"What did you say?"
The man's voice cut through the air like a blade. His sharp gaze pinned Asella in place with the precision of a dagger.
"Say it again."
The girl's face flushed with mortification. However, her reaction only further inflamed Calix's emotions, and he released a dark, humorless laugh.
_Did she actually believe this ridiculous notion was true?_
"If... you have... children," she managed with obvious difficulty.
Silence.
"It's all right. I'll understand..."
The Archduke was struck speechless. Where had such nonsense originated in that delicate little head? So in her estimation, he was already a shameless scoundrel—the sort of man capable of acquiring a wife while abandoning his mistress and child?
"I will sign all the necessary documents..." The woman's voice trembled with barely contained fear.
"What!"
_So that's how it was._
She'd concluded his generosity was merely an attempt to purchase her silence—compensation for registering an illegitimate child with the family.
Calix no longer felt any need to maintain composure. His face now reflected every tumultuous emotion coursing through him.
"And if you require... a divorce—"
"**DIVORCE!**"
He couldn't endure another word.
Calix exploded from his seat in a surge of fury. He registered the girl flinching in shock, but he'd reached his absolute limit.
In two swift strides, he stood before Asella, his jaw clenched so tightly the muscles ached.
"What did you say? *Divorce*? You want to divorce *me*?"
He was completely beside himself now. His rage froze the air around them into something brittle and dangerous.
Sensing the shift in atmosphere, Asella immediately fell silent. The prince's reaction was nothing like what she'd anticipated. His face reflected emotions she couldn't begin to decipher.
_This man... why is he so angry?_
Struggling to maintain her composure, Asella clenched her fists until her nails carved crescents into her palms.
She'd offered precisely what he apparently wanted. She'd merely hoped to purchase time—for herself and for Mariel. She'd never imagined the situation would deteriorate so catastrophically.
_Why?_
Philip's words from the day he'd beaten her—the final time, just before the wedding—echoed unbidden through her mind.
"Don't be arrogant toward the Archduke. Men of his stature cannot tolerate wounded pride. Bow your head as low as possible when ordered, and don't dare raise it until permission is granted. Because your opinion is worthless."
_Perhaps I mentioned 'divorce' first, when such words should have come from him? I was too hasty. I've injured his pride._
"Forgive me—I expressed myself incorrectly." Asella scrambled to salvage the situation. "I would never dare entertain such thoughts. But if His Highness wishes to leave me, I will humbly accept his decision."
"You—!"
The man's terrifying eyes blazed with such ferocious intensity that Asella felt her blood turn to ice.
"Who do you take me for? Do you imagine I'm some worthless scoundrel, capable of abandoning the mother of my child to marry another woman?"
Calix's voice rose to a shout that seemed to shake the very walls.
The air around them became impossibly heavy, striking Asella with a powerful, uncontrollable wave of pressure. The chair beneath her jerked backward with a terrible shriek—so violently it nearly collided with the column behind her.
_Did I do something wrong?_
When she realized the magnitude of her error, her mind went completely blank.
Calix closed the distance between them and gripped the armrests of her chair with white-knuckled force. It seemed the wood might splinter and shatter beneath his hands. He brought his face terrifyingly close to hers and spoke through clenched teeth:
"Say it again. Do you want to divorce me?"
And then Asella made a critical mistake.
She was so thoroughly stunned that she had no time to react—no opportunity to conceal her true feelings.
"Yes... I want to."
Calix's blood ran cold.
When he heard this completely sincere answer, his eyes flickered with something raw and wounded. A frightening silence descended around them—fragile as thin ice stretched over black water.
After an eternal moment, the man's handsome lips began to tremble. They twisted into something that might have been a smile, but felt far more like a grimace of pain.
"Divorce is unacceptable in the Benvito family."
"But I—"
"How dare you say something like that?"
Asella's face drained of all color, and her fragile body trembled like a leaf caught in a violent storm.
_Damn it._
Her reaction only deepened his fury and frustration. First, she allowed herself to voice things that should never be spoken. Then she behaved as though *he* were the one who'd committed some unforgivable transgression.
