In the distance, I could see him bound on the execution platform. His body, dried out for days under the scorching sun, was positioned to prevent him from finding rest.

His arms, spread wide, were chained to two distant pillars. His once-shining black hair now hung limp over his bowed head, pointing towards the ground.

The cruel punishment of execution, unbearable even for most knights. The crime of treason, dying exposed to all manner of humiliation and shame in a public place.

The Emperor’s most brutal punishment for a noble criminal who must not be allowed even a sip of water, nor be killed swiftly with a single stroke.

The Northern Grand Duke, Sion Belfast. That man is not someone who should die like this.

Hidden in the shadows, I watched him until deep night fell.

Though I may be the one who brought about his downfall, I had hoped he at least would not end up like this. It was a feeling I couldn’t understand myself.

I killed Sir Arcadia Nugent, his closest friend, loyal subject, and right-hand knight.

I killed the vice-captain of the Northern Knights who had assisted him as captain in protecting the empire.

Afterwards, I whispered lies to Bran Ophilit, who became the new vice-captain of the knights, causing him to rebel against the Grand Duke before killing him.

As a result, the Grand Duke’s knightly order was disbanded.

White Butterfly. That is my name as an assassin.

The dog of House Lahert, which hates the Northern Grand Duke Sion Belfast; the shadow of Lady Medeia Lahert, the eldest daughter of House Lahert.

The silver-haired assassin who follows Lady Medeia Lahert’s orders, whatever they may be. A female monster with half her face completely disfigured.

All those descriptions referred to me, but I don’t know who I really am.

When darkness had fallen so thick that I couldn’t see an inch in front of me, I slowly approached the Grand Duke. Even when I came right up to him, he didn’t seem to notice my arrival.

The water I had deliberately chilled was still cool.

I knelt on one knee before the Grand Duke. He raised his head to look at me.

The Grand Duke’s eyes, once bluer than the waters of the empire’s deepest and widest lake. Those eyes, now devoid of light, looked at me.

“I’ve brought water.”

I placed cotton soaked with water into his mouth.

He swallowed the water and spat out the cotton. After a moment, his eyes fixed on me.

“Is it you.”

His once bright red lips, now parched and covered in scabs, opened. Unable to look at him directly, I lowered my head.

The Northern Grand Duke, Sion Belfast.

At the young age of twenty-eight. A hero who had defended the empire through countless victorious battles.

The only nobleman who thought of his people before his own safety.

The man who became the sworn enemy of my master, the Grand Duke of Lahert, by earning the love of all the people.

The last bloodline of the Northern Grand Duchy.

The man who first defeated me with a sword.

“I had hoped you alone would survive.”

A sound like dry flesh scraping against wood escaped my throat.

“That doesn’t seem like something Lahert’s White Butterfly should say.”

The Grand Duke said. A faint smile lingered on his once-beautiful jawline before disappearing. Words spoken matter-of-factly, without anger or sarcasm.

How long ago had you noticed the existence of an assassin like me? Did you see me that night when I brushed past you after disguising Arcadia’s death as suicide?

“When I was fifteen, Count Hern Nugent, who protected the North in my stead, died. Was that also Lahert’s doing?”

“My master, Lahert’s Black Bug, assassinated him.”

“I see. It’s the first time I’ve heard of him.”

“Because I killed him.”

I answered calmly, keeping my eyes lowered. The Grand Duke spoke.

“Raise your head, White Butterfly.”

At his dignified command, I closed my eyes. Inwardly, I questioned him.

Don’t you know that I have no right to look at you directly?

Even if I raise my head, all you’ll see is a masked monster with half her face completely disfigured.

“Raise your head, nameless one.”

The Grand Duke spoke again. From his voice, I sensed that he would struggle to survive the night.

Slowly, very slowly, I raised my face.

− Can you see my face in the moonlight?

− Is my completely collapsed left face not hideous?

− The iron mask still covers the right side of my face. I still live like that.

I said to him in my heart.

He looked into my eyes. Just like that day, 11 years ago.

The seventeen-year-old Northern Grand Duke who agreed to spar with a fourteen-year-old child wearing a mask over half her face.

After giving me my first defeat in life, he carefully removed the mask covering half my face with gentle hands.

And he said.

“Why did you cover the beautiful side of your face with a mask?”

“Because the collapsed side is my real face……”

To my flustered self, he said.

“I don’t think so. To me, the covered side seems like the real one. Wouldn’t it be better to live showing your beautiful face?”

He spoke in the same calm tone then too. Then, to prevent me from being more flustered, he carefully put the mask back on me.

