Chapter 23
“Ah…”
When I came to, pitch-black darkness filled my vision. No matter how many times I blinked, I couldn’t make out a single object.
“Ow…”
On top of that, pain was shooting through different parts of my head and limbs. A pounding headache split my skull, and my arms and legs felt as though they had been scraped raw.
“Where… am I?”
Even without seeing, I could tell this wasn’t the fiar estate. And I knew enough to realize I was caught up in something abnormal.
The instincts that had been honed for survival kept blaring warning signals in my head.
‘Where’s the Duke?’
The first face that came to mind in the darkness was his. The way his eyes softened every time he looked at me, that gentle smile that melted me.
‘All I do is think about him these days…’
A pang went through my chest. The last image I had of him was walking side by side with Sophia. I had stared at their backs… what had I been thinking then?
‘My heart hurts.’
Strangely, my heart kept pounding faster and faster. The thudding filled my whole body.
‘Why am I like this? Of all times, why now, when I’m trapped like this, do I keep thinking of him?’
But my thoughts refused to move away from the Duke. I knew I should be forcing myself to get up, to figure out where I was and why.
‘Get it together, Luen Aloha. Surviving is all that matters.’
Even so, I trembled, unable to stop the image of Vihan fiar from flashing in my mind. I missed him so badly it hurt.
Then, a question I’d been shoving aside for so long finally sprouted and demanded my attention. This time, I couldn’t ignore it.
‘Could it be…?’
And then I realized it.
Somewhere along the way, someone had slipped past the locks on my heart.
Hair as deep blue as dawn, green eyes that gleamed brighter in sunlight. Like jewels. When those eyes warmed with gentleness, I melted. I couldn’t resist him.
‘So that’s why it always hurt, watching him and Sophia together.’
Realizing it now, in such dire straits, made it all the sadder. His tenderness toward me had only been fleeting. His heart had already turned toward Sophia.
I couldn’t root for their love anymore. Not when the Duke had already burrowed into me, making a home in my heart. His radiant smile, once directed at me, kept tickling my chest.
Creeeak.
Before I could wallow further, a piercing sound echoed and a door swung open in the distance. A thin shaft of light filtered in, dimly illuminating my surroundings.
“Ah…” I whimpered, twisting weakly. Reality pressed down hard.
“At last, you’re awake.”
Even through blurry vision, I could make out the man’s wobbling belly. Sweat dripped down his thick skin as he sneered at me.
He walked closer and, stopping short, puffed himself up with arrogance. The whole scene felt surreal.
“Do you like it here?”
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t even answer. Mistaking my silence for fear, he guffawed, his gut jiggling.
“Oh, don’t be too frightened. This Count Luna is merciful. I plan to keep you alive—for now.”
He rubbed his fat fingers together with a rasping sound.
“But you’d best get used to this place. It’ll be where you meet your end.”
With that, he tossed a rough chunk of bread and a chipped cup of water near the entrance, then waddled off.
A shiver raced over my skin. Ever since I’d come to this world, I’d been clawing desperately just to survive. Was I really going to die like this? My hands shook with fear, but I steeled myself. I had to get out.
I tried to stand.
“What…?”
My arms and legs were tied. The ropes looked crude, but they were secured tightly enough that I couldn’t loosen them alone. I couldn’t even crawl to the door to reach the water.
My throat burned with thirst, but that vile man—who’d called himself Count Luna—had only lingered near the doorway before leaving. The cup was far out of reach.
‘What in the world happened to me?’
I cursed the man. Up until just a short while ago, Luen Aloha had been perfectly safe—under the protection of the Duke and Sophia.
“Ah!”
The realization hit me belatedly.
After sending the Duke and Sophia off, I’d sat by a nearby boulder. I had been writhing then, unable to name the strange emotions tearing at me.
But time passed, and still they didn’t return. Assuming they’d seized the chance for a tryst, I started toward the village.
No one was passing by anyway; surely no one would steal the carriage.
I only meant to look around a little. But when I pushed through the brush, no path appeared. Confused, I wandered—
‘Young miss, might I trouble you for directions?’
An elderly man had spotted me and spoken up. His back was bent, and though he said more, his rough voice didn’t carry clearly.
‘I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. Could you repeat yourself?’
