Perhaps because they were at such a high altitude, Selina was short of breath.

Because of that, she wondered if what she was seeing was a hallucination, one of those apparitions that people claim to see when their body is in poor condition.

Maybe he thought the same.

The man, who had a bewildered expression on his face, took one step after another until he was standing right in front of her.

“Selina.”

Calix pulled her into his arms. His face was drained of color. In the cold mountain air, she was enveloped in his warmth and familiar scent.

‘It’s not a hallucination.’

Selina clutched tightly at the arms wrapped around her.

“I—I thought you’d gone ahead of me. I definitely saw you climbing up there… but I don’t understand why you came up from below instead……”

Her thoughts were in disarray.

Although he had been far away, no more than a dot in the distance, his large build was unmistakable. She was sure it was Calix.

Could that really have been an illusion?

“Selina. Why are you here?”

“I—I…… the reason I came all this way is……”

His eyes were full of questions. Seeing him again was overwhelming enough that she couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

There was so much she needed to tell him that she didn’t know where to begin.

Clinging to him was the only thing she could do.

“You—you can’t go up there. If you do, something terrible will happen. We have to leave. We have to get away from here……”

She wanted to tell him that they had to leave Lumos Gorge and find somewhere safer — anywhere but here.

But her tears kept spilling over.

She felt frustrated and pathetic, unable to properly convey something so important.

“Lift your face.”

Calix gently lifted her chin.

He was probably about to tell her to stop stammering, to stop being so pitiful and speak clearly. He was nothing like the Marquis, who had hit her for displaying weakness. Nevertheless, Selina was certain that Calix would also think her foolish in this state.

Just as she finally managed to swallow back her sobs and tried to continue—

“…Who did this to you.”

He was furious—for a reason she had never expected.

“W-what… do you mean……?”

“Your face.”

His eyes, chilled to a frightening calm, traced her features. Only then did Selina cautiously raise a hand to her face. She felt a sharp pain where she touched it — it must have been scratched by the branches she had brushed against while climbing the mountain.

“Ah… I think these are cuts from climbing up the slope.”

“No. Not those.”

Calix extended a long finger and gently touched her swollen cheek. The moment his warmth touched her skin, the pain flared up sharply.

Only then did she realize why.

The Marquis had slapped her the previous day, and the swelling had not yet subsided.

“This is…”

After a brief hesitation, Selina made her decision and spoke.

“My father hit me. That’s why my cheek is swollen.”

“…What?”

As if he had never anticipated such an answer, Calix’s eyes widened. But there were still several truths left that would shock him even more.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

Selina took a deep breath and explained why she had travelled so far.

She told him how the Marquis had forced her to write the letter.

She revealed that the Marquis had lured Calix to Lumos Gorge in order to set a trap for him.

She also revealed that Lady Lily was the Marquis’s subordinate.

After laying out all the information that threatened Calix’s safety, Selina swallowed dryly.

There was still one crucial thing she had not said.

‘…I have to tell him that I, too, was a danger to you.’

The moment she revealed it, the tender gaze she had become used to would freeze over. Being hated by Calix frightened her more than death itself. But now, there was no longer any room to hide.

“And lastly, there’s something else I need to tell you—”

She was just about to reveal the truth of her own identity when—

“…So that’s how it was.”

Having heard her entire account, Calix nodded slowly and murmured.

“D-did you already… suspect something?”

“No. No matter how perceptive I am, I couldn’t have seen that coming.”

He slowly ran a hand along his sharply defined jaw as he spoke.

“There was someone I’d been looking for. I wondered where they were hiding—turns out they’d chosen to side with the Empire.”

When Calix heard reports that Richardt’s people were gathering along the border, he suspected that Eclipse might be the one rallying them. Contrary to his expectations, however, they showed no sign of knowing anything about Eclipse.

There was, however, one thing they all had in common.

Every last one of them harbored resentment towards Thalia.

‘The kind of man who would sell his country to the Empire without a moment’s hesitation, if given the chance.’

