In the northern part of the Eustera Empire. Intense light that could blind one’s eyes and fierce winds whirled over the high fortress of Colina Rosa.

– Boom! Crash!

Crimson light containing scorching flames and cyan light holding icy cold collided dizzyingly atop the watchtower. The red momentum forcefully pushed back the blue energy.

The knights and soldiers of the subjugation force who had retreated to the side of the fortress cheered like thunder, “Wow!”

“Our commander is winning now, right? Of course. Our commander is the owner of the holy sword Flama after all!”

Nikon Nibera, an elite of the Imperial Knights, turned his head towards Vice Commander Aaron Pioni while pressing his thigh where blood was surging.

The holy sword Flama was the sword of fire that burned and purified the wicked and evil! There was no Imperial Knight who did not know the mighty power of the holy sword their commander possessed.

“Did you forget that the opponent is also the owner of a holy sword?”

Aaron spat out the blood pooled in his mouth and looked up at the end of the watchtower.

How could they forget? How strong the Duke of the North was, who had joined them in big and small battlefields so far. What the power of his holy sword Ielo, called the sword of ice, was like. They had seen it with their own eyes.

But there had never been a clash between the sword of fire and the sword of ice, so there had been no opportunity to determine which was stronger.

– Boom! Crash!

Nikon’s eyes looking up at the fortress shook greatly.

With a deafening explosion, the flashing blue light roughly pushed back the burning red light.

“Wow!!”

The cheers of the northern soldiers who had rushed to recapture Colina Rosa, which had fallen to the subjugation force, tore through the air.

The soldiers on both sides could only shout cheers as if spitting blood. They were far away from the fortress where their leaders were crossing swords.

The power of the holy swords protecting the continent was mighty, and the old fortress’s stone walls were starting to burn, freeze and crumble from enduring the impact of the holy swords clashing.

The surrounding trees bent their waists taut as if about to break in the strong winds that made it difficult to open one’s eyes. The war horses, startled by the flying hail and sparks, fled in all directions.

.

.

At the end of the fortress watchtower.

“Damn it. That was close.”

The black-armored knight who had almost fallen off the watchtower cursed as he adjusted his helmet.

“Stop exaggerating. Do you know how many of my people you’ve slaughtered? Don’t you know your petty death wouldn’t be enough to repay that, Solas?”

“Hey, Frost. In case you don’t know, I’ve been going easy on you so far?”

“I know.”

As Frost swiftly took off his silver helmet, which had part of its side broken off just from a slight graze of the sword of fire, a beautiful and noble face that didn’t match his overwhelming physique known as the God of War was revealed.

“That you’re not giving it your all. Not that you’re going easy on me, but because you’re uneasy.”

Frost brushed back his short silver hair that was disheveled in the fierce wind, glaring with deep blue eyes like the North Sea.

“What…?”

“Are you worried you might have been deceived by the emperor? That you might have shed innocent blood? Are you anxious and afraid?”

Solas snorted, breathing heavily.

“I caught traitors here, and secured testimony that you plotted rebellion by making black magicians your minions.”

“If I had been tainted by black magic, the spirit of Flama would have long since leapt out to tear my body and soul to shreds and burn them to purify me. So, aren’t you doubting that it might be false testimony?”

Solas’s black armor trembled as if struck at a vital point.

If the testimony of the black magicians was true, the phoenix, the spirit of the holy sword Flama, should have appeared long ago.

The moment the massive phoenix that could cover the entire fortress and more flapped its crimson wings, Frost Ielheim would have burned without a trace in the purifying flames. Even if he was the owner of another holy sword, Ielo, it would have been no exception.

But the phoenix did not appear.

The phoenix did not respond despite its master’s continued calls. Why…?

A blue sword energy from Ielo rushed towards the confused Solas.

Solas reflexively lifted his body to dodge and twisted in midair. His subordinates shouting cheers from beyond the hill came into view.

The arduous march to the north and the biting cold, the soldiers injured in repeated battles, and the corpses of those who died without closing their eyes in a distant foreign land, and the blood forming streams…

‘Think, later.’

