“Marienne Rose! You, you rascal!”

“Brother Adam!”

The Rose Shoe Shop in the Louer district.

The wooden building with the shop on the first floor and living quarters on the second was Marienne Rose’s home.

Returning from Bernac Forest, Marienne climbed the tree in the backyard and jumped through the open window of her room on the second floor. No sooner had she landed on the windowsill than her brother’s angry voice rang out.

“Where have you been until this hour! Such a tiny girl, without any fear!”

“Well…, I was picking herbs and dozed off for a bit, then it was daylight before I knew it.”

“You went to Bernac Forest? I told you not to go there carelessly. What if you got caught by the forest keeper!”

“But there are so many expensive herbs and mushrooms there.”

“Even so, it’s dangerous to wander around late at night!”

“That’s why I wore your clothes when I went out. My hair is short too, so no one would have noticed I was a girl.”

“You naughty little foal. Anyway, you went to the castle on an errand at dawn. That’s what we’ll tell Mother.”

“Thank you, brother.”

As Marienne hugged his waist, Adam’s furrowed brow softened. He was about to add more scolding when the shop bell rang.

“Looks like a customer has arrived. Marienne, stay put. I’m not done talking to you.”

“Okay!”

Adam couldn’t help but smile at how bright and cheerful she was despite the scolding.

She was a child who had miraculously come to the Rose family one year when they were in despair after losing their father and younger sister to an epidemic.

She was also a pitiful child who had grown up in the Villao orphanage, was adopted by a tanner, and then sold to the Rose family again because she resembled their dead younger sister, catching the eye of their mother.

Clearing his thoughts, Adam went downstairs to greet the customer.

But those who rang the bell were not shoe customers, but guards from the Duke’s family.

Unaware of the situation downstairs, Marienne leisurely took off her cloak. As her blood-stained clothes were revealed, she changed into everyday clothes and hurriedly hid them under the bed.

It was unbelievable that she had not only unexpectedly met the young lord she had been dreaming of but even saved his life.

She took out the aqua-colored scarf kept in the old drawer. It was a gift she had received from the young lord two years ago at this time.

Marienne still vividly remembered the appearance of Nigel Bernac, the young lord, as he entered the shoe shop.

When Mrs. Rose saw the young lord, she dropped her scissors while cutting Marienne’s hair, which was like animal fur, and Adam, who was stitching leather, stood up in surprise.

But the young lord, as if accustomed to the commotion caused by his presence, calmly looked around the shop.

Then he met the impertinent gaze staring up at him. Marienne, with her messily cut hair and wearing rags.

The young lord’s eyebrow raised slightly.

Mrs. Rose hurriedly pressed down on the back of Marienne’s head. But the girl stubbornly resisted, not taking her eyes off the young lord.

The flustered Mrs. Rose struck her bony back.

‘She’s an ignorant orphan and a child. Please forgive the rudeness of this lowly one.’

Although the young lord was just a young boy himself, he unwrapped the aqua-colored scarf around his neck with an adult-like expression. Then he placed it on Marienne’s unsightly mop of hair and tied it under her chin.

Mrs. Rose praised the young lord’s character until she was out of breath, while forcefully pressing down on Marienne’s head.

The more she did so, the more Marienne resisted with all her might, taking in the sight of the young lord.

The beautiful boy with jet-black hair and gray eyes, like a winter spirit.

Lost in sweet memories, Adam Rose suddenly burst open the door.

“Marienne! The guards are looking for the boy who healed the young lord last night! Don’t tell me it was you?”

“Brother, well, that…”

Adam peered out the window, spying on the soldiers in the street.

“I warned you not to heal recklessly! If you get dragged away by the temple or nobles, we’ll be separated forever! Don’t go outside for a while. They said they’re looking for a boy, so don’t even think about wearing my clothes. Understand?”

Marienne, frightened, nodded her head.

“I will. I’m sorry, brother.”

Mrs. Rose, who had overheard Marienne’s secret outside the door, quietly went down the stairs.

* * *

“Ugh…, hic!”

Nigel Bernac, the young lord who was asleep, tossed and turned, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Since the seizures began, his nights had become cursed times plagued by nightmares.

Struggling against the sticky tar forcing its way into his nose and mouth, Nigel woke up with a shout.

“Haa, haa…”

He looked around anxiously.

A bed placed alone in a room surrounded by stone walls, whips hanging on the wall, and a suspicious brazier with a branding iron stuck in it.

