The northern sky was as gray as ever, with snowflakes drifting through the biting wind.
A black funeral banner was slowly lowered as a solemn requiem played.
“Isn’t that the daughter of House Cardel?”
“I heard she disappeared after the divorce, and no one knew whether she was alive or dead.”
“So she was alive after all. Yet when her father desperately searched for her, she never showed her face…”
“Shouldn’t someone inform the Duke of Cardel?”
“And what happened to the way she looks?”
The murmurs around her reached her ears only belatedly.
But no matter what they whispered among themselves, it no longer mattered.
Odely’s gaze was fixed solely on the coffin resting in the center of the hall.
As though drawn by something unseen, she staggered forward one slow step at a time.
When she reached the coffin, an unbelievable sight came into clear view.
Surrounded by pure white flowers, he lay there as though he were merely asleep.
Ludville Exepsion.
Her former husband.
The traces of blood and dust from the battlefield were gone.
He looked only neat and peaceful.
As though he had found peace and rest only after death.
Odely recalled the conversation she had shared with the aide in the carriage.
“Every expert said they couldn’t determine the exact cause of death. Some say it was suicide, others believe it was murder, but the truth is something only His Grace the Grand Duke himself would know.”
Even as he said that, the aide had looked at Odelli as though hoping she might know something.
But Odely knew nothing about Ludville.
From the very beginning, theirs had been nothing more than a contract marriage.
So…
In truth, they had been little more than strangers.
Then why did you do it?
Odelli could not understand why Ludville had left his entire inheritance to her.
Even now, standing at his funeral.
She couldn’t understand it at all.
“Odely, as of today, our contract has ended.”
“This is the payment we agreed on. Please accept it.”
“I didn’t care who it was.”
“We won’t meet again.”
So when he said they would never meet again…
Was this what he meant?
She wanted to ask him.
But there was no longer anyone in the world who could answer that question.
Only after the black coffin was slowly lowered into the ground did Odely finally accept it.
He really was dead.
Until the funeral came to an end, she could not move, as though her feet had been nailed to the ground.
Only the hem of her black dress fluttered weakly in the cold wind.
***
Odely first met him six years ago.
The square was overflowing with the excitement of the annual festival.
Every year around this time, a grand ceremony was held.
“Look over there!”
Atop the city walls, mages dressed in white uniforms stood in formation around a great circular magic array.
“O heir to the ancient bloodline, beacon of purification.”
“Protect this Empire from all that is unclean.”
As the chant echoed over and over like a sacred hymn, the man standing at the center stood out above all the others.
His silver hair, almost holy in appearance, danced in the wind, while his low, steady voice rang across the crowd.
“According to the primordial covenant…”
Gawin Cardel.
Heir to House Cardel and the man known as the Messenger of God.
Centuries ago, the Luminere Empire had been pushed to the brink of collapse by monstrous beings tainted with evil.
In that time of crisis, the Dragon, revered as a divine beast, cast an ancient spell that spread a barrier across the entire Empire.
The barrier completely shut out all external threats and preserved the Empire.
But as the centuries passed, its power gradually faded…
Just as fear began to spread among the people, they appeared.
House Cardel.
The only family capable of wielding ancient magic.
Every year, the Cardels presided over the ritual that restored the barrier, and the people came to call that day the Day of Protection.
That tradition had continued ever since.
“Raise the sacred barrier once more.”
Ancient runes beneath his feet flared to life as though they were alive, and a towering pillar of golden mana shot into the heavens.
At that moment, the barrier briefly revealed itself across the sky.
A massive dome, shimmering like transparent glass.
Proof that the Empire still remained under the Dragon’s protection.
The crowd gazed upward with reverence.
“…By the chains of eternity, I bind this Empire.”
The instant Gawin spoke the final incantation,
the light flowing from the fingertips of the mages joined together and split the heavens apart.
Golden radiance spread along the city walls, and the outline of the barrier became clearly visible all the way to the distant horizon.
As the golden light faded, the barrier also turned transparent once more, hiding itself from sight.
But everyone knew.
