But not long after, the child was stillborn. One day, a month before the due date.

‘It was Dienne’s doing.’

The child born dead had been a girl.

Marian, barely able to hold herself upright, had wrapped the infant’s body in her own nightgown, since no one else would tend to it, and carried her out herself.

And beneath this tree, she had buried the tiny, tiny baby.

‘Lariel……’

The image of Marian crying with quiet sorrow as she called that name, the name that had been a promise, rose in Ella’s mind.

“You would have been a beautiful child, Lariel.”

The rough grains of soil tickled Ella’s fingertips.

She knew there was no trace of her niece here in this timeline, but Ella couldn’t bring herself to lift her hand for a long while.

“Who are you?”

The sudden voice made Ella’s hand go still.

She slowly rose and turned around. A gardener she had never seen before was standing there.

Dark, sun-bronzed skin. Brown curly hair. Strong, defined features. A sturdy build.

An appearance more than capable of making a good first impression.

“This is not a place just anyone can enter.”

His rough hands held a large pair of pruning shears.

He was someone who had never appeared in Marian’s memories.

“And who are you? State your affiliation first.”

“……”

The brown eyes that had been looking her over briefly went wide. He seemed to have recognized who had entered this place in saintess’s robes.

“My goodness, I failed to recognize you, Miss Meriella. I am deeply sorry. I have been terribly rude.”

The man bowed deeply and lowered his head in a flustered manner.

“Please have mercy……”

“It’s all right. Rise.”

At Ella’s gesture, the man straightened.

“Your name?”

“I am Joir Kemero, the gardener responsible for the crown princess‘s garden. You may call me Joi.”

Joir Kemero.

Ella turned the name over in her mind. Nothing came to her.

The fact that he didn’t appear in her memories meant he’d had no connection to Marian.

Ella offered a gracious smile and replied lightly.

“I see, Joi. So all the beauty of this place is thanks to you.”

“Not at all. It is thanks to you, Miss Meriella.”

“Thanks to…… me?”

Joi smiled shyly and nodded.

“I tended it with the thought of Miss Meriella‘s eventual arrival. Especially this tree……”

Joi’s hand gestured toward the large chestnut tree. Ella’s gaze followed.

“This one was originally dead. Everyone said to cut it down, but I brought it back.”

White petals fell, carrying a sweet fragrance.

“I thought you would like it, Miss.”

It was incomparably sweeter than the rose scent spread throughout the main palace’s central garden.

Ella caught one of the falling petals in her hand.

“Do you know its flower meaning?”

That sort of romantic lore was something Ella had no reason to know. She had no interest in anything unrelated to her revenge.

She looked at the long white petal and asked without much thought.

“What is it?”

“Eternal love. The flower meaning of the chestnut blossom is said to be eternal love.”

Eternal love…… what a sentimental meaning.

Ella laughed at it inwardly and let the petal drop to the ground.

“It is much like the heart of the chief god Solea. A meaning that suits such a beautiful flower.”

The forced words made her stomach turn the moment they left her mouth.

Ella had just turned to leave, crushing flowers underfoot, when,

“Do you truly…… think so?”

Joi’s voice had shifted, darker and colder than a moment ago.

The abrupt change in temperature made Ella’s steps stop.

It was far too insolent a thing to say to a saintess, or to a crown princess designate.

“What do you mean by that?”

Something was off. The Joi she had just met and the one standing before her now gave off entirely different energy.

The straightforward young man was gone, replaced by someone else entirely.

‘What is this. This wrongness.’

Ella stared at him. By the time she did, Joi’s face had already returned to its original expression.

He seemed to realize belatedly that he had made a mistake, and struck his own lips several times with his hand.

“Goodness! What did this mouth just say……”

His face had gone red and he bowed his head hastily.

“I am deeply sorry, Miss Meriella. I misspoke.”

The pruning shears in Joi’s hands were trembling faintly. Nothing in his flustered manner suggested it had been intentional.

Was it simply a slip of the tongue?

Setting aside the thought, Ella spoke.

“You would do well to watch your words going forward, Joi. This is the imperial palace. A single careless word can put your life at risk.”

