Eve had been afraid all along.

The scenes in which she hurt her mother in her dreams were so vivid.

In those dreams, she struck her, bit her, clawed her.

Would her mother die? Would she hate her?

But with a single smile, her mother melted away all that fear like snow under the sun.

“Mommy, I’m sorry…”

Still weighed down by the dream, Eve apologized to Luise again and again.

Her chest ached at the sight.

She knew all too well the terror a nightmare could leave behind.

For she too had lain awake at night, trembling in fear after each one.

She too had struggled to shake off those revolting, uncanny sensations and memories.

The images had been so vivid they robbed her of sleep for days, even stealing her appetite.

She would not let that fear gnaw away at her child’s soul.

She would not pass on the guilt that had once consumed her.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. You did nothing wrong, Eve.”

I know it was never your fault. I know it’s not something you ever wished for.

Luise stroked him gently, her voice a tender whisper.

At her mother’s reassurance, Eve’s tears subsided and her trembling eased.

She rubbed her damp eyes with her small hand.

Seeing her trying so bravely filled Luise with gratitude.

“I’ll go fetch the doctor, Mommy…!”

Eve rose, acting far beyond her age.

“Eve, I’m fine.”

“No! I’m going to call the doctor!”

She scolded her, insisting she needed to rest because she was unwell.

Then, with a sniff, she darted out the door on quick little feet.

“Eve…!”

Luise tried to rise to stop her, but dizziness forced her to collapse back onto the bed.

Her body would not obey her.

‘My body…’

Inside, it burned as though flames were roiling in her veins.

She clutched her chest and curled in on herself.

‘This isn’t… normal…’

After the grueling battle, she had thought her body was simply exhausted—but something was wrong.

The heat inside her spread as though it would consume her whole body.

Luise turned her gaze to her wrist, where Dietrich had grabbed her, and saw where the mark had started.

Rolling up her sleeve, she saw a black, crescent-shaped mark etched into her skin.

The moment her eyes fell upon it, her head spun and darkness consumed her vision.

She clung to the bed to stop herself from falling backwards.

A curse.

At the very end of their battle, Dietrich had branded her with a curse.

A sorcery altogether unlike the one carved into Shed’s body.

‘…It’s slipping out of control.’

It was as though the power circuits within her body had become twisted, causing her strength to turn inwards violently.

She could barely contain it; it was overflowing.

Luise struggled to push the surging power deep down, preventing it from setting her body ablaze.

If she faltered for even a moment, it would burst forth.

“Ugh…!”

The power fought back, thrashing inside her as she forced it down.

“Khahh!”

At last, blood began to spill from her lips.

Bright red blood splattered across the pale floor.

Only after her body had broken did the raging fire inside her subside somewhat.

Luise gasped for breath and her body went still.

‘Dietrich…’

It was his final gift to someone who would live forever.

He inscribed a curse within her, corrupting the dark power that lay within her.

‘Did he… want me to lose control?’

She knew instinctively that the only way to ease the pain was to release the twisted force outward.

Otherwise, it would continue to consume her body.

Tragically, however, she was immortal — her body would regenerate, only to be consumed again and again.

As long as she suppressed it, she would live on, enduring agony for eternity.

Biting down hard on her lips, Luise searched through her broken memories.

‘…What became of him?’

After the battle, her memories had gone. It was as though her mind had been punched clean through with holes.

Lifting her head, she looked around belatedly.

A golden, star-shaped relic hung on the wall. On the other side of the room, a marble statue of an angel stood. The chamber was simple yet immaculately kept. In place of a grand fireplace, a warm fire burned by the hearth.

‘Ik’m in the Temple…?’

In that instant, her body chilled as if doused in ice.

‘Why am I in the Temple…!’

She remembered Dietrich dragging her into the underground laboratory.

She pieced together the fragments of those nightmare-tainted memories, one by one.

Had he brought her back?

Her pale brow furrowed as she searched her memory.

No — it was Dietrich. It couldn’t be him. If it had been him, he would never have left her so free.

‘Then…’

Luise suddenly recalled the procession she had seen before collapsing: Giselle Marlhein’s.

This thought filled her with a different kind of unease.

Her anxious eyes scanned every corner of the room.

Where were the priests? What was Giselle thinking, leaving her here?

The silence filling the chamber was stiflingly cold.

The angel statue watching over the room was too serene, too still—it made it hard to breathe.

There were no exceptions to the judgment of heresy.

‘Eve…!’

Her heart pounded wildly.

Bracing herself against the wall, she forced her trembling legs to straighten.

Despite them threatening to give way beneath her, she took a step forward, then another, towards the door.

