Time passed. Seth Dolorante had come to the mansion for his appointment with Ariadeline.

However, the one who welcomed him was not Ariadeline, but a man whose shadows seemed particularly deep today: Carlothian Denaves.

“Where is Lady Ariadeline?”

The man, who had been busy revealing his teeth at the sight of Seth Dolorante, replied with calm, sunken eyes.

“……She has matters to attend to and said to wait in the reception room.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Seth Dolorante felt a strange chill as he looked into his black eyes.

Today, Duke Denaves was different. He instinctively sensed something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

As Carlothian gestured, one of the attendants guided him to the reception room. Seth Dolorante found himself unable to come up with an excuse to refuse and headed toward the reception room.

‘Something feels odd.’

He sat in the reception room, glancing around. Soon, a knock was heard.

Knock, knock.

“Come in.”

As Seth Dolorante spoke, the door opened, and a maid entered, pushing in a tea tray. On it were a warm teapot and teacups.

“She said she was sorry for the delay and asked you to wait a moment.”

“Lady Ariadeline?”

The maid lowered her eyes demurely as she replied.

“Yes.”

She placed a teacup in front of Seth Dolorante and promptly filled it to the brim with tea. Then she quietly stepped back.

Seth Dolorante stared blankly at the teacup. Somehow, he had a bad feeling. The red tea simply lay clear at the bottom.

Suddenly.

As he quietly glared at the teacup, the door opened once more. Entering through that door was none other than Duke Carlothian Denaves.

“……Do you have business with me?”

“I came to keep you company since I have nothing to do while waiting for Ariadeline.”

“……I didn’t know you thought of me that way.”

“After some time has passed….”

Carlothian replied in a languid tone.

“I thought I should do some thinking.”

“……What do you mean?”

Seth Dolorante frowned slightly, forcing a smile. The current Carlothian Denaves was completely unreadable.

It was as if a black fog had enveloped him. Nothing could be read from his lifeless, dark eyes that merely stared at him.

Suddenly, he asked.

“Are you not going to drink the tea?”

“I’m not thirsty.”

Seth Dolorante indirectly declined. He had sensed the implication behind the direct question.

Tension coursed through his body. Something was wrong.

As if amused by his inability to notice, Carlothian rose from his seat.

“That’s not very important.”

Then, standing over the table, he lifted the teacup and grasped Seth Dolorante’s chin.

“You have to drink this.”

Seth Dolorante struggled, grabbing his wrist. However, he could not overcome Carlothian’s strength.

Carlothian forced Seth Dolorante’s mouth open and poured the tea into it.

“Gah…!”

“What are you doing?!”

Seth Dolorante’s attendant stepped in, but he was easily subdued by Carlothian’s servant.

After blocking Seth Dolorante’s mouth, Carlothian yanked his head back forcefully. Gulp, the tea was swallowed down his throat.

“Gah, cough…!”

Once Carlothian confirmed that Seth had swallowed the tea, he released his grip, and Seth coughed roughly, leaning on the sofa.

“What the hell…!”

“If you wanted Ariadeline, you shouldn’t have done that.”

Carlothian’s sharp voice pierced through him. At that moment, Seth felt a headache.

“What do you mean I wanted…?”

“If you were going to be used by the Emperor and foolishly discarded, you should have never tried at all. Acting smart when you’re not.”

As his cold words continued, Seth felt a spinning sensation in front of his eyes.

“What did you… make me eat…?”

“The servant waiting for you in the carriage will soon eat the same thing and collapse.”

Carlothian muttered as he watched Seth’s eyelids forcefully close.

“My servants will pretend to be the Marquis’s servants and take the carriage into the woods.”

He looked down at him with eyes that seemed as lifeless as a deep-sea fish.

“And there, they will abandon the carriage and pretend you’ve disappeared.”

A sense of crisis tangled in Seth Dolorante’s eyes.

Carlothian then whispered to him.

“No one is coming to save you.”

Thud.

With that, Seth Dolorante collapsed onto the sofa. Carlothian ordered his servant to move him to the basement of the annex.

When Seth Dolorante opened his eyes, his body was tightly bound to a chair in the underground prison.

In front of him stood Carlothian, holding a thin, short knife.

“Do you really think you can get away with this…?”

“I don’t care what circumstances you have.”

The knife in Carlothian’s hand approached Seth Dolorante’s face.

