Despite Letia’s changed appearance, Asiz whispered, holding onto a bit of hope.

“Our tree has grown so much bigger. I can’t tell you how much I wanted to show you this. Letia, I haven’t been able to sleep for days since hearing you were coming.”

Letia glanced at Asiz from the corner of her eye.

His brilliant golden hair, reminiscent of sunlight, flowed down a bit longer, and beyond the golden hair, his sun-like golden eyes were gently and peacefully drooping.

He is an incredibly warm person.

That’s why he was her sun.

But now she could no longer be under that sun.

Letia took out a blue stone from her bosom with a determined expression.

As soon as he saw that stone, hope filled Asiz’s eyes.

“You still had that.”

“You are my blue jewel, so I’ll give you this jewel too.”

“B-but my jewel hasn’t awakened yet…”

“It will awaken soon. And in my eyes, you’ve always been a shining jewel from the start.”

“Your Highness…”

“I will forever be by your side, cherishing you, loving you, and being your light.”

Asiz gazed at the blue stone with affection.

“So you were also waiting for me…”

“I’m sorry for returning it so late. I apologize.”

Asiz flinched but kept his mouth shut.

“I don’t deserve to receive this. Far from being light, I’m just a Nebula covered in ashes. It doesn’t suit that tree either.”

Letia tensed her entire body and continued speaking while looking straight at Asiz.

“I was waiting to meet Your Highness one last time.”

To finally say what she couldn’t say five years ago.

“Since I was once Your Highness’s fiancée, please listen to me so that it can be a mutual decision to break off our engagement, not me being abandoned.”

That she was leaving this palace of her own will, not being cast aside.

Because she didn’t want to make her past time seem shabby and worthless.

She wanted to end it properly herself.

“I am glad to break off the engagement with Your Highness. There is no longer any connection between us.”

At Letia’s words, Asiz opened his mouth this time.

“Five years ago, I also had something I couldn’t tell you.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. For not being able to stay by your side until the end. For not being able to protect you, I’m truly sorry.”

She knew well how sincere his apology was now.

That’s why his apology was enough.

‘Whatever the reason, you left that day, and now it can’t be undone.’

“But even now…!”

“I’m getting married soon too.”

“…What?”

At Letia’s words, Asiz’s eyes showed great turmoil for the first time.

“There’s a family I’m in marriage talks with. So now we can each go our separate ways. If our connection was precious to you, please let me go. I’ll let you go too. Let’s not leave any regrets for each other either.”

Letia finally handed the blue stone to Asiz, and he received it with trembling hands, barely managing to grasp it.

She sent off all the time she had spent with him along with that stone.

“Congratulations on your engagement, and I bless your marriage. Be happy. I mean it sincerely.”

Asiz didn’t respond to Letia’s words, and she had nothing more to say, so she turned around.

Left alone, Asiz clutched the blue stone tightly and muttered the words he really wanted to say to her.

“Letia, I know how much I hurt you. I’ll apologize to you for the rest of my life. I won’t give up easily like I did back then.”

There was only one real reason he returned to the palace after five years.

“This time, I’ll definitely protect you.”

His eyes, which had been wavering with regret, sank coldly.

Serina walked out with a bewildered expression into the empty space Asiz had left.

“So that’s how it was? His Highness didn’t come to see me. The reason he told me to stay here…”

She had rushed over when she heard the Crown Prince was here, but she didn’t expect to see this.

Serina glared at the tree with a twisted gaze.

“Did you use me to meet Letia? That can’t be. I’m the Crown Princess. He should have come to see me!”

Everything has changed now.

‘It should be me becoming real, not Letia! No, I was the real one from the start! Letia was the fake!’

Serina clenched her fist with a cold gaze.

“I was going to show him the engagement ceremony. But there’s no need for that. She’s just a useless pebble anyway. Just disappear from this world!”

***

Kallion, who had unknowingly stopped in that place, immediately left Selene’s palace.

His eyes were uncharacteristically tangled with complexity.

‘Did they say she became useless and was thrown away?’

Kallion unconsciously recalled the ashen color of her hair.

“Lady Letia was actually a Nebula.”

From the beginning, this marriage talk was purely a transaction between the Crystalos family and the royal family based on necessity.

Although on the surface, the royal family and the Gemma appeared to be in an equal relationship, in the end, the Gemma were in a position to entrust their lives to the royal family, so the royal family treated the Gemma as tools and only acknowledged them in a master-servant relationship.

