The gray-haired woman in a black hood, Iller, faintly smiled.

Her confident eyes sparkling even in the darkness seemed to say, “Stop whining and trust in my abilities.”

Normally, Karla would have meekly given in, saying, “Alright, let’s wait and see.”

But unfortunately, the savage cold of the north only further fueled her anger.

Karla abruptly stopped walking, stood still, and shouted while messing up her hair.

“We’re doomed! Once we return to the territory, that bastard Joseph will take the successor’s position! And I’ll either be sold off somewhere or secretly murdered one dawn. I shouldn’t have come here…”

Karla glared at Iller as if throwing a tantrum, blaming her for everything.

Iller Widentia.

The very Widentia who was famous for her prophecy ability but had now been annihilated without a trace.

If only she hadn’t accidentally encountered that child in the forest back then.

If only she hadn’t been enticed by the fact that the nearly dead woman was the last survivor of the Widentia and eagerly brought her along!

If they had never met, she wouldn’t have been swayed by a false prophecy and taken this fruitless journey. Karla muttered on and on, pouring out her regrets in vain.

“Grandmother won’t help me, will she? But Joseph, he’ll definitely try to kill me. If Grandmother doesn’t help me…”

“Young Lady.”

“…Do you want to call out to me in this situation? I’m about to die because of you! If you had any sense, you’d just stay quiet!”

“Instead of that, take a look over there. Hurry.”

Where Iller pointed with her finger. Karla squinted as she looked there.

“What is that? …A wolf?”

A huge wolf with a woman riding on it was rapidly approaching.

The woman barely holding onto the wolf’s fur was completely pale, without a hint of color in her snow-white face.

Finally reaching Karla, the woman staggered but managed to stand, then immediately knelt on the snowy ground.

“Please help me. I beg you… Please help me.”

Now that she looked, the woman’s attire was that of a maid.

Although she couldn’t tell at first glance due to how haggard she was and seemed like she would breathe her last at any moment, it was definitely the same clothing worn by maids of the Lupinus household.

However, such information wasn’t important to Karla.

She widened her eyes and reached out a trembling hand to Iller.

“Could this be… The prophecy you made?”

−Go to the land of the black wolf. The encounter that comes with the wolf will bring you glory. The person who will grant you the position you desire. A person shining brilliantly is there.

The reason that led Karla to the distant north, to Lupinus. The prophecy given by the last bloodline of the Widentia.

It eerily fell into place.

Even with the already cold weather, a chill seemed to run through her body due to this cunning coincidence.

Karla repeatedly moved her lips and looked back and forth between Iller and the kneeling maid.

“It seems my prophecy for the Young Lady was correct again this time.”

“……”

“What will you do?”

The wolf silently staring at Karla and the maid desperately prostrating.

Karla clenched and unclenched her fists several times, then bit her lip.

That’s right. What more did she have to lose at this point?

If she was going to die a miserable death anyway if she returned like this, she had to try something. With determination in her grasp, she reached out to the maid.

Merche vaguely opened her eyes at dawn.

Someone lifted her up and hurriedly quickened their pace.

The dizzily swaying view passed by and changed, and before she knew it, she was outside with the scent of winter.

The hands holding her limp body were hot. The fierce heartbeat, firm body, and exhaled breaths felt close.

Ah. Could it be that person? …No. It couldn’t be him.

She dozed off for a moment, and when she woke up, it was another unfamiliar scene.

Lying on a comfortable bed that she couldn’t even see for the past few days, Merche slowly lifted her heavy eyelids.

“Why are you awake again after finally sleeping well? Don’t strain yourself and close your eyes obediently.”

“…Rude.”

“Yeah, it’s me, so close your eyes again. Want me to sing a lullaby or something?”

A large hand covered her eyes. As if trying to force them shut, it pressed down with gentle strength, not allowing even a sliver of an opening.

“It won’t take long. Just wait here for a few days. I’ll get you a pretty house that suits you, even if I have to sell a part of my body.”

Rude shrugged as if asking if she didn’t believe him, then grinned crookedly.

At a glance, he seemed endlessly at ease, but Merche wasn’t fooled.

“…The Head of the Household is not someone who can be easily deceived. He must have already sent trackers after finding out that you took me out of the prison.”

“Wow. Our noble Young Lady’s mind is still sharp even in this situation. If it were me, I’d be so feverish that I wouldn’t be able to calculate or do anything. As expected of the great Young Lady Merche. My brilliant tutor.”

