After Lucifer left the room at dawn, only one thought filled my mind.

I should have died before learning all this. I should have died with the duchy when it fell. The villagers who grabbed my hair were right. I would have been better off dying with them.

A coward without even that courage, what a fool.

“Well, if you want to die that badly, you can go die right now. There are plenty of people in this village who want to kill you.”

That’s why I felt nothing when Lucifer spewed venom at me.

He pulled my hand. I followed without any resistance, letting him drag me along.

The door opened. The knights gathered at the entrance parted in all directions.

“Commander.”

Terseon, Lucifer’s subordinate, stepped forward with concerned eyes. But Lucifer ignored his call.

We left the chapel. Outside, people were bustling about busily. Unlike my dying self, everyone looked vibrant.

They turned to look at me. The look in people’s eyes changed. Their bright, positive expressions disappeared, replaced by resentment and hatred.

No. I’m scared…

How far had I been dragged? At the village square, I was thrown to the ground by Lucifer’s hand.

My hand, injured yesterday, scraped against the dirt. The skin seemed to have been peeled off by rough particles. Still, I felt no pain.

“Lord Croisen, what’s happening? Why is this woman…?”

The village chief approached us.

I couldn’t even lift my head and only saw the feet of the chief and Lucifer.

“Gather the villagers.”

“What’s this about?”

“Hurry.”

The feet surrounding me gradually increased. From small children to middle-aged women and the elderly. While various feet filled the square, I sat blankly on the ground.

When enough people had gathered, Lucifer spoke.

“Does everyone know who this woman is?”

“…”

Silence fell. But the meaning of the silence wasn’t because they didn’t know.

“She’s the princess of Belial Duchy who drove you and my family to death.”

Lucifer’s words spread murmurs throughout the crowd. Many curses directed at me were mixed in.

“Everyone knows that I harbor the deepest grudge against this woman.”

Lucifer’s family must have suffered the greatest losses. For a moment, I wondered if it might have been Carden’s family.

But it didn’t matter. What use was it when Carden was dead?

“So originally, I planned to take her as a slave and personally deliver hell to this woman, but…”

Lucifer’s voice seemed to grow distant.

I didn’t want to see or do anything.

The only thought in my mind was wanting to meet Carden, who must have died resenting me. Whether alive, in dreams, or in death. I wanted to meet him and beg him to be the one person who wouldn’t blame me.

“I couldn’t ignore your grudges either. You all harbor much resentment, right? So you may freely vent your anger here and now. She seems to want death anyway.”

Lucifer finished speaking.

I sat quietly in place without defying his words. I didn’t care if things went as he said.

That’s when it happened. A stone flew toward me.

“Bring my son back to life!”

Another stone flew.

“The duchess killed my husband too!”

“What about those poor orphanage children?!”

“We all wished for your happiness, why did you do this to us?”

Stones and people’s resentment flew at me. It started with one, but the number of falling stones quickly increased.

I heard unspeakable curses and words condemning me. But strangely, none of those many stones hit my body.

And then I heard resignation.

“Lea, killing that child won’t bring our children back, so what’s the use of all this?”

My name, heard after so long.

Lea, Lea, Lea.

Oddly enough, hearing my name cleared my mind. Someone still remembered me as Lea.

“She’s become a slave, so she’s already paying for her sins.”

“Living from now on will be harder for her, so what’s the use of venting our anger?”

“She really has lived a tragic life.”

Was it this small sympathy that touched my emotions? Tears burst forth again, though I thought my eyes had dried up from crying too much.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I truly didn’t know. I never imagined that my request to support the orphanage and Carden would lead to something like this.”

Tears streamed endlessly from my eyes, and apologies and excuses poured from my mouth without pause.

“I know these are all excuses. If I had acted more perceptively, or if I hadn’t been greedy enough to become their adopted daughter, this tragedy wouldn’t have happened. It’s all my fault. Don’t forgive me.”

I kept bowing my head to the ground, continuously begging them for forgiveness.

The stones raining around me stopped. Perhaps they never intended to kill me in the first place.

Maybe they remembered the small Lea who had given them bright smiles in childhood. That made it even more painful.

I banged my head harder against the ground. A warm stream flowed down from my head. Dirt dug into my fingers on the ground. A burning sensation rushed to my palm that had been scraped earlier.

It hurts. I guess it hurts because I’m alive.

“What need for forgiveness does someone about to die have?”

A suppressed voice spoke beside me.

“Do you feel forgiven because they didn’t hit you with stones? Despite suffering and grieving longer than you, they still forgive you while persevering to live. What exactly are you?”

Lucifer’s words kept stabbing my heart. Piercing my heart, slapping my cheeks, hitting my head. His words tore me apart even more.

“If you lighten your conscience and die, what becomes of them? Your dead first love would be so pleased. That you followed him in death.”

“No!”

