3. A Woman Who Will Soon Die

A seaside area on the outskirts, far from the capital.

Adeline dyed her low-saturation wheat-colored hair, which clearly marked her as a member of the marquis family, to brown.

Though news would travel slowly this far from the capital, she did this as a precaution.

After completing her disguise, Adeline began searching for the duke’s villa said to be in this remote village.

‘How do I find it?’

Adeline was struggling despite thinking she could easily find the building, given its status as a duke’s villa.

Nowhere in Horn could she see a building that resembled a ducal residence.

Horn was definitely the only place in the Soltarius Empire known as the “end of the world” village.

‘It should definitely be here……”

Adeline, who had fled to Horn trusting just one comment, began to feel anxious.

She was walking aimlessly, lost in thought, when it happened.

“Young lady. That path ahead might be dangerous at night.”

Adeline stopped abruptly at the soft voice from behind. While she had been lost in thought, the sun had set and darkness was falling.

“Grandmother, you’re saying this clearly visible path is dangerous?”

Adeline was puzzled. Even though night was falling, the path she was walking on was well-maintained.

“If you go far in that direction, there’s nothing but forest except for one house! At night, you’ll just become food for beasts.”

“There’s a house beyond there?”

“It’s a place where noble folk haven’t set foot for more than 10 years. Hurry back before it gets darker, young lady.”

At the old woman’s words, something flashed through Adeline’s mind.

The duke’s villa in the remote village, which she couldn’t find despite searching everywhere, suddenly seemed within reach.

The next day.

Adeline woke up and set out early in the morning.

‘This is it!’

Adeline found the path she had walked yesterday and began hiking through the forest trail.

After walking for quite some time through the forest path, a serene mansion finally appeared before Adeline’s eyes.

‘No wonder I couldn’t find it.’

A large mansion in the remote village, bearing the traces of time, with no signs of anyone coming or going.

It was definitely the duke’s mansion.

Adeline walked through the door that opened with a loud noise.

Light began to seep through the gap of the closing door into the lobby covered in pitch-black darkness.

Dust that had accumulated for a long time without being touched sparkled in the light and scattered in the air.

“Cough. Ugh. I need to clean first.”

Adeline decided to transform the mansion into a livable place.

If the duke came to this mansion as the comment suggested, she would become his lifesaver, and if he didn’t come, she planned to hide and live in this forgotten mansion.

⁕⁕⁕

Late at night in the study.

Several days had passed since she had tidied up the mansion.

Adeline began to doubt whether this mansion truly belonged to the duke’s family. Throughout her cleaning, she hadn’t seen a single emblem representing the duke’s family.

‘Did I put too much faith in just one comment?’

Adeline felt tired and reclined halfway on the sofa. As she leaned back into the sofa, something caught her eye.

Behind a particularly worn-out piece of furniture, she could faintly see the hinges of a door.

‘Oh. This looks promising.’

Curious, Adeline tried pushing the furniture slightly.

Despite only pushing it lightly, the large furniture moved away easily.

On the wall where the furniture had been, there was a door leading to a basement.

Puzzled by the existence of a basement, Adeline took a candle lamp from the desk and stood in front of the discovered door again.

‘What could this be?’

Creeeeak. As if announcing it hadn’t been opened for a long time, the door opened with difficulty, making a loud noise.

Adeline took a candle lamp and began descending the dusty stairs one by one.

And when she reached the basement.

The only thing in her field of vision was a large frame covered with a white cloth, as if protecting it from the layers of accumulated dust.

Through the slightly slipped cloth, the corner of the frame was visible.

The antique frame border, which looked as if it had been carved by a master craftsman, stimulated Adeline’s curiosity about the painting inside.

‘What could this be, to hide it in the basement?’

Full of expectation, Adeline pulled the edge of the cloth covering the frame that was larger than her body.

The whitish accumulated dust scattered as the cloth slid down.

‘Black hair, red eyes.’

These were the first things that caught Adeline’s eye in the revealed frame.

A child nestled gently in the arms of a woman in the frame.

The child held by the woman with neatly tied-up black hair had black hair and red eyes.

There were only two people in this empire who had red eyes and black hair.

The crown prince who would drive me to death and Duke Torpeo who might save me.

Judging from the comment she had read before dying, this mansion was definitely Duke Torpeo’s villa.

