Dimitri was at the back of the building, as expected. He wore crinkled trousers and a similarly crumpled shirt, with the buttons carelessly undone around his arms.

Moreover, he even had both hands clutching Esca’s long hair.

“What… are you two doing?”

In response to my question, Esca, whose hair was being grabbed, calmly patted Dimitri’s shoulder.

“Calm down. Don’t get annoyed.”

At his words, Dimitri glared at him and tugged at his hair again.

“Don’t act like a monk. It’s annoying.”

As he scoffed and let go of his hair, Esca straightened his disheveled hair and adjusted his clothes with an indifferent expression.

“Wait a moment, Rowaine.”

Dimitri also turned away from me and buttoned up his shirt.

‘What exactly is the relationship between those two…?’

While Dimitri straightened his appearance, I discreetly pulled Esca’s arm towards me and asked cautiously.

“Did you guys have a fight?”

“No, we didn’t. We just played for a while.”

“Yes…?”

Listening to his words, I alternated my gaze between Esca and his silvery hair, which had scattered on the floor.

“Played? You weren’t being harassed?”

Then, he, who usually maintained a poker face, cracked a rare smile.

“Isn’t he cute?”

What was the relationship between this foolishly kind wolf and a spoiled cat? Esca seemed to be defending Dimitri to me as if he needed to justify him.

“He’s more affectionate than he looks.”

“Ah… yes…”

I couldn’t believe the person who was caught by his hair would say such a thing. In the meanwhile, Esca looked back and forth between me and Dimitri and spoke meaningfully.

“Since it seems like you two have a lot to discuss, I’ll take my leave.”

Feeling anxious about being left alone with Dimitri, I hastily grabbed hold of him.

“Wait, wait a minute! Don’t go, Esca. Stay with me.”

Then, the towering figure of him pierced me with his characteristic penetrating gaze before he calmly stabbed me in my heart.

“Are you afraid of reciprocating his feelings?”

“….!”

I’ve always suspected it before, but there was no doubt that Esca was definitely a mind reader. Still, I racked my brain and came up with an appropriate answer.

“W-what, what are you talking about? We’re married. Where do reciprocating feelings come into play?”

“Just because you’re married doesn’t mean they are lovers.”

“Did you… hear something from Dimitri?”

“When it comes to the Duchess, he’s so cautious that he’s flailing about it.”

I wondered if Esca had mistaken Dimitri for someone else.

‘He’s trembling because he’s being cautious? Dimitri…?’

That was definitely not his character.

At that moment, Dimitri approached us, his clothes still quite rumpled but at least as neatly organized as possible.

“What are you doing taking my wife into a corner?”

Esca glanced at Dimitri like that for a moment, then rolled his eyes as if pondering something. Suddenly, it seemed like he was casting a barrier, trapping Dimitri.

“What is this…!”

Dimitri’s voice was instantly swallowed into the opaque glass dome of crystals.

I looked at Esca with confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“The Duke’s abilities are exceptional, so this barrier won’t last long. I’ll tell you quickly before it breaks.”

“….?”

“As I mentioned, the Duke is more affectionate than he appears. If you’re not going to reciprocate his feelings, it’s better to leave him quickly.”

It sounded like a warning.

“He’s a pretty merciless cat.”

A warning signaling danger.

At that moment, the page with Dimitri’s past from the novel I was reading vividly appeared in my mind. Esca might think I didn’t know anything about Dimitri’s past, but I do. I’ve read about it.

When he was abandoned by Cayetana, there was a benefactor and mentor who took him in.

He was Esca’s father.

The territory where the White Wolf clan lived was in the highest mountains of the north, particularly in areas perpetually covered in snow. Occasionally, wolf-human shapeshifters would venture down to find food, and sometimes they stumbled upon inhabited areas, but one greedy lord came to hunt and found them.

“White wolf, huh? Beautiful wolves indeed, but aren’t they just mongrels in the end?”

He was a man who enjoyed dogfighting with his slaves. So, wouldn’t it be amusing to put his strongest dog shapeshifter against the wolf shapeshifter?

That insatiable curiosity led to tragedy.

Dimitri’s mentor went to confront the lord to retrieve the young wolves of his clan taken captive, only to tragically sacrifice himself.

