I was stunned to hear the news in the underground prison that Frost was on the brink of death.

If I had noticed Flama’s abnormality a little earlier, the Grand Duke would not have been injured.

After purifying the confessed black magician traitors with holy fire, I should not have overlooked the fact that Flama’s spirit, the crimson phoenix, never appeared.

I should have believed in the Grand Duke’s innocence that I knew with my own eyes, rather than the evidence of treason presented by the Emperor.

As we marched north, I should not have ignored the people’s fervent trust and respect for the Grand Duke, and their resentment towards our punitive force.

Regret always comes too late like this.

‘Frost Ielheim! The master of the ice sword shouldn’t fall to mere poison…!’

With what feelings did I sneak into your chambers wearing that see-through dress.

I put your life ahead of the safety of my subordinates who became wanted fugitives and my desire for revenge against the Emperor.

[This sword is too good for you. Close your eyes and consider it an honor.]

Why are you trying to close your eyes after drawing Ielro to kill me?

[If His Highness falls, kill that wench too! No, cut off her head right now!]

If you had the Empire’s most beautiful woman as your mistress, you should wake up if only to cherish her!

[The price of lies is indeed the neck.]

You should have seen your loyal knight commander threatening me with large teardrops hanging in his eyes. Then you wouldn’t dare to die peacefully with your eyes closed.

I paced anxiously around the cell and found myself clasping my hands together and muttering.

“Someone, please.”

And I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly.

When my soul desperately prayed as I looked up at the corpses of my subordinates hanging on the imperial castle walls, the goddess did not answer.

Amidst the mockery and contempt of the people we had protected, the cold bodies of myself and my subordinates became food for crows.

Well. All I’ve done is recklessly cut down the creatures that the goddess carefully molded and breathed life into. What answer could I expect?

Instead of the unresponsive god, I screamed at the top of my lungs to the one whose answer I desperately wanted to hear.

“Frost Ielheim! You idiot, please open your eyes! Let’s both live! Open your eyes, dammit!”

*

That night. Frost’s body was crossing the boundary between life and death, taking one step, then another towards death.

Every light in the Grand Duke’s residence was brightly lit, and cloths soaked with blood and pus were constantly passed to the waiting maids from the Grand Duke’s chambers.

“Haa… Haa…”

With each labored breath Frost took, the head butler Alexis and head maid Rosalinne’s hearts jumped, fearing it might be his last.

Even without being a doctor, they could tell. His Highness the Grand Duke would not make it through the night.

“Your Highness…”

Alexis deeply regretted allowing the marchioness into the chambers without the master’s permission.

Fearing he might pass without an heir, the old butler’s tear-stained face trembled as he clenched his fists so tightly his nails dug into his palms, wondering if this was why His Highness was suffering so.

“Oh, please…”

Rosalinne fell to her knees and clasped her hands in prayer.

“My lady…! Oh, my lady…!”

Rather than the god who had been so cruel to the Grand Duke, she desperately called out to the late Grand Duchess Adelia who had passed away 15 years ago.

‘Your Highness. Can you see our young master? Has he not arrived there yet? When you meet him, please take his hand gently. Tell him he lived so well, praise him for being admirable. Please guide our young master to a good place.’

But contrary to the head maid’s assumption, Frost’s soul was not going to his mother, but drifting back through time he had already passed.

To an unforgettable moment in his memories. To a scene he needed to confirm again.

To that horrific time when the Emperor sent thousands of punitive troops under the pretense of suppressing the rebel forces in the North…

[You know well that you’re the only one I trust, brother? Please understand that this is just a military force being sent to eliminate the traitors lurking in the North, not to harm my innocent brother in any way.]

Justin Della Ponti. His Majesty the Emperor with dazzling blonde hair was quite good at lying.

If it was just to deal with a band of thieves-like rebel group, there would have been no need to send the Imperial Knight Commander as the leader of the punitive force.

Solas Moretti.

The master of Flama, the holy sword of fire, and the Emperor’s right-hand man. The number one meritorious subject who made today’s Emperor possible.

