A strong force was exerted on the reins I was gripping.

The whipping wind harshly struck my face as those days passed by.

It was none other than me who set the trap in Ebella.

As I designed that trap with relentless thoroughness, I vowed never to lose family to monsters again.

Originally, unlike other territories, Rose Mary Mountain was famous as a clean area. It was thanks to no monsters being discovered.

Because of that, we who could freely go out always enjoyed a peaceful life.

Father enjoyed carrying me, a young child, on his shoulders and roaming all over the territory, and that day was the day we promised to climb Mount Ebella together.

But on that very day, Father had to go to the imperial palace after receiving an urgent summons.

I, a child full of curiosity about the mountain peak, pestered my mother to climb it.

Finally getting my way through stubbornness, I reached the summit and encountered a ferocious monster.

Enormous claws big enough to wrap around the entire face and still have room left over, a piercing cry that tore at the ears, thunderous footsteps approaching closer and closer…

Everything made my limbs freeze.

But a mother’s love for her child was truly remarkable.

Mother threw her whole body to protect me and Tikan.

Watching mother like that, all I could do was cowardly hide behind a tree, covering Tikan’s eyes and mouth while holding my breath.

The image of mother faintly smiling and shaking her head even as she was dying was still vivid in my eyes.

That’s how I survived. At the cost of my mother’s death.

I couldn’t understand why such a monster appeared in Rose Mary territory, which had been a clean zone.

I had a strong suspicion that someone had deliberately lured it to Ebella, but the culprit was not caught.

After that, I ruthlessly slaughtered monsters to eliminate them, sparing no means or methods.

It was because I thought I could catch the culprit if I caught the monster that killed my mother.

Creating the world’s cruelest trap devices was also part of that effort.

I installed them near the uninhabited Ebella summit and eliminated numerous high-level monsters.

But despite all that effort, the owner of that terrifying roar that killed my mother, Birlof, was still not caught.

As a result, the Ebella summit was designated as a restricted area, and the last trap still remained there.

At that time, Tikan was selected for the imperial knights and was receiving training.

Even when Tikan finished his education and returned to the mansion, I deliberately didn’t mention the traps.

It was because there was no reason to go to Ebella, and I didn’t want to remind him of our mother’s death.

And that was a big mistake.

The north – Casius must have headed there.

Vague speculation solidified into certainty as memories of the past overlapped.

When I was Rachel, I had said such a thing to him.

“I won’t go to the Ebella summit.”

“Why?”

“My mortal enemy is there.”

“To think there’s someone who occupies more of your heart than me, it’s bothersome.”

‘I shouldn’t have said such an unnecessary thing…’

My head went blank and my limbs trembled uncontrollably.

‘Please…’

The horse gradually increased its speed, passing the entrance of Ebella in an instant and reaching the middle slopes.

But Casius was nowhere to be seen.

‘Did he already head for the summit?’

My heart burned black with worry.

*

At that time.

Casius’s white horse was roughly roaming the hunting grounds.

With a half-dazed face, he frantically searched only for his target.

He looked like a predator starved for hunting that had spotted its prey and was spreading its wings.

This time too, he stopped without fail and aimed his arrowhead at the flying target.

The anger loaded at its tip was pointing at one place.

‘Snowfell.’

Tikan’s face was clouded with deep concern as he watched that sight.

It was because his lord’s appearance, clearly angry to anyone who saw, looked more precarious than usual.

Of course, Tikan was also angry.

When Duke Diarob hurled insulting words at his father in front of everyone, if it had been the him of the past, he would have drawn his sword.

But Tikan was no longer the young man of those days.

So Tikan once again suppressed his anger and watched his lord with worried eyes today.

Pulling the reins aimlessly, he rushed towards the northern end of the mountain.

Tikan, who followed behind, tried to dissuade Casius several times.

“This is a forbidden area, Your Highness.”

However, such words did not reach Casius’s ears as he advanced like he was racing.

From the moment they entered Rose Mary Mountain, everything Casius’s gaze fell upon was filled with memories of Rachel. Amidst that, he naturally recalled a conversation he had with her.

Her words about having an enemy here rang in his mind like a curse.

On top of that, Diarob’s disgusting face as he hurled insults at Siron rose up.

Casius’s bowstring was drawn more and more ferociously.

It was laughable how his face hardened when I repeated exactly what his daughter had said, despite being like that.

“Your daughter said it herself. She’s now Wolfdor, not Snowfell.”

He was about to sneer, asking if he was now resorting to such petty tricks, but Casius instinctively felt it when he saw Diarob’s twisted expression.

That Vivian’s words might be true.

Thinking about it now, Vivian’s voice trembled as she said the duke was monitoring her.

Those large eyes even flickered with an emotion similar to resentment.

