The voice speaking with Sabine was low.
From the sound alone, it was difficult to determine whether it belonged to a man or a woman. It carried a feminine softness, yet there was something distinctly masculine beneath it.
The presence that accompanied it was not ordinary.
Seo-ah, who had been standing as if stunned, tried to move in order to see the figure that had brought with it the scent of slaughter.
But broad-shouldered nobles stood like a wall before her. Beyond them were soldiers in red jackets.
“It has been some time, hasn’t it?”
“Greetings, Great Lady.”
Their exchange continued.
Amid the surrounding murmur, their voices reached Seo-ah’s ears with strange clarity.
She tried to shift, attempting to move past those blocking her way. A firm hand seized her wrist.
“……!”
Eric.
Just as he had grabbed her ribbon earlier, he now held her wrist. While attention was directed elsewhere, he showed his bare expression and leaned close.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
When he felt her resisting, his face hardened. Fierce.
“Trying to run? That won’t do.”
Even if it meant twisting her wrist, he would not release her.
“I’m sorry. Please let go.”
Seo-ah struggled to pull free, but his grip did not loosen. The pressure around her wrist tightened painfully, as though it might snap.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“Leaving already? Won’t you look around a little more?”
Sabine’s voice, carried from beyond the crowd, heightened Seo-ah’s urgency.
“I would like to, but I am accompanied by many people. I fear I may become a hindrance. I will visit separately.”
Unlike other guests, the individuals who had appeared seemed prepared to depart after delivering only what was necessary.
Seo-ah could not see them clearly.
No matter how she strained, the faces beneath the deep, feathered military caps remained indistinct. The one who had spoken with Sabine was hidden by the press of bodies.
“Please, this—!”
The sensation was like being tethered by a leash.
Meanwhile, the soldiers moved swiftly, their departure as disciplined as their entrance.
“Huh? You’re leaving?”
To make matters worse, not only Eric but also the rascals surrounded her. Perhaps concerned that this rough scuffle might be witnessed by others, they closed in tighter around Seo-ah.
However, not a single word of their voices registered in her ears.
For hours she had wandered without finding the person she sought to confirm.
Now, for the first time, she needed to confirm something.
The foul scent that lingered in the air. It was the same. The same odor that had risen from her grandfather’s desecrated grave.
With the resolve that her wrist might break, Seo-ah twisted violently and tore her hand free.
Freed from Eric’s grip, she pushed through the nobles toward the fading trace of that scent.
Those who had surrounded Seo-ah were astonished by her sudden movement, slipping through their ranks. It was a stark contrast to her previous stillness, like a doll without a will. She moved with surprising speed.
She moved quickly.
Breaking from them, she passed the peacock-like nobles and the ornate lily arch—the very arch she had believed she would never leave that day.
But once beyond it, she hesitated.
In that brief instant, they had disappeared from her sigh.
Multiple paths extended before her. They might have taken a corridor. They might have descended one of the side staircases.
Seo-ah quickened her pace toward the staircase railing. They had not yet left the department store. From above, she should still be able to see.
She ran toward the ornate golden railing with everything she had. Then she turned toward the long staircase directly connected to it.
They must still be there.
Repeating the thought like a spell, she reached the edge of the staircase, which felt like a cliff.
For a moment, her racing heart seemed to vanish in the blink of an eye. Blood drained from her chest.
It was not a dead end. Yet it felt like one.
A black wolf was ascending the red-carpeted stairs. Looked at her.
He was exactly as she had seen him that morning.
Oscar.
His gaze fixed on her as he climbed one step at a time. Seo-ah stepped back involuntarily. She had followed the scent of slaughter all the way here. And now that she stood before him, everything turned blank.
She could not turn and flee. She could not greet him. She could only stand there, staring as he approached.
“You damned bitch—!”
A growled curse brushed past her cheek. She turned into the direction of the sound. She saw Eric. His face flushed with fury, was advancing toward her.
She was not afraid of him. However, there was nowhere to go. She could not descend the stairs where Oscar was ascending.
She hesitated for a moment. In that brief pause, Eric lunged forward, reaching for her wrist like a hunter closing on prey.
Stepping back, her back struck the railing. It seemed easy to force the woman, who had no one to ask for help and no escape route. She was cornered. There was no one to call.
It would have been easy to force her.
If only the man had not appeared without warning.
Like a ship returning from a long voyage suddenly rising on the horizon, Oscar appeared before Eric, giving him no time to prepare.
