Rain poured down in relentless sheets.

Its relentless drumming filled my ears, yet it was still quieter than the violent pounding of my heart.

As I walked the short distance from the underground chamber to him, I saw everything that had happened until that moment flash before my eyes.

D’Hiver Keith’s every action had a reason.

From the very beginning: Blanche’s death. The way he appeared before me when I was alone. The moment he told me that he would become my lover.

My friend who died and disappeared: Suki, who passed away.

In the end, only D’Hiver remained by my side.

He was the only one who ever came back to me.

All the previous Psyches died young.

Because of all that, I am where I am now.

None of it was coincidence.

I had always wanted to be loved.

Even at a young age, I knew I was unloved and tried to k*ll myself.

That was when I met him.

He told me that he would be my one true love.

I believed he loved me.

I thought I was happy by his side.

Or at least, that’s what I thought.

But now, I could see it clearly.

It had all been an illusion.

He had never loved me, not once — not even for a moment.

To a transcendent being like D’Hiver, the archmage Violette Silcania had been nothing more than a tool.

At the same time, I had been a substitute for the Divine Sovereign — the one who had betrayed him long ago, leaving him with an eternity of loneliness and grief.

Just as the Divine Sovereign had raised D’Hiver as a tool for revenge, so he had raised me as a tool to k*ll him.

To fulfil that long-cherished desire — to finally die.

To take revenge on the Divine Sovereign.

From the very beginning, I had never been ‘me’ to him.

I flung the bedroom door open.

He turned his gaze towards me from where he was standing.

As always, his eyes curved into a gentle smile.

“Violette, where have you been? I was worried.”

“D’hiver.”

My voice trembled as I spoke the name I had called so many times before.

The moment D’hiver knelt before me came back to mind.

Back then, he had said this—

“Stay with me… through the eternity I have left.”

And yet he had tried to impose that eternity on me.

To leave me alone once more.

To trap me in the endless loneliness he had endured himself.

While he dreamed of rest.

Of release from eternity.

My breath grew ragged.

I managed to ask, barely audibly.

“…You wanted me to share the eternity you have left?”

“Hm?”

“Did you mean that?”

“Of course.”

The answer came without hesitation.

It was so absurd, I could only laugh bitterly.

“That’s a lie.”

At my cold sneer, D’hiver blinked.

A beat later, he asked,

“…What?”

“You were trying to throw that eternal life away.”

My vision blurred.

“You were trying to give it up… to me.”

Caught off guard, he said nothing.

As I watched his lips part, a memory surfaced, something he had once told me.

“No matter what happens, you must never give up on your life.”

And yet he had always longed to abandon his own.

“Was it fun?”

At my sharp voice, he blinked again.

Calmly, he asked,

“What are you talking about?”

“If it were me, I think I would have found it very entertaining.”

“Violette, what are you—”

“How amusing it must have been. Watching me know nothing… dancing like your puppet. Moving exactly as you pulled the strings. Following wherever you led.”

The man who had been about to question me fell silent.

I looked at him and let out a hollow laugh.

“How enjoyable must it have been, watching me beg for your love?”

“What are you talking about? I would never—”

He spoke the lie without hesitation.

“I love you.”

At those ridiculous words, my hand trembled.

My lips shook so badly I could barely form the words.

“Love? You… you…!”

My vision turned white with rage.

As I staggered, he grabbed my arm.

“Violette!”

“Don’t touch me!”

I tore myself free and shouted.

His hand, flung away, cut through the air in a sharp arc.

He stared at his hand, which was already red and swelling.

What words could ever convey the depth of my despair?

For a moment, I searched for an answer, but I found none.

Nothing.

No words could capture what I was facing now.

The more I thought about it, the more absurd it felt.

He had saved me because he wanted to die.

He had raised me to be the one person capable of granting that wish.

Because of him, I had chosen to live.

And because of me, he longed for death.

