Clothes scattered in the air as if torn apart. Returning to my primal, n*ked state, I could only stare blankly at the man pressing down on me. He desired me with a sensual, crimson gaze.

“Why that face?”

As if my dazed expression displeased him, he brushed against the corners of my eyes.

“I know better than anyone what it is you want most.”

“…No.”

I laced a sigh into my breath.

“You don’t know.”

“Is that why you’re looking at me like that?”

I didn’t answer.

I turned my head away from him and heard a cold, mocking chuckle above me.

Then, without warning, he forced himself on me.

A sharp, searing pain unlike anything I had ever felt before tore through me.

Despite being able to tell that I had gone rigid and was struggling to endure it, he showed no mercy. Instead, he pushed further, forcing his way in and driving deeper.

The overwhelming pressure stole the air from my lungs.

It felt as though he might tear me apart from the inside.

“Keep this in mind.”

I thought his eyes flashed with a predatory glint as he pinned down my trembling shoulders.

“You mustn’t let me go. You can’t.”

I couldn’t bring myself to refute his words, so I quietly closed my eyes.

Perhaps feeling some measure of guilt for his own actions, he held me a little more gently afterward.

***

The blinding sunlight stung my eyes.

I felt a strong arm wrap around my waist.

Only then did I feel a faint sense of stability return.

I stared blankly at the wall, blinking slowly.

I didn’t want to think about anything.

But then I noticed the empty feeling in my stomach.

I was hungry.

How many days had I spent in that darkness?

Only then did I truly realize that I hadn’t eaten at all.

I tried to sit up but I couldn’t.

I felt a hand pressing me down and pulling me back into his arms as if he refused to let me go.

A small groan escaped my lips.

“Ah…”

“Where are you going?”

His voice restrained me.

The sensation of bare skin against bare skin no longer felt sweet as it once had.

Knowing I couldn’t escape, I answered quietly,

“I’m hungry.”

“…Ah. I didn’t think of that. Wait a moment.”

He pressed a quick kiss to my cheek, then disappeared—only to return with four dishes in hand.

But the moment I saw them, my expression twisted instinctively.

Tomatoes, grilled shellfish, an unfamiliar fish, and even crab.

Everything I couldn’t eat.

“Why?”

He asked as if he genuinely didn’t understand.

I looked at the food again.

My stomach twisted with hunger.

Even if I were starving, though, there were some things I could never bring myself to eat, like this.

I was allergic to it.

And D’hiver knew that.

I looked straight at him and asked.

“What exactly are you expecting me to eat?”

“I’m checking whether you’re really the Violette Keith I know.”

His answer was absurd.

As if it meant nothing, he gently brushed my cheek.

“The Violette Keith I know wouldn’t just sit still like this.”

Didn’t he say he didn’t want to fight?

Thanks to that, I understood.

He wanted my complete surrender.

But—

“You know me well.”

He was right.

And so, I decided to meet that expectation.

Before he could react, I snatched the crab from his hand and shoved it into my mouth.

“Vivi!”

He raised his voice, clearly caught off guard.

The reaction came almost immediately.

I couldn’t breathe.

I clutched my throat as I began to choke and my breaths became erratic.

Then my body gave way and I collapsed.

As I fell, he caught me.

His red eyes showed a mixture of panic and worry.

‘…So you’re capable of worrying too. How ridiculous… truly ridiculous.’

As I fell to the floor, my consciousness began to fade.

With it, memories surfaced.

I remembered the reason I had come to fear thunder.

It was something I had never even told D’hiver.

They were from my childhood, before I met him.

Before Blanche died.

Unlike Suki, who was strong and healthy, Blanche was often unwell.

One day, she collapsed and couldn’t move at all.

“B-Blanche, are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”

“It’s alright. I’ll feel better after I get some rest.”

Even though she was the one in pain, she smiled as if nothing was wrong and worried about me instead.

“You’ll catch my cold, miss. Please step away.”

“But…”

“It’s okay.”

Blanche told me that she was fine.

Then she closed her eyes.

She never woke up again.

Terrified, I searched the entire estate desperately trying to find some medicine.

But there was nothing — nothing that I could find.

I searched and searched until I ended up in a small basement.

As I dug through the piles of stored grain.

Click.

The door shut.

The basement was swallowed by darkness.

Panicking, I pounded on the door and screamed.

“I—I’m here…!”

Had my cry reached them?

Voices rang clearly from outside.

“Didn’t you hear something?”
“Hear what?”
“I thought I heard a voice from inside…”
“That’s impossible. Who would even come all the way here?”
“I guess you’re right.”

