From the time when the secret guild Anas, raised by Theron and Haven, started to gain some recognition, and Reus began to slowly gain the Emperor’s trust, they started thoroughly searching the Forest of Silence.

However, no matter how much they roamed and looked through the forest, they could only see the black mana spread like fog, with Licasen’s heart nowhere to be found.

Contrary to their expectations of quickly regaining power, they had to spend quite a long time finding nothing.

Then, by pure chance, a guild member of Anas discovered that the Emperor secretly had a magical tool inventor under him.

Based on that information, Theron investigated further and found out that the heart wasn’t just buried anywhere in the forest.

Licasen’s heart was buried beneath the Forest of Silence along with some device designed by that inventor under the Emperor.

The device utilized the mana endlessly flowing from the core within Licasen’s heart in reverse. So, when the mana concentration reached a certain level, it would randomly change the location within the forest, making it difficult for anyone to easily find the heart.

Now that they knew the hidden secret, they were convinced that this time they could truly regain their power. However, their carefree exploration of the forest only lasted for a few days.

Not long after, Reus faced another crisis.

The Emperor, who occasionally checked the forest’s state, sensed something suspicious and sent new shadows into the forest.

The new shadows were literally like living dolls. Without knowing what was buried in the forest, why the forest had darkened to this extent, or what this black fog was, they killed anyone who approached the forest on the Emperor’s orders.

There were quite a few shadows, so at this rate, Reus’ identity would soon be exposed.

So Theron began spreading strange rumors in the back alleys across the Empire.

‘In fact, the Count has hidden precious treasures in that land.’]

Rumors secretly spread along with claims that what was buried in the ground was a magical tool with immense power, an artifact of very high archaeological value, or a treasure from an ancient kingdom.

And before long, money-hungry lowlifes started seeking out the Forest of Silence.

No matter how much they were the Emperor’s shadows, they couldn’t kill all those people. Too many murders would only uncover the truth they wanted to hide.

In the end, Reus and Theron, who succeeded in distracting the shadows’ surveillance, were able to roam the forest quite freely.

Now they thought they would truly regain their power, and the first journey for revenge would soon be smoothly completed.

However, even after removing various dangers, the heart remained elusive, tantalizing them as if it would be caught but never revealing itself.

If only they had found the secret library of the family that father had mentioned in passing… No, if only the Emperor hadn’t destroyed it, they could have regained their power and father.

It was not their fault at all for not finding Licasen’s heart.

But treading and rummaging through the land where father was buried without any harvest brought Reus unimaginable pain.

He thought his heart wouldn’t crumble, but every day was as painful as the first. He was convinced he couldn’t suffocate any more than this, but the guilt always tightened its grip on his throat even more. Days passed where he was afraid to both close and open his eyes.

Then, at some point, Reus began to wonder if he was really alive.

At such times, he often looked back on his life, but the past he had walked until now was all the same as today, making it impossible to distinguish whether he was looking forward or backward.

He could only realize that the future would continue to be just as painful.

Now, the continuation of life felt like a punishment to Reus.

There were still too many days of suffering left, and revenge only seemed to get further away.

The anger that barely sustained Reus’ life gradually lost its strength. Then, at some point, it became so faint that it was almost imperceptible.

And in its place, another emotion settled. Ironically, it was the will to live.

However, too desperate a desire for survival was an emotion that accompanied a life as painful as burning bones, sometimes making it confusing whether what he truly longed for was survival or death.

Reus, who had never had hope, had no future he could imagine, and the will to live led to a desire to escape from the immediate pain.

Thus, in the winter of his 17th year, when the order to go to war was issued, Reus Rocheter decided to end his life.

But it was the moment the sword pierced his body precisely.

A strange vitality he had never felt before in his life spread to every corner of his body, instantly reviving Reus.

The power of the family that had killed his father, the power he was certain did not exist in his body, had revealed itself.

The surviving Reus shed tears. It was not out of relief.

‘I could have been at ease.’

They were tears that flowed spontaneously from resentment at the trajectory of life returning again.

Soon, laughter leaked from between Reus’ teeth.

‘At least I won’t die in vain and ruin my revenge.’

There was nothing he could do of his own will in this world.

