Isabel’s vision expanded, everything slowing to a crawl as the world stretched out before her. For a moment, the flood of information was almost overwhelming, and her head was throbbing. But she forced herself to focus.

‘What is this? Why am I seeing these images in my mind?’

That same strange pull, like something was dragging her under as she sank beneath the water—familiar and yet impossible to grasp.

What was it that someone had once whispered to her?

Ah—water is a medium that bridges time and space.

Just as she tried to recall the words she’d heard when she’d plunged into the lake, a shrill, metallic screech like jagged teeth ripped through her ears. At the same moment, her vision snapped shut.

“Isabel!”

Kailhart’s voice rang out, but by then the flood had already engulfed her, her mouth, her nose, her hair, her entire body swallowed by the rising water.

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

A bitter taste filled her mouth.

She coughed weakly and hunched over as the liquid burned its way down her throat.

Kailhart’s firm hand stroked her back a few times, which calmed her cough. That familiar touch was so steady and constant.

Raising her blurry eyes, Isabel tried to focus on him.

His face was hard and tense, with a familiar scowl set deep between his brows.

He held an empty medicine vial in his hand, and behind him, she could see the canvas roof of a makeshift shelter. Several layers of sheets covered her, and she could feel the soft mattress beneath her back.

Even in her dazed state, she realised that he must have tended to her while she was unconscious.

All her scrapes and cuts were now treated, and her body, once soaked, was dry as if nothing had happened.

Glancing down, she saw that her wet clothes had been replaced with a large black shirt — clearly Kailhart’s own.

As she took all this in, she noticed Kailhart’s fist clenching tightly at his side.

“How are you feeling?”

She’d heard those words often lately.

“I… I’m fine.”

Isabel replied, though her voice wavered.

As she answered, her mind retraced the events up to the moment she’d lost consciousness. She remembered Kailhardt reaching for her as her vision faded—he’d saved her.

But the thought barely had time to settle.

“Why is it always like this?”

Kailhart muttered through clenched teeth, then pulled her tightly into his arms.

“Really, I’m all right—”

Gasping for breath, Isabel reached up and placed her hand gently on Kailhart’s feverish back. She tried to push him away very gently, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

He looked more human than she had ever seen him before.

Watching the flickering light at the centre of the tent, Isabel sighed softly.

“Thank you… for saving me.”

Kailhart had rescued her.

‘Why?’

She wasn’t sure, but she remembered to thank him first.

She recalled the flash of blue energy she’d glimpsed for just a moment—the threatening, almost violent aura that had surged around him. The memory pricked at her; some deep instinct told her there was more to learn.

She hovered at the boundary between consciousness and dreams, flashes of memory flickering at the edges of her mind. She couldn’t quite recall them—but maybe, just maybe, what she’d seen wasn’t a hallucination, but something she’d truly experienced in the past.

Just as the royal physician of Saint-Au had once pointed out—memories sometimes went missing after certain treatments.

“Isabel.”

Her vision went dark again as Kailhart covered her eyes with his hand.

She couldn’t see his expression as he spoke, and so the small details she usually overlooked felt sharper, the faint tremor in his voice, the warmth of his palm over her eyes, his body heat soaking into her chilled skin.

It was all so unfamiliar.

‘If you act like this, it almost feels like you actually care about me…’

Isabel let out a shaky breath. Her pulse raced for a moment, but she forced herself to stay calm—she didn’t want her voice to betray her as she answered him.

“I’m sorry. I… I don’t think I’m quite myself. I might not be able to read Your Majesty’s mood the way I usually do.”

“Oh? So you usually read me that well?”

“I know it probably sounds insane… but I really don’t think I’m in my right mind right now.”

“It doesn’t sound crazy to me.”

“…What?”

Kailhart’s hand lingered for a moment, lightly covering Isabel’s eyes, before finally pulling away. She’d expected him to be angry, but instead, he only rested his hand on her shoulder, a faint, almost gentle smile flickering across his lips. For some reason, he looked genuinely pleased.

“That’s enough.”

With that, he reached out and mussed her hair, interrupting her thoughts. Then he stood and moved to the center of the tent, dimming the lantern.

“Let’s leave it at that for tonight. Don’t think about it anymore.”

His face, bathed in the soft orange glow, looked almost like a warning light—so Isabel fell silent immediately. As Kailhart settled onto the bed beside her, she curled up as much as she could to avoid disturbing him.

Though they had spent countless nights together, this was the first time they had ever truly fallen asleep side by side.

Separated only by a single sheet, Kailhart’s warmth felt hotter than usual, and the pounding of their hearts seemed impossibly loud in the quiet.

A rare, fragile silence settled over them—an uneasy calm that wrapped around her tired body.

🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁🍁

After waking up together for the first time, they spent half a day in the makeshift shelter, tending to loose ends.

Despite the massive accident—a train car derailed and sent plunging into the gorge—Kailhart pushed ahead with his scheduled itinerary instead of returning to the capital, just as Isabel had assumed he would.

Even so, Isabel followed him without complaint.

But as they neared their destination, an eerie, chilling sensation grew stronger.

It wasn’t until they entered the restricted zone, passing through a domed barrier, that Isabel began to suspect what awaited them. By the time they finally arrived, she couldn’t hold back a gasp.

“So? How does it feel to see it with your own eyes?”

The clearing was blackened, utterly scorched. Nothing remained but wasteland—an expanse of ash.

Isabel’s breath stuttered and caught. Her vision swam, and her stomach twisted. She had never imagined… never dreamed… that there would be nothing left.

The great tree she’d once seen was gone without a trace. The rounded patch of earth where its trunk had stood was desolate—almost nothing remained.

Even so, Isabel searched desperately, hoping for any small sign, any remnant, and Kailhart didn’t stop her. He simply watched, silently observing her every reaction.

“Is that why you brought me here—?”

Her voice was barely more than a whisper, trembling and unsteady as she pressed her hand to her mouth.

‘Was this it?’
‘Did you hurry here just to show me what’s become of my home, Kailhart?’

Her hand trembled so violently she hardly realized it, and she clenched her fingers tight in a futile attempt to steady them.

“I asked what you thought, Isabel.”

“You… you brought me here just to show me this?”

The shock narrowed her vision, making it hard to breathe. In that moment, she didn’t even notice Kailhart sending their attendants far away, leaving the two of them alone.

This was the borderland of Saint-Au, a region Kailhart had conquered and annexed to the empire not long after his coronation.

That process had been less a war between two powers and more an act of one-sided plunder by the empire.

“Yes, I wanted you to see this place with your own eyes.”

Hearing him speak so casually, Isabel’s whole body trembled harder.

“Is that really all you wanted? To see how I’d react to losing my home?”

She clenched her fists until her knuckles stood out white against her skin. Only now did she fully realize why he’d gone out of his way to bring her here.

“Was it so important to you to watch my bl＊＊d boil over losing my home?”

How did he even know? How did Kailhart discover this place was her true home?

Even among the people who used to gossip about the disgraced princess from Saint-Au—about how she’d been raised in some remote village—not one had known it was this village.

But then, nothing was beyond Kailhart’s reach. With his network of informants spread across the entire continent, he could have found out simply by asking someone, somewhere.

But that wasn’t the most important thing.

“Did you really bring me here just to watch me cry over my ruined home?”

Her voice was raw and accusatory.

It wasn’t enough that he’d trampled the land itself; he was determined to tarnish her memories, too. Her childhood had already been shattered, but deep inside her, those peaceful years living together in one humble house with her mother and uncle remained untouched.

For a brief moment, those memories swelled up, clouding her vision. But they quickly faded again, lost to the haze.