Chapter 2

Her husband had returned.

She thought she might faint the moment she saw him, but when reality came, she found herself calmer than expected.

“Good.”

Ines forced herself to nod naturally as she walked toward the entrance. Her legs trembled faintly under her skirt, but she stiffened them with effort.

Following Stanley outside, she saw her husband just stepping down from the carriage, straightening his wrinkled jacket with composed ease.

Every movement was graceful, leaving no room for flaws. He looked exactly as the young head of House Elmenhardt—the most prestigious family in the Delphius Empire—should.

His head bowed slightly, his face cast in shadow, but that was enough to make the maids who approached him forget themselves, blushing openly as they admired his beauty.

‘But no one knows the truth hiding beneath that sculpted face.’

Ines thought bitterly as she kept walking.

“Your Grace, the Madam herself has come to greet you,” Stanley announced.

At that, Kallion lifted his head.

Sharp golden eyes glimmered beneath his dark hair. They glanced at Ines briefly… then moved past her, as though she weren’t there.

He spoke to Stanley instead.

“Nothing unusual at the estate?”

“Thanks to Madam’s care, everything has been peaceful,” Stanley replied warmly.

But Kallion’s eyes never once returned to his wife.

‘I didn’t expect them to.’

Ines lowered her gaze, quietly exhaling.

Her husband had always been like this. Even in the two years before her death and return, he had never once looked at her with kindness or affection.

Still, she had a duty as his wife. Ines stepped closer and held out her arms.

“Let me take your coat. You should head upstairs and—”

“Stanley. Is dinner ready? I’m hungry after the long ride.”

“…! Ah, yes, of course! I’ll bring you to the dining room immediately.”

Kallion ignored Ines completely, speaking only to the butler. Stanley looked at her in alarm, but hurried to obey.

Even the maids around them shifted their eyes uneasily, sneaking glances at the Duchess.

Ines lowered her arm as if nothing happened and followed.

It wasn’t new. Since their marriage, her husband had always treated her like air.

She noticed Stanley fumbling nervously, his eyes flicking toward her. She shook her head slightly to stop him.

‘There’s no need to pity me.’

She didn’t feel hurt. She didn’t even feel disappointment anymore.

What weighed on her was the question of how she could possibly stop his murders when their relationship was this cold and distant. If she couldn’t prevent them, then her own death a year later was inevitable.

“What is this?”

Kallion’s voice cut through the dining room as he stopped in his tracks.

Ines, walking a few steps behind, almost collided with his broad back.

She froze in alarm.

“That was the Madam’s—”

Mine?

Startled, Ines lifted her head quickly. Stanley was looking at her with a troubled expression.

She stepped aside to look around Kallion’s figure—
and saw the untouched plate of food on the table. The meal she had sat before earlier, stabbing at it but never taking a single bite.

Flustered, she hurried to explain.

“Ah, I was eating here just before. The maids must have forgotten to clear it since they went out to welcome you—”

“Did you finish your meal?”

Kallion cut her off sharply.

Ines nodded. “Yes. Stanley, please clear the plates—”

“I asked if you finished.”

He walked forward, stopping in front of the seat where she had sat.

His eyes dropped to the full plate. Then slowly, he lifted his gaze to her.

Caught off guard by his direct stare, Ines widened her eyes.

“Uh… I…”

His eyes darkened, his expression tense, as if offended.

She stammered. “I-I’m sorry. I should have cleared it sooner—”

“That’s not it.”

Kallion closed his eyes briefly, as though suppressing anger. The muscle in his jaw clenched tight.

Ines stood frozen, not understanding what had upset him.

‘Why is he like this?’

Her husband had never been a man greedy for food.

“Do as you like.”

When he opened his eyes again, his golden gaze was calm, detached, and unreadable. Whatever irritation had been there was gone, leaving only his usual indifference.

“Stanley.”

The butler startled.

Kallion gestured to the maid behind him, and at once, several maids rushed forward, clearing away Ines’s untouched plate and replacing it with new ones.

Unhurried, Kallion sat down in the chair Stanley pulled out for him.

“You may leave. I’ll finish my meal and return to my room myself.”

Not once did he glance at Ines.

Upstairs in her room, Ines paced in circles, arms crossed tightly.

‘Well, I greeted him somehow…’

She let out a shaky breath of relief. But the next moment, despair returned.

One year from now, she would be killed by someone connected to her husband’s murders.

She didn’t know who that man was, or why he had come for her. But from his words, it was clear: she had been murdered to hurt Duke Elmenhardt.

‘As if killing me would be revenge against him.’

Her lips twisted in bitter thought before she shook her head quickly.

None of that mattered now. What mattered was stopping her husband’s murders. Only then could she avoid her own death.

She wanted to live.

“But how can I stop Kallion?”

Their relationship was worse than strangers. It had been that way since the beginning.

Yes, he had saved her from the hellish Jenkins family by marrying her, but she had been too afraid, too defensive, and had pushed him away.

Yet even putting that aside—her husband had never shown the slightest affection toward her from the start.

She had always wondered why he chose her over the many noble ladies who would have gladly accepted him.

Now… it no longer mattered.

“Haa… first, when did the murders begin again?”

She shook her head and turned to the table, picking up a calendar.

Counting backward from the third case, she traced the dates.

Then she noticed Kallion’s handwriting under a date. His usual sharp, elegant script.

[Meeting with the Chief of Police]

“…Ah!”

Memories rushed back.

Yes—one day, the Chief of Police had visited the Elmenhardt estate.

After greeting him with her husband, Ines had stepped out into the corridor. The Chief, not realizing she was nearby, had laughed loudly and said:

‘What a coincidence, Duke! The murders began the moment you returned to Delphius. If only you had stayed in Erenbert surrounded by pretty women, we would still be at peace and smiling!’

What had Kallion said back then?

Ah. His voice had dropped, cold with offense.

‘That never happened, Chief.’

Everyone knew wealthy nobles in Delphius kept mistresses in Erenbert. It was no shame—if anything, the more mistresses, the more pride.

At the time, Ines thought her husband had simply been insulted by the crude remark.

But now, looking back—of course it must have been unbearable for him. Sitting face to face with the Chief of Police, while hiding that he was the very killer they were hunting.

‘…So the first official murder happened right after Kallion returned to Delphius.’

Her stomach tightened with dread. That meant the beginning of the serial murders was very close.

Her heart pounded.

Just then—

Bang!

The door burst open. Ines flinched, dropping the calendar as she turned.

“Why are you standing there like that?”

The deep, familiar voice of her husband filled the room.