‘I should have worn something warmer.’

When she had just left the warm bedroom, she didn’t feel cold at all.

However, as she walked, the chilly air slowly lowered her body temperature.

‘Which way did I come from?’

Of all times, she now stood at a point where the hallway split into three paths.

‘This way? No… maybe this way?’

Cecilia chose a direction at random.

‘If I keep walking, I’ll run into someone. Surely, I won’t get lost—inside the castle, no less.’

But after a while, she realized she really was lost.

She didn’t know where she had taken the wrong turn, but every path seemed like a maze.

It was getting colder, and she was starting to feel hungry.

“Hey!”

Cecilia shouted.

Hey, hey, hey… Her voice bounced off the walls, echoing back to her.

“Isn’t anyone here?”

 

—…re.

 

Cecilia flinched.

She faintly heard something.

As she listened carefully, the sound came again.

It sounded like a person’s voice.

She walked in the direction of the sound.

She reached a dead-end hallway.

At the end of the hallway, there was a door.

 

—…here.

 

The voice seemed to be coming from beyond the door. It sounded a bit clearer than before.

‘What is that person saying?’

Cecilia slowly approached the door.

From a distance, it appeared closed, but as she got closer, she noticed a slight gap.

It didn’t look like an ordinary door.

It was about twice the height of a normal door.

The entire door was covered with intricate, unknown patterns.

And the door was a deep, reddish-black color.

The patterns were beautiful, but the color was unsettling.

It looked like the wood had been soaked in blood and then dried.

The gap in the door widened.

As if someone inside was opening it.

Despite the strangeness, Cecilia couldn’t suppress her curiosity.

It felt as if some unknown force was urging her on.

She reached out her hand toward the door.

She was just about to touch it when—

“You’re not supposed to go in here.”

Someone suddenly rushed past her, blocking her path.

Startled, Cecilia stepped back.

She hadn’t even had a chance to identify the person before she was suddenly lifted off the ground.

It was a very large man.

He picked her up and strode purposefully down the hallway, away from the door.

“How dare you lay hands on me! Put me down this instant! I said, let me go!”

No matter how much she struggled, the man didn’t budge at all.

Cecilia guessed the man was one of the soldiers of Lagos Castle.

A knight from the grand duchy would never dare act like this.

After they had completely left the dead-end hallway and moved a fair distance away, the man set Cecilia down.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, Cecilia slapped the man’s cheek.

“You insolent brute! I won’t let this slide!”

The man, who had slightly tilted his head from the slap, turned to look at her.

“So this is how you express gratitude to someone who helps you after you wander into a forbidden area and get lost.”

Cecilia glared at the mocking man.

She was about to shout, ‘State your name and rank!’ when she closed her mouth.

‘This man…’

His face was familiar.

Russell Cardros.

The Lord of Lagos Castle.

And her third husband.

At the beginning of their marriage, she had disliked him.

Not because of who he was, but because she loathed the marriage itself.

Later, her feelings had faded into indifference.

When the marriage ended, she wasn’t as happy as she had expected.

She had grown to enjoy her lazy life, free from interference.

Still, there had never been any semblance of a ‘normal married life’ with him.

They lived as perfect strangers.

But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t recognize his face.

‘Was he… always like this?’

Cecilia looked at him with a strange feeling.

The black hair and violet eyes were just as she remembered.

Yet something felt different.

Cecilia had always held a negative image of him.

His towering height and large build felt intimidating, and she had thought his pitch-black hair seemed ominous.

There was a diamond-shaped scar the size of a fingertip slightly to the left of the center of his forehead.

At a glance, it looked like a wrinkle that formed when he frowned.

When he kept his mouth closed and wore a neutral expression, it looked like he was angry.

His long, narrow eyes, with the corners slightly turned up, gave him a fierce, predatory look, as if he were always on the hunt.