The scattered snow intensified and turned into a heavy snowfall.

“At this rate, it seems difficult for you to return to Tris tomorrow, Your Grace.”

“Forget Tris, even going out nearby looks challenging.”

Ted the butler, who was brushing off the snow accumulated on Kaius’s coat, said. He had planned to return home tomorrow after wrapping up urgent matters. Kaius, who was heading to the bedroom, stopped halfway up the stairs. His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at the pouring snow outside the window. If he had known it would be like this, he should have brought Ariel here when he had decided a few days ago.

He found it difficult to even go to bed, longing for the body of his wife whom he hadn’t touched for several days.

In the past, when he opened the door between the bedrooms, Ariel willingly came over to his bedroom. From some point on, she wore dresses that were easy to take off and sat quietly on the bed like a doll. Her attitude towards him was no different. Lying down as told. Doing as ordered. It seemed like rebellion for not letting her speak words of persuasion. Or maybe she wanted to pay him back for insulting her.

Whatever it was. It no longer mattered to him now.

[When we kiss, Ariel.]

Kaius, displeased with the two hands resting quietly on his shoulders like a statue, parted his lips.

[Try caressing my head.]

The small hands that had been hesitating entered his hair. Although the movement was tinged with reluctance. But even with that small touch, he seemed quite satisfied. He devoured his wife’s lips hungrily.

After a long period of lovemaking, Kaius would stroke her hair as if it were a ritual, and leave a final kiss on her swollen lips. Throughout that time, Ariel acted like a corpse, but she still followed his orders well, so Kaius often erased the feeling of being insulted with that.

“Your Grace? Is something wrong?”

At Lemon’s voice, Kaius, realizing the reality that his wife wasn’t here, let out a low chuckle.

“Any word from the main house?”

“Not yet. With this weather, they won’t be able to send carrier birds.”

At those words, Kaius briefly glanced out the window once more before heading to the bedroom.

***

After finishing a shower with warm water, Kaius headed to his office as usual. Having finished a light meal, he took out the notes Ariel had sent instead of the ones that wouldn’t come today.

After reading the first day’s note, he took a sip of alcohol and moved his gaze to the next note.

[Kaius, please be happy. The long-awaited dragons have finally been born. A Red Dragon and a Blue Dragon. The children are still just sleeping. And if it’s alright with you, would you like to name them, Your Grace?]

He really didn’t expect her to be able to awaken dragons. It had been a thousand years since the dragon race disappeared. Was it because of her ability to use life force? He readily agreed that it was an unpredictable and excellent ability, at least in that respect. Although it was humiliating that this ability was being used to kill him.

[Ludvian is indeed a demon. I can’t explain how I know, but it’s true. Kaius, we must plant the Zapharos within four days. If we don’t… My parents are in danger… No, I don’t have time. I won’t ask you to believe me. Just give me a chance to save you, Your Grace. I’ll wait for your reply.]

Reading the third note, Kaius threw the paper into a small box with a cold look in his eyes. He couldn’t dwell on the mention of four days in that note. He only sneered at her words asking him to let her grow the plant that would kill him again without any guarantee, and merely frowned briefly at the mention of Ludvian being a demon.

The King and Queen of Letiana are in danger? In the palace with hundreds of knights? Even so, it would be a hundred times better than his situation where his life was being threatened by his wife. Letting out a chuckle, Kaius emptied his glass of alcohol and slowly moved his long fingers to bring the fourth note before his eyes.

[The name of the plant we need to obtain from the demon realm is Alliune. To detoxify you, we need several Alliune plants, but the reproduction of that plant is only possible with Zapharos flowers. So we must revive the Zapharos without fail. Please, allow it.]

How did Ariel find out about the flower’s ability? She must have searched for the demon realm plant encyclopedia knowing about the problem with Lilas and Zapharos, but how did she know its location? Amidst these continuing questions, he moved his gaze to the next note.

[It’s a shameless request, but please help me protect my parents. So that I can deliver the oil to Ludvian on the appointed day. If we don’t plant it now, I won’t be able to deliver it in time. You’re aware that this plant is necessary, aren’t you? Even if it’s just with a mind of showing mercy, please send a reply of permission.]

Well? What could a woman with no power do? If she’s so worried about her parents, he could send his knights to protect them.

But if he let her grow the plant first, she would try to avoid him somehow. She was a woman who said she’d rather die than have a child.