“Yes, Miss Meriella. I will engrave it on my heart.”

Joi bowed his head repeatedly in deference.

At this rate his forehead would touch the ground.

Ella sighed inwardly.

“Then I’ll leave this place in your care going forward.”

She left a suitable parting word and walked away at an unhurried pace.

As the bowed head lifted, Ella’s retreating figure was reflected in a pair of blank, empty eyes.

The trembling of the shears in Joi’s hands had already stopped.

***

The capital of the Becarto Empire, Parem, had a different air by day and by night.

The Hazet Street in particular, where the most prominent guild merchants gathered, carried a cool, unsettled energy at all hours.

“Has it been a year……”

Haven stepped into the alley off the third block of the street, now cloaked in darkness.

All the shops were shuttered except for a small tavern leaking red light.

The general goods store Meivia ran as a cover for her identity was closed as well, but Haven found the emergency entrance without difficulty, as he had done before.

“Same as ever.”

The underground space it connected to was warded with a concealment spell.

To ordinary eyes it appeared as nothing more than a gray stone wall, but for those Meivia had made exceptions for in her magic, it was different.

Haven was one of them.

Hmmm.

When Haven pressed his hand to the wall, the surface resonated faintly. The rough texture dissolved like smoke, as though heat were rising from it, and a thick hidden door was revealed.

He went inside without hesitation.

“Meivia.”

“Aah, you scared me!”

Crash.

The door swinging open without warning made Meivia drop the potion bottle she was holding.

Pink liquid spilled across the floor and pale white smoke began to curl upward. Haven waved his hand and grimaced at the foul smell.

He gave a small cough and spoke.

“It’s been a while.”

“Haven?! Good heavens!”

Meivia, who had been working on a magical tool, cried out in shock.

She was a Becarto native, and her connection with Haven had begun about five years ago.

“What brings you here?!”

He had first met her in a back alley in Griffinor, a commercial city in the eastern part of the Empire.

The girl, who had been fifteen at the time, was found near a pile of refuse in a state that was barely alive.

If Haven hadn’t discovered her while carrying out a mission, she would have died right there.

“You didn’t even send word that you were coming!”

Meivia had wanted to live as a mage under Haven’s command after barely surviving.

Mages were shunned and considered dangerous by everyone, but Haven had been the first to recognize her ability and help her.

It was perhaps only natural that Meivia had remained his loyal subordinate.

“Meivia, check whether there’s any curse or magic placed on my body.”

“……What do you mean?!”

Meivia shot to her feet and ran to him, her face gone pale.

Haven pushed back the hood he was wearing. His deep red eyes gleamed vividly.

“Haven…… your eyes……”

Meivia couldn’t finish the sentence and pressed her open mouth shut.

“Yes. That’s why I came.”

“……Let me take a look.”

Unable to hide her shock, she gathered mana into her fingertips.

Magical energy surged, and a violet light began to radiate.

“Could you close your eyes and turn around for a moment?”

When Haven turned, she directed the light she had gathered into the back of his neck, letting it absorb.

The violet light gradually shifted to gold.

Meivia’s eyes grew wider and wider at the sight. Her mouth fell open and stayed that way.

She watched for a long while, as though transfixed by that light, before finally lowering her hand. Her expression had visibly darkened.

“Haven, does the color of your eyes shift back to normal after changing the way it is now?”

“Yes, it does.”

“When did this start?”

“It came on suddenly a few days ago. My senses became heightened and I couldn’t control them.”

“A few days ago, can you be more precise?”

“That would be……”

Haven’s eyes wavered for a moment as the memory of the night he had spent with her surfaced.

Could it be because of the night with Ella?

‘But right now, she……’

She had said her holy power was depleted……

Even through his confusion, Haven asked carefully.

“Can holy power…… cause symptoms like this?”

Meivia thought for a moment and then shook her head.

“No, I haven’t heard of anything like that. Is there something that comes to mind?”

“No.”

Meivia’s firm answer put Haven at ease.

If the change had come from the night with Ella, he would accept it gladly whatever it was, but even so, the fire burning inside him was difficult to endure. The senses on edge to an almost bestial degree were the same.