Gripping my hand tightly, he asked,

“Violette… what are you trying to say right now? And what is it you want to hear?”

“The real reason you kept me by your side.”

“What are you—”

“You want to die!”

My shout tore through the air.

The eyes that had evaded me until now turned cold.

“In the end, you were going to make me k*ll you—with these very hands you saved!”

Even forcing the words out felt unbearable.

“You isolated me and made me yours alone, only to pass your life onto me—so I would be left alone again… unloved by anyone… trembling in the endless loneliness you’ve endured!”

The tears I had held back spilled over.

At any other time, he would have reached out, touched my cheek—but now, he did nothing.

“How could you do this to me?!”

“……”

“You saved me. You brought me to your side. You made sure no one remained by me but you. You made me look at you alone—believe in you, follow you, love you. Every single thing… had one purpose.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

One by one, all the events of the past few days replayed in my mind until I was alone.

None of it had been a coincidence.

I was destined to love him.

I was bound to be betrayed by him.

Ultimately, I would raise my hand against him, my body shaking from the betrayal — just as he once had.

That was how it was always meant to be.

I — Violette Silcania — had been nothing more than D’Hiver Keith’s perfect puppet.

“You tried to make me carry the same wound you bear.”

D’hiver, who had been watching me silently, let out a quiet sigh.

He spoke, his voice low.

“…I never did that. Don’t misunderstand.”

“You made me lonely. And claimed me as yours.”

My breath came ragged.

“For one purpose. Only for that. You kept me by your side for it. You pretended to cherish me. Pretended to love me.”

I clenched my fists.

My nails dug into my palms, but I felt nothing.

“You must have thought someone like me would be easy to control. Like breathing.”

“Violette.”

“To you… I was just a tool. A substitute for the one who turned your life into hell.”

The truth that I had never wanted to admit left my lips.

All I had ever wanted was to be loved.

And you used that against me.

I was foolish to believe you loved me.

But it was all a lie.

“You deceived me. You betrayed and mocked someone who loved you! Just like you were once used—you used me! You—me—!”

My voice finally broke.

He simply looked at me for a long moment.

And then—

“…Yeah.”

A faint smile curved his lips.

“I never imagined this day would come. Is that what you wanted to hear? Why I kept you by my side?”

Slowly, he opened his mouth.

“Fine. I used you.”

There was no denial.

Only a clear, unwavering admission within that faded smile.

I had begged for the truth, but hearing it felt like the world was collapsing.

“You’re right. Not a single word is wrong. I almost want to applaud you.”

“……”

“I won’t deny it. I’ve lived for a very long time. I’ve wanted to die for just as long. And the moment I saw you, I knew.”

His familiar gaze settled on me.

The warmth I once believed in now felt chilling.

“You were the one I had been searching for all this time.”

His hand gripped my arm.

The hand that I had once thought warm now felt unbearably cold.

I didn’t have the strength to push it away.

“I’ve finally found it: The one who can k*ll me. Only this child has the power to end my life. You alone can put an end to my hateful life. You could never have understood how I felt at that moment.”

His crimson eyes curved.

A madness I had never seen before flickered within them.

“I almost understood Zesti… for what she did to me.”

As if it were nothing, he brought up the Divine Sovereign and leaned in close.

So close I could feel his breath.

“Violette.”

“……”

“If I say it like this… will you feel better?”

For once, irritation flickered in his crimson eyes.

“Even if I concede for a moment that what you’re saying is true, what then? What would you do then?”

“……”

“You made an unbreakable vow with your own lips. You sealed the pact with your own hands. You are already… my wife.”

It was true.

And yet, why did those words sound less like a fact, and more like a claim of ownership over a mere ‘tool’?

“Remember this. I may abandon you, but you cannot abandon me.”

My body trembled at the undeniable truth of it.

He was right.

I could never abandon him, he was the meaning of my life and the proof of my existence.

As if nothing had happened, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“But how could I ever abandon you?”

