“I… understand.”
When Kasha heard Leon’s reply, she thought she had received the best answer she could have hoped for from him.
In truth, it was only natural that he would be suspicious of her. Now that the curse had been lifted, she had served her purpose — at least from one perspective. It wouldn’t have been strange at all if he had torn up their contract on the spot, locked her away, and demanded she speak the truth.
Someone like Simon would have turned on me without a second’s hesitation.
But Leon was not that kind of man. He was a man of honor, one who understood what it meant to keep his word — and he would never be the first to break a contract already in motion. Kasha gave a calm, quiet nod.
Leon held her gaze for a long moment, his dark eyes intent upon her, before adding:
“The vacation in two weeks’ time would be difficult to cancel now. Unless there is some particular reason to do so.”
He let the words settle and looked at her directly as he said them — as if to say: if there is something you need to tell me, now is the time.
Kasha bit her lip in quiet frustration.
She had to stop him. She had to prevent Leon — and Eve — from going to that villa on Elhor Bay.
Because at that place, Eve will be kidnapped and murdered.
The mere act of recalling that fact made her heart clench with fear. Kasha looked up at Leon, her long lashes trembling faintly with the effort of holding herself together.
Kasha remembered everything Leon had said to her in the abandoned temple before her regression — every word of it.
Among those memories, one person stood out as the one he had spoken of with the most sorrow on his face. His youngest sibling, Eve — an innocent child slaughtered without mercy by a serial killer.
It had been the event that marked the true beginning of the Duchy of Oshilote’s tragedy.
It was also the incident that first brought the existence of a horrific serial killer to widespread public knowledge — one who preyed exclusively on helpless young children: kidnapping them, killing them, and discarding their bodies.
This summer, Eve would be kidnapped by that very killer, murdered, and found dead. Right there, at the villa on Elhor Bay.
No. I will never allow Eve to go there.
Kasha moistened her dry lips, her anxiety running deep.
Whatever it takes, I have to prevent Leon and Eve from going to that place.
Her desperation went beyond the deep affection she had come to feel for Eve. There was another reason, too.
Those children — they are the victims of the third magic stone.
Kaylum — one of the cursed stones. The price of the immortality it bestowed was a monthly offering: the soul of an innocent, given up as a sacrifice.
That had been one of the chief reasons Kasha was called a villainess in the life before her regression. The magic stone whose seal she had broken had claimed the lives of blameless children.
Give me back my child, you monster! Tear you apart and it still wouldn’t be enough — you devil!
Among all the curses hurled at her from behind prison bars, none had cut deeper than the grief of parents who had lost their children.
And so she had to stop this person from taking Eve. By any means necessary.
But finding a pretext to disrupt not just Leon’s plans, but the entire ducal family’s summer vacation — that was no easy task.
Just then, as if he had somehow looked into her heart, Leon opened his mouth again.
“The holiday at the Elhor villa is a kind of privilege granted only to members of the imperial family, and my father is not a man who would willingly relinquish that privilege. As you saw earlier, his relationship with me is currently at its worst. No doubt he will continue to try to interfere with our public courtship as well.”
“……”
“So I intend to use this vacation to break through that, once and for all.”
Kasha had been listening with an anxious heart — and then his words took a turn she hadn’t anticipated, and she tilted her head to one side.
What Leon was saying sounded almost as if he intended to sit his father down and force him to accept Kasha.
“There’s really no need to go that far…?”
“I’m finished with being pushed around.”
“Leon.”
“I can’t fully trust you yet, and you still keep more secrets than I can count. But I have decided to continue this relationship with you — and so I intend to give it everything I have.”
Kasha was about to point out that the word contract had been conspicuously absent before the word relationship, but he gave her no chance.
“Kasha.” He looked at her. “So — would you come with me?”
The out-of-nowhere proposal caught her completely off guard.
“I’m sorry — where?”
“Elhor Bay.”
“…?”
“Didn’t you say there might be a need for me during those two weeks? If that time truly comes, I’ll let you make full use of me. So come with me, Kasha.”
“……”
“I have no idea what it is you’re thinking — but what I do know is that if you’re not somewhere I can see you, I’ll be uneasy.”
Kasha stared at him, forgetting to reply.
Outside the window, the sun had already begun to set, and his eyes, bathed in the last light of evening, shimmered a deep, dark violet. Not the feverish red of lust’s curse — but something pure and fierce: the glow of a resolve fully made.
“Kasha — what are you thinking about? Are you even listening to me?”
The voice at her side pulled Kasha sharply back to the present.
“…Margaret.”
She blinked and looked up. At the sight of Kasha’s dazed expression, Margaret smiled.
“Did I talk your ear off? I’m sorry. You must be tired.”
“It’s not that. I was just… thinking about something for a moment. I’m sorry.”
Kasha hurried to apologize.
The two of them were seated together in the garden of the Rüschino estate, sharing an afternoon tea.
She had been listening carefully to Margaret’s words — and then, for one unguarded moment, her gaze had drifted to a cluster of deep violet orchids swaying in the breeze, and her mind had gone utterly blank.