It was just hiding one’s eyes and saying “woo”. No one in the North was unaware that the tip of Commander Solas’ sword was aimed at the neck of Grand Duke Frost Ielheim.

But even after hearing the news that the punitive army had set out, they were not very worried.

They thought that no matter how skilled Solas was, the odds were naturally in favor of their master.

Frost Ielheim, chosen by the holy ice sword Ielro from birth, was the pride of the North. The continent’s guardian beloved by the goddess.

Not only that. The North itself was an excellent fortress.

To the east and north of the North stretched endless snowfields of minus 50 degrees Celsius. There are legends that ice dragons once lived there, but now it’s an extreme barren land that even monsters avoid, serving as an excellent defensive line in itself.

Also, the west and south bordering other imperial territories were blocked by treacherous mountain ranges inhabited by monsters, making the North a virtually independent territory that could be called an autonomous region.

Previous lords deliberately hunted only an appropriate number of monsters and left some behind to maintain security. Frost was no exception.

So the Northerners even placed bets on whether the punitive force would become monster food or give up and retreat beforehand.

But Commander Solas Moretti, leader of the punitive force, mercilessly cut down the monsters and quickly crossed the shortcut through the Zenis Mountains to invade the North.

Where the punitive force swept through, corpses of resisting soldiers and territory people piled up like mountains, and a procession of people fleeing without even fighting formed lines before the imposing figure of the enemy commander wielding a sword blazing like fire.

[My son. No matter what happens, do not oppose the Emperor. You must not turn our North into a land where the blood of innocent people flows. Bow your head and serve loyally until His Majesty understands. That is the only way for you to live, for everyone to live.]

Even as he passed away 15 years ago due to the schemes of the imperial faction, the loyal former Grand Duke urged his young son to swear an oath until his last moment.

As per his dying wish, he bowed his head and served loyally to the imperial family that killed his parents, but in the end, this land that they loved was stained with the blood of innocent Northerners.

Frost straightened his long-bent back and drew his sword.

He would protect it with all his might. He would protect it even if he died.

He would take the head of Solas Moretti, commander of the punitive force, and send it back to the Emperor, declaring that the North would be independent from the Empire forever.

That was the only way for him to live, for those who followed him to live.

There was regret.

Solas was a comrade who had guarded each other’s backs while repelling monsters and subjugating barbarians together on countless battlefields.

Although they had always met with helmets on and in full armor, never seeing each other’s faces or shaking hands barehanded, Frost revered Solas.

His heart ached with emotion as he watched the sword of fire emit a brilliant red aura, cutting down enemy commanders and leaving hot trajectories in the air.

How many times had he rushed to battlefields he didn’t need to participate in, just wanting to see that sight one more time?

No wonder his knight commander Leo Dominici glanced at Solas and even gave advice: “Homosexuality is not allowed. Just look from afar.”

Even on the day of the all-out war with the punitive army, he had earnestly implored not to show any mercy.

[Tsk! What do you take your lord for!]

Frost did not let his guard down against Solas at all. Even without relying on the power of the holy sword Flama, Solas was the continent’s greatest swordsman, overwhelming even to him.

But when he finally found an opening after close combat and thrust his sword in.

When Solas’ helmet shattered at the tip of the ice sword Ielro and fell to the blood-soaked ground.

Frost froze in place, unable to move.

As the helmet came off, Solas’ fiery red hair cascaded like a waterfall down to her waist. The brilliant red light swaying in the wind was engraved on Frost’s retina.

The bare face that had been hidden in the helmet for so long without seeing sunlight was pale, and the lips bitten in undisguised bewilderment were redder and more vivid than the burning red hair.

Straight eyebrows and a neat nose bridge, a slender neckline. Bright green eyes like midsummer leaves.

[You… were a woman?]

Even as Solas frowned as if embarrassed and exploited his opening without missing a beat, Frost remained frozen in a daze.

And the sword of fire Flama diagonally cut through Frost’s silver armor with a long slash.

[What is this…!]

Solas glared at her own sword with a more shocked expression than Frost, who collapsed with his knees buckling, and gritted her teeth.