The tone that was difficult to distinguish between mockery and praise was familiar.

Merche quietly looked at him and asked softly.

“…Why did you take me away?”

She couldn’t understand.

Wasn’t he the one who would visit her in prison every time, only to threaten her, asking if she wanted to die?

As if he wished for her death, he had been cruel, but now he was making a face that said he wanted to save her.

It was something she couldn’t comprehend. Merche truly couldn’t fathom that man’s intentions.

“Why, you ask? To save you, of course.”

“Shouldn’t I be locked up in prison for things to go the way you want?”

“What? To keep you tied to my side? To make you submit to me?”

Rude covered Merche’s eyes with his hand again. The view that was trying to open up was quickly trapped in darkness.

“Enough. Since you’re such a stubborn Young Lady, no matter what tricks I use, you’ll just keep your mouth shut and endure it. I’ll have to give up first unless I really intend to kill you.”

Merche, who had been forcibly keeping her eyes closed, opened her mouth after a long silence.

“You realized the Head of the Household’s intentions.”

“…Yeah. Like an idiot, I only realized it now.”

Was it her imagination? The voice answering seemed to waver slightly.

Rude, who seemed to be swallowing his emotions, spoke with force as if suppressing his voice, then slowly withdrew his hand.

It was a gaze they hadn’t shared in a long time.

The deep purple pupils that appeared black silently looked at her, and Merche also opened her eyes straight and gazed at him.

“…I have something for you.”

Rude was the first to turn his head away. He went to a corner of the room and rummaged through something, then approached holding something that looked familiar.

His hands, which seemed rough for his large build, gently placed it on top of her golden hair.

A laurel wreath. That’s what it was.

The wreath, far more elegant in shape than the one Rude had previously gifted her, naturally settled on top of her head.

Merche sat up with a dazed expression and reached up to take the laurel wreath off her head.

“Forget about that trash from before. It was such a shabby thing, so of course you wouldn’t feel like accepting it. I know that too. I admit it all.”

He crouched down, hunching his large body, and intently scanned Merche’s expression.

His gaze was fixed on Merche and the laurel wreath she held, yet he grumbled as if it was nothing.

“What? Is it no good this time too? Did I mess up again?”

His voice, hoarse from running out of breath, was unusually low, but Merche couldn’t answer right away as all her attention was on the laurel wreath.

How much effort did he put into it?

The difference between the previous one and this laurel wreath was like heaven and earth.

The smooth appearance without a single protruding twig, the delicate and green leaves carefully woven for decoration. It was so flawless that it was hard to imagine how many attempts it took to get to this point.

Then suddenly, she noticed Rude’s hands. Hands scarred and calloused from wielding a sword.

With those hands that had never even woven flowers, let alone a wreath, he must have repeatedly refined and created this wreath.

To give to her. Only for her sake.

“…Why?”

The abruptly blurted out question was cut off in various places, making it difficult to understand its meaning.

Rude’s wandering steps came to a halt at that brief word.

“Why me… How could you, to me, like this…”

“Why do I love you?”

Rude casually continued the words she couldn’t bring herself to finish.

“I know, right? I find it really strange too. I’ve been living just fine, barely hanging onto my life all this time, but after meeting one woman, it’s like I’ll die without her.”

“…I saved you for my own sake. Solely for my own purpose.”

“I know.”

“…Saving you and treating you was merely out of my one-sided compassion.”

“It’s a bit unpleasant and crappy, but I know that too.”

But why? The more she asked, the more suffocated she felt, and she unconsciously touched her neck.

Rude strode over and placed the laurel wreath back on Merche’s head.

“Is the reason that important? Isn’t this enough? Without you, I’ll just collapse on the ground, gasping for breath until I die. I’m telling you, I’ll die without you. So if that’s not love, then what is it?”

“……”

“The reason I was played by that crazy bastard who only shares blood with me was because I thought you abandoned me. But that’s not it, you say? …No. Even if you really did abandon me, I don’t know. It doesn’t matter anymore. Who cares? I’m telling you I’ll die without you. If I want to live, I’ll have to cling to your side until I die.”

His fingers, particularly long and thick-boned, wrapped around Merche’s wrist.

Rude lowered his lips there and gently bit the delicate skin on the inside of her wrist before letting go.

In the moment she stiffened at the unfamiliar sensation, his lips descended on her skin once more.

Only a very faint reddish mark remained, but Rude looked at it with a face that seemed pleased to death.