That day. After the evening feast.

After finishing a modest meal with the princess alone in her chamber, Griselda immediately went to Johannes’ bedroom. Her steps, repeatedly treading on the red sunset cast in the corridor, were filled with impatience. She barely bothered to respond to the servants who bowed their heads politely towards her. Throughout her walk, her mind was consumed with the thought of facing the devil. You, could it be that you love your sister?

She stood before the thick door.

Hesitated for a very brief moment.

She raised her fist, which had inevitably become sweaty, and knocked on the door. She heard footsteps slowly approaching, breaking through the long silence. While waiting, she hurriedly lowered her hand and wiped her palm on her apron. Was it truly this unsettling? Even with her tightly closed mouth, she found it difficult to conceal her anxiety. Click. The door opened.

“……”

Johannes, standing straight, said nothing. He merely looked down at Griselda for a moment with a dry, sunken gaze, then turned towards the inside as if granting permission to enter. Without even asking her business, the boy simply walked towards the central table, seeming to have already known the identity of the visitor before opening the door.

It wasn’t particularly surprising. He must have known with his unholy talents. Griselda slowly stepped inside, as if pushing her foot into a beast’s lair. However, she couldn’t bring herself to approach the devil closely and instead stood awkwardly by the doorway.

“Are you busy?”

She asked abruptly, without even bothering with proper etiquette as if it were a given. Johannes turned to look at her.

“No.”

Johannes, who had been gazing at her from afar, turned his head back. Despite Griselda’s rudeness, there was no sign of surprise or displeasure on his delicate features. He merely looked haggard under his eyes. Perhaps he was accustomed to such treatment from his supposed nursemaid, and in truth, he looked quite tired in a manner unbefitting him. Even as he reached for the water jug to fill his cup, his movements were heavy.

As if they had received a silent cue from Johannes, the two page boys who were about to attend to his water suddenly halted all their actions.

“We’ll take our leave.”

The boys immediately bowed and left the bedroom, passing by Griselda. Left alone, Griselda wasted no time in speaking her mind.

“I came because I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Could it be that you…”

Love the young lady?

And only then…

“……”

She couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence.

Johannes showed no particular reaction to the sudden silence. He simply held the silver cup filled with water, seemingly with no intention of drinking it. Griselda pressed her upper lip down as if biting her lower lip. How should she even begin? It seemed as though reason behind her eyelids was turning far too slowly.

“…I, I know the third wish that Her Highness whispered to your coffin.”

“Ah.”

Johannes’ upright head tilted slightly. He calmly acknowledged it, as if to say he knew it well too. There is no error in your knowledge. The veins on the back of Griselda’s hand, gripping her apron, faintly stood out.

“What do you intend to do?”

“About what?”

“How… how do you intend to fulfill that? It’s impossible, isn’t it?”

“Well…”

Johannes covered the back of his neck with his empty hand. His neck bent deeply, as if pressed by the strength of his own grasp. He had already set the cup down on the table. His fingertips, now hanging low, lightly pressed the edge of the table. That weak appearance somehow… grated on Griselda’s feelings.

She took a step closer. Unknowingly, she raised her voice slightly.

“Answer me clearly.”

“I don’t know anything for certain.”

“If you don’t know, who would?”

“A prophet might know.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. You two are in cahoots, aren’t you?”

Just as she spat those words out.

As if a sudden chill had blown in from somewhere, the air in the inner chamber froze solid. Griselda could feel that cold chill entirely on her cheeks. She saw Johannes’ shoulders stiffen like ice. Then, with a glance. She even saw the blue heat rising in Johannes’ eyes as he slightly tilted his forehead to look back at her. His eyebrows, twisted without warning in an instant, seemed to spew out a miserable state of mind.

“You know him?”

Johannes asked, as if swallowing. Since when? Griselda felt the wood grain of the entrance door on her back and couldn’t move. Of course, she couldn’t answer either. She only widened her eyelids like oil lamps, with fear instinctively grasped. It was around then that Johannes’ demeanor, gazing at her with energy rising throughout his body, seemed to crumple slightly.

Amidst an unbearable silence, he turned his head to hide his face. He now seemed like someone trying to avoid Griselda’s gaze.

“Griselda.”

The sound of Johannes placing the silver cup on the table was as low as his voice. Griselda’s gaze naturally followed that sound. It was a cup carefully set down. However, what had been a smooth curve just moments ago was now crumpled like paper at its belly, spilling excess water. Ah, that.

No matter how… it may be silver…

“Don’t get so worked up at me. It only makes you look foolish. I’m just…”

Suddenly.

Johannes’ voice broke off. He seemed about to continue speaking, but then firmly closed his mouth once. Then he barely finished.

“…merely the most wretched pawn among the many that he controls.”

