To Get Away from an Ex’s Obsession

“I don’t know how you know that.”

Iyers was taken aback by Aiden’s questioning, which was so frighteningly doubtful that he didn’t even realize it.

“I don’t remember telling you.”

His black eyes, looking up at him from his seat, were chillingly calm.

Iyers, who was sweating and trembling, quickly turned around.

“Didn’t you ask Raphil to find out before? Raphil told me.”
“Raphil?”
“Yes.”
“Raphil told you…”
“Yes…yes.”

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. He smiled as if he found it interesting and slowly continued his words.

“That’s what Raphil said.”
“…Yes.”

Iyers replied earnestly, even though he was tense.

For a moment, Aiden’s piercing gaze swept over his body as if it were a thorn bush, but soon he turned his gaze unexpectedly, as if it were nothing.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do if you’ve already heard. Let’s focus on that.”
“Yes, sir.”

Iyers secretly breathed a sigh of relief and bent down slightly. Then, he cautiously asked Aiden in a careful tone, checking his reaction.

“Why…why are you protecting that girl? Wasn’t that the plan?”

Aiden answered.

“It’s not about protecting her. Even though she wants to become a knight, if she keeps having seizures like that, it’s clear that trying to tie her down with marriage won’t end well.”
“Ah…”
“Maybe that’s when she’ll really bite her tongue and commit suicide. We can’t lose a woman who could be a big bait so easily.”

Iyers also sympathized with that.

Yes, he had heard the news that she had been causing a commotion every day since she came to the mansion, asking to be brought out. Besides, wasn’t she the woman who boldly shouted for herself to be executed in front of the emperor? He knew.

Iyers nodded his head as if he understood. Aiden looked at him carefully and suddenly said,

“And now, don’t look for Raphil anymore.”
“Yes?”
“Raphil was fired from the knights yesterday.”
“What!?”

Raphil was a subordinate who served as Aiden’s liuetenant when he was the commander of the knights. Conversely, Iyers was nothing more than a secretary who served as Aiden’s left and right arms, performing everything from public affairs to very confidential matters when Aiden was a duke.

“No, why…?”

He said to Iyers expressionlessly.

“Raphil made me very angry.”

Iyers became more bewildered by his words.

“But hasn’t Raphil been out investigating Oscar all along? When did this happen?”
“Oh, right. I misspoke. Let me correct it.”
“?”
“Because he might make me very angry soon.”
“In the near future? Not that he made you angry, but because you might get angry…”

Iyers looked at Aiden, who had been speaking incomprehensible words since earlier, with a bewildered gaze. No, not just now.

He had been feeling that something was different about Aiden since a few days ago.

Because just two days ago, Aiden kept asking him strange questions. For example,

‘Who assigned you on me?’
‘Has it been about ten years since you started working under me?’

And so on.

Moreover, that gaze that seemed to be staring at him as if he was about to tear him apart right now. He unknowingly folded his hands politely, feeling the threat to his life.

Finally, Aiden turned his gaze away from him and spoke quietly.

“Well, forget about the rest. Just know that Raphil was fired.”
“Fired…?”

Iyers, who had been hesitant about his words, finally became certain that his demeanor was different from usual.

It was because Aiden was an icy human being to the bone, who never joked around and had a personality that never smiled. Thanks to his icy personality, knights would freeze just by looking at his clothes.

But now, Aiden was smiling at him. With the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

He couldn’t help but feel uneasy about Aiden smiling at him like that.

***

Rumors were spreading that Asralda, who had been demanding to be let out of the room like a crazy person every day, suddenly became quiet overnight. The news quickly reached Aiden.

Aiden headed straight to Asralda’s room.

“!”

As soon as he opened the door, Aiden unknowingly stopped in his tracks. Asralda was in the middle of completely emptying the food that she hadn’t touched until now.

Asralda, who had stuffed the last bit of soup in the bowl down her throat, noticed him soon after. She immediately put down the spoon she was holding and spoke nonchalantly.

“I’ll do as you wish.”
“!”
“I’ll join the Duke’s knights.”

Aiden stood dumbfounded by the door. Her attitude of putting the clean dishes down on the table felt completely different from a few days ago.

Aiden’s expression sank gravely. He silently closed the door and sat in a chair opposite her.

“Why did you suddenly change your mind? I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know why that’s important. Anyway, if Your Excellency just keeps me tied up under your feet, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”

Aiden’s pupils widened at her words. He doubted whether what was in front of him was really Asralda that he knew.

He looked at Asralda closely. Her green eyes, as enchantingly green as ever, seemed unchanged from before.. But there was something strangely cold about her.

Eventually, she opened her lips again.

“I thought about it all night. What excuse can I make that Your Excellency will believe?”
“But…”
“But I don’t think Your Excellency will believe any excuse I make. So, I’ll just be honest. Actually, I was going to run away yesterday but overheard the conversation between you and a man by the window.”
“!”
“I think you were planning to set a trap for me using me as bait.”

Asralda clicked her tongue and then gently licked her lips. She spoke calmly.

“I’ll cooperate.”

She overheard their conversation while trying to escape? Does that mean she was trying to escape through the window?

His gaze unknowingly turned towards the window.

It was on the third floor. It wasn’t a height that the Asralda he knew could easily climb with no fear.

Moreover, she heard it all and yet still agreed to cooperate?

Aiden looked at her with a stern face. There were more than one or two doubts that rose in his mind.

‘Did she hear the part where he said she was a woman?’

No, it didn’t seem like it.

He asked quietly.

“It sounds strange that you would cooperate with me to kill your father. And if you heard it all, you would know my plan to kill you without hesitation once your value disappears.”
“I want to learn how to be a knight. If I’m stuck in this country, it doesn’t matter where I run away to. And anyway, it seems like Your Excellency has already made up your mind to deal with me, even if it’s in the distant future…”

Asralda smiled silently.

“Wouldn’t it be useful to learn how to be a knight so that I can retaliate against Your Excellency later?”
“!”
“Then you have to be willing to take the risk if you want to use me. But if you’re okay with that, go ahead and use me.”

Finally, Aiden realized that Asralda had undergone a significant change in attitude. He couldn’t tell if it was for better or for worse, but the current situation didn’t seem good.

He asked again,

“You’re willing to cooperate with me to kill your father. How should I accept that?”

Asralda’s expression changed quite differently from before. She stared at him without saying a word for a while.

It was a strange feeling.

She had tried her best not to reveal this fact to Aiden. But she knew that someday she would have to confess it.

She struggled as if she didn’t want to reveal it. But it was only for a moment.

Asralda spoke to Aiden.

“What I’m about to tell you is something only my family knows.”

She had always been reluctant to show her true colors to Aiden. So Asralda had always lived with the feeling of walking on thin ice, afraid that her actions would leave a trace.

‘Now this is also the end…’

It was a story that Asralda had never told anyone before.

She quietly began to speak.

“I grew up being abused by my father since I was very young.”

Snap!

At that moment, Aiden unknowingly stood up from his seat with a stern face.

It was understandable. Even he was hearing this story for the first time.