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CHAPTER 29
“When he heard that I had returned, he rushed out in a hurry.”
As Linaria kept her head bowed, she heard her father’s voice.
It was faintly trembling.
“I thought someone might have harmed you to steal the family signet ring. I regretted it deeply. I thought, ‘I should have gone with you.’”
“Father, I’m sorry.”
“It’s enough that you came back safely.”
“……”
“At least you’re not hurt, so that’s a relief. It’s late, so let’s talk more later.”
Linaria nodded and went up the stairs.
As Anna approached to assist her, Linaria whispered quietly.
“Anna, there’s someone in the carriage. Move him to the room next to mine without my father knowing.”
Anna looked briefly surprised but soon nodded.
Once back in her room, Linaria changed clothes and collapsed into bed.
‘I’m so tired.’
Now that her tension had eased, her body felt heavy—her eyelids too.
She wanted to think about everything that lay ahead after she got some sleep.
✦✦✦
She wasn’t awakened by anyone, yet her eyes flew open. Seeing the clock, Linaria doubted her own eyes at the sight of the number 6.
‘Surely it’s not evening?’
That would mean she had slept for over twelve hours.
What if Kaas’s identity had been discovered while she was asleep?
Like a bucket of cold water dumped over her, the thought jolted her awake. She immediately checked the window.
Thankfully, the sun was just beginning to rise.
Relieved to confirm it was morning and not evening, Linaria let out a soft sigh.
She called for Anna.
“The man?”
“I guided him to the room on the right. No one else saw us on the way, so don’t worry.”
“You did well. Thank you.”
Linaria got out of bed.
“Are you going to see him?”
“Yes. You don’t have to come. There are things we need to talk about—just the two of us.”
Anna looked uneasy but had no choice but to trust Linaria.
“If your father asks for you…”
“Tell him I’m still asleep.”
“Alright.”
Linaria had a lot to talk about with Kaas.
They hadn’t had a proper conversation since she had dozed off in the carriage.
She was considering what to say first in order to win him over.
But the moment she opened the door—
“……”
Linaria was speechless.
‘…Where did he go?’
The room was dim.
The curtains hadn’t been drawn.
And the bed was empty.
Had he run away?
While she couldn’t dismiss that possibility, as she quickly scanned the room, Linaria spotted something unexpected.
A large figure—on the floor.
“Kaas.”
At the sound of his name, he slowly opened his eyes.
Eyes like those of a raptor gleamed even in the dark.
“Why are you lying there on the floor?”
There was a perfectly good bed, yet he was curled up in a corner on the hard floor.
“…It’s more comfortable here.”
“That’s ridiculous. Get up.”
“Is that… an order?”
His voice was devoid of emotion.
He seemed resigned to his situation—sold and now obedient.
‘He didn’t run from the palace because he thought his fate was unfair—it was because he couldn’t endure the pain.’
He had been thoroughly trained to obey from a young age.
“No, it’s a suggestion. For your own good.”
Linaria decided she would handle Kaas differently from Maximilian.
She gently approached him and crouched to meet his eye level.
Their eyes met—
—and Kaas immediately looked away.
He covered his face with the back of his hand.
“Don’t look.”
“Why?”
“…Because I’m hideous.”
Linaria doubted her ears. Hideous? Where?
“Who told you that?”
“Everyone.”
Kaas vaguely recalled what the slave traders used to say. Ugly slaves didn’t sell well, they said.
Even if they did manage to sell, they were often returned.
“Up close, he’s too unsightly. People always ask for a refund. Tsk.”
Kaas had spent most of his life being told he was hideous.
Worm. Eyesore. Disgusting. Trash. Cockroach. Looking at you makes me want to vomit.
“You bought me, didn’t you?”
His memories were a jumbled mess.
Even recent dreams had mingled with reality, making it impossible to tell what was what.
Maybe even this very moment was a dream.
A desperate, detailed dream he wanted so badly that it felt real.
And even if the woman in front of him was just a figment of that dream—
“You’ll be disgusted once you really see me.”
