An unseasonable fire blazed in the fireplace in midsummer.

In front of it, chairs and tables were lined up with blankets draped over them, and on one side, wet clothes were also hanging similarly.

Sitting in front of it and tilting a warm teacup, Aden rolled his eyes to look around the quiet house.

An undivided kitchen and living room, resting area. A bathroom and small room attached to it. The stairs leading to the second floor aroused curiosity about what scene awaited above.

Aden’s gaze, which had been silently looking at the end of the stairs, moved again to near the fireplace.

A small frame and dried flowers hanging on the wall. The apron hanging in the kitchen and the potted plant on the round tea table.

Traces of Ludmila’s direct touch remained everywhere. Everywhere he looked were Ludmila’s traces.

At that sight, Aden let out a bitter laugh, feeling a sense of emptiness anew.

While Ludmila’s room in the black barrier wall where she lived for 3 months left not a single trace as if no one had lived there, her 3 months here were full of her traces everywhere.

Accepting that fact, he could realize that this was the place Ludmila had chosen and would stay. This was her home.

“I’m sorry I don’t have much to offer. Please have this at least.”

Ludmila, who had quickly boiled water on the stove and made warm tea, held out a wooden cup.

As Aden stared blankly at the curious wooden cup, Ludmila turned her head away as if embarrassed.

“Guests came in the morning and used all the cups. There’s no water stored to wash them right away. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Aden tilted the cup with a nonchalant expression and tone, pulling his lips into a slight smile.

Ludmila, who had been staring at that sight, let out a small sigh and rolled her eyes, still filled with confusion.

Ludmila bit her lip as she examined her reflection in the window that had become a mirror.

The woman’s hair in the window reflection was damp from the rain. Her face was pale, and her lips were ashen.

Even putting it nicely, it was difficult to say her condition was particularly good.

Although Aden said not to worry, the fact that she faced him in this state made Ludmila feel dumbfounded.

But she stopped continuing her thoughts due to the sense of futility that it didn’t matter much.

In the end, this too was just for a moment. Having reached that conclusion, Ludmila turned her gaze to Aden.

“How did you come here?”

“I told you earlier. I came because I wanted to see you. But I didn’t plant anyone. I came with Beressa’s official permission.”

His voice was calm, like falling leaves. But the words thrown in mixed with that voice were by no means so.

Aden repeated the same words to the point where Ludmila felt foolish for thinking she had misheard due to the sound of rain.

The emotions those words brought were indescribable.

Ludmila’s face turned cold, as if trying to hide her agitated heart.

Ludmila, who had been looking at Aden with eyes so dry they could be called arid, ran her hand through her hair.

Meanwhile, Aden, still tilting his teacup, was rolling his eyes as if observing Ludmila.

“Ah…”

“You seem to have lost some weight.”

“…What did you say?”

Ludmila reacted half a beat late to Aden’s words that cut off her own voice.

Aden, who had moistened his lips with the warm tea, leaned back in his chair.

“I said you look thinner. Have you not been eating well?”

Since her appetite was small and her portions were small, there were days when she skipped meals sometimes.

She often got by with simple bread or soup for a meal. She had thought she’d lost weight because of that, but…

Could the man she was meeting after a long time notice it at a glance?

Various thoughts rushed in, but Ludmila realized before long that it was all meaningless.

Aden was buying time. By beating around the bush away from the main point, he was hoping this conversation wouldn’t end.

Acknowledging that, Ludmila could clearly know what she needed to say.

After pausing for a moment, she lowered her hand that had been on her waist and faced Aden.

“I’m sorry for leaving without a word. I’ll apologize.”

Aden, who had been waiting for Ludmila’s answer with a smile, slowly lowered the corners of his mouth at the unexpected apology.

His lips that had curved into an arc formed a straight line, and Aden let out a sigh big enough to shake his shoulders.

“But that was the best I could do. To protect you and your clan, there was no other way. I’m just sorry I left without asking for your opinion.”

Even now, she wondered. Was leaving Aden really a betrayal?

Thinking rationally, it certainly wasn’t wrong.

By her leaving alone, she could protect hundreds of thousands of clan members, and Aden. Even if she went back, that choice wouldn’t change.

But how was it from Aden’s perspective, not as the leader of the clan?

She left without a word to the man who was prepared to throw everything away to protect her alone. She had nothing to say if he felt betrayed.

Clearly, Aden and herself shared the same emotions. There was only a difference in how they expressed it.

Aden tried to obtain Ludmila by throwing away everything he had, and Ludmila threw herself away to protect such an Aden.

“But even so, I have no intention of going back. So…”

“You don’t have to worry. I have no intention of taking you back or forcibly dragging you away.”

“…Aden?”

“I told you. I just came because I wanted to see you.”

Ludmila’s eyes, mixed with worry, concern, apology, and anxiety, finally looked down in bewilderment at having nowhere to go.

Aden shouldn’t be here.

If it’s discovered that he’s meeting with her, the lie she threw away to protect him will have been in vain.