‘Casis Mile Torpeo.’

Deep down, Adeline had hoped that this place where she lived wasn’t from the novel.

She had fled to this remote village clinging to a thread of hope based on a comment, but she had wished it was all her misunderstanding.

However, as if mocking that wish, the painting before her eyes proved that this was indeed the novel she hadn’t even finished reading.

So this villa really was the duke’s villa. Otherwise, a frame capturing Duke Torpeo’s childhood wouldn’t remain here like this.

Which meant that the duke coming to this mansion injured to the point of death was also true.

Adeline unconsciously swallowed hard.

⁕⁕⁕

She was on her way back from shopping.

Adeline had been hurrying her steps, but she sighed in relief when she saw the villa in the distance.

Even though she had hurried back because the town was quite far, darkness had already fallen around her.

She had been anxious on the way back, wondering if today might be the day the duke would appear.

Her anxiety was momentary, as seeing the house unchanged from when she left made her feel at ease.

Adeline turned the key and opened the door of the villa.

With a creaking sound of rusty metal turning, the door opened.

The cool air touched her skin along with the darkened interior view.

Adeline approached the living room and began fumbling for a candle.

‘I put it somewhere around here. Why can’t I see anything today?’

Soon, her fingertips touched a long candle. Just as she thought she only needed to find matches, it happened.

A cold breeze brushed against Adeline’s skin for a moment.

With a click, the sound of the door locking echoed throughout the room.

“……?”

Adeline recalled the sound she had just heard in the quiet stillness.

It was definitely the sound of a doorknob turning and locking. Adeline instinctively clutched the candle.

“Wh-who’s there?”

Adeline asked, even though it was unlikely that anyone would be in this remote villa at the end of the world.

Her hand gripping the candle had become damp with sweat, but she had no time to worry about it.

An inexplicable sense of discomfort crept up from her toes.

Just as Adeline was about to turn around with the candle raised.

“What do you think you’re going to do with that?”

A monotone voice flowed into her earlobe, and a thick breath settled down as if tickling her ear.

A large hand extended from the darkness and bound Adeline’s hand that was holding up the candle.

Adeline’s two hands were too easily grasped in one hand of the figure in the darkness.

The man’s firm chest pressed against her back was clearly felt through her thin dress.

A man. And one with an extremely robust and solid physique.

“Wh-who are you?”

Adeline’s raised hands trembled mercilessly, matching her voice as she asked the man.

Being in a villa built in a remote forest, there was no one who would come to help even if she screamed.

“What good would it do to know who I am?”

The man ruthlessly snatched the candle from Adeline’s hand and threw it away.

Thud, the sound of the candle hitting the window and breaking could be heard.

“A woman who will soon die.”

Cold metal touched Adeline’s neck.

Deep darkness lurked around. Only a single beam of moonlight slanting through the window was the sole illumination in the villa.

As Adeline shrank back, the metal against her neck dug deeper.

As if the thinly honed blade would slash her throat at any moment.

‘N-no.’

She hadn’t fled here to die such a miserable death.

Red alerts were fiercely ringing in her head. Telling her to escape quickly.

The moment she slowly turned her head, Adeline met blood-colored eyes shining alone in the quiet darkness.

“Duke Torpeo?”

The man who had put a knife to her throat was Duke Torpeo, whom she had been waiting for.

She had fled to this villa to change her fate of an early death, but instead, she seemed about to die even sooner.

Moreover, despite being said to die from excessive bleeding in this villa, this man who had subdued Adeline with overflowing strength seemed too unharmed.

Adeline couldn’t understand this confusing situation.

“You. You know me. How did you find this place?”

At the duke’s chilling voice, Adeline hastily blurted out an excuse.

“Your Grace! I just……”

Adeline couldn’t think of a way to overcome this situation.

Someone waiting for her at a hidden villa, knowing she would come. If she were Duke Torpeo, she would have also put a knife to Adeline’s throat.

The duke pushed Adeline’s arm, which he had gripped even tighter, against the wall.

The light reflected off the sharp blade made the duke’s blood-red eyes even more vivid.

Though they sparkled beautifully like stars in the night sky, Adeline couldn’t move an inch out of fear as she looked at him.

The killing intent lurking in those red eyes that stared at her slowly pressed down on Adeline.