/
Oh.
Akkard frowned and headed to the garden. However, the back of the Crown Prince’s palace was quite vast, and he headed in the opposite direction of where Damia had gone.
Akkard found her only after he had circled the expansive garden. But, unfortunately, the time he wasted wandering had been enough time for someone to start quarreling with Damia.
“Hmph! Just because she has a slightly pretty face, she seems to have misunderstood that she was special. Wake up! Because he doesn’t love anyone.”
The moment a sharp woman’s voice was heard over the corner, Akkard instinctively realized— That they were talking about him.
‘Oh, no.’
Apparently, his past women were being territorial against Damia. It was something he had witnessed many times before.
In the past, Akkard was reluctant to be involved in such a situation. He wanted to remain calm and emotionally distant.
Therefore, it was dreadful for him to walk into a catastrophe where envy, love-hate, and hostility were raging rampant. It wasn’t worth enduring for just a bedmate.
But Damia was different.
‘No.’
Akkard clenched his jaw. He couldn’t stand to see her being hunted by many.
He had never even thought of violence towards a woman before but suddenly, a sharp enmity towards some women he even didn’t know pierced his reason.
It was the moment he was just about to appear over the corner.
“I know.”
Damia’s calm voice made his feet freeze.
“… … What– what?”
“I know. That I am just one of many of Sir Akkard’s women.”
It wasn’t just that his feet froze, but also his heart.
“But you didn’t know? He was that kind of man. That’s what he’s supposed to be.”
… … the blood flowing through his body stopped cold.
There was no warmth as Damia spoke of him. Like she was talking about objects without much excitement or emotion.
When he realized this, his ears rang with a hollow and sharp tinnitus. Akkard, who was so engrossed by this, almost missed the conversation behind him.
“Do you think I’m doing this because I’m worried about you? –You’re welcome!”
It was Teresa’s voice. Teresa Dmitry, whom he had once flirted with and dated, was laughing at Damia in a venomous voice.
“I just thought it was so funny. Sir Akkard, who said that red-haired women were very ‘helpful’ and loose, really slept with you.”
… … Did I say that?
He couldn’t remember it very well, but it seemed like he said something similar in nuance…… Ah, right, when he saw the Count of Mary, who was constantly arguing over Heinrich’s succession rights, flirting with his mistress.
‘The mistress was probably the red-haired courtesan.’
The moment he remembered what he had said, the blood drained from Akkard’s face. His natural disposition was arrogant, and when he lifted himself up to a position where he didn’t have to watch his words, he became even more so.
So there was no hesitation in his bold words and actions. He said whatever he liked, and he had a fierce temper when he was offended.
His foolish past atrocities were ‘old memories’ that had already been forgotten and wiped out of him. But there are still people who remember the him from before.
They scooped up Akkard’s filthy past and threw it at the woman he wanted to look the best in front of.
“But I guess that was true? Oh my! They say the only virtue of Northern women is that they are old-fashioned. But you don’t even have that? You spread your legs to that Akkard Valerian!”
—Is it because she has red hair? [whispers from the other girls]
Damia wasn’t the only one who was hurt by the contemptuous tone. Akkard was unable to take a breath, his throat clogging up as if someone had punched his stomach.
The Damia he knew was a modest, reserved woman. She didn’t even know a man until she met him, and after that, there was no other man.
Unless that jerk Lessid touched Damia.
But now, Damia was enduring disgraceful criticism and shame that was completely unwarranted. Purely because the man she slept with was Akkard Valerian– himself.
If he wasn’t the man, she chose….. Unlike himself, if he were a man with good behavior and clear of messy relationships with women… … Damia would never have suffered such an insult.
The moment that thought struck him— Akkard realized: It wasn’t Teresa or the other women who were defiling Damia the most right now.
It was his messy past and stigma.
‘Oh my god.’
At that moment, Akkard sincerely wanted to kill himself.