Ascan, let’s go.

I had to get away from this place as soon as possible.

I hurriedly tugged at his sleeve to urge him along, but for some reason, he didn’t budge an inch.

Curious, I looked up—and saw Ascan staring fixedly at Reiana with trembling eyes.

‘…What’s going on?’

Ten years ago, Ascan would have recognized Reiana—but now, having lost his memory, she should have been a complete stranger to him. Yet something felt off.

He stood rigidly, gazing at Reiana as if he knew her somehow.

“Ascan?”

When I called him again, Ascan seemed to barely snap out of his daze.

The problem was, Reiana also remembered Ascan’s face from childhood.

I turned my head and saw her watching him intently, clearly sensing something strange too. Fortunately, she didn’t seem to have recognized me yet.

I couldn’t afford to delay any longer, so I quickly grabbed Ascan and said,

“Let’s go.”

Ascan, now fully aware of the situation, moved with such agility that his earlier stiffness seemed nonexistent.

He took my hand first, led the way, and slipped us both into the crowd.

“Hey, wait…!”

I thought I faintly heard Reiana’s voice from behind—but it was already too late.

Ascan and I had already turned into a narrow alleyway, leaving the street far behind. Even when I glanced back, Reiana was nowhere to be seen.

Ascan felt confused even as he hurriedly led us away from the street.

He had absentmindedly looked at Reiana after Tanashia mentioned she was someone he knew.

Though her face was clearly unfamiliar, an inexplicable afterimage flickered through his mind.

─We have one servant at our house whom Tanashia crippled. How will you cripple yours?

It was the face of young Reiana, delighting in Ascan as if he were the perfect target for venting her frustrations.

Alongside a vague sense of discomfort, another memory surfaced immediately after.

─Please, take good care of yourself.

Tanashia, gazing at Ascan with deep concern in her blue eyes.

Then the scene cut off—and once again, Tanashia’s voice echoed.

─Because you belong to me.

He didn’t know why, but his chest swelled with emotion.

Perhaps because he’d never heard those words from anyone else—his heart fluttered so intensely his nose tingled.

Lost in a whirlwind of fragmented scenes and nameless emotions, he stared blankly at Reiana—until Tanashia’s urgent voice calling him snapped him back to reality.

Since they were currently fugitives fleeing the Calua Empire, if Tanashia’s location were exposed, it would cause serious complications.

Ascan quickly guided Tanashia away while his mind churned over how to interpret the afterimages that had just surfaced.

‘Until now, I thought the medicine had no effect at all—but could these be fragments of the memories I lost?’

Naturally, the first thing he suspected was the medicine’s effect—but since only disconnected scenes appeared without any context, he couldn’t make a definitive judgment.

By now, they had safely distanced themselves from the spot where they’d encountered Reiana.

Tanashia, watching Ascan lost in deep thought, asked,

“Are you okay? Did something happen?”

At the sound of Tanashia’s worried voice, Ascan shook his head as if to say it was nothing.

He decided it was still too early to speak about his current state. Revealing it prematurely might only disappoint her—so caution was necessary.

He could always be honest once things became clearer.

Ascan said,

“I just remembered something I’d forgotten. It’s nothing important.”

Only then did Tanashia’s worried expression ease slightly.

Ascan recalled how cheerful Tanashia had been just moments ago. He couldn’t let this rare outing be ruined by pointless brooding.

“We went through so much trouble to get out here—don’t waste it worrying over nothing. Let’s just enjoy the moment.”

“Okay.”

Tanashia nodded in agreement and smiled.

Ascan pushed his swirling thoughts to the back of his mind—for now, savoring a stroll through the streets with her came first.

That was when their eyes fell upon some ragged-looking children.

Perhaps because they’d taken a narrow alleyway to avoid Reiana, the atmosphere here felt distinctly different from the street they’d just left.

“Tch, ptooey! Where do these beggar brats come from?”

A man passing through the alley spat toward a group of five or six children carrying baskets.

One child, visibly angry, shouted back at him with a flushed face,

“Who are you calling beggars?!”

The man stared at the child incredulously and retorted,

“Well, if not beggars, then what are you?”

“We’re from the orphanage up on the hill…”

“Ha, same difference.”

