In the end, Swan would want him even more. Wasn’t he the father of her child? They had Mirabella. The one he had left with her. His child.

“You must have thought Mirabella meant nothing to me.”

He touched her pale chin. Her eyelids twitched. He wanted to tear her apart right then and there. Tear her apart and destroy himself in the process.

“That’s why it was so easy for you to erase me from my child.”

He bit his lip. Thick blood trickled down.

“Shall I kill him? If I do, you’ll have nowhere to go.”

A rough laugh escaped. He leaned forward to embrace the sleeping woman.

“It’s Raoul, Your Majesty.”

The voice of a young servant was heard. A moment later, Raoul stood before him. Atlion looked at him with a pale face.

“Theodor Dianton is in the imperial dungeon.”

“And what have you done without skinning him?”

“Your Majesty.”

“A man who dared to steal the Emperor’s wife and daughter. Cut off his ears, pour boiling mercury down his throat, then skin him alive. Feed his raw flesh to pigs and keep his head as a trophy. This deed will be immortalised in bas-relief as a warning.”

He spoke in a voice so low it was frightening. The words were curses so horrible they hurt the ears, but coming from the Emperor’s lips, it was clear they would not remain mere curses. Raoul waited in silence, not answering.

“Dianton is an innocent commoner.”

“The man who stole my wife and daughter is innocent?”

“He did not know that your wife was the Empress, Your Majesty. Even now he does not know the truth. I beg you to be wise and distinguish between merit and guilt. Punishment can come later.”

“Raoul.”

Atlion called his name and Raoul dropped to his knees. The Emperor looked at him with piercing blue eyes. Suddenly the sound of rustling broke the silence. Raoul glanced over the Emperor’s shoulder. A pale face framed by wavy hair moved slightly, then the eyes opened.

“Theo is here?” 

“Swan.”

Clear green eyes, free of any trace of sleepiness, fixed on the Emperor. Under their steady gaze, he fell silent.

“Where is he?”

Swan, clutching the blanket to cover herself, asked sharply. There was no sign of her backing down. The Emperor gestured silently for Raoul to leave, then turned his gaze back to Swan. When his hand reached for hers, she slapped it coldly away and glared at him.

“I need to see him.”

“How dare a criminal see the Emperor’s wife?”

“Theo is not a criminal!”

The veins in her green eyes became visible as her voice rose, almost a shout. Atlion paled at her outburst. She looked at him with a face contorted with fear. Slowly, Atlion rose from the bed and stood over her. It was then that Swan realised she was in no position to challenge him so brazenly. She clasped her hands together, her tone pleading.

“Please, Your Majesty. Let me see Theo. No, please don’t hurt him. He has done nothing wrong. If there is any fault, it is mine alone. So I beg you…”

“Do you love him?”

The hands that had been clasped in desperate pleading froze. Her lips, which had trembled as she begged, stopped moving. The man, pale as if he had endured a hundred winter nights, looked at Swan. Tears streamed down her cheeks, tracing a path across her face. Slowly, but with certainty, Swan nodded.

—

The snow beneath his boots was crushed and scattered, kicked by footsteps that left it swollen and dirty. His eyes were so swollen he felt like he’d have to cut the skin with a blade to see properly. But the pain in his chest far outweighed the agony in his eyes. Ever since he had been kicked in the solar plexus during the meal, he had felt as if his ribs were broken. The resulting difficulty in breathing made every inhale and exhale a struggle.

Theodor turned his eyes to the pathetic meal before him, an unrecognisable gruel that seemed to be either oats or pig slop. He forced it into his mouth to satisfy his gnawing hunger, but the thin gruel was unbearably tasteless. Eating this every day, he thought grimly, might kill him from dysentery before he succumbed to any other torture.

“Ugh… Hah… cough!”

A fit of coughing broke out as he tried to breathe, leaving him wheezing like a consumptive patient. When it finally subsided, he collapsed onto his back and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Had it been three days since he arrived at the palace in search of Swan and his child? He had told the guards at the palace gates that his wife and daughter had been taken to the Imperial Palace and that he had come to find them.

At first the guards, hearing Theo’s words, pretended not to notice him. But after he had spent the whole day protesting and shouting, their superior – the Captain of the Imperial Guard – finally appeared, took one look at him and then left without a word. And that was the result. It was impossible to know how his message had been relayed or interpreted.

All he had said was that his wife and daughter had been taken to the Imperial Palace for reasons he did not know. He had said that if there was a crime, he would stand trial with them, and if there was a price to be paid, he would pay it with them. Did that justify such a brutal beating?

