The woman with cascading golden hair was Creta.

Her snow-white skin, gracefully prominent nose, full lips, and golden eyes crafted by the gods made her a masterpiece.

Creta was a princess of the Igor clan.

The Igors were a minority living in a small nation they had established at the edge of the Black Forest, renowned for their striking beauty.

The queens of Igor had long been tasked with guarding the fragments of the moon.

Originally, magic could only be used by priests who served the goddess.

However, the royal family of Igor was an exception.

They had grasped the truths of life and wielded magic.

In stark contrast to the Igors, there were tribes known as the “Barbarians” who practiced a completely different form of sorcery.

These barbarians sustained themselves by draining the vitality of living humans and raising the dead using evil spirits.

Notably, their leader, “Baku,” could even perform possession by offering his own soul.

The barbarians roamed the northern parts of the continent.

They occupied villages and small nations, using the inhabitants as food. When their supplies ran out, they would move to their next target and repeat the cycle.

Having grown stronger, the barbarians attacked the Igors, whose magic posed a significant threat to their sorcery.

The two powers were evenly matched.

However, the Igor clan began to falter quickly, witnessing their deceased family and friends rise as enemies in grotesque displays of brutality.

It was during this conflict that Baku first noticed Creta, who was fighting on the battlefield.

“What is this feeling? My heart feels like it’s about to burst.”

Baku, who had only ever felt hunger for humans, experienced an unfamiliar emotion for the first time upon seeing Creta.

“Foolish queen, hand over your daughter, and I will end this war.”

“I cannot entrust my daughter to barbarians who do not honor their promises!”

“Pitiful fools!”

Baku did everything he could to claim Creta, leading to the annihilation of the Igor clan.

The queen risked her life to save her only daughter, Creta, smuggling her away. While fleeing, Creta encountered Luxos II, who was pursuing the barbarians.

“Your Majesty, we discovered an unconscious woman of unknown identity.”

“She’s carrying a fragment of the moon. Could she be from the Igor clan…?”

Luxos, a swordmaster, and his formidable army launched a direct assault and emerged victorious in the war against the barbarians.

“Accept your defeat, Baku!”

“Ugh… Do you think this is the end? I will reclaim what was taken from me.”

“That will not happen. This is your end.”

Luxos’s blade tore through Baku’s body, and a fierce wind surged.

In the brief moment of distraction, the remaining barbarians escaped with Baku’s corpse.

Thus, Luxos conquered the northern part of the continent and fell in love with Creta.

Creta became Luxos’s Empress, and the two had a son, Prince Valiseus.

At five years old, the prince was already brilliant, and the empire was at peace.

However, strange movements were reported from the northern forest.

“My canary, I’ll be visiting the north for a while. Stay safe in the castle.”

Canary. The nickname, fitting for his empress with a heavenly singing voice, was perfect.

“Why are you so worried, Your Majesty?”

“I can’t help but worry when you’re out of my sight.”

Luxos kissed Creta’s forehead before mounting his horse.

Creta had learned from the royal physician just the day before that she was pregnant, but she chose not to tell Luxos yet.

She planned to share the news as a special gift upon his return. Meanwhile, she reviewed her schedule in the office.

“A visit to the orphanage? Great, it’s been a while since I’ve teased the children.”

Creta chuckled as she picked up a goblin mask.

Her escort, Commander Gellian Dagni, frowned deeply.

“Your Highness, you might frighten the children.”

“Using the children as an excuse? Aren’t you the one scared, Commander?”

Creta, wearing the mask, approached the hesitant Gelian, who stepped back, waving his hands in protest.

Creta laughed heartily.

It had been a long time since her last outing. With Commander Gelian’s ironclad escort, Creta gracefully stepped out of the carriage.

Though the sky was heavy with storm clouds, hinting at rain, Creta found it breathtakingly beautiful.

Suddenly, Commander Gelian, who had been guarding her side, began convulsing.

“Ack… Argh…”

“Commander Gelian, are you unwell?”

Creta asked about his condition, but he could only produce grotesque sounds.

After a long struggle, Gellian suddenly stood upright.

When he opened his eyes, the black irises had turned blood-red.

Realizing the shift in his energy, Creta quickly stepped back.

It was possession. She recognized the owner of those crimson eyes at once.

“Baku…? But he’s dead! How?!”

“Did you really think you could escape me?”

Baku, possessing Gellian, drew his sword and slashed without hesitation at Creta’s arm—the one bearing her wedding ring.

Blood gushed from below her shoulder.

“Protect Her Majesty the Empress!”

The knights, initially stunned by the commander’s sudden attack, rallied to save Creta.

But spirits descended from nowhere, possessing the knights and turning them into Baku’s allies.

Bleeding heavily, Creta was dragged away by Baku.

“How could Her Majesty the Empress pass away…?”

“The knights killed her! What villains!”

Witnesses began shouting that the empress had been slain by the commander, and the rumor spread like wildfire.

Meanwhile, Baku dragged Creta to the barbarian stronghold.

Despite her severe blood loss and fading consciousness, Creta mustered her remaining magic to heal her wounds.

Taking advantage of a moment when Baku’s possession weakened, Creta managed to escape.

Fortunately, she was near the northern forest, once home to the Igors.

Creta hid in a cave.

He uses possession. Any place with people is dangerous.

There, she waited for Luxos to come and find her.

