The sudden surge of affection had consumed him like a wildfire. He had become so quickly addicted that there was no escape. Now, there was no other way but to win her affection.
Mad dog. He thought the nickname suited him well. It was only natural. Once he made a decision, fear couldn’t stop him. What was there to fear? Living without getting what he wanted—that was a far greater hell.
“So, Sis, all you need to do is keep the promise you made to me.”
All he needed now was her heart. His was ready, and all that was left was to win hers.
He hadn’t yet received a confession in return, but Banessa didn’t mind. Dana was an empress, after all. Her position wasn’t one where decisions came easily.
All he had to do was keep doing his best until she made her choice.
That was the real reason he visited her every night.
At first, it was because he missed her so desperately that he came unannounced. But at some point, he realized something.
She smiled when she was with him.
Even now.
“Stop sniffing around. You’re not a dog… it tickles. Haa.”
Though she grumbled in annoyance, her gray eyes reflected a languid satisfaction. A thrilling pleasure rushed through him. If he could see that smile again, he thought he could even lick the dirt off her boots.
The more his feelings grew, the more he regretted the past. He had spent a considerable amount of time with Dana, yet he hadn’t taken her struggles seriously. He had only offered hollow words of encouragement.
‘How foolish. Why did I act that way?’
No matter how excellent an empress she was, her position could never be easy. While he admired her command as a ruler, the burden she bore in her life saddened him.
So now, he wanted to do whatever he could for her, even if it was late.
He wondered, was this feeling truly love? He stopped thinking about it. Even pondering the question felt like a waste of time. There wasn’t enough time to give her all she needed as it was.
No, the answer was already clear. If such a blind devotion wasn’t love, then what else could it be?
At that moment, he held her tightly in his arms. He knew she liked his warmth. Sure enough, sleepiness flickered in Dana’s eyes. Leaning helplessly against him, she murmured.
“Wake me up in an hour. Make sure…”
Her eyelids slowly closed. As her gray eyes disappeared from view, Banessa bit his lip.
Damn it. The woman in his arms was so lovely that it made him want to curse.
Listening to her steady breathing, he kissed her hair. Someday, he would tell her he loved her.
He had already confessed that he liked her a few times, almost like a child seeking attention. But he hadn’t yet declared his love. He didn’t want to burden her.
While he was a simple man whose feelings deepened quickly, Dana wasn’t like that.
Perhaps, to her, he was just a fleeting breeze. Her life on the throne was harsh, and she might see him as nothing more than a distraction to escape reality.
It was entirely possible, given her position. She was an empress. Men who would kneel before her were countless.
So, he had considered the possibility that his feelings might be one-sided.
But only for a moment.
‘Even if I’m the only one clinging, it’s fine.’
He didn’t mind if she saw him as a pet. He didn’t care if she used him as a distraction.
Because right now, she was smiling at him.
So, all he had to do was keep giving her what she needed.
So she could smile more.
Banessa grinned.
Whether it’s a mad dog, a pet dog, or a hunting dog. Whatever position you want, I’ll do it perfectly.
I hope you smile more.
He desperately wished for it.
* * *
“Damn wench! Just a mere woman.”
Crash! The golden goblet Duke Alt threw smashed the tea cabinet. The glass shattered and fell to the ground.
The maid standing next to the tea cabinet trembled in fear. She shed tears, not daring to do anything for fear of being caught in the fury. The office had already turned into a battlefield. In the end, her father, the butler, stepped forward and approached the duke.
“Duke, please calm yourse… ugh!”
Whack! The blow struck the butler’s cheek. The butler staggered back, covering his reddened cheek.
“D-Duke.”
He looked at the duke blankly. The shock was greater than the pain. It was the first humiliation he’d experienced in his life after devoting it to the Duke’s family. But regardless, the duke’s handsome face twisted like a demon.
“Calm? Calm down? After suffering such humiliation, you expect me to calm down?”
The duke swung his hand again. The butler staggered and fell. Duke Alt raged even more. The reason he had ended up like this was because of Dana, the emperor of the Holy Empire.
“Damn wench. Damn bitch! A woman becoming emperor? How dare she make me like this?”
A few days ago, he met her. It was a formal meeting, but everyone knew it was a prelude to negotiations.
Until then, the duke was confident he would capture Dana’s heart.
Even if she was an emperor, she was still just a young girl. The weight of the throne must be too much for her. If he coddled her gently, she would become his complete captive.
“Did you hear Duke Alt was kicked out of the Emperor’s room? The spirits of the earth grabbed him and threw him out the window.”
He was kicked out in disgrace.
