Latifa could only blink and stare at his face, bewildered by the strange sight unfolding before her.

Or more precisely, she was staring at the silvery haze around his head.

‘Can this come from a person too?’

She was so stunned by the sight she’d never seen before that her lips parted slightly as she gazed at it, transfixed. The silvery aura was much fainter than others, flickering weakly.

If not for Hades’ gentle voice she had just heard, she might have mistaken it for dust floating in the air.

-Snap.

“Hey?”

Sensing something odd about Latifa’s dazed state, Hades snapped his fingers loudly right in front of her face. At that, the silvery haze quickly vanished from sight.

“Ah! Yes!”

She blinked in surprise and answered. He let out a small sigh and slipped the sword back into his waist. Then he pulled back the leather curtain and gestured for her to follow.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

“…..”

“I won’t eat you.”

‘Your voice sounds like you might.’

When she still couldn’t move due to lingering fear, he slightly raised the corner of his mouth and placed his hand on the sword hilt.

“Not yet.”

The lingering implication of “not yet” made Latifa hurry after him.

**

It was an evening breeze carrying a faint hint of desert heat.

‘Once we cross this ravine, it’s the desert.’

Horses were grazing leisurely around the grasslands where the desert soldiers were stationed. As the red sunset was about to set, Latifa leaned against the fence, watching the horses.

Her silver hair reflected the sunset, transforming into a fiery red glow.

‘But why did an aura appear from General Hades? No, was that even an aura to begin with?’

When she turned her head to look at Hades again, nothing appeared.

‘Was it my imagination?’

-Clink.

Hades, who had been silent, took off two of the many gold bracelets on his wrist.

Though they had scratches here and there from long wear, they were exquisite bracelets with intricate patterns.

“Give me your hand.”

As she hesitantly extended one hand, he added another comment, seemingly displeased about something.

“You must be the only woman to rudely offer me just one hand.”

Clunk. Two gold bracelets were placed on her white hand.

“What is this?”

“A bonus. These are Ignite bracelets personally bestowed on me by the Sultan. A woman from a defeated nation like you would be imprisoned immediately for possessing them.”

‘What? Why give me such a dangerous thing?!’

As Latifa’s brows furrowed slightly and she tried to push the bracelets away, he forcefully closed her hand around them, indicating she should keep them.

“No one but desert people would recognize them, so it doesn’t matter. Sell them or wear them yourself, do as you please.”

At those words, Latifa quickly tucked the bracelets into the inner pocket of her robe.

After all, the person in front of her might strangely change his words and ask for them back at any moment.

‘At least with these, I won’t end up on the streets.’

Hades kept staring at her profile as she put away the bracelets. Unable to bear his persistent gaze any longer, she finally spoke up first.

“Do you have something else to say?”

“There’s something you don’t know that I want to clarify.”

“What?”

“I am Hades Caleb Ignite. The title Ignite is the highest honor one can receive in the Grand Bazaar.”

“Um… I see.”

She was dumbfounded by the sudden self-introduction.

“As you can see, I’m the Grand Bazaar’s supreme general and have the highest authority to command all military forces.”

“I suppose so.”

“Caleb, where I was born and raised, is a thousand-year-old noble house in the Grand Bazaar. It’s a martial family that has produced generals for generations and has accumulated wealth and honor beyond your imagination.”

His words kept making her want to ask, “So what?”

Unable to understand his intention in saying such things, she just nodded blankly. Then he cleared his throat softly and spoke.

“Ahem. Hmm. I’m not penniless.”

Realizing why he was saying this, Latifa let out a small sigh.

‘He must have taken it to heart when I called him penniless earlier.’

“…15 gold bars are truly nothing to me.”

‘A person like that writing such a shoddy contract. He really is a strange man.’

“That’s impressive. I can’t believe it since I can’t see it myself, but…”

As she answered indifferently and turned back to look at the sunset, he asked,

“What do you plan to do after seeking asylum?”

“Find a house and…”

“And?”

“I was thinking of opening a shop, but…”

“But?”

He seemed a bit frustrated by her trailing off, repeating her words as if urging her to answer.

