Cassadin hugged as tightly as he could. Within his embrace, I slid my hands onto his back.
“Maybe coming back to the past was all part of the journey to et you.”
It would be nice to marry you and live happily ever after once all this is over.
If only I hadn’t given priority to my revenge after coming back, could I have lived peacefully without Damian’s interference?
The ti I’m spending with you is so precious to .
But in that mont, as I entered Cassadin’s embrace, I felt soone watching us.
The gaze originated from the direction of the terrace doors leading to the banquet hall, where the black curtains billowed in the wind. When I turned my head to look at the door, the gaze vanished as if it had never existed.
If my sight hadn’t deceived , I thought I saw a sort of black shadow.
After holding for several more minutes, Cassadin slowly released .
“Can you wait here for a mont? I’ll be back soon.”
“……Alright.”
The guests wore masks, and the dark skies were only illuminated by the crescent moon. Not to ntion, the terrace was on the second floor, a place with few occupants.
“Don’t follow anyone, no matter how enticing they may seem.”
“Don’t treat like a child.”
“……I’m just worried.”
I gave a bright smile to the man, who looked down at with concern.
“I’ll be waiting right here, so hurry back.”
Cassadin paused as he was about to nod and removed the dress coat he was wearing to place it over my shoulders.
“I told you I’m fine.”
“I’ll take it back when I return.”
With those final words, Cassadin hurried off toward the banquet hall as if pressed for ti.
I watched as Cassadin vanished behind the black curtains, then turned to lean on the terrace balustrade with my arms and gazed up at the moon.
As I stared up at the moon, I felt a gaze watching return. It was persistent and clingy.
‘So it wasn’t just my imagination.’
I pretended to look up at the moon while tilting my head in the direction of the gaze.
“Who is it?”
A silhouette of a person erged from behind the curtains in response. With each step they took toward , the silhouette grew clearer.
…….The person who approached on the terrace was a nobleman I did not recognize.
He wore a brown owl half-mask and swayed as he continued to hiccup. Clearly, he had drunk quite a bit, as his scent was heavy with wine.
“Heh, hic-! Feeling a little tipsy here.”
The swaying man smirked as soon as our eyes t.
“Gee, gotta say that banquets in palaces are indeed different. Hic! I’ve t all the beautiful won I could want in my life in just one night. Or did I? Am I just seeing things? Hic! No. Soone told there would be a beauty up here.”
Apparently not in full control of his faculties, the man mumbled to himself amid his hiccups.
Judging by his attitude and deanor, the man seed to be a noble in na only.
‘So even diocrities like this are at the banquet. They should have allowed only those with invitations to enter, foolish Emperor.’
I cursed the Emperor silently and clicked my tongue in annoyance.
“Why are you out here alone on this cold night? Hic! Why not dance with instead?”
I returned the man’s gaze with cold eyes.
“I’m afraid I have to decline your offer.”
Ignoring my refusal, the man chuckled and grabbed my arm. He was indeed terribly disrespectful.
“What is the aning of this?”
“Aw, don’t act so cold now. Hic! So woman told that I’d et my true partner if I ca over here! Hic-!”
I struggled to pull my hand away, but the man was stronger than I had anticipated.
But as I glared at the man in irritation, his words from a mont ago suddenly resurfaced in my mind.
‘…A woman told him to co here to et his true partner?’
This rude man had entered the terrace coincidentally when Cassadin left, as if he had been waiting.
Summoning the calst voice I could, I asked the drunk man,
“Do you, perhaps, rember who it was that told you this?”
“You think I would rember sothing like that? I don’t know. I got this drunk in the first place because that woman kept giving wine! Hic-!”
The woman this man referred to was definitely not Ively. She lacked the cunning to manipulate others to her will. Quite the opposite, in fact.
‘…It’s Lillian.’
To think she would stoop so low as to cause trouble for at a banquet held for Cassadin.
‘It should be difficult to recognize with this mask, so how did she know it was ?’
Perhaps Lillian was fated to tornt . Seeing squint in disapproval, the man tightened his grip on my wrist.
“Aren’t you being a little too obvious with your dislike?”
“…I’m sorry, but I have little interest in dealing with garbage.”
“What?”
The man’s face twisted in anger as he gripped my wrist even tighter.
Just then, a figure materialized out of nowhere and seized the man’s hand that was wrapped around my wrist. A loud crack followed, and the man’s hand started to shake.
“Aaghh!”
The nobleman, slow to react, writhed in pain and backed away. As if shielding , the man in the black uniform stood before and drew his sword.
With a chilling sound, the blade glead nacingly in the moonlight.
The nobleman trembled from head to toe, then scurried back into the banquet hall without daring to look back.
I looked up at the man who had appeared before unexpectedly.
The man, whom I naturally assud was Cassadin due to the black uniform, wore a black half-mask instead of the white one Cassadin had on.
Not only that, but since Cassadin had given his coat before leaving, this man couldn’t be Cassadin.
The man’s hair was as dark as the mask he wore, and beneath that black hair were two sharp erald-green eyes.
“……Your Grace.”
