“Shed.”

Luise straightened, rising from where she had bent toward Eve. The autumn wind blew in, scattering her long brown hair.

“Is what Giselle said true…?”

Unable to contain his emotions, he strode into the room. Luise pressed her lips together and glanced toward Eve. She did not want this spoken of before the child.

Shed clenched his fist tight, then turned his gaze to Eve.

“Eve. I need to speak with your mother. Go out and play for a while.”

His tone was colder than usual, almost commanding.

When Eve hesitated, clutching her mother’s hand, Shed’s eyes cut sharply toward her again.

“Shed.”

Luise chided his harshness, but Shed had no room for such damned understanding. Seeing the urgency in his eyes, she knew there would be no holding him back.

“When we’re done talking, I’ll call you back, Eve.”

Luise gently stroked her daughter’s hair and spoke softly. Intimidated by Shed’s icy glare, Eve nodded and hurried out of the room.

The moment she was gone, Shed exploded, no longer able to contain his mounting fury.

“Is it true—you mean to follow the temple’s judgment?”

He forced the words out, barely restraining his rage and fear.

Meeting his bloodshot eyes, blazing red like fire, Luise nodded. His gaze wavered helplessly.

“Luise!”

His voice broke rough with agitation.

“D*mn it, do you even know what punishment heretics face? Do you even understand what hellfire means?”

He seized her slender shoulders in a hard grip. But Luise only gave him a faint, unfathomable smile and nodded.

She knew. She knew all too well. She had studied that punishment for years, read and read again. Perhaps she even knew more of it than Giselle herself.

At her unnervingly calm response, Shed’s face twisted in anguish.

“And still—you’ll follow the temple’s decree?”

“It was always a fate I foresaw. The time has simply come sooner than I thought.”

Luise placed her hand on top of his, which was still holding her shoulder. Although she spoke quietly and almost indifferently, inside she was engraving every flicker of his expression and every searing emotion pulsing through his touch onto her heart.

As with Eve, her farewell to him was not far off.

“Why must it be now…!”

His voice, raw with fury, emerged from between his clenched teeth.

Luise responded with a faint smile.

“Because this is the only time I have a bargaining chip.”

Killing Dietrich was the only way to protect Eve. If she waited any longer, the memory of her deed would fade and the chance to obtain the Token of Protection would disappear. That was why she had to decide now, for Eve’s safety.

“So you’ll go willingly into that monstrous punishment?”

“Shed, I have no other choice…”

“What do you mean no choice! With your power you could escape—so why…!”

He cried out, his voice breaking with desperation.

To Luise, it was a strange, almost grateful thing—that someone would pour out such emotion for her. And yet, she felt only guilt, for she could not accept it.

“I don’t want to run, Shed.”

Her answer did not waver. For a fleeting moment she had faltered when her eyes fell on Eve, but her conclusion remained the same.

Would running away bring happiness? Could it truly give Eve a better life? The answer was no.

If they fled, Eve would be miserable. Every moment would be shadowed by the weight of inherited sin—resentment and fear entwined. The life she knew would vanish. She would meet no one, hide behind false names, drift along the edges of the world. Like Luise herself, she would be bound within a prison of loneliness.

The instant they became fugitives, they would lose even Shed, even Eclace.

Yes, Eve might still have her mother. But she would lose her father, her friends, her neighbors. Her world would shrink until it was nothing but the two of them—alone, cut off, exiled.

And so Luise chose instead to sacrifice her own life. At the very least, she wanted to return to her child the simple gift of ordinary days.

Eve would lose her mother—but in exchange, she could have everything else. She could climb trees, play in the sand, take riding lessons, watch festivals unfold before her eyes.

There were countless children in the world who had lost their mothers young, and not all of them lived in despair. Luise chose to place her faith in that truth.

But Shed only shook his head.

“No matter what you say, Eve will learn the truth one day.”

Even with the Token, the day would come when Eve would realize that black magic flowed through her veins. And one day, she would learn the truth of how her mother had died.

At his words, Luise’s lips curved into a bitter smile.

“But at least she’ll have a few more years of happiness. And she’ll be safe.”

“You’d throw everything away for just a few years? Do you really believe the temple will keep its word? Do you think Eve will be safe without you there?”