In the Benvito family, fathering a child out of wedlock was utterly unthinkable. No Grand Duke had ever sired an illegitimate heir. Asella's careless words had struck at the very core of Calix's honor. Without realizing it, she had crossed a sacred line.
In truth, he'd been contemplating how to solve the heir problem through another woman—how to somehow legitimize such a child.
However.
_How dare she announce a divorce?_
He couldn't bear it.
It wounded him to see her struggling to pull away, pressing herself desperately into the chair's back, studiously avoiding his gaze.
_No. You're not going anywhere._
Calix clasped his hands behind her back and pulled her close, trapping her in his embrace. Asella, caught off guard, pressed her palms against his chest, but he didn't yield even a fraction. On the contrary, he wrapped his arms around her more tightly, making escape utterly impossible.
"You said you'd be accepting of a child?"
Calix's voice emerged bitter, almost mocking.
With one arm he continued holding her captive. With his free hand, he grasped her chin and forced her to meet his eyes directly.
"You should give birth to *my* child."
Asella's face went white. Her body froze as though he'd uttered something completely incomprehensible.
The man's handsome features contorted with rage.
"Why? Why do you refuse to bear children with me? Why do you demand that I seek an heir elsewhere?"
The atmosphere became unbearably heavy once more—so oppressive that tears welled in the girl's eyes. But he continued pressing, relentless.
He needed desperately to hear her answer.
"Tell me, Asella."
"...I'm sorry... I never intended to offend Your Highness."
"You know that's not what I'm asking."
But she remained stubbornly silent, clearly on the verge of tears. She was shaking again—genuinely terrified of him—and that fear was visibly growing stronger.
Her reaction only fueled Calix's anger.
Despite his best efforts to banish the image, the scene from the magical surveillance sphere kept replaying in his mind. The woman who could smile so beautifully kept materializing before his eyes. In that moment, she'd spoken so naturally and effortlessly, without a trace of fear...
But she never even attempted to speak to *him* that way.
"Are you planning to divorce me and go to another man? Is that why you rejected me on our wedding night?"
Calix ground his teeth in fury.
Intellectually, he knew it wasn't true. He understood that everything happening to her was the result of childhood abuse. He knew how severely her nightmares tormented her—how she couldn't remember what normal sleep felt like. Moreover, the nightmares had been worsening lately.
He also knew she was innocent. It had been nothing more than a chance encounter, followed by brief, meaningless conversation.
Yet emotionally, he couldn't bear it.
He wanted to find this stranger and tear him apart with his bare hands. He wanted to erase the man from his wife's memory as though he had never existed.
Over and over, his mind replayed how this woman—who trembled before him like a cornered deer—had smiled so brilliantly at someone she'd never met.
And it hurt him to the very depths of his soul.
"Have you forgotten your duty?"
Ultimately, Calix chose the simplest and most familiar method: achieving what he wanted through force and intimidation.
He had cleverly set a trap. Now all he needed was the predictable answer.
And the desired response came, exactly as expected. Her trembling lips parted, and a quiet voice pierced the suffocating silence:
"I haven't forgotten..."
His crimson eyes narrowed, and a cruel smile spread across the eager hunter's face.
But now he wanted to press further—to clarify the situation completely. So she would understand her position with absolute clarity. So she wouldn't dare even *dream* of parting from him.
He wanted to bind this woman forever with her own words.
"Then you know what to say."
Asella's lips twitched painfully several times before the demanded answer emerged:
"I will fulfill my duty as a wife."
"I don't understand what you mean."
Asella could barely force out the words he required, practically choking on her fear. But he showed no mercy:
"You must speak more clearly." His tone had become utterly glacial.
A single tear traced a path down Asella's cheek. The thin hands pressing stubbornly against his chest shook with terror. She could barely breathe, gasping desperately for air.
But finally, she managed to produce a strangled whisper:
"A child... I want... your child."
Calix's expression twisted with anguish.
_This woman._
_At least she knows how transparent her lies are._
He'd believed he would feel better once he heard the answer he so desperately craved. But somehow, everything only grew worse.
