IBMH 15

Kite stood leaning against the doorway, shirtless, water dripping from his body as he looked at Evelyn.

The moment she realized he was there, a chill ran down her spine.

Evelyn slowly hid the shard she was holding behind her back.

Seeing that, Kite lowered his gaze.

His beautiful appearance, so at odds with his violent nature, was striking even at this moment. But no matter how handsome he was, there was a reason people called him the Mad Dog.

“So, you were taking a bath.”

“I was.”

How long had Kite been watching her?

“But then a little rat sneaked in and started rustling around. How could I keep bathing with that bothering me?”

“I’m sorry. I just came in to see if you needed anything.”

“The one who needs something isn’t me. It seems to be you.”

So he’d been watching from the very beginning.

She had tried to move as quietly as possible, but the problem was that her opponent was anything but ordinary.

“I was going to clean the room because it was messy.”

“And while cleaning, you just happened to find the shard I’d hidden?”

At this point, there was no use trying to hide it any longer. Evelyn let out a small sigh and brought her hand forward.

“I found it while I was straightening the bed.”

“For someone who just happened to find it, you went straight for the pillow. Almost like you already knew where I’d hidden it.”

“I just happened to check the pillow first.”

As she spoke, Evelyn slowly backed away. There was still some distance between them, but relying on that would have been foolish.

He was a master of combat, while she was nothing more than an ordinary noblewoman. If Kite decided to attack, she would be the one at a disadvantage.

She had only taken a few steps back when every hair on her body stood on end.

Sensing danger, Evelyn immediately tried to dodge, but Kite grabbed hold of her robe before she could escape.

“Ah!”

Fortunately, he hadn’t caught her body itself, but in the struggle to pull away, her robe tore apart.

‘My face!’

She hurriedly tried to cover it, but once again Kite was faster.

Thud.

The two of them crashed onto the floor.

Evelyn was underneath.

Kite was on top.

Before Evelyn could cover her face with her hands, Kite seized her wrists.

“Let’s see what our kidnapper looks like.”

His eyes met her shimmering green ones.

Terrified, Evelyn unconsciously drew a sharp breath.

Silence settled between them for a brief moment.

After getting a clear look at her face, Kite’s expression became strangely unreadable.

“You…”

At that moment, Evelyn belatedly realized something.

The Kite pinning her beneath him wasn’t wearing anything on his upper body.

His well-trained, muscular physique was fully exposed before her eyes.

“Y-You pervert!”

Evelyn immediately threw her head forward and slammed it into Kite’s face.

“Argh!”

She needed only a brief opening to escape.

Rolling away from him, Evelyn was already at the doorway in an instant.

“A pervert? Seriously?!”

Only then did Kite’s indignant voice reach her ears.

“Y-You’re not wearing any clothes, so of course you’re a pervert!”

“You were the one who walked in while I was trying to take a bath!”

Evelyn rushed outside and slammed the door shut behind her.

Leaning against the closed door, she slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor.

Thump. Thump.

Her heart was still pounding violently.

At this rate, it felt as though it might burst right out of her chest.

“Ugh…”

Covering her face with both hands, Evelyn suddenly slapped her own cheeks.

‘Pull yourself together.’

It was the first time she had ever seen a naked man’s body.

‘My first time…’

To begin with, what man would ever walk around half-naked in front of a noble young lady?

Her exposed face had turned as red as an apple.

Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that.

What she needed to be thinking about wasn’t Kite’s bare body.

He had seen her face.

She should have worn a mask.

Simply pulling up her hood had made her feel too secure.

After all, she’d intended to leave the capital as soon as she confirmed Kite’s safety.

After that, she planned to settle in the North, the place her grandfather often talked about.

Perhaps that was why she’d become careless in certain ways.

“What should I do?”

Was there any way to make Kite lose his memory?

There were drugs related to that, but most of them were harmful to the body.

Evelyn wanted to save Kite, not kill him.

Still sitting against the wall, she slowly raised her head.

“So this is the end.”

She muttered quietly.

“My disguise as a maid is useless now.”

‘He even saw my face.’

Perhaps the plan to keep Kite safely confined until the Emperor’s birthday celebration had been unrealistic from the very beginning.

But she couldn’t simply stand by and watch her grandfather’s benefactor fall into danger.

That was why she’d thrown herself into something this reckless.

If that was the case, then only one option remained.

Convince Grand Duke Kite.

Touching the torn edge of her robe, Evelyn organized her thoughts.

Kite had already realized that she was connected to the Northern Army.

And now that he had seen her face, perhaps the straightforward approach would be better.

Pressing her lips together firmly, Evelyn stared at the wall across from her.

Could she really persuade Kite with words?

He wasn’t just some ordinary noble.

He was a man who had survived countless battlefields.

It wouldn’t be easy.

“It’ll be fine.”

Kidnapping him hadn’t exactly been easy either.

There was no point worrying about it now.

Steeling herself, Evelyn rose to her feet.

It was time to face him head-on.

Having unexpectedly been headbutted in the face by Evelyn, Kite stood frozen for a moment.

He had lived a rough life, but no one had ever hit him in the face before.

“Haha.”

His nose, which had collided with her forehead, hurt quite a bit.

“This woman…”

She hit him and then ran away?

And on top of that, she called him a pervert?

Who would even like a skinny woman like that?

She wasn’t even his type to begin with.

Grinding his teeth, Kite rubbed his aching nose.

But his irritation didn’t last long.

Despite his nickname, the Mad Dog, he was actually a remarkably rational man.

Mary—that woman had found the shard of the broken plate he had hidden with suspicious ease.

The Age of Magic had ended, but not every miracle from that era had disappeared.

His own subordinate, Seren, for example, possessed an extraordinarily keen perception inherited through her bloodline.

Kite closed his eyes for a moment, recalling the various abilities he knew of.

“Precognition.”

It didn’t take him long to find a lead.

“Or perhaps clairvoyance.”

Otherwise, there was no way she could have known what he had done.

“But that face… it feels strangely familiar.”

Kite searched through his memories.

He hadn’t seen her in the capital.

Which meant it had been in the North.

Brown hair.

Strange green eyes that reminded him of a forest.

Only then did one person he had long since buried in his memories come to mind.

Baron Frilly.

For someone who had spent his life wandering battlefields, he had surprisingly refined features.

Despite being middle-aged, he looked unusually young, so people often mistook his age.

On top of that, he was endlessly kindhearted.

He would constantly look after the young boy who had joined the Northern Army.

At first, Kite couldn’t fully trust another person’s kindness, so he had remained suspicious of him.

“Why are you going this far for me?”

What had Baron Frilly answered back then?

“I have a young granddaughter, you see. When she was born, my heart raced as though I had received the greatest gift imaginable. A newborn life is simply so precious.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“No, please hear me out. My granddaughter’s name is Evelyn.”

After that, Baron Frilly spent quite a while proudly talking about his granddaughter.

He attached special meaning to every little thing she did, and Kite had watched him with quiet fascination.

Only after finishing all his stories did Baron Frilly finally answer Kite’s question.

“That’s why every child is precious. And that includes you as well, Sir Kite.”

When he first heard those words, Kite had frowned.

If every child had truly been precious, he never would have ended up where he was today.