What a pity. Of all the elegant ways I had imagined dying, dangling from a branch like forgotten laundry had not been one of them.
Yulianna's bitter laughter echoed through the forest once more as her fingers slowly slipped from the branch. As much as she wanted to hold on, she couldn't. The weight of her body and the relentless pain in her wound made it impossible to pull herself up.
I should've brought the entire cherry cake if I'd known it would be my last dessert, damn it.
A faint smile formed on her lips as she finally let go. She felt her world collapse as gravity pulled her down. Yulianna closed her eyes and braced for the impact—but her body never hit the ground.
She felt the cold wind, the rain striking her face, the thunder rumbling above. Then, suddenly, everything went silent. That silence made her eyes snap open, forcing her to realize what was happening instead.
"I've never witnessed someone laugh so hard instead of calling for help at the brink of death."
"Y-You…" Yulianna's voice came out rough and broken. She couldn't find the right words upon meeting a pair of eyes so painfully familiar staring back at her.
She didn't fall. She was suspended in midair instead—along with time itself. The thunder was gone, the rain hung frozen in the air, and she was perfectly alive.
The only thing still moving was her heart—it beat so violently she could feel it hammering against her chest.
"What are you doing here?" she finally managed to ask.
It took her a few steady breaths before it truly sank in that Duke Caspien stood right in front of her. Though the corner of his mouth curved into a playful smirk, his cold demeanor pierced through the frozen moment.
"I should be the one asking you that, my lady," Caspien replied, his voice almost a whisper of winter. "Why are you in the middle of an unsupervised forest in this dreadful weather?"
Yulianna looked away. "Well, that's a long story," she said, grunting as pain flared in her arm. "But to make it short, let's just say I went for a walk, someone decided to chase me, and I ended up here instead."
Caspien's grip tightened around her waist—she hadn't even realized he had already carried her into his arms. She had been floating moments ago. Now, they were so close that it was hard to breathe normally.
"Save the jesting, my lady. I need you to tell me exactly what happened—unless you want me to burn this entire forest down and investigate it myself."
He was deadly serious.
Yulianna understood that now was not the time for jokes. The man holding her truly looked capable of setting the whole forest ablaze. She hadn't noticed it before, but the reason she could be sarcastic again was because his presence made her feel safe.
Why do I have to explain everything to him? Goddamn it! I can't even say no to this!
"I didn't notice they swapped my family's carriage when I went to buy dessert at the bakery. It was too late when I realized I was being kidnapped," Yulianna began with a sigh. "Escaping from a moving carriage was my only option. I just didn't expect to end up hanging off a cliff afterward."
Caspien didn't say anything. He simply began walking toward a nearby tree, and gently placed her down against its roots. Yulianna grunted in exhaustion as she leaned her back against the trunk, her eyes closing.
She heard him sigh, and the next thing she noticed was the rain striking her skin again. Everything returned to normal—well, everything except her sprained ankle, which had been healed by him without her even realizing it.
"Stay here. I'm going to take care of a few things," he said at last.
He draped his coat over her shoulders before standing and walking in the direction she had fled earlier. She didn't say a word, only watched his back disappear in an instant until he was gone.
Yulianna had used up the last of her strength trying to process what he meant by "a few things." All she could truly grasp was that she was safe, alive, and breathing. She couldn't even bring herself to ask how the duke had appeared in the forest and saved her. Her head was too foggy to fully comprehend everything that had just happened.
Not long after, she heard a commotion in the distance. It sounded as if a hectare of trees had been cut down by a single force. She barely had time to process it before Caspien returned. In front of him lay three hooded men, crumpled on the ground—barely breathing.
The sight of them made Yulianna's blood boil, recalling how desperately she had struggled just to escape. She walked toward them, her jaw hardening as she grabbed one by the collar.
"What do you want from me?! Who sent you?!"
Their skin was covered in markings—rune-like tattoos that made their identities difficult to recognize. The man she held only stared at her with a sly smile, blood dripping from his swollen lip.
"It's too soon for that…" he replied hoarsely. "You'll meet them soon enough."
Her body began to tremble—not from fear, but from the throbbing pain flaring in her wound. It felt as though her flesh were being consumed by something alive. They knew something. Something connected to her injury. And that realization only fueled her anger further, because she still had no answers.
"You'll be the first to meet your end if you refuse to tell me the truth right now." Yulianna gritted her teeth, tightening her grip on his collar until her knuckles turned pale.
Chuckling, his eyes flickered toward her arm, his smile widening. "You're not doing so well yourself. Why keep resisting? Resistance poisons the body, but acceptance would—acck—!"
