Rohana flinched, her body trembling. Kaiden looked down at her with surprised eyes.

“Rohana?”

“It’s that sound.”

Kaiden tilted his head, furrowing his brow.

“That sound…?”

“The white bird.”

Kaiden frowned and stepped away from her. Rohana also rose from where she had been lying.

Striding quickly, Kaiden approached the window and flung it open with one hand. The cold wind rushed in, changing the atmosphere in an instant.

The bright blue sky came into view.

“Found it,” Kaiden murmured quietly, narrowing his eyes.

Where Rohana looked, “it” was there too. It was closer than ever, and for the first time, its shape was visible.

With a body as white as a dove, a long, pointed beak, and wings that seemed several times larger than a person, it sliced through the sky.

“Can you still hear it?”

Rohana nodded in response to his low voice. Without hesitation, Kaiden lifted her from the desk where she had been sitting.

As he walked swiftly, Kaiden expertly picked up a sword, and with his other hand, he took Rohana’s, turning on his heel.

They reached the door to the reception room just as it opened almost simultaneously.

“Your Grace.”

It was Iz. She was already fully armed.

“Deploy the troops. I’ll evacuate Rohana.”

Iz nodded and quickly disappeared. Right behind her, a breathless and flushed Galad gave a quick salute.

Kaiden had to leave.

Rohana looked up at the man tightly gripping her wrist. Despite receiving constant reports and walking quickly, he never let go of her hand.

Rohana steeled herself. An instinctive hunch surfaced.

“Take me with you.”

His brisk steps came to an abrupt halt. Kaiden’s startled dark eyes looked down at her.

“If I’m the only one who can hear that sound, it must mean there’s something I can do.”

He stared at her intensely, then shook his head.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“So, are we just going to hide here together?”

Rohana whispered as she pulled him closer.

“At least give me a bow. Just in case.”

It was fortunate she was wearing a simple dress. If she’d been in a full petticoat, moving would have been much harder.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Rohana looked up at him stubbornly again. A brief silence followed. The surrounding soldiers stopped giving their reports.

There was no time.

Reluctantly, Kaiden grasped her hand once more. Perhaps he thought it safer for her to stay by his side.

“First, we’re heading to the headquarters.”

His tone was resolute.

“There are no casualties yet.”

Galad unfolded a small piece of paper tied to a messenger pigeon and read it.

The song continued. It wasn’t really a song, more like short, clipped tones calling for something.

This was the third time Rohana had heard the sound, yet nothing had happened so far.

Could it be that it had no intent to attack?

Or perhaps it had another meaning.

The group quickened their pace. Soldiers approached with synchronized steps, and even the staff moved efficiently, carrying items or basic weapons.

“This way.”

Rohana could see the archers and spearmen standing in formation in front of the duke’s mansion. It wasn’t easy to keep up with Kaiden and the others’ quick strides, but Rohana moved swiftly.

They reached a narrow spiral staircase, surrounded by high walls, completely hidden from outside view. The air outside was cold.

“We have to go up here. Can you manage?”

Even then, Kaiden’s gaze remained calm. At that moment, the sound stopped.

“The sound has stopped.”

Everyone turned to look at her. That’s when Iz’s voice rang out.

“It’s by the main tower.”

Sure enough, when they looked up, the white bird was perched calmly atop the main tower. From there, it would surely be able to see them.

“You can’t hear it anymore?”

“It’s not that I can’t hear it… it just stopped. As if it’s watching something.”

Rohana squinted, looking around at the surroundings that would be visible from the main tower. The group started moving again.

Kaiden held her hand. Even when the stone steps were slippery, the grip of his hand kept her steady.

As they climbed the spiral stairs and reached the hallway they needed to cross, Kaiden suddenly stopped.

A low curse escaped his lips, and Rohana, who had bumped into his back, looked ahead.

A boy came into view.

With jet-black hair and unnaturally glowing red eyes, he stood out starkly.

Rohana held her breath for a moment.

“Lazar.”

At Kaiden’s words, Galad’s face turned pale instantly.

“Th-the Lazar? That Lazar?”

The sound of Kaiden drawing his sword echoed chillingly.

“Rohana, stay behind me no matter what.”

“Kaiden.”

The boy’s youthful voice echoed in the hall, disproportionately loud for his small frame.

In that moment, Rohana felt a familiar headache. An eerie sense of déjà vu wrapped around her.

“I’m sorry. I needed you.”

That voice had spoken those exact words when she lay writhing in pain on the cold asphalt.

Rohana gasped for air, frozen in place as though her legs were glued to the ground.

It was the voice she had heard until the moment she died and woke up again.

It was that voice.

A voice so vivid that even after more than a decade, she recognized it immediately.