However, this time, the Crystalos family becoming engaged to the Crown Prince for the first time as a Gemma was the price received for the head of the family giving Kalua the power to create water.

The Crystalos family, based on Takel’s death, colluded with Empress Terisia to become the ruling power with the highest authority among the 10 Gemma clans.

A Nebula was involved in that tremendous deal.

But something was a bit strange.

‘You say you’re a Nebula. But back then, you clearly saved me.’

***

After Takel’s defeat and the fall of the Grand Duke’s family, Kallion, left alone, was imprisoned in the Winter Tower before being punished, branded as the son of a criminal.

This tower was a place that remained frozen for life, and Kallion had been kneeling there for a week, enduring the icy winds.

As he was becoming numb to the cold, feeling that even pain was a luxury, and his heart was about to freeze…

“Is someone there?”

Kallion raised his head at the first outside voice he had heard, and for a moment, he thought he had died and met an angel.

A girl with snow-white hair that was dazzling to look at was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Wow! I thought I was supposed to be alone here.”

The girl’s voice rang out innocently, unsuited to the place.

But Kallion’s mouth was too frozen to speak.

“Did you do something wrong too? I made a mistake with Her Majesty the Empress, so I have to reflect here.”

At the mention of wrongdoing, Kallion’s eyes twisted coldly.

“…I… didn’t do… anything wrong…”

Kallion bit his tongue and barely managed to answer.

As blood flowed from his lips because of this, the girl quickly wiped the blood with her hand.

“I understand. I’m sorry! So don’t hurt yourself.”

The girl’s fingers paused as she wiped the blood.

“You’re so cold. Are you okay?”

Kallion barely managed to extend his hand and push the girl away.

“Go… away…”

But the girl stubbornly sat down next to Kallion.

“It’ll be less cold if we’re together.”

Kallion frowned.

“It’ll be less dangerous if we’re together.”

He was about to push the girl away again when he paused.

The girl’s body touching him was trembling.

It wasn’t trembling from the cold.

‘…So being less cold and less dangerous together was just an excuse.’

She looked no older than 10.

What on earth did she do wrong to be locked up here?

‘Well. The imperial family is a cruel place.’

As Kallion remained silent, the girl inwardly sighed with relief.

After a while, the girl’s head naturally fell onto Kallion’s shoulder.

Kallion’s eyes widened as he carefully looked at the girl.

A warmth he had never felt in this place spread.

Concerned about the girl’s palm that had blood on it from wiping his, Kallion carefully held her small hand and rubbed it.

Another warmth was slowly blooming from their joined hands.

“Ugh…”

At that moment, Kallion coughed up blood with a pain like his chest was being stabbed with an awl.

‘This is the limit…’

Finally, Kallion collapsed to the floor.

His organs had started to freeze beyond frostbite.

‘I can’t die like this. Father’s unjust… I have to clear his unjust name…’

But there was no one to help him, the son of the loser…

“Don’t worry.”

As the girl wiped Kallion’s blood again with her hand and hugged him tightly, another wave of warmth enveloped him.

But if they stayed like this, this child would also be in danger from his cold.

“Go away. If you don’t want to freeze to death with me…”

“No.”

The girl tightened her grip on Kallion even more.

“Everyone wants me to die. That’s why they abandoned me. So stop wasting your effort and go.”

“You, the son of a loser.”

“What face do you have to try to live?”

“You should pay for your father’s sins with your life!”

Voices sharper than the current cold stabbed Kallion’s mind.

But soon his vision became hot.

“I don’t want that. So I won’t abandon you.”

Kallion couldn’t take his eyes off the girl who was now looking straight at him.

“I don’t want you to die, I said. So make sure to survive and let’s meet again in a warm place next time.”

As the girl smiled brightly, Kallion’s vision gradually blurred.

‘Why on earth. Why are you…’

“…What’s your name?”

At Kallion’s whisper, the girl hugged him tightly again and whispered.

“Letia. My name is Letia.”

Soon, a brilliant light took away his pain, melting the winter tower and bringing spring.

***

“Why do you say you’re a Nebula when you’re like that?”

The power that melted the cold and healed him then was clearly Gemma magic.

Of course, he was too young to think deeply about it at the time, but…

No, in fact, he had tried to forget her existence.

Kallion recalled the scene he had just witnessed between Asiz and Letia.

All the words she had spoken strangely touched his mind.

“So. You really broke off the engagement.”