Translator: Nox
Chapter 2

* * *

The northern sky was ashen as always, with snow flurries scattering in the biting wind.

A black flag was being lowered slowly, accompanied by a restrained dirge.

“Isn’t that the daughter of the House of Kardel?”

“Didn’t they say she disappeared after the divorce, and her whereabouts were unknown?”

“Looks like she was alive. When her father was desperately searching for her, she didn’t even show her face…”

“Shouldn’t we inform the House of Kardel?”

“And why does she look like that?”

The murmuring around her was belatedly recognized.

But no matter what they were saying, she didn’t care.

Odelia’s gaze was fixed solely on the coffin placed alone in the center of the hall.

As if drawn by something, she hesitated and moved her feet.

As she approached the coffin, an unbelievable scene was clearly etched in her vision.

He was surrounded by pure white flowers, lying as if asleep.

Ludeviel Excepcion, her ex-husband.

The traces of the battlefield, matted with blood and dust, had disappeared, leaving only a neat and serene appearance.

As if he had found peace and rest only after death.

Odelia recalled the conversation she had with her aide in the carriage.

“All the experts said they couldn’t determine the exact cause of death. There are many rumors about suicide or murder, but the truth is known only to His Grand Duke.”

Even as the aide said that, he seemed to expect Odelia to know something.

Odelia knew nothing about Ludeviel.

From the beginning, it was just a contractual marriage.

So…

In reality, they were no different from strangers.

‘But why did you do that?’

Odelia couldn’t understand why Ludeviel had left all his assets to her.

Even at this moment, standing in the funeral hall.

“Odelia, as of today, our contract is terminated.”

“This is the promised compensation. Please accept it.”

“I didn’t care who it was.”

“We will never meet again.”

Did his words, “We will never meet again,” mean this?

She wanted to ask.

But the person who could answer that question was no longer anywhere in the world.

Only after the black coffin was slowly lowered into the ground could Odelia admit it.

The fact that he was really dead.

Until the funeral was over, she couldn’t move an inch, as if her feet were nailed to the ground.

Only the black hem of her skirt fluttered helplessly in the cool breeze.

* * *

Odelia first met him six years ago.

The plaza that day was seething with the excitement of the festival.

Because a grand ceremony was held every year around this time.

“Look over there!”

On the ramparts, mages in white uniforms stood aligned along a circular ritual formation.

“Descendants of the Dragon, the light of Purification.”

“Protect this empire from the impure.”

As the incantation was repeated like a hymn, the man standing in the center stood out.

His sacred silver hair fluttered in the wind, and his low, firm voice echoed through the crowd.

“According to the ancient covenant…”

Gawain Kardel, the heir to the House of Kardel and known as the messenger of God.

Hundreds of years ago, the Luminer Empire was on the verge of collapse due to bizarre beings with Demonic Energy.

In that crisis, the dragon, revered as a divine beast, erected a barrier over the entire empire with ancient magic, and that barrier perfectly blocked external threats and protected the empire.

But as time passed, the barrier lost its power…

And when people’s anxiety deepened, they appeared.

The House of Kardel.

The only family that could use ancient magic.

The Kardels presided over the ceremony to repair the barrier every year, and people began to call that day ‘Guardian Day.’

And that tradition has continued to this day.

“Raise the sacred barrier once more.”

Ancient characters glowed as if alive beneath his feet, and a pillar of golden magic soared high into the sky.

At that moment, the barrier faintly appeared above the sky.

A dome-shaped wall shimmering like a giant glass screen.

A sign that the empire was still under the protection of the dragon.

The crowd looked up at the sight with eyes full of awe.

“…With the chains of eternity, I bind this empire.”

It was the moment Gawain recited the last incantation.

The light from the mages’ fingertips connected into one and split the sky.

Golden flashes spread along the ramparts, and the outline of the barrier was clearly etched to the distant horizon.

As the golden flashes faded, the barrier also became transparent and hid its traces.

