Chapter : 08
3. The Storm
They say there is no paradise wherever you run away to.
‘I’m not even asking for paradise. If only there were somewhere—anywhere—I could run away to…’
But no matter how hard I looked, there was nowhere for me to escape to.
I tried to swallow down my fear.
But when the door in front of me opened and I saw the people of the Clayman ducal family and the dining table from the dinner party, my body froze.
‘I mustn’t go in.’
“Cassandra?”
I mustn’t come face-to-face with Alexei.
“Why aren’t you coming in…?”
I couldn’t let Alexei see me.
I had to somehow hide somewhere beyond the reach of his eyes.
My survival instinct had completely swallowed up my fear, leaving me unable to think rationally.
I couldn’t even raise my head.
Reflexively, I grabbed the hem of my long dress, and the fabric trembled along with my shaking hand.
“Cassandra!”
A soft hand touched my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
I raised my head and saw the kind, beautiful blue eyes of the Duchess.
Within her distinctly Western features, my own unfamiliar face was reflected.
Did you know, too?
“I heard you had a fever… Are you still feeling very unwell?”
Does everyone know?
That Alexei was a monster.
That he wandered around the ducal residence alone at night in the form of a monster.
“I… I don’t belong here.”
“Cassandra, what are you talking about?”
Why had no one told me?
Why did Alexei hate me from the very beginning?
No, perhaps I was the problem.
Maybe I was simply that kind of person.
Someone who deserved to be hated and despised by others…
‘What am I supposed to do?’
How could I exist without being hated, like a decorative vase sitting quietly in the corner, attracting no attention?
How could I survive?
“Don’t just stand there. Come inside and let’s talk.”
I stared blankly ahead as she gently led me through the door.
Fortunately, Alexei wasn’t there.
Neither was the Duke.
Since the Duchess was the person I found easiest to talk to, I hurriedly opened my mouth before the other two arrived.
I had to escape from here.
Anywhere would do.
As soon as possible.
Even right now!
“Your Grace, I… I don’t belong in this family.”
“Cassandra! Why are you suddenly saying something like that?”
She took my hands and lowered herself so that our eyes were level.
Clear, blue eyes.
Eyes completely unfamiliar to me.
Why do I have to be here?
I’m not even from this place.
“Cassandra, who has been looking down on you?”
The Duke’s voice came from behind me, and my body stiffened.
‘No!’
I’d forgotten that more people could come.
My body had frozen so completely that I couldn’t turn around.
The Duchess’s expression turned pale when she saw my face.
“Andrei, I think Cassandra is still feeling unwell.”
“It seems the child’s heart is in more trouble than her body, Marina.”
I flinched.
Seeing me like that, the Duke asked in a voice that sounded gentle yet somehow frightening.
“Why on earth would you say something like that? Who dared to put such thoughts into your head?”
The voice behind me drew closer and closer until it was directly above me.
“Who dared to torment a daughter of the Clayman family?”
A daughter of the Clayman family.
Did I really deserve that title?
What was I supposed to say?
Should I tell them about Alexei?
That he hated me?
That I was afraid of him?
That I’d seen his hidden form?
“Do you perhaps know something, Alexei?”
At those words, I suddenly raised my head.
Alexei was standing behind the Duke.
The moment our eyes met, his previously expressionless face twisted into a chilling smile.
His gaze was so intense that it felt as though it were stabbing straight through me.
Overcome by fear, I reflexively denied everything.
“A-ah, no! It has nothing to do with Alexei… I just… I don’t belong in such an incredible family…”
I genuinely wanted to avoid mentioning Alexei.
But in the current situation, my words were practically aimed directly at him.
‘Why am I so terrible at talking?!’
I hurriedly shut my mouth, but it was already too late.
The atmosphere had turned icy, and the Duke of Clayman turned toward his son.
“What is this about, Alexei?”
Alexei didn’t answer.
He simply glared at me as though he wanted to kill me.
The situation was falling apart beautifully.
Poor Cassandra had lost her parents.
The Clayman Duke and Duchess, who had been responsible for the circumstances that caused her loss, had adopted Cassandra out of guilt and even made her a ducal lady.
Then their biological son had mistreated his adopted sister, while the kind older sister, overwhelmed by the bullying and guilt, decided to leave…
‘Has this turned into a morning drama again?!’
Why?!
“It’s really not Alexei! I… I just…”
What I was truly afraid of wasn’t the Alexei of the present.
It was the Alexei of the future.
The monster Alexei had grabbed me and threatened me, but he hadn’t hit me.
‘But the future him will kill me.’
And I was currently doing an excellent job of building up the chain of events that would make it completely believable.
