Chapter 5
“Tell me everything that happened last night. Don’t leave out a single detail.”
“W–well…”
Lanya hesitated, then carefully began recounting what had happened the night before.
“At first, you said you would let me go. But then you suddenly changed and asked who I was. You said you liked me… and then you hugged me and said I smelled nice… and you wouldn’t let go.”
As Lanya continued, the Duke of Berkian’s face turned pale. The people around them began murmuring in shock, staring at both Lanya and the Duke with stunned expressions.
Lanya continued—but then she faltered. What came next was far too embarrassing to say aloud.
“Um… you suddenly… touched that part… do I really have to say this?”
“I told you to say everything.”
Lanya sighed, as if she had no choice.
“You… you rubbed yourself against me… down there… while saying it was our first night together…”
THUD!
“Enough!”
The Duke of Berkian could not take it anymore. He slammed his hand on the table and rose to his feet. Then he glared at Lanya’s innocent, clueless face with a terrifying expression.
He had been a genius since birth.
If he had been born first, people said he would have become emperor instead of the current ruler. It was no wonder— the present emperor was weak, and even after ten years of marriage, he still had no heir.
Because of that, the imperial faction had always been uneasy. They feared that the Duke might one day change his mind and seek the throne.
But Ritrich had never once desired his brother’s position. He regarded the emperor as his only family and remained loyal to him. The emperor, in turn, ignored the rumors and cherished him as a brother. Even when Ritrich fell into madness, the emperor grieved more than anyone and worked tirelessly to cure him.
He even sent a bride, following the nonsensical words of the priests.
That was why Ritrich had not dared to defy the emperor’s order and accepted the bride.
But the fact that he had unknowingly killed an innocent woman tormented him. As time passed, the stench of blood seemed to grow stronger. He feared that if this continued, he would truly become a monster. He tried to take his own life—but for some reason, he could not die. Another version of himself kept saving him.
And so, against his will, he continued killing—again and again.
But then… had he gone even madder?
He could not believe that he had dragged this pitifully thin girl into his bed, held her, and spoken nonsense about her scent being pleasant. And first night together? It was absurd.
Yet the words of the thin, insignificant girl did not seem like lies.
Especially since she had survived their “first night” and proven her existence.
The red-haired man, whose face flushed with excitement, blurted out:
“Master, what are we even thinking? This has to be the bride the priests talked about!”
“Don’t jump to conclusions.”
The woman cut him off coldly. Her icy gaze remained fixed on Lanya.
“And she isn’t even the Roan Baron’s daughter, the original bride.”
“So what? She’s the only one he didn’t kill.”
“That might mean she is the bride.”
This time, it was the green-haired man who spoke.
“Or it might mean she was sent here as a pawn.”
The stares from everyone were difficult to endure—but the worst was the green-haired man’s gaze. He looked at Lanya as if she were a threat, as though she might harm his master at any moment.
“Until we understand everything, it is best to keep her here, my lord.”
He lowered his head toward the Duke of Berkian. The Duke did not respond, but his silence granted permission.
* * *
“I hope you really are the bride. That’s the only way our master can survive.”
The Duke of Berkian assigned Lanya’s room to the highest and farthest chamber of the castle—far from his own bedroom. The red-haired man volunteered to escort her there.
Freed from the intense interrogation-like pressure, Lanya climbed the spiral staircase with the red-haired man, feeling like a coiled snake moving upward.
The red-haired man kept saying strange things. To be honest, he wasn’t the only one. Everything was strange. How could they possibly think a scrawny girl like her could do anything? She could not understand them—or their words.
“And you don’t smell bad. My nose is accurate.”
Unable to contain her frustration, Lanya asked:
“…May I ask something? Is it strange that I survived?”
“Strange? It’s impossible. That bastard never lets his brides live. You should have died.”
Hearing him speak so casually about something so horrifying, Lanya felt a chill crawl up her spine. She clenched her suddenly cold hands.
“Don’t be so scared. You survived, didn’t you?”
“But if this is abnormal… then we don’t know when the Duke might kill me.”
“He isn’t a ‘bastard.’”
The red-haired man’s cheerful expression turned icy.
“Our master is not someone who harms others. It’s that bastard who does it.”
Lanya looked at him with a mixture of fear and confusion. So the Duke of Berkian wasn’t responsible? It was all the doing of “that bastard”?
“I can’t say more.”
Though she had countless questions, the red-haired man changed the subject.
“Your name is Lanya, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Katukan.”
“Wow, that’s a really cool name.”
“It is, right?”
Just a compliment about his name, yet he burst into hearty laughter.
“Right? Hahaha! I knew it at first glance—you’re a good person!”
His large hand playfully ruffled Lanya’s golden hair. Lanya relaxed and smiled as well. Katukan, whose fierce face could scare children, looked at her with a strangely amazed expression.
Then, without another word, he reached the final step and walked down the narrow hallway to a room. He opened the door, sending dust swirling into the air as he coughed.
Frowning, he looked around the room—nothing but a single bed—and then turned to Lanya.
“You’ll have to stay here for a while. It’s not great, is it?”
“No, it’s more than I deserve.”
Not great? Compared to the room she had at the Roan Baron’s estate, it was luxurious.
Lanya had once lived in a storage room full of mold, rats, and ash—far worse than the servants’ quarters—because the Roan Baron’s daughter claimed it would “teach her manners.”
Katukan, unaware of this, refused to believe her words.
“Come on, don’t say that. It’s only temporary—just endure it.”
Having said what he needed, he turned to leave. Lanya tried to thank him, but he suddenly stopped.
“Oh, right. When night falls, do not go outside. The door will be locked from the outside, so you couldn’t go out anyway—but there’s a lock on the inside too. Make sure to lock it. Even if… the master comes and asks you to open the door, do not open it. Understood?”
The Duke of Berkian would come looking for her? It sounded impossible.
“The Duke wouldn’t come for me.”
“Hmm.”
Katukan shrugged.
“Food and water will be brought by the servants, but if you need anything else, pull this cord.”
Lanya gave him a cheerful goodbye as he walked away and entered the room. The moment the door closed, her body collapsed. The tension had drained out of her.
Her arms still tingled from how tightly she had been holding herself.
Sitting on the floor with her head buried in her knees, she eventually looked up.
“‘For a while,’ huh…”
And after that while—after they supposedly figured everything out about her—what would happen then?