He didn’t want to go back.
To that hell.
“Kaas. Look at me.”
Linaria called him softly.
Her voice was gentle.
But still too scared to reveal his face, he kept his hand up.
He didn’t know why this pure, white woman had saved him.
He just hoped she wouldn’t send him back once she saw his face.
“I want to see you.”
“Is that an order?”
“No. It’s a request.”
The word “request” was foreign to him. As he slowly lowered his hand, something warm gently cupped his cheek.
It was Linaria’s hand.
Flinch.
Unaccustomed to the touch, Kaas awkwardly shifted his gaze.
“It must have hurt.”
Linaria examined the small scars on his face as well as his body.
After coming to the estate, he must’ve bathed and changed—he looked much cleaner.
And because he was clean, the scars stood out even more.
“Why were you at the black market anyway? We agreed to meet outside.”
He had kept the ruby necklace, so she didn’t think he was trying to run. But she had to be sure.
“I took the medicine you gave me. And then…”
Kaas frowned slightly, searching for the words.
Explaining what happened seemed difficult—like a child just learning to speak.
“I was outside… but when I opened my eyes, I was there.”
It seemed the drug had affected him poorly.
Plus, after the tension eased, his already overtaxed mind must’ve shut down.
‘In his previous life too, he ended up in the black market. He probably fainted even without the painkillers.’
His wounds made that believable.
“Then why were you biting the necklace? Were you trying to protect it so it wouldn’t be stolen?”
“No. You said it was important to you.”
He answered without hesitation.
Linaria was puzzled.
“Was that important to you?”
Speaking at all likely required him to risk being beaten.
“I just…”
Kaas trailed off.
Though her name was blurry in his memory, he remembered her expression when she gave him the necklace with strange clarity.
Like a statue given life—such tenderness.
When he didn’t answer, Linaria changed the subject.
“Kaas, should we sit and talk comfortably? It’s too dark and awkward like this.”
“I’m not uncomfortable.”
“Still, we can’t stay like this forever.”
Linaria grabbed his hand and pulled. Hesitant but compliant, he followed.
“…Your name.”
“Hmm?”
“No, never mind.”
He awkwardly turned away, as if he’d said something forbidden.
But Linaria realized what he wanted to ask.
He was wondering how she knew his name.
‘I don’t know why he’s so cautious, but… even now that I’ve officially bought him, he doesn’t seem to hate me.’
That was a good sign. Linaria gave a plausible excuse.
“I told you I was interested in you when we first met. So I looked into things—your name, your past.”
At the word “interested,” Kaas’s face twitched slightly.
He seemed to dislike that word.
So she clarified with something more direct.
“More accurately, it was love at first sight.”
As he sat awkwardly on the bed, he froze.
Just one bed—and his anxiety revealed just how miserable his life had been.
“Liar.”
This time, he was right.
It was a lie.
But nobles speak of love even when marriages are just transactions.
So Linaria thought—maybe her own feelings could be faked too.
“A million runes.”
She held out both hands to him.
“That’s what I paid to buy you.”
Even if August had actually paid the price, Linaria was the one who named it.
She was ready to pay that amount herself.
“That’s how much I love you.”
“…Why?”
A normal person might’ve asked why she’d spend that much on a stranger.
But Kaas’s question had a different nuance—and Linaria noticed it.
He was wondering why someone like him was being loved.
A simple, pure question.
“Because you’re not hideous. That’s why I’m here, meeting your eyes and holding your hand.”
Because she wanted him to steal his half-brother’s crown with those hands.
“Kaas. Falling for someone isn’t all that special.”
To strangle his brother’s neck.
“It only takes a small reason. For me, it was your looks.”
To crush his head beneath her heel.
Hiding her true heart, Linaria whispered sweetly.
“Before you ran, and even after—you couldn’t do anything on your own.”
“……”
“You just prepared yourself to wear a new collar, to meet a new master. I want to help you, poor thing.”
As if she were his one and only salvation.
