Toby's high-pitched yell cut through the awkward silence like a knife.

The child stood beside Kaida, his little fists clenched so tight his knuckles had gone white.

His eyes watered with angry tears as he glared at Viktor with all the fury a six-year-old could muster—which, surprisingly, was quite a lot.

"Cough!" Viktor, realizing his mistake in the heat of the moment, coughed before ruffling the boy's hair. Turning toward Toby, he said, "Come here, little dragon. It was just a mosquito—"

He moved, stepping out of the carriage to take Toby from Kaida, lifting him up and then climbing back in, clearly embarrassed as he realized his mistake.

"Hmph, say sorry to Mother..." Toby folded his tiny hands as he sat on Viktor's lap, closing his eyes and clearly giving his orders.

"Haha, yeah, um... Mira and Helena, sorry. I won't do that in public from now on," Viktor said awkwardly, cursing how, because of these women, his child had scolded him—unaware that his words came out differently to the women.

"Hiek—!" Both women realized the internal meaning of his words—he didn't actually mean it—so they looked at each other and muttered in sync, "Not in public—"

Helena and Mira looked at each other, and somehow their faces managed to burn even hotter.

Then they both looked down at the ground, unable to meet anyone's gaze.

The embarrassment doubled. Tripled. Not just from being groped and spanked in public, but from Toby's innocent words drawing even more attention to what had just happened.

His childish protection of his mother made their willing participation in Viktor's display even more mortifying.

Slowly, painfully aware of the eyes still watching them, they climbed into the carriage. Each step made their stinging asses pulse with renewed sensation.

Bella followed, her face pale as fresh snow, eyes darting between the two women and Viktor. Her mind raced in circles.

'This... this is...'

She couldn't process it. These two women were clearly involved with the nobleman in intimate ways.

And she was supposed to be a slave—property. Shouldn't she be treated completely differently?

Why was she being included in their traveling group like she was... like she was a person?

It was too strange. Too confusing. Nothing about this situation matched what she'd expected when she arrived here and had even nearly killed Mira.

Elara climbed in and then Kaida came last. Her red eyes burned with fury as they fixed on Viktor's exposed neck where he sat, relaxed in his seat.

Her free hand gripped the dagger at her waist so hard her knuckles turned white.

'I should cut off that bastard's grin,' she thought, playing out the motion in her mind. One thrust. Quick, clean, between the ribs and into the heart. That's all it would take.

He wasn't even paying attention, wasn't guarding against attack.

'For my sister. That's all this is.'

But even as she thought it, she knew it was a lie. There was something else—the nagging assurance that killing him would create more problems than it solved.

So she just climbed in, her jaw clenched tight enough to make her teeth ache.

Elara sat frozen in her corner, trying to make sense of everything she'd witnessed in the last hour.

The nobleman with fluids on his fingers from... from whatever had happened in the carriage.

Him buying food for starving villagers—a genuine act of charity.

Then cursing those same villagers out with cruel efficiency.

Then groping and spanking two women in public.

And those women... they weren't resisting.

They were embarrassed, yes, faces flushed and bodies tense. But not angry. Not afraid.

There was something else in their reactions—something complex that Elara's sheltered upbringing hadn't prepared her to interpret.

'What kind of man is he?'

The issue was: should she take him as a perverted, trashy noble, an awkward bastard who curses weak people, or a kind-hearted man who helps the old woman?

The question circled in her mind, unanswered and perhaps unanswerable.

Aldrin cleared his throat from the driver's seat, breaking the heavy silence that had settled over the carriage like a thick blanket. "So... you want to go deeper into the village, my lord?"

Viktor leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment. Behind his eyelids, fragments of the dream's background mostly cleared.

"Not into the village," he said finally, opening his eyes. He pointed toward the window, toward the black mountain range visible in the distance.

The peaks rose like jagged teeth against the sky, dark and foreboding. "Toward those mountains. Half the village sprawls on the other side."

Aldrin blinked, following Viktor's gesture. Then he nodded, understanding settling over his features. "Understood, Sir Baron."

The carriage jerked forward as Aldrin pulled the horse's reins, wheels creaking against the dirt path.

Inside, Viktor shifted Toby's small weight against his chest, the boy's fevered head resting on his shoulder.

The rhythmic sway of movement made the child's breathing settle into something almost peaceful.

Mira reached out, her fingers brushing Viktor's arm. "He's sleeping better now," she whispered, her green eyes soft with gratitude.

Viktor nodded, his gaze drifting toward the window. The village was falling behind them, those rotting huts and desperate faces fading into the distance. Good riddance.

But then—movement.

His eyes narrowed as he caught it. Just a flicker at the edge of his vision. Someone darting away from the treeline, running back toward the village with the kind of desperate speed that screamed guilt.

Rat-faced bastard.

A slow smile curved Viktor's lips as recognition clicked into place. That was one of them. One of the bandits who'd been hiding among the villagers, watching, waiting.

Viktor had expected this to happen soon enough either way—those bandits may have run that night due to his status, but their arrival that night and searching Mira's hut with intel that he visited her only meant they were active in the village.

Or at least, if not them, then someone who provided intelligence. Considering that the place he was going to had the corpse of a demon, it was natural that there would be monsters, and shouldn't he have some combat skills with him?

'Perfect.'

"Stop the carriage," Viktor said, his voice cutting through the quiet rumble of wheels.

Aldrin pulled the reins immediately, the carriage lurching to a halt. Inside, everyone turned toward Viktor with varying expressions of confusion.

"What happened?" Mira asked, her brow furrowing as she leaned forward.

Helena tilted her head, concern flickering across her weathered features. "Young master?"

Viktor didn't answer immediately. His dark eyes were still fixed on that distant figure—now just a speck disappearing into the shadows of the mountain pass.

"Nothing," he said finally, turning back to face them. His gaze dropped to Toby, still sleeping peacefully against his chest. "Mira, take care of Toby."

He shifted, carefully transferring the boy's small body into Mira's arms. She took him reflexively, but confusion clouded her expression as Viktor moved toward the carriage door.

"Wait—where are you going, young lord?" Mira's voice pitched higher, panic creeping in at the edges.

Viktor paused, one hand on the door handle. He glanced back over his shoulder, his expression unreadable.

Naturally, he needed to put on an act here so that his dear wife, who had until now shown him so much care, would put on a show and provide him with some guards to protect him.

"I need to deal with some bandits."

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