He never got to finish.
Caspien's hand was already around his neck, strangling him in a flash. His expression remained blank as he slowly squeezed the life out of him without mercy. Yulianna watched in utter shock—witnessing the duke kill someone so effortlessly caught her completely off guard.
She could barely force her legs to move toward him when she realized he hadn't released the man's limp body. Caspien stood there, unsettlingly calm, watching as the corpse dangled from his grip.
What sent a chill down Yulianna's spine was that he kept strangling him—even though the man was already lifeless.
"H-He's already dead. You can let go of him now," she finally mustered the courage to say, her voice breaking the thick tension.
At the sound of her voice, Caspien turned his back to her. "Oh, is that so…" he replied, releasing the body.
She didn't know where the bluish fire in his hand came from, but Yulianna remained motionless as she watched him burn the bodies before her eyes. She hadn't even realized how long she had been holding her breath until her chest began to ache.
Seeing this side of him made her rethink how foolish and careless she had been when dealing with the duke. It turned out she had only known a tiny fraction of the man's true nature. She had been playing with a fire without knowing whether it would burn her in the end.
"Give me your arm," Caspien said after a moment.
His voice jolted her back to reality when she realized he was now standing right in front of her. His expression remained the same, yet the air felt lighter somehow. Still, that did nothing to ease the unsettling feeling stirring inside her.
Taking a step backward, she eyed him intently. "Why? What do you want my arm for?"
"Now," Caspien demanded instead, his voice low but firm.
"Don't even think about it, ice man. If you're not going to tell me what it's for, then forget about it—"
"If you don't want your flesh to be eaten by that curse, then stop being stubborn and give me your arm."
What?!
Yulianna panicked inwardly, though she forced herself to remain composed on the outside. His sudden appearance stirred a memory she had deliberately buried—the incident at the temple. Now she hesitated, unsure whether she should trust him… or if this was merely another one of his calculated moves to catch her off guard.
Caspien, on the other hand, finally lost his patience and stepped closer. He seized Yulianna's arm before she could even react.
She jerked—as if electricity had struck her skin—but she couldn't pull away. He already had her restrained. She hissed in pain as he unwrapped the bandages covering her arm.
The sight of the blackened veins had worsened. They now spread across her entire arm like roots crawling beneath her skin.
"Wasn't having this wound enough for you to put yourself in danger again?" Caspien stated, his voice calm but edged with coldness.
He stared directly into her eyes with a neutral expression, though a flicker of concern betrayed him—whether he realized it or not.
"What?!" Yulianna shot back, disbelief ringing in her voice. "Are you saying I'm being reckless? Do you think I wanted this to happen? Trouble finds me wherever I go—that's inevitable! Who in their right mind would put themselves into danger? No one!"
"The kind of lady who takes strolls around the city without a chaperone," he replied curtly, and that was enough to silence her.
Yulianna opened her mouth to respond, but meeting his unyielding gaze froze her words. She felt completely off guard, a flush creeping across her face. To escape the embarrassment, she looked away and swallowed hard.
"It's… none of your business," she muttered under her breath.
Damn it! I can't even think straight right now! This woman is really messed up!
"How so?" Caspien asked, a hint of playfulness in his voice. He still held her hand, though the swollen part of her wound had already been healed.
"Should I remind you what we discussed at the emperor's birthday that night? I think I made it clear that it's impossible for me to ignore Duke Rohane's marriage proposal," Yulianna said.
Her eyes narrowed at his words. She almost punched him in the face before she managed to control herself. Now that she remembered, things only felt worse.
"Listen here, ice duke," Yulianna continued, forcing herself to stay calm. "It was me who wrote that letter. My father had nothing to do with it, so don't make things complicated."
Well, honestly, it wasn't really her—but now that she was living inside the duke's daughter's body, she was responsible. It was the cost of living a second life as a wealthy noblewoman.
Hearing her answer, Caspien's mouth curved into a wider smile. He seemed pleased and shifted back into his usual demeanor. "So… you remembered it."
"What?" Yulianna arched an eyebrow, unsure why he was looking at her that way. Then realization hit, and her eyes widened in disbelief.
We can deal with our marriage later… after that.
We can deal with our marriage later… after that.
We can deal with our marriage later… after that.
Those words echoed in Yulianna's head—loud, clear, and real. She hadn't fully snapped back to reality when Caspien hovered closer, lifting her face with a smile so beautiful it was almost unbearable. Slowly, he leaned in, bringing his lips near her ear.
"Perfect timing," he whispered, almost kissing her. "Tonight will be the best time to announce it at your birthday. Don't you think?"