Seeing the man sneer and mock them, my brow furrowed involuntarily.

It wasn’t just Ascan who felt disgusted—Tanashia, too, watched with a hardened expression before speaking up.

“If we’d passed by without noticing, fine. But since we’ve witnessed this directly, I can’t just walk away.”

Ascan chuckled softly without realizing it. Upon reflection, Tanashia had a quietly righteous side.

Watching her bristle with anger, he gently patted her head and said,

“Wait here. I’ll handle this.”

“Huh?”

Tanashia looked at him with puzzled eyes—but before she could react, Ascan was already striding purposefully toward the children.

In an instant, he reached the man and spoke in a low voice,

“Apologize while you still can.”

“What? Who the hell are you?”

The man sized up Ascan, who had suddenly appeared, and scowled.

Yet Ascan didn’t flinch. With an impassive face, he spoke again.

“I only ask once with words.”

“How ridiculous. What’ll you do if I don’t… Aaargh!”

Ascan grabbed the man’s outstretched finger-pointing hand and twisted it.

As his arm bent backward, the man screamed in agony.

“It hurts! I said it hurts!”

“I don’t have the habit of repeating myself.”

At that, the man apparently remembered Ascan’s earlier warning and shouted loudly toward the children,

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Ugh, I apologized—let go! My arm’s gonna break!”

Only then did Ascan release the man’s wrist. Terrified, the man fled without even looking back.

The children, who had unexpectedly received an apology, stared up at Ascan with bewildered expressions.

Reiana tilted her head, staring at the empty space where Ascan had vanished in an instant.

Maybe she’d imagined it. But no matter how she thought about it, that well-dressed man in the bowler hat bore an uncanny resemblance to Tanashia’s former servant from long ago.

Then and now, he possessed strikingly exceptional looks—making confusion with anyone else highly unlikely.

‘…Annoying how it’s bothering me.’

Even when he was a slave, Ascan had always been neatly dressed thanks to Tanashia’s care—but the man she’d just seen exuded aristocratic grace from head to toe.

It wasn’t merely about handsome looks or fine clothing. It was more like an aura that overwhelmed everyone around him.

And that was precisely what felt strange.

If Ascan—the former slave—had somehow survived, it was nearly impossible he’d have grown up looking so refined and polished.

‘I naturally assumed he was dead…’

When Reiana had learned back then that Ascan possessed the supernatural ability to control fire, she’d secretly gathered information through back-alley channels.

Her interest in Ascan wasn’t personal—it was to find a weakness in Tanashia—but she hadn’t uncovered anything concrete.

The problem arose when Andro and Tendai, having obtained that information, came to find Reiana.

Though the Krisha family wasn’t among the most powerful in Arwen Empire, it certainly wasn’t lax enough to allow nighttime intruders.

Seeing Andro and Tendai stealthily hiding in her chambers, Reiana instantly sensed they were no ordinary people.

What surprised her was that the information they sought concerned none other than Ascan.

Though confused by Reiana presenting them with the paper containing Ascan’s details, she clearly sensed their intentions were far from benign.

For Reiana, who had long wanted to strike back at Tanashia, this was an opportunity.

─Tell me who this is.

─He’s the servant of Tanashia Brellof, eldest daughter of House Brellof. His name is Ascan.

Having sorted her thoughts, Reiana didn’t hesitate. Instead, she smiled coldly and enunciated each syllable with deliberate clarity.

She didn’t know who these intruders were—but she sincerely hoped they’d deal with Tanashia as well.

Later, news broke that the Largent Empire had attempted to kidnap Tanashia, revealing details about human weapon experiments—and causing an uproar across the world.

Though she couldn’t grasp exactly what had happened, Reiana realized she’d played a part in putting Tanashia and Ascan in danger.

Unfortunately, Tanashia returned to Brellof Manor without serious injury, and Ascan had disappeared—so Reiana assumed he must be dead.

But now, for the first time, she began to doubt that assumption.

‘Maybe… maybe that servant didn’t die back then after all.’

Back then, Reiana had been too young to judge carefully—in hindsight, since she’d never actually seen his corpse, she couldn’t be certain.