Did they really need to so cruelly make him realize that he couldn’t even die or live as he wished?

The sense of helplessness that flooded Reus swept away the faintly remaining will to survive.

All that remained in a life that was like an empty iron mass was a longing for death.

* * *

The day he accidentally encountered Roel in the Forest of Silence.

That day was also an extremely ordinary day for Reus. It also meant that he was always in a state of wanting to die, as always.

While searching the forest like that, he came face to face with the Emperor’s shadows. At that time, one of the shadows cursed Reus at the cost of his own life.

It seemed that the Emperor had ordered them to eliminate him this time, as he had been quite frequently rummaging through the forest lately.

Under normal circumstances, it would have been an attack he could have dodged without exerting any strength.

But on that particular day, everything felt bothersome. So he didn’t avoid the shadow’s attack.

In this way, when Reus wanted to die so badly, he endured that urge by receiving pain equivalent to death, like today. There was nothing more effective than this to remind himself of the fact that he couldn’t die.

But today was a bit different.

That curse seemed to possess quite a powerful force. The speed at which he approached death due to the curse was faster than the speed at which his annoying half-baked healing power revived him.

Although his body writhed in pain as his blood vessels burned and his throat was blocked, making it difficult to breathe, his consciousness welcomed death more than anyone else.

Finally. It’s finally ending.

The life that made him resent the family that was his foundation for as long as he lived. The life where he was suffocated by the guilt that only accumulated every day.

The tiresome life was finally coming to an end.

He was certain he had thrown himself into the fading sensation with that thought. But…

“You shouldn’t overdo it as the antidote hasn’t fully circulated yet…”

A gentle voice penetrated his hazy mind. It was strangely cozy. But that thought quickly disappeared due to the nerve-wracking pain.

Writhing in pain, he repeatedly lost and regained consciousness, then fainted. The sunlight pouring through the window descended upon his face.

Morning… had arrived.

‘I thought I could really die this time.’

Soon, Theron came to find Reus and informed him of the early morning events that were not left in his memory.

“But that woman was Roel Ibelre.”

“Ibelre…”

The one who saved me was of Ibelre’s bloodline.

Again, that damn Ibelre. How tenacious was the ill fate between him and the Ibelre Count family?

Reus resented Roel, who had interfered with his rest, to the point of wanting her dead. But because of that incident, he learned an unexpected fact.

For some reason, Roel Ibelre was trying to arrange a fake identity.

“She wasn’t someone who came to the Forest of Silence knowing something, but one of the people Haven was helping. The name sounded familiar… I never thought she’d be of Ibelre’s bloodline.”

Theron muttered that he never expected someone from Ibelre to use his guild, and he couldn’t understand why Haven pitied such a woman.

But even the enemy’s daughter had her own circumstances.

They knew quite a bit about Count Ibelre’s shameful secrets. However, they had not expected him to disguise his illegitimate daughter as his own and place her in the position of the eldest daughter, so they had been completely unaware of it until now.

But even after learning all those facts, Theron said that the woman should either be killed cleanly now that she had seen Reus or sent to a foreign country where she couldn’t easily return to the Empire.

It was a statement without a single flaw, but at that time, Reus was engulfed in a strange belief.

An utterly absurd belief that the woman would be the key to revenge.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it was clear that she was a woman who could make a significant contribution to bringing down Count Ibelre. Moreover, if he married the woman, he might be able to gain control of the Forest of Silence.

Of course, just having it in his hands didn’t mean he could immediately retrieve his father’s heart. But at least he would have the opportunity to risk being caught by the Emperor as a last resort and mobilize manpower to search for the heart.

Nevertheless, the risks he had to take were still greater.

But in the end, Reus chose Roel Ibelre.

Strange coincidence. The enemy’s daughter met in the enemy’s land. The faintly remaining memories of the dawn. The harmless voice. All those unforgettable things.

It was because he couldn’t erase the feeling that they seemed to be telling him to face his destiny.

At that time, he thought that destiny was no different from the success of revenge.

But now he knows. It was to lead him, who had always been unhappy, to the woman who would become his salvation.

From that moment on, the trajectory of Reus’ fate began to change completely.