Chapter 1
The full moon floating in the dark night sky was exceptionally bright.
What a perfect day to die.
Slender fingers wrapped around the round iron railing. Agnes leaned her upper body out into the pitch-black void.
“Hey!”
Hurried footsteps sounded behind her, and the corner of Agnes’s mouth lifted slightly.
At the same time, an arm reached out from behind her.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
She didn’t need to turn around to guess who it was. The arm extended before her was thick, and even the shadow enveloping her entire body made it clear—the man was robust. Agnes staggered and let go of the railing.
The deep-necked red dress rippled softly with her movement. Purposely stepping half out of his shadow, Agnes felt the light spilling from inside pool upon her white chest, making the contrast of light and shadow distinct. The inelastic, glossy silk dress accentuated her enchanting figure in that moment.
Agnes decided not to care how she looked right now. If she could achieve what she wanted.
Steeling herself, she lifted her head, revealing her beautiful features. Her blue hair, gathered and draped to one side, contrasted with her fair skin and red dress. Melting into the cool night scenery, she could easily be called the goddess of the night.
“Were you trying to kill yourself?”
The man glanced briefly at the dizzying drop below the balcony and then looked at Agnes. Her eyes were moist, and the rims were reddish. She parted her pink lips and spoke in a clear voice.
“You don’t need to worry so much. I’m immortal.”
“…You must be drunk.”
Judging by the scent of wine coming from Agnes and her flushed cheeks, the man assumed as much. But Agnes shook her head.
“I’m neither drunk nor joking.”
Then she subtly pressed her body closer to him.
“If you don’t believe me, you can test it out.”
Agnes whispered, glancing back over the iron railing.
It wasn’t the ravings of a madwoman. She had tried to die several times, but she always came back.
Neither lethal poison nor bullets or blades worked on her. Drowning in a riverbed was no different. Each time, she simply returned to the morning of the day she died—she never actually died.
Even though she thought death would be preferable, she couldn’t die. It was as if she had truly become immortal.
When she realized this, her cousin Jeremy had tried to strangle her. Naturally, she didn’t die. The next time, her older cousin Victoria pushed her down the stairs. Her uncle and aunt were also hell-bent on killing her.
Suddenly, Agnes became curious.
Why on earth were they so desperate to kill an orphan from a collateral branch who had nothing?
Just because she was an unlucky child? Because she was a disgrace to the noble, centuries-old earldom?
Twenty years ago, from the moment she was born, she was an unlucky child. Because her mother had died giving birth to her.
Her father, the head of the Winchester Earldom, one of the empire’s most prestigious families, had fallen ill from longing for his wife and joined her seven years ago. Her only older brother, Enoch, had suddenly disappeared while hunting three months ago.
On top of that, she suffered from a strange, unheard-of illness.
Ever since she was very young, touching objects or people would bring terrifying scenes to mind, causing sharp headaches. Once, she had inadvertently mentioned what she saw and was struck by her uncle.
“Agnes, do not leave the annex. Your very existence is a disgrace to our family.”
After her uncle became the head of the family in place of her deceased father, he, along with his wife and children who had taken over the earldom’s residence, banished her to a shabby annex that never saw sunlight. Their reason: she was mentally ill.
But even then, her older brother Enoch was always by her side. For her, who shunned contact with others due to her unknown illness, Enoch was the only person she could rely on. Naturally kind-hearted, Enoch never got angry. He was of excellent character and intelligent, so much so that even after her uncle became the Earl of Winchester, Enoch continued to act as the young master of the family.
That Enoch had disappeared three months ago, plunging Agnes’s already dark life into immediate and utter darkness. Her uncle, aunt, and cousins, as if they had been waiting for this, began to blatantly ignore and hate her.
And recently, through the symptoms she had always thought were just an illness, she learned the reason for her brother’s disappearance.
“Crying?”
She realized tears had been flowing. Remembering Enoch for a moment, Agnes quickly wiped under her eyes. Then she looked up at the man pressed close to her.
Even though it was intentional, being this close to a man felt terribly awkward. But the man seemed perfectly at ease and composed.
Perhaps it was because he was a man famous as a legendary womanizer.
A philanderer who changed his date every three months, yet while with a woman, no one was as devoted a lover—Duke Ergon Rockingham.
A member of the Rockingham Imperial Family, which boasted the most powerful imperial authority in the over-thousand-year history of the Karlia Empire, and the younger brother of the emperor who had ushered in the empire’s golden age.
And now, the fiancé of her cousin, Victoria.
He had suddenly proposed to Victoria as their three-month relationship period was ending. Victoria, who had been desperate not to lose him, wept tears of joy.
Tonight was the celebration banquet for their engagement. Her uncle, wanting to publicly boast about the news of Victoria and Duke Ergon’s engagement, held a small banquet at the earldom’s residence before the formal engagement ceremony. During the days preparing for the banquet, her uncle’s family was elated with anticipation at the thought of Victoria becoming a duchess.
Because of this, Agnes could no longer stand idly by.
She used the emergency funds she had saved for this day to painstakingly purchase a sensual dress, learned that the Duke enjoyed cigars whenever he had a chance even during banquets, and waited on a nearby balcony, pretending to jump over the railing right in front of him.
Fickle as he was in deciding to get engaged, the Duke was a man who went crazy for women, so she expected him to save her, and she expected seducing him to be simple.
Agnes smiled seductively at Ergon, who couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Tonight, she would spend the night with this man and shatter her uncle’s family’s hopes. It might be difficult to steal the fiancée position entirely, but wouldn’t it be possible to push Victoria out of that spot? After all, Victoria was a woman who had passed her three-month expiration date, while she herself was a new woman.
“Here. Take this.”
Ergon took a handkerchief from his uniform jacket pocket and offered it to Agnes. Agnes hesitated for a moment, then slowly took it.
“…You seem quite close with the boutique madam as well.”
She unconsciously furrowed her brow and spoke. Beneath the handkerchief wiping her eyes, her complexion subtly darkened. The reason: when she took the handkerchief, she saw the boutique madam, who looked much older than Ergon, kissing it.
“It’s just that there was a lipstick mark here.”
Clutching the pristine handkerchief, Agnes quickly finished her sentence. In case it might be useful, she had purposely not worn her usual gloves today. So she ended up only seeing an uncomfortable scene.
Even so, having to spend the night with such a promiscuous man was distasteful, causing her to blurt out unnecessary words. Realizing it too late, she cautiously checked his reaction, but Ergon was gazing at her with an utterly unperturbed expression.
Agnes forced herself to remain calm and placed her index finger to her lips.
“Don’t worry. I won’t spread any rumors.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you did.”
Agnes’s dark eyes flickered slightly at Ergon’s indifferent reply.
“It wouldn’t trouble me at all. But if rumors got out, you’d be the one in a difficult position.”
“…The boutique madam is a married woman with children, after all.”
Agnes lowered her hand and clenched her fist tightly.
How can a man be so shameless? You thick-faced lecher…!
A wave of intense regret washed over her again. But to find out the whereabouts of her brother, who had disappeared after being caught up in her uncle’s family’s schemes, this was a necessary step.
Because it was the biggest weakness of Victoria, who kept playing dumb.
Agnes was determined to bring down this womanizing duke by any means necessary tonight. So, steeling her resolve, she began her seductive gestures—ones that any man would find hard to resist.
