“Terseon. Take this woman to the orphanage site.”

Lucifer called his subordinate.

Orphanage site? Had they relocated the orphanage? I didn’t have the patience to wait for his subordinate. I awkwardly moved my shackled hands, trying to dismount from the horse.

My bound hands naturally moved clumsily, and I couldn’t properly grip the saddle to dismount. Perhaps because of the unusual lightness, or because the horse disliked my movement above, it moved before I could get down.

“Ah!”

Unable to grip the saddle properly, I fell helplessly and tightly closed my eyes. Fortunately, I landed on my backside first.

If I could just avoid being trampled by the horse, falling wouldn’t cause serious injury.

But the impact was less than I expected.

“How troublesome.”

Lucifer’s arm had slipped between my knees. Thanks to his quick action, I fortunately avoided rolling on the ground.

“Th-thank you.”

“Terseon!”

After helping me up, he called his subordinate again with an irritated voice.

“Ah, yes! Commander!”

“Do you know where the orphanage used to be?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Take the princess there and show her.”

“Yes! Understood! But… won’t you be coming, Commander?”

“I have no business there. Just take the princess.”

Lucifer seemed a bit strange. He was never a kind or mannerly person, but today he was acting even more prickly. He looked so on edge that his eyes were bloodshot, seemingly ready to explode if provoked.

At that moment, the village chief suddenly interrupted.

“Princess… did you say princess? Could this woman possibly be the princess of Belial?”

The village chief’s eyes seemed to blaze with fire when looking at me.

“That’s right. She’s the only survivor from the fallen Duchy of Belial.”

“Why is this woman still alive? Do you know what our village went through because of her?!”

The village chief tensed the muscles in his neck and hands, looking ready to strangle me.

It wasn’t pleasant to be resented for something I hadn’t done. But I wasn’t in a position to argue either.

“Enough.”

“Lord Croisen!”

“The Duke and the dark clan have already paid for their crimes. And this woman is now a slave and my property.”

Lucifer stood firmly in front of the village chief, speaking in a somewhat resolute tone.

“Why are you defending this woman? Don’t you have an even greater grudge than we do?”

At the village chief’s words, Lucifer glanced back at me. The moment our eyes met, goosebumps covered my entire body.

His emotions, which had been somewhat confusing before, now reached me clearly.

“Yes. That’s why I’m taking this woman away as a slave, isn’t it?”

A voice flowed from his mouth that was hard to believe belonged to the same person who had saved me when I fell from the horse moments ago. A voice colder than the unfrozen lake water.

It was filled with resentment and hatred toward me.

“I’ll make her life not worth living, so you needn’t worry about it.”

His words became sharp needles, piercing my entire body.

The only wrong I had committed in my life was one thing: breaking my promise to Carden and following the Duchess to become her adopted daughter.

Was that really wrong?

“Terseon, I told you to take the princess away immediately.”

“Ah, yes, understood. Let’s go!”

With my head bowed, I followed the knight like a criminal.

Today, my shabby slave clothes and the shackles around my wrists felt especially heavy. And the gazes of people looking at me were unbearable.

Everyone seemed to resent me, to wish for my death. The eyes of the villagers became needles and knives, stabbing my heart one after another.

But I couldn’t cry out that it was unfair.

“Hey, are you alright?”

At some point, when I covered my mouth and couldn’t breathe properly, Lucifer’s knight turned to look at me.

“…I’m fine.”

“Your face is completely pale. Like someone who’s seen a ghost. Well, there might be ghosts here, since many people hold grudges against you and your family.”

“What evil did the duchy do to this village?”

I asked Terseon, forcing myself to take rough breaths. He clicked his tongue and laughed, looking somewhat disdainful.

“Growing up as the beloved princess of the duchy, you really didn’t know anything? Your parents killed half the people in this village.”

“What?”

“Ten years ago.”

“No… no, why?”

“Who knows? Maybe they wanted to hide that you were an orphan? So they set fire to the orphanage first and killed all the children living there. Hey!”

Before the knight could finish speaking, I collapsed onto the dirt ground. I simply couldn’t walk anymore.

Even with my vision turning black, I forced out my voice.

“Wh-what happened to the orphanage children?”

“Who knows? Probably all dead? They even killed the villagers who protected the children who escaped.”

I closed my eyes, lacking the courage to look at the village.

Now I understood why Lucifer said I wouldn’t be able to meet my first love. And why he was so cynical when I said I wanted to find my first love…

“It’s all… my fault? So many innocent people… died because of me?”

“Well, you didn’t order it, so it’s not entirely your fault.”

Terseon slightly took my side, perhaps seeing my despairing face. But it was of no use.

My heart had already shattered into pieces.