Truthfully, whether Ascan lived or died meant nothing to her—but the possibility of using him to destabilize Tanashia intrigued her.

‘I’ve been wondering how to get revenge on Tanashia—if her old servant really is alive, things might get interesting.’

Reiana’s resentment toward Tanashia had only deepened since those days.

Unbeknownst to Reiana, Tanashia had planted a spy within Krisha Manor and already knew it was Reiana who had exposed Ascan’s identity.

After losing Ascan for ten years, there was no way Tanashia viewed Reiana kindly.

Ever since, Tanashia had obstructed every single thing Reiana attempted.

Not only backed by House Brellof, Tanashia had become the continent’s premier arms dealer—wielding even greater power than before—leaving Reiana to repeatedly suffer bitter defeats.

Thus, what had begun as childhood animosity had evolved into a continuous accumulation of mutual hatred.

While Reiana stood lost in thought, gazing at the spot where Ascan had stood moments ago, a gentle male voice came from behind her.

“Madam, did you see someone you know?”

“No. Darling, I must have been mistaken.”

Reiana turned with a practiced smile.

Behind her stood the man who had just stepped down from a carriage—David, Marquis of Largent Empire.

David Pa Ruel Dante.

No one in this city didn’t know House Dante—one of the most powerful families representing the Imperial faction.

David, in his mid-forties, had an ordinary face but maintained himself well—appearing younger than his age, with a neat and tidy impression.

While Tanashia had crossed over to Calua Empire, Reiana, after countless efforts, had married David.

David wasn’t marrying for the first time—he’d been widowed, and Reiana had patiently schemed until she secured the position beside him.

‘…Even if that man earlier really was Tanashia’s old servant, I can’t honestly tell my husband.’

To explain how she knew Ascan, she’d first have to reveal her history with Tanashia—which was impossible.

Currently, David believed Reiana to be the gentlest, most tender-hearted woman imaginable—and she had no intention of shattering that image.

David smiled kindly and extended his hand to Reiana.

“Shall we go in, then? I promised you today I’d buy anything you wanted from the jeweler—must keep my word.”

“Oh my, thank you, darling.”

Reiana smiled deeply, covering her lips with her fan.

Born illegitimate, she’d held a precarious position even within House Krisha—and outside, she’d always been scorned as “the hostess’s daughter.”

Moreover, as a child, she’d been overshadowed by Noxia’s supernatural abilities, and later, her relationship with Tanashia deteriorated, bringing her many hardships.

But now, everything was different.

She had become the mistress of House Dante—a family whose prestige utterly eclipsed House Krisha.

Whether David was marrying for the first time or not didn’t matter. What mattered was that no one could look down on Reiana anymore.

‘I should have flaunted this in Tanashia’s face.’

That was Reiana’s greatest regret.

She’d been eager to show off her status as Marquise Dante to Tanashia—but unfortunately, she’d just heard Tanashia had been kidnapped by the Imperial Guard Captain.

‘Honestly, nothing ever goes my way. Might as well hope she dies from being kidnapped.’

Reiana silently cursed Tanashia in her heart.

Then, suddenly, she recalled the woman who had been standing beside the man resembling Ascan when he disappeared.

Her glossy black hair had seemed strangely similar to Tanashia’s.

‘Could it be…?’

Half-hoping, half-fearing, Reiana unconsciously stopped walking and turned around.

David watched her distracted behavior with puzzlement and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing, darling. Let’s go inside quickly.”

Reiana hurriedly linked arms with David and entered the jeweler’s shop.

Though the suspicion lingering in her heart wouldn’t fade, she couldn’t show it—not while she was with David.

Inside the shop, the owner and clerks stood in a neat row as if awaiting them, bowing respectfully. Receiving such extravagant hospitality, the couple entered the VIP room.

Now, she no longer needed to check price tags when purchasing jewels. No matter how expensive, if Reiana wanted it, she could have it.

Reflecting on how drastically her circumstances had changed, Reiana silently laughed to herself—and subtly let her eyes gleam with venom.

‘When I get back, I should look into this—just in case.’

If by any chance Tanashia really was in Largent Empire, Reiana could repay every ounce of past humiliation—multiplied several times over.