Chapter 10. The Truth

Death was more peaceful than expected. All senses disappeared, and the body became light, feeling as if it floated with the air.

But it was also cold. While the physical body seemed like it might float with the slightest breeze, consciousness was the opposite. The feeling of continuously falling into cold water with no end in sight. Yerena felt herself sinking.

‘Cold.’

In the chill that seemed to freeze her to the bone, Yerena forgot all thoughts and curled up. Would she freeze after falling like this? Looking carefully, the white things falling beside her were all small ice crystals.

The sparkling crystals fell down, down with Yerena, growing in size. And on top of these enlarged crystals, her memories were carved with a scratching sound. Yerena saw a happy day, a sad time, a terrible hour, and closed her eyes. It was because she thought there was no longer any meaning in looking back at the past.

Yerena fell endlessly. And finally, just as the surface above was about to fade away after becoming as small as a dot, golden light like fingers spreading from a hand, like a fully bloomed flower, supported her from below.

Yerena, who had been falling, rose upward in an instant. And as she was wondering whether to open her eyes, a familiar voice called her several times.

“Yerena.”

Though it only called her name, the voice provided a resonance more powerful than any magic. Yerena was immediately pulled out of her consciousness.

‘Kian.’

Lifting her heavy eyelids, Yerena silently called the owner of the voice. She didn’t care whether it was the moment of her last breath or if she was already dead and seeing a vision. She wanted to see him once more, even if he was just a mass of golden light. She wanted to tell him once more.

That she loved him.

As her eyelids opened, light dimly entered her pupils. And seeing the world that entered her vision—not a world brilliant with golden light, but one with clear forms and colors—Yerena fully opened her eyes.

Not knowing that the world she would see again would be h*ll.

* * *

What first flowed through the princess’s eyes was the joy of seeing her beloved. But as she fully dispelled the darkness and saw the world, she soon widened her eyes.

The deception made possible by the curse scattered like fog. Like the sun suddenly emerging after being covered by clouds, the truth was revealed.

‘So this is h*ll.’

With her sight perfectly restored and the man’s face before her, Yerena was convinced she had died and fallen into h*ll. Otherwise, this couldn’t be happening. To see the face of her enemy right before her. Yerena trembled, thinking she was being punished for the sin of harboring an imperial knight in her heart.

‘Her eyes……’

Like Yerena, Roshan also froze. He could tell just by looking at her eyes. Blue eyes without any trace of haziness. They were the same as when he first saw the princess. Thoughts rushed terrifyingly through his mind. How to handle the current situation. His hands trembled and he could barely breathe from fear.

“For-forgive me…… God. Forgive…… hic.”

A momentary standoff. Yerena moved first. She tried to escape from Roshan’s arms while begging God for forgiveness. But her body, barely rescued from death, wouldn’t move as she wished. She turned pale and used all her strength to try to move.

Though the movement was feeble, to Roshan, who had fallen into extreme fear, it looked violent. It seemed as if the princess might disappear from before his eyes at any moment. He unconsciously held Yerena tightly. The obsession that he couldn’t let go of the princess put strength into each of his finger joints.

“Ah……”

Yerena blinked and groaned at the strong grip. It hurt. The clear pain in her body completely awakened her mind.

“Ah, agh…… Ah……”

The princess began to see, feel, and understand the reality before her. Strange groans flowed from her mouth.

“No, no. This… this can’t be.”

Though she hadn’t been running, her breath rose to the tip of her chin. The strong arms binding her overlapped with the snake she had seen in her nightmare. Yerena made choking sounds. Only then did Roshan come to his senses. He forcibly pushed away his fear and opened his mouth to calm Yerena.

“Lady Yerena. Calm……”

It was a mistake. Roshan’s attempt only stimulated Yerena to her limit. When the voice of her beloved came from the mouth of the monster with red eyes, she couldn’t bear the terrible gap and screamed.

“Aaagh!”

At the tearing sound, the man made a dazed face. In that gap, Yerena escaped from his arms and sat down on the floor.

“Aah……”

Her hand, which had touched the floor and moved backward, reached an old priestess with a blindfold. A little further away, a man with long hair like a woman lay collapsed, bleeding.

Yerena immediately recognized from the clothes and long hair that the collapsed man was the emperor who had swung his fists at her. She could also tell from the blindfold that the priestess was Alicia. She alternately looked at her own body, completely healed without a scratch, and at Alicia. And she roughly understood how the current situation had unfolded.

