Having burned his past to the ground and reduced himself to a charred corpse, Calix continued to live as Callios.

Under the pretense of ‘cleansing’ the ruined land of Thalia, he enlisted in the newly formed army created for that purpose. From the moment he enlisted, he placed himself at the forefront of every campaign.

However, the army was not sent to eradicate the remnants of Thalia’s forces, but rather the monsters that had begun to multiply at an alarming rate.

Following the Day of the North Wind, Thalia had become infested with them. At first, they appeared only in remote areas. But as time passed, they crept closer and eventually encroached upon civilian settlements. It was as though they believed there was nothing left to fear, no presence watching over them.

Monsters were said to fear the Sun God.

Perhaps this was happening because Calix, who had inherited the Sun God’s power, was now living as an ordinary man and keeping his strength tightly sealed away.

In the end, it was a relief. No matter how much he needed to win Marquis Bryson’s favor, he would not have been able to stomach endangering his own people for the sake of his goal.

“He looks like he’s got a death wish.”

The soldiers said this in unison as they watched Callios fighting on the front line. Thanks to his efforts, the once-terrifying casualty rate had plummeted.

They were concerned about him and how recklessly he threw himself forward, seemingly offering up his life.

And yet, they were grateful.

If he had not fought like that, they might have died instead.

“I just thought of the monsters as Thalian scum.”

That was the lie Callios told them all. He made it seem as though his desperate fighting was motivated purely by hatred for Thalia.

“Where the hell did that guy come from? His skills are insane.”

“I heard he was trapped in an underground labyrinth. Apparently it was a real hellhole. Maybe that’s why his hatred for Thalia runs even deeper than ours.”

The more he took the lead, the more his name spread among the soldiers. Rumors travelled fast, and he believed it was only a matter of time before they reached Marquis Bryson’s ears.

Yet, despite everything going smoothly, there was one thing that continued to tighten around his throat, refusing to let up.

The nights were too long.

“…Calix.”

Whenever he closed his eyes, her pale, damned face appeared.

When Selina first appeared in his dreams, he thought she would mock him for being deceived. But she did something far worse in his dreams.

“Calix… hic…”

If only she had laughed brightly at him!

Then he could have told himself that he was just a man who was still trapped in the past and unable to let go.

But she didn’t laugh.

She cried.

Whenever she appeared in his dreams, she just called his name and wept endlessly. She never spoke to him beyond that.

Although it was only a dream, Calix believed that turning away from her was the only revenge he had left. Yet at some point, the dreams began to change.

Usually, Selina would appear only to cry, then vanish. But that day was different. The Selina who had been sobbing uncontrollably suddenly started walking somewhere.

She was heading towards the lakeshore.

There was not a breath of wind. It was utterly still. Yet the water was so deep that it appeared pitch black.

Selina stepped into it of her own accord.

One step.

Then another.

Each time she moved forward, Calix forced himself to look away.

If she chose to throw herself in and die, that would be for the best. It would spare him the trouble of staining his own hands with blood.

That’s what he told himself, at least.

He told himself that he should not care what became of a woman who had betrayed him.

He repeated this to himself again and again.

“Are you insane?!”

In the end, Calix could not turn away. He plunged in and dragged Selina back onto the shore.

“If you’re going to die, do it somewhere I don’t know. Don’t show up in front of me and twist me up like this.”

Soaked to the bone, she lifted her big eyes and looked at him.

When their gazes met, she stared blankly for a moment, then broke into a soft, foolish smile.

“I love you.”

The hands that gripped the back of his neck felt so real that he gasped.

Calix jolted awake with a gasp.

Although his body was in the barracks, he was drenched in sweat as though he had just returned from the lakeshore.

“Crazy bastard.”

He muttered the curse under his breath.

This was not the kind of dream you have about someone you despise.

The urge to hold Selina as she clung to his neck felt so real that it was almost as if it had happened in real life.

This was not what he wanted.

He had to hate Selina.

Only by feeding that hatred, stoking it again and again, could he ever hope to take revenge on those who had destroyed Thalia and slaughtered his loved ones.

“Crazy bastard.”

Swearing again, he took a knife out of his pocket and stabbed his hand — the same hand that had foolishly grabbed Selina, even in his dreams.

