“Step back.”

Callios immediately drew his sword and struck the doorknob. The handle crumpled under the force of the blow, causing the tightly locked door to creak open.

Selina couldn’t even bring herself to thank him. She pushed the door open and rushed inside.

It was pitch dark, not a single ray of light reaching inside. Damp air clung heavily to the space, thick with the stench of mould. Mixed into that musty odor was the metallic tang of blood.

In the center of the room, someone was bound in chains.

“Ah…”

The empty chamber contained nothing but a single torch, and its dim light revealed the man’s condition.

His hair had grown long and tangled, falling down to his shoulders. His torn clothes were barely hanging onto his body. The skin visible through the ragged clothing was covered in wounds.

‘Please…’

Selina didn’t know whether she was praying for this wretched man to be Calix or not to be.

Unable to decide, she stepped closer.

The stench of blood and the acrid smell of drugs hit her full force as she took that step.

The man was shivering uncontrollably, even though it wasn’t cold. Selina carefully lifted his face.

In the deep darkness, his hair, caught in the torchlight, almost looked blonde.

But up close, it wasn’t blonde at all.

It was a pale brown.

‘…It’s not Calix.’

Selina’s hands fell limply to her sides.

Despite searching for Calix for such a long time, she still hadn’t found so much as a trace of him. Every time she thought she had finally discovered something meaningful, she was disappointed.

Just like this.

And yet, this time, she had dared to hope.

Alter’s siblings had said that Alter was here.

If Alter had stayed in this village, maybe Calix had too.

After all, the man imprisoned underground was said to have rare blonde hair.

They said that when coincidences piled up, they stopped being coincidences and became inevitability.

That was why she had hoped.

Just this once—maybe it would be different.

‘But this time, too… it wasn’t.’

Selina clenched her fists tightly.

She had no idea where to start looking for Calix.

After staring at the chained man for a long while, she finally forced herself to regain her composure. Turning to Callios, she spoke.

“We have to free him.”

He wasn’t Calix, but she couldn’t just leave him like this.

Searching through the mass of keys, she tried to find one that would unlock his shackles.

The man, who had been trembling as though he were seriously ill, forced himself to lift his head. After a moment, he murmured, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“…M-Madam?”

Selina slowly lowered her gaze to meet his.

Faded green eyes stared back at her from beneath his tangled hair.

In that instant, her body froze as though she had been struck by lightning. Her mind went completely blank, her heart began to pound wildly and she felt as though it might burst from her chest.

She knew him.

Though he had changed beyond recognition.

“Ah, Madam! Have you been well all this time? It is an infinite honor to serve you from now on!”
“It was my idea to add straw, Madam!”

Alter.

“…Y-you really… are Madam…?”

He asked in a voice on the verge of death.

“Yes. It’s me. I’m here….”

Alter used to have dark brown hair and vivid green eyes. Now, his hair had lost all its color, and the light had gone from his eyes. Judging by the way the slave traders had treated him, his body had wasted away alarmingly.

Who could have done this to him?

Selina continued to stroke his cheeks and brush his hair back. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what he must have endured.

“I’ll get you out now. Everything’s all right… so just a little longer….”

“Madam….”

“Just hold on a little longer.”

She continued sliding keys into the lock until one finally clicked into place with a sharp sound. Alter, freed from the shackles, collapsed weakly onto the floor.

“Y-you can get out of here. Just… just find a bit more strength. I’ll support you.”

She reached out to help him up—

“…Why did you do this?”

Alter murmured, avoiding her touch.

“It’s all right now. So first, let’s get out of here—”

Unable to hear his words, Selina reached out once more.

At that moment—

“Why… why?”

Alter, using his emaciated hands to brace himself against the ground, lurched to his feet and grabbed Selina by the arm.

“Why did you do it?! Why?!”

His anguished voice thundered through the basement. Tears welled in his eyes and his voice shook uncontrollably. The haze that had clouded his vision moments earlier had now disappeared, replaced by raw resentment.

“I—I…”

Selina was pulled forward by his grip and was unable to respond. Tears streamed endlessly down her face.