“Whether you made a deal with the Emperor…”

Soon, it would cut through his skin. A scream erupted.

“Or if you were deceived by the Emperor…”

Blood gushed from beneath Seth Dolorante’s eyes.

“It doesn’t matter what it is.”

Carlothian withdrew the knife and aimed for the other eye.

“You may not remember, but because of you, she died once.”

Seth Dolorante could not comprehend the words until his death, while Carlothian pierced, cut, and stripped his skin.

The sharp smell of blood filled the basement with screams.

Carlothian felt the blood splattering onto his cheek and lowered his gaze.

He felt no guilt or rejection of the relentless torture of another person.

His mind was filled only with the thought that he had to protect her.

“I just hope His Majesty understands my intentions well.”

Thus, Seth Dolorante disappeared from the imperial capital.

Rumors spread that his carriage, which had visited the Duke of Denaves, headed deep into the western forest and vanished.

People eagerly talked about the disappearance of the beautiful and intelligent young man.

“I heard he was fooling around with some lady, and her husband took revenge on him.”

“Oh my, I thought he was stabbed while mingling with a lady who was already engaged.”

“There are also whispers that he touched a woman he shouldn’t have and hastily fled abroad.”

As lies mixed with the rumors, the nobles began to chatter freely about them.

Carlothian thought about Seth Dolorante, who would be buried in his basement.

He thought how easily he was buried, having no significant power in politics.

Two months passed since his disappearance. A box sent by an unknown person arrived at the Emperor’s office.

Inside it was the head of Seth Dolorante.

The Emperor let out a hollow laugh.

“Why is this…?”

He spoke as if chewing.

“He’s gone completely mad.”

The Emperor growled and threw the box he was holding.

Crash, bang!

The head rolled out of the box and onto the floor.

“How did that fool figure it out?”

His eyes gleamed with rage.

The news that Seth Dolorante’s head had arrived at the imperial palace spread through the palace servants and into high society.

The young marquis, who had been missing, appeared murdered. His death was known in the form of his head arriving at the palace. Everyone whispered.

“Who on earth killed the marquis?”

“Why is His Majesty so silent?”

Then someone interjected with a question.

“More importantly, if he is dead, who will be the next marquis?”

At those words, the nobles’ eyes gleamed. Seth Dolorante had no wife or children.

Thus, collateral relatives began to stir. Seth Dolorante’s death became an opportunity for someone.

Carlothian sat in his office, flipping through the various rumors reported to him with an expressionless face.

“Carlothian, what are you thinking about?”

Ariadeline asked him.

Since that day, she had not wanted to be away from him for even a moment. He smiled at her and replied.

“Nothing.”

Unlike the Emperor, his eyes held no light and were darkened.

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

The Denaves family, where Seth Dolorante had last visited, naturally became a suspect.

However, the servants all spoke in unison. He had been rejected by Lady Ariadeline and had left the mansion in his carriage.

Later, his carriage was found deep in the western forest. No one knew why it was there.

“Could he have been attacked by robbers?”

It didn’t make sense. Who would dare to touch a high-ranking noble in the capital? Moreover…

“Why did they send that head to His Majesty the Emperor?”

“I have no way of knowing that.”

Moreover, the body had not yet been found. The imperial palace summoned the Duke of Denaves as a suspect. Ariadeline asked worriedly.

“Are you really okay with this?”

“It’ll be fine.”

Carlothian replied confidently as he headed toward the palace.

Upon arriving at the investigation room in the palace, he was able to meet the Emperor’s investigator.

“Thank you for coming here.”

The investigator cautiously assessed the situation but proceeded with the questioning quite persistently.

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“You’re asking a question everyone knows. It was when he came to see Ariadeline.”

“Did you notice anything unusual at that time?”

Carlothian looked down at him with a chilling gaze and asked.

“Do I have any reason to be concerned about that man?”

The investigator swallowed hard.

“Th-this is a necessary question for the investigation. I would appreciate your cooperation.”

Several sharp questions followed, but Carlothian’s answers were flawless.

It was as if he had been instructed to catch every detail, but it was merely a game of tail-catching.

Carlothian smirked. The Emperor seems to be trying to pin this on him.

No, it’s not about pinning it on him; it’s because he did what he did.

However, he had no intention of falling into that trap. Carlothian turned the question back on the investigator.

“By the way, His Majesty has had frequent interactions with Seth Dolorante even before the incident occurred.”

At those words, the investigator’s face hardened.