The palace was filled with busy and urgent whispers.

Eustar was immersed in those whispers as his consciousness flickered. As if hearing ripples in his ears, or rain hitting dry ground, his whole body alternated between feeling languid and startling awake.

I need to open my eyes, Eustar thought. But his eyelids wouldn’t move as he wished. Not just his eyelids – his fingers and even his lips felt heavy as if weighed down by rocks, unable to budge.

—But you need to open your eyes.

—Open your eyes.

Eustar opened his eyes.

Someone was shouting next to him, but it sounded distant.

The first thing he realized after opening his eyes was a salty, stinging taste on the tip of his tongue and inner lips, as if salt had been rubbed on them. It was an aftereffect of the fainting spell that had temporarily and forcefully taken his consciousness.

“Your Highness!”

As if water suddenly drained from his tightly packed ears, Eustar’s body jolted upright at the loud voice that seemed to shake his head.

He looked around in disbelief.

It was his bedroom. He saw servants with eyes wide open like startled rabbits. Turning his head towards the source of a deep perfume scent, he saw Marchioness Himierd.

Himierd was staring at him intently with a face not much different from the servants. When Eustar tried to move, she gently pressed down on his shoulder.

“Your Royal Highness, you must not get up. You need to rest.”

Eustar’s lips parted in bewilderment. He moved his eyes blankly, still seemingly unable to grasp the situation.

When the darkening sky outside the window as the sunset faded came into view, his eyes widened in shock and he gripped the sheets tightly.

“Why am I here?”

“Your Highness, please calm down…”

“What about Laila?”

A faint look of sorrow flickered across Marchioness Himierd’s face. But it disappeared so quickly that Eustar failed to notice it.

Himierd said:

“That’s what I’d like to ask. What in the world happened?”

Eustar blinked slowly. He couldn’t understand what she was saying.

Himierd continued:

“Do you know how shocked I was to hear that Your Royal Highness had suddenly appeared here… in your bedroom, unconscious? And I wasn’t the only one. His Majesty also heard the news. He was very surprised and said to inform him immediately when Your Highness awoke…”

Eustar cut off Marchioness Himierd’s words, waving his hand and shaking his head simultaneously.

“Never mind about me. I’m… fine. I’m asking where Laila is. Has she returned?”

Marchioness Himierd’s lips curled ominously. The lively look in Eustar’s eyes, like early summer leaves, was shadowed with anxiety.

After moving her lips a few times, Himierd spoke with difficulty.

“Your Royal Highness, she…”

Her hesitant voice trembled.

“No one knows where Lady Kristrad is. She has not returned like Your Royal Highness has.”

Eustar didn’t even try to hear the end of Marchioness Himierd’s words.

He jumped out of bed, grabbed his sword lying on the table, and tried to rush outside. But before he could leave the bedroom, Marchioness Himierd quickly blocked his path.

“Marchioness Himierd, step aside.”

Eustar’s voice was low and dark as he caught his breath. However, Himierd shook her head firmly with her arms spread wide.

“I cannot step aside until I know what happened to Your Royal Highness. The royal physicians will be here soon. After checking your condition…”

“I encountered a dangerous magical beast in the Grand Greenhouse. A beast called the ‘Shadow Thief’. You’ve heard stories about that beast before, haven’t you?”

Himierd’s eyes widened.

Rumors of the ‘Shadow Thief’, that vicious and terrifying magical beast, had once spread to every corner of the Sierrow Kingdom.

Not only the citizens of the capital Benalis, but even the nobles had fallen into fear after hearing rumors of this beast, refusing to go out at night even with lights on brightly.

Eustar continued:

“Laila and I were there together. I don’t know why or how I ended up here, but if Laila hasn’t returned, she must still be in the Grand Greenhouse. So step aside. I need to go before the sun sets completely.”

But Marchioness Himierd did not budge. Instead, she shook her head even more resolutely, and seeing this, Eustar felt anger rising to the top of his head, which was extremely rare for him.

Marchioness Himierd said:

“For that very reason, I cannot let Your Royal Highness go. Send the knights of Tentinella.”

“Marchioness Himierd, I said step aside!”

When Eustar burst out in anger, the servants watching this tense confrontation let out short, urgent breaths. Eustar never shouted like this at anyone, no matter what happened.

But Marchioness Himierd didn’t even flinch. She stood firm in front of him like a rock. Her determination to never back down extended out like a blade.

