Chapter 1
Descent and Ascent
A small figure ran through the damp forest.
The sound of a woman's footsteps, cutting through the mist between the trees, was breathless.
Behind her, the shadow of a black beast pursued.
"Ugh!"
Her shoe came off, and her blood-soaked foot left red footprints, betraying the fugitive's path.
A hunting dog with sharply pointed ears did not miss the acrid smell of blood and followed closely behind.
With each thud of four paws against the ground, her heart pounded faster.
"Hah, hah...!"
Sweat-soaked auburn hair fell in disarray, and scratches from branches marked her white skin.
But she forgot the pain and ran with all her might until her lungs felt like they would burst.
Straight, tall trees flashed past. Standing like iron bars, the trees stretched endlessly, with no end in sight.
Finally.
"Woof!"
With the sound of the hunting dog's bark right behind her, pain pierced her leg.
At the same time, her body pitched forward.
"Ugh!"
A groan escaped as her body slammed into the ground.
Turning her head, she met a persistently gleaming gaze.
The large hunting dog, having bitten into her slender calf, twitched its mouth, which was covered in sticky saliva.
As she realized she could no longer escape, another hunting dog, which had been chasing her, leaped to attack the prey's neck.
'Please...!'
The moment she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Keeng!"
A piercing sound accompanied the beast's death throes.
And at the same time as she felt the jaw of the dog biting her leg fall away.
Rustle!
Hot blood splattered over her torn clothes.
The woman who had been chased slowly opened her eyes.
On the red-soaked earth, the corpse of a large hunting dog lay sprawled.
Forgetting even the pain stabbing into her leg, she slowly raised her head.
A few steps away. A man stood there.
A figure cloaked in a black mantle, with hair as dark as pitch, a shadow-like man's back.
She gathered herself up and sat, clutching the damp earth.
At that moment, the man with the sword slowly turned his head.
As violet eyes shone above the black shadow, her heart began to pound loudly.
'Why...!'
Like someone caught stealing, she hurriedly lowered her head, hiding her face beneath her hair.
Splash, the sound of stepping into a pool of blood echoed in the silent forest.
The shaded forest breeze was particularly bleak, and a searing pain spread through her leg.
She huddled smaller, sitting in the pool of blood.
The humid air, soaked with murky mist, pressed deeply into her lungs.
Soon, a shadow fell over the back of her slender, white hand.
She hoped that the dark shadow would pass by without noticing.
But boots, gleaming black, mercilessly trampled even the smallest breeze, stopping in front of her.
"...To think I would encounter you in a place like this."
A drop of blood, not yet cooled, fell from the tip of the sword held by the owner of the shadow.
Soon after, a hand in a black glove grabbed her chin and lifted it sharply.
And she met them. Violet eyes shining brightly in a colorless world covered in gray clouds.
Shed Lester.
The Duke who ruled the Duchy of Lester, called the Sword of the North.
On the other hand, a slave of Lupus Clan descent, barbarians called the Black Wolf.
The duality inherent in his name became a topic of gossip in society, and it was mentioned in people's mouths whenever they forgot about it.
But to her, Shed was not just a topic of gossip.
"My lady, are you alright?"
Memories long buried flowed out, as if they had been waiting for this moment, tearing through her mind.
The dam of oblivion, built firmly to forget, gradually crumbled.
The memories that flowed out from the narrow gap soon broke the dam and overflowed, filling her mind like a flood.
The memories rose to her chin, consuming her.
Violet eyes scanned her dryly. She felt suffocated.
"You abandoned me and disappeared."
Lips, as calm as a quiet horizon, moved slowly.
"...And this is all you've become?"
A sneer was woven into the monotonous tone.
Her disheveled hair revealed a mess.
Red, swollen cheeks, lips scabbed with blood, a torn maid's uniform, one shoe missing from who knows where, and a leg covered in wounds.
And, a calf bitten by a dog and covered in blood.
She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head away.
The two knew each other well.
But she had never wanted such a reunion.
She didn't want to meet him while covered in mud and dirt.
No. She shouldn't have met him in any form.
How did she escape...?
She struggled to escape his gaze.
Then, the violet eyes narrowed.
"Luise."
The old name flowed from his lips.
The abandoned name shook her heart once more.
A name that had been executed long ago for the crime of heresy.
A name of treason that should no longer be called in the world.
"Luise Ideana."
He forced her head around again, forcing her to meet his eyes.
