I had no way of knowing how much time had passed.
Even as my consciousness began to return, my entire body ached as if I had been mercilessly beaten.
It hurts…
Through the haze, I could at least tell two things: the place I was lying in was not the carriage, and my body was restrained by something.
After struggling and squirming for what felt like ages, I finally managed to open my eyes, only to be greeted by pitch darkness.
Is it night? Where am I?
It took several blinks of my heavy eyelids to gradually assess the situation.
I was lying on a cold stone floor, my hands and feet bound tightly with rope. The room was sealed off from all sides, allowing no light to seep in.
The musty smell of wood mixed faintly with the scent of grass suggested I was far from the capital—likely in an abandoned warehouse in a remote forest.
“Ugh…”
A sharp pain radiated from the back of my neck, prompting a faint groan.
Just then, an unpleasant creaking sound echoed as the door opposite me opened, and a figure approached.
“So, you’re finally awake.”
The voice, close enough to make my dazed mind sharpen instantly, was far too familiar.
“…Hayden Roger?”
I lifted my barely mobile head to see a man with wavy brown hair and piercing dark green eyes illuminated faintly by the moonlight filtering through the door.
Hayden Roger leaned down to examine my face, his gentle eyes narrowing with a faint smile.
“You’re lucky to have woken up. It wouldn’t have been so bad if you hadn’t.”
“…What is the meaning of this? Where are the others? What did you do to Vivi? And where are we?”
“Oh dear, one question at a time, please.”
Unlike my voice, which was practically a shout, Hayden’s tone was unusually soft.
“And don’t get too upset. I did warn you to be careful. It wasn’t an empty threat, you know.”
“You lunatic…”
“Ah, and as for your maid and knight, you don’t need to worry. They’re safe. I have no interest in them.”
He shrugged casually.
“That knight of yours was quite skilled, though. If it weren’t for the mages I brought, we might’ve been defeated.”
“And you think that’s something worth saying…?”
“Well, all’s well that ends well, isn’t it?”
Hayden’s smile was unnervingly bright.
The sheer contrast between his cheerful demeanor and the grim situation sent a shiver down my spine.
This lunatic has completely lost it.
I had suspected he wasn’t in his right mind when he had issued that cryptic warning during our encounter in the capital.
But I hadn’t expected him to go as far as kidnapping me in the heart of the empire.
For a noble of his rank—a duke, no less, and a close confidant of the Emperor—to abduct the Grand Duchess, he had to be more than just a little mad.
But now wasn’t the time to dwell on such analyses.
I forced my battered body to sit up and glared at him sharply.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Answer me.”
Hayden chuckled dryly at my clipped words.
“As I said before, I’ve gone out of my way to accommodate you. But you rejected my kindness and chose to side with him. You should’ve anticipated this outcome.”
“Anticipated? Only a madman would…”
“Ah, yes. Enough with the ‘madman’ accusations. I’ve heard it plenty and am well aware.”
His nonchalant response, as if brushing off a tedious compliment, made my stomach churn.
“How far are you planning to fall? What could the Grand Duke possibly have done for you to resort to this? What are you trying to gain?”
“Gain something…?”
Hayden stroked his chin, rolling his eyes thoughtfully before curling his lips into a mechanical smile.
Despite the curve of his lips, there was no trace of mirth in his expression.
“Well, if I wanted to gain something, I would’ve chosen a more diplomatic approach.”
He answered as if my question was absurd.
“But since things have come to this, I suppose I can indulge your curiosity. At least a little.”
He took a step closer.
“Did you know that some people, simply by existing, obstruct the greater cause?”
“…What?”
What is this lunatic even talking about?
I stared at him in disbelief, but he clicked his tongue as if my reaction was expected.
“As I thought, you wouldn’t understand even if I explained. I shouldn’t have bothered hoping.”
“Speak clearly.”
“You’re still barking orders? I guess you still haven’t grasped the situation. Then again, that’s why you’ve been so content playing Grand Duchess all this time.”
He clenched his fist and let out a low chuckle.
Then, as if about to share something deep and intimate, he lowered his voice to a whisper.
“To put it simply, Ian Cloud’s mere existence is the problem. And I am simply doing what must be done for the greater cause.”
He really had lost his mind.
If someone’s going to go insane, they should at least do it gracefully, but this was beyond salvageable.
The absurdity of his words left me speechless, my mind blank.
I stared up at him in disbelief for a long moment before finally asking in a half-dazed voice,
“…Do you have some sort of inferiority complex toward Ian or something?”
“Inferiority complex?”
At my question, the ever-present smile on Hayden Roger’s face disappeared in an instant.
His expression turned so cold, it was almost sinister.
Without warning, he dropped to one knee and grabbed my chin roughly, forcing me to look up at him.
“Ugh!”
“If it were merely an inferiority complex, I wouldn’t have gone this far.”
Though his voice was still soft, I could feel the long-honed malice seething beneath his words.
“Ian Cloud is a man who dares to drag my sun down to his level, not knowing his place. Does that explanation make sense to that slow brain of yours?”
The venom in his words, spat out as if biting through them, left me even more bewildered.
‘Sun?’
In the Levant Empire, there was only one person who could be referred to as the sun: the current Emperor.
I couldn’t fathom why the Emperor was being brought into this situation, nor did I understand how Ian could be seen as someone who obstructed the Emperor.
Ian could never be a hindrance to Elisia.
For twenty years, Ian had lived carefully to avoid provoking her wrath, even going so far as to renounce his claim to the throne recently.
No matter how closely allied Hayden Roger was to the Emperor, he had no grounds to accuse Ian of such things.
“What kind of delusions are you suffering from, Duke Hayden Roger?” I said, scrunching my face in frustration.
“When has Ian—no, Duke Cloud—ever tried to undermine the Emperor? I’ll say this with certainty: never. If anything, it’s you who’s currently standing in the Emperor’s way.”
At my words, spoken through gritted teeth, his gaze turned icy once more.
But I didn’t stop. I stared him down, my voice unwavering.
“If word spreads that Duke Roger, the Emperor’s closest confidant and staunchest supporter, kidnapped the Grand Duchess, it would place His Majesty in quite the predicament, wouldn’t it?”
“…Shut your mouth.”
His voice, now a low growl, was laced with suppressed fury as he released my chin with a rough shove, as if discarding trash.
“Ah!”
The force caused my back to slam against the wall, drawing a sharp gasp of pain.
Yet, Hayden Roger’s expression remained unchanging, devoid of even a flicker of concern.
It was hard to believe this was the same man who once wore a constant smile, almost to the point of annoyance.
He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated sigh, then muttered irritably,
“Idiotic.”
“……”
“All of you, always harping on about the Duke. What’s so great about him that you’re all so obsessed?”
He tilted his chin up, looking down at me with cold disdain in his eyes.
“Perhaps it’s because you’re an outsider, but you don’t seem to know. Let me enlighten you.”
“……”
“Ian Cloud should never have been born in the first place.”
• • •
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