There were bandages in the washbasin, and underneath was a basin filled with red blood. The healers would often cut the flesh to draw blood at the slightest provocation.

And under the pretext of taming the monsters in the blood, they would wield whips and brand with irons, committing acts akin to torture.

If one managed to endure the pain, they would use healing magic to ensure no scars remained.

The living hell was endless.

The Duke didn’t care even if the treatment would destroy his son’s body and soul, as long as it could eliminate the seizures.

If one failed, he would call another healer.

Even when his son wailed and crawled on the floor like an animal begging for mercy, his heartless father’s gaze never wavered.

Knowing that Nigel had received healing and suppressed his seizures on the day he tried to end his life in the forest, the Duke did not give up hope.

He thought it was fine to destroy some human dignity rather than leave his son as a stain on the family.

Nigel feared and dreaded such hope from his father.

He loathed the healing filled with lies and deception. He hated the healer of that night who had given him such a nauseating life.

Herbs that made the mind hazy were being burned in the incense burner next to the bed. It made him want to vomit.

Nigel licked his dried lips and sat up.

His ankles, which had been tied with leather straps, were now wrapped in bandages. The skin seemed to have been peeled off.

He raised his left arm. There wasn’t a single part that was intact.

The healer who came this time was even more incompetent.

A bastard who can’t even heal the knife wounds he inflicted dares to try and purify the blood of monsters…

Heh heh, Nigel, who had been chuckling ominously, burst into laughter. His eyes glinted with murderous intent as he unwrapped the blood-stained bandages.

“Young master.”

The door opened, and Aaron Ballock slipped in quietly.

Aaron, the biological son of the wet nurse, was Nigel’s playmate and as close as a brother.

“Aaron.”

As soon as Aaron entered the room, he removed Nigel’s nightclothes. Then he took off his own clothes and handed them over.

“The Duke has left with the knights, so now is our chance. The guards have fallen asleep after drinking wine laced with drugs. I’ve put money in the pocket. We don’t have much time. Hurry and leave.”

“What about you?”

“You know I can’t leave my sick mother behind.”

“Aaron!”

“You once told me that life is tough and doesn’t end so easily. Wherever you are, I will find you. And I will serve by your side until the day I die. Remember? The promise you made to give me the title of baron. Don’t forget.”

“Father won’t leave you be.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ve prepared a horse, so leave before the guards wake up. Hurry!”

At Aaron’s plea, Nigel put on his clothes and left Rockshield, the family’s ancestral home.

It was a cold winter dawn. Although the flesh felt like it would fall off from the swirling snow, Nigel didn’t stop spurring on his horse.

The taste of freedom after so long was so sweet that even sleeping in an inn crawling with bugs felt good.

But when he went to Genochine Port to board a ship leaving the empire, he was almost discovered by the family’s knights.

Fleeing day and night, unable to even enter inns, he slept in the forests.

However, the situation was the same everywhere else with knights spread out, making it impossible to leave the empire.

After two months of running, exhausted, Nigel turned his horse towards Louer, where he had last met the healer.

His face as he dismounted from the horse was calm, as if he had let go of everything.

Nigel stood blankly by the lakeside in Bernac Forest. In the pitch-black surroundings where only the sound of insects could be heard, no one was in sight.

After going round and round, he was here again. Nigel looked up at the black sky with desolate eyes. Resentment and anger welled up.

Why don’t you appear suddenly like before? Even though I’m waiting so desperately.

Please, come to me just one more time. I can’t bear it anymore. I can’t find any meaning in living as a monster.

I won’t resent you for saving me on your own. I won’t hate you for not showing up after that.

So please, save me. I’m really tired. It’s too painful and it hurts.

His knees buckled one after another. The tears he had been holding back burst forth. The heart-wrenching sobs that shook the night sounded like the roar of a beast.

Nigel sat by the lakeside until dawn broke faintly. His body, frozen from the cold, had lost all sensation.

A pale mist rose over the water’s surface. As the merciless sun drove away the darkness, he took out the money pouch and threw it into the lake.

Even the thread-like hope handed by his friend sank into the water.

The light in his watching eyes gradually faded.

The chill spreading through his veins extinguished the fire in his heart and froze even his bruised heart. An icy vow was engraved in his lungs.

I will never beg fate again. If I must become a monster, I will put on the mask of a duke with my own hands.

Even if fate dangles hope as bait, I will not be swept away. Thus, I will not allow it to break me with something like salvation.

Nigel walked into the darkness of the forest with his back to the sun.

With each step that didn’t look back, sharp ice crystals piled up.

* * *