“Aaaaagh!”

Her steps halted abruptly at the sharp scream coming from nearby.

Ellen instinctively hid behind a tree, looking around, then froze like ice when she confirmed the scene before her eyes.

‘……His Majesty!’

The pure white snow field gradually turned red with blood flowing down the sword.

When the Emperor swung his sword without hesitation, the sharp blade pierced his opponent precisely. Not a single person escaped that blade.

“Aaaagh. P-please spare me. I was wrong. We didn’t knowingly hide her. She just said she wanted to live here with an innocent face…… We only did it for a small payment.”

“Is that so.”

He raised the corner of his mouth dizzily. It was an exquisite smile that didn’t suit the creator of such a cruel scene.

“Yes. That’s right. So please, just my life, ugh.”

Plop plop.

A red stream gushed along the sword that had penetrated the abdomen. White steam rose over the hot blood spilled onto the cold snow. The smell of blood reverberated all around as a blizzard whirled through.

‘In the end, I’ve been discovered……’

Ellen covered her mouth as she looked at the people sprawled in the snow. Then she barely opened her eyes, frozen from the cold, and stared at him.

Under hair darker than the deep night sky, red eyes reminiscent of noble jewels glowed seductively. Sharp nose lines cast distinct shadows on white skin where no flaws existed.

Leonid Del Raphae.

He was a tyrant who would go down in the history of the Cavern Empire. Taking advantage of his father, the former emperor’s critical illness, he eliminated all his siblings and ascended to the imperial throne.

Even after his coronation, Leonid didn’t stop the purges, and only after half the imperial nobles’ heads had flown did he end the bloody storm.

Afterward, he ostentatiously created a harem and brought countless women into the imperial palace.

That was the beginning of all misfortune.

Despite the numerous women in his harem, Ellen was the only one he took to his bed, and because of this, the harem women’s fierce jealousy poured onto Ellen.

But what was more painful than that was the Emperor’s obsessive fixation that only desired her body. She desperately wanted him even though she knew that the intense relationship that burned her body couldn’t possibly be love, hoping it would lead to something more.

The more she loved Leonid, the more painful it became. She had to get away from him to survive. Only then did it seem she could breathe.

It had already been a year since she escaped like that.

Ellen hid behind a tree and pulled her hood down low.

Her chest ached as she recalled the days she had struggled through in his harem.

She needed to flee quickly. His patience had likely run out long ago, so if she were caught now, she truly had no idea what would happen to her.

‘He would probably kill me too, like them.’

Fear gripped her entire body. Those men were from a dark organization who would do anything for money, committing unspeakable acts like m*rder and robbery.

The only reason they had left Ellen alone was for one reason—the Illiard Guild.

One year ago, when escaping from the harem and fleeing the palace, Ellen had sold the jewels the Emperor had given her to hire the Illiard Guild. Though their fees were expensive, their handling of tasks, confidentiality, and information network were considerable. They had the necessary power too.

But……

When the Emperor learned of Ellen’s disappearance, he deployed the Imperial Guard, the Emperor’s Knights, and even the Confidential Reconnaissance Unit.

Knowing his obsessive madness well, she never expected to be sent away peacefully, but to think he would deploy enough military force to wipe out a small territory just to catch one woman.

In the face of such military might, neither information nor funds were of any use.

Eventually, after fleeing through various regions, she reached the northern edge of the Empire and received a referral from the guild to these people for accommodation. Since only dark organizations had residences here, there was no choice.

‘There was nowhere else to run……’

All she wanted was to live peacefully somewhere outside his harem, but to witness such a horrific scene.

Ellen clutched the bag of groceries tightly with trembling hands.

If she hadn’t gone to the neighboring village to buy food, she would have been caught helplessly. The thought sent fear washing over her.

“……Haah.”

The dried-up shrubs surrounding her swayed grotesquely in the fierce wind. It was a bitter cold that felt like it would strip the flesh from her bones.

