“When did he start smoking those?”
“About two months… no, it’s been nearly three now. His Grace always suffered from insomnia to some extent, but it was never this severe.”
Three months.
Right after Odely had regressed.
‘…The cause couldn’t be more obvious.’
Odely looked down at the cigarettes neatly arranged inside the box with mixed emotions.
Could those really be called sleeping medicine?
Of course, if someone couldn’t sleep at all, they wouldn’t survive.
It had probably been a measure of last resort.
The final method of forcing someone, who was slowly falling apart without even realizing it, onto a bed.
“There really wasn’t any other way?”
“Unfortunately, no. His Grace also knows this isn’t a fundamental solution. But without these… he suffers greatly.”
The head butler seemed to hesitate before saying the word greatly.
It sounded as though he was carefully avoiding saying that Ludville went completely mad.
“His Grace doesn’t take care of himself at all.”
This was the same head butler who had meticulously looked after even Odely’s health.
She couldn’t imagine how much he must have struggled before reaching the point of not only accepting his lord’s self-destruction, but helping him do it.
As Odely watched Theodore carefully place the last cigarette into the box, she made up her mind.
‘No matter what it takes, I have to get him to sign those marriage papers first.’
By any means necessary.
Only then would she have a reason to step into Ludville’s daily life…
And the right to interfere with everything that was destroying him.
****
That night.
Flags began to appear on the horizon beyond the western snowfields.
A cavalry unit in black cloaks advanced through the falling snow, and at its head rode a man who looked almost lazily relaxed.
Ludville Excepcion.
Once again, he returned carrying the scent of death.
Dark crimson blood had dried across his armor, while monster ichor dripped steadily from his scabbard.
Removing his helmet with one hand, Ludville leaped effortlessly from his horse.
He stripped off his bloodstained gloves and merely nodded to the soldier saluting him, without saying a word.
“Anything unusual happen while I was gone?”
“No, Your Grace. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
The captain of the guard snapped a crisp salute, then suddenly paused.
“Ah.”
“A thief broke into the castle.”
“A thief?”
“Yes. He’d been embezzling supplies for ten years and was finally caught while trying to steal valuables.”
Ludville paused.
“Why are you reporting such a petty criminal to me?”
he asked, clearly puzzled.
Something like that should have been handled quietly by the captain of the guard according to the Grand Duchy’s laws, without bothering him.
“The one who caught the thief… was the Princess.”
“…What?”
The moment he heard those words…
He remembered the woman who had proposed the contract marriage.
“There are many problems Your Grace is currently facing—internal matters, unnecessary outside attention, even your standing among the nobility… I believe there are quite a few areas where I can help.”
He remembered her pale lips moving as she spoke.
It almost felt as though her calm, gentle voice still lingered in his ears.
“She caught the thief… by herself?”
After hearing the full story from the captain of the guard, Ludville found himself genuinely dumbfounded.
The North was a land of warriors.
Almost everyone in this castle, regardless of gender, knew how to wield a sword.
Any trained soldier, junior gate guard, or even a random maid passing by would almost certainly be stronger than the supposedly frail princess.
Yet she had not only lured the thief into a trap…
She had subdued him herself?
And the man had been an embezzler who had avoided detection for ten whole years.
Then the captain carefully added,
“…The thief also attempted to kill the Princess after being discovered.”
At that instant…
The entire world became strangely quiet.
The sounds of breathing…
The captain standing before him…
Everything seemed to fade behind a sheet of cloudy glass.
Only one sentence remained.
The Princess of Cardel…
Had nearly died.
That sentence echoed over and over inside his mind.
After standing still for a moment, Ludville slowly picked up the gloves he had thrown aside.
As he firmly pulled each finger back into the blood-soaked leather—its original color no longer visible beneath the dried stains—he spoke.
“I’ll interrogate the thief myself.”
The soldiers instinctively held their breath.
The man who never reacted even when monsters charged straight at him…
Was no longer hiding his killing intent.
His face turned deathly cold as he strode directly toward the underground prison.
Then, suddenly…
A question crossed his mind.
‘…Why does this bother me so much?’
It was nothing more than a servant’s betrayal.
The man hadn’t even come specifically to assassinate the Princess.
He had simply lashed out because the woman before him appeared weaker than he was.
Just another worthless piece of trash who preyed on the weak.
So why…
Why did someone so insignificant make him this furious?
‘No… even if he had been an assassin targeting the Princess… what would that have to do with me?’
He had agreed to protect her for two weeks.
If something happened to her, it would be troublesome.
If that were all it was…
Simply increasing the punishment should have been enough.
Then why did it feel…
As though his blood was boiling in reverse?
He slowly closed his eyes.
An emotion he couldn’t explain refused to stay buried.
The familiar, unbearable headache returned once again.
“…”
Ludville quietly opened his eyes.
There was no hesitation left within them.
He resumed walking, descending the stairs toward the underground prison.
‘When did reasons ever matter?’
They had stopped meaning anything long ago.
If he wanted to do it…
Then he would.
Late that night, deep beneath the darkness of the castle…
The sounds coming from the underground prison were neither screams for mercy nor cries of pain.
Only…
The sickening sounds of impact.
Bones breaking.
Flesh tearing.
And afterward…
Nothing but the silence of a grave.
****
Odely heard that Ludville had returned the following morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise.
“I heard His Grace caused another incident the moment he got back.”
Leona avoided giving details.
She clearly didn’t want to describe what had become of Zeke in the prison.
After hesitating for a moment, she chose her words carefully.
“If His Grace personally got involved… well, whatever you do, don’t go anywhere near the underground prison.”
She shook her head emphatically.
‘…Sounds like he tortured him.’
Odely didn’t ask any further.
She already had a pretty good idea without hearing the details.
Still…
One thing bothered her.
The fact that Ludville had personally dealt with such a minor criminal.
In her previous life, Ludville had viewed people as nothing more than resources, making only the coldest and most efficient decisions.
She couldn’t exactly call that admirable…
But back then, at least he had possessed a clear goal.
His obsession with keeping Odely alive.
Now…
He had no goal at all.
He simply wandered, consumed by loss, acting on raw emotion.
So unstable that it felt like he could collapse at any moment.
She was terrified…
Terrified that one day Ludville would appear to be living an ordinary life…
And then, without warning…
Choose to end it himself.
‘I have to deal with his insomnia first.’
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