Of course, even if it were true, Casius had no intention of showing even a shred of sympathy for Vivian.

After all, the fact that Vivian had taken away his precious person would not change.

It was the same this time too.

‘To go along with what her father is doing even after seeing it.’

She had to be a woman with a brass face.

If she had even a little human decency, she couldn’t have uttered such words.

No matter how much that woman denied it, Snowfell was coursing through her blood.

Phsss-

With that, he sent even a shred of doubt flying with his bowstring.

Roaming Rose Mary’s hunting grounds where Rachel’s breath lingered, Casius vowed again today.

That he would utterly destroy Snowfell.

*

At sunset, the sound of intense horse hooves shook the ground.

At that sound, both Casius and Tikan’s gazes turned simultaneously.

The woman’s face, which hadn’t even crossed the ridge yet, gradually revealed itself starting from the top of her head.

Her disheveled hair fluttered with her cloak, obscuring her face.

Tikan murmured softly as he looked at her.

“S-Sister?”

Her horse-riding form resembled his sister so much that Tikan couldn’t close his mouth for a moment.

Tikan wasn’t the only one who had such a thought.

Casius also stared blankly for a moment.

But as the other person drew closer, Casius’s face gradually twisted.

It was because the cloak fluttering in the wind parted, and blue hair and deep purple eyes shining between it formed in Casius’s vision.

The moment he realized it was Vivian, Casius turned his horse’s reins.

His face was horribly crumpled.

‘Have I finally gone mad? To confuse someone like Vivian with Rachel, even for a moment.’

Vivian, who had quickly ridden her horse, instantly closed the distance with him.

The image of the woman who said her ankle was injured while causing a commotion this morning flashed through his mind.

It was clear that had also been an act.

Casius furrowed his brow at the sight that no longer even elicited a dry laugh.

‘What is she trying to do this time… Surely she didn’t come to show off her horse riding skills?’

If that were the case, she couldn’t be anything but a crazy woman.

“Didn’t you say you were in pain?”

The content alone might make him seem like a caring husband worried about her, but there was mockery mixed in his tone.

Uncharacteristic for someone who had asked a question, Casius pulled the reins to move forward without even waiting for an answer.

Tikan stepped back after reading the atmosphere, and I immediately increased my speed to barely catch up to Casius’s side.

“I’m fine now.”

My foot was still throbbing, but my mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of the trap that I couldn’t even feel such pain anymore.

“Ha, if you were going to be like this, why did you make such a fuss?”

He seemed to be treating it as just a simple feigned illness.

Although it was actually an act, I couldn’t help feeling indignant as I was human too.

“You probably won’t believe anything I say, but my foot really hurt earlier.”

“If you were in such pain, why did you come back here? No one would have said anything if you didn’t come to the hunting grounds.”

At times like this, I wondered if the Casius before me was really the one I knew.

His face was that cold, and the words I threw bounced off like they had hit a stone wall, shattering without even an echo.

‘Would this Casius even listen if I warned him now?’

But I didn’t have time to consider such things now.

“The Ebella summit is dangerous. You mustn’t go up any further!”

Casius now moved forward looking only ahead, as if he didn’t need to listen to my words anymore.

If anything, my admonition seemed to have fueled his stubbornness.

“Your Highness!”

I called out several times from behind, but he didn’t slow down at all.

The closer we got to the summit, the more my insides burned.

Cold sweat dripped down my body covered in tension.

If I only knew the exact location, it would be easier to persuade him somehow, but without magic now, I couldn’t even know where the trap was.

All I could do was shout with all my might at his back.

“You could get seriously hurt!”

Casius, knowing I was in hot pursuit, still didn’t slow down and continued to mock me.

“You seem very interested in someone else’s territory. Judging by what you’re saying.”

Only then did I suddenly realize that Rose Mary was no longer my territory. And that saying such things would seem suspicious.

“Well… this is a restricted area, isn’t it?”

This excuse seemed quite plausible, as Casius momentarily stopped his horse.

For a moment, a faint hope rose in my heart.

Casius slowly turned towards me with an ambiguous expression.

The corners of his mouth curled up subtly for just a moment.

“Ah, is there something amazing at the summit?”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that the amazing thing was a trap.

Seeing me unable to continue speaking, Casius spoke as if he had confirmed something.

“You even sent a magician to tamper with Rose Mary mansion’s barrier before.”

He turned his head and sighed, then faced me again with a fierce expression.

“It seems you investigated Rose Mary quite thoroughly back then?”

Casius looked at me with lowered blue eyes as he spat out biting words.

Though I felt suffocated by the cold aura, I couldn’t back down here.

In the end, in my urgency, I blurted out nonsense.

“I… have the power of foresight.”

If I could save Casius, becoming a crazy bitch was nothing.