TDOWD 03

Chapter 3

The Grand Duke and Ludwig immediately sought out the hosts of the banquet.

That was me and my father.

“It’s been a long time, Sercan.”

“Thank you for coming, Your Grace.”

I looked at the man standing before me alongside the Grand Duke of Carsian.

Ludwig Carsian.

As expected of the hidden mastermind male lead, the first thing that stood out about him was his dark black hair, as deep as the night sky.

Even behind the mask, his eyes shone brightly.

They were a fierce golden color, like those of a beast, and the rebelliousness in them already hinted at his troublesome nature.

Even so, it would not have been an exaggeration to call them dazzling.

The moment you looked into those eyes, you could lose yourself for a second.

The mask hid his face, but Ludwig was actually so handsome that no description could do him justice.

Two years later, he would meet Jena and remove that mask.

People expected him to be hiding scars or burns underneath.

Instead, he turned out to be incredibly handsome.

Even in the original story, everyone agreed on one thing.

His appearance was as if it had been crafted by a god.

He should be eighteen right now.

He was one year older than me.

While I was secretly observing the future hidden mastermind and recalling the original story—

“…?”

For a brief moment, our eyes met.

And my heart dropped.

His beast-like eyes were sharp and intense.

If you looked at them for too long, it felt as though he might devour you whole.

Naturally, I greeted him with a small nod before quickly looking away.

I hoped it didn’t look awkward.

As I calmed my startled heart, my father spoke.

“Sierra, it looks like I’ll be speaking with the Grand Duke for a while. Go spend some time with Arzen.”

The moment my father gave me permission to leave, clearly worried about me standing for too long, my eyes lit up.

I happily agreed.

For some reason, I felt as though Ludwig’s gaze was still on the back of my head.

But I quickly escaped from the area.

Only after putting some distance between us did I finally relax.

I picked up a cookie from a nearby tray and was secretly watching Ludwig from afar when—

“What are you looking at?”

Soft silver hair that was almost painfully bright fell beside me.

“Arzen?”

Startled, I quickly turned around.

For some reason, Arzen seemed displeased as he stared at Ludwig.

“You came at the perfect time, Arzen. I’m tired, so I’m going back to my room. Can you tell Father for me?”

I only meant it as an excuse to avoid Ludwig Carsian.

But Arzen immediately looked worried.

“You’re tired? Climb on my back, Sierra. I’ll carry you.”

“I’m not that exhausted. And I’m not a child anymore.”

“You’re not hiding that you’re sick again like last time, right? It’s not just fatigue, is it? Do you have a fever or—”

After remembering the lecture Arzen had given me the last time, there was no way I would make that mistake again.

I shook my head vigorously with the most honest expression I could manage.

Only then did Arzen relax.

“Alright.”

The moment Arzen nodded—

A loud voice suddenly rang out from the center of the hall.

“It’s been a long time, Fesil!”

“Uncle.”

A fat nobleman openly addressed the Grand Duke of Carsian by name.

“And this is that woman’s son, is it? You’ve grown a lot since I last saw you.”

The man looked Ludwig up and down as if evaluating merchandise.

“You still have those disgusting eyes you inherited from your mother. Tsk. We never should have taken in a lowborn woman carrying the blood of an evil dragon.”

The man shook his head as though it was unfortunate that Ludwig was the only blood heir of the ducal family.

At that moment, Ludwig spoke in a flat voice.

“I think the word ‘lowborn’ suits someone who spends all his time in brothels much better.”

“What…?”

The nobleman stared blankly for a moment.

Then his face turned bright red.

“How rude!”

“Ludwig! What kind of behavior is that toward an elder of the family? Apologize immediately!”

The Grand Duke turned toward Ludwig and urged his son to apologize.

“……”

But Ludwig gave no response.

He simply walked past the Grand Duke.

“Y-You little…!”

The nobleman grabbed the back of his neck and pointed furiously at Ludwig.

Unable to contain his anger, he eventually stormed off.

The Grand Duke was left standing alone.

His fists trembled with anger, yet he could not bring himself to stop his son.

I watched blankly as Ludwig walked toward this side of the hall.

For a brief moment, our eyes met again.

“……”

His eyes were empty.

There was no anger.

No sadness.

Not even resentment.

It was as though every emotion had been drained from him.

For a moment, it felt as if time had stopped while Ludwig passed by me.