Her robed body trembled violently. Ellen couldn’t tell if it was from the extreme cold or from fear.

She had been in danger of being caught while fleeing several times, but this was the first time she had encountered him directly.

“Ellen.”

Leonid called her name as he thrust his sharp sword into the snow. His beast-like solid body was revealed between the fluttering coat. He exhaled hot white breath through lips redder than the blood staining the snow.

Ellen instinctively stepped backward.

‘I can’t lose my mind here.’

Ellen hid behind a tree and pressed her hood down deeply.

“Your Majesty. It seems they don’t know the whereabouts of Lady Ellen.”

“They merely provided shelter in this remote mountain village for payment?”

“Yes. It seems there was no other interaction beyond providing accommodation.”

“I can’t lose her after coming this far. So find her quickly.”

With a bewitchingly attractive smile, he pointed at the cold corpses with his blood-dripping sword.

“If you can’t find her this time, I’ll make everyone end up like this.”

“By your command! We will find her promptly and bring her before Your Majesty.”

“Who said anything about bringing her?”

“Pardon?”

Madness flashed in his beautiful eyes. It was that same look she had faced countless times before she fled.

“Only I can touch Ellen. Do you dare to lay hands on the Emperor’s woman?”

“N-no, not at all. I misspoke. P-please forgive me……”

The knight knelt in the snow and begged for forgiveness under Leonid’s fierce pressure.

“If you want such forgiveness, you should show it through actions, shouldn’t you?”

“I-I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

Led by the man, the knights dispersed around the area in perfect unison.

Leonid quietly raised his head to gaze at the bright blue winter sky.

“Where on earth are you, Ellen.”

A bitter smile crossed Leonid’s lips as he slowly clenched his fist, trapping snowflakes in his hand.

“To think you believed you could escape from me, you’ll regret that foolishness.”

His expression momentarily seemed lonely. And simultaneously terrifying.

‘I-I need to pull myself together. I absolutely cannot be caught.’

Ellen shook her head vigorously to shake off her fear. Then she focused her thoughts on what she needed to do now.

The mountain itself was small, so the search wouldn’t take long, but that also made detection easier.

With the entire imperial guard and knights already beginning to search the mountain, moving carelessly would only increase the chance of running into them. So she needed to somehow hide and endure until they withdrew.

‘Besides, everything I need is at home.’

She had hidden valuables like jewelry behind the wall in case of emergency. She needed to retrieve them if she wanted to escape.

‘I’ll hide somewhere like a cave, then return when they finish searching.’

Ellen turned in the opposite direction from where they had disappeared, abandoning her pile of groceries. As she moved while looking around, the cold that cut into her flesh began to make even her mind hazy.

“……It’s too cold. I’ll freeze to death before getting caught and killed at this rate.”

In her increasingly blurry consciousness, she heard the fierce howling of beasts. Ellen recognized them as the imperial hunting dogs.

Ellen picked up her pace, turning pale. However, despite her desperate efforts, the sound of beasts shaking the mountain as if they would tear it apart grew increasingly closer.

She hurriedly looked for a place to hide. But unlike before, large trees were nowhere to be seen. Of all times, she had entered a flat area of the mountain.

“W-what should I do.”

The fear of being discovered constricted her breathing. Ellen moved as quickly as possible with desperate determination, searching for a place to hide. But there was nothing except sparsely overgrown thorn bushes.

“No…… I can’t be caught like this.”

That’s when it happened.

“Your Majesty, there are footprints ahead that appear to be Lady Ellen’s!”

The problem was the clearly imprinted footprints on the snow-covered path.

Ellen turned her head fearfully at the sound coming from afar. Then she saw Leonid with his knights.

“……!”

Their eyes met directly. In that moment, she was so shocked her heart nearly stopped.

Ellen stepped backward in fear as she watched Leonid rushing toward her, having lost all reason.