“Without the gold bars…”

“Ha. You chatter on about other things, but I can’t understand why you become so frustrating to talk to when asked about yourself.”

Is that so?

Maybe it was because Latifa herself lacked confidence about herself.

Feeling somewhat dejected, she lowered her eyes slightly.

“Before I lose my patience, I’ll make a proposal first.”

“…..”

“I want you to come with me to the Grand Bazaar. To be honest, I wrote the payment location as the Grand Bazaar with that intention.”

“What?”

Her ears buzzed again at the words “Grand Bazaar”.

The evening wind carrying the scent of desert sand blew past, tickling Latifa’s long hair. Hades also leaned against the wooden fence and spoke in a confident voice.

“I’ll treat you with the highest regard! I can let you enjoy all sorts of wealth and glory beyond your imagination. I can raise your value to the highest level. I’m a man capable of doing that.”

What is he saying? Treat me with the highest regard? There’s no way someone as insignificant as me deserves such treatment.

She thought he must be playing a trick on her again to mock her.

It couldn’t be helped, as she had just been scammed by Hades and lost 15 gold bars today. There was no way she could easily believe his words.

‘Even the naive me from before would be suspicious of such pie-in-the-sky talk.’

Inwardly scoffing, Latifa vowed not to be fooled again and asked,

“Why?”

Perhaps because it was a ravine, the red sunset disappeared in an instant and darkness began to fall. In the darkening purple twilight, the color of her hair changed again.

Hades’ hand carefully touched her side hair that flowed down long and fluttered in the wind. He gently let the splitting strands of hair flow through his fingers.

The ticklish sensation transmitted through the ends of her hair wasn’t entirely unpleasant, so she remained still.

As the sun set completely and darkness fell, his low voice, reminiscent of the darkness, quietly resonated in her ear.

“Latifa Glacia. Because I need you.”

Flinch. Her body trembled slightly at his words. But it wasn’t trembling from fear. A strange sensation she had never felt before swept through her entire body.

Before she could realize what emotion this sensation stemmed from, Hades extended his hand first.

“You, come with me to the desert.”

The sun had completely set and darkness had fallen thickly, making it impossible to read what expression was on Hades’ face.

**

Early morning. Latifa was tidying up the makeshift tent one last time, checking if she had missed anything in her luggage. Beside her, Brenda, who had come to her senses, looked at her with a sullen expression.

“I’m really sorry for hitting you. I was angry then too. That wasn’t my true intention.”

Although her scalp still hurt from Brenda pulling her hair, Latifa couldn’t bring herself to push her away.

Brenda was now the only imperial acquaintance she had left, and since the usually proud Brenda had rarely apologized first, Latifa couldn’t be too angry with her.

‘Of course, you’re probably apologizing because you’re afraid of General Hades, not me!’

“…..”

“Hm? Forgive me, Lati. And tell the general that we made up well too.”

We went through hardships together on this refugee journey after all…

Feeling a bit hurt by Brenda, who had been so cruel to her, Latifa remained silent. Noticing this, Brenda took out a small box from her bosom and held it out.

“This is yours, right? I’ll give it back.”

“Ah, that!”

Latifa’s face brightened as she quickly received it. It was the jewel box her mother had passed down to her.

The jewel box with a blue shield pattern engraved on it even contained the small golden key that was the mark of the imperial princess.

“Thank you so much for returning it!”

“It’s nothing. Compared to the gold bracelets you received from the general, these old things are nothing.”

“They may be old, but this is a precious treasure that belonged to my mother.”

Only then did Latifa’s hardened face relax into a smile. That’s when Brenda carefully asked again.

“But are you really going to reject the general’s offer? I heard he asked you to go to the desert with him.”

“Who would accept something without knowing what it’s about? Of course I refused.”

“But he said he’d treat you with the highest regard. Don’t you know what that means?”

“It’s suspicious.”

“I told you before, didn’t I? The general has ulterior motives for you. This is all to take you as his concubine, what else could it be? Lati, this is your last chance. If we go to the desert, we can live well in luxury.”

Brenda, who had been dejected, suddenly became excited and started urging her again, saying he had ulterior motives. But Latifa, who had neatly folded the blanket and placed it on the cot, said firmly,

“Brenda. I’m going to Roan Principality. What about you?”