Bang!

The sound of the door closing echoed through the hall.

Only then did I finally turn around.

“…What was that?”

Tilting my head in confusion, I returned to my room with an uneasy feeling.

Creak.

After closing the door behind me, I headed straight for my bed.

“Ah, finally.”

Perhaps because I had been busy preparing for the banquet since morning, my weak body welcomed the soft bed with all its heart.

The cool night breeze drifted through the window.

The strange feeling I had after seeing Ludwig’s empty eyes gradually faded.

Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.

“Mmm…”

How long had I slept?

When I woke up again, about an hour had passed.

After confirming that, I closed my eyes with the intention of going back to sleep.

“……”

My room was located on the opposite side of the mansion from the noisy banquet hall.

It was completely quiet.

Maybe that was why I heard it.

“Mo…”

A low voice.

“Mother…”

Someone quietly calling for his mother.

“……”

It was Ludwig.

The moment I heard that voice, the contents of the original story resurfaced in my mind.

Slowly, I opened my eyes.

“…Hmm.”

Ludwig Carsian.

He was the illegitimate son of the Grand Duke of Carsian and a foreign woman.

The Carsian family was extremely conservative.

They declared that they could never accept an outsider.

Especially not a woman descended from the bloodline of an evil dragon.

Because of that, Ludwig’s mother was ignored by the family despite being the mother of the heir.

She lived in the ducal estate as little more than a guest.

A thousand years ago, the evil dragon had been sealed beneath a lake by the founding heroes of the empire.

Ludwig inherited its most recognizable trait.

Golden eyes.

Because of those eyes, he was treated as an ominous existence from childhood.

The Grand Duke held the title of family head.

But in reality, the family was controlled by the elders.

As a result, he could not protect either the woman he loved or his son.

Even so, Ludwig’s mother gave him endless love amidst all the cold and hostile stares.

To Ludwig, she was his only ally.

The only reason he could endure life in the ducal family.

But everything collapsed overnight.

His mother was poisoned inside the ducal estate.

It happened on a day when rain poured endlessly from the sky and thunder shook the heavens.

The poison was deadly.

She coughed up blood over and over before dying a horrible death.

And young Ludwig was the only witness.

Even when he wanted to call for help, he couldn’t.

Someone had locked the room from the outside.

It was only half a day later that a passing servant opened the door and freed him.

By then, the young boy had practically lost his mind.

Even Ludwig understood that the culprit was among the relatives who freely came and went throughout the estate.

But he never tried to identify the murderer.

The people who planned it.

The people who watched.

The people who stayed silent.

The person who mixed the poison.

To Ludwig, there was no difference between them.

So, after gaining enough power, he overthrew his incompetent father, became the Grand Duke himself, and killed every one of his relatives.

With a cruelty that suggested all traces of humanity had vanished from him.

The man who had insulted him earlier at the banquet was one of those elders.

Ludwig already despised them.

And yet that man had dared to insult his mother right in front of him.

I can understand why he reacted that way.

Ludwig’s wounds still hadn’t healed.

Even now, all it took was a small touch to reopen them.

“I will have my revenge, Mother. Every last one of them.”

“……”

I buried my head under my pillow and tried my best to pretend I hadn’t heard anything.

In the end, however, I sat up.

Carefully, I tiptoed over to the window and looked down into the garden.

Among the thick trees, I spotted black hair.

Maybe I wasn’t the right person to say it, but he looked lonely.

And fragile.

“I’ll kill them all…”

…Though what he was saying was extremely terrifying.

While I was thinking that, a raindrop suddenly fell from the sky.

“Is it going to rain…?”

One drop became two.

Then, within minutes, rain poured down in sheets.

It was an incredibly sudden downpour.

BOOOOM!

At the same time, thunder exploded across the sky.

Startled, I looked back at Ludwig.

He had lost his mother on a day just like this.

That was why he had trauma related to weather like this.

Later, Jena helps him overcome it, but that hasn’t happened yet!

As expected, Ludwig stood frozen outside.

His entire body was trembling.

He couldn’t even move a finger.

…Wait.

Come to think of it, I felt like I had seen this scene somewhere before.

I clearly remembered Ludwig telling Jena about his past after she purified him.

“After that day, I completely became a monster. It was my first rampage.”

The moment that line came back to me, goosebumps spread across my arms.