Knock. Knock.

“……”

Knock. Knock. Knock.

The rhythmic sound of water could be heard.

Belladonna, who had regained consciousness, frowned and lifted her eyelids.

Where am I…? She slowly looked around.

Just moments ago, she was in a cold and dirty cave, but now she seemed to be in a completely new space.

{Are you awake?}

A low, gentle voice flowed into her mind.

Belladonna turned her head in surprise.

But around her was only an empty blue space with the rhythmic sound of water, nothing else.

What is this…? What’s going on…?

As she was confused, someone appeared before her.

{Have you been well?}

Belladonna, upon seeing who had appeared, stumbled back in shock.

A woman with sparkling blue eyes and silver hair was sitting on the back of a large bear, smiling.

Is that me…? No, no, S-Saint Belladonna?

{Pfft… ‘Me,’ you say. It seems you’ve adapted quite well to Belladonna’s life, haven’t you?}

The saint, sitting demurely on the large bear, covered her mouth with the back of her hand and chuckled.

Belladonna stared with confused eyes at her, who was casually sitting on the threatening bear that had just pounced on her moments ago.

{So, how is it? Is it bearable?}

The saint asked, stopping her laughter.

Hearing her question, Belladonna immediately shook her head.

“What is this? Are you really Saint Belladonna? Why are you doing this to me?”

{Oh my, such an accusatory tone right off the bat? What exactly?}

“Why… Why did you make me be reborn? And as you, no less!”

{Hmm? You wanted it. How is it my fault?}

I wanted it…?

Belladonna took a breath. But I never…

The saint, who had been quietly tilting her head and looking at Belladonna, opened her mouth.

{It seems Belladonna’s life hasn’t been smooth sailing either, has it?}

“……”

{Hmm, that’s a shame. I had hoped you would be happier.}

At the saint’s words, Belladonna sat down with a thump and spoke in a self-deprecating voice.

“If you’re going to kill me, just do it quickly.”

{My, what are you saying? You’ve become quite rough in our time apart, haven’t you?}

“I’ve ruined everything. I don’t know what you wanted from me, but I’ve ruined it all.”

The saint, who had been sitting on the docile bear, hopped down to the ground.

She approached Belladonna and crouched down in front of her.

{What have you ruined?}

“Everything’s gone wrong. I entered into a contract marriage with Escalion after listening to the Pope. While living with him, I realized what I wanted, and I thought I could find a way to be happy on my own, but in the end, it turned into poison, and I ended up being played by the Pope, everything got tangled up, and I became a liar.”

{Hmm…}

“Then I was caught by some bad guys and almost had my eyeballs gouged out.”

{Oh my.}

“And finally, the bear… Yes! That bear! It tried to eat me.”

{That can’t be.}

As Belladonna pointed to the bear standing blankly behind her, the saint tilted her head and smiled.

{Don’t you remember? Where you’ve seen that bear before.}

“Why would I have any occasion to see a bear in my life…”

{Oh, how disappointing.}

The saint turned her head back to look at the bear and spoke.

The bear, as if truly disappointed, slightly lowered its head and blinked its eyes slowly.

Watching this scene, Belladonna frowned without realizing it. No, wait a minute…

She had seen that bear before.

What is it? Where…? Where on earth have I seen that bear?

Something was vaguely trying to come back to her memory.

“……”

But with her memories still tangled and dim like a knotted thread, Belladonna turned to the saint and asked.

“…When did I meet that bear?”

{How would I know? Why would you have any occasion to see a bear?}

The saint said playfully.

Belladonna sighed and shook her head.

“Sigh… That’s not the important thing, anyway, I’ve ruined everything. Take my life if you want to. I can’t take it anymore.”

{This child keeps saying scary things.}

The saint, smiling brightly, stood up.

{You haven’t ruined anything.}

“……”

{But since you keep blaming yourself, I’ll give you a little help.}

“Help?”

{Yes! How should I put it… Let’s make the situation a bit more dramatic? It’ll be fun.}

Dramatic…? Fun?

It seemed somewhat disconnected from the offer of help, but there was no time to ask what she meant.

As soon as the saint finished speaking, the blue space began to distort from the outside.

“Uh…?”

Belladonna, startled, awkwardly stood up from her spot.

{Hang in there a little longer. It won’t be too long. You’ll return when the time comes.}

The saint spoke in a carefree voice to Belladonna, who had frozen in shock.

“What? What do you mean… That’s not the point, how did this… Kyaa!”

The space that had been gradually distorting soon rapidly approached Belladonna and the saint, eventually swallowing them completely.

The sound of thick, heavy boot heels sinking into the softly piled snow could be heard.

Escalion continued to move his feet, climbing up and up the snow-covered mountain.

“……”

It was better to push his body like this when trying to organize his thoughts.