Blood dripped thickly from the wound. But before long, the wound had healed, leaving no trace.

It was as if Selina herself were whispering that her hatred would disappear just as easily.

_

Calix decided that avoiding Selina altogether would be best until he drew closer to his objective.

However, when he encountered an enormous, unforeseen obstacle, he had to change his plans slightly.

If he couldn’t avoid it, it was better to make full use of it.

“Please take good care of me, Sir Callios.”

As if someone were playing a cruel joke, he found himself facing Selina once more.

‘I trust you quite a bit. And in return for that trust, I’d like you to take on another task.’

The newly elevated Marquis Bryson issued his command: Calix was to remain at Selina’s side and keep watch over her.

Having previously hunted monsters, Calix was now assigned to the Knights of the Sun — the same order to which Selina belonged — and charged with observing her every move.

The Selina he encountered again was nothing like the woman he remembered.

She addressed him with impeccable formality, yet she was cold and distant, always maintaining a careful distance. At times, she even seemed intoxicated by authority. Entrusted with eliminating or persuading the remnants of Thalia’s forces, she appeared determined to follow her father’s will to the letter. She exhausted herself trying to coax them into submission rather than destroy them outright.

There were days when she skipped meals entirely, devoting herself wholly to that task.

Sometimes, he was left uncertain, unable to tell what she truly thought or how far she was willing to go.

‘Could it be that she’s going this far to spare the Thalian soldiers…?’

‘…That can’t be.’

Yet there was something else that unsettled him.

She acted as though he were free to monitor her every move. Strangely enough, however, it seemed to Calix as though she were using that surveillance to evade the duke’s notice. At the moments that truly mattered, she would quietly evade his gaze, to the extent that he often found himself struggling just to keep up with her.

“You said you were going to rest.”

Today was one of those days.

Selina, who said she was going to rest and stayed inside the barracks for a long time, finally appeared. He had never expected her to stay put in the first place, which is why he had been keeping watch nearby. Nevertheless, she seemed unusually agitated today.

“I heard a troubling rumor, so I’m going out to scout.”

“At this hour?”

“They say some Thalian remnants have escaped. The later it gets, the harder they’ll be to track.”

So that was what she wanted after all.

She seemed to be clawing her way upwards, blinded by ambition and desperate for power.

A sudden question crossed his mind: When had Selina changed so much? Or had this always been her true nature?

‘So what if she has.’

Calix decided to stop thinking about her. For now, deliberately shutting Selina out of his thoughts was the wisest way to suppress his emotions.

If he failed, he might do something insane in front of everyone, fueled by his hatred for her. He could grab her by the throat and kill her right now if he wanted to.

…But not yet.

‘Becoming one of Duke Bryson’s closest aides is, in a way, thanks to being assigned as Selina’s watcher.’

Which meant he still could not kill her. She needed to live longer—long enough to become the final target of his revenge.

“I’ll accompany you.”

And yet, when the moment actually arrived, the thought that he could kill Selina at any time stubbornly refused to surface.

This occurred when he lost control and allowed his emotions to spill out after Selina was injured in the Black Forest.

“Forget the apology—just see if there’s any antidote herb nearby.”

He accepted her transparent request without hesitation.

He could have left her to die.

After all, he could have let her disappear on her own.

Instead, he chose to enter a building teeming with slave traders in order to rescue her.

And now—

“H—huff… huff. We’re outside!”
“W-we lived!”

Those trapped in the basement fled desperately towards the exit, driven only by their will to survive. Meanwhile, Callios stepped back into the smoke-filled room.

‘It’s not time for her to die yet. She must not be allowed to die yet.’

He told himself repeatedly that Selina had to live, both because her time to die had not yet come and because she still had something to offer.

“Cough, cough—!”

Pushing his way through the blinding smoke, Callios found her lying on the floor. He picked her up and left the basement.

At first, she coughed faintly. Then, little by little, she grew still.

Had she inhaled too much smoke?

It felt as though she was barely breathing.

Callios carried her outside and laid her down on the ground.

‘I told you it’s not time for you to die yet.’

He tore open her outer garments and pressed down on her chest.

Leaning in, he then sealed his lips over hers and blew air into her lungs.

“Thank you for saving my fiancée, Sir Callios.”

Waldemar’s nauseating voice drifted down from above.