Chapter 1
In the pitch-black forest, Angela ran between the trees, guided only by the faint light of the moon.
She clutched her skirt as she fled, her long black hair whipping wildly in the air.
Her white chemise dress was already speckled with dirt, but Angela didn’t care.
The only thought in her mind was escape.
“Ha….”
Before long, Angela’s breath hitched.
This was the first time she had ever run with such desperation since her childhood.
When she stopped for a moment to catch her breath, a distant light flickered.
“Madam! Where are you?”
The moment she heard the voice searching for her, her heart sank.
Had the knights already followed this far…?
While she froze in tension, another voice—closer this time—issued orders.
“She couldn’t have gone far. Split up and search for the madam!”
I have to go.
Angela forced her stiff body to move and turned around. What had been a hurried walk, meant to avoid being seen by the knights, became a sprint once she put some distance between them.
The forest path markers, too dark to be of use, didn’t matter. She herself didn’t know where she was supposed to go.
Should I return to the family estate…?
No. He would come for her soon enough.
For now, I must get as far away from him as possible….
Though she had just rested, her breath quickly grew short again.
When Angela stopped once more to steady herself, footsteps surrounded her.
“We found her! She’s here!”
“Madam!”
She was caught.
A look of despair crossed Angela’s face.
There was nowhere to run against seasoned knights.
As her shoulders slumped, the face of the man she had left behind surfaced in her memory.
Her husband, Edward—who loved her more than anything.
Soon, she would see his face.
After all, he was the one chasing her.
Edward waited for her at the lookout connected to the villa.
“So you came.”
“We brought the madam.”
When the knights led Angela in, the man who had been sitting gracefully with one leg crossed slowly rose.
He was the emperor’s only brother—now known as the Duke of Devonshire.
His amethyst eyes brightened with a hint of welcome when they met hers.
His well-kept golden hair shimmered even in the early morning light, flawless as always.
It was the same beautiful appearance Angela had fallen in love with at first sight.
Even now, knowing the twisted nature hidden beneath it.
“What kind of mischief is this at such a late hour?”
His expression remained relaxed, as if he had known she would end up before him.
Approaching Angela, Edward chuckled softly at her appearance.
“What is this? Your clothes are dirty.”
The way he brushed the lace of her chemise dress carried an air of affection.
It was the tenderness Angela once loved. Now, however, it only filled her with bitterness at how thoroughly she had been deceived.
Even now, Edward paid no attention to what expression his wife wore.
Not that this was a moment for loving gazes.
Angela looked at him resentfully and shook off his hand.
Edward offered an awkward smile before finally getting to the point.
“Why did you leave without me? You only took your bags and said nothing. I’m quite hurt.”
“Do you really need an answer?”
Angela spoke with difficulty.
“You know the reason.”
“…Do I? I don’t know what you mean by leaving on your own.”
After a brief silence, he replied. He pretended ignorance despite understanding.
As if to prove Angela’s suspicions, he grasped her arm and whispered.
“Were you planning to meet someone who would help you escape?”
“….”
His hushed voice sent chills through her.
“The duke from last time, perhaps? My beautiful wife certainly has a talent for things like this. Is that why you wanted to come to the villa?”
Society called excessive obsession with one’s spouse a kind of illness.
Yet no one imagined Edward suffered from such a problem. Only Angela and his loyal knights knew the truth.
She herself had never imagined it before marriage. Who could have expected such a flaw in the perfect man?
“Did you really think you could run from me?”
“If you had just signed the divorce papers, none of this would have happened….”
“I told you—no divorce. Not until I die.”
Edward answered firmly as Angela pleaded.
He had already said as much when he tore up the divorce papers she had given him last time.
The memory of that response filled her with sorrow.
“Please, let me go. I can’t stand being by your side anymore!”
Angela shuddered as she pulled away, and Edward’s expression hardened, stung by her defiance.
“You can hate it all you want. It doesn’t change the fact that you have no choice.”
He spoke mockingly, then smiled a twisted smile.
“What can you even do? Even if I gave you a knife, you couldn’t kill me.”
He was right—Angela couldn’t imagine killing Edward. She had never even considered it.
But continuing to live with him was unbearable.
A man who claimed to love her yet refused to trust her—who tried to control her like a doll.
Overwhelmed by revulsion, Angela backed away, increasing the distance between them. Behind her now stood only the railing of the cliff.
“Be careful, Angela. Don’t stand there—come here.”
Edward frowned and reached out his hand. He stopped the knights from approaching with a raised hand, but when his wife refused to move, his expression turned grim.
“I can only tolerate your rebellion so far.”
“Don’t give orders. I’m not your doll.”
Rejecting him, Angela glanced down past the railing.
Beneath the dizzying cliff, the sea stretched out.
Even if the water below might break her fall, the height was too great. And she didn’t know how to swim.
She truly had nowhere to go—no life outside the suffocating cage of her marriage.
Is this really living?
The thought drained the fear from her.
Angela recalled the past three years with her husband.
She had been unable to leave the house without him.
She went wherever Edward went, and she was forbidden from contacting friends or even family.
When Edward didn’t take her out, her only companions were the servants he assigned to her.
In that vast manor, Angela lived in complete isolation.
It was a secret life hidden from the world, as she was forced to pretend they were the perfect couple.
“Our relationship can only end if you die, right?”
Angela looked at him with determination, confirming it.
Edward raised an eyebrow at her changed demeanor.
“So that’s it? You’ll jump and die?”
He laughed as if it were absurd.
“Someone as fragile as you? Don’t be foolish—come here.”
Her husband reached out again, but she ignored him.
At that moment, Angela truly felt no fear of death.
Her only desire was to escape him.
“No. I’d rather die than go back to you.”
Leaning against the railing, she tilted her body backward. In that instant, she saw the confident look in Edward’s eyes twist into one of horror.
“No!”
Her feet left the ground, and she fell backward.
Edward rushed forward and reached for her, but it was already too late. His hand grasped only empty air, and he collapsed to his knees.
“Angela!!!”
Freedom.
Hearing her husband’s desperate cry, Angela felt a strange sense of relief.
Death was frightening, but perhaps she could finally sleep in peace—far from him.
Before her marriage, Angela’s mother often gave her advice.
“Angela, always be cautious of those around you. Do you understand?”
“Don’t worry, Mother. I received flowers from a gentleman just yesterday.”
Angela had dismissed her mother’s warnings. The world had always seemed kind to her.
“That is precisely why you must be wary of those who show kindness without reason.”
Her mother looked at her with concern, troubled by her daughter’s inability to understand. From a young age, Angela had been blessed with striking beauty, and her mother had raised her with both pride and worry.
