1 Chapter 1

Clink!

The wine glass that fell on the stone floor was smashed to pieces with a crash.

While the red wine was spilling over the floor like blood stains, the two awkward voices ringing lowly stopped suddenly.

Marianne's fingertips trembled. When she stepped forward, biting her lips unconsciously, her view, which was hidden by the entangled rose bush, opened wide.

It was Ober who was standing in front of the great lake of the back garden.

Giyom, his bodyguard knight, was guarding him.

"…Ober. "

Marianne called his name as if she was calm.

She wished he would not answer. She wished that he would fade away like the shade as if she grabbed the air when she extended her hand.

"Marie."

But it was a familiar voice that came back to her.

"It's fake, isn't it?"

Marie.

That was her nickname that only Ober could call in this spacious mansion.

Although she heard it clearly, Marienne asked him again. She had to because she thought she could have heard wrong. Logically, she should have heard wrong.

It was impossible for Ober to do so. He was a good man. Regardless of when he was dating her or after he married her, he was always attractive and friendly.

Her father, Duke Kling, disliked Ober very much. Although he was terribly humiliated by her father several times, he never gave her up.

Without Ober, she could not have properly buried her father who died unexpectedly.

"Please answer me. Am I having a bad dream right now? if not…"

"Marie. I think you're drunk."

"It's impossible you did that. No, you can't. I must have heard wrong. Right?"

Marianne almost cried as she approached him and grabbed his arms.

"Please, Ober. Save me from this nightmare."

Her transparent emerald eyes trembled with anxiety.

"Marie, calm down. What did you hear? Huh?"

"You said you would love me until you died. Yesterday… and until this evening, you kissed my cheeks and smiled at me sweetly. You only whispered into my ear that I'm your light and salvation! "

"Yeah, I did!"

"Then, how can you...how could you do that to my father? If that's true, it's like I killed my father. How can you do this…?"

"Marie."

"Ober, as a human, you can't do that. No, you're not that type of man, right? You were not. That's why I got married to you. Ober, how can you do this to me?"

While Marianne was babbling to deny the situation, Ober's face was hardening gradually.

Although her words were cut off in the middle and mixed with emotions because she was so surprised, her point was very clear.

She was betrayed by her husband, whom she thought she could rely on after she was left alone after her father's sudden death.

She overheard his plan to kill her.

There was someone behind Duke Kling's sudden death, who was none other than her husband Ober. And she unwittingly helped him carry out his plan to kill his father ….

Ober slowly stroked Marianne's cheeks which sadly trembling. Although he stroked it so kindly as ever, what she felt from his touch was terrifying rather than comforting.

"Well, how could I do that to you?" he said in an irritating and annoying tone.

Marianne instinctively sensed danger in her husband's instant change of his voice.

As a woman who spent her whole life only at the home of a peaceful duke, she felt something like murderous temper in him. He had the same look and expression that she used to know, but she felt as if he were a total stranger.

"Ober…?"

"Why did I do that to you, Marie?"

Ober grasped her shoulders as she stepped back. Although Marianen twisted herself with a slight moan and tried to escape, she was caught when he held her arms tightly. Her wrists hurt so much. His strong grip made her warn herself once again, 'I have to run away. Right now!'

At that moment, Ober said, "Are you going to escape because I'm worse than a beast? Or … . "

Mariane shook her arms as hard as she could.

Ober let go of her arms as she wished, but he strongly grabbed her under the chin this time. He strangled her neck with his smooth fingers without hesitation. His strangling was not strong enough to kill her right now, but enough to provoke fear.

"Ooops … ! "

As he anticipated, Marianne almost clamped his arms with a moan.

It was her first life-threatening experience. She desperately beat his arms and twisted his head to pull even her little fingers away from him. But it was too tough for her to push him away as she was like a woman raised like a flower in the manor.

"Did I do it to you because you are too stupid for what you have?"

He did not hide his sneering at her.

Once she mentioned her late father, Duke Kling, Ober had no reason to spare her life. He didn't need to pretend to be kind to her any more.

"Ober… … . "

In the end, Marianne burst into tears. She was not a totally dumb woman like Ober said.

She came as far as here because she was so blind to love, for which she could be blamed as a foolish woman. But she was smart enough to find out the truth of the whole situation surrounding her late father.

She was thoroughly betrayed by someone she loved most.

This was a strict fact that she couldn't believe at all, which tore her heart.

Her cheeks were wet with tears. His eyes were too honest to deny it.

Marianne knew what his eyes meant: a gaze mixed with deep disgust, a bit of sympathy, ridicule and his cold feelings instead of love or even favors.

"You deceived me, even though I trusted you. I really loved you."

"That's very good proof that you were so stupid."

Ober let go of Marianne.

Mariane sat down on the floor, with her legs getting wobbly. She coughed suddenly.

She wasn't displeased at all, though she was thrown down to the rocky ground.

It occurred to her that the bodyguard, who was standing behind him, was watching her all along, but she didn't judge her actions as shame.

"Marie, there is no love in the world."

She once devoted herself to and loved this man. He whispered to her about eternal love. Now, he told her that there was nothing like love in the world.

She did not feel as if she was blinking and breathing well. All kinds of thoughts cluttered her mind, but she couldn't think of anything.

"You are only a pretty doll. You would be the same if you were sold off to someone other than me."

Dusting his crumpled clothes nonchalantly, he looked around.

The back garden with a lake was the most secluded place in the mansion, even in broad daylight. All kinds of trees and flower walls were lined up everywhere, so there were many blind spots around the mansion. As it was so large and complex, it took more than half a day for more than people to find a dog when it ran into the back garden.

How long would it take to find a duchess who got drunk and disappeared?

"If I can give you one comfort…"

Ober beckoned to Giyom.

"You were a very good doll. You were more beautiful than anyone else, with great honor and wealth that was hard to compare with any other family. But you were as stupid and loyal to me like the others."

Giyom shut up her mouth, who plunked down on the ground.

Surprised, she struggled, but she was stopped by Giyom, who was nearly twice her size.

"So I didn't want to throw you away until I became an emperor."

Ober pointed his chin to the lake. She resisted, desperately hitting Giyom.

Not caring at all, Giyom walked to the lake, holding her in his arms as if he was holding a light cat.

When he passed through the shallow edge of the lake, a cold wave began to wet her silk pajamas and white legs. Without hesitating at all, he walked into the water brimming up to his chest and then let go of his arms holding her.

She did not know how to swim. She wanted to check out if her feet could touch the ground, but she couldn't control her body. As soon as she stiffened and floundered in the water, he pulled her hair and then pushed her head down with an enormous force.

Marianne was buried under the water without being able to breathe a handful of outside air.

Her airway sucked water instead of air. She felt pain because she could not breathe. Whenever her slender body struggled with the fear of death, the water of the lake swept her.

"Why did you come as far as here at this time? You made things lousy. A funeral is too annoying during the summer."

While Ober complained, Marianne couldn't pull her face out of the water even once until her body that made a sizable wave drooped.