Solas gripped Flama tightly and swung it with all his might.

“Save your nonsense for when you’re in front of His Majesty the Emperor!”

I will surely capture this guy alive and take him back. I will definitely get a clear confession from his mouth to resolve this uncomfortable feeling I’m having now.

That he is the ringleader of the traitors, and that the subjugation force did the right thing.

The two holy swords clashed fiercely again.

Their skills were evenly matched, but a gap appeared in Solas whose heart was shaken. Frost did not hesitate to thrust his sword into that gap.

But the next moment, Frost froze and couldn’t move.

Because the black helmet had come off and Solas’s burning red hair flowed down to her waist, rippling.

Skin as pale as snow. Red, vivid lips biting down in bewilderment.

The two eyes, wide open as if more surprised, were as bright as emerald leaves in midsummer. Straight eyebrows furrowed under the white, straight forehead where blue veins were visible.

Frost stood frozen, unable to take his eyes off Solas.

“You… were a woman?”

Solas did not miss the momentary opening Frost revealed and dove in.

The sword of fire, Flama, flashed a vivid red light and slashed diagonally across Frost’s silver armor. And the moment Flama touched his droplets of blood…

“What is this…!”

An exclamation of shock flowed from Solas’s red lips, bitten until they bled.

The red aura enveloping Flama’s blade was turning black! And black demonic energy exploded from the blade.

Frost’s silver armor, torn by the sword of fire, shattered and melted. The wound touched by the black demonic energy bubbled and melted.

Solas blankly watched as the blood that spurted from Frost’s wound, who was groaning in pain, stained his silver armor dark red.

“This isn’t right. Something’s wrong… This can’t be…”

Solas’s expression crumbled as she muttered as if in a daze.

Only black smoke flowed endlessly from the sword of fire where the holy flame had died out.

*

Winter of the 470th year of the Imperial calendar.

The emperor’s subjugation force, which had left to eliminate the rebels lurking in the north, returned.

And Solas Moretti, the commander of the Imperial Knights, was arrested by the imperial guards sent by the emperor before even entering the imperial capital.

The charge was treason!

But people quietly whispered behind closed doors.

That the real crime was throwing away the golden opportunity to kill the Duke of the North on her own and turning back the army without the emperor’s permission.

That even the sudden transformation of the holy sword Flama into a demonic sword on the battlefield was the reason why the emperor abandoned Solas Moretti, who had been his pride and right arm.

For the emperor was not a benevolent lord who would keep a useless loyal dog by his side after it had served its purpose.

At the news that Solas Moretti was imprisoned in the underground dungeon of the imperial palace, even the busy mouths that had suspected the emperor and the Imperial Knights commander might be lovers no longer spread such irreverent rumors.

The Emperor of Eustera had dealt with political opponents who became obstacles in two ways.

One was assassination using a secret guard organization called the Shadow.

The other was to secretly imprison them in the underground dungeon of the imperial palace and torture them until death.

Everyone thought that Solas Moretti must be clinging to the emperor’s trouser leg by now, begging to be killed instead.

*

“Solas. Just one word. Just say ‘yes’. Please, by my side, become my empress.”

The handsome young man with dazzling golden hair pleaded, burying his forehead on the back of Solas’s hand.

“Will you really kill my subordinates, those who risked their lives to follow Your Majesty’s orders?”

Solas, with her limbs tied to the chair, gritted her teeth and asked the emperor.

“Someone has to take responsibility for the northern subjugation.”

“Your Majesty!”

“It’s your fault, Solas. If you had taken the Duke’s head, we could have framed him for treason. But now the southern nobles have risen like a pack of dogs, telling me not to touch the Duke anymore. Even the west is threatening me, joining hands with the magic tower.”

“…The Duke did not dabble in black magic. Rather, Flama… became a demonic sword and harmed him. The rebellion was fabricated, wasn’t it?”

“There’s no one without sin in this world. Even if there isn’t, if the emperor says there is, then there is.”