Calix felt his anger boiling over completely—so intense he could no longer form coherent words. Instead, streams of venom spilled from his lips:
"You want a child, you say."
His face became suddenly expressionless, his voice completely flat.
"Are you serious?"
The woman's eyes blinked in confusion, clearly struggling to comprehend the purpose behind his question. Then she nodded slowly.
_And again this lie._
_It's simply absurd._
Calix felt his heart shrivel within his chest.
"Aah!"
Asella cried out as the man suddenly clamped his hands around her waist and lifted her small body into the air.
It took him mere steps to deposit her onto the dining table. The confused girl clutched desperately at the table's edge, struggling to maintain her balance, and stared at him with bewildered terror.
"Then is there any reason to postpone it?"
Calix spoke in an utterly icy tone—as though pronouncing a sentence—leaning closer and closer to her face.
Unable to resist his advance, Asella suddenly found herself lying helplessly across the table. She hadn't even had time to protest. She only registered the stark contrast between the cold marble beneath her back and the scorching heat of the man's body pressing her into the surface.
But that was merely the beginning.
Calix abruptly straightened and issued a calm command:
"Remove it."
For a moment, her crystal-clear eyes froze in absolute shock.
And it was precisely the sincere reaction he'd anticipated.
She'd shamelessly declared that she wanted his child—but in truth, that wasn't the case at all.
Calix smiled bitterly, abandoning the final remnants of his patience:
"If you want it so desperately, I will give you exactly what you desire."
He watched her blue pupils oscillate like tidal waves. He felt how her body—which had been trembling with fear for so long—now shook as though in agony.
"Remove it."
"But Your Highness—"
A sudden flicker of panic flashed in her eyes. But Calix continued relentlessly, wearing a twisted smile:
"Didn't you request another chance?"
"What—"
Now her voice contained every shade of terror.
But Calix no longer cared.
Either way, this woman would fear and avoid him regardless of his actions. Which meant it was far simpler to instill complete terror—and keep her close through that fear alone.
All he needed was to intimidate her so thoroughly that she wouldn't dare even *dream* of escape.
In the Benvito family, no one ever divorced their wives. Even if it meant killing them.
And Calix had absolutely no intention of releasing his lawful wife.
"You should be grateful that I'm offering you another opportunity. Grateful that I'm permitting you to fulfill your duties. Isn't that correct?"
_This woman._
_How dare she speak of divorcing him?_
The moment those words had left her lips, a burning possessive desire had seared through his entire being, completely obliterating reason. The rage of his cursed bloodline surged obsessively through his veins, demanding he take her by force.
He had no intention of letting her go.
On the contrary—he would hold her in his arms until she finally understood *exactly* who she belonged to.
"Or are you going to refuse me again?"
The woman's body went rigid.
Calix pressed his lips together. He still remembered her nightmares—every terrible detail. But in this moment, he didn't care.
Moreover, he had no intention of allowing this evening to slip away unfulfilled.
He growled like a wild animal sensing its long-awaited prey, then pressed his palm against the table beside Asella's shoulder, effectively caging her body beneath him. The long fingers of his other hand found the ribbon securing her bodice and tugged slowly at its end.
Her breasts rose and fell nervously beneath the beautifully clinging lace, captivating his consciousness completely. His eyes slowly explored every inch of desired flesh: the curve of her chest, the graceful column of her throat, her stricken face.
Her pale cheeks, stained with tears. Her plump lips, bitten red. And again that captivating décolletage... so impossibly tempting...
The mask of indifference vanished entirely from his features. The veins along his forearms stood out prominently, and raw desire blazed in his blood-red eyes.
"Your Highness."
The man's actions ceased instantly at the sound of her quiet voice.
Asella held Calix's wrist with both hands.
For the first time since their wedding, she had touched him of her own volition.
Confusion flickered across his features.
"Please... not here."
Asella shook her head imploringly.
"I beg you—wait until nightfall. And then... in the bedroom. I don't... I don't like it here."