He wiped his swollen eyes with burning hands. He could only imagine what his face looked like now, covered in blood and dirt. What if Una, his daughter, hadn’t recognised him when they met? What if she had recoiled in fear?

“Swan…”

He clenched his jaw. He couldn’t afford to die – not before he found Swan and Una, not before he ensured their safety. No matter what it took, no matter what obstacles stood in his way, he had to find them. His wife and daughter had been kidnapped for no reason, dragged to the Imperial Palace for reasons unknown. The thought of them being in such danger made him want to cling to the prison bars and scream with whatever strength his battered body had left.

Suddenly there was the sound of footsteps. At the low, echoing sound, Theo leaned against the wall. The corridor, dimly lit by torchlight, cast long, menacing shadows, like those of a prowling b*ast creeping ever closer. Overcome by instinctive fear, he held his breath. Holding his breath wouldn’t make him invisible, nor would it hide him, but blind fear of violence often made fools of m*n.

“Theodor Dianton.”

“Who… who’s there…?”

“Even after stealing the Emperor’s wife and daughter, you feel no shame?”

“What are you talking about? What nonsense is this?”

His trembling eyes darted forward, searching for the source of the voice. With one eye swollen shut, he struggled to make sense of the blurred outlines with his remaining, barely functioning eye. His vision wavered and he frantically wiped at his swollen eyelid, trying to clear his vision to focus on the figure before him.

A man stood before him, a blue robe draped over one shoulder, a pitch-black garment that seemed to absorb the light. Despite the simplicity of his attire, he exuded an aura of flawless precision, as if there wasn’t a single gap in his presence. Theo lifted his gaze. The man’s sharp, almost blade-like features sliced through the dim air as he walked with commanding strides towards the prison bars.

Their eyes met. A chill ran through Theo’s body, making him feel sick. He broke into a cold sweat as the man’s earlier words echoed in his mind: “Stealing the Emperor’s wife and daughter.” It was absurd. This had never happened before. He didn’t even know who the Emperor’s wife was. It was impossible.

Theo’s gaze shifted to the m*n flanking the stranger. They included the middle-aged captain of the Imperial Guard who had thrown him into this prison, and a slightly younger man. The individuals standing behind the accusing figure who had so callously branded him with heinous crimes were clearly high-ranking knights of significant status.

“You… you are…”

“How dare you stand before His Majesty! Show proper respect, unless you want your tongue torn out!”

The world turned before Theo’s eyes. At the mention of His Majesty, his knees instinctively buckled. He fell to the floor, his trembling hands clutching the cold stone. His whole body began to shake, but he forced himself to think of Swan. Yes, Swan. He was only here to find her and her child.

“Your Majesty, I… I’m innocent! I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve only come to find my wife and daughter. I went to work, and when I returned, I was told that my wife and little daughter had been taken…”

There was no answer. Theo, who had been pressing his head to the ground, raised it hesitantly to look at the Emperor. His eyes were an icy blue, colder than an icy wall, as if carved from lapis lazuli. They were beautiful, yet hollow, as if emptied of any warmth or humanity. Theo lowered his head quickly, releasing the tension in his clenched jaw to speak.

“Your Majesty, I would never… never dare to do such a thing to someone who belongs to you…”

“Did you sleep with Swan?”

It felt like an iron ball had hit his head. Flattened under its weight, he couldn’t get a word out. The pleas and protests that had erupted moments before dissolved into silence. For a moment he even forgot to breathe, frozen.

“I asked if you slept with Swan.”

“……”

“What did you do with her after you stole the Emperor’s wife?”

He blinked, his body shaking. Every word that fell from the Emperor’s lips felt like it would shatter before it reached his ears, and he wished he could block it out completely. Swallowing his breath, Theo raised his head to meet the Emperor’s gaze.

“I….”

“Do you know? That woman was mine. Before you, a low man, took her by dishonourable means, I had her first.”

The Emperor’s chilling voice echoed through the dungeon, its weight cutting through the darkness lit only by the dim torchlight. Each word felt like it was being chewed and crushed before being spat out.Theo’s lower eyelid trembled violently. Swan filled his mind, as did Una. The father of Swan’s child – the man who had impregnated her. The man who possessed all of her, even though she had never given herself to Theo.

Tears threatened to spill. The man in front of him was Swan’s man. The one who had left her alone for so long. Theo’s jaw quivered slightly and his already swollen eyes began to sting with moisture.

“I am that woman’s husband.”

Fragmented memories began to surface, one after the other. Swan, who had always worn a faint but lonely smile. Though he had built a family with her, offered her a home, he had never been able to stand before her as a man. But that was enough for him. Even though Swan’s daughter was not his own, even though Swan had never borne him a child of her own.