“…You made innocent blood spill… to kill the Duke?”

“Is that important right now? Solas. If you don’t do as I say, you’ll have your head cut off along with your subordinates, framed for treason.”

“…Is Frost, is the Duke alive?”

“Who cares if the Duke lives or dies! Solas Moretti! I am proposing to you right now. The emperor of the empire is telling you he will seat you in the most shining position!”

Solas stared impassively at the emperor’s beautiful sapphire eyes, which were sparkling with intense heat.

“Do I… look like a woman to you?”

A cold sneer leaked from the red lips bitten until they bled.

“Didn’t you order me to live as Your Majesty’s loyal knight, not as a woman?”

“That…! If I had told you to be by my side as a woman, you would have refused. And the Imperial Knights didn’t allow female knights.”

The emperor looked up at Solas with a seductive sweet smile.

“I’m thinking of executing a death row inmate instead of you. With that, Solas Moretti will disappear from the world forever. I’ll give you a new identity and announce you as my fiancée. Since everyone knows the Imperial Knights commander was a man, no one will find it suspicious.”

“Justin.”

At Solas’s call, a red flush spread across the emperor’s milk-white cheeks. His face, with the corners of his mouth slightly pulled up, looked as fresh as a boy’s.

“What’s this? You never called my name even though I allowed it.”

“A knight cannot irreverently call their lord’s name, but a person bitten by a mad dog can call names, curse, and even hit.”

“What…?”

“Justin Della Ponti, you son of a bitch!”

Solas kicked up the emperor’s chin with her knee while still tied to the chair and rolled backwards.

Before the fallen emperor could get up, Solas untied the ropes and kicked him in the chest.

“Even if there’s no sin, if you say there is, then there is? So you made me kill innocent people with my own hands!”

It happened so suddenly that the emperor’s shadows jumped out a moment too late, subduing Solas by breaking her arms and legs, and helping the emperor up.

“Are you that afraid of Frost? Did you think you’d become a great emperor by eliminating him?”

“Shut up, Solas!”

The emperor’s eyes burned coldly as he wiped his burst lip with the back of his hand.

“Become my empress? I’ve heard all sorts of nonsense in my life! I’d rather be Frost’s foot washer, it would be more honorable!”

The emperor’s sword with red diamonds embedded in it swung greatly over Solas, who was pinned to the rough stone floor.

*

‘How absurd…’

I blankly looked up at “me” hanging at the top of the imperial castle wall.

My head and body, clad in black helmet and armor, were separated and swaying slightly, reflecting the cold sunlight.

Next to my corpse, the bodies of my subordinates, not yet cold, were being hung one by one.

My eyes burned, but no tears came out.

I guess souls can’t shed tears. The chill on my neck where the emperor cut it must be an illusion too.

People who came to watch spat towards my subordinates being hung on the wall.

“Damn bastards! You call yourselves Imperial Knights and plot treason?”

“I heard those guys conspired with black magicians and even turned the holy sword Flama into a demonic sword.”

Blood tears flowed in my chest and my knees buckled.

Anyone, please.

‘Please turn back time.’

Turn back time so I won’t put those innocent people at the vanguard of the northern subjugation force.

So that the empire’s finest knights with their lofty spirit and pride won’t meet a miserable death amid contempt and ridicule, framed as traitors.

So that I won’t mercilessly slaughter good people, falling for a dirty trick.

I earnestly wished.

‘Let me put everything back in its place, let not a single drop of unjust blood be shed on this land, please give me another chance…’

Suddenly a dazzling green light burst forth, and I lost consciousness as I was swept away by the fierce wind that whirled around.

And… I opened my eyes to a gentle hand shaking my body and an anxious voice.

“Yuriella. Yuriella!”

God did not answer my prayer to turn back time.

“Oh, thank you, Goddess! Thank you so much!”

It seems God answered the prayer of some desperate father.

An old man with the scent of herbs permeating his whole body hugged me tightly.

“You’re alive! You’re alive, my child!”