I couldn’t abandon an old man lost on the road. That went against every value I’d been raised with, even if I was lost myself. Together, we might find our way more quickly.
‘Such a kind young lady… makes me feel guilty.’
‘Pardon? What did you—’
He mumbled again, too indistinct to understand. I leaned closer, bowing slightly to hear him.
Though he wasn’t much taller than me, a strange shadow loomed—as though a giant stood behind him.
Danger, my instincts screamed.
And then—
Thwack!
A deafening blow landed, right by me.
That must’ve hurt, I thought vaguely.
Then I realized—I was the one hit. A wave of agony tore through me, like nothing I’d ever felt before.
No time even to scream before another force pinned me down. I thrashed, but my strength had drained completely. Warm blood trickled down from my forehead, or so I thought, before everything went black.
‘So this is my reward for helping a lost elder?’
Fury rose the more I thought on it. To exploit kindness, to turn it into kidnapping—it was outrageous.
And that fat man had introduced himself as Count Luna.
‘A noble, stooping to abduction?’
I’d never even heard of a House Luna. Preparing for my marriage to the Duke, I’d memorized every house allied or opposed to fiar, even the neutrals. But no Luna came to mind.
‘Two possibilities: either he’s impersonating a Count, or the Luna family is too minor to stand among central nobility.’
But beyond that, I had nothing. Life at the Piarr estate left me little access to outside information.
‘First things first, these ropes…’
There were gaps, small but exploitable. If I could find something sharp to rub against, I might free myself.
He’d said he meant to kill me—or sell me as a slave. Both were nightmares.
‘I just want to escape. To see the Duke again.’
Tears pricked my eyes, even as my heart ached with longing. All I wanted now was to survive, to return to his side.
Even if he divorced me for Sophia, until then, I wanted to stand beside him.
‘For now, I’m still his wife.’
Summoning courage, I writhed more fiercely against the bonds.
At the same time Luen struggled with her ropes—
KRAAASH!
The carriage exploded into splinters with a deafening boom.
Sophia barely dodged the flying debris, rubbing at the gooseflesh on her arms.
‘It shattered… with just one outburst?’
Nobles took pride in their carriages. A marquis’s would be layered in enchantments for safety and secrecy. And this one—belonging to House fiar, mightiest of the empire’s three great dukedoms—was the pinnacle.
Forged from the strongest materials, shielded with protective magic, warded against eavesdropping, even rigged with offensive spells. Practically a war machine on wheels.
And yet, it had blown apart with a single flare of the Duke’s wrath.
When he realized Luen was gone, fury consumed him.
Sophia had wielded a sword in her youth and could faintly sense the mana storm gathering. It swirled violently toward him, so intense she could hardly stay standing.
“A-ah… The lady didn’t run away. She’s not like that—”
Her words died in her throat.
The Duke’s gaze snapped to her, cold as ice, suffocating. The pressure alone made her tremble uncontrollably.
“I know. Luen isn’t that kind of person. Which is exactly why I’m enraged. If she didn’t flee, then it means something happened to her.”
His lips twisted into a chilling curve. The shift in his aura, so different from the tender man Luen knew, raised goosebumps.
‘So this is the infamous Dark Duke…’
He was unrecognizable. Sophia trembled, realizing how much he had held back around her.
‘But…’
Her eyes widened. She’d nearly missed it, but his words held something critical.
‘The young lady is in danger? Then… isn’t this my chance?’
Her lips twitched, threatening to curl upward. She forced them flat.
‘Yes. If he’s this shaken, maybe he’ll slip. Maybe I’ll find an opening.’
The mana around him surged wilder, so violent she couldn’t open her eyes. She clung to a nearby tree, barely enduring.
“Aaahhh!”
Unable to withstand the life-threatening force, Sophia screamed at the top of her lungs.
She kept shrieking until suddenly, she noticed. The buzzing mana had vanished.
Blinking, she cracked one eye open.
“What…?”
The Duke was gone.
Only shards of the carriage littered the ground. Otherwise, the clearing lay silent, almost as if the chaos moments ago had been imagined.
Sophia rubbed her eyes, but nothing changed.
She stood alone.
Only a lonely breeze brushed past, curling around her as if to comfort her solitude.