What I do know is that if you’re not somewhere I can see you, I’ll be uneasy.
The memory had risen without warning: Leon, looking at her as though he might consume her whole, speaking those words.
Why did he have to say something so strange.
Kasha shook her head to scatter the lingering image and turned back to Margaret.
“Go on. You were talking about Baron Marquis.”
At the mention of the earlier topic, Margaret gave a gloomy nod.
“Right. He’s practically moved into our house — shows up every other day. I slipped out today specifically to avoid him. He was coming again, apparently.”
Kasha had spent enough time with Margaret to have already encountered the relentless Baron Marquis on several occasions. Setting aside the rumors about his philandering and unsavory habits, the man exuded a thoroughly unpleasant air simply by existing.
“But are you alright? What are your parents saying about it?”
“Well, at this point it’s desperate. They’re still trying to push through the engagement even though I’ve told them, flatly, that I would sooner die than marry that man. It’s absolutely maddening.”
Margaret propped her chin in her hand and stirred her tea with a heavy sigh.
Kasha’s expression grew equally serious.
Because Daryl had yet to receive a reply from the Count of Rüschino regarding his letter about inheriting the estate early, he had been unable to move forward with the negotiations for Margaret’s engagement to Viscount Yonder. Margaret was holding on as best she could, but in the meantime, both Viscount Yonder and Baron Marquis were pushing the situation along at an alarming pace.
As a result, Daryl had been wound so tight these past weeks that it seemed only a matter of time before he exploded.
If Father’s letter doesn’t arrive within the week, I’ll just march over there myself and get his blessing in person!
“I’m not really going to end up married to that dreadful man, am I?”
Kasha met Margaret’s anxious eyes with steady calm.
“Never. Absolutely never.”
The firmness of it made Margaret flush slightly and break into a smile.
“What is it about the way you say it that’s so convincing? I nearly swooned just now.”
“Hmm?”
Margaret burst out laughing at Kasha’s puzzled tilt of the head. She laughed for a good while before wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes, shaking her head with a sigh.
“Hoo. Even so, it’s good to laugh like this, thanks to you. Oh — you said you leave for Elhor Bay in two days, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“It’s strange that Daryl let you go so easily. At first he was absolutely furious when he heard you were joining the Duke’s holiday.”
“…He was.”
Kasha thought back to Daryl’s outrage — Over my dead body and other such declarations — and shook her head slowly.
In the end, she’d had to play her trump card to earn his permission.
The funds needed to move forward with the Yonder engagement — I’ll cover them.
What? How could you possibly—
I’ve taken on some orders for magical instruments. Since the hunting tournament, the commissions have been coming in. Not all of them are for combat-grade tools — there’s decent money in it.
Why didn’t you discuss something like this with me first… regardless, I appreciate the thought, but no. I won’t use money you’ve earned for my own affairs.
Daryl had shaken his head with firm resolve — but that resolve didn’t last long once Kasha continued.
I’m not offering this for free.
…Pardon?
Bring Margaret home. Take responsibility for that. If you don’t, I’ll make you pay back three times the amount.
It was an audacious thing to say to the heir of a household, but Daryl looked, if anything, moved.
Kasha……
Even that emotion didn’t survive what came next.
In exchange — don’t interfere with my courtship.
What?
Of course, this is for my friend’s sake — but I’ve helped you, brother. So the least you can do is not stand in my way.
Kasha, honestly — what in the world has that Leon done to bewitch you!
“It was exhausting,” Kasha said aloud, reflecting on the standoff.
Margaret laughed again at that.
“Of course it was. His precious little sister going off on a holiday with a man — what else would you expect?”
“I’m not going alone with Leon. I’ve been invited to join the Duke’s family holiday. That’s all.”
Kasha’s earnest protest made Margaret wink.
“I know, I know. Either way, I’m fully in favor, Kasha.”
“…In favor of what, exactly?”
“Lord Leon. He’s perfectly flawless, isn’t he? So handsome, so capable, such a distinguished family. I did hear that he’d developed a rather darker air lately, but—”
Margaret trailed off and glanced sideways at Kasha.
“Oh, that. That’ll be fine now. The problem has been resolved.”
At Kasha’s casual reply, Margaret tilted her head.
“Really? Funny — I almost find that a little disappointing.”
“Why?”
“Why? That dangerous energy of his — it was quite appealing in its own way, don’t you think? More young noblewomen have been secretly pining after Lord Leon since that change came over him than ever before. Did you not know?”
“…I didn’t.”
“Don’t worry. From what I can see, Lord Leon seems completely smitten with you.”
“What? No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Oh, it most certainly is. Anyone with eyes could see it.”
Margaret declared it with full confidence, and Kasha was left blinking, unable to find a response.
It really isn’t like that. We’re just in a contract courtship.
If that time truly comes, I’ll let you make full use of me. So come with me, Kasha.
Leon’s voice surfaced unbidden in her mind, and Kasha did her best to push it away.