In the past, he would sometimes grab passing mercenaries to spar with to sort out his thoughts, or go on a mad hunting spree, or even throw himself into dangerous battlefields without thinking.

Now, with none of those options available, he was just climbing this village’s backhill.

“Damn it…”

But climbing such a low mountain wasn’t enough after all.

Maybe he should have grabbed Graham and asked him to swing a sword at him instead.

The more he climbed the mountain that wasn’t even enough to make him out of breath, the more his thoughts of Belladonna intensified, which was quite displeasing.

The image of her small frame trembling and speaking as if making excuses came to mind.

In reality, there was nothing she could explain.

There was no way he couldn’t recognize the Pope’s handwriting, which occasionally sent obvious blessings and greetings, let alone her soft handwriting that he had deliberately committed to memory.

Everything must be true as it appeared.

But at least…

He didn’t know she thought it was horrible.

He had thought it would be difficult for the Saint of Astanya to live in this cold place.

He also knew it wouldn’t be easy for her to meet someone like him, who was the opposite of her in every way.

But to think she felt that way.

Setting aside that despicable plan to squander his dowry, the fact that she considered the two months or so of married life with him horrible felt like it was driving a sharp knife into his chest.

‘She did seem to be precariously enduring.’

Escalion’s steps gradually slowed as he climbed the slope.

He didn’t feel particularly sad about the marriage that had fallen apart in just two months.

From the beginning, she was someone who didn’t suit him, and it was a relationship that didn’t suit him.

Should he consider it fortunate that he didn’t have much expectation from the start, so the disappointment wasn’t great either?

Usually, he despised lying to him or going back on one’s word, and even more so acts of betrayal, but strangely, her actions didn’t make him terribly angry.

‘Perhaps… I had a premonition that it would end up like this someday.’

That’s what family was like.

A very fragile, soft, and easily breakable relationship.

A relationship that disappears quickly if someone suddenly dies, runs away, or changes their mind and hides.

“…It’s a luxury for someone like me.”

Even the ridiculous time spent inviting Scarlet to the castle in an attempt to improve their relationship felt fleeting.

From the beginning, it felt like the life that suited him best was roaming the battlefield, beheading enemies, riding horses endlessly, dismounting anywhere to gorge on meat and alcohol, and then getting up and moving on again.

He even thought it was fortunate that he hadn’t been with her for a longer time.

If he had… his steps leaving the castle would have been much heavier.

‘Griblata…’

Impulsively, he thought about giving up the troublesome territory as well.

He wasn’t suited to staying in one place for long anyway.

It was a shame about Griblata, but it would be able to find a better lord. It was good land, after all.

Escalion started moving his feet again, which had come to a complete stop without him realizing.

The higher he went, the deeper the snow became, and now with each step, the white snow sank up to his calves.

‘As for Belladonna.’

It seemed better to do as she wished.

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t upset at all about her secretly harboring different intentions behind his back, but the brief intimacy of living together made him feel he could do that much for her without any particular motive.

‘When I return, I should tell her I’ll grant the divorce she wants. If necessary, making an additional donation to the Papal State could be an option. Money means nothing to me anyway.’

Escalion moved his feet, cutting away the leaves obstructing his view.

After the divorce.

‘…Then I’ll never see her again.’

Suddenly feeling something burning inside, he kicked hard at the innocent tree trunk standing nearby.

Being accustomed to a wandering life, parting with someone wasn’t particularly special to him.

It’s just… just.

‘It might be a bit regrettable to never see that gentle smile again.’

Soon, he shook his head and turned his body.

The thinking was over.

There was no point in continuing.

Since staying together would only be poison for both of them, he planned to immediately have Wolf bring divorce papers without delay.

Escalion moved down the sloped hillside much faster than when he had climbed up.

It was when he had ridden the horse he had tied at the foot of the mountain and was nearing Griblata Castle after riding hard that he noticed something was strange.

Due to winter, the days were short and it was already getting dark, but the area around the castle was brightly lit as if fires had been lit.

He hadn’t been gone that long, having left the castle last night and spent just a day outside before returning in the evening.

So they wouldn’t have lit fires like this to look for him…

As he lowered the reins and increased his speed, passing through the castle gates, the servants who were outside holding torches turned to look at him and shouted.

“My lord…!”

“My lord! Something terrible has happened!”

“What’s the matter?”

Escalion lightly dismounted from the large horse onto the ground.

He immediately turned his head to look for Wolf.

“Where is Wolf?”

“My lord!”

Wolf, who had been running around with a torch as if searching for something, spotted him and immediately ran over.

His old face, covered in tears and sweat, looked unfamiliar.

Finally, he collapsed to the ground and opened his mouth.

“The lady… The lady has disappeared…!”