"I can\'t imagine how Miss Lyra is currently in prison.  Seeing the hair accessories that were destroyed, maybe her body also got a lot of injuries," commented Stefanus, exaggerating the atmosphere.  "Maybe she\'s dying in prison, bleeding out, and dying…. and dying."  His eyes were closed as he breathed heavily as if he was attending a funeral.

Mr. Bertus looked down to give Stefanus support as if he knew how dying Lyra was right now.

There\'s nothing wrong with lying, especially in an urgent situation like this.  After all, this was their hope as well as their opportunity to change Duke Kleo\'s bad attitude towards people, so that he would no longer be a problem as well as reprimand and criticism from others.  His peerage could have been taken away, leaving Wereal under the leadership of someone who might have had a worse temperament than him, only to appear pretending good to people.

The politics in Eastlandor was full of deceit, so they wanted to keep Duke Kleo in Wereal.  At least they were happy to live with a monster who was soft-hearted.

Stefanus\' eyebrows rose when he saw Duke Kleo\'s tense face, as well as his eyes that were wide with worry.  "At least give her some medicine, My Lord," he continued as he watched Duke Kleo clutch the crushed hair accessory in his hands.

Stefanus remembered where it had come from, namely from a fine jewelry store in Jewemon, a town they had passed to get to Wereal.

Jewemon is indeed famous for its gold mines, as well as jewelry craftsmen who have high skills.  The price of these accessories is certainly more expensive than the types of accessories owned by most female nobles, because of the complexity of the pattern as well as a large amount of gold and silver in it.

The only reason why it could be damaged was that one of the guards accidentally stepped on it earlier.  Large cracks were created at some of the edges, then worsened after Stefanus stepped on it very hard on purpose, just so that Duke Kleo could be persuaded.

"Don\'t you want to marry her?  Then why are you so harsh to her?"  whispered Stefanus, lowering his voice so that Mr. Bertus would not hear him at all.  "You make her hate you even more.  Do you want it to happen?"

"You saw what happened in the hall earlier," snorted Duke Kleo, annoyed and confused.  "She prefers to be Helmut\'s mistress."

"Oh, so it\'s just jealousy?"

"I-I\'m not jealous," said Duke Kleo, blushing in denial.  "I don\'t care even if she goes with Helmut.  But she forgot her responsibilities. She forgot what sin she had done to me."

Stefanus nodded, looking pitiful even though he wanted to laugh.  \'Oh my, My Lord, you are so bad at lying when it comes to Miss Lyra\'s business.  Even the dumbest people would know why you imprisoned Miss Lyra.  You\'re just jealous.\'

"Then you should at least check on her, My Lord.  If she died now then she would not get the punishment commensurate with her guilt.  Or do you want to torture her slowly?"

Pensive, to be honest, Duke Kleo wasn\'t sure of his own will either.  He just wanted to punish Lyra while teaching her a lesson that only he is there for her, that there is no other man but him.  But now he couldn\'t even help knowing Lyra was hurt.

"If you want to punish her then you can mock her in prison, My Lord."  Suddenly Mr. Bertus squeaked after a long silence.  "You can see if she is dying or not.  Maybe that way you can speed up the execution time."

Duke Kleo took a stride back off, caught in the confusion.

"If you are that busy then I don\'t mind checking her out, My Lord.  I will also set the execution date as you often tell me to," nodded Mr. Bertus, glancing at Stefanus who gave the code in agreement.  "Okay, I\'ll check her now.  Would you like to say the last words to her?"

"I\'ll check her out," Duke Kleo stopped quickly as if jumping from where he was, followed by his short-fast steps leading to the dungeon where Lyra was.

Stefanus followed his master, chuckling in amusement as he shook his head.  Mr. Bertus was the same, although not long after that he turned curt and immediately annoyed when seeing Ella and Gena still sobbing.  "For God\'s sake, why are you always crying?"  he snapped, which made the two maids scream like babies.

The wind still carried a scorching air, revealing the sky which had been cloudy a moment ago.  Now the clouds drifted away irritably to a place where they could have a free place to mingle.

The wind still warns humans that they can still live freely as themselves, therefore humans should not put their egos forward to cover up their identity.

However, that didn\'t affect Duke Kleo, who was half annoyed and half worried.  His footsteps pounded down the hall to the prison, as if they were drills ready to break his footing.  Stefanus followed behind him, who gave the prison guards a code to keep their attitude more than ever.

Torches pierced their gazes, a fiery flame billowing smoke in the gloom.  A deadly aura, cold, damp, and musty.

Lyra was curled up on the edge of the prison, hugging her knees tightly, burying her face deep.  Her back shook whenever she heard the slightest sound, thinking it was one of Duke Kleo\'s orders regarding the execution.

Her face quickly lifted when she heard familiar footprints in her ears, growing both hope and suffocating fear.  Duke Kleo\'s figure was covered in the gloom, and at the same time illuminated by the faint glow of the torches.

Lyra quickly got to her feet, darting to approach Duke Kleo, gripping the bars that locked her up.  "My Lord!"  she screamed with a face full of tears.  Her makeup faded without a trace.  "My Lord, why did you do this to me?"  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Stefan standing at the end of the hall, a bit far from where she was.  "What did I do wrong?"

There wasn\'t any response from Duke Kleo, except for an extremely quick blink of an eye that was barely noticeable.  Even his expression couldn\'t be seen certainly.

"Is it because of Lord Helmut?"

Suddenly his expression darkened, darker than the robe on his back.  Lyra shouldn\'t have mentioned another man\'s name when they were fighting.

"Is it because I accepted the offer?"  Lyra continued.  "But didn\'t you already allow it?  If not then you would have stopped me in the beginning.  You didn\'t, it means you allow me to make a choice.  But why?"  Tears dripped down her cheeks.  Her back shook as she feared death.

Execution, is she going to be executed?  After hope after hope given to her?

"Now you want to execute me while I do as you command.  Why are you doing this?"

"Have you forgotten what I hate the most?"  Duke Kleo\'s voice was like thunder in the middle of the ocean, which caused a hurricane to rage that drowned all the ships.  Lightning seemed to flash behind his back, creating massive explosions after explosions.  "You know what I hate the most."

\'An affair,\' Lyra thought in a whisper.  "B-but I did as you asked.  I won\'t break anything.  You let me choose."

"Even so is it possible that I allow you after what we did in my room today?"  Clenching hands.  "Are you a girl who easily switches your heart to another man?"

\'I never give my heart to you,\' Lyra screamed in her heart, but her tongue was speechless.  All she did was look down, observing her injured hand from being scratched by the rocks.

"You have violated what we agreed on from the start.  So I have no reason to forgive you or give you a chance.  You will be punished tomorrow!"  Final decision!  Duke Kleo left the prison, leaving Lyra screaming for mercy.

***