The quiet surroundings made the conversation audible with stark clarity.

“Harn.”

It was the voice of the man she loved.

“I’ve made my decision.”

‘What decision?’

Elisa held her breath even more.

Then came the next moment.

“I’m going to marry Princess Asilia.”

‘…!!’

“Really, are you sure? You have Elisa…”

Thump thump…

Her heartbeat was loud enough to be heard from outside. She stopped breathing entirely and waited for Luke’s answer.

The matter of the royal marriage with the princess. Elisa was, in name, a lord who ruled Callista.

She knew what position the empire currently held and what a royal marriage with the western empire meant. However, she had judged this to be a story that didn’t apply to her.

After all, wasn’t there Harn, who was emperor and unmarried? But why? Why you?

“I have no choice. If I explain it well to her…”

Bang!

But Luke couldn’t continue speaking. Elisa had suddenly kicked the door hard enough to shatter it.

The two men, who had been so focused on their conversation they hadn’t noticed Elisa’s arrival, stared with eyes wide like they might tear. Luke’s complexion turned devastatingly pale.

“E-Elisa…”

Luke hurriedly tried to grab her, but Elisa didn’t give him the chance and fled the mansion. In truth, Elisa’s steps weren’t that fast.

Even while running, Elisa secretly hoped Luke would catch her. Whenever misunderstandings arose like this, Luke would desperately grab her and clear them up.

But Luke didn’t catch her, even though he easily could have. Soon tears flooded Elisa’s eyes.

Lesia watched Elisa’s rapidly disappearing figure before approaching where Luke was. Lesia wasn’t the only one who came to Luke.

“Are you okay? Not going after her?”

“What would I say if I caught her? For the empire’s sake, that’s the only way. I hope you’ll understand. Even being a mistress would be fine, so please stay by my side.”

“Luke…”

Luke covered his face with his hands. A pained voice flowed through the gaps between his fingers.

“I can’t reduce Elisa to just a mistress.”

“Luke.”

“But I can’t abandon the empire either, so this must be my best option.”

“Even so, try talking properly with Elisa. She might understand.”

At Harn’s words, Luke lowered his hands and smiled bitterly.

“Yeah…”

But Luke couldn’t say it. That he was afraid of her rejection, that he couldn’t bring himself to grab her.

* * *

The scene changed. Quite a long time seemed to have passed.

The spring season had passed through summer and autumn to become harsh winter. And at the end of that winter, the marriage between Princess Asilia and Luke Velius was scheduled.

Somehow leaked, the marriage between the two empires spread throughout the empire in an instant. During that period, Luke and Elisa didn’t meet.

Elisa had returned to Callista to avoid Luke, and Luke didn’t go to see her. It wasn’t intentional.

Luke desperately wanted to see her, but he had no time to make the journey to Callista while managing the still chaotic empire, caring for Velius territory, and preparing for the wedding. He hoped Elisa would return, but she never once replied to the letters he sent.

Two seasons passed this way, leading to today. With less than a week until the wedding, Luke finally rushed to Callista in his anxiety.

However, the response he received was “I don’t want to see you.” Callista normally maintained spring weather through the Reilat clan’s power, but when he arrived, harsh snowstorms were raging for some reason.

Instinctively realizing something had happened to Elisa, Luke didn’t back down despite her refusal to see him and eventually burst into her room. And…

“Elisa?”

The sight he witnessed was Elisa slowly dying from illness. Her skin, once white like pearls, was stained an earthy color, and her already thin body had withered to skin and bones.

“What is this…”

Luke’s voice trembled violently, unable to believe what he saw. Elisa’s household members who had followed him quietly closed the door.

“Elisa, Elisa… please open your eyes. I’m here. Please…”

Whether his desperate voice reached her, she slowly opened her eyes. The moment their eyes met, Luke burst into tears.

Her blue eyes, which had always sparkled like a midday lake, were now stained black like the deep sea.

“Luke?”

“It’s me, Elisa. What on earth…”

“Haha…”

At the sight of Luke shedding tears, Elisa let out a pained laugh. Then she caressed Luke’s cheek with her dry hand.

