The tower was always quiet.

Kasha was originally not talkative, but after fleeing to the tower, she had no reason to open her mouth at all.

‘Simon, when will he come?’

Occasionally, when the silence felt too heavy, she deliberately muttered that out loud.

Just hearing her own voice was somewhat comforting.

‘Three days ago… he came, so probably, in about a week.’

When she grew tired of asking and answering herself, she would open the small window of the tower and gaze out endlessly.

Whoosh.

The wind blowing from the horizon carried countless scents and stories.

On days when the wind carried the cold scent of winter, it seemed as if traces of her hometown were embedded in the breeze, and she would lean out of the window for a long time, feeling the wind.

Bang. Boom. Crackle.

That night was special. Peering out the window at the faint noise, she saw tiny sparks dotting the night sky of the capital in the distance.

Red, blue, golden magical fireworks.

‘Today was, the founding day?’

She muttered weakly.

‘Simon must be busy.’

He, who had said he would stop by before the founding day, had been silent for a month already.

‘The food is running out…’

Sweeping the last crumbs of biscuit from the plate, she sighed.

I’ve been saving all this time to avoid this. Yet it’s ended up like this again.

Last winter, the food delivery had been cut off for a week due to the snow-covered roads.

It was Simon who woke her up when she collapsed from weakness and was rolling in front of the desk.

He had kicked her lightly with his shoe and said:

‘Hey, Kasha. Feeling sleepy? Did you finish revising the blueprint I told you to?’

Bang. Pop pop pop.

The fireworks adorning the distant night sky were simply beautiful.

Like a dream.

A dream she could never reach even if she died and came back to life.

‘Everyone… must be happy.’

Smelling the faint scent of gunpowder carried on the wind blowing through the window, she talked to herself.

She didn’t even realize how lonely she was.

A solitary life was already too familiar to her.

But.

At this moment, the beautiful fireworks bursting in the night sky pierced her heart to the point of pain.

Just as she was about to bury her face in her arms resting on the windowsill.

Clop clop clop

The sound of horse hooves in the distance.

‘…!’

She lifted her head abruptly.

‘Simon…?’

Bang.

Simon burst through the door irritably as always.

‘Kasha, Kasha! Where are you?’

‘Simon! He-here, up here!’

Following Kasha’s cry, he came up to the top floor and immediately got angry.

‘Why do you keep coming up here? I told you to stay downstairs because it’s hard to climb up! Are you ignoring my words?’

‘…I’m sorry.’

In fact, she was always staying at the top to check the rainwater barrel on the tower’s roof.

The cart Simon had delivered always carried just the necessary amount of drinking water, so it was essential work to be able to wash her face even once a day.

Moreover, even the drinking water often ran out.

However, Kasha didn’t make such excuses.

She was just glad to see him after a long time. But he didn’t even look at her properly as she approached him hesitantly.

‘Is this it? The magic detonator I mentioned before.’

‘Yes… but, this tool… can be very dangerous if used incorrectly. So, I’d like to… improve the safety measures a bit more, and make a sample first…’

‘Ah, what are you saying.’

The moment Simon muttered that, it felt as if her blood ran cold.

The ball at the Tyrot Duke’s mansion. Kasha standing among people like a lost animal. Odette’s blue eyes that despised her.

Simon, why are you hurting me with the same words as Odette? Why?

‘Si-Simon.’

‘Stop muttering words I can’t understand. My head hurts from drinking. Ah, damn. If it weren’t for this, I’d be having fun right now…’

‘Simon. I… have something to say.’

Slap.

Simon irritably slapped away the hem of his clothes that Kasha had grabbed.

‘Don’t cling to me. Didn’t you hear me say my head hurts right now?’

‘…..’

‘Ah, why am I… on this good day… Sigh. Fine. Now that I’ve got this, I need to hurry back.’

‘You’re leaving already?’

‘…..’

As if it wasn’t worth answering, he turned his back on Kasha and started down the stairs.

Without even saying goodbye.

Just taking the blueprint, without even looking at her face properly once.

Suddenly remembering the depleted food, Kasha hurriedly called down the stairs.

‘Si-Simon! The food has run out!’

Bang.

The sound of the door slamming shut was heard from below.

Thud.

Kasha sat down helplessly and hugged her knees.

Boom. Pop pop pop. Crackle.

She covered her ears to avoid hearing the distant fireworks.

‘Why, why….’

She tried not to cry, but pathetically, her tear ducts burst.

‘I’m, I’m hungry… I said I’m hungry….’

Sob. Sniff.

Unwanted sobs burst from her covered mouth.

‘I want to leave this place.’

But where to?

There’s nowhere in this world that welcomes her.

She was already wailing sorrowfully. It had been exactly 8 years since she left her hometown that she cried out loud.

“I, I said I’m hungry… Why…”

Sob.

Sorrowful cries kept flowing from Kasha’s mouth. How sad must she have been, even unconsciously, for her chest to heave continuously. The pillowcase was already soaked and damp.

“……”

Leon had been looking down at Kasha with sunken eyes all along.

In Kasha’s room at the Lyuschino Count’s residence.

Leon was sitting in a chair placed next to Kasha’s bed.