“It can’t be… he promised me. He can’t be dead…”

My broken heart couldn’t accept reality.

I staggered to my feet. When I was in a semi-conscious state, my memories became clearer.

Leifrin Orphanage lies at the end of this path.

“Hey, pull yourself together.”

“He must be alive. Right, Carden?”

All I could see now was just a narrow path. My legs, walking on a deserted path, couldn’t hold out for long and I collapsed again.

Then the suppressed sobs escaped.

Today’s pain was entirely my burden to bear. Even if I hadn’t known, all the blame lay with me who had been ignorant and indifferent.

“Hey, can’t you walk? Should we go back?”

I shook my head violently at Terseon’s words. Teardrops that had pooled in my eyes scattered in all directions.

My cheeks, where tears had passed, gradually grew cold. Extinguishing the fire of my hope.

“I want to go. No, I must go.”

I failed to keep my friend’s last wish. Carden, the Headmistress, my younger siblings, and even the villagers. I might never be forgiven, even in death.

Perhaps my very existence was original sin. Maybe I wasn’t worthy of living.

Despair began to consume my heart. I became numb about how to live my remaining year. I sat down helplessly, just staring ahead.

“Hey, princess. If it’s too hard, we can go back.”

Shake, shake.

I shook my head once more and forced my trembling legs to stand. The path was straight, but my legs couldn’t advance straight.

After collapsing several times and a long time passing, I finally reached my destination.

“This is it, Leifrin Orphanage.”

The large walnut tree in front of the building. And the well beside it. They were in the same place they had been in my memory. But they were charred by fire, rotted, and collapsed, no longer resembling their former appearance.

The building was the same.

The white stone walls that the Headmistress had built one by one lay roughly collapsed on top of my hope. The log roof that had protected us from rain and wind, and the pure white nameplate.

All of them were waiting for me in their miserable state, still in their places.

But the person who had promised to wait wasn’t waiting for me.

“The dark clan was so cruel that they locked all the corpses in the orphanage and set it on fire.”

“That’s impossible.”

“All the bodies were burned. They say no one could tell who was who.”

Now I had no hope left.

I could never again meet the person I had wished to see just once more. Unless I followed him in death.

I grabbed the nameplate of the orphanage, which had once been pure white and beautiful, stroking it with my hand over and over. I no longer held back my tears.

Hugging the nameplate to my chest, I wailed aloud.

* * *

It was only by sunset that I stopped wailing.

“Done crying?”

Terseon approached me, looking somewhat embarrassed. I just nodded with a blank face. I no longer had the energy to cry.

“Then let’s head back… Hey, what’s that?”

Terseon jumped back in surprise. It was because I had rushed madly toward his feet. I practically pushed him aside and crouched down.

“It’s a snowdrop flower.”

A completely hoarse, metallic sound came from my throat.

“When we were young, this flower was our hope.”

I stared vacantly at the flower bud with hopeless eyes. Then small memories floated above the white flower.

—Lea, they say this flower gave its color to other flowers and became white.—

—Wow, what a kind flower.—

—Yes. And it’s also a flower of unwavering will.—

—It’s like Carden.—

—What?—

—You always share everything with me. And you have that unwavering will too.—

My swollen eyes curved without me realizing it. But there was no energy in my smile.

“I forgot. I promised that I wouldn’t give up hope, just like this flower…”

I looked alternately at the white flower and my shackles.

Don’t lose hope.

No, you don’t need hope anymore. You’re just a slave now.

Different feelings continued to torment me.

“Let’s go back. We’ll get scolded by the Commander at this rate.”

Terseon’s voice, touching my shoulder, had softened somewhat.

After nodding, I carefully plucked the flower that had bloomed alone through the cold winter ground. I preciously held the flower in my cupped hands.

I can’t lose this too.

Then Carden would really be angry with me.

“Let’s go.”

“Alright…”

Terseon walked ahead. He shook his head several times and scratched his head.

Then, having something to say, he turned around.

“Huh? Why did you stop?”

“This is…”

The place where I stopped was in front of a small hill.

A place filled with more memories than the flower in my hand. Beyond the small shrub forest, at the end of the hill, there was a large rock.

As I stared at it intently, Terseon approached.

“What is it? Did you have memories here with that first love or whatever?”

Instead of answering, I gave a small smile. Suddenly, Terseon cleared his throat.

“I, I see.”

“If we stop by, will Lord Croisen scold us more? He seems to hate me like the villagers…”

“Well, since he’s also from this place, he probably has some grudge against you, but…”

At Terseon’s words, my heart suddenly sank with a ‘thud’.

There was another person in Solanie Village with black hair and gray eyes? Impossible! There was no one except Carden.

The flower in my hand seemed to glow white.