It was a deep winter night.

The wind that blew in was cold enough to freeze the heart, and the snow piled pure white beneath the moonlight gave off a strangely mysterious glow.

And yet, in Ihis’s room, located in the deepest part of the Erbereje ducal estate, spring was in full bloom.

“……”

A breeze brushed across Ihis’s face as she sat before the window.

The floral scent carried on the wind was sweet, the sound of birdsong was gentle, and the sunlight pouring down over her face was endlessly warm.

In that place, Ihis alone was in spring.

But unlike the vibrant scenery beyond the window, there was no light at all in Ihis’s blue eyes.

Like a corpse that had died long, long ago, she simply sat there in a daze, her soul seemingly gone.

For the glory of Erbereje!

With a vacant expression, Ihis repeated the Duke’s favorite phrase over and over in her mind, as if those were the only words she knew how to say.

Whenever he had the chance, he would speak to Ihis of the family’s glory and the sacrifices that came with it.

Everything was for the glory of Erbereje, so she should be grateful that she had been given a role and faithfully carry out whatever she was ordered to do.

‘Then even the fact that I’m locked away here must be for the glory of Erbereje.’

Ihis had survived her entire life on that single thought.

A single room enchanted by magic so that its only season was spring, and a basement that reeked of rot.

Those were the only two places Ihis had ever moved between.

Ihis’s world was unbearably narrow. Until she turned twenty, the only scenery she knew was spring at midday.

Ridiculously enough, there had once been a time when she found comfort in this spring.

But at some point, even that warm spring sunlight could no longer offer Ihis any solace.

It was because of the power she possessed.

The healing ability she had been born with.

And yet, it was not perfect.

As long as someone was still breathing, she could heal them completely. But in exchange, she took the other person’s wounds and pain entirely onto herself.

A half-formed power.

The Duke had spent her entire life using his youngest daughter’s healing ability in the cruelest way imaginable.

He would t*rture people until they were on the verge of death, have Ihis heal them, then t*rture them again.

After more than ten years of that, the warm sunlight pouring down on her began to feel utterly horrifying.

Whenever she looked at the sun, which must have seemed nothing but dazzling to others, Ihis thought she had no right to greet another day like this.

Because the bright sunlight always shone mercilessly over her body, revealing every inch of it covered in scars.

For the glory of Erbereje!

As Ihis turned the Duke’s voice over in her mind, she suddenly began scratching at her forearm like a madwoman.

It was the very spot the warm spring sunlight had been caressing.

Ihis was trapped inside a prison made of spring.

It had been that way yesterday. It was that way today. And tomorrow would surely be the same.

“Cahilid Hernheite!”

If not for the scream that rang out from outside, it certainly would have been.

At the sudden voice, Ihis turned around.

She stared blankly at the firmly shut door, then slowly closed her eyes.

Sharp metal clashed against metal.

There was a dull, horrifying sound, as if something had been severed.

The thick scent of blood.

“Cahilid killed the Duke! Hurry, run!”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“They’re coming this way next. We have to get out of here—!”

The voice of the man, whoever he was, did not continue.

All she heard was a heavy thud.

Not long after, the door that had been tightly shut shattered with a violent crash.

Ihis slowly raised her head.

And there, standing before the door, she met Cahilid’s gaze as he looked down at her.

Hair as black as a starless night sky. Red eyes burning like fire.

Bright red blood splattered across his pale face, as vivid as a tattoo.

The man was beautiful, as if he had been sculpted, but his entire body reeked of death.

Just as Ihis herself did.

“Ihis Erbereje.”

Along with Cahilid’s voice, heavy as lead, the gazes of the private soldiers standing behind him pierced Ihis like arrows.

“Th-That’s the infamous witch of Erbereje?”

Impossible.

They let out the words like groans and looked at her with disgust. Ihis only stared at them in silence.

“I’ve been living in this mansion for two years, yet this is my first time seeing her in person.”

Cahilid Hernheite, the ill-fated imperial prince who had been driven out of the Imperial Palace for some unknown reason.