This wasn’t mere speculation. Traces that appeared to belong to Imperial soldiers had actually been discovered near the border. Initially, Calix thought the Empire was using Richardt’s name as an excuse to destabilize Thalia.

However, Selina’s words had now provided him with a crucial clue.

‘The marquis knew about Lumos Gorge.’

Firstly, Calix had never received the letter that was supposedly sent by the Marquis. He could not say whether he had crossed paths with the courier en route or if something else had gone wrong. However, there was another reason why he had come to this gorge.

A reason directly related to his fatal weakness.

Only one person knew exactly what procedures had to be carried out at Lumos Gorge: Calix Silas, the man who had inherited the Sun God.

Even if they did not know the precise ritual, a few people understood that the place itself was essential. These people were members of the Grand Ducal Line, the bloodline of the Duke.

‘Among those who know Lumos Gorge is tied to my weakness, the only survivors are Calliope and Eclipse.’

No matter how much Calliope snarled at her whenever they crossed paths, she would never sell information to the Marquis.

This left only one possible conclusion.

‘Eclipse is still alive.’

And Selina had also said that Lady Lily had cooperated with the marquis.

‘If Eclipse’s nurse were still alive… would she be about that age now?’

The scattered pieces that had never quite aligned were slowly falling into place.

While it was disgusting to realize that insiders at Thalia had been working with the Empire, knowing the truth brought a strange sense of clarity.

“I’m sorry… I put you in danger…….”

Selina, unaware of the storm raging within him, could only cling to his chest and sob.

‘Do you have any idea?’

‘At this very moment—more than Lady Lily, who betrayed you; more than Eclipse, who abandoned Thalia to side with the Empire; more than the marquis who dared to strike your cheek—’

‘He is the one I want to tear apart the most.’

Calix barely managed to rein in his emotions as he smoothed her hair.

“It’s all right.”

“I—I wrote the letter. I wrote something that put you in danger……”

“I didn’t receive any such letter.”

Even if he had, it wouldn’t have been her fault. It would have been nothing more than the doing of a deranged bastard.

“Th-then how did you end up coming all the way here……?”

“There was a reason I had to come. That’s all.”

When Selina realized that he hadn’t come because of her letter, her sobbing finally eased. Strangely enough, he felt as though he had seen his wife cry far more often than he had seen her smile.

There had been times when he had wanted to make her cry, but whenever he was confronted with tears as raw and wretched as these, he felt a painful twisting inside.

Like a five-year-old child thr*st into a crowd of strangers without ever having learned proper manners, he didn’t know how to calm or comfort the small woman trembling in his arms.

“Selina.”

There was only one thing he truly wanted to do.

He just wanted to put her at ease.

“When we return to Thalia, I’ll make sure everything is dealt with. So don’t cry like this. Nothing so grave has happened that warrants your tears. I won’t let it happen. So you can trust me. You can rest easy.”

“But not right now.”

Calix slowly patted her hair, pale as a snow-covered mountain peak.

“There’s a reason we have to stay here for fifteen days.”

The Day of the North Wind would begin at midnight tonight. For those fifteen days, there was a reason he had to remain in Lumos Gorge.

Because this place held the Heart of the Sun.

“So stay by my side until then.”

Calix had to remain in the Heart of the Sun until the Day of the North Wind was over. However, he had now decided to bring Selina inside with him.

He couldn’t bear to send her away alone and was desperate to have her by his side.

“Never reveal the Heart of the Sun to anyone.”

At that moment, words once spoken by an unseen presence resurfaced in his mind.

Long ago—before he had even understood who he was—that voice had echoed within him. Much later, Calix came to realize that it belonged to the Sun God, the very being who had granted him his power.

That presence had issued a warning.

“Never reveal the Heart of the Sun to anyone.”
“A god who removes their heart is destined to die.”

That was why Calix had never spoken of its existence—not to anyone.

But if that person were Selina, there was no reason to fear.

The warning about dying after removing one’s heart applied only to the Sun God himself. Calix was not a god.

So there was no possibility that such a fate would befall him now.