“Your Royal Highness, think of the greater good. You must consider what is more important for Sierrow. If you were to suffer an irreversible injury while trying to save that witch, there would be no future for this country.”

Someone let out a gasp as if stabbed by a knife. The terrified servants had no choice but to watch this intense confrontation, not daring to even think of running away.

Eustar’s eyes darkened further. His expression looked as if he might draw his sword and cut down Himierd at any moment.

At that moment, Marchioness Himierd’s eyes welled up with tears. It was a sight that would have shocked the jaws off the royal officials who believed her heart was made of ice wrapped in thorns.

“I won’t say I have no personal feelings for Your Royal Highness. Yes! As you know, I have loved Your Royal Highness since before I was married. I coveted your gaze and desired your heart.”

Eustar stood silently listening to Himierd’s outcry. Despite standing so close, her voice seemed not to reach him at all.

Deeper sorrow appeared on Himierd’s face, contorted with pain. This time, Eustar could see it too.

Himierd continued, swallowing her choked voice:

“But this is not because of my personal feelings now. I believe Your Royal Highness knows this as well.”

Silence fell. Eustar’s hand gripping the sword tightened. The anger that seemed about to explode had already melted away from his heart like snow.

What filled that empty space was compassion. A nauseating, bitter, and salty anguish, like licking iron and salt at the same time, made him dizzy.

Compassion for Himierd, compassion for Ord who seemed about to perish at any moment, compassion for Sierrow. Eustar’s heart sank heavily, filled with such things.

But none of them could take precedence over Laila.

“My wife has a name, Kristrad, and no one can call her a witch.”

Tears flowed and fell from Himierd’s eyes that seemed to have become empty. Her beautiful cheeks and jawline were wet and distorted with sorrow.

Eustar continued:

“If something happens to Laila because I wasted time like this, I will never be able to forgive myself. And you too, Sieu, would not forgive me.”

“…Your Highness.”

“Step aside. Don’t make me push you away with my own hands.”

Himierd slowly lowered her arms like someone who had lost all strength. What other word could express this feeling besides misery?

She knew it was an unreachable emotion.

But the experience of being rejected right before her eyes was far more painful than what she had vaguely imagined and prepared for. As if her entire body was being torn apart by savage claws, a devastating pain attacked her, threatening to break down the always strong woman.

Eustar left Himierd behind and strode out. The royal physicians, who had been rushing over after receiving word that he had awakened, saw him and gaped in surprise.

“No, Your Royal Highness! Where are you going? You can’t. We must first examine your condition… Your Highness!”

The physicians stared blankly at Eustar’s back as he walked away quickly without even looking at them.

His footsteps kept getting faster. In the end, he was running at almost full speed. He was running so frantically that he didn’t even realize he wasn’t wearing his shoes properly.

Laila.

It was already dark outside the window. Eustar felt his eyes growing hot. How could he have been so foolish? Why didn’t he realize she would do anything to save him?

If the situation had been reversed, he too would have done anything to save her, so why didn’t he guess that Laila would do the same?

He thought he heard someone urgently calling him from somewhere. But there was no time to distinguish whose voice it was, or whether it was real or just an auditory hallucination.

Eustar ran down the long corridor of the palace, holding only his sword. Resenting the stars that were beginning to appear thickly, denying the darkness that was starting to spread deeply like spilled water.

Not yet. He thought. There was still a red-gold light hanging on the mountainside. It wasn’t completely dark yet.

“Your Royal Highness! Wait, Lord Eustar!”

Eustar, who was about to rush out the darkened doorway, suddenly stopped as if grabbed by the scruff of his neck. The voice calling him wasn’t a hallucination. It was even a voice he knew.

“Lord Eustar, please wait!”

Eustar’s lips parted slightly as he turned around. The person who had chased after him, running until they were out of breath, was none other than Mel.

Mel pressed her fist tightly against her chest, trying to hold back nausea that felt like it would turn her insides out. The scabbard in Eustar’s grip made a clattering sound as he turned.

“Your Royal Highness.”

Mel looked up at him with a pale face, panting for breath.

“Your Royal Highness, just now… Lady Kristrad has just returned. In the bedroom, suddenly… She appeared. Really suddenly…”

Eustar ran past Mel before she could finish speaking. The corridor leading to her bedroom felt endlessly long.