Shed’s voice burst forth, carrying the storm of emotion swelling inside him. It felt as though a massive stone had been wedged into his chest, pressing down and suffocating him.

Luise parted her lips, closed them again, and repeated the motion several times. Then, as if her resolve had finally hardened, she spoke.

“So there’s something I want to ask of you, Shed.”

Her hand brushed softly over the one gripping her shoulder.

He didn’t want to hear it—didn’t want to grant a single request after she had chosen something so reckless. And yet, like a hound conditioned to obey, he found himself listening. Because the warmth of her touch burned against his skin.

Luise drew a steadying breath, lowered her gaze slightly.

“I want you… to protect Eve.”

The sound of her voice carried on the cold air and caused his brow to furrow. A crooked, bitter laugh escaped from the corner of his mouth.

She still wouldn’t answer him, still refusing to say that she would defy the temple. While his insides boiled like lava, she looked him in the eye with such composure as she talked about what should happen after she was gone. It was a cruel betrayal.

“Why the hell should I…?”

He spat, his voice raw with defiance. At that, Luise lifted her eyes to meet his. Her face was unbearably beautiful, and her gaze was filled with love and sorrow that cut deep. She parted her lips.

“…Because Eve looks so much like you.”

Her trembling voice brushed against his ear. Shed’s expression froze.

“What…?”

“…She was conceived that night I spent with you.”

The words stung as they escaped her dry lips.

Luise knew how cowardly it was. She had remained silent until now, only to speak at the very end for her own selfish reasons. By her own standards, she was a wretched woman. If she had wanted to keep it a secret, she should have taken it to her grave.

She bit her lip, scorn burning within her. But she did not regret it. For Eve, she was ready to be as selfish, cowardly and vile as necessary.

Even if he raged at her, cursed her or struck her, that was fine. So long as he might reach out to Eve once she was alone.

“Ha…”

A breath escaped Shed’s lips, lifeless. His head was pounding.

To be honest, he had suspected as much. Whenever he looked at Eve, he wondered if she was his. He had considered the timing and questioned it. Watching the child’s sharp, mature movements, he even thought that perhaps she had Lupus’s blood in her veins.

The curve of her smile and the way her lips lifted when she laughed often reminded him of his own. Sometimes, he wished — hoped — that she truly was the child born between them.

But still, the anger boiled.

“Why are you only telling me now?”

It was plain why Luise revealed Eve’s secret. She needed someone to care for the girl after she was gone. She could not entrust everything to Eclace alone—too much fear, too much uncertainty.

“Eve still needs family…”

Her voice trailed off, breaking into self-mockery. Eve didn’t even know that Shed was her father.

‘I really have lived nothing but lies.’

What started as a single deception to hide her heretical powers had snowballed beyond recall. She had concealed her strength, changed her name, and transformed her place in the world. Even her voice and hair colour no longer belonged to her.

She had also lived a lie with her beloved daughter.

A life spun of secrets and deceit. Had she ever truly lived as herself, unmasked? Who was Luise Ideana now? She was nothing but a blurred, tattered doll, stitched and patched until her true shape was lost.

“I’m sorry, Shed.”

Luise gently pried his hand from her shoulder. Looking back, she realized that she had never given him a happy memory. From his days as a slave until the moment he struck down Dietrich, he had always been a victim of the black magic practiced by House Ideana.

As they said their goodbyes, her apology sent ripples through Shed’s eyes. Seeing that tremor cut too deeply, but she would not look away.

“And I’ll keep being sorry.”

Now and forever.

Her face crumpled. The violet eyes she had loved so much, which had always gleamed like gems, now trembled as though they might shatter.

But then, a new light flared within them.

“…I think I’m the one who ought to be sorry, Luise.”

Even as he murmured, Luise’s body lurched forward, pulled into his arms. Heat engulfed her, his heavy scent filling her lungs with the cold wind.

“Sorry, but I can’t grant that request.”

“Shed…!”

“I won’t let it end this way.”

He crushed her against him, holding her as though to break her.

“Do you know what it took to find you?”

He would never allow her to become a sacrifice to hellfire.

“You’ll live—forever, by my side.”

Even if he had to bring down the temple, even if it made him a traitor, even if he became a heretic himself.

He would protect her.