“Are you awake now?”

D’hiver spoke as if nothing had happened.

Shock flooded through me, yet no sound escaped my lips. No, I couldn’t even move the tip of my finger.

It felt as though I were trapped inside the prison of my own body.

Before long, a hand—cold, yet somehow warm—touched my cheek.

His gaze met mine, my eyes trembling with fear. He must have clearly read what was on my mind.

The corners of his crimson lips curved softly.

“I thought so.”

Leaving behind that strangely ambiguous reply, D’hiver moved.

He slowly pressed his lips to the nape of my neck and whispered. His voice was startlingly calm.

“Do you know how worried I was… for three days?”

“……”

I wanted to scream, to shove him away—but my body refused to obey.

As if binding me in place, D’hiver held me tightly.

Then the lips resting at my nape began to slide.

Down the line of my neck, to my collarbone, to my arms and then, across my entire body.

I felt his heated breath against my skin.

But wherever it passed, a horrifying pain flared to life.

Slowly, that breath traced lower—to my chest, my abdomen, my legs.

From between my tightly bitten lips, a broken sound slipped out on its own.

“Ah… ah…”

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks.

The pain spreading through my body told of a torment like hell itself—so intense that my mind began to fade into a blinding white.

“It hurts… it hurts…”

“Then why did you do that? You’re the one who suffers when you get hurt.”

He said it as he pressed a kiss to the top of my foot.

Through my blurred vision, I could make out D’hiver’s silhouette.

“My heart feels like it’s being torn apart too.”

The absurd words continued.

Amid the crushing pain pressing down on me, I forced out a faint murmur.

“…Don’t.”

“Hm? I can’t hear you.”

At his casual response, I strained my voice. What came out was hoarse—so broken it didn’t even sound like mine.

“Don’t… talk nonsense.”

“I don’t see why you think it’s nonsense.”

D’hiver sat down at the edge of the bed as if nothing were wrong.

The mattress dipped beneath his weight.

Even in this moment, the angle of the bed shifting felt so familiar that nausea rose in my throat.

“I’m sorry, but I mean it.”

D’hiver clasped my hand.

I was in too much pain to even pull away.

“My chest hurts so much right now, I don’t think I could watch this without crying.”

I couldn’t believe a single word.

As if nothing had happened, he leaned in until our foreheads touched.

“I’m the one with so many questions, Violette. Did you really distrust me that much all this time?”

Our eyes met.

Instinctively, I knew—absurdly enough, D’hiver was angry.

But one thing was certain.

The one who had deceived me all this time had no right to be angry.

“You didn’t even try to listen to me. You clung only to the answer you came to on your own. And this—this is the result of that choice. So what now?”

His red eyes, a color that should have been warm, turned cold.

The chill in them was enough to send shivers down my spine.

“Not a single thing went the way you wanted.”

He added mockingly,

“So? Are you satisfied now?”

“Satisfied…?”

I repeated his words.

Satisfied with what?

This situation?
The truth he had hidden?
The pain it caused me?
This relationship that could only fall apart?
The fact that I couldn’t even stand the sight of him?

Lost in those tangled thoughts, I finally parted my lips.

“Suki too.”

Even saying her name hurt, but D’hiver seemed entirely unaffected.

There wasn’t the slightest tremor in his gaze, nor in the forehead still pressed against mine.

“Suki too… you killed her.”

D’hiver didn’t deny it.

He only gave a soft smile as if asking, You’ve only realized that now?

Faced with such shamelessness, I could only stammer.

Even so, a part of me had hoped he would deny it, that he would say he hadn’t killed Suki.

As if…that was what I had been wishing for.

“How could… how could a person…”

“Oh, Violette.”

The way he said my name no longer sounded sweet.

Still speaking in that same gentle tone, D’hiver continued,

“Don’t misunderstand. Suki was someone whose life was sustained by my power. She was a being who should have died long ago, yet lingered in this world against the will of the gods. Yes… she was nothing more than a ghost.”

A faint laugh slipped from him.

“A ghost ‘dying’—it’s hardly anything new.”

“But still—!”

“Alright… perhaps I should be a little more honest.”

As my voice rose, his detached composure shifted.

The gaze locked onto mine flickered with something close to madness.

“Violette, you once said Suki was half your world.”

At those words, I froze.

Because they were the very words I had once said to Suki.

And when I spoke again, my voice trembled endlessly.

“…What?”

“That won’t do. My world is filled with you—so yours should be the same.”

The subtle emotion in his words made my lips part without sound.

But in the next moment, I couldn’t suppress the surge of anger any longer.

My hands moved wildly. I grabbed whatever was within reach and hurled it at D’hiver.

But it missed him entirely, crashing uselessly onto the floor.