Kaiden pushed her behind him and fixed his gaze on Lazar. A white light flickered from Kaiden’s sword.

“It’s been a while.”

A white bird flapped its wings in irritation, its sharp cry ringing in Rohana’s ears like a warning.

“Seems like the Caladrius really doesn’t like me.”

Lazar shrugged.

That voice from back then rose clearly from the depths of her memory, as if it had been a lie all along.

“Rohana, it’s really been a long time. Now, you’ve come to know me too.”

The pretty, boyish figure smiled faintly, speaking in riddles.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I really needed you.”

“How’s life here?”

It was him.

The person who had brought ‘me’ here.

A cold winter breeze brushed against her cheek like the memory of that day. The sound of rain echoed in her ears, contrasting with the chilling sensation of the hot pool of blood that had been there.

Kaiden’s sharp gaze turned to Rohana.

“Do you know him?”

Faced with the cutting question, Rohana wasn’t sure how to respond.

Know him?

Kaiden’s brief glance at her shifted back to Lazar.

“I believe I said Rohana is not up for negotiation.”

Negotiation? Rohana looked up at Kaiden. His expressionless eyes held an ice-cold determination, as if ready to shatter any obstacle. Lazar furrowed his brow slightly and let out a sigh.

“Ugh.”

Disappointment flickered in his ruby-red eyes, like pomegranate seeds.

“What a shame. I thought maybe you’d have changed your mind by now.”

Galad and Iz glanced at Rohana and then back at Lazar. Their faces were tense.

Galad had turned completely pale, drained of all color, while Iz, though seemingly unfazed, was holding her bow with a slight tremor.

A dangerous man.

An instinctual warning rang in her head.

“Rohana.”

At Lazar’s words, all eyes turned to her.

“Did it hurt a lot back then?”

Was he talking about that moment when the screech of tires and the suffocating feeling of being submerged in a pool of her own blood overwhelmed her?

Sensing Rohana’s slight trembling, Kaiden tightened his grip on her hand. For a brief moment, concern flickered across his otherwise expressionless face.

“It seems like your role is done now.”

My role is done? Rohana’s mind grew more confused.

‘What did he mean by that? What had I even done since coming here?’

This place felt like a parallel universe.

‘What had changed? What had I done?’

Was it stopping the childhood meeting between Bardi and Aurelia?

‘No, that’s not it…’

Finally, the puzzle pieces began to fall into place in Rohana’s mind.

‘No way.’

Memories from the past flashed through her mind like a montage—chandeliers, strange threats, a contract marriage, the kiss with him, and his confession from the night before.

And the blood-soaked memory under the full moon that had started it all.

The white bird flapped its massive wings, its opal-colored eyes gleaming with shifting hues, as if reading her chaotic thoughts.

“In your world, it was just one obvious act of kindness, wasn’t it?”

All those scars on his body, the secrets of his childhood that were never mentioned in the original story.

Lazar spoke slowly, his pomegranate-like eyes swirling.

“The situation has become more troublesome than expected.”

Rohana’s eyes wavered.

‘So, he had called me here on purpose, to save him? To play the role of saving him when he was really about to die in the imperial palace?’

Rohana could hardly believe her eyes. Lazar, who had appeared as a boy, ‘transformed’ into an adult. Or rather, it was as if he had always been that way, naturally.

Tall and slender, draped in a white cloak, his deep black hair and ruby-red eyes remained unchanged.

He wasn’t human.

“What are you?”

Galad looked up at Rohana with a trembling voice.

“Your Grace, this person… from the very beginning…!”

“I summoned you for that, but I didn’t think it would turn out this way…”

Lazar smiled, raising the corners of his mouth. Kaiden pushed Rohana further behind him and commanded Galad.

His voice, strained with impatience, was unfamiliar, harsh. His changed expression was unsettling.

“Galad, protect Rohana.”

“Your Grace!”

Kaiden’s face hardened with a deadlier seriousness than ever before. His narrowed eyes glinted like those of a beast.

“I make the decisions.”

Galad bit his lip, looking at Rohana with a frustrated expression.

“How do you plan to kill someone who isn’t bound by space or time?”

“We’ll see.”

Kaiden replied calmly.

“We’ll see who lives and who dies.”

A white light flickered on his sword.

“Oh, right. And…”

Lazar’s smile twisted bitterly as he slowly spoke.

“You can come out now.”

At that moment, someone stepped out from behind the pillar.

Oh no.

Rohana cursed inwardly.

It was Aurelia. But as the next person emerged, Rohana’s pupils dilated. Her breath caught in her throat.

TL NOTE: Visit and bookmark the story at dusk blossoms for more advanced chapters and updates of its latest release.