Griselda stared at Johannes’ profile standing in the center of the inner chamber for a moment. Though she didn’t know the exact details, she understood the meaning. He must mean that he is not the one casting the curse. However, Griselda did not lower her guard. She asked in a hushed voice, as if probing.

“…The princess’s last wish cannot be fulfilled unless the child born to the young lady does not inherit the duke’s position, right?”

“Why?”

When there’s Winfrid.

Though he didn’t explicitly say it, Johannes seemed to clearly ask that at the end. His tone was truly calm. Perhaps he was pretending not to know the detailed circumstances, intending to scratch at her old sins. As that thought occurred to her, Griselda momentarily forgot her fear. For her, the days when fear outweighed anger were long past. She finally retorted without thinking:

“Do you love the young lady?”

Thus she twisted the head of sin.

“Love?”

Johannes, who was targeted, raised his face from the dead center of the target. His pupils, slowly rising, were indescribably haggard. His voice, which had lost all light as much as those blue eyes, asked her again:

“What kind of love are you asking about?”

“……”

“Sibling affection? Romantic love between a man and woman? Or is it lust?”

“…That’s.”

Griselda’s words were momentarily blocked by the unexpected directness. Johannes, with his cheeks and eye area all flushed red, continued to speak fiercely without pause.

“Why don’t you understand yet that I can’t have anything that could be given a name? Even lust is too good for me. I’m not qualified.”

“……”

“I, this life itself, am nothing but a survival instinct.”

Griselda saw Johannes’ shoulders, now facing her, trembling. The heir who would soon enter his youth was breathing heavily, bearing a burning twilight on those firm shoulders. Thus blue. And red. This person who could hardly settle on any one color, why does he always look like a lost child? Griselda could not help but feel deeply perplexed.

“To dare call it love. It’s absurd. She is…”

Johannes’ scratched eyes suddenly disappeared. He had covered them with one hand. He staggered back a step.

“She was simply my life.”

“……”

“The only person who held my lifeline. The person who, regardless of her own feelings, would see me with her own eyes and call out to me. The person who had the potential to do so. Ah, I assure you, she could have done it. Inette had that power. But that… She threw it away herself.”

“……”

“Now she says she’ll live as an idiot.”

The last murmur was almost like tears. Due to his deeply bowed head, Griselda couldn’t see Johannes’ eyes. However, she did see the moment when his left hand, clutching his chest, began to change. Drip, drip. Slowly. As if tearing through the skin on the back of his hand, dark scales were rising between his split skin.

“What… did I endure with…”

It was a sudden monologue. Griselda startled and raised her eyes again.

“What did I hold onto to live through all this, to keep this consciousness that’s not even worth a beggar’s. Knowing full well… Knowing perfectly well that I was watching. Right in front of me like that. To me, like that. As if to show me…”

“……”

“Throwing herself away.”

Goosebumps rose on Griselda’s arms. The last low whisper, as if grinding teeth, sent chills down her spine. Johannes’ eyes were still not visible.

How cruel must a person be, to do such a…

How can it be, time and time again…

What on earth should I do, how should I…

Johannes’ damp voice sank into the red shade as he bowed his head. Was that resentment? Or sorrow? Griselda couldn’t accurately gauge the devil’s emotions. His outward attitude seemed close to anger, but the aura he gave off was just dull, making him seem childlike.

However, she knew that his consciousness was wavering, as evident from his roughly heaving chest that matched his low breathing. Yes. To be frank, it could hardly be called a sound mind. This was not the time to leave him be. Griselda, who had been momentarily distracted by the strange yet not unfamiliar frenzy, shook her head once.

“Stop saying such disrespectful things.”

Flinch. Johannes’ shoulders stiffened. His sweaty forehead rose to face Griselda. Their eyes met. Griselda spoke again, almost growling.

“When did the young lady ever attempt suicide? It’s just that her mind is now…”

“Does she look alive to you?”

Johannes cut off Griselda mid-sentence. Slowly straightening his body, he looked down at her directly, his blue eyes still buried in shadow. Johannes’ jawline, visible to Griselda, was drenched in cold sweat. Completely expressionless, pale.

“…Isn’t the current Inette closer to a doll?”

Johannes asked quietly.

“Tell me. Who is at the center of her life?”

“……”

“She lived half her life confined to her chambers, but it was never like this. What remains in today’s chamber is just her shell. It’s an illusion. Her corpse would have more vitality.”

“……”

“If you’re a loyal servant who knows propriety, don’t go around calling yourself the Valdemar family’s nursemaid. It’s an insult to the child you raised with your own milk.”

Griselda’s eyebrows finally rose high. She had kept her mouth shut, feeling as if her insides had been cut by a knife, a warm sensation. However, with Johannes’ subtle accusation, that inexplicable guilt seemed to wash away completely.

“No matter how many thousand or ten thousand times I might disgrace the young lady, could I ever match you?”

Griselda sharpened her knife.