At the end of his persistent gaze, the corners of his red lips twisted upward.
"...I thought you were dead."
Her heart dropped with the softly chewed words.
The hand gripping her chin no longer felt warm.
The eyes that had sparkled purely in the depths of her old memories were nowhere to be seen.
"You should give me a chance to take revenge before you die."
A smile flashed across his cold face.
A sense of relief that he had not lost the chance to take revenge.
A sense of victory that he had not missed his prey.
The pure and warm light of the past had become a gaudy ornament that no longer suited him.
He possessed sophisticated arrogance and beautiful cynicism instead of clumsy innocence and cumbersome kindness.
Much had changed, and so had she.
"Liana..."
The voice that barely escaped the end of her trembling lips sounded like the cry of a sacrificial lamb being offered at the altar.
"I am, Liana Serpens."
The tip of her tongue stung as she spoke the name.
Liana Serpens, everyone called her that.
Luise Ideana, the sinner who committed treason and heresy, no longer existed in the world.
All that remained was a commoner maid named Liana.
Without a trace of the noble dignity of a noble lady, but lowly.
"I think you've mistaken me for someone you know, Duke."
Liana lowered her head, putting on the most brazen expression she could muster.
She reminded herself of who she was now.
Gone was the beautiful platinum blonde hair of a noble lady. Instead, her dark brown hair, the color of dead leaves, was disheveled.
Instead of a dress without a speck of dirt, she was sitting on the dirt floor wearing a torn and dirty maid's uniform.
Instead of leather shoes that had been meticulously tanned to a shine, she wore shoes woven from rags. No, now even one of those shoes was lost, revealing her bare feet covered in blood.
She abandoned the soft, singing Western accent and replaced it with the leisurely, relaxed Southern one.
So far, no one, really not a single person, had recognized her.
But.
"Mistaken?"
A strange light flashed beneath his long eyelashes.
At the same time, the long fingers that had been holding her chin slowly moved down her neck.
The sensation of his touch on her neck was both hot and cool.
As if a blade had touched her, Liana froze.
And.
"My eyes can't be fooled, Luise."
His emotionless hand grabbed the collar of her clothes and roughly tore them open.
The buttons of the already ruined maid's uniform were torn off powerlessly.
Beneath the opened collar, her white, unremarkable collarbone and shoulders were revealed.
His lowered gaze headed to one place.
A black crescent moon birthmark etched above her collarbone.
"You shouldn't dare to deceive me, should you? Shouldn't you?"
He gripped her collar as if pulling the leash of a trapped prey.
An undeniable proof was etched on her body.
Her slender hand hurriedly pulled at her collar, trying to gather it.
"Let me go."
"...Me, let you go?"
Her insignificant resistance faded from his rough fingertips.
"I have to go back."
"Where to? To the Barony of Godwin?"
Shed Lester asked back with a mocking voice, and her widened eyes looked up at him.
"How..."
How did he know that she was a maid working at the Barony of Godwin?
As suspicion clouded her trembling eyes, Shed's gaze indifferently pointed to the fallen hunting dog.
The Godwin family crest was clearly stamped on the name tag hanging from the dead hunting dog's neck.
In addition, the black maid's uniform stained with blood had a unique, rustic frill specific to this region. It was clearly the maid's uniform of the Barony of Godwin.
"To think you'd return to the Baron after being treated like this, what great loyalty."
"...The Baron cherishes me."
Liana clutched the dirty hem of her skirt with trembling hands.
Then, Shed's eyes narrowed.
"Cherishes?"
He scanned her through his narrowly folded eyes.
The sight of a maid cherished by her master looked quite good.
"I wonder just how greatly he cherishes you, I'm curious."
A bitter smile hung on Shed's lips.
His fingertips slowly caressed the hilt of his sword.
Liana shook her head, realizing his intentions.
"My master...!"
"Are you worried that Godwin Baron will retaliate against me?"
Shed Lester chuckled and yanked her necklace hard.
Then, her body pitched forward, and the distance between them closed in an instant.
Liana swallowed her breath at the distance where their breaths were about to touch her cheek.
The heavy scent of the forest and the acrid smell of blood flowed from him.
Shed met the eyes of Liana, who couldn't even breathe properly.
"It would be a miscalculation if you're looking at me as that old slave, my lady."
His softly brushing voice was chilling.
Liana's lips trembled.
"As much as you have fallen, I have risen."
