Chapter 1 – Eight Years Ago, Biorettia

A passenger ship heading north from the southernmost part of the Western Empire. Once a luxury cruise ship, it had been converted into a warship during the war, and after the war ended, it became a passenger ship again, bustling with people returning to their hometowns. The aftermath of the war had not yet faded, so people’s clothes were shabby, but their faces were all bright. Even their gaunt cheeks and wrinkled foreheads shone with hope for a bright future.

Charlotte, who had just become an adult but still had the blush of youth on her cheeks, was no different. The traces left by the war in her life were cruel, but her future was so wide open that she could not live buried in terrible memories. Moreover, Charlotte was the owner of an untainted soul, able to rejoice over a warm bowl of potato soup. At least, she was like that when she was eighteen.

“Wow, it looks delicious. It’s steaming hot.” 

She cooled her potato soup mixed with croutons and cheese, salivating. It was her first meal after suffering severe seasickness all day. Just half a day earlier, all the passengers had been clinging to the railings, eager to empty their stomachs. Now, they gathered in groups, sharing joyful news.

A little while ago, after stopping at a port near the capital, Ivernia, the story of Duke Christian Eponhart had become the talk of the ship.

“Did you read the newspaper? Duke Christian Eponhart will be granted the Grand Duke title in three days, in recognition of his achievements in the war.”  

“Buried under piles of corpses, the butcher who ended the twelve-year war that swept across the Ardalea continent—a war hero. What a sensational headline.”  

“He deserves it. He reduced Dalteum to ashes and forced three kingdoms to submit.”  

“To think he accomplished such a feat at the age of twenty. Isn’t he incomparable to the Crown Prince, who was shot and crippled in just one battle?”  

“Exactly. What does the Duke look like? The newspaper only showed his back, so there’s no way to confirm.”

At that moment, a large man pushed through a group of giggling girls and entered the dining car. He was clearly handsome, as if sculpted, but his fierce expression and shabby attire kept his looks from shining.

Thud—!  

“Ah!”  

A girl stumbled backward after bumping into the man’s broad shoulder. She wanted to snap at him to apologize, but his massive size made it difficult even to speak.

‘What’s going on?’  

Charlotte stopped eating her potato soup and turned her gaze to the entrance of the dining car. The man, a head taller and twice as broad as anyone else, was wandering the dining car as if searching for a lost child. Wherever he passed, food spilled and dishes broke. At first, she thought he might be drunk, but he didn’t seem so.

The face of the troublemaker was remarkably calm. His movements were as precise as a well-trained soldier executing a mission, with not a single wasted motion.

The man’s steps gradually moved deeper into the dining car, and even Charlotte, who sat farthest from the entrance, could no longer feel safe. Charlotte, startled by the sudden commotion, froze in her seat. Only her round eyes moved, observing the situation. For some reason, the man was approaching her.

‘Is he really coming this way?’  

Just as she tried to rise stiffly to avoid an unpleasant situation, her eyes met the man’s.

“……!”  

His jet-black, bullet-like eyes sparkled as if he had found his target.

Shot by that chilling gaze, Charlotte instinctively drew in a sharp breath. She felt like a deer caught hiding from a wolf.

She tried hard to keep her head down, pretending not to notice him. Stirring her potato soup with a calm face, a deep shadow suddenly fell across her table.

‘No way, it can’t be.’  

Charlotte swallowed dryly and lifted her slender neck. Unfortunately, ominous premonitions always proved true.

‘…Oh no.’  

As expected, the source of the commotion was sitting right across from Charlotte, wearing a very menacing expression.

‘Who is this person?’  

Charlotte’s glass-like blue eyes shimmered up and down, sparkling like a sea touched by sunlight. They were clear, lake-like eyes, unique to northerners and rarely seen in the Western Empire.

Confused by the situation, Charlotte’s mind was in chaos. Why did he sit here? Why was he staring at her without saying a word? All sorts of thoughts swirled under her tongue.

She was just stirring her potato soup, but her hand, moving out of habit, suddenly slipped.

Splash—  

White soup flew through the air and splattered onto the shabby man’s clothes. Instead of an apology, a hiccup popped out of Charlotte’s surprised mouth.

“Hic!”  

Charlotte covered her mouth tightly with her right hand, staring blankly at the soup trickling down the man’s chest. But the man seemed entirely unaware that anything had splashed on him.

Charlotte bit her lips and offered an apology first.  

“I’m sorry. Please use this to wipe it off.”  

She took out a white handkerchief with lace and handed it to him. But he only stared blankly at the handkerchief.