His voice was impossibly calm.

Even as my eyes burned with tangled emotions, even as he surely knew what those emotions were.

“Violette.”

He called my name in that deep, familiar voice I had always loved.

And just like that, he pulled me into his embrace.

“I love you.”

This time, the words tore a scream from me.

“That’s a lie… don’t lie to me!”

“Don’t deny it. Even I can be hurt.”

Hot tears streamed down my cheeks, falling one by one.

“How… how is this love?”

“Haha.”

Even during my ugly, desperate outburst, he just laughed, seemingly at ease.

Of course he was.

He was certain that he would never lose me.

He knew better than anyone that without him, I was nothing.

I was a solitary being, abandoned in this world.

He had made me that way.

So that I would cling only to him.

So that I would look only to him.

“It’s fine if you don’t believe me now.”

Crash—

A bolt of pale blue lightning split the sky outside.

For a moment, his face was illuminated, the same face I had once loved.

And that made it all the more horrifying.

“Someday… whether you want to or not, you’ll understand.”

He forcibly pulled my hand.

No matter how I resisted, it ended up pressed against his chest.

“Listen.”

Even if I didn’t want to hear it, I heard it.

Even if I didn’t want to feel it, I felt it: his heartbeat.

Thump. Thump.

“It’s beating.”

Thump.

He whispered something so simple and smiled so gently.

“Because of you.”

“……”

“Will you still deny it? Violette, I love you. Only you. That is the unchanging truth—my sincerity.”

I glared at him, trembling with anger, and bit down hard on my lip.

I wasn’t going to listen to anything he said.

And no matter what I said, he wouldn’t listen either.

We would carry on like this forever, existing on parallel paths that would never converge, until one of us finally gave in.

And that would be me.

Because I loved him.

Even though I cried until I was exhausted and collapsed in despair time and time again in this miserable reality, there was only one thing I longed for: him.

His words only made me despise him more.

I couldn’t forgive him.

Because I loved him, this reality felt like hell.

I tore myself from his arms and turned sharply.

I ran and ran, yet the faint sound of his sigh seemed to follow me, echoing endlessly in my ears.

Everything in the world felt unbearable.

My foot slipped on the rain-soaked slope, causing me to fall forward.

A searing wave of pain shot through my entire body.

Crash.

Lightning struck again.

Something that had always terrified me—yet now, I felt nothing at all.

Only—

“D’hiver…”

One thought consumed me.

I had been loved with him.

Unlike before, I had been loved.

Or at least, I believed I was.

But was that really love?

Could something like this really be considered love?

It had all been a misunderstanding — a lie, an illusion.

It was as fragile as a sandcastle built on the shore and washed away by the waves.

In the end, I was alone once more.

It was the person I loved who had made it so.

What was I supposed to do now?

I wiped away the tears that stung against the pouring rain.

I forced myself to my feet and staggered on.

“Violette!”

His voice rang out behind me, as if he had chased me down.

Flash!

Lightning split the sky.

In the blinding white flash, I saw his silhouette, which then disappeared.

I didn’t want to face him.

Desperate, I forced my feet to move.

I stumbled and almost tumbled down the slope. Then, right beside me, I saw it: A carriage was hurtling towards me.

The startled driver yanked hard on the reins.

In that instant, I heard his voice echo in my ears once more.

“Remember this. I may abandon you—but you cannot abandon me.”

At last, I understood.

The cruelest revenge I could take on the man who had betrayed me.

‘What would you do… if I abandoned you?’

‘I can abandon you, too — in the cruelest way possible. By denying you the death you long for and condemning you to wander through eternity once more.’

The charging horse hit me head-on.

A searing, hellish pain swallowed me whole.

In an instant, my body was drenched in blood, thrown into the air and slammed back down.

I couldn’t breathe.

I lay there, empty and hollow, blinking as everything slipped away.

And then, darkness took me.