I shouted, jumping to my feet at his venomous words.

“Carden, Carden isn’t someone who would blame me. He wouldn’t! If it were him, he would want me to be happy…”

My words suddenly stopped.

Yes, I had forgotten.

Carden would never have wanted me to be unhappy. He was my precious white flower who gave and yielded everything to me without reservation.

Why had I believed all this time that he would have blamed me?

“I… I…”

“If what you say is true, then he was truly a fool. Stupid enough to sacrifice himself for someone like you.”

“Don’t insult Carden!”

I shouted with all my might and swung my hand. With a slapping sound, his face turned slightly.

His cheek, returning to its place, turned red. The villagers fell silent at the sight of Lucifer and me.

Completely agitated, I poured out all my pent-up frustration.

I had to speak. Because if I didn’t, no one would know.

“I willingly offered to become a sacrifice to protect the villagers! They said they would kill the villagers if I didn’t become a sacrifice!”

My voice trembled. My cry, close to a metallic sound, seemed like it would be swallowed by the cold wind.

But I couldn’t stop.

“If I had known they killed the villagers and my orphanage friends, I would have! I would have killed those demons of the duchy, not you!”

“So because you couldn’t, you want to die?”

“No! I can’t die! For the sake of those who died because of me, I’ll live the rest of my time to the fullest! No matter what anyone says, happily, no matter how much you drive me to hell, even more brightly!”

I screamed furiously. As I shouted, trembling all over, I felt the cold, the pain, and the hunger.

Growl, at the rumbling sound from my stomach, my face turned bright red.

Lucifer saw this and smiled coldly.

“Fine, then try your best to defy me. If you can.”

He left me in the village square and returned to the chapel.

Drained of strength, I collapsed on the spot. I didn’t cry. I was simply out of energy.

Sitting on the ground, I finally looked around at the villagers. They were looking at me with eyes that seemed more likely to cry than mine.

They looked at me, who should have been the object of their resentment, with pity and sympathy.

A middle-aged woman approached me. I flinched unconsciously.

“Lea, what are we going to do with you? How did you end up living such a tragic life?”

Ah, I think I know who this is.

“Aunt Ann.”

She draped the shawl she was wearing over my clothes. It felt so warm.

And she embraced me tenderly.

“Yes, our sweet Lea would never have told them to kill us…”

And she cried with me for a long time.

As expected… they were still good people.

* * *

That night, I sat alone in my room. I had eaten heartily after three days of starvation, bathed thoroughly, and treated my wounds.

Yet various parts of my body still ached.

“I’m coming in for a moment.”

Terseon entered the room. He was holding an ointment in his hand.

“Thanks to you, our departure has been delayed further.”

“I’m… sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. I actually got to rest because of it. And honestly, I’m planning to use you as bait to take down as many rebels as possible…”

He briefly shrugged his still-bandaged shoulder.

“If that’s the case, I’m fine with it. Use me however you want.”

“Well, you’re already serving as bait just by staying here quietly.”

It seems many things happened while I was out of my mind.

“By the way, are you hurting all over?”

His words accurately pinpointed my condition, making me smile involuntarily.

He suddenly turned away and cleared his throat.

“Sir Knight…?”

“Anyway, apply this to your bruises. It will help with recovery.”

“Yes, thank you. Um, is Lord Croisen very angry?”

“Why? Oh, about the slap? Pfft.”

Terseon made a strange sound as he laughed.

“It was probably the first time in his life that he’s been slapped.”

“That…”

“It’s okay. He’s not that petty.”

Instead, he seems to have a nasty personality…

“And his harshness toward you even after learning it wasn’t your fault was probably because he wanted you to find the will to live.”

The will to live. Back then, I thought I wouldn’t care if I died. Embarrassed, I kept my head down, rolling the ointment in my hand for a while.

“I think the Duke is conflicted because things are different from what he knew.”

“I should apologize, shouldn’t I?”

“Well, he is your master, so it’s better not to be on his bad side.”

Encouraged by Terseon, I nodded vigorously.

In truth, although I had shouted at Lucifer showing readiness to fight, I was grateful to him inside. If not for him, I wouldn’t have had the chance to clear up the misunderstanding with the villagers.

Soon, I went outside the chapel to find Lucifer. I was told he was at the communal cemetery behind the chapel.

Before long, I found him kneeling on one knee under the moonlight, focusing on something. At the end of his gaze was a tombstone.

[The Children of Leifrin]

My heart tightened sharply.

“I don’t know what the truth is.”

Lucifer’s voice, sounding like a prayer, was choked.

“I wanted to hate and torment her endlessly, but was it all a misunderstanding? Or is even that an act?”

Is he talking about me? He seemed somewhat confused.

I gathered my courage to approach him. Unfortunately, I stopped after just a few steps when I saw a strange shadow cast behind him.

“Watch out!”

The shadow swung a sword toward Lucifer.