‘Why isn’t he taking it?’  

The awkward standoff continued. Frustrated, Charlotte took action herself.

Her smooth fingertips boldly reached forward. She leaned in and wiped the soup from the faded fabric of his clothes.

Swipe, swish, her nimble touch made the man’s body twitch. Under perfectly chiseled muscles, his lively heart beat fiercely.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.  

The heartbeat was loud enough to be heard outside.

‘Do big men have big heartbeats too?’  

Charlotte wondered as she retrieved the soup-stained handkerchief. There were still some marks left, but a wash would easily remove them.

“It’s all clean now. I’m sorry. I’ll get up now.”  

She tried to seize the chance and hurriedly leave, but the man suddenly asked a question in a terribly low voice.

“Have we met somewhere before?”  

“……?”  

Charlotte tilted her head. It was obviously a pick-up line, but it didn’t sound like one.

‘Do I know him? He seemed to be searching for someone earlier. Could he have been looking for me?’  

She looked closely at the dangerous stranger with a serious expression. His handsome face, previously hidden by his fierce impression, now stood out.

Under his short black hair, his forehead was straight, his nose was slender, and his jawline was elegantly sharp, as if sculpted with a blade, perfectly formed but devoid of humanity. On the other hand, his deep-set eyes and full lips were as alluring as a painting filled with countless stories.

‘I’ve never seen anyone like him before.’  

Charlotte was sure she’d never met this man. She’d never forget a face that would leave an afterimage even with her eyes closed.

“I don’t think we’ve met.”  

“Then what’s this smell?”  

“Wh-what smell?”  

“Freesia. The scent of freesia flowers.”

Suddenly, flowers?  

Charlotte sniffed herself in confusion. She hadn’t even sprayed perfume, and her hair didn’t smell of flowers or anything at all.

‘Is he really hitting on me? With that expression?’  

Men usually approached with a cheesy smile and poured out lines when flirting. Saying she smelled like flowers was a cliché, but the man in front of her didn’t seem to be flirting.

His eyes were utterly serious and desperate, without a hint of falsehood.

‘Why is he acting like this? Is he sick or something?’  

Now that the war had just ended, there were as many patients suffering aftereffects as there were houses. Especially those who had lost loved ones and suffered hallucinations or delusions—they were everywhere. So it wasn’t strange for someone to be suffering aftereffects.

With this thought, Charlotte’s wariness toward the man eased a little. He really seemed like someone desperately searching for someone lost.

‘That could be it. Maybe he’s not strange, just sick.’  

Charlotte, with her compassionate nature, tried to understand him. Thinking this way, he didn’t seem so scary anymore.

She answered the man with an embarrassed smile.  

“Sorry, but I don’t think I’m the person you’re looking for. I’ll get up first.”  

But the suspicious man didn’t let Charlotte go so easily.

“What’s your name?”  

“My name?”  

Charlotte was about to honestly say ‘Charlotte Robinson,’ but then remembered her name had changed to ‘Charlotte Roimond.’ The new name still felt unfamiliar.

Then she realized she didn’t need to reveal her real name to a stranger she’d never see again. So Charlotte decided to borrow her old dorm roommate’s name for a moment.

“Mary. Mary Robinson.”  

It sounded rather old-fashioned. Combining the ancient name ‘Mary’ with the common surname ‘Robinson’ made it an unremarkable name.

“Mary…Mary Robinson…”  

But the man repeated the common, old-fashioned name several times, as if hearing it for the first time.

He seemed like a child learning to speak, and Charlotte’s wariness eased even more.

He seemed just sick, not bad. If he were truly bad, he’d use the soup on his clothes as an excuse to extort money, but he didn’t seem to have any such intention.

Perhaps because of that, a bit of curiosity stirred in her innocent heart.

“How about you?”  

“……?”  

“Your name. What’s your name?”  

“Chris.”  

“Chris? And your surname?”  

“…….”  

Charlotte closed her mouth. Her face clearly showed she’d made a mistake.

‘Shouldn’t have asked. He might not have a surname.’

These days, even the middle class had surnames, but the lower class still didn’t. Charlotte guessed Chris’s class from his shabby shirt and rough vest—he was surely a laborer, living day to day. His casual speech also matched the laborer class.

Of course, Charlotte herself was dressed plainly in a gray tailored jacket and a hobble skirt without any lace, but her luggage was full of fancy, expensive clothes. She’d chosen her oldest clothes, remembering advice that wearing nice clothes on a passenger ship would make her a target for pickpockets.