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Chapter 8
“You ungrateful wretch!”
Smack!
The sharp crack echoed harshly through the barren room.
Caught completely off guard, Evelyn’s head snapped limply to the left.
Louise grabbed Evelyn by the collar, yanked her upright, and glared at her with icy eyes.
“So you’ve finally decided to disgrace this family! What if word of your shameless behavior reaches the viscount?”
As if her palm stung from the slap, Louise clenched and unclenched her fist before lifting Evelyn’s chin with her fingertips.
Her gaze traveled over Evelyn’s brilliant green eyes, elegantly straight nose, and glass-like lips before stopping at the slender neck where a vivid bruise bloomed.
“Hah!”
Scraping a fingernail across the reddish mark, Louise twisted her lips into a grotesque smile.
“They say blood never lies… You’ve inherited your mother’s foolishness too. The first thing you thought of was using a man to change your fate.”
Letting out a long breath to suppress her anger, Louise leaned in closer.
“Don’t delude yourself into thinking the Grand Duke will show you mercy. Noblemen are all—”
“How strange.”
Before Louise could finish, Evelyn interrupted.
“Didn’t you always tell me that I should make myself useful to repay the kindness of raising me? That only if the family prospered could my mother survive?”
Instead of crying or begging as she always had, Evelyn met Louise’s gaze without flinching.
“So I merely made myself useful. It’s far more beneficial to the family if I earn the Grand Duke’s favor than if I’m sold to a viscount notorious as a murderer.”
…
Meanwhile, in the Twilight Forest of Ferum, the Blackwood Knights waited for nearly twenty hours after returning from the battle in the Kairos Desert. Restless and exhausted, they grumbled until a violent disturbance erupted.
The earth trembled. Wind howled. Sand and stones rose into the air.
“A wind attribute!” Max shouted. “Defensive formation! Now!”
Moments later, a massive Gate formed above the lake at the heart of the forest. Knights were dragged toward it by an overwhelming force.
“It’s a Gate! Grab onto the rocks and trees!”
Just as the situation became desperate, black aura poured down from the sky, taking the shape of a colossal serpent that devoured the flying monsters emerging from the Gate.
At the same time, Calian arrived.
“The Grand Duke!”
Drawing his demonic sword, Calian drove it into the ground.
Boom!
An immense wave of black aura exploded outward, swallowing the entire area. In the next instant, both the Gate and every monster pouring from it vanished without a trace.
The knights stared in silent awe before bowing deeply.
“Your Highness!”
“Any casualties?” Calian asked.
“No monsters escaped beyond the barricades. There are only minor injuries.”
“You handled it wisely.”
Although praised by his men, Calian’s thoughts remained elsewhere.
If he had arrived any later, the nearby villages would have suffered greatly.
Then Evelyn’s words echoed in his mind:
“By the time you realize I was telling the truth… I’ll already be gone.”
What did that woman truly want?
Riding back toward the Lawrence estate through the pouring rain, Calian’s golden eyes gleamed.
Soon he stopped before the eastern tower, where thick black smoke seeped from beneath an enormous stone door.
Remembering Lea’s confession that morning—that Evelyn, the count’s illegitimate daughter, had desperately begged to enter the tower—Calian became even more determined to uncover the truth.
Why did a woman like her know about the Gate?
Why had she sworn loyalty to him?
He had to find out.
He ordered Lea to keep their conversation secret while spreading one rumor instead:
“That I am searching for a mysterious woman with silver hair and green eyes.”
The count’s estate was thrown into chaos after learning that an unknown woman had dared infiltrate the Grand Duke’s residence.