That invisible shield would guarantee another year of peace.
“Long live House Cardel!”
“Hail the descendants of the Dragon! Hail the blood of heroes!”
“Glory to the Luminere Empire!”
The square erupted into cheers and festival celebrations.
But far below.
Deep beneath the city.
In a hidden chamber that could only be reached after passing through layers of strict security,
Odelli was imprisoned.
“Cough…!”
The hem of her white dress slowly stained crimson.
When she wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand, fresh blood dripped between her fingers.
This was Odely’s role.
Descendants of the Dragon?
Ancient magic?
It was all a deception House Cardel had maintained for centuries.
The so-called ancient magic protecting the Empire was an illusion.
Nothing more than a carefully scripted performance.
The only thing that was real
was the sacrifice whose body was consumed to make that performance believable.
This year… is worse than usual.
Odely swallowed another mouthful of blood.
Her throat felt as though it were burning.
Every generation, House Cardel produced only one person born with the Power of Purification.
A person capable of purifying every impurity in the world.
The family called such a person the Purifier.
And every year, on the Day of Protection, everything deemed evil was forced into the Purifier’s body.
One person’s one-sided sacrifice,
made for the sake of a family that had endured for centuries.
That was the true nature of the ancient barrier House Cardel so proudly boasted of.
“Ghk…! Cough!”
Odelli spat out blood once again.
The lifespan of a Purifier was never long.
At best, they lived to around thirty.
When one finally died,
another Purifier bearing the same power would inevitably be born into the next generation.
As though even the heavens themselves supported this cruel cycle.
How much longer can I endure?
Leaning against the wall, Odely slowly closed her eyes.
The lingering afterimages behind her eyelids flickered like flames.
Just then—
Click.
The sound of a lock turning echoed through the room.
In a place where no one should have been able to enter.
Gawin?
What’s he planning to do this time?
With great effort, Odely opened her eyes.
Through her blurred vision, the face of the newcomer slowly came into focus.
And then…
“…”
She found herself looking into the eyes of a man she had never met before,
yet who somehow didn’t feel like a stranger.
Ludville Exepsion.
The iron-blooded Grand Duke who ruled the North.
A man famous for more than one reason.
Odelli couldn’t understand why he was here,
but she didn’t even have the strength to ask.
Ludville looked down at her for a long moment before speaking as though it were nothing.
“I have a proposal.”
“…”
“Five years.”
He spoke as though he had made this offer hundreds of times before.
His voice was dry,
utterly devoid of emotion,
almost bored.
“If you successfully fulfill the role of mistress of House Exepsion for five years, I’ll sever every tie between you and House Cardel.”
“…”
A proposal?
Was this… a marriage proposal?
She thought it was insane.
Impossible.
Yet his next words made her freeze.
“At this rate, you’ll be dead within a year.”
Odelli blinked.
The man before her didn’t disappear.
It wasn’t a hallucination.
Five years…
When she wasn’t even sure she could survive this year,
five years sounded impossibly far away.
But still.
“I don’t think I have much of a choice.”
If, before she died,
she could stand beneath the warm sunlight
and feel a cool breeze.
If she could live even one ordinary day.
“…You’re right. I don’t.”
“Good.”
He was a man completely unsuited to words like light or salvation.
“Can you stand?”
“Yes.”
“Then stand.”
“…Yes.”
There were no kind words of comfort.
He didn’t even offer her a hand.
And yet,
for some reason,
his presence felt unbelievably clear.
Odely slowly pushed herself to her feet.
Ludville didn’t wait for her.
He simply turned around and walked away without hesitation.
The moment he stepped through the hidden chamber and opened the sealed door—
“…!”
A blinding flood of light poured into the room.
Odely instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
When she finally managed to open them again,
she saw a single beam of sunlight,
with golden dust drifting through it like gentle waves.
“…”
She had already abandoned hope.
Abandoned any expectation for life.
So why…
Why did she suddenly want to live?
Odely drew in a long, deep breath for the first time.
Within it was the faintest trace of hope.
Very small.
But undeniably there.
Comments (0)