Crash—!

A sharp, shattering sound rang out.

D’hiver turned his head.

On the floor lay the broken remains of the doll he had once given me.

Was he displeased?

D’hiver’s brow furrowed slightly.

“I see.”

“Get out.”

“Very well. Shall I give you some time to think? But, Violette.”

As he looked at the shattered remains, he flicked his finger lightly.

The broken doll vanished without a trace.

“The answer you come to… will only ever be one.”

“Get out!”

I couldn’t contain my anger at his shameless calmness, and my voice rose again.

He gave only a faint smile before stepping out of the room.

I stared at the empty space he had left behind, clutching my head as a wave of anguish crashed over me.

Something about D’Hiver’s reaction felt terribly wrong.

I was furious — furious that he had deceived me.

The despair was so overwhelming that I felt as if it might swallow me whole.

Yet he acted as if none of it mattered.

As if I were the unreasonable one.

Was I even allowed to be angry?

Would anyone else react this way in my position?

Or was I the only one?

I didn’t know anymore.

Pressing a hand to my pounding head, I forced myself to remember: the unbearable pain that consumed every part of me.

In the midst of that hellish agony, a quiet murmur escaped my lips.

“…Why… am I alive?”

Could someone struck by a charging horse truly survive?

The pain coursing through me insisted otherwise, so vivid, so relentless that even breathing felt like t*rture.

—”Do you truly not know why you still live?”

A voice suddenly echoed out.

Startled, I turned my head.

In one corner of the room, I saw a sword.

The moment I saw it, I felt an overwhelming sense of pressure.

Just like before, in that underground chamber.

“….”

—”Call me Teslai. You have the right to do so.”

As my lips parted in silence, unsure of what to say, the voice continued.

—”You ask why you are alive… Do you truly not know?”

I nodded with difficulty.

—”You are a child who holds the right. Have you not already formed a pact with D’hiver Keith?”

“A pact…?”

—”You exchanged vows of marriage, did you not?”

Those words brought something to mind.

Marriage: a sacred vow made before the gods.

A vow that could never be broken.

If broken, the person who broke it would be erased from existence.

Then I remembered.

When he proposed, D’Hiver said—“I want to spend… the eternity I have left… with you…”

Foolishly, I accepted with joy.

But as the truth sank in, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I realized that if I didn’t laugh, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.

“Ha… haha… hahaha…”

I was completely at the mercy of D’Hiver.

Of course I did.

From the moment we first met, the flower he began to weave at his fingertips had been called Violette.

Unlike my unhinged laughter, his voice remained calm.

—”Do you hate D’hiver Keith?”

It was the question that struck at the very core.

As if entranced, I answered,

“…I hate him. I hate him so much I want to die.”

—”Then why do you let him be?”

My head snapped up.

Staring at the sword—silent, abyss-like, devoid of all feeling—I shouted,

“Because I don’t want to give him what he wants!”

The sword seemed to stare down at me.

A cold shiver crept up my spine.

Although it had no face, it appeared to be wearing a slow, lingering smile.

This silent, smiling gaze only served to deepen my confusion.

It was as if it were telling me—’You are the strange one’—for feeling such anger yet doing nothing to D’Hiver.

—”You are a child with the right. You are a mage who governs time. But the time you command… stands on D’hiver Keith’s side. Not yours, who is still human.”

“What… does that mean?”

—”Tell me, do you truly believe you are the only human capable of reaching transcendence?”

I bit down on my lip.

From the outset, I had never believed that I was the only one — after all, D’Hiver himself existed.

But he had wandered through an unimaginable span of time.

This created an immense gulf between us.

“D’hiver… he said he’s lived for ages, unable to die.”

—”Yes. It only takes time. How long, no one can say. That is all. Someday, just as you and D’hiver came to be, another will appear.”

Teslai’s voice pressed close to my ear.

—”Do you think Zesti was the first transcendent? There were others before, and there will be others after you.”

And one day, D’hiver Keith will achieve his wish, if he continues to wait, endlessly, as he has.

For a fleeting moment, that abyss-like gaze seemed to brush against my hand.

—”That child will one day fulfill his wish. It doesn’t have to be by your hand.”

So, since I hated and resented him, and dreamed of revenge, I should listen to Teslai.

I didn’t know why, but the temptation felt endless.

—”If you succeed him, you will rise higher than anyone in this world. All people will look up to you and kneel willingly before you. You will become an immortal being.”

I blinked, lost in thought.

He wished to die.

I was kept by his side for that purpose.

If I were to grant his wish, then in a world without D’Hiver, I would be alone once again.

“…But at the very least.”

I murmured, clenching both my fists tightly.

“I won’t be the one to grant that wish. I can’t be.”