Every single day, I was updating my hatred score!
“Alexei. Your sister is trying to defend you like this… Why are you behaving that way?”
Even the Duchess’s voice was filled with anger.
How had things turned into this?
What should I have said?
No matter how I looked at it, I’d somehow managed to make the situation look like an adopted daughter was playing the victim while subtly bullying the Duke and Duchess’s biological son!
‘That wasn’t what I meant to do.’
I was just trying to leave peacefully!
“You’re impressive, Cassandra.”
Alexei curled the corner of his mouth upward.
“I underestimated you. That was my mistake.”
Ah.
I’d stepped on a landmine…
“Impressive. Very noble indeed. You’re quite skilled at using schemes to corner people.”
“Alexei! Shut your mouth!”
Even after hearing his father’s command, the boy didn’t take his eyes off me.
His hateful gaze made my body tremble.
“Alexei. How could you say such a thing to Cassandra…?”
“Why are you acting like this? Now that you’ve got an adopted daughter, do you think she can replace the heir you don’t approve of?”
“Alexei!”
At those words, the Duchess beside me rose to her feet.
She approached Alexei and slapped him hard across the face.
“……!”
The sound was less of a smack and more of a heavy thud.
Everyone, including me, froze at the sight.
“How dare you say such a thing to me, the mother who personally gave birth to you!”
It became difficult to breathe.
Why had everything changed like this?
This wasn’t how it had started.
‘I should have kept my mouth shut.’
At the very least, I shouldn’t have said anything here.
I was terrible with words, and I had acted without thinking about the situation or what had come before and after!
The slap had been so hard that blood appeared at the corner of Alexei’s mouth.
His pale, clear skin had turned bright red where her hand had struck him.
And on Alexei’s lowered face, there was no emotion I could read.
Whatever emotions he felt were buried beneath that expression.
“You.”
The moment he noticed me again, his anger flared back to life.
“What is your purpose for coming here?!”
With his roar, his canine teeth gradually became sharper.
I instinctively shrank back.
‘Is he going to transform?’
Could he transform this quickly?
‘Am I going to die by Alexei’s hands right now?’
My hands trembled.
I wanted to run away immediately, but my panicked body had frozen just like it had that night.
I couldn’t even move my toes.
“Alexei!”
BANG!
The Duke drove Alexei against the dining table.
The muscles in the Duke’s arms swelled as though they were about to burst.
With one hand, he roughly pressed down on Alexei’s face, while using his other arm to forcefully pin down his shoulder.
A strange, magical light shimmered around the exposed sleeve of the Duke’s clothing.
His brown eyes also seemed to glow golden as they caught the light.
“Will you not come to your senses?!”
Grrrr…!
A strange sound came from Alexei.
It sounded neither entirely human nor entirely like an animal’s growl.
His back heaved as his legs kicked violently against the dining table.
Despite being only a boy, the force of his struggling was tremendous.
Cracks began appearing in the sturdy-looking table.
BANG!
Alexei’s head slammed into the table, and one of its corners broke apart.
‘This is insane!’
The table had broken from nothing but the sheer force of his head!
Why was he so strong?!
If he hit someone with that strength, they’d be dead at minimum!
Not knowing what to do, I suddenly realized that the Duke’s family weren’t the only ones present at this dinner.
There were servants here, too.
I had been so consumed by my own fear that I was only now looking around at my surroundings.
Alexei was the heir to the family.
And right now, in front of all these people, he was being forcibly pinned face-down against the dining table.
He was struggling so violently that the Duke’s body shook along with him, but the Duke never released his hold on Alexei.
Even after Alexei’s thrashing began to subside, he didn’t remove his hand.
No.
If anything, he seemed to press down even harder.
Alexei’s head, restrained beneath the Duke’s trembling arm, looked small and young.
“D-Duke…”
I hated Alexei.
I was afraid of him.
‘But he’s only a twelve-year-old boy, and he’s being reprimanded this forcefully in front of all these people.’
I wasn’t from this world.
Perhaps this was simply considered a normal way to discipline a child here.
Especially if someone like Alexei could transform into a monster and possessed that much strength, perhaps the Duke genuinely believed this was the best way to handle him.
I wasn’t his parent.
Interfering in someone else’s family discipline would be rude.
But…
‘If someone saw me being oppressed like this…’
I felt like it would be so humiliating that I’d want to die.
I would be unable to bear the shame of it.
If I were the heir to a prestigious family like Alexei, wouldn’t it be even worse?
Wouldn’t I consider it an unforgivable humiliation and suffer from it for the rest of my life?
I forced my unsteady legs to move and approached the Duke.
“P-please let Alexei go.”
