Chapter 13. After the Escape

But Angela didn’t stop there.

Once she started expressing her enthusiastic admiration, it became an unstoppable cascade of praise.

“Oh, and of course, his physical attributes are absolutely amazing. He’s handsome, expressive, and has such a great voice!”

“Aha… yes…”

“And not just that—his tongue is incredibly agile.”

Angela was merely complimenting Ain’s exceptional articulation and pronunciation, effortlessly delivering even the most challenging lines. But to Serenia, it sounded wildly inappropriate.

Serenia’s ears burned bright red.

“Oh! And it’s not just his tongue; he’s so good with his body too.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Unlike those stiff, wooden actors, the way his movements flow so dynamically is just extraordinary…”

Unable to bear what she perceived as indecent chatter (it definitely sounded that way to her), Serenia shouted in a loud voice.

“Ahhh! Please stop already!”

Her face flushed red up to her hairline as she covered her ears and cried out, ‘I don’t want to know about that!’

Startled by Serenia’s reaction, Angela gasped and quickly covered her mouth.

“Oh my! I’m so sorry. Did I just spoil something for you?”

“…What?”

Spoiler? What’s that? Is it something edible? Like soup?

Despite her overwhelming embarrassment, Serenia tilted her head in confusion, the unfamiliar term piquing her curiosity.

Angela studied her quizzically before nodding slowly.

“I guess you haven’t seen Ain at work yet.”

Serenia wanted to shout, ‘I have no intention of seeing that, and I don’t want to!’ but she held back.

Angela smiled brightly at her silence and said, “If you ever have the time, you should watch him perform. Ain always downplays it as just his job, but it’s truly a masterpiece of art.”

Hearing that, Serenia turned redder than a tomato and stammered as she asked Angela, “W-What does your husband say about… going to those kinds of places?”

Angela hesitated briefly but then shrugged with a casual smile.

“Why would he say anything? If anything, he’d probably praise it from afar. Thanks to Ain, I resolved to live without my husband.”

Unfortunately, Serenia misunderstood her words to mean that Angela had divorced her husband because of Ain.

Clenching her fists tightly, Serenia fumed inwardly.

‘This wretched homewrecker! Worse than a loan shark! A demon worse than the devil himself!’

Meanwhile, Angela concluded the conversation with a soft smile.

“Oh my, I’ve had such a wonderful time chatting that I ended up saying too much.”

“…”

“Well, it’s late, so I’ll excuse myself now. Please have a restful night, miss.”

After Angela left, Serenia locked every bolt and latch on her room’s door, dashed to her bed, and pulled the blanket over her head.

Then she screamed with all her might.

“I don’t want to get married! I really don’t—!!”

If it were up to her, she would’ve shredded the prenuptial contract and thrown away the 6 million krovats.

But her rationality, hardened by reality, wouldn’t allow such self-destructive behavior.

As she rolled around on the bed, tormented by the grim reality she didn’t want to accept, small sobs escaped her lips.

After a while, she suddenly stopped, got up, and rummaged through the bedside table.

Finding the jar of ointment she’d received earlier, she slathered it on her cheeks without even looking in the mirror.

Then, she crawled back under the covers and fell into a restless sleep.

Anyone who saw her would’ve nodded knowingly and said, ‘So this is what marriage blues looks like.’

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Barishart Estate

Around the same time, events were unfolding at the Barishart estate.

The journalists who refused to leave even after nightfall prompted nearby residents to file complaints with the capital’s security forces.

In response, the capital guard arrived, dispersing the reporters swarming around the property and knocking on the estate’s door to check inside.

But no matter how persistently they knocked, there was no answer.

Unaware that the Barishart family, practically ruined, no longer had a butler or servants, they interpreted the silence as a potential sign of trouble. Breaking down the front door, they stormed into the estate.

What greeted them was a chilling silence, devoid of warmth or any sign of life.

The nearly empty house, with barely any belongings left, made them wonder:

‘Was there a robbery?’

But upon reflection, that didn’t make sense.

Journalists had reported seeing Serenia Barishart at the estate earlier that morning, and since then, the property had been surrounded by reporters, leaving no chance for a thief to break in.