‘I should go back soon.’

There was a mountain of documents to be submitted to the Knight Commander by this evening.

‘But, why on earth am I here like this?’

When he caught Kasha Lyuschino as she collapsed in the Imperial Library, he had intended to hand her over to the coachman waiting outside and turn back immediately.

No, even when he entered the library, he had firmly resolved to return as soon as he processed the book loan she had requested.

Why is it that whenever he encounters Kasha Lyuschino, the situation always deviates far from plans and expectations?

In fact, today Leon had arrived at the library much earlier than Kasha.

It was an excuse to say it was to avoid being late for the appointment; the truth was, he had been unable to concentrate on his work all morning to an unusual degree.

‘Vice Commander. Um, you’re not wearing your helmet.’

He even forgot the basic attire for sparring.

He even embarrassed himself by getting the basic sword forms wrong, which the knights practice as a warm-up before training.

‘Leon, is something wrong? Why are you so absent-minded today? Don’t forget to bring the new knight selection documents and assignment chart I mentioned yesterday before you leave work.’

‘I apologize. I’ll handle it after a brief outing.’

‘What? Then when am I supposed to leave work? Hey, Leon! Leon!’

Ignoring the Knight Commander’s urgent calls as he left even made him feel a bit guilty, but.

Rustle.

The moment he discovered Kasha sitting in front of the bookshelf, frantically turning pages, he forgot everything.

Far from the image of an elegant lady, and not smiling seductively at him either. Yet, sitting amidst the dancing dust of the library, she shone strangely bright.

Anyone who saw Kasha at that moment would have no doubt. That she was perfectly focused, as if ready to devour the contents of the book.

So he couldn’t bring himself to approach her.

He spent time quietly leaning against the opposite bookshelf, flipping through a book he wasn’t even reading.

At times, the realization of what he was doing washed over him, but he couldn’t stop.

Even though he clearly knew that the clock had long passed five o’clock and closing time was approaching.

Then at some point, Kasha suddenly raised her head from being buried in the book.

Of course, Leon, like a true knight, swiftly moved out of her line of sight in an instant.

When he peeked out from between the bookshelves again a moment later, Kasha had disappeared. Some of the books she was reading were left on the floor.

‘Where did she go? She was so engrossed, why suddenly… Is she looking for me?’

Leon began to wander the library searching for her presence, feeling an inexplicable anxiety.

That’s when it happened.

‘Kasha Lyuschino! Are you really going to do this?’

It was then that Leon’s sensitive ears caught the sound of a man’s voice calling out in a low tone.

“Sob… Nngh.”

Suddenly, as Kasha moaned again, Leon was awakened from his reminiscence.

Kasha continued to sob without waking up.

She seemed to be suffering from a nightmare.

‘It appears she has collapsed due to accumulated fatigue. In this case, it’s better to summon a healer from the temple to infuse holy power rather than medical treatment.’

The Lyuschino family’s physician who examined Kasha said so.

‘I’ll call for one right away!’

Before Leon could say anything, the young viscount, Kasha’s brother, dashed out as soon as he heard those words.

‘I’m, a holy knight.’

Only Kasha’s maid brightened at Leon’s unintentional mutter.

‘Oh, is that true? Then, could you perhaps share some holy power with our young lady?’

Leon hesitated, then nodded. He hadn’t had a chance to introduce himself because the mansion had been turned upside down as soon as the coachman carried in the collapsed Kasha, and Daril had ignored him.

The maid seemed to think of Leon as a righteous holy knight who had saved the collapsed Kasha.

Seeing how she left the two of them alone in her bedroom to fetch a wet towel and such.

Drip.

A clear teardrop that had formed in the corner of Kasha’s eye rolled down her temple and disappeared into her hair.

A pained voice echoed through the bedroom.

Leon, watching this, decisively removed his gloves. Then, he even took off the ring he never parted with from his finger.

A ring set with a purple stone that closely resembled his eyes.

This was a relic of Leon’s mother, the Saint Larisa, serving as a kind of lock to bind holy power when needed.

“……”

Leon slowly opened his palm, free from the ring’s constraint.

As soon as he removed the ring, his reddened, expanded veins pulsed as if alive.

Before he was cursed, his hands were the tools that could manipulate holy power most freely.

However, knowing that the curse would become more vicious each time he manifested holy power, he chose to lock it away with the ring.

Thanks to that, he could manage his daily life to this extent.

Removing the ring after so long, holy power began to vigorously course through his body, as if breaking through a blocked waterway.

‘…!’

At the same time, he felt the cursed lust surging from his lower abdomen.

‘Maybe I should stop after all.’

But the pale, sobbing Kasha weighed on his mind.

‘It might be okay if I just use holy power and immediately move away from her body. And… she’s always elicited a slightly different response from me.’

He persuaded himself and reached out towards Kasha.

He could clearly see his own fingers trembling pathetically.

Thump thump thump thump

His heart pounded violently as if it would jump out of his throat.

Leon realized that his breathing had become dangerously rough.

‘This won’t do.’

It’s dangerous.

He realized this belatedly, but it was already too late.

His hand, like a demon salivating at the sight of a sacrifice, was already reaching for Kasha’s snow-white nape.