Their voices faded away.

The area where the light had disappeared was cold, dark, and unbearably lonely.

No one came to find me.

Trapped in that darkness, the only sound I could hear was the roar of thunder.

Even when I covered my ears and curled up into a ball, the world remained pitch black, and the sounds only grew louder.

How many days passed like that?

“O-Oh my! Who is this?!”

A maid who had come to the basement found me on the verge of collapse.

Startled, she carried me to Blanche, who was still bedridden.

And there—my father stood.

“With Blanche this ill, where have you been wandering off to?”

Even though I was in no condition, his voice was cold.

A surge of sorrow welled up inside me.

“I-I…”

“Ungrateful child.”

Muttering that, he turned and left as if even the sight of me was unpleasant.

“They say you shouldn’t take in black-haired beasts. Seems the old saying was right.”

He thought that I had abandoned Blanche.

I was only seven.

I was a child who couldn’t comprehend the hatred and contempt directed at Blanche.

All I wanted was to be loved.

I kept reaching out to someone who kept pushing me away.

All I ever wanted was one warm smile.

A single affectionate touch.

That was all.

Now, I wanted nothing.

Even now, on nights when sorrowful rain pours down and thunder tears through the sky, I feel as though I’m back in that childhood again, sitting alone and unable to move.

Sitting alone, unable to move—consumed by a loneliness so deep and desolate that it becomes terrifying.

On the verge of losing consciousness, I opened my eyes.

The moment I did, I saw D’hiver’s red eyes once more.

He had pulled me out of the abyss that was Silcania.

He must have stayed by my side while I was unconscious.

As soon as our eyes met, he asked me something.

“Why did you do that?”

It seemed that what I had seen before losing consciousness had been accurate.

Strangely enough, there was a hint of worry in his voice.

I stared at him for a moment before forcing my lips apart.

My throat felt completely raw.

“What do you mean.”

“Violette.”

Calling my name, D’hiver pressed his forehead against mine.

Up close, those red eyes… looked almost sorrowful.

“I was worried. I thought something really went wrong. Why would you—”

“Are you blaming me right now?”

I cut him off.

I knew why he had done it.

But my insides were too twisted to let it go so easily.

“You’re the one who brought me food and told me to eat it. You knew exactly what it was.”

Looking straight at him, I declared,

“Don’t test me.”

He blinked once, then answered calmly,

“Don’t misunderstand. I wasn’t testing you.”

“That’s a shame. If it weren’t for the pact I made with you, I would’ve died a long time ago.”

At my words, he almost shouted my name.

“Violette!”

“You think I can’t die?”

At his reaction, I didn’t even bother hiding my mocking smile.

“Think back to the day we first met, D’hiver.”

D’hiver pressed his lips together in silence.

After all, we had only met at the very end.

Then, slowly, he pulled me into his arms.

Warmth seeped into my frozen body.

“…I’m sorry.”

His voice, heavy with sorrow, fell over my head.

I could tell it was a sincere apology.

“I was wrong.”

But I couldn’t help wondering: What did he think he had done wrong?

Was it bringing me food that he knew I was allergic to?

Or was it testing me like that?

Or was it everything from the very beginning?

The twisted reason he had pulled me into his world?

If it was the latter—if he truly understood that it was his mistake—then I think I could have accepted it.

I might even have forgiven him.

After all, there was once a time when he was my salvation.

And this was the last chance I could give him.

“Please… don’t hurt yourself like this anymore.”

But he and I were sitting in the same place, dreaming different dreams.

Letting out a quiet, hollow laugh in his arms, I spoke,

“…You’re the one who made me like this.”

My voice carried a trace of resentment.

“It was already enough.”

“Enough?”

“You said it yourself—I could never leave you. And you proved it, perfectly. I called for you… because I had no choice.”

“……”

The body still holding me trembled faintly.

D’hiver knew me well.

There was no way he didn’t know that in certain situations, I would have no choice but to call him.

“But you know what?”

“…What?”

“You said love can’t exist with doubt.”

It was a line from a myth, the words of a god of love who left Psyche behind.

“But in the end… you were the one who doubted me.”

I murmured it softly.

Still wrapped in his arms, I smiled faintly as I continued,

“So don’t ever speak to me of love again.”

It was a lie.

He tested me to get what he wanted and I gave him one final chance.

But he threw it away.

I no longer wanted to be with him.

Not anymore.

Truly.

So now, the only thing left to do was to end this wretched relationship.