She had thought about who was responsible for what had happened to Alter.

But was it all her fault?

The exposure of Calix’s weakness?

The collapse of Thalia after losing its leader?

She had been at the root of it all.

“Why… why did you betray His Highness the Grand Duke… why…?”

Selina had never betrayed Calix. She would have given her life for him.

But that was a truth known only to her.

Regardless of her intentions, the world saw something else entirely.

Ultimately, Selina had contributed to Thalia’s downfall. She had played a part in the ruin of its people.

“A calamity, from the moment of birth.”

The ground beneath Selina seemed to give way.

She felt herself falling—plummeting endlessly into a bottomless abyss. A crushing pressure bore down on her entire body, making it hard to breathe.

And then—

Thud!

Alter, who looked ready to leap at Selina at any moment, collapsed unconscious onto the floor.

“It was getting too loud.”

Callios had struck Alter in the abdomen, knocking him out by force.

“N-no. Don’t—don’t hurt him. He hasn’t done anything wrong. You can’t harm him.”

When Callios moved toward Alter, Selina hurriedly stepped in front of him, shaking her head frantically.

In a voice stripped of warmth, he asked.

“Is this the man you came all this way to find?”

“No—it wasn’t him. I was looking for someone else. This man… I just found him by chance. I barely know him. He’s innocent. He—he has to be freed.”

She had no idea how Alter had ended up here.

But there was one thing she knew for certain.

She had to get him out of there and take him back to his siblings.

To achieve this, Alter’s identity as a former Thalian soldier could not be revealed.

She told lie after lie in an effort to save him, but Callios remained unmoved.

“For someone you claim not to know well, you certainly looked pleased to see him. You seemed close enough to grab him by the collar.”

As he muttered this, he straightened Selina’s disheveled collar.

“N-no, that’s not it. This man really is—”

“Be quiet and follow me. He shouted just now. I think our location may have been exposed.”

Hoisting the man over his shoulder, Callios exited the room.

Selina had been worried that he might harm Alter, but thankfully, it seemed Callios had not yet noticed Alter’s true identity.

‘He must never find out who Alter really is.’

Callios loathed Thalia. He had been one of the most outspoken figures when it came to driving the Thalian army out.

If someone like that were to discover Alter’s past, it would be the end of him that very day.

If he were lucky, he might escape with his life.

If not—

‘…No.’

For a moment, Selina imagined the blade of a guillotine descending sharply onto Alter’s neck.

She shook her head violently. As if punishing herself for having such a thought, she slapped her own cheek hard and hurried after Callios.

“P-please spare us! Please, have mercy!”

“You promised you would spare us!”

All the way out of the basement, the desperate cries of those trapped inside rang relentlessly in her ears.

The low, droning noise that had crushed her head grew louder—until it twisted into the roar of countless voices cheering.

“Kill the Thalian bastard!”
“Kill him!”
“Cut off his head!”

The memory of that day, when bloodthirsty crowds screamed as the guillotine fell, began to gnaw at Selina’s mind like a swarm of insects.

It was a memory she had locked away in an impenetrable chest, bound with iron chains and secured with a heavy padlock. But the moment she allowed herself to recall it, the resolve that had driven her to search for Calix felt as though it might shatter and collapse all at once.

That was why she had kept it sealed so tightly, never allowing herself to open it.

And yet, in this moment, the buried memories came rushing back like a tidal wave, overwhelming her.

“Just—”

Selina faltered, pressing a hand against the wall.

Seeing that she was struggling to keep up, Callios turned back and spoke sharply.

“Have you lost your senses? If you stand around dazed here, you may end up just like them.”

“…It should have been me instead.”

“What did you say?”

Noticing that something was clearly wrong with her, Callios turned fully toward her.

“I should have been the one who died.”

Selina was no longer in the basement.

_

A year ago, she had been standing in the square in the imperial capital before the guillotine that had been erected in its center.

A vast crowd had gathered around it, eagerly awaiting the horrific event about to unfold.

Wrapped in a robe, Selina watched the scene unfold in secret.

That day was the scheduled execution of Rocheste.