“Everyone, run quickly! Do you want to become ice fragments here?”

“But…”

They seemed confused, torn between the thought of protecting the ‘Bird Prince’ and the man who was pouring out cold energy before them, causing chaos.

‘I wonder what I should say to make them escape.’
For a very brief moment of contemplation, a large hand grabbed my hair. Due to the sudden and fierce attack, a scream involuntarily escaped my lips.

“Ah!”

Espen, who had grabbed my hair and pulled me towards him, looked down at me with chilling eyes and asked, “Where did you get the Ice Heart? Did you seize it from the North?”

“Yes! Did you also release the Ice Monster in the North?”

In response to my answer, the eyes of everyone who overheard our conversation widened. It was a well-known fact among the citizens of this country that the North was an inhospitable environment due to the Ice Monster.

However, the idea that the prince had personally resolved the situation with the Ice Monster was an unbelievable story. Espen, who had no intention of hiding his identity, just laughed sinisterly.

“You really are a woman who constantly interferes with me. Well, it’s been like that from the beginning. You never moved like my heart.”

Then, he whispered eerily, “But that’s okay. I like you for being like that.”

This lunatic. If I could, I wanted to slap him. However, without the opportunity to do so, my body began to freeze crispily due to the oncoming cold.

“Huh?”

Because I died in my past life due to a mana explosion, experiencing my whole body freezing like this was a first. Ice rose from my toes to my heart like ivy. I screamed in intense fear for the first time.

“W-What is this?”

Although I ignited the flames within me, it was not enough. Espen chuckled with a low voice.

“It’s the first time it’s been completed to this extent, but it’s a shame. However, as much as I succeeded once, the reunion will be faster.”

I’d rather have a clean death. This was nothing more than a declaration of hell that wouldn’t ease my mind even if I died.

The ice covered my lower body and spread upward. My breathing became faster, and darkness started to close in on my vision.

‘Ah, I promised Hadel.’

To protect him.

‘As long as I’m still breathing, I haven’t broken the promise, have I?’

I had convinced myself that since Espen had assured me he wouldn’t harm me in any situation, even if he threatened Hadel’s family to capture him.

‘But I never expected the situation to turn out like this.’

If I knew it would end up like this, I shouldn’t have fallen.

‘Artifact, I should have made one more.’

A tool that could help me find Hadel, not just him finding me.

‘No, it was impossible to make one more due to lack of mana.’

If a slightly larger flame had sprung up from the beginning, I could have made one.

I closed my eyes. Focusing on the flame within my heart, Hadel’s face appeared more vividly in my mind.

‘Hadel.’

My person, whom I met beyond time and space.

At that moment, my heart thumped loudly.

‘Flame.’

Melting the ice, pushing away the cold, a vivid flame enveloped my body.

Absorbing the flame in a daze, I opened my eyes wide.
“Reality?”

The flames enveloping me were not a dream but reality.

Disheveled black hair filled my field of vision. A sturdy back appeared, cutting through the space between me and Espen. Speaking in a low, commanding voice, it was clear from the voice alone.

“Leave.”

“Hadel.”

Hearing the voice, I was certain. It was Hadel.

With the sudden appearance of flames, Espen’s face contorted in confusion.

“How did you appear here?”

Luckily, the artifact I made for Hadel emitted light at the right moment. Instead of giving a detailed explanation, Hadel responded succinctly.

“I can pull off such tricks myself.”

“Haha, is that so?”

Espen twisted his lips. The gaze directed at Hadel and me was hostile.

“Feels really dirty. Like a prince who came to rescue a princess.”

Upon realizing the impact of his own words, Espen frowned as if he had wounded himself.

“In the end, am I unacceptable?”