If it were Cowardly David, he would surely back down at this point. He always had.
He would act endlessly cruel to Ariella, but the moment his weakness was exposed, he’d tuck his tail between his legs and scurry away, whimpering. Lizzy assumed it would be no different with her.
Lizzy had witnessed this behavior countless times and made this assumption, but unfortunately, this time was different.
David was currently in a state of severe mental distress.
His body was exhausted from days of running away from home, his chest tightened at the thought of facing his father again and receiving punishment, and his face, beaten by Grand Duke Ashbon, continued to throb.
In this situation, even the woman he had placed his only hope in was now taunting him with threats, causing him to lose what little reason he had left.
In particular, Lizzy’s lowly birth grated on his nerves even more.
“Even a fool like you knows the truth, don’t you? That Lizzy’s words are just excuses. So give up already. You were never meant to reach that high. Understand, you idiot?”
Suddenly, Ariella’s voice, just before he fainted, echoed in his mind.
‘Not meant to reach that high?’
That was absurd.
David treated commoners as mere toys, able to kill or spare them at will for any reason. In fact, a considerable number of commoners had their lives altered by his whims, so it was only natural that he considered those without money or power no different from dogs or cats, killing them for his own amusement.
And yet, a woman of even lower birth than a commoner dared to look down on him, the heir to Bedford.
This was something he could not possibly tolerate.
His blue eyes completely lost their reason, even losing focus.
Noticing this, Lizzy realized something was wrong and flinched. At the same moment, David forcefully extended his arm forward.
Thwack!
“Ugh…!”
His thick hand gripped Lizzy’s face tightly, applying pressure. Lizzy was pushed back, hitting her head against the door and letting out a groan, but the sound was muffled by his palm covering her mouth.
“Go on, tell my father.”
She frantically tried to pry his hand off her face. But no matter how hard she tried, using both hands, it was impossible.
David’s strength, fueled by rage, was immense, and her body, which had recently lost a lot of weight, couldn’t overcome his crude power.
“If you can survive today.”
David can’t kill me. Even an idiot like him knows how much damage that would cause to Bedford, how furious the Duke would be to lose a daughter he could use for a marriage alliance with the Imperial Family.
She had believed that, but now she realized she had miscalculated.
A fool consumed by his emotions doesn’t think about the consequences and just acts. She had thought that simplicity made him easy to manipulate, but now, with his blade aimed at her, it had become a poison.
She should have stayed away from David from the very beginning.
When he had unhesitatingly ordered thugs to beat down his own sister, she should have realized that violence could be directed at her as well. She should have listened to someone’s advice not to keep him close.
As a result of not doing so, she was now in danger of being bitten to death by a beast she occasionally threw scraps of food to for fun.
“Ugh, cough…!”
Lizzy gasped for air, struggling wildly. But even as she scratched his arm with her nails and kicked her legs, David didn’t budge.
As if he really intended to kill her like this.
‘No!’
She couldn’t die like this. She hadn’t struggled so hard just to die at the hands of such an insignificant wretch.
A resentment, even greater and deeper than fear, surged within her. If she couldn’t escape by flailing her arms and legs, she had to use another method. And fortunately, she had a powerful weapon.
If she could just survive, Lizzy was willing to become even more of a beast than she already was.
Crunch!
“Kaaaaaah!!”
At the same time as the tough flesh was torn away, a bitter taste of blood filled her mouth.
With the flesh between his thumb and index finger torn and dangling by her even and sharp teeth, David clutched his hand and screamed in pain.
Spitting out the flesh in her mouth, Lizzy quickly ran down the hallway as soon as she was released from his grip.
She had to get to where there were people immediately. David wouldn’t attack her in front of others. Or, even if he went crazy and tried to kill her, at least one of the servants would surely help her.
With that belief, she frantically moved her legs.
Tap, tap, tap!
The sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the hallway, and rough breaths spread through the cold air.
“Lizzyyyyyy!”
Soon, a scream bordering on madness followed, along with the sound of footsteps.
Startled, Lizzy involuntarily turned her head and saw David chasing after her. In his uninjured hand, he held a long candlestick that had been standing in the hallway, and his appearance conveyed a chilling madness and murderous intent.
If she got caught like this, she would really die.
An instinctive feeling rang in her head, and the blood drained from Lizzy’s face. She turned her head again and moved her feet, which felt unusually heavy, again and again.
Not far away, she could see the stairs leading down to the first floor.
‘If I can just get there…!’
If she went down to the first floor, to where there were people, someone would save her from that damn bastard.
But at that moment, Lizzy realized.
‘Even if I get there…’
Why hadn’t a single servant come up to the second floor, even with all this commotion? What did that mean?
Between David, who would one day become the head of Bedford, and herself, who would soon marry the impotent Crown Prince and leave for the Imperial Palace, whose side would the servants take?
Although she had grown up without proper education, she was intelligent, and smart enough to guess the future that would soon befall her.
And the reality she realized was very harsh.
‘No one will help me.’
There was no one in this vast mansion who would help her. The Duke of Bedford, whom she had considered so terrible, was actually the only fence protecting her…
The miserable truth roughly grabbed her ankles.
Perhaps because of that, her breathing and movements faltered for a moment. Her hastily placed foot slipped sideways.
At the same time, Lizzy’s body tilted forward and was swallowed by the darkness.
Thud!
A numbing pain spread through her jaw and elbows. Her head felt like it was spinning, probably because she had hit her jaw.
Lizzy furrowed her brow and groaned. She barely managed to open her eyes and saw the stairs. They were close enough to reach if she stretched out her arm.
‘Damn it…!’
Feeling blood trickling down from below her lips, which had been hit when she fell, Lizzy desperately reached out and tried to lift her upper body. But because she couldn’t put much strength in her arms, she could barely turn her head while lying face down, let alone get up.
Thump, thump, thump!
David’s heavy footsteps were rapidly approaching.
His blue eyes gleamed like a monster in the dark, and the beautifully decorated golden candlestick shone brightly.
She couldn’t get up and run away, she couldn’t survive.
In the worst possible situation, Lizzy tragically recalled someone.
The person who had saved her from breathless fear and terrible hunger. The person who had said she was like a younger sister to them, and who always smiled gently.
“Lizzy, let’s go together.”
