A hot breath surged, brushing against tender skin.

Nikolai embraced my waist with a strong force, as if vowing not to let go.

The heat that began from our lips stirred my entire body.

My waist arched backward.

The breath I had been holding escaped abruptly.

“Hmm.”

Was that a signal?

Nikolai pulled me in with all his might.

It seemed like he believed that by doing so, he could turn my heart around.

The fringes of reason gradually crumbled.

The vacant space was filled with fervor.

Light sparkled from inside closed eyelids.

It was sweet and bitter.

Enveloped in opposite sensations, I shivered.

I would rather collapse.

But I was Elizabeth.

A villainess who carved her own destiny without being bound by fate.

Love, or anything like it, was not the entirety of the world.

Just because a woman loves a man, it doesn’t mean absolution is granted for everything.

Still, I was curious.

What would happen after this kiss?

Was there such a thing as an everlasting kiss?

Our lips parted.

The question ceased.

Silence settled in.

It was time to part.

“Please send me off now, Your Majesty.”

Nikolai’s beautiful face crumbled.

His eyes turned a shade of red.

My heart sank.

If he shed tears, I felt I wouldn’t forgive myself.

Fortunately or unfortunately, Nikolai, wearing a mask of expressionlessness, spoke as if spitting out the words.

“I will not let myself send you away.”

“Nevertheless, I have to go. No, I will go.”

Without permission, I turned my back.

I moved away from him.

“Elizabeth!”

My heart crumbled with each step.

My chest ached with each step.

That’s how I distanced myself from Nikolai.

The moment Nikolai’s command was issued was then.

“Listen. Capture Elizabeth Ampster, who defied her fate!”

Spring did not come to the Ice Tower.

Year-round, cold winds swept, turning the frozen frost into ice.

The lightest punishment a prisoner in the Ice Tower could dream of was either exile or death.

“I’m innocent! Elizabeth, that woman framed me!”

A melancholic voice, as if scraping against iron, shook the Ice Tower.

“Please, call my father! If I offer the treasure of the invited emperor, he can save me! My father surely doesn’t know yet!”

With each breath Rose took, a smoky exhale filled the air.

It was bone-chillingly cold, and there was no warmth, not even a blanket.

The Ice Tower, where Rose was, had only Rose and silence.

She expected it to be like this today as well.

“Considering your vocal cords, you seem to be doing better than I thought.”

A clear voice made Rose doubt her ears.

A woman with an ivory-colored hood covering her face ascended the stairs.

It wasn’t a hallucination or illusion.

How long had it been since Rose saw someone who wasn’t a jailer?

Rose crawled closer to the iron bars.

“You, you are…!”
How long has it been since someone other than a jailer has seen a person?

Rose crawled close to the iron bars.

“You…!”

“Hush. Be quiet. I’m here secretly.”

The woman pressed her index finger to her lips.

Rose nodded her head like a well-behaved child.

The woman placed a steaming soup bowl on the stone floor.

Rose, who had been filling her stomach with hard bread, was taken aback.

“Did you bring this for me?”

“Of course.”

“Oh, thank you! I knew you wouldn’t abandon me.”

“Did you think so?”

“I wanted to be friends with you from the beginning. You’re the most among the four major noble ladies…”

“I told you it’s a secret. Your voice is too loud.”

The hooded woman spoke coldly.

She even pulled the soup bowl back.

Rose clutched her growling stomach and pleaded.

“I was wrong. I’ll do anything you say!”

“Rose Hwangbi, the wealthiest and most arrogant, reduced to this over a bowl of soup. It’s distressing even though I’ve never considered you a friend.”

“It’s all because of Elizabeth. That villain!”

“That’s right. That woman is the one who killed your sister, Ohrabi.”

“Wh-who died?”

“Haven’t you heard yet? Simon Kyung died during a duel.”

Though feigning sympathy, the woman’s voice hid a mocking tone.

Rose paid no attention to her mockery.

Her words were unbelievable.

“My mother abandoned our family!”

“Lord Brandon is in a frenzy, saying he must kill the villainess and tyrant. Having lost his daughter and heir, he has no choice.”

“I truly loved the Queen… she was everything to me!”

“There’s nothing to be done. You touched Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth. That woman…!”

Tears streamed down Rose’s bloodshot eyes.

Blood oozed from her fingertips scratching the stone floor.

The woman, watching her silently, asked.

“What would you do if you could take revenge?”

“What can I do when I’m trapped in the Ice Tower?”

“Think carefully about what you can do if you leave here.”

“…!”

“Without the Queen’s permission, I’m the only one who can come up to the Ice Tower. I’m also the one who can set you free.”

Rose looked up at the woman hiding her face.

How could she defy fate like this?

What about the meeting with the head of the nobles and the priest? Where did the guards go?