Selina chose to stay by Calix’s side for a little while longer.

She told herself that she would only stay until the Day of the North Wind had passed or until Calix opened his eyes. Afterwards, she would quietly disappear. However, once she allowed herself one selfish indulgence, she realized that she could no longer bring herself to let go of her wish to stay with him just a little while longer.

Just one more day. Then another.

She kept delaying her departure like that. As she never stepped outside, she had no way of knowing how much time had truly passed. All she could do was guess: perhaps three days, or maybe more than a week.

‘Just a little longer…’

Selina prayed as she gently fanned Calix’s face, still burning with fever.

‘There should still be about a week left before the Day of the North Wind ends. So if I stay just five more days… then I can leave.’

Although she seemed to be making excuses for herself, she still wanted to spend more time with him, even if only in this way.

‘The fever still isn’t going down.’

She pressed her hand to his forehead, but it was still burning hot. Had the fever never eased at all during the Day of the North Wind?

Calix rarely frowned unless he was deeply displeased; yet now, his expression was tightly drawn and contorted with unmistakable pain.

What troubled her even more was that ever since he seized Selina’s arm on the first day, he had not opened his eyes once, remaining in the same position.

To wield power that rivalled a god’s, he had paid a price equal to it, enduring this agony year after year.

“…I wish you didn’t have to suffer so much.”

Selina murmured her fragile wish. She thought that she might finally understand what it meant to want to suffer in someone else’s place. Seeing him in so much pain made her heart ache.

Despite knowing it would probably be ineffective, she continued to fan his forehead.

Suddenly, as if struck by lightning, she felt a sharp pain in her chest.

Her hand stopped mid-motion. Selina clutched her chest and exhaled sharply.

She drew in a breath, then tried to release it slowly.

Guh—

“Cough…!”

Dark red blood burst forth. She managed to cover her mouth in time, stopping it from spilling onto the floor. Instead, it trickled between her fingers, staining her clothes a deep crimson color.

Selina hurriedly wiped away the remaining blood with her sleeve. Like someone out of their senses, she wiped her mouth clean and glanced around to see if anything had fallen.

The surroundings were spotless — there was not a trace of blood in sight.

‘Thank goodness.’

Fortunately, she had managed to avoid leaving any traces of Calix’s presence. She could only imagine how shaken he would be if he came to and saw the blood.

“I’m… really glad… I didn’t let that happen… hic…”

Selina collapsed to the floor, seemingly having lost all her strength.

When he woke, there would be no trace of the blood she had coughed up. But she would no longer be at his side.

‘Can that really be called fortunate?’

She could not even return to the past—when she still believed that she might one day meet Calix again.

‘Because from now on, I’ll never be able to see Calix again.’

The only consolation she could cling to was that, unlike the others, her ‘forever’ would not be very long.

While others would live on for decades at least, Selina probably only had a few months left.

She had realized the truth the moment she vomited blood. This was a side effect of being unable to take the antidote — proof that her body was already seriously ill.

‘There’s no chance I’ll survive.’

This meant that she would never be able to live with him, and would be condemned to spend her whole life longing for Calix.

Selina brushed her hand along his cheek.

The warmth beneath her fingertips felt so real that she almost believed she might wake up in his arms again the next morning.

And yet, it was unbearably hard to accept that everything she had clung to so desperately might have been nothing more than shallow snow, destined to melt without leaving a trace.

She remained on the floor, sobbing.

Only after a long while—when she felt so drained she could barely endure it—did she finally come to her senses and force herself to stand.

‘I have to leave before it’s too late.’

She wondered if she might be able to preserve this seemingly insignificant life for a few more weeks, but there was also a real chance that she would not succeed. The repeated waves of nausea made it clear that her condition was far from stable.

She had to leave Calix’s side as soon as possible.

Selina took out the cravat she had brought with her to Lumos Gorge. Then she picked one of the red fruits hanging from the vines and squeezed out its juice.

She pressed the words she wanted to leave for him firmly onto the white fabric.

[Calix, I’m sorry for deceiving you all this time. The Marquis ordered me to find out what your weakness is. But rest assured that I will never reveal it to anyone. I hope you always stay healthy.]

She could not bring herself to write that she loved him, or that she had waited for him for so long.

To leave words like that behind, when she was someone betraying him and leaving, felt like nothing but mockery.

‘Please, always remain healthy.’

Selina pressed her lips against his and offered up a final prayer before turning away.