But everyone knew.

That shield would guarantee a year of peace.

“Long live the House of Kardel!”

“Descendants of the Dragon, blood of heroes, long live!”

“Glory to the Luminer Empire!”

The plaza was covered in cheers and festive commotion.

But beneath it, in a place unimaginably deep.

In a secret space that could only be reached after going through a complex security process, Odelia was trapped.

“Cough…!”

The hem of her white dress was soaked red.

When she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, red blood dripped between her fingers.

This was Odelia’s role.

Descendants of the Dragon? Ancient magic?

It was a centuries-long scam by the House of Kardel.

The ancient magic that protects the empire was an illusion, and everything was just a well-crafted script.

Only a sacrifice who ground their body to make all the plays plausible.

‘This year is a bit… severe.’

Odelia muttered inwardly and swallowed the blood.

Her throat felt like it was burning.

In the House of Kardel, only one person with the ‘Purification’ ability was born in each generation.

The family named those who could purify all the impurities of the world ‘Purifier.’

And every year on Guardian Day, everything defined as evil was poured into the Purifier’s body.

A one-sided sacrifice of a single person for the family that had continued for hundreds of years. That was the truth of the ancient barrier that Kardel boasted of.

“Hic, cough!”

Odelia spat out blood again.

The lifespan of a Purifier is not very long.

At most, around 30 years old…

After they die, a Purifier with that power is invariably born in the next generation.

As if even the sky supported this cruel cycle.

‘How much longer can I last?’

Leaning against the wall, Odelia slowly closed her eyes.

The afterimages of light swirling inside her eyelids flared like flames.

It was then.

Clang—

The sound of the lock turning was heard.

In this space where no one could enter.

‘Is it Gawain?’

What kind of atrocity is he trying to commit again?

Odelia opened her eyes with difficulty.

In her faintly swaying vision, the other person’s face gradually became clearer.

And…

“….”

She met the eyes of a man she had never met before, but who didn’t feel unfamiliar.

Ludeviel Excepcion.

The Grand Duke of the North, who ruled with an iron fist.

A famous figure in many ways.

Odelia wondered why he was here, but she didn’t even have the strength to ask.

Ludeviel stared down at her and said nonchalantly.

“I have a proposal.”

“….”

“The term is five years.”

He seemed like someone who had made this kind of proposal hundreds of times.

He continued speaking wearily in a dry voice that didn’t reveal any emotion.

“If you successfully fulfill the role of the mistress of the Excepcion family for five years, I will sever all ties with the House of Kardel.”

“….”

Could this be a proposal?

She thought it was crazy. She thought it was absurd.

But the words that followed made Odelia pause.

“At this rate, you will die within a year.”

Odelia blinked. The man in front of her did not disappear.

It wasn’t a hallucination.

‘Five years…’

She didn’t even know if she could survive this year, but it seemed like too long a period.

But still.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s room for consideration.”

If she could stand under the warm sunlight and feel the cool breeze before she died.

If she could live an ordinary day.

“…No, there isn’t.”

“That’s good.”

Light, salvation.

He was a person who was far from such expressions.

“Can you get up?”

“Yes.”

“Then get up.”

“…Yes.”

There was no gentle comfort, and he didn’t offer a hand.

But strangely, his presence was clearly felt.

Odelia slowly raised her body, which had been sitting powerlessly.

Ludeviel didn’t wait for her to get up and turned around immediately.

The moment he walked out without hesitation, passed through the secret room, and opened the locked door.

“…!”

An intensely strong light poured in, so bright it stung her eyes.

Odelia reflexively squeezed her eyes shut.

When she was barely able to open her eyes, she saw a stream of light and golden dust floating like waves.

“….”

It was a life in which she had abandoned expectations and hope.

Why did she suddenly, for no reason, want to live?

Odelia took a deep, long breath for the first time.

It contained a faint hope.

Very small.

But definitely.