Episode 15
“What are you doing? Get in.”
So shameless, too.
Unbelievable.
“Get out.”
Katrina glared fiercely at him.
“Right now.”
The person she hated even more than Raymond was him.
She still remembered it clearly—
The day she was framed. The day she lost everything.
Katrina had asked everyone the same question:
Why? Why did you do this to me?
And he said…
“I’ve been waiting for this day.”
Whenever Lucifer smiled, Katrina felt like the first snow of winter was falling silently around her.
Snow-white hair, snow-white skin. Other than his red eyes and lips, his entire body was pure white and beautiful.
Lucifer looked like an angel.
But inside—
“Now you have no one left but me, right?”
He was blacker than anyone.
“Why did I frame you?”
His eyes gleamed like cold moonlight. Incredibly beautiful—but to Katrina, only chilling.
“Because I loved you too much.”
Because I wanted to be the only one by your side.
“Don’t be so cold to me, my love.”
“……”
“I came all the way here just to see you. Hm?”
Her head throbbed.
Katrina glared at Lucifer, then stopped, noticing her surroundings.
Talking here any longer wouldn’t be good.
So she quietly got into the carriage.
Lucifer blinked and then smiled brightly.
“Let’s go.”
At Katrina’s command, the coachman closed the carriage door.
The enclosed air felt suffocating.
Katrina faced Lucifer, pretending to be unbothered.
He was smiling so happily.
“It brings back memories.”
As soon as Katrina sat down, Lucifer started speaking.
“Remember how we used to sit across from each other like this all the time?”
“……”
“I really liked those days.”
Lucifer seemed lost in his own nostalgia.
There was a time when she’d thought his red eyes, tinged with longing, looked like the sky burning at sunset.
But now, it only disgusted her.
Who ended things first, and now you’re reminiscing?
“Don’t you remember? You even fed me fruit here once.”
She did remember.
Was it grapes?
The carriage had jolted, and the grape fell.
Lucifer had cheerfully picked it up and eaten it, and Katrina had been horrified.
“You’re a well-bred child—why would you eat something off the floor?”
“Do I seem like I was raised gently?”
“…Whether you were or not, don’t eat what’s fallen on the ground.”
She had scolded him.
And Lucifer had said—
“I know that much.”
“Then why’d you eat it?”
“Because Kiki gave it to me.”
He had smiled so innocently when he said that.
That smile had been so dazzling that for a moment, Katrina thought an angel had descended from the heavens.
Looking back now, what a ridiculous delusion.
She gritted her teeth and said,
“Enough pointless talk. Say what you need to say.”
“You’re so cold.”
“We’re not close enough for chit-chat.”
“Why not?”
Katrina was momentarily speechless.
Why?—How could he even ask that?
Talking to Lucifer only made her head spin.
She really should avoid him altogether…
But how could she, when he followed her everywhere?
“You like Raymond.”
“……”
“Why not me?”
I don’t like him either, she thought.
But she didn’t say it aloud.
Let him misunderstand. Correcting him would just be exhausting.
“There’s not much difference between me and Raymond, is there?”
Maybe letting him be was a mistake.
“I’m even more affectionate.”
Seriously? Does he even know what affection means?
“You went straight to Raymond after waking up.”
“……”
“You really haven’t changed, Katrina.”
Says who?
“But I was a little surprised. I didn’t think Raymond would help you.”
“I told you. There’s no way I’d ever get dragged away.”
“You did say that. I didn’t believe you.”
Lucifer responded like he was displeased.
“If you had come to me, I would’ve treated you well.”
Yeah, right.
Not that she wanted it.
“That’s all you had to say?”
“Of course not. We haven’t even started yet.”
Lucifer tilted his head and crossed his arms, grumbling.
“Come to me.”
“…What?”
“Not Raymond. Me.”
Unbelievable.
“That’s your grand offer?”
“I love you.”
“……”
She was sick of hearing that confession.
Every time Lucifer said it, Katrina couldn’t help but think of Raymond.
Was this how Raymond felt when she had clung to him?
“I don’t like you.”
“I know. But come to me anyway.”
“Not even if I die and come back.”
She didn’t like Raymond. She didn’t like Lucifer.
She had no intention of choosing either of them.
“If you’re done, get out.”
“Katrina.”
“I have no business with you.”
“Kiki.”
“……”
Katrina silently glared at Lucifer.
“I’m just happy you’re still looking at me like that.”
“……”
“Let’s meet again soon.”
What?
“I’m not going to—”
She was about to say, I’m not going to see you again, when—
Lucifer jumped out of the moving carriage.
That lunatic…!
Katrina was shocked and peered outside the carriage.
But Lucifer had vanished.
“…Ha.”
Yeah. Just disappear forever.
Don’t show yourself to me again.
Please.
***
After Katrina left, a strong scent lingered in the room.
The aide easily found the source.
An empty perfume bottle had rolled onto the floor.
“Your Highness, are you all right?”
The sweet scent clung to Raymond’s hand.
“Did that woman… do something to you, Your Highness?”
She was the wicked woman who had threatened to expose the crown prince’s secret right into his ear.
At first, he hadn’t believed her.
But now that Raymond had come all the way here, there had to be something going on.
“Your Highness, what happened?”
“She’s strange.”
“Pardon?”
“Katrina Aviche… has changed.”
She was the woman who used to blush just from seeing him.
Who always ended up losing to him.
Raymond wiped his damp palm with a handkerchief.
The perfume Katrina had given him was certainly effective.
What had she made it with?
Raymond’s curse was a secret. One no one was supposed to know.
But Katrina Aviche knew.
She said she could see his curse?
It disgusted him.
The fact that she knew his secret.
The way she was trying to take control of the relationship.
As expected, he didn’t want to give her what she wanted.
Raymond hoped she’d be thoroughly humiliated.
That’s why he…
“Your Highness, if it’s not too rude—may I ask why you called her?”
“I don’t think I’ll answer that.”
“…Your Highness.”
The aide looked like he was dying of curiosity.
Raymond smiled faintly.
‘Pain? I endured it even without perfume.’
There was no reason he couldn’t endure it now.
Even though the perfume had helped, he still had other sedatives.
And the longer time passed, the worse it would get—for Katrina.
The Duke of Aviche would soon send her straight to a convent.
She’d be the one begging eventually.
Raymond truly wished for Katrina’s downfall.
He just had to wait.
Wait for the moment when Katrina became utterly powerless.
***
“That’s probably what Raymond is thinking.”
He likely believed that he could endure just fine with sedatives, just as he had before.
He had no idea what that perfume actually was.
