]

Detailed descriptions of Adeline’s appearance were listed on the front page of the newspaper.

‘Why are they running an article about me only now?’

Adeline couldn’t hide her bewilderment. Quite some time had passed since she left home.

There’s no way they wouldn’t have known she left home, so why did the quiet Credion Marquis suddenly start looking for her now?

Despite all media outlets being under the control of the marquis family, the detailed description of her appearance being published meant one thing clearly.

That the crown prince had ordered the Credion Marquis to start looking for her.

Adeline was overwhelmed by the feeling that the marquis would find her soon and throw her before the crown prince’s eyes.

‘This is a total death flag.’

Adeline’s whole body trembled at the fear that gripped her as if she would suffocate.

At that moment, grand footsteps were heard in this quiet Horn region.

It sounded like hard shoes, like military boots, stomping on the muddy ground.

Adeline, overcome by an uneasy feeling, hid her body in the entrance of a small alley.

After some time had passed, several shadows began to appear on the main street beyond the alley.

“Have you by chance seen someone who looks like this?”

“If I’d seen such a beauty, I’d remember right away! This is my first time seeing her?”

In front of the newsstand where she had taken out the newspaper, a man among the uniformed group was looking for someone.

Even with the narrow view through the alley, the emblem on the man’s shoulder was clearly visible.

The emblem of the Credion family.

Two pairs of intertwined snakes embroidered on gray epaulettes. The moment she saw that emblem, Adeline felt chills run down her spine.

The report about Adeline’s disappearance was in today’s newspaper, yet they were searching all the way to the Horn region, far from the capital.

There was no doubt they had been looking for her for a while.

Adeline instinctively hid deeper into the alley.

How many troops had they deployed? Her fear continued to grow.

‘I shouldn’t come out to town for a while.’

Adeline turned her body to the opposite side of the alley she had entered to avoid the troops.

She began hurrying home. As soon as she left town and reached the forest path, Adeline quickened her pace even more.

The forest path towards home was silent without a sound. The suffocating stillness fueled Adeline’s anxiety.

Too late.

Though she had said she was going to town, she worried about the duke waiting at home.

When she was about halfway there. The rain that had subsided earlier today began to fall again.

The rain gradually increased its force and began to pour so heavily it was impossible to pass through.

It seemed best to take shelter from the rain first.

Adeline hid her body under a large tree and caught her breath.

She shouldn’t have gone out to town, she didn’t think they would search all the way to this remote village.

Adeline looked up at the sky.

After staring at the sky for a while. In the distance between the trees, a large dark figure seemed to appear.

With the thick raindrops pouring down as if releasing everything, Adeline couldn’t properly assess the situation.

‘Surely. It can’t be someone from the marquis family?’

Though she thought she had escaped well from the village, Adeline suddenly felt scared.

The dark figure seemed to be getting a little closer to her.

“@#$%^&*~.”

All sounds were buried in the tremendously pouring rain.

Yet a murmur was heard piercing through that rain sound.

I have to run away.

Adeline was certain that voice belonged to the knight from the marquis family she had seen in town.

It wasn’t time to avoid the rain. Adeline started running out from under the large tree.

She couldn’t be caught and dragged away like this.

“Huff…”

Adeline felt like her breathing would burst. Yet she absolutely couldn’t slow her steps.

Because that black figure, far from getting farther away, was getting closer and closer.

She couldn’t head towards the duke’s villa.

She couldn’t let the marquis discover that she was hiding there. She had to flee as far away from the villa as possible.

When Adeline changed direction and started running, the black figure followed suit.

It was certainly chasing after her without a doubt.

She hadn’t particularly done any great wrongs in her previous life.

But,

‘Why do these things only happen to me?’

The sight of herself desperately fleeing to survive made her feel so pitiful.

Scratches began appearing all over her arms as she fled between the trees.

If caught here, she would be dragged to the crown prince and killed. In the face of imminent death, the scratches weren’t a problem at all.

“@#$%^&*!!”

No matter how much she ran, the black figure kept closing the distance with Adeline, raising its voice more and more.

Adeline ran at full speed with all her might. She couldn’t look back.

Was it because of the heavy rain that had continued from the past days?

Piles of mud and entangled trees from landslides were everywhere. Adeline hid her body among the mud piles.

Her legs no longer had the strength to run away.

Though she barely held onto her precarious consciousness, Adeline had no energy left. She just hoped they wouldn’t be able to find where she was hiding.

Her breath was choking and her heart felt like it would burst.

However, as if mocking Adeline’s hopes, the black figure appeared behind her.

A large hand grasped Adeline’s shoulder.

The strong and firm force gripping Adeline’s shoulder. A severe sense of fear came over her at the inescapable grip.

It was the end.