The moment she stepped out of the chamber, a strange sound echoed through the air and it shifted around her. The gentle warmth that had seemed to cradle the space like sunlight vanished, replaced by a biting cold that clung to her skin.

When she looked back, all she could see was the same dense darkness that had greeted her on entry.

It was as though the space no longer recognized her as a guest now that she had left Calix’s side.

‘It’s time to go.’

Being treated like an outsider was almost a relief. It gave her an excuse to hurry up and put as much distance as possible between herself and this place.

Selina climbed the long, seemingly endless staircase. Once again, it rose so high that no matter how far she walked, there was no sign of an end. An eerie wind howled like the breath of the dead, seeping into her bones and filling her with dread. The fear that had not consumed her when she first arrived, because Calix had been with her, slowly crept in now, tightening its grip around her heart.

‘It’s okay. I’m almost there.’

After what felt like an eternity, she finally spotted a faint light filtering through a narrow gap above her.

As she took the final step, a deep rumble sounded and the tightly sealed exit began to open inch by inch.

‘…Good heavens.’

The sight that greeted her outside the Heart of the Sun left her momentarily dazed.

The mountain, which had been lush and green when she arrived, had been completely transformed — it was now blanketed in white snow. Despite the thick snow already piled high, large snowflakes continued to fall steadily from the sky.

‘So this is the Day of the North Wind.’

She felt the cold wrap around her body just as she was about to take a step forward—

Rustle.

She heard something moving through the undergrowth.

A sense of foreboding raced through her veins. Everything around her was buried under snow, except for one patch of dense shrubs where the snow lay unevenly, as though deliberately brushed aside.

Selina instinctively took a step back.

“Now! Go in!”

Soldiers burst out from behind the bushes. There were more than a dozen of them.

‘How…? How did they know to be here?’

Her thoughts went blank, but she could not allow them to pass unchallenged.

“Stay back!!”

Selina shouted at the advancing soldiers. Without any weapons to hand, she could only scoop up the snow at her feet and throw it at them.

This should not have been enough to stop them, but, fortunately, they halted at the sound of her cry.

For a moment, Selina wondered if they had truly obeyed her command to stand down.

“…You took longer than I expected, my lady.”

A familiar voice echoed behind her.

It felt as though every hair on her body had prickled up. Selina slowly turned her head.

Standing there was a man dressed in black with jet-black hair — the Grim Reaper incarnate.

“It’s been a while. Since we last met on the day the North Wind began… I suppose it’s been twelve days.”

Waldemar.

A man who always carried an unsettling presence whenever their paths crossed.

“Why are you here…?”

At her question, he burst into laughter, as though thoroughly amused.

“Is that truly all you’re curious about, my lady?”

Beneath the oily laugh, his vile intentions showed through.

“D-don’t touch His Grace.”

Selina tried to block his path—but in an instant, Waldemar pulled her roughly into his grasp.

“I’m afraid that isn’t for you to decide, my lady. That choice belongs to me.”

“What…?”

Waldemar’s expression hardened into cold steel as he issued an order to the soldiers.

“Go inside and kill Calix.”

“Yes!”

“Whoever brings back proof of his death—his head, perhaps—will be richly rewarded.”

Howling with excitement at the prospect of a great reward, the soldiers rushed downward. Selina struggled desperately in Waldemar’s grip. She bit the arm holding her and screamed.

“Let me go! Stop this right now! Do you really think you can kill Calix?! That will never—”

Thud.

Waldemar raised the hilt of his sword and struck her lightly across the neck. Selina lost consciousness instantly.

“My lady suits silence best.”

He murmured with a satisfied smile.

“It’s time I reclaimed everything that should have been mine from the beginning.”

***

After that, Valdemar and the Marquis infiltrated the Grand Ducal Castle.

They had planted a spy there long ago, so slipping inside without arousing suspicion was easy.

They retrieved the hidden seal of the Silas grand ducal house and used it to send letters to high-ranking nobles and the commanders of the knightly orders. The messages claimed that Imperial troops had crossed the border and that Thalia was in imminent danger. They urged the recipients to return to the castle at once to deliberate on the crisis.

Those who received the letters assumed that His Grace’s early return, before the Day of the North Wind had ended, was due to this sudden imperial incursion. One by one, they arrived at the castle. One by one, they were cut down by assassins lying in wait and slain in a single, merciless strike.

This marked the beginning of the hellish calamity that would later become known as the Blood-Stained Three Days.