Without taking his eyes off mine.

Except for Lady Medeia, my master, that was the first and last time I met someone in the world who didn’t despise me.

You probably don’t remember.

When I unconsciously raised my gaze, I met blue eyes staring at me.

The Grand Duke said.

“Your eyes resemble those of someone I knew long ago.”

“……”

“Clear sky-blue eyes, like a cloudless sky transplanted. Your eyes are red, but the eyes under the mask…… I can’t remember.”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer that my eyes under the mask were also sky-blue. I didn’t want to taint his memory.

Just then, I heard someone’s footsteps in the darkness.

I instinctively put my hand on my sword hilt.

I couldn’t let my master catch me bringing water to a traitor.

Whoever it was, anyone who saw me now had to die.

But the one who appeared was the maid of my master, Lady Medeia Lahert.

Without looking at the Northern Grand Duke, she said to me.

“The Lady is looking for White Butterfly.”

I nodded, and she disappeared, hiding her body in the darkness.

The maid probably thought I had come to confirm the Grand Duke’s final moments.

The Grand Duke’s breathing became ragged. I tried to pour all the water from the small glass bottle I had brought into his mouth.

But he shook his head.

“Why…… do you follow Lahert?”

He asked.

“My first memory of life was Lady Medeia’s smiling face. She took in a child who had lost her memories and had half her face disfigured. The Lady was the only one who treated me as a human when everyone else pointed fingers at me, calling me a monster.”

“I see. How foolish. What a waste, how unfortunate.”

His voice wavered like a flickering candle about to go out. His once-broad shoulders began to sink gradually in the wind.

I closed my eyes again. I didn’t want to see him crumbling.

I asked him.

“Is it sympathy?”

“Interest.”

“I respected you.”

At my words, he was silent for a moment. I waited for his silence.

After a while, the Grand Duke’s mouth opened.

“Could you tell me your real name? Your real…… name.”

It was unexpected. I couldn’t understand the Grand Duke’s inner thoughts, asking for the name of someone like me as he was dying.

“Bella. It’s the name Lady Medeia gave me.”

It was also a name known only to the Lady.

“Bella. May your soul be able to come out of the darkness.”

The Grand Duke said.

At those words, I felt as if a corner of my heart had been cut off.

But the White Butterfly never shows emotion in any case.

I quietly bowed my head towards the Grand Duke.

A strong wind blew, passing between us.

After staying like that for a long time, I raised my head.

The Grand Duke hung lifeless, chained.

“In your next life, may you not be born into such a world.”

I had to swallow my tears.

But I couldn’t completely swallow the pain that pierced my chest.

I wanted to at least let his chained dead body rest comfortably.

But in the end, I couldn’t even touch his cold, white hand.

I couldn’t dare to touch his body with the dirty hands of the White Butterfly.

***

The manor of House Lahert is located in the center of Sharhen’s bustling district, overlooking the execution ground.

I entered the mansion through a secret passage.

Then I stepped into the gold-covered corridor, which was 1 rena long.

The Grand Duke’s final appearance wouldn’t leave my mind, making the dazzling corridor before me feel strangely unfamiliar today.

Get a grip.

This isn’t like you.

After walking for a while, I arrived in front of the Lady’s secret room. I took a breath in front of the closed door.

What’s right doesn’t matter, Bella. What matters is what the Lady wants.

I carefully knocked on the door decorated with red rubies.

“Come in.”

The Lady’s low but affectionate voice was heard.

I entered and bowed deeply.

“We don’t need such formalities between us, Bella. No matter how many times I tell you, you’re always the same.”

When I raised my head, I saw the Lady smiling brightly at me.

“You’re my only true friend.”

For a moment, I regretted entering with a dark expression.

I felt guilty for having doubted, even for a moment, the long-standing friendship the Lady had shown me.

It was my choice to kill House Lahert’s sworn enemies for the Lady.

Every time I killed someone, I acutely felt that I was a monster, but it didn’t matter.

Since I was five, from when I had memories, people called me a monster because of my disfigured face.

I answered as politely as possible.

“It’s an honor, but you shouldn’t call someone like me a friend anymore. Tomorrow, you will become the granddaughter of His Majesty the Emperor.”

“Ho ho, is that so? But still, one shouldn’t forget old friendships, should they?”

I gave a slight smile. But then the Lady slightly wrinkled her straight nose bridge.

……Why?

Suddenly, the Lady smiled again.