The things Aden would have to bear then were by no means small.

She needed to send him back quickly. When Ludmila’s gaze rose again under that firm conviction, Aden, who had been sitting, slowly stood up.

“Let me stay here for a few days. Then I’ll leave quietly.”

“Stay here… at my house?”

Aden nodded willingly. At that answer, Ludmila’s eyes were tinged with bewilderment.

She couldn’t imagine what kind of talk would go around if it was revealed that Aden was staying here.

It was peace she had barely found. She didn’t want to break that peace.

“It seems the men are quite persistently following you. Wouldn’t it be better to explain that there’s one man here? If it’s a fiancé who’s hard to see because he’s away at war, everyone would understand.”

“How did you…”

Unable to continue speaking due to the absurdity, Ludmila closed her lips.

Realizing that her feeling of seeing Aden in the morning wasn’t an illusion, Ludmila bit her lip.

She couldn’t understand what Beressa was thinking in sending this man.

She was the one who worried about Aden more than anyone. There must be a reason why such a Beressa sent Aden here.

Ludmila let out an anguished sigh.

“How long do you plan to stay?”

“Ten days.”

“That’s too long.”

“It could be the last time, so isn’t that much tolerable?”

Ludmila’s brows furrowed at Aden’s subtle change of expression as he smiled.

The word ‘last’ bothered her, but there was no good reason to refuse his proposal. Ludmila tapped her chin and shook her head.

“Let’s make it a week.”

“How unkind.”

“This is my house. You’re the one who came uninvited. If you don’t like a week, leave right now.”

“To be kicked out into that rain. You’ve become heartless in the time we haven’t seen each other, haven’t you?”

“Aden.”

“Alright.”

As Ludmila put her hand on her waist, Aden nodded with a grin.

“I’ll accept it. In return, I hope you’ll faithfully treat me as your fiancé for a week. That way, there won’t be any chance of annoying men hitting on you while living here, right?”

“That’s now…”

Giving up on continuing her words, Ludmila sighed and looked out the window.

The rain she thought was a shower was still falling heavily.

She wished it would be rain that would pass, but at the sound that seemed likely to stay for a long time, a sigh escaped between Ludmila’s lips.

The old man’s clean face was stained with blood.

Kurto, who had entered here on his own two feet, couldn’t even stand on his own feet. He was just sitting helplessly, gasping for breath.

And the ones watching that sight were only Beressa and Neser with dry eyes.

“You think… you think you can get away with this…!”

Kurto cried out, crawling on the floor and vomiting blood.

Even in the torture room surrounded by walls on all sides, he was still haughty and arrogant as if he had something to rely on.

Although, the problem was that it wasn’t enough to save the old man’s life.

“I should be the one asking. Knowing you’ve been caught spying, does sitting here with your butt planted mean you just want to die? What do you think?”

“How ridiculous, a spy. I simply made a choice to lead the clan to prosperity. Do you know the desolation and fear of war! Do you know how I felt burying hundreds of young people from the clan dying every day!”

Beressa burst into a hollow laugh at his appearance, crying out roughly while coughing up blood.

She rolled her eyes and gave instructions to Neser.

As Neser nodded briefly and withdrew, Beressa bent down in the torture room that had become a space with just the two of them.

“You understood such feelings, so you betrayed the clan? Well, you seem like you’ll make more excuses, so no need to say more. Your assets have already been confiscated anyway, and those led by you will also be summoned and investigated similarly.”

She raised her upper body again and jerked her chin to point at the opposite wall.

“Soon, familiar voices will flow from there, so look forward to it. Well then, rest.”

Beressa turned around with a grin, and reflexive struggles followed.

Lightly ignoring the struggles that were no different from screams that would disappear when the door closed, Beressa came out of the torture room, and Salom, who had been waiting at the entrance, bowed.

Beressa gave him a brief eye greeting and turned around. Salom, following behind her, rolled his eyes slightly and carefully cleared his throat.

“…I’m not sure if this is really okay.”

“It’s the plan Aden set up. You don’t have to worry.”

“Yes…”

“More importantly, did you send the letter I asked to be sent?”

“You mean the letter to Anar Baldin? I’ve sent it for now. But whether it will arrive on time is uncertain…”

Beressa’s lips formed a straight line as she looked at Salom biting his lip with a troubled face.

Anar Baldin. The leader leading the remaining group of the Kan clan that broke away without being subjugated. There were over 300,000 Kan clan members under his command.

If they joined, it was unknown how the war would turn out. Of course, 50 years had passed, so it couldn’t be guaranteed whether they would obey Aden.

“It needs to be handled for sure. The lives of the clan are at stake.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Beressa jerked her chin as if telling him to go. Salom left with a short bow.

Beressa, who had silently watched the direction he disappeared, turned her gaze to look out the window. It had already been three days since Aden left.

“I wonder if he met Ludmila.”

Beressa’s worries were first directed towards the end of the frozen land where the sun was setting.