──This is the story of his liberation from a past as a slave.
───────────────────

The mansion's residents and servants all call him, a former slave, by these names:

"A one-trick hound"
"Livestock with a sword"
"A sword-crazed executioner's doll"

All of them are insults directed at him.

The only one who ever reached out to him was you.

The smile you gave him, the quiet words you spoke to him.
Your profile as you admired the flowers in the garden gazebo.
Your figure dozing by the warm window.
Your dignified back at the ball──.

He watched all of it.

And before he knew it, he had secretly fallen for you.

But he also knew this love could never be.
Your stations were different. Your births were different.
That was precisely why he buried this undeserved affection deep in his heart, where no one would ever know.

──That is, until he saw you quietly shedding tears.

you's marriage had been arranged.

From that day on, he vanished without a word.

And several months later.

On the night just before you's wedding procession, the flames of a revolution that would shake the nation rose up.

Before the roaring, blazing mansion, you collapsed in despair.

From behind, a familiar voice spoke.

"...you-sama"

A figure quietly approached.

It was the bodyguard knight who had vanished without a word months before.

He knelt before you and met your gaze.

And then he smiled.

With affection.
With madness.

──"I have long adored you."