Wherever she looked, the ropes stretched on endlessly, disappearing into the distance as though they wrapped around the entire mountain.

‘This feels ominous…’

Nevertheless, if she wanted to escape the cold and find shelter for the night, she would have to cross the mountains to reach the village.

Small shrines dedicated to the gods could be found almost everywhere in the Kingdom of Heonyeok.

The villagers maintained them, but after dark, they were usually deserted.

As a fugitive, Hayeon couldn’t risk asking anyone for help.

A shrine would be the perfect place to hide.

Swallowing nervously, she stepped over the ropes and placed a foot on the other side.

“What… are you?”

She heard a man’s voice drifting towards her.

It was slow and unhurried.

Yet there was something about it that sent a chill down her spine.

Hayeon turned towards the sound.

She forced a smile onto her face, even though her heart was pounding.

She couldn’t let anyone discover her identity.

It would be disastrous.

Worse still…

The man was dressed in a patrol officer’s uniform.

This meant that he had the authority to detain anyone he deemed suspicious.

“Ah, I…”

‘I’m a traveler who got lost in the mountains.’

She rehearsed the lie in her mind.

But before she could say a single word…

The man muttered to himself.

“…Sh-should… I work?”

His unnaturally large eyes rolled slowly in their sockets.

‘Roll… roll…’

Startled by his bizarre behavior, Hayeon instinctively took another step back.

“What’s going on?”

The strange standoff was interrupted by the sound of another approaching voice.

The newcomer looked at Hayeon.

He didn’t seem particularly surprised.

Nor did he show any hostility.

And yet…

There was something about him that sent a shiver down her spine.

“Sh-she… crossed Mount Wolmu’s… straw ropes. Sh-should we… take her?”

‘Take her?’

A chill shot down Hayeon’s spine.

After glancing at her, the other man clicked his tongue and spat onto the dirt.

“Not unless we receive orders.”

“Is that so? So, until then, we won’t take her? We don’t have to work?”

“Of course not. We only do what we’re ordered to do. Don’t go looking for trouble.”

Even though Hayeon was standing right in front of them, the two men carried on talking as if she weren’t there.

Before she could say anything, they simply turned and hurried away.

Hayeon was left standing there, feeling bewildered by what had just happened. After a moment, she cautiously continued on her way.

Had they merely been wary of an outsider?

Or had they regarded her with suspicion?

She could have understood that.

But there had been something deeply unnatural about their reaction.

Still…

At least they hadn’t taken her away.

Clinging to this small comfort, Hayeon continued through the village, replaying the encounter in her mind.

Then something caught her eye: A discarded straw rain cape lying by the roadside.

Although it was worn and riddled with holes, there was enough of the tightly woven straw left to shield her from the cold.

With the snow still falling, it was exactly what she needed.

“I’m lucky.”

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

Then she let out a bitter laugh.

‘Lucky?’

She had been chosen as a sacrifice just before her wedding.

Her family had died because of her.

And yet she was talking about luck.

“Heh… hehe…”

She laughed.

Even though tears were streaming down her face.

She knew that even if fate granted her many more years, she would never smile again without feeling this pain in her heart.

She knew that she would never smile again without feeling it.

Still…

She forced herself onward.

She had promised herself that she would find her brother’s children and raise them.

Or perhaps…

Without that promise, she realized that she no longer had any reason to keep living.

Fortunately, the village was quiet at night, making it easy to search for a shrine without drawing attention.

But something felt wrong.

Every village, no matter how small, was supposed to have at least one shrine dedicated to the gods.

Yet here…

She couldn’t find a single one.

“Wh-why… isn’t there… one…?”

The bitter cold had numbed her lips, making it hard to utter even the simplest words.

It was the heart of winter.

Snow continued to fall relentlessly.

If she spent the night outside in weather like this, she would almost certainly die of exposure.

She would almost certainly freeze to death.

From that moment on, no matter how hard she tried to push the thought aside, it remained at the forefront of her mind.

Death lingered at the edge of her consciousness, refusing to leave.

‘If I die like this… what will happen to my nieces and nephews?’

‘How are they doing right now?’

‘What if they were discovered… and harmed because of me?’

Those thoughts consumed her mind.

And beneath them all lingered the same bitter question.

‘Why was I the one chosen as the sacrifice?’

She had never claimed to be a saint.

But neither had she ever deliberately harmed anyone.

‘So why… why did this have to happen to me?’

It was nothing more than the bitter self-pity of someone who had been abandoned by fate.

By then, darkness had completely engulfed the land.

If this continued…

She might truly die.

Not as a sacrifice to the gods.

Not in the jaws of a wild beast.

But alone…frozen to death.

What a meaningless way to die.

With every step she took, her frozen robes crackled and crunched. The water that had seeped into the white fabric had long since frozen.

Her lips had turned blue.

Her fingertips trembled uncontrollably in the cold.

‘…This is the last place.’

At first, she thought it was a government building.

She had never seen such a grand tower before.

Tilting her head back, she counted its storeys: Nine.

The hexagonal tower rose in orderly tiers, its highest roof tapering into a sharp point like a needle’s tip.

A nine-storey tower…

Its roofs were painted a deep crimson.

‘Who could possibly live in a place like this?’

‘…Is it even a residence?’

Yet it didn’t resemble a government office.

In Heonyeok, official buildings always had gates painted blue.

Whatever this place was…

It was her last hope.

The area behind its walls was the only part of the village she had yet to search.

‘Please…’

‘Please let there be something.’

‘Even the smallest corner where I can rest…’

She prayed.

Again…

And again.

But perhaps because she had rejected the life of a sacrifice…

The god remained merciless.

“Hah…”

There was nothing behind the mansion that resembled a royal palace.

Nothing at all.

Only an empty stretch of open ground.

The moment Hayeon realized it, the strength drained from her legs, and she collapsed where she stood.

Her tongue had grown so numb with cold that she couldn’t even beg for someone to save her.

Drip.

Drip.

Tears fell one after another, soaking into the frozen earth.

‘No…’

‘Don’t cry.’

Crying would only drain her remaining strength.

Hayeon repeated these words to herself as she forced her numb, unresponsive body back to its feet.

If it had come to this…

She would have to risk sneaking into someone’s home and spending the night in a storage shed — or anywhere that would shelter her from the cold.

Staggering onward, her gaze fell upon a small thatched cottage opposite the grand residence.

The wall surrounding it wasn’t very high.

She could climb over it.

A stone step, probably intended for children to play on, was leaning against the wall, half-buried in the snow.

Summoning her last remaining strength, Hayeon stepped onto the stone and stretched her arms over the top of the wall.

Just as she was about to pull herself over—

“What are you doing?”

A voice laced with quiet amusement came from behind her.

Hayeon slowly turned her stiff neck.

Standing there…was a man.

Tall.

Strikingly handsome.