“Still, thank you, Bella. Everyone else will be jealous of me, but only you still support me, as always. Actually, I can’t believe it. That what I’ve longed for so long will finally come true tomorrow. The Emperor’s adopted granddaughter. It seems too much for me.”

“It’s not too much, my Lady. Haven’t you been working towards this for a long time?”

“Really? Really, is it not too much? Do I deserve it?”

“Of course. My Lady, you are of the highest status in the Delpast Empire, except for the imperial family. To the Emperor who has no heir, you will be like a light in his lonely life.”

“Huh, it seems so. Now he hardly talks about his dead son or his lost only granddaughter.”

Tomorrow is my master, Lady Medeia’s coronation day.

The day she becomes the adopted granddaughter of the old Emperor who has no heir.

The day she becomes the Imperial Princess who will inherit the Emperor’s position, from being the eldest daughter of a Grand Duke.

“So, Bella, I received a gift from His Majesty the Emperor.”

The Lady’s red eyes sparkled as she touched her luscious golden hair.

I liked seeing her speak to me happily.

At such times, I could feel my loneliness dissipate a little.

“Aren’t you curious about what it is?”

“I am curious.”

“The imperial treasure. The sword Lucella, which proves the imperial bloodline.”

“The Emperor must truly love you.”

I sincerely marveled.

Lucella is one of only two holy swords in the empire.

A sword that appears in the founding myth, remembering and proving the imperial blood.

A prophetic sword said to change from silver to gold when touched by imperial blood.

The Lady smiled brightly.

“I know. That’s why I want to please His Majesty even more.”

Lady Medeia showed me the silver sword placed in a transparent jewel box.

It was a sword dazzling just to look at.

It was an honor.

I knelt on one knee before her.

“This sword won’t turn gold with my blood, but if it did, wouldn’t His Majesty be overjoyed to the point of fainting?”

The Lady is fundamentally pure, though sometimes cruel.

She laughed while speaking of an impossible imagination. Despite it being something that could never happen.

The Emperor who lost his only son, the Crown Prince, and even the granddaughter born to the Crown Prince.

All those on the continent who knew the Emperor’s wish was to find his granddaughter approached the imperial palace, claiming they had found her.

However, none of the fake imperial descendants they presented could change the color of that sword.

“I still remember clearly. When the lowly King of Roman presented his daughter, His Majesty wounded his noble body with this sword. This silver sword truly did not turn gold! Everyone who had doubted the sword’s efficacy was speechless. Roman was destroyed by the Emperor’s wrath.”

“I’ve heard about it before.”

The Lady slowly went to a corner of the room and opened a drawer of old oak.

Then she took out another sword from inside and showed it to me.

“Now that I have a sword, I want to give you a gift too. How do you like this sword?”

“!”

It was a sword with a faintly green-tinged blade, slightly longer than a dagger.

The hilt was made of some unknown blue mineral.

“I’m honored, my Lady.”

I bowed my head, genuinely surprised.

Then the Lady, who had already approached me, lifted my chin with her long, beautiful fingers.

“Bella, actually, I’ve been wanting to give you this dagger for a long time. I’m sorry for giving it to you only now.”

“What? I’m truly honored.”

“But I have one request.”

“What is it?”

“Take off the sword you’re wearing now and put it far away.”

Looking at the Lady’s face, smiling brightly as if pleased, I knew she had come up with another amusing prank. I obediently followed her words.

“Sit down like before. Ah, your mask has loosened a bit? I’ll fix it for you.”

The Lady readjusted the mask covering the undisfigured half of my face, securing it to my ears.

“Don’t be ashamed of your disfigured original face, Bella. You can show it proudly. If anyone says anything to you, I’ll scold them like I did when we were young.”

The Lady took the holy sword Lucella in her hand and slowly approached me. I joked.

“Are you going to bestow a title on me, Your Imperial Highness?”

“No, something even better. Don’t move at all, Bella.”

“Yes.”

“Promise me.”

“I do.”

At that moment, she lightly stabbed the disfigured side of my face with the dagger she had shown me earlier.

Why?

But after a few seconds, I felt the ground rising.

I was dizzy. Suddenly, she pierced my heart with Lucella.

Ughk−

I couldn’t even make a sound.

What is this?

The sword she plunged pierced my lungs. She twisted the sword once more inside my body, smiling brightly.

“To tell you an incomparably good truth. Bella, actually, you are the Emperor’s real granddaughter.”

“!”

I heard the sound of breath escaping from my punctured lung.

At the same time, I saw Lucella’s silver blade slowly turning golden, from the blade to the hilt.