Eilika kept staring at the clock, but there was still no sign of Damian. It had already been over an hour. Unable to remain restless in the room, she finally headed to the guest wing where August was staying.

She hesitated before the door, her hand hovering over the wood before she finally knocked.

"It’s me, Eilika. Damian, are you still inside?"

August, who had begun to drown himself in alcohol, stumbled toward the door.

"Didn’t your husband return to you?" he mused with a drunken grin as he swung the door open.

"Where is Damian?" Eilika asked, her gaze stern as she took a respectful step back from him. "What did you say to him?"

"I told him the truth," August replied, his voice thick with the scent of wine. "About me and Liliana. About how she chose him over me."

Eilika furrowed her brows. "Prince August, you should go to bed. I will find my husband on my own." She turned to leave, but August’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

"He must be crying somewhere over the betrayal Liliana dealt him," he asserted. "I wonder if Damian will even be able to remain himself. He was made a fool by a woman who claimed to love him, when her heart belonged to me. Until the very end."

Eilika finally turned back to face him, her expression hardening.

"Aren’t you hurt too?"

Her question made him arch his eyebrows in genuine surprise. "What?"

"Your Highness, aren’t you hurt that Liliana didn’t choose you? Isn’t that the reason you’re drunk?" Eilika asked. "Limit your alcohol, otherwise you’ll die early. And I hope you live a good life. Tomorrow you have to leave for the capital, so rest well."

She offered him a slight, formal bow before turning and walking away.

August remained standing in the corridor, the half-empty glass in his hand forgotten. He didn’t blink for a long time, staring at the space where she had just been.

It was a strange feeling, one he had never experienced before. Even in his attempt to shatter Damian’s world, he hadn’t expected someone to see through his own.

~~~~

Eilika stepped out of the mansion and looked toward the guards on night duty, the cool air doing little to settle her nerves. She walked to them and asked, "Did you see the Duke leave?"

"Yes, Your Grace. He went to his private residence," one of them replied with a respectful nod.

"Private residence? Where is that?" Eilika inquired, her curiosity piqued by the mention of a place she had not yet visited.

"I can show you. Please follow me," the guard stated, stepping forward to lead the way. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the private residence. Through the darkness, Eilika and the guard spotted a dim, flickering light in one of the upper rooms.

"Thank you. You may return to your post," Eilika told the guard before walking ahead. She crossed the overhead bridge spanning the quiet lake, her footsteps echoing softly until she reached the entrance and stepped inside.

The interior was swallowed by darkness. Guided only by the faint glow from above, she climbed the staircase. Her feet halted abruptly when she reached the doorway of the room where Damian stood.

Her eyes widened as she saw a fire, which had started low, suddenly roar to life and begin to consume everything in the room, the furniture, the rugs, and the many portraits lining the walls.

"Damian!" she screamed his name, rushing into the heat and smoke without a second thought.

She grabbed his arm and looked around the room. It was filled with portraits of him and Liliana, mostly of his late first wife.

"She lied about everything. She never loved me," Damian said, his voice broken.

Eilika turned to him, her heart sinking as she saw his face drenched in tears. "Damian," she whispered, her voice barely audible as she struggled to find words of comfort.

Before the flames could consume the room or the residence itself, she moved with sudden urgency. She tore the heavy curtains from the window and used them to beat back the fire, successfully extinguishing the growing blaze.

"Why did you do that? I want everything here to burn!" Damian’s voice boomed through the room. She let go of the curtains as only smoke left behind.

"Do you want to harm yourself in this fire as well?" Eilika questioned him, her voice trembling but firm.

Her eyes drifted to the wedding portrait of Damian and Liliana; the bottom half was charred and blackened, yet looking at the volume of memories collected here, she realized just how deeply Damian had loved her.

"You can throw all of these out tomorrow morning. For now, let us go back," Eilika stated. She stepped toward him and took his hand, trying to lead him away. But as she turned to leave, he pulled her back toward him, refusing to budge.

"She slept with August a week before our wedding. I proposed to her, and she did that," Damian said, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks.

"He wasn’t lying. I saw the genuine grief in his eyes. Liliana didn’t choose him only because he was the illegitimate son of the King while I held a Dukedom. She wanted to be a Duchess. She never loved me. Everything was a lie, Eilika. Every single thing. She made a mockery of everything I shared with her."

Eilika’s heart bled seeing Damian in such a broken state. She reached out, her fingers trembling slightly as she brushed the tears from his cheeks. "Let’s go back, please. Let’s just go to the mansion," she pleaded softly.

"I don’t want to. I want to burn this place to the ground. I want to destroy every memory held within these walls," Damian stated, his voice cracking as he pulled his hand from hers.

Driven by a frantic energy, he began to tear the paintings from the walls.

Portraits were ripped from their frames, and canvases were shredded, revealing the staggering depth of his anger and shattered trust.

Eilika stood back and simply watched him, remaining a silent witness to his grief. She realized that perhaps this was the only way for him to purge the poison, to let the physical destruction mirror the wreckage of his heart, if only to grant him a moment of relief.