The Grand Duke had gone mad. Completely mad!
Upon reaching her room, Milena collapsed onto the sofa, clutching her head as if trying to wring the thoughts out of it. Her golden hair, usually immaculate, had fallen into disarray, but she didn’t care. If this had been any other day, she would have maintained the dignity befitting the future Grand Duchess. But now? None of that mattered.
Her priorities had changed. Everything she once believed in had been overturned.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was escaping this place. That was her sole focus.
This was an emergency.
From the moment she left the Grand Duke’s office until she reached her room, an intense headache had plagued her. She had assumed that leaving this place would be simple. But as if mocking her expectations, Callion’s behavior had changed.
A man who had never once spoken a word to her was now acting as though he had developed an obsession—warning her not to run away.
His madness had always been reserved for Larriete.
Milena shuddered.
This was the same man who never spared her a second glance when she clung to him. So why was he suddenly acting like this?
Callion Luxen. To her, he had always been a cruel and cynical man. A man who had dominated half of her life, and now refused to let go of it so easily.
But why?
Her thoughts spun wildly, and soon, anger began to boil within her.
“The woman you despised so much is willingly leaving, and instead of giving me travel expenses, you say I can’t leave?”
She smacked a cushion against the sofa as if it were Callion himself.
“You’re going to file a death report for my sister? Are you regretting it now that the woman you once clung to is leaving?!”
Her clenched fists trembled with years of humiliation and resentment.
“Why did I even sign that marriage contract in advance?!”
Her past decisions had come back to haunt her like a boomerang.
Now that her name was on that contract, she had no choice but to marry. If she refused, she would be cursed. The curse varied—some suffered nothing more than a passing illness, while others ended up with a terminal fate.
Either way, it was a disaster.
If she ignored the contract and left, she’d be cursed. If she stayed, she’d be dragged into whatever scheme her sister was planning.
Haa… Her head throbbed. The more she thought about it, the more foolish her past self seemed.
She should have been more careful before signing!
Just as regret overwhelmed her, she suddenly froze.
A firm hand had caught her wrist, stopping her mid-swing.
Her breath hitched as she slowly lifted her gaze along the strong, calloused fingers that gripped her.
Through his unkempt ash-gray hair, a red earring dangled. The brief glimpse of his face drew her attention.
“Who…?”
There was something odd about him, as if he were deliberately masking his presence.
“Your hands looked like they were hurting.”
That wasn’t the answer she was expecting.
Who was this man? And when had he entered her room without a sound?
“Did you knock? Why did you come in without permission?”
Sensing her displeasure, the man released her wrist.
“I was ordered to stop you from hitting anything.”
“……”
Now that she thought about it, she vaguely recalled hearing something about being assigned a guard.
The man, half-hiding his face with his messy gray hair, was dressed in a formal knight’s uniform.
Annoyed, Milena snapped, “Even so, barging in like this is hardly proper etiquette, Sir Knight.”
Being disregarded not only by the Grand Duke but now by his knights as well left her seething.
But the knight simply observed her, unfazed, without offering any response.
Ah. Of course. A watchdog.
Callion had assigned someone to blatantly spy on her.
She wanted to tear apart his motives and see what exactly was going on in his mind.
“Are you going to keep staring at me like that? What, have you never seen a pretty woman before?”
She ran a hand through her tousled hair, making a jest simply to break the silence.
“Yes.”
“…What?”
“I’ve never seen a woman like you before.”
Hah.
This knight was surprisingly good at making people freeze up.
Milena’s headache worsened.
She needed to get rid of this intruder first.
As she stood from the sofa, she paused.
Wait a minute.
When exactly had this man entered the room?
“Sir Knight.”
“……”
“Did you hear me shouting earlier?”
“……”
“You did, didn’t you?”
The knight turned his head slightly, answering with silence.
Was he going to report everything she said to Callion?
Her headache pounded harder at the thought.
Knock, knock.
Just as she was wondering what to do with him, a knock came at the door.
Someone was knocking?
No one ever knocked on her door. The servants avoided her room entirely, afraid of her temper.
“Yes, come in.”
At her response, a black-haired child peeked in.
“Ash?”
“Auntie.”
Ashdel.
For some reason, he had actually knocked this time.
She hurried toward the child, remembering that she hadn’t been able to check on him earlier when he was feverish.
“Are you feeling better? You should be in bed. Why did you come out?”
She placed a hand on his forehead to check his temperature.
“Yeah, I’m fine now.”
That was a relief, but—
“Ashdel.”
She frowned, noticing something off about him.
“Where are you going?”
Why was he dressed so formally? And what was that behind his back?
The child, hesitating, finally brought forward a small travel bag he had been holding.
“I’m going with you!”
“…What?”
“Where are you going?”
The knight suddenly inserted himself into the conversation.
Ignoring him, Milena focused on Ashdel.
Despite everything, the boy stood there proudly with a bag nearly as big as himself.
How was she supposed to reassure him?
She pressed her fingers against her throbbing temple.
Ashdel glanced up at the knight standing behind her.
“Who’s that?”
The knight answered before Milena could.
“I am Sir Hubert, assigned as Lady Milena’s guard by His Grace the Grand Duke.”
Ashdel’s pink eyes turned cold in an instant. His small lips parted to speak in a sharp tone.
“Listen, Sir Knight. I wasn’t asking you.”
“Ash…?”
That was an unusually mature tone for him.
She turned to him, surprised, but Ashdel and the knight were locked in a silent stare-off.
As expected of the Grand Duke’s heir, the child certainly carried an imposing presence when necessary.
“Oh my.”
Beneath his shaggy gray hair, the knight smirked meaningfully.
“My apologies, young master. I overstepped.”
What was this strange tension?
Milena straightened and pointed at the knight.
“Ash, he’s not just a guard. He’s here to watch me.”
“…Watch you?”
Ashdel’s expression turned sharp again, utterly unchildlike.
Then, as if realizing she was staring, he quickly masked it with an innocent smile.
“What do you mean, Auntie? Did you do something wrong? No, wait! Are there bad people bothering you? Is Dad sending someone because you’re being framed?”
“No one’s bothering me.”
Sighing, she looked down at his travel bag.
“…I don’t know what I did wrong, and I don’t know why your father is doing this. But Ash, this is unexpected. What’s with the bag?”
“I’m coming with you when you leave!”
“I told you, I’m not leaving.”
Ashdel’s small fingers fidgeted before he suddenly burst into tears.
“You’re lying! You’re going to leave! Why do you keep pretending like you won’t?!”
She needed to explain this carefully—she couldn’t leave because of that cursed contract.
But before she could say anything, dizziness struck her.
The room spun. Darkness closed in.
And she collapsed.
Not a single person in the room was surprised.
A pair of strong arms caught her before she hit the ground.
At some point, a faint scent of sleep had filled the air.