Just then, the door that Eve had closed behind him clicked open.

Luise lifted her head.

For a moment, her heart plummeted into a bottomless abyss.

A dishevelled man stood in the doorway.

“Ah…”

Her green eyes reflected his image, stark and clear.

A white shirt, wrinkled and half-unfastened, its ties hanging loosely down.

Black hair, unkempt, falling across his eyes.

And beneath it, the hollows of his gaze—deep, sunken, haggard.

Luise froze where she stood.

There had been too many miseries to think of. And so she had, for a moment, forgotten this one.

That shadow she had once feared most of all.

Yes—he was here.

The place in her life she had most longed to turn away from, yet also the deepest place within her.

“Shed…”

She could feel the enormous statue of the angel’s gaze fixed upon her from across the room.

Its white eyes never blinked or wavered, boring into her without respite.

“Luise…”

The memory of him sinking into the darkness of the curse burned through her mind.

She remembered the shock in his eyes when he looked at her; his gaze had been sharper than anyone else’s.

Finally, he had seen her true, hideous self.

Like a cornered animal, she stumbled backwards.

Her thoughts were in disarray.

Yes. You must hate me, too.

You could never forgive me for possessing the same power that has cursed you.

Just as I loathe myself, you must feel the same way.

‘I knew it would come to this in the end…’

Luise’s lips trembled.

She knew that when the sands in the hourglass ran out, the truth she had kept hidden would be revealed. Yet she remained silent, avoiding the issue for no reason other than fear.

Regret tightened around her throat like a noose.

‘If only I had confessed the truth to him sooner…’

At the very least, they would not be meeting in the worst way like this.

Worthless excuses pressed at the tip of her tongue.

‘All I ever wanted was to protect you. That’s why I let Vitel’s merchants take you away. That’s why I fled from you. With someone as radiant as you, I could only ever cast a shadow of gloom and misfortune. All I ever wanted was for you to be happy.’

She swallowed her feelings down like thorns.

He stepped past the threshold, his large frame moving towards her.

Luise flinched at his approach.

“Shed, I…”

She tried to steady her trembling voice and force strength into her throat, but the words would not come.

Despite having prepared herself, she was terrified of what he might say. Then, his tall body leaned down and his strong arms drew her in.

She could feel the heat spreading into her from his embrace.

Luise froze and held her breath.

He said nothing.

He simply held her tight.

It was as though he had trapped her in eternity itself.

Her heart pounded violently.

His warmth was unbearably tender—and yet everything was still so uncertain, so frightening.

Then, against her ear, came his voice, trembling and raw:

“Thank you… for staying alive.”

Those words shook her to her core.

Is living truly something to be grateful for?

Her endless life had always felt like a curse.

Sometimes, she felt that her existence was worth less than that of a worm.

She believed that her life was nothing but a burden to the world.

That living itself was a sin.

But he had said he was grateful for her being alive.

It was as though he was telling her that it was all right to go on living.

As though her existence had some small measure of worth.

And so, her chest throbbed as though pierced by a blade.

Luise pushed Shed away.

“…It was me. Everything that happened in Ideana. Not my father—me…”

“Luise.”

As she pushed him away, Shed pulled her back into his arms.

At the sound of his voice—hot, trembling—Luise involuntarily lifted her head.

His violet eyes shimmered, wet with unfallen tears.

His large hands cupped her head and back with aching gentleness.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

His jaw tightened.

Luise’s eyes burned red in an instant.

No—it was too great a sin to deny.

That was why she had clung to her guilt all this time, lashing herself without mercy.

‘It was my fault. My sin. So I must bear it all.’

Otherwise, the dead—the victims of it all—could never rest.

But Shed told her it wasn’t her fault.

“No… I…”

“Luise.”

He brushed her cheek tenderly and steadily, as if to soothe the years she had spent alone.

The memory of those pages returned to him — the experiment logs filled with words so vile that they had made him feel sick.

The thought of what she had endured and how mercilessly cruel it had been was unbearable.

And he hadn’t known. He had left her…

“I’m sorry I left you alone.”

The whisper became a kiss, enveloping her. In that instant, her small body shuddered in his arms.

Hot tears spilled down her cheeks—sudden, unstoppable. She tried to hold them back, but the harder she fought, the more they fell.

She knew a single word could never absolve her of all her sins. She knew she had no right to cry. And yet, she had longed for those words. For so long.

The truth was, she was exhausted. Choked by loneliness.

She had wanted to cast it all away and scream aloud, that she hurt too. That she was so afraid she wanted to run. That someone—anyone—should please save her.