“No! No! This can’t be!”

The more the pieces fit together, the clearer reality became. Yerena shook her head violently at Roshan’s red eyes. She had been told Kian had blue eyes. Though he hadn’t told her whether they were dark or light, what time of day or what weather’s sky they resembled, he had clearly said he inherited blue eyes from his mother.

“Ki. Kian. Kian. Kian. Kian.”

Yerena called the one she had harbored in her heart. Though he was an imperial knight…… and thus someone she shouldn’t have dared to keep in her heart, he was still different from the enemy before her eyes. At least Kian hadn’t killed her parents before her eyes. He had protected her when she was attacked, always stood by her side when she was taken as a prisoner, and helped her. He was someone who had warmly embraced her when she had put up her defenses while honestly confessing his feelings.

As the princess repeatedly called the false name, the invader made a pained face. Yerena shouted at the red eyes staring at her intently,

“Why, why are you looking at me like that? The person I’m looking for is someone else! Someone else!”

Unable to bear the pain, she tore at her hair, a pitiful sight. The princess, her face covered in tears, turned her gaze here and there like a madwoman. Then she screamed and curled up her body. Once again, with a violent motion, she clawed at her chest. The dress, already in tatters from the emperor’s whipping, became hideously crumpled and slipped down.

“What am I…… Aaagh!”

Fingernail marks appeared on the white skin between the precariously lowered fabric. These were wounds left by Yerena, who harmed herself while refusing to understand the situation that had befallen her. Red lines were drawn on the princess’s neck. Roshan could no longer stand by and approached her.

“Lady Yerena.”

“Let go! No!”

“Please……”

“Let me go! Let go!”

Her restrained arm trembled violently. The princess kicked the man while writhing in heart-rending pain and self-disgust.

“No. It can’t be…… Aaagh!”

She raised her head with labored breathing and looked at the ceiling. Now she saw clearly. The patterns on the ceiling, the hanging lights. Their shapes and colors were distinct. But that fact couldn’t be more horrifying. She screamed at the truth seen with open eyes and sought God.

“Why, why do you do this to me. God. Why to me……”

The imperial priestess was right. There is no God. The god she had worshipped and prayed to with her mother in Sedas had clearly departed long ago, like in legends.

Otherwise, He wouldn’t have left her like this. Though she didn’t have deep faith, Yerena revered the gods in that moment. She had occasionally prayed for them to look after her homeland, her family, and herself.

So if the gods truly existed, they wouldn’t have left her to be deceived to this extent. She grinned and then laughed loudly. She was still being held by the arm by the man.

As Alicia had said, only the Goddess of Light existed. So the goddess protecting the empire was punishing her, who didn’t serve her. The princess groaned at the divine punishment given to her, a heretic. Then suddenly, her eyes flashed, and she swung her arm. Roshan, stunned by Yerena’s condition, unconsciously let go of her arm. Long fingernail marks were drawn on his cheek.

“……Even a goddess cannot do this to me.”

The sharp dagger with which the priestess had stabbed Roshan’s hand caught the princess’s eye. Yerena’s eyes momentarily took on an indescribably bizarre color.

The princess bent down. She extended her arm to grasp the small but sharp dagger.

“Yerena!”

But the man, who had been following Yerena with anxious eyes all along, couldn’t remain still. As the princess’s fingertips touched the dagger, the man grabbed her. And thud. With a short but strong force, he struck the back of the princess’s neck.

The princess, who had failed to grasp the dagger, collapsed forward. The pointed tip of the dagger flashed with a regretful light.

Roshan prevented Yerena from falling to the floor. He looked at her with his brow deeply furrowed, then held her with both hands. And while embracing her tightly in his arms, he muttered,

“……’I’m sorry’ would be insufficient.”

Thick tears fell. Though it was a brief moment, judging by the woman’s reaction, the future was clearly visible. The princess would likely choose one of two paths, madness or death.

But as long as he lived, she would not be able to choose death. So she would go mad like this. Roshan held the unconscious princess even tighter.

“……I’m sorry. I have committed a sin worthy of death. It’s all my fault.”

He apologized to her like a criminal, bowing his head. Dozens of words left his mouth and circled her ears. But what use was any of it? The invader would never be forgiven.

A tear fell from the unconscious princess’s eye.

* * *