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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Side Story I. The Dragon’s Perspective

That night, Kaidros saw a carriage arrive outside the window and looked for Edith’s figure. But the only person getting off the carriage and rushing into the mansion with a pale face was the Viscount.

The thought that she might be making that helpless face for another man, doing something audacious, put him in a foul mood.

He thought about going to fetch her, but hoping his worry was excessive, he sat in the room staring out the window until she returned.

But by the next day, Edith showed no sign of coming back.

If something major had happened, even with the magic barrier, the mana-infused earring should have conveyed her location to him properly.

But with no response, not even a trace, he finally went outside the mansion to search for her.

If she were within the capital, he shouldn’t have been unable to find her aura. Yet, from the moment he entered the imperial palace grounds, her traces were scattered everywhere, but for some reason, he couldn’t pinpoint her.

‘Did she run away from me?’

Had he tormented her too much in the forest? Or was his constant approach unwelcome? Consumed by all sorts of thoughts, Kaidros decided that if she had run from him, he would search the entire Empire to find her.

The moment he caught her, this time he would take her to his nest in the west, lock her in the deepest part, and never let her go.

Even after leaving the capital and roaming the Empire, he couldn’t find Edith. As time passed, her aura faded from various places, and he began to feel nothing but self-reproach.

“I should have gone when she asked me to come to the Hunt. No, even before that, when I felt worried about the magic barrier, I should have rushed to her…”

He wished, to an Edith who couldn’t hear him, that if something had happened, she would at least break the earring.

It was hard to accept that a dragon, a sentient being with power second only to the goddess in this world, could be so helpless in finding a mere human.

How many days had passed? Finally sensing a massive mana wave, Kaidros teleported to its source.

As the crimson mana flame faded before his eyes, the horrific sight that met him left him speechless.

On her body, found after days, were bite marks, bruises, and blotchy red traces everywhere.

Seeing the copious traces of someone’s fluids on her lower half, rage surged to the tips of his hair.

“Finally… why on earth didn’t you return? I searched for you so long, unable to find a trace, unable to sense your presence…!”

No matter how he tried to suppress it, the emotion leaked into his voice.

The hand gripping Edith’s shoulder also kept tightening, difficult to control.

But even as he shouted in front of her, her expression remained eerily calm, sending chills down his spine.

Edith stared at him with vacant eyes, then flashed a bright, self-mocking smile and made her request.

“Please help me get out of here, Kai.”

The sorrowful voice and the brightly smiling face were so mismatched that Kaidros felt, for the first time, a sensation like a sword piercing a corner of his heart.

Edith looked at her ankles, her eyes seeming to ask him to free them.

He, who had only dared to think of such things for fear of her rejection, was increasingly enraged that some unknown person within the palace had locked her up and treated her as they pleased.

“Was it… the Crown Prince?”

He asked in a voice mixed with sorrow and anger. She silently gave a small nod.

Kaidros flicked his fingers sharply. Instantly, flames ignited only on the shackles, burning fiercely before vanishing without a trace.

Now free, Edith looked at her legs, then at him, and extended both arms as if asking to be held.

He wanted to hold that small body immediately, but seeing her covered in marks that looked like abuse while nude, he pressed his throbbing head with his fingers.

With another flick of his fingers, Edith’s body was cleansed, and clean clothes appeared on her.

Finally looking human again, he carefully picked her up, approached the window, and with a thunderous crash that shook the room, destroyed the bars of this cage that confined them.

Flying high above the palace with Edith in his arms, Kaidros watched as she quietly observed the imperial palace and the capital’s scenery below for a long while, lost in thought.