The Duke, who had been plotting treason, had personally brought him to this mansion.

To place Cahilid on a throne that was nothing more than a shell, then seize the true power for himself.

“Your father, who was plotting treason, and every member of House Erbereje are dead.”

‘……Dead?’

Ihis looked at Cahilid with vacant eyes, and Cahilid began slowly approaching her.

“It’s dangerous! If that woman attacks you…”

Cahilid did not listen to the private soldier.

Instead, he came close to her and lifted her chin with the sharp tip of his sword.

“Why don’t you say anything? Something like, ‘I know nothing,’ or, ‘This has nothing to do with me.’ Or perhaps some resentment, asking how you could betray House Erbereje after all they did for you.”

“……”

Ihis was silent.

Instead of moving her lips to preserve her life for a few more minutes, she only stared fixedly at Cahilid’s shoulder.

More precisely, at the white snowflakes piled upon his broad shoulder.

Only then did she feel it.

The scent of winter, hidden beneath the reek of blood.

Faced with winter for the first time, Ihis wore a sorrowful expression.

“I have nothing to say to you.”

“Nothing at all?”

“Nothing at all.”

“……You’re nothing like your father. Even as his head was about to be cut off, he cursed me.”

“Is that so?”

Perhaps he wanted Ihis to struggle.

But she was far too exhausted to resent anyone.

If anything, she wanted him to kill her quickly.

‘Then I won’t have to suffer anymore, and I may even be able to avoid the worst possible outcome.’

Perhaps Ihis’s dry response was not what he had expected, because Cahilid frowned.

Ihis’s blue eyes and Cahilid’s red eyes met at close range.

Under that long exchange of gazes, she froze slightly with a flustered expression, but she could not say a word.

Because at that very moment, black flames rose from beneath her feet.

“Get back! It’s magic!”

Despite the private soldiers’ shouts, Cahilid did not move away from Ihis.

In that brief moment, the black flames began to devour Ihis’s body without hesitation.

It was a kind of device.

One that would kill Ihis unless the Duke himself opened the door to her room.

‘This is why I wanted him to cut off my head quickly.’

Ihis wore a bitter expression.

Now, everything was over.

“……”

Cahilid’s face filled Ihis’s vision as the light slowly faded from her eyes.

“It seems he made preparations in advance. If his daughter opened her mouth, his own life would have been in danger as well.”

The soldiers’ murmurs settled against Ihis’s ears as she began to lose consciousness.

“Isn’t he truly a vile man?”

“That woman is no different! She sided with her father and helped him painfully kill hundreds of people!”

Cahilid still said nothing.

He only looked down in silence at Ihis as she died.

There was none of the same disgust in his eyes that the others held.

The fire that had swallowed Ihis’s entire body slowly began to die down, and before long, only an acrid smell lay thick over the small room.

“Who knows.”

At that moment, Ihis saw Cahilid take off his outer garment.

The cloak where snowflakes had settled.

The one that smelled of winter.

“No one can know whether that was truly what this woman wanted.”

The large garment, still carrying the chill of winter, settled over Ihis’s charred-black body.

Even before she had been burned, there had not been a single intact place on that small, fragile body.

Scars from being cut and pierced were etched all over her like tattoos.

Her face, which must once have been beautiful, was no less ruined.

A large red scar cut across her forehead and cheek. Her nose had been crushed like clay. Even her left ear had been severed.

In Cahilid’s eyes, Ihis was not the infamous witch of Erbereje.

She was simply a pitiable woman.

“Clean this up. We return to the Imperial Palace at once.”

Not long after, Cahilid gave the order to his soldiers.

Through Ihis’s unfocused, blurring vision, she saw Cahilid’s back as he walked away without hesitation.

Winter was moving farther away.

‘Everything is finally over.’

Waiting for death to devour her and take her soul, Ihis drew in her final breath.

The cold scent of winter that came from Cahilid’s clothes.

Then, slowly, Ihis’s eyes closed.