“Lati, let’s go to the desert.”

“That man almost killed you yesterday! Do you still want to cling to him?”

“…..”

“Does it look good to you to live as the lover of an enemy general?”

“You’re still young, so you don’t know how good a position that is. It would be much better than living a life of hardship.”

Not at all.

Latifa knew all too well what kind of life concubines and royal consorts lived. Her mother had been confined to a small palace for life, enduring all sorts of contempt and disdain, just because she caught the emperor’s eye once.

Latifa had grown up seeing firsthand how miserable it was to live a life of hating the emperor while having to love him, and yearning for his attention and love.

And now to go to the Grand Bazaar? Their living environments were too different.

“Think about it. All kinds of jewels and beautiful silk. You’ll probably get many maids too? And although the general seems scary, if you look closely, he’s quite handsome too? He has a good body too.”

Brenda was really a person with endless greed, just as Hades had said.

Getting two gold bracelets should be enough, so why is she so desperate to devour me!

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Anyway, I’m going to Roan Principality, so Brenda, you’d better decide on your destination soon too.”

Latifa got angry, which was rare for her.

“You’re kicking away good fortune that’s rolled to you.”

Brenda’s words somehow sounded eerie, but Latifa soon forgot about her as she was busy packing her belongings.

**

The Sorte border was a place where several countries met. Previously, they were small countries under imperial rule, but after the empire fell, various refugees gathered there, bringing together all kinds of people from the empire.

In such places, black markets usually formed where people sold items they had brought with them.

Through this black market, Brenda was hurriedly walking with her robe pulled low, searching for something.

“I’m looking for someone who knows a lot about medicine.”

“Medicine? If it’s that, try over there. There was someone who said he was a doctor in the empire.”

After looking around, Brenda soon found an old man selling several suspicious medicine bottles on a stand.

“Hey, old man. I’m looking for a medicine.”

“Yes, what kind of medicine do you need? Painkillers? Cold medicine?”

“Is there a medicine that makes you fall into a deep sleep for a while when you take it? Something that lets you sleep soundly for a few days.”

“What? What would you use such medicine for?”

“What does it matter what I use it for? I don’t have money, but I can give you this.”

Brenda opened her inner pocket and took out a large sack. It was full of dried bread, dried fruits, and jerky that Brenda had been collecting from Hades’ camp until now.

Thanks to Hades, Brenda and Latifa had crossed the border abundantly so far, but most refugees were lacking food and tired.

The old man’s eyes began to sparkle at the sight of so much food. He quickly opened a small box beside him and handed Brenda a small, tarnished glass bottle.

“Drink about a mouthful every day. If you drink it for about 3 days, it will take effect. You have to drink a little bit every day so that there’s no strain when you wake up. It’s actually a poison, you know.”

“Good.”

Brenda quickly took the medicine bottle and put it in her bosom. Then she took out half of the food from the sack and handed it to the old man.

“Why only half? You should give it all.”

“It’s useless if the medicine doesn’t work. If it takes effect, I’ll come back and give you the other half.”

“What?! There’s no such thing!”

“See you in 3 days!”

The old man selling medicine got angry, but Brenda was already rushing out with the medicine bottle. She was so excited that she ran all the way to the desert people’s camp in one breath.

When she arrived at the makeshift tent where Latifa was, she took out the small bottle before entering, looking around to see if anyone was there.

“Now I just need to feed this to that girl. No matter how much she doesn’t want to go to the desert, what can she do if she wakes up in the middle of the desert? She’ll have no choice but to follow.”

She opened a leather water pouch she had prepared in advance and poured all the liquid from the medicine bottle into it.

“Who has time to wait 3 days? We have to leave tomorrow!”

After putting all the suspicious poison in, Brenda closed the water pouch and shook it well. Then she handed the water pouch to the unsuspecting Latifa.

“Lati, drink some water. It’s dry here, so you need to drink a lot of water.”

“Thank you, Brenda!”

“Drink a lot now. From tomorrow, we won’t be able to drink water freely.”

Brenda watched Latifa gulping down all the water without suspicion, giggling to herself.