So, permission denied.

[I’m at my limit now. Is it really not possible? I swear on my life I’ll save you, Your Grace. Life is truly precious to me. …I want to live.]

Who told her to die? He would make sure to keep her alive, to endure by his side in pain. To ensure she doesn’t die at the hands of a mere demon. On this day, Kaius sent a carrier bird. However, not to Ariel, but to his knights.

Writing instructions to forbid his wife from going out until his return, and to protect her even more thoroughly.

[I understand Your Grace’s will well. I will take responsibility.]

She understands his will? How presumptuous.

If she really understood, she should have come to find him here instead of sending such notes.

Even knowing it wasn’t possible, he found himself expecting a little. Whether it was guilt or a sense of responsibility, if she understood his will, he hoped she would be somewhat different when he returned.

[I’ll be waiting.]

As he recalled her words saying she would wait on the day he carelessly left the mansion, Kaius’s hand tightened. Burning with thirst, Kaius took out a strong liquor from the cabinet. His Adam’s apple moved slowly as he drank the yellow liquid poured into a transparent crystal glass.

His eyes sank deeply into the thought that he would be able to perfectly possess the woman he had come to desire for the first time in his life. Even if he died, the woman would protect his child and Elbartan, and that was enough. The snowfall beyond the window reflecting his image grew increasingly fierce. As if trying to cover the world in white.

***

“It’s snowing a lot.”

The woman looking out the window after lighting a fire in the fireplace with firewood that had just been delivered was Ariel, dressed in the clothes of a commoner girl.

She had rented an empty house for about a month in the Sarin district, where commoners lived at the southern end of Tris. She had been lucky. While looking for a place to rent a room at an inn for a long time, an employee who worked there recommended this empty house.

On the wooden table were ordinary clothes, hard bread, many papers and pens, a pouch of gold coins, a pocket watch, and a dagger.

Ariel, sitting quietly watching the scene, looked calm in a way unbefitting someone contemplating their last moments.

Kaius never gave permission in the end. She had considered planting it without permission, but that would only increase his anger. So her disappearing from the world was the only solution.

Rather, once she made up her mind, everything became easy. The time left was at most two weeks. She had come away to spend that time alone.

To have time solely for herself.

Still, she left a letter. A letter containing even the contents of the past she couldn’t tell him.

She had asked Anna after finishing lunch today. Because she was forbidden from going out, she couldn’t do anything without her help.

[Anna, I have urgent business in Tris city for a few days, so please disguise yourself as me and stay in the Duchess’s bedroom. For as long as possible.]

Anna had prepared a carriage in advance, and when she visited Ariel’s bedroom and came out again, it was Ariel wearing Anna’s clothes exactly. Because it was winter, she could cover herself from head to toe with a cloak, allowing her to leave the mansion relatively naturally. She felt sorry for deceiving even Anna, but there was no other way.

By the time she sat down in her current spot with only the necessities, it had become late at night.

Was it because it was the end? Right now, Ariel could be generous to all living things. Strangely, rather than sadness or resentment, she felt grateful for the time to prepare for the end peacefully. That one thing, at least, could be considered fortunate.

Relying on a single lamp, Ariel began writing a letter to leave for her parents first. The sound of the pen moving across the paper seeped into the darkness.

***

Kaius, who woke up later than usual, pressed his temples firmly against the throbbing headache.

He thought it had gotten better. Come to think of it, the headache seemed to have started again since he separated from Ariel. Recalling that fact, Kaius began to laugh bitterly at his own state.

His body craving for his wife whom he hadn’t embraced for several days, along with the returning headache. What on earth had this woman done to him? Was this some side effect of the demon realm flower? Even knowing it couldn’t be, Kaius felt at a loss, unable to explain it otherwise.

He was the one tormenting Ariel, yet as time passed, it became increasingly unclear who was tormenting whom.

“Hah…”

After lying there staring into space for a long while, Kaius finally let out a dejected sigh and got out of bed. Looking out the window, he saw that the madly pouring snow had stopped.

For the past two days, no notes had come.

Kaius firmly believed this was due to the heavy snowfall. Since they had been coming every day even without a single reply, he believed without a doubt that this must be the reason.

“Your Grace, a carrier bird with a black note has arrived from Tris.”

As he came out roughly tying his robe after a shower, Lemon’s urgent voice was heard. Black notes were not used unless the situation was extremely urgent.