As they combed through the house in confusion, they discovered a hidden passage in the basement—a secret escape route.

There was only one conclusion they could draw:

Some naïve bandits had accidentally stumbled upon the secret passage, infiltrated the estate, and made off with everything of value. Worse, they had likely kidnapped the beautiful count’s daughter, who was soon to become the duchess.

Pale-faced, they immediately reported their findings to their superiors.

Shortly after, the Minister of Defense and Security of the Zigranto Kingdom, Duke Raskal Admancanon, personally arrived at the Barishart estate.

Surveying the remnants of the estate, he let out a dry chuckle.

“…She ran away.”

“Pardon?”

“And she didn’t go alone—she had an uninvited guest with her.”

“An uninvited guest…?”

Ignoring the puzzled guards, Raskal exited the estate.

Standing outside, he addressed his lieutenant, Marquis Joshua Milton, with a cold command.

“Tell Marquis Milton to clean up the journalists.”

He added in a low voice, “And when that’s done, bring Nelson Gallut.”

Nelson Gallut was the real boss of the Gallut Family, a major crime syndicate that controlled the Pledis District 1.

The name wasn’t one you’d expect to come so casually from a duke, let alone the kingdom’s defense minister. Yet Joshua nodded without hesitation.

“The usual meeting spot, I assume?”

Before being his aide, Joshua had been Raskal’s close friend for a decade.

Having endured Raskal’s infamous temperament—so bad that people often questioned his humanity—for ten years, Joshua was unfazed by even sudden, late-night orders.

Raskal gave a curt nod in response.

As Joshua disappeared into the darkness, Raskal exhaled a long breath into the void.

“…Why is it that humans only learn the hard way that running away is pointless?”

* * *

“Tsk.”

The sound of someone clicking their tongue with all their might echoed inside the pitch-black carriage.

The source of the noise was Bianca Admancanon, the fifth cousin and secretary to Dalia Admancanon.

Lowering her binoculars, she grumbled.

“It’s completely ruined, ruined!”

Her displeasure was written all over her face as the situation unfolded far from her expectations.

Earlier this morning, when the former duchess had given her orders, Bianca had thought she’d been handed a golden opportunity.

A perfect chance to test her life’s work—a colorless, odorless, tasteless poison she’d created.

Her masterpiece had been scorned within the family for being “useless” due to its lack of lethality in favor of being undetectable.

But for someone like Serenia Barishart, with no resistance to poison, it was more than enough to make her a liability.

Truthfully, Bianca bore no personal grudge against Serenia. This was merely her way of proving the value of her creation and earning her family’s recognition.

“Only then will I get more funding for my research!”

Fueled by the singular goal of securing more funds, she’d staked out on a hill overlooking the Barishart estate late into the night.

She’d been debating whether to bribe the head chef, the maid, or poison the supplies being delivered to the estate.

Yet, inexplicably, the estate had no chef, no maid, no supplies, and worst of all—no Count’s daughter!

“And just when I decided to wait it out, instead of her, of all people, Raskal had to show up.”

Clicking her tongue again, Bianca quickly revised her plans.

If poison was no longer an option, then…

“…I’ll just have to surround her with scandal big enough to shatter the engagement.”

For example, rumors of an immoral, hedonistic woman who frequented brothels on the eve of her wedding.

Satisfied with her new plan, she murmured to herself, “I’ll need a black wig for this.”

* * *

The Next Morning

Serenia woke to the sound of the morning paper hitting the floor in front of her hotel room door.

Groggily getting out of bed, her slightly swollen face still evident, she shuffled over to pick up the paper.

A splash of cold water on her face brought her back to her usual composed self in an instant.

With a sigh, she applied ointment to her cheeks and opened the newspaper with a resigned look on her face.

And there it was. A face she knew all too well was plastered across the front page of the ‘Shedron Times’, the kingdom’s only daily newspaper.

“Ugh.”

The photo captured her in a ridiculous moment, startled and scrambling to close a window with a shocked expression.

Clicking her tongue, she stared at the image.