It happened just before Eric could seize Seo-ah’s wrist again.
A man with sharp features, black hair, and deep blue eyes stepped onto the edge of the stairs.
Thump.
As he ascended fully and stood on the same level, their eye lines reversed at once. Eric’s gaze lifted blankly.
A man of overwhelming presence and build. There was no one in Luxen who did not know him.
The rage that had filled Eric’s head cooled instantly, as if doused with cold water upon seeing the man.
Marquis Reinhardtt stood at the top of the stairs, hands in his pockets, looking at the man and woman obstructing his path. The distant music only deepened the silence that had fallen.
Eric spoke first.
Forcing aside the shock of Oscar’s appearance at Sabine’s exhibition, he turned quickly toward him. The ferocity on his face vanished, replaced by a sociable smile as if nothing had happened.
“Marquis, good day!”
Oscar’s eyes, which had been resting on the disheveled woman, shifted toward Eric. Eric’s expression brightened further.
“It is an honor to meet you.”
His polite demeanor was a stark contrast to his previous violent behavior. Oscar, who had been looking at him darkly, smiled faintly. Then, without removing his hands from his pockets, he spoke.
“Young Master von Richard, was it?”
“Yes. I am honored that you remember me.”
Oscar’s gaze moved again—to the woman standing at the railing as if cornered at the edge.
The faint curve at his lips diminished.
He looked at her pale face, lowered toward the floor, and replied,
“Honor? Don’t be absurd.”
“Please, come inside, Your Excellency. Count Jerome’s daughter will be delighted.”
Eric, pleased to have met Oscar, whom even the King found difficult to see, turned towards the lily arch from which music was flowing and spoke like a servant.
“Allow me to guide you, Your Excellency.”
Oscar, who had been looking at the woman, turned his eyes toward the arch.
No one seemed to notice the woman still standing at the railing.
Oscar began walking toward the lily arch. Simon passed by Seo-ah, following closely. Behind him, four men in suits walked past her without looking at her, as though she were not there.
Seo-ah kept her eyes lowered as they passed. Only after their heavy presence moved away did she slowly lift her head. She kept her eyes on the floor the whole time. She saw the back of an exceptionally tall man.
His presence was intense. Its presence was like a black sun. She forgot even her purpose, staring at his retreating figure.
Oscar drew attention as iron is drawn to a magnet. Nobles who had lingered outside the exhibition hall cautiously approached.
“It’s Marquis Reinhardtt.”
“His Excellency has come?”
However, they dared not call out to him, only whispering. It was when the small whispers coalesced into a murmur.
“Brother?”
A clear voice, bright with expectation, cut through the sound and reached Seo-ah’s ears.
From beyond the lily arch, a woman more radiant than the lilies stepped forward. She paused beneath the arch, her face blooming as though she had discovered gold in sand.
At her appearance, the murmur died down as if it had been a lie.
In its place, a melodic stillness settled, a stillness filled by a bright, resonant voice that seemed to have never been creased since birth.
“Brother!”
The call, brimming with delight, brought a realization.
Sabine gathered the hem of her long dress in both hands and hurried toward Oscar. In a single movement, she closed the distance and entered his embrace. His black suit was enveloped by her light-like golden shawl.
If a black sun and a golden sun stood side by side, they might resemble this.
“Sabine.”
They appeared unmistakably as siblings.
Seo-ah felt as though she were peering at something she should not see.
When she had been young, on bright summer days, she used to feel a similar sensation while looking over a garden wall. Laughter from the other side would float toward her in the sunlight. The peals of laughter from beyond the wall danced on the threads of sunlight. And the act of peeking at her peers running around would always end with her being caught.
Just as now.
The moment her eyes met Sabine’s violet gaze—still within Oscar’s embrace—her heart seemed to drop. The girl who once hid beneath the wall when caught still lived within her.
She wanted to disappear.
But once seen, escape was not simple.
“Seo-ahh!”
An uncreased, cheerful voice caught Seo-ahh as she tried to flee. That bright voice felt like it was strangling the very throat of her soul.
“Seo-ahh!”
It was a day filled with mockery, with words that pricked and laughter that lingered.
Yet she felt neither wronged nor sorrowful. Their insidious laughter did not disgust her. She harbored a darkness far deeper than theirs. She concealed intentions more severe than their malice.
She herself was a greater monster than they were.
—
# Part 4: Atonement for Your Cruelty