Enraged, Dimitri invoked that anger to make a pact with the demon Samael and exacted his revenge. The gates of the lord’s castle were adorned with countless human heads. The number was large enough to encircle the castle walls twice—the lord’s family, vassals, his knights…

Everyone was dead, so there were no witnesses.

It happened when Dimitri was sixteen years old. Instead of returning to the wolf clan, he joined the war as a shapeshifter slave instead.

After completing his revenge and sitting numbly in the blood-stained seat of the lord he had killed, he came to one conclusion. His beloved mother was dead. His revered mentor was dead. His mother was weak, but his mentor was strong. Yet both were unjustly sacrificed by those in power.

“…Power, I’m going to get it.”

At that moment, he thought he might be able to protect those he wanted to protect.

Esca roused me from the deep thought about what the Agaliaept must have found and shown me.

“Don’t become ‘the person he needs to protect,’ Duchess. He’ll do anything to possess you.”

“….”

I didn’t know what expression to wear.

As I remained speechless, Esca’s barrier shattered into pieces with a loud crash and disappeared into the light.

“What are you doing?”

With fury in his eyes, Dimitri glared at Esca before glancing at me.

Then, seeing my stiff expression, he ordered Shedim to put pressure on Esca.

“What did you say to Rowaine?”

As a huge snake wrapped around his body and strangled him, this time, Esca couldn’t maintain his poker face either. Veins bulged on his forehead. When he used his barrier to partially confine Shedim’s head, whose neck and body were separated, he disappeared into smoke.

The next moment, I was startled. It was Esca who had lunged at Dimitri with a terrifying growl.

“Don’t be arrogant, Dimitri.”

But despite the fact that he rushed in with tremendous force, it seemed like he was being incredibly careful not to harm him.

‘He’s being cautious to avoid hurting Dimitri.’

While it seemed like he could easily injure Dimitri in his rage, he only pretended to attack, never actually making contact with him.

‘He’s like a big dog that only scares off a pesky cat for fear of hurting it….’

But Dimitri was not like that. He took out his claws and cut long wounds across Esca’s cheek and the bridge of his nose, shooting him a cold glare.

“You’re the one who’ll end up with a broken neck next time if you keep spouting nonsense to my wife, Esca.”

“Stop it!”

Seeing the wounds on Esca’s face, I couldn’t stand by, seeing. I grabbed Dimitri’s waist in panic and clung to him.

‘It feels like there was a similar situation before.’

Anyway, it worked.

Dimitri, who had calmed down a bit, turned to me and asked instead of rushing towards Esca.

“What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything important.”

“But there’s no way he would’ve trapped me in the barrier.”

“That’s…”

As I found myself at a loss for words and looked away, Dimitri gently held my chin and made me look at him.

“What did he say about me?”

“Well…”

Unable to speak and in trouble, Esca, who was wiping away the blood that ran down his cheek, returned with a calm expression and spoke for me.

“I warned her how cruel you could be. If she’s going to leave, she’d better leave quickly.”

I looked at Esca with a horrified expression.

‘Don’t be unnecessarily honest!’

Dimitri gritted his teeth.

“You b*stard…!”

He glanced back at me.

“Don’t believe him. Whatever he said about me, you don’t need to believe it.”

As he spoke, he seemed determined not to reveal his past to me. He became overly emotional and growled at Esca. It felt like a second round was about to begin.

I closed my eyes tightly, thinking about how to calm Dimitri down, and shouted.

“If I leave, it won’t be because of you anyway, Dimitri!”

Dimitri paused.

Looking up at him, I confessed honestly.

“I don’t believe in love. It’s because of me that I don’t accept your feelings. It’s my own issue.”

Dimitri’s breathing, which had been huffing, quieted down.

“Rowaine.”

“It’s my lifelong commitment—let’s not do things like love. Let’s not believe in such things.”

“….”

“I can’t love you. It means I can’t accept your heart.”

“….”

“I’ll leave one day.”

As Dimitri’s jewel-like eyes stared at me stubbornly, I struggled to look away from him.

“Don’t forget that I’m the one who will leave, Dimitri.”

“….”

“Just go back to the mansion. I’m not happy with you causing trouble here.”

I spoke coldly and turned away from him, unable to look at his wounded face.

But then, it happened.

“Ugh…!”

Dimitri’s face turned pale as he clutched his heart and collapsed.

 
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