* * *
‘Shit.’
‘If I respond to that bastard again, I’m a dog. A fucking dog.’
Sylvian lay on the bed alone, trying to calm the excitement still floating through his body.
Karl had long since left, leaving Sylvian trembling.
“Zeroth. You idiot. You dumbass. Sea squirt. Sea cucumber. Anemone! Fuck! Are those even insults!?”
He ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated, and looked down at himself.
After a nap, his body was clean again.
Earlier, his skin had been covered in marks.
Karl, for all his cowardice about actual sex, had no hesitation leaving traces on him.
“I’m sick of this.”
He was ready to escape.
He was tired of waiting obediently for Zeroth.
Sylvian stood up and went into the bathroom.
After a light wash, he put on the prepared clothes.
“If I go out like this, I’ll probably freeze to death.”
It was March—spring was near, but it was still cold outside.
It had almost been a month since he was kidnapped, and he hadn’t seen a single strand of Zeroth’s hair.
Maybe he’d been abandoned.
The dark thought crept up.
Someone as powerful as Zeroth—second only to the Emperor—couldn’t possibly still be unable to find him.
On days Karl didn’t visit, Sylvian would sit by the window, waiting endlessly for Zeroth.
Why hadn’t he found him yet?
Had he fallen in love with Yuri again now that Sylvian was gone?
A million thoughts ran through his mind.
But the love in Zeroth’s eyes—he couldn’t forget it.
He desperately wished Zeroth would come for him.
“If he won’t come… then I’ll go to him.”
If he really didn’t want him anymore, then he’d just leave.
“Haah.”
Sylvian let out a long breath and threw off the ring he’d been wearing.
A red ring from the Lauren shop.
‘Henders, you idiot.’
It would’ve been better if Henders had noticed the ring sooner.
Judging by the lack of news, it seemed he hadn’t realized there was anything strange about the ring from Zeroth.
He was disappointed not to have shoes, but at least the weather wasn’t as brutally cold as in Korea.
He could bear it.
Sylvian mumbled to himself as he stepped onto the space where new clothes appeared daily.
“Ugh… Did it work?”
The moment he stepped on the crumpled clothes, a magic circle activated.
Perhaps it was his first time using a teleportation circle, but his stomach churned.
Alive. I’m alive.
Who would’ve thought the Viscount had inscribed a teleportation circle in the bathroom?
It was originally created by Timothy Cavern for his secret hobby, but Sylvian, unaware of this, quickly scanned his surroundings.
“Outside…”
A large incinerator appeared in front of him.
Without an overcoat, the sharp wind pierced through his shirt.
It had been a while since he smelled the outside air.
It was refreshing.
No one’s around!
After checking the area, Sylvian crept forward.
The surroundings of the building were quiet.
There was no sign of movement.
Though his bare feet felt like they were falling apart, he couldn’t afford to stop.
He didn’t know where he was, but it probably wasn’t outside the capital.
As he sprinted silently, he assessed his surroundings based on the walls rising higher than his head.
‘The buildings here are pretty tall.’
He searched for a building he might recognize.
In the distance, the edge of the royal castle was visible.
If the castle looked that close from here…
The nearby buildings weren’t quite noble estates, but they were close.
“These must be proxy houses owned by wealthy merchant groups or nobles.”
After confirming his location, Sylvian kept moving.
“…Yes! Thank you—”
A voice came from another residence.
Gasp.
Servants usually came and went through the back door.
Sylvian’s green eyes darted around, looking for a place to hide.
He pressed himself against a wall that jutted out.
As he watched carefully ahead, a shadow crept up behind him.
“Mmhp!”
Suddenly, a hand clamped over his mouth.
He struggled to escape, but relaxed as soon as he heard a familiar voice.
BOOM!
A deafening crash echoed through the quiet district.
Zeroth had ridden at full speed through the capital to reach the location pointed out by the artifact.
“Who are you?! Who goes there?!”
Startled servants rushed out and tried to stop him, but he ignored them completely.
“Give me Sylvian!”
Bang!
Still on horseback, Zeroth broke through the front door.
He dismounted and shoved open a room’s door with force.
“Sylvian!”
“P-please, stop this!”
“Ahhh!”
Servants tried to restrain the giant man who had appeared out of nowhere, but they were tossed aside by his raw strength.
“Duke! Go upstairs! Anyone who interferes will be charged with kidnapping and assaulting a noble! Gather all the servants in one place!”
Julian, who had arrived just behind, shouted as he followed the duke upstairs.
Several knights drew their swords.
Bang! Bang!
Doors all around the mansion slammed open and shut.
Among the servants, one of Karl’s men subtly touched a thin ring on his finger to send a signal.
Then, with a frightened expression, he tightly held the hand of the maid next to him.
“Duke! This door won’t open!”
A knight trying to open a locked door slammed his sword against it.
“Duchess! If you’re in there, please answer!”
His booming voice rang through the entire floor, but no sound came from within.
“Step aside.”
Zeroth pushed the knight aside.
This was the largest room in the center of the third floor.
He felt a wave of relief just knowing that Sylvian had been staying in such a spacious room.
Sylvian feared tight, dark places.
Shing.
A sharp blade left its sheath.
Drawing his aura, Zeroth examined the spell on the door and swung his sword.
CRASH! BANG!
The force of his blade collided with the magic circle and shattered the door.
Zeroth rushed through the cloud of dust, frantically searching for Sylvian.
“Sylvian!”
The room was empty and neatly cleaned.
But the rumpled blankets still held faint warmth, as if someone had just been there.
“The ring…”
The ring Sylvian had once shyly shown him, blushing, lay quietly on the bed.
“He hasn’t been gone long. Search every corner!”
“Duke!”
Henders, part of the knights, called out urgently after discovering a magic circle in the bathroom.
“There was a teleportation spell on the dining table and a movement circle in the bathroom!”
Inside the bathroom, a few small pieces of clothing were left behind—Sylvian’s bathrobe and simple sleepwear.
Zeroth knelt to examine the clothes.
Bringing them close to his nose, he could smell Sylvian’s familiar scent.
Faint pheromones lingered—proof that Sylvian had definitely been there.
“Secure this as evidence. The duchess’s pheromones are on it.”
“Yes, sir!”
Henders quickly cast a preservation spell on the clothing handed to him by the duke.
Another knight carefully packed the evidence.
“Let’s move.”
“I’ll go first.”
Henders stepped onto the movement circle, followed by Zeroth and the rest of the knights.
“An incinerator?”
“There are small handprints here.”
Henders, who arrived first, reported the tiny traces left on the back door.
The frozen ground revealed little else.
Thankfully, they spotted a patch where the door handle had thawed slightly from a warm hand before freezing over again.
“Damn it.”
If only they’d moved a little faster.
Zeroth’s reason clouded with rage at having lost Sylvian again.
Drip.
Blood dripped from his clenched fists.
* * *