Around that time, Luxos received news of Creta’s death.

Pale-faced, he immediately deployed his forces.

“That’s impossible. Find Creta at once!”

The soldiers scoured the empire in search of Creta’s body but repeatedly failed.

“Creta. Creta!”

Luxos began to lose his sanity.

Because of Luxos’s violent outbursts whenever he saw Empress Creta’s portrait, every portrait of Creta in the empire was burned.

“I miss Mom. I’m scared of Father. Hic.”

Prince Valiseus smuggled away one last portrait of his mother and secretly gazed at it over and over.

Creta made countless attempts to return to the imperial palace, but each time she was discovered by the evil spirit and forced to hide in the forest.

It felt as though something was deliberately keeping her trapped there.

As time passed, Creta gave birth to a child.

It was the very day the shard of the moon was said to descend to the earth.

“Your name shall be Selestia.”

It was the name of the Moon Queen in the Igor clan’s mythology.

Like her name, the baby was pale and beautiful, like a frozen moon transformed into a person and descended to earth.

Creta endured day by day with Sel in a cave where the shard of the moon resided.

“Why hasn’t His Majesty come to find us? Does he think I’m dead?”

“Mom, ouch.”

“Oh no, you have a fever again, Sel.”

The forest’s harsh environment often caused Sel to fall ill.

Since the child was still too young, the moon shard’s power could not be used.

“It’s time for us to leave this place.”

Using the last of her strength, Creta sealed Sel’s soul so that no being could sense Sel’s presence. It was to protect her from monsters and Baku.

“I don’t have enough strength to return here. If I die, show my necklace and tattoo to your father, my child.”

With that, Creta made her way through the forest toward a small village.

There, she unexpectedly overheard news of Luxos’s death.

“They say he went mad with a wasting disease and took his own life in front of the prince. The prince lost his memory due to the shock.”

“When… When did this happen?”

“It’s been some time. The current emperor is still young, so the nobles are unhappy. Though the Penhac duchy supports him, there are rumors of factions plotting to replace the emperor.”

Devastated by the news, Creta abandoned all hope of returning to the imperial palace.

In noble society, a disability was a curse.

Having lost an arm, she feared she would be a liability to her son.

That day, Creta chose to erase her existence from the palace.

She settled in an abandoned hut near the dark forest.

At first, she often interacted with the villagers. Though she endured incessant harassment from men enchanted by the beauty of the one-armed widow, Creta bore it in silence.

When Sel turned nine, she fell gravely ill.

Creta used a small shard of the moon she had kept hidden.

Because of its small size, its power was faint.

Though Sel narrowly survived, a physician’s help was still needed.

Creta went to the doctor again.

“How about paying with something other than money?”

However, the doctor attempted to assault her, and Creta barely managed to escape.

Perhaps it was due to the inadequate treatment; Sel later developed a sunlight allergy.

A few years passed, and Baku, inhabiting the body of a village farmer, came to the hut.

“How have you been, Creta?”

“How did you find this place?”

“I always knew where you were. It only took time for me to recover my dying body.”

“Get out now!”

“Don’t even think about running. If you try to flee again, I’ll use your daughter as food.”

From then on, Baku began visiting the hut every new moon, using different people’s bodies each time, sometimes even corpses. Each time, Creta would hide Sel in the wardrobe.

Though Baku never laid a hand on Creta, it would leer at her with a sticky gaze.

Each encounter left Creta screaming and convulsing.

“Did you report this forest to the central guards as a place haunted by an evil spirit? Why bother with such useless actions?”

“Get out of my sight right now!”

“You won’t be able to talk back much longer. Soon, my body will fully heal from what Luxos did to me.”

Leaving the body of a guard hanging outside the hut as a warning, Baku disappeared.

Creta’s nerves were frayed to the breaking point.

“Trust no one! Never reveal you’re a girl!”

“Mom, why are you like this? You’re scaring me.”

“Did you wear my dress again? Didn’t I tell you not to let anyone know you’re a girl?!”

“I’m sorry! Please stop yelling, Mom.”

“Don’t bathe. Live with the smell so people will avoid you.”

“But, Mom, I don’t want people to hate me.”

“No one truly likes you. Don’t be fooled by fake kindness born of filthy intentions.”

“Mom, I don’t want to think that way.”

“Just listen to me until you’re grown. Do you hear me?”

Sensing her own impending death, Creta began pushing Sel harder, hoping to make her strong enough to survive alone.

One day, on a new moon when Sel was twelve, a man came to the hut as usual.

But this time was different. Instead of her mother’s screams, Sel heard a man’s furious shouts.

“Creta, why?!”

“Cough.”

“Did you think dying would free you from me?”

Peeking through the wardrobe door, Sel saw a large man with flaming red hair—Baku’s true form.

Black tattoos covered his face and body, and a grotesque scar ran across his chest where Luxos had stabbed him.

Before him, Creta was coughing up blood.

“Your body and soul are mine. Even in death, you won’t escape me!”

Bakus dragged the bleeding Creta outside.

She managed to throw her imperial necklace toward Sel, but Baku snatched it midair.

“Don’t try anything foolish. No one will ever find you.”

Terrified, Sel bolted out of the wardrobe and chased after them, shouting:

“Put my mom down!”

But the man disappeared into the distance, leaving only a simple hair ribbon on the dirt ground.