“The Emperor must have really hated him to do that.”
“Still, I heard she sent an apology letter? The duke’s boasting that it’s because she’s smitten with him.”
“Ridiculous. What good is a letter like that? If the Emperor were really smitten, she’d have gone to him herself, begging.”
“Exactly! But the duke still lives in delusion, thinking the Emperor will soon come to him.”
“Did you hear him boasting? I almost died laughing.”
The day he met Dana, he experienced the worst moment of his life. Yet, with his innate ability to rationalize, he remained convinced she would eventually come begging to him.
But she didn’t. No matter how much time passed, there was no word from the imperial palace.
At the banquet he attended to gather intel, he was only met with ridicule. Hearing the young ladies gossip about him made his mind go blank.
He wanted to twist the necks of those women, noble or not. He barely held back and returned to his mansion. With no reason left to restrain himself, it was only natural for his fury to explode.
“Duke, please lower your voice. The Emperor wields dark powers. Countless beasts of the abyss follow her…”
“I told you to shut up!”
Though he’d been patient enough, the butler kept getting in his way. The duke immediately grabbed the butler by the collar and slammed him against the wall. He choked him as he roared.
“I said, shut up. Do you really want to die? If I decide to kill you, do you think I’ll let you die easily?”
“D-Duke, p-please, spare me…”
“Who do you think I am? I’m Duke Alt! The master of the great Alt family. Why should I care about that bitch in my own house? Tell me! Answer me!”
“C-cough!”
“What? The beasts follow her? So what? What are you trying to say? Are there any beasts here? No, there aren’t!”
After Dana became the emperor, there was a large-scale purge for several months. Those who harbored treacherous thoughts or posed a threat to Leticia were targeted. Thanks to that, corrupt nobles now trembled at the mere mention of her name.
In the past, Duke Alt mocked those people. How dirty must their hands have been to end up like that? Not that the duke was particularly righteous either.
He kidnapped orphans from foreign lands to use as mining slaves, and he sold women who were heavily in debt to brothels, promising them a chance to repay what they owed. But the duke didn’t see these actions as wrong. Wasn’t this what everyone else did? He gave beggars jobs and women a chance to clear their debts. Shouldn’t he be praised for that?
Dana, busy keeping her own country in order, couldn’t pay attention to foreign matters, which was the fortune of the Alt family. Unaware of this, the duke thought highly of himself. Thus, he could not accept the current reality.
“How dare she treat me like this?”
The memory of being thrown out the window repeated endlessly in his mind. Hatred boiled inside him, burning him up from within. The duke screamed.
“I’ll kill her! That damned bitch! I swear I’ll kill her!”
“U-ugh.”
Eventually, the butler foamed at the mouth and rolled his eyes back. The maid, trembling as she watched, let out a shrill scream.
“Father!”
Crying, she ran to him, fell to her knees, and began to plead.
“Duke, please, spare my father’s life. Please, just his life. I’ll beg like this. I was wrong. I’ll live as if I’m dead. I’ll do whatever you ask… Father!”
The duke tossed the butler aside as if he were throwing away trash. The limp body of the butler collapsed like a broken branch. The maid wept and checked her father’s breathing. The duke glared at the pitiful pair as if he wanted to kill them. He hadn’t spared the butler out of mercy. He simply let him live because there were too many tasks ahead.
‘I’ll kill that wench.’
He had made up his mind to kill Dana.
The duke’s eyes burned as he glared at the butler and his daughter. There was no other answer but to kill Dana. He would repay this humiliation with rebellion.
‘First, I need to gather those who will help me.’
Now that he had decided, he needed to find people who would serve him. Dana had many enemies, so it wouldn’t be difficult. But there was one problem.
‘Damn it. Only small fry are left.’
Dana, though outwardly graceful, never forgave anyone who crossed the line. Once she marked someone as her enemy, she struck without hesitation. As a result, those who had opposed her had lost all power, beyond any hope of recovery.
‘That heartless wench. I suppose it’s no wonder she committed the sin of accusing her dead father of assassinating a saint.’
The duke gritted his teeth. Yes, Dana was a tyrant who must be overthrown. He would strip that arrogant girl of her ridiculous crown.
She would be clothed in rags, tied up in the square, and stoned to death by the people.
And it would be him, Duke Alt, who would deliver the final blow to her bleeding temple.
All he needed was someone to help him.
‘Wait, maybe *he* will help me…?’
Suddenly, a name came to his mind.
Someone who had long held a grudge against the empire and had once even quarreled with Dana in front of others, making his disdain for her clear.
Someone even stronger than Dana, who was known as the sixth wing.
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