Black demonic energy exploded from the holy sword that should have been blazing with red aura as usual. Frost’s armor corroded and melted black.

The wound touched by the demonic energy began to boil and melt, and the gushing blood stained Frost’s silver armor dark red.

Frost closed his eyes and waited for the end.

He thought Solas would take his life without mercy, whether with a holy sword or a demonic sword. The knight of fire who existed solely for the Emperor had never disappointed her master.

But what came rushing in was not Solas’ blade, but her voice, trembling violently, unable to hide her bewilderment.

[This isn’t right. Something’s wrong… This can’t be…]

This time Frost quietly opened his eyes and asked why.

[Why…? Why don’t you kill me?]

Hey. Why are you turning your horse’s head, disobeying the Emperor’s command?

The Emperor was not one to spare those who defied his orders. Even if it was his right-hand man whom he cherished more than his own flesh and blood.

Knowing that better than anyone, are you going to lead the punitive army back like this?

He couldn’t hear the answer. Not then, not now.

Now that person no longer exists here…

Though she no longer exists, the flame deeply rooted in his mind burns brighter and redder in the deeply submerged darkness.

‘Solas, are you at peace now?’

Frost let out a hollow laugh. Why do I only think of you at this fork in the road between life and death, just one step away?

‘Solas…’

If I were to lay down all my heavy burdens – the welfare of the North I so yearned to protect, revenge for my parents’ deaths, the wishes of those loyal ones who gave their lives for me – and say that I too wish to find peace by your side, how would you answer?

Would you laugh and call me a fool? Would you reach out your hand and ask me to join you? Or would you scold me to come to my senses?

[Frost Ielheim! You idiot, please open your eyes!]

A strange voice came from far away, like an auditory hallucination.

‘Who is it…?’

[Let’s both live! Open your eyes, dammit!]

‘How annoyingly noisy.’

Still, for some reason, it made my heart ache with a terribly nostalgic feeling.

“Grand Duke! Your Highness!”

This time, the anxious voices of familiar people struck my ears from closer by.

Slowly, Frost opened his eyes, revealing feverish blue irises.

“Oh, Your Highness!”

Rosalinne collapsed to the floor, shedding tears.

Alexis stared at his master’s wound being wiped clean by the doctor with an expression of disbelief, then rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and opened them wide again. For just a brief moment, a faint green light flickered like a mirage beneath the dark red wound before disappearing.

“That was definitely…!”

That was definitely the spot where countless silver needles had been stuck in the master’s abdomen! It was the trace of the strange treatment performed by Lady Yuriella of House Grande!

*

“…Is he dead? Why is there no news?”

Dawn was already breaking beyond the high bars of the underground prison. Even though it was midsummer, the temperature in the North was as cold and gloomy as early winter in the capital.

“Yuriella Grande! How could you not go mad!”

Instead of the news of Frost I had been waiting for, Duke Grande came running first, swinging his cane.

− Whack!

“I sent you in to seduce the Grand Duke, and you turned him into a pincushion?”

My body reflexively folded in half from the pain that felt like my shoulder would burst.

“What were you thinking to do such a thing?”

I collapsed onto the cold stone floor under the shower of cane blows.

They say he was greatly favored by the former Grand Duke for beating down the monsters of the Zenis Mountains with an iron mace. The movement of the wrist wielding the cane was as dazzling as if holding a mace.

“Father. At this point, does the reason matter? What if the Grand Duke misunderstands that we instigated an assassination? We should kill this wench first to eliminate future troubles!”

Dolman Grande, who had followed Duke Grande in, drew his sword and strode towards me.

Dolman’s eyes flashed with a cold murderous intent as he gripped his sword tightly.

That guy, he’s serious.

The most troublesome opponent on the battlefield is not the enemy’s skilled swordsman. It’s a guy like that. An allied soldier who is stupid but diligent.

Fatal accidents are always caused by such guys.

Dolman Grande raised the sword he had only been carrying as decoration with a flash.

“Wash away the sin of defiling the family’s honor with your blood!”

Translation complete. 100% of original text translated.