Damian’s eyes softened when he heard my voice, and he sheathed his sword.
“Having such asly flies attracted to you must be quite a pain, Milady.”
“……”
“Where is this Sir Cassadin, leaving his lover to fend off such troubles alone?”
Damian clicked his tongue disapprovingly. I glared at him and responded.
“Do not speak of Cassadin in such a manner.”
“You still take his side, even now? I was the one who saved you from that peril, yet you still look towards him.”
“Why did Your Grace co to the banquet hall with a sword in the first place?”
My gaze dropped to the sword hanging from Damian’s belt. He was neither an imperial knight nor a knight commander, yet he had the audacity to enter the banquet ard.
Even if Damian is the Grand Duke, isn’t this too reckless?
“Why? Are you worried that I might, perhaps, harm your lover with this sword?”
Damian smiled ominously.
“It seems Your Grace has completely recovered from that heart disease, given the way you are speaking so carelessly.”
“…….Of course not. My heart is still in quite a bit of pain.”
Damian clasped his hand over mine and placed it on his chest, over his heart.
As he had claid, the heart disease was still present. But.
‘Why is his heart beating so fast? It doesn’t seem like a symptom of the heart condition.’
While I cocked my head in confusion, Damian rummaged through his coat and produced sothing. It was a white silk handkerchief.
Damian rubbed my wrist repeatedly with that handkerchief, the sa wrist now red from the drunkard’s hard grip.
“What are you doing right now?”
“…….Isn’t it obvious? I’m wiping away the filth.”
“……”
I was so surprised that I couldn’t even speak. Damian’s gaze moved from my awestruck face to my neck.
Although the cape and coat I wore should have hidden the marks Cassadin left, his eyes clung to as if he could see through the fabric.
His eyes were still fixed on my neck, and he slowly parted his lips.
“It is a sha, but it seems I cannot wipe away the filth on your collarbone and neck.”
I was convinced that part of Damian’s brain was severely malfunctioning at the mont. I pulled my hand from him, and he continued to rub my wrist.
For a second, Damian’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t try to recapture my hand and instead released it. Holding my wrist with my other hand, I looked up at Damian, wondering if he had indeed suffered so head injury.
“Like Your Grace is aware, Cassadin and I are lovers. So, please refrain from approaching or speaking to like this in the future.”
“……So I cannot approach or talk to you?”
“Yes. Just yesterday, Your Grace caused trouble by declaring that we were lovers. To be honest, I am uncomfortable with Your Grace’s apparent intentions.”
Damian tucked the handkerchief away and let out a soft, amused sigh.
“Hadn’t it been Milady who first approached ?”
“……”
“You approached while I was imprisoned, visited my residence, unsettled as you pleased, and now you claim to be uncomfortable.”
Tilting his head to the side, Damian leaned in closer to . His angled eyes glimred in the moonlight.
As he leaned in close enough to be just a hand’s distance from , I reflexively took a step back. But with every step I took, Damian advanced.
Damian pursued until my back pressed against the balcony railing.
I attempted to sidestep him, but Damian halted my escape by placing both arms on the stone railing.
A shiver rippled through my body as I faced Damian in such proximity. Beneath his black mask, he wore a strange expression I had never seen before.
“Aren.”
Damian’s deep voice called out to .
It irked to the point that I pushed against Damian with both hands. However, he seized the hands I used to shove him.
With my wrists firmly in his grasp, Damian offered a gentle smile. Yet, despite his smiling lips, his eyes seed to plunge deeper than the abyss itself.
Unable to mask my revulsion, I glared at Damian intensely.
“Let go, Your Grace.”
“Don’t you think those eyes are a bit too challenging for a request?”
“Should I be thanking Your Grace instead? It all seems too coincidental that Your Grace has arrived precisely when Cassadin is not with .”
Damian’s smirk returned.
“How accusatory, Milady.”
“…….”
“I’m afraid I must inform you that Cassadin is currently with another woman.”
“If the intention was to separate us, it was a poor choice, Your Grace. I fail to see how any of this benefits you.”
I couldn’t fathom why he was so intent on troubling Cassadin and . Turning my head aside, I let out a sigh.
“If it’s about the heart condition, I will heal it. Though it will take ti to fully cure the disease.”
“……”
“So I ask Your Grace to cease these forms of harassnt.”
“……What if this has nothing to do with the heart condition?”
What is this nonsense now?
I narrowed my eyes further and shot a look at Damian.
Damian’s sharp gaze seed to sharpen under the glow of the crescent moon.
Leaning into my ear, Damian whispered calmly,
“If I told you that I was trying to separate the two of you because I truly do have feelings for you, how would you reply?”
Leaning back, Damian gazed at my face, searching for a reaction while waiting for my response.
“If I’m being honest, it upsets and discomforts whenever Your Grace does this.”
“……Upset and uncomfortable.”
“Yes,”
Hearing my firm response, Damian’s voice grew cold.
“No matter how much I make you uncomfortable, even if you are lovers with that damned Cassadin, it doesn’t matter to one bit.”
With the eyes of a voracious beast, Damian added,
“Because I must have everything I want.”
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