A candle flickered beside them.

“Thank you.”

“Why did you space out?”

Benjamin pressed down on Charlotte’s shoulder.

“Is this it?”

“Yes. Childhood drawings.”

“How old were you when this was drawn?”

“I was around five years old. The age is written below.”

“So you had a time like this too.”

Benjamin whispered, leaning back leisurely.

“Small and delicate.”

“I was a child.”

“Same as now.”

“Is that so?”

“Except you were more youthful.”

The baby fat hadn’t yet melted away, making her cheeks plump.

“You don’t seem to be reminiscing about your childhood.”

“There were no good memories.”

“Why?”

“Because…”

Charlotte flipped through the drawings from her childhood.

“Have you ever taken care of a patient for a long time?”

Nineteen. It was a time when even I reached my limits. When my eyes were the darkest and most stagnant…

“Sometimes I wished to kill her. My mother’s suffering was so unbearable. Stop hurting her, take her away, stop tormenting her, just let her go. My mother pleading to be killed… I was scared to look at her writhing for painkillers.”

“……”

“What was I feeling back then?”

Charlotte put away the drawings.

‘I remember now.’

Benjamin swept his hand across Charlotte’s cheek.

“Your expression says you’ve seen something you shouldn’t have.”

“Had everything gone as planned, this drawing wouldn’t have ended up in my hands.”

In this life, it’s in my hands.

‘My mother’s last drawing.’

Drawn a day before she died. I didn’t even want to remember it.

“I thought I had forgotten everything. But remembering it now, it turns out I haven’t completely forgotten.”

Charlotte closed the box. She gently touched the box’s lid as Benjamin, dressed in a robe, sat across from her.

“Your father is unwell.”

“Are you talking about Duke Tyute?”

“He’s been unusually quiet lately… Though the details haven’t been shared with me, something must be amiss.”

At night, he sweated with fever and roamed around the mansion as if possessed.

‘Did I see him like this in my previous life?’

I have no such memory. Maybe different choices altered the course of this life.

A young cleric rushed through the hall of the cathedral.

“Is High Priest Hanelri not here?”

“Why are you looking for him here?”

“He’s nowhere to be found. What should we do? The Pope is asking for him.”

“Where did he go alone again… Is he drinking somewhere?”

The cathedral bells rang. The New Year’s ceremony had ended, and the day was drawing to a close. It was already dark, and the visitors for the New Year’s ceremony had all left.

At that moment,

Silent footsteps touched the grass.

“The taste of alcohol has also faded.”

The layman’s premonition had hit the mark.
“These pests follow me around like leeches, and I can’t even kick them out.”

If the Pope heard this, he would have sighed and grabbed his neck.

“I’ve run out of liquor, and there are no followers to exploit.”

Haneli, who was shaking a liquor bottle, dropped his arm.

He found his way to the prayer room alone. The empty prayer room was only lit by candles.

With each step, his white clerical robe swished.

The robe was embroidered with the symbols of ancient covenants in gold thread,

and when the prayer room’s candles flickered, the gold embroidery shimmered intermittently in the dim light.

“Again! The smell of liquor is pervading! Are you aware you are the deputy guardian? Especially today, New Year’s! I told you to show your face in the prayer room repeatedly!”

“I was planning to come see you soon, Your Holiness. Your blood pressure is high. You need to take care of yourself. I worry for your health this much.”

The Pope stifled a groan.

“…What have you seen?”

“I can’t say.”

There, Haneli whispered to himself.

“I saw another soul burning alone like a candle. Setting fire to their own body to emit light, helping others but not being able to save themselves.”

The Pope swallowed his saliva with a groan.

“You will again walk a lonely path.”

Those who were exiled scratched the taboos of the covenant,

and those who desired life and the living(生) began to tread this land.

The energy of the earth grazed my neck. My neck was constricted, and I was gradually choking.

My breath was stifling.

Charlotte bit her lip roughly. She, who had been gripping the quilt, tumbled off the bed.

“Ah…”

Her vision flipped. Her body, which had been rolling on the bed buried in the quilt, writhed in pain. She should have just woken up quietly.

Her waist twitched. As she pushed her hair back while groaning, dawn had broken.

A knock came from outside the bedroom door.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?”

It was dawn the next day.

She woke up naturally. When she lifted her head, everything was still.

Fumbling with the bedding, Charlotte realized the chill next to her.

“Where did he go…”

A cold chill settled.

She draped a shawl over her shoulders and left the bedroom.

A white fluffy thing rubbed its head against her feet, following her as it squinted its sleepy eyes.

As she walked down the dark hallway, a candle flickered at the other end.

“Where are you going?”

Katarina stepped out of the shadows. Her presence settled lightly.

“Too quiet… Where is His Highness?”

“He is at the practice ground.”

“This early?”

Charlotte turned her steps. Her slow walk continued.

Her waist was straight, but no one walked beside her.

“Where are you going?”

“Outside.”

“It’s still cold. Will you go like this?”

She put on a thicker coat.

As she stepped on the dry ground, tiny pebbles crumbled.

The practice ground was still dark, being dawn.

A rough friction sound came from afar.

Her steps got closer to the practice ground.

The sword energy spread all around, and raw vitality rushed in.