“You finally came to see me.”

“Elisa, I…”

“I heard about your wedding.”

“Elisa…”

“I don’t think I can say congratulations.”

“Don’t say any more.”

Noticing that her strength was fading with each word, Luke urgently stopped her. But Elisa didn’t listen.

“Luke, I…”

“Elisa, please.”

“I curse you.”

“…”

His hand that had been trying to stop her froze in midair. Elisa’s gaze lingered on his fingertips.

Then she spat out words laced with venom.

“I curse you who abandoned me, and the person you love.”

“Elisa…”

“Not just you, but the empire and Velius that took you from me.”

“…”

“So never come looking for me again.”

Her harsh words stabbed at his heart. When Luke, who had been frozen like time had stopped, tried to caress her cheek, Elisa turned her head away to avoid his touch.

That rejection left him deeply wounded.

“Go back. Never come looking for me again.”

“I’m sorry.”

“When I open my eyes again, I hope you’re not there. If you are, I’ll die right on the spot.”

Leaving only those words, Elisa squeezed her eyes shut. Like she couldn’t bear to look at his face.

Eventually leaving Elisa’s room, Luke sought out her household members. And he asked why she had fallen ill.

“Sister Elisa…”

After trailing off briefly, she sighed shortly and continued.

“Sister Elisa can be considered the pillar of the Reilat clan. She was already physically weak, but trying to bear the clan’s power on top of that seems to have been too much of a burden.”

“Will she get better?”

“Sister’s body is already broken beyond repair.”

Then she looked straight into Luke’s eyes and said.

“Sister doesn’t have much time left. Please stay by her side until the end.”

“…”

There wasn’t much time left until the wedding. Just the wedding preparations alone were tight, and he couldn’t leave Velius for long.

But…

“Alright.”

After sending a message to Harn asking him to handle the wedding preparations instead, Luke stayed by Elisa’s side from that day forward. Elisa rejected him and poured out harsh words to drive him away, but Luke paid no heed.

On the fourth day, Luke suddenly noticed she never let go of a dagger, not for a single moment.

“What kind of sword is that?”

At Luke’s question, Elisa remained silent before quietly answering.

“I’m going to give it as a gift.”

“A gift?”

“I’m tired, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk to me anymore. Why are you ignoring my words to go back?”

“Elisa, I won’t leave your side.”

At his words, Elisa let out a bitter laugh.

“While marrying another woman?”

“…”

“Forget it. I’m tired of arguing too.”

Elisa turned her body away and pulled the blanket over her head. Luke quietly watched over such an Elisa.

And on the day before the wedding, late at night, Elisa came to Luke as he was sending a message. She handed him the dagger she had been clutching tightly.

“It’s a wedding gift.”

“Elisa.”

“That’s enough now… Thank you for staying by my side. So go now.”

“I…”

At this moment, Luke wanted to k*ll himself. Because any words would be nothing but cowardly excuses.

“I’ll come back again.”

That was all he could say. At his words, Elisa showed her first smile since their reunion.

But there was no answer. That dawn, Luke left for Velius Castle for the wedding.

Elisa stood by the window, endlessly watching Luke’s departing figure. Until his back became a small dot and disappeared.

“Cough!”

After his figure completely disappeared from view, Elisa collapsed, spitting up blood. Since she had climbed to the highest point of the castle to avoid her household’s eyes, there was no one to help her.

“What do I do? Miss Elisa, pull yourself together.”

Lesia stamped her feet anxiously around her, not knowing what to do, but this wasn’t reality – just fragments of the past shown by the Reilat power. Lesia, who didn’t exist in that time, could do nothing.

“Luke…”

Elisa spoke his name with blurred vision. Luke, Luke, Luke.

Even after that, she endlessly repeated only Luke’s name. Until she was discovered by household members who came looking for her much later, Elisa kept murmuring.

And when Luke Velius rushed over after finishing the wedding ceremony, Elisa Reilat no longer existed.