If there had been knights, they would have hesitated. Even if fallen, it wouldn’t be easy to carelessly lower the head of Nerea Esteban, the black knight who was once the glory of Castarty.

But the maids were different.

“Show respect to Her Highness the Crown Princess, Countess.”

The words of Brianna, who started as a lily of high society and grew into a pillar of the noble faction, were law and power to the young noble ladies.

The rough-handed maids grabbed Nerea’s arms carelessly.

Even as it seemed Nerea’s head would soon bow submissively, Brianna felt no interest.

Ah, how boring.

Just as Brianna was about to pout her lips,

“Please don’t do this to my lady, Your Highness. Please?”

The maid standing behind Nerea as if hiding suddenly interjected and pleaded. It was then that a passionate cry came towards the maid kneeling and begging.

“Heather!”

It was a ridiculous farce. A maid kneeling and begging, and a mistress with eyes about to pop out.

Seeing Nerea Esteban, who seemed about to bow her head obediently, now trembling, Brianna burst into genuine laughter.

“You’re still so soft on your servants, Nerea. By the way, did you hear that rumor? Your seed. They say he went somewhere and died.”

At the playful voice, Nerea hesitated for a moment.

“How pitiful. He must have died after suffering at such a young age?”

“I’ll try harder! Please don’t abandon me, Sir! I…”

As Heather clasped her hands and begged tearfully, Alejandro overlapped in Nerea’s vision. It was a moment when Nerea’s eyes wavered strangely.

But Brianna, not noticing that small change, said with a face full of laughter.

“Dear, that was just a joke.”

“A, joke?”

At Heather’s questioning, Brianna nodded her head elegantly.

“Of course. You don’t think I’d really make my dear sister kneel, do you?”

The blood ran cold.

Brianna’s face looking down at Heather, mixed with hopeful expectation and fear that it was a joke, resembled Helen’s expression when she looked down at her.

A joke. It was absolutely not a joke. It was just that seeing the amusing sight made her feel generous enough to let it slide.

As if splashed with cold water, her mind snapped to clarity.

Naively. How could she have thought Helen would keep her promise indefinitely?

That glib promise to spare her life if she stayed quiet was in fact only kept because her news hadn’t harmed them yet.

Stupidly thinking they wouldn’t put a knife to her throat again if she became a nuisance.

So foolishly.

“Well then, I’ll be going now. Nerea. Do take care and stay healthy.”

“…You.”

“You…?”

Brianna’s eyes narrowed sharply. Her red lips twisted crookedly as she prepared to curse at Nerea, when—

“Your shoes are high.”

“Were you going to say something useless—!”

“Of course it must have been uncomfortable coming here. There’s nothing but dirt and gravel here. It must have been very difficult with such pretty high-heeled shoes.”

Hearing the dazed voice, Brianna chuckled. And she lifted her dress skirt slightly. Even in the poor light of the hut, the shoes sparkled beautifully.

Staring blankly at the exposed shoes, Nerea smiled faintly and murmured.

“I once wanted to wear such pretty shoes too.”

An uncontrollable thrill ran down Brianna’s spine. She lightly bit her lovely lips.

To think Nerea Esteban would envy her. Brianna tilted her head.

“Miss, wait! Miss!”

Soon the maids dragged away the maid who had tried to protect her mistress. In the now quieter space, Nerea’s dull eyes blinked slowly.

Brianna mocked Nerea with a sharp gaze.

Those ghost-like eyes and painfully red hair.

The Esteban Count family. What good was having such outstanding skills that rumors spread about betraying God and choosing demonic swordsmanship?

Everyone knew that the punishment for that was hair as red as the blood of the corpses he killed, and bizarrely dull, watery eyes.

“Dizzyingly high heels that could sprain your ankle, and flawlessly shiny pretty shoes.”

Nerea was especially slow and dull. She would blink those stupid eyes and then turn away as if indifferent to everything.

“But since going to war, I wanted sturdy shoes rather than pretty ones.”

Yet strangely, Brianna couldn’t take her eyes off those stupid eyes. She felt an inexplicable tension drying her throat.

“Shoes that wouldn’t feel any sensation no matter what they stepped on.”

“…You must have walked many terrible paths.”

It was incomprehensible to Brianna, who had only ever walked flat, soft paths. Only then did Nerea smile faintly with her pale face.

“There were too many corpses on that path.”

For a moment, Brianna was at a loss for words. Corpses? Meanwhile, Nerea’s slow voice continued.

“At first, the smell was the hardest. That smell of rotting corpses that seemed impossible to get used to was the most grueling.”

“…”

“But one day I realized, that stench comes from things that are completely dead. So at least I who smell it am alive. But the newly dead, every time you step on them, the sensation is so squishy. Ah, you wouldn’t know, Brianna.”

For a moment, the corners of Nerea’s mouth lifted crookedly. With a face blurring the line between smiling and crying, Nerea continued slowly.

“At first, you avoid stepping on corpses that have just died, you know?”

The soft pronunciation seemed to crawl stickily across the floor towards Brianna. The gaze staring blankly at one spot was chilling.

“But when you’re running frantically, sometimes your foot suddenly sinks in. That sinking sensation keeps happening. Probably the armpit, between the legs, between the neck and shoulder.”

Brianna felt as if an unknown chill was clinging to her body.

“The bodies of the newly dead have more curves than you’d think and are slippery, so unless you avoid them entirely, your feet keep sinking in. Some even have warm body heat remaining. It feels like stepping on a living person. That really…”

Suddenly Nerea’s eyes looked straight at Brianna. The gloomy eyes that had seemed unfocused were now smiling directly at Brianna.

“It was so chilling. I felt like I was about to die.”

“…They said you went mad. You really have gone mad, Nerea. Do you think I don’t know soldiers on the battlefield wear hard armor?”

Brianna stood up. It’s April when roses bloom in the south, but a strange chill kept piercing Brianna. Armpits, between the legs, between neck and shoulder.

Even as she waved her arms as if to shake off the eerie chill enveloping her whole body, with each word Nerea spoke, the desolate aura kept emanating from somewhere.

“Armor is more expensive than you’d think, Brianna. Even successful mercenaries can barely afford full armor. Do you think all soldiers wear it?”

“What are you trying to say…”

“So, the living strip off the armor and only naked bodies remain. Stepping on those corpses, stepping, endlessly stepping. Constantly being buried like that.”

“…”

“Eventually you can’t tell if you’re stepping on the dead, or if you’ve just died yourself.”

“…Stupid woman. If you covet my shoes, I’ll give you these. Lady Terli! Bring me new shoes!”

Brianna sat in the chair and took off her shoes. She kicked them towards Nerea as if giving alms, and the dull gaze turned to the shoes again.

She had no intention of wearing shoes that had walked on this dirt road again anyway. The soles must be ruined.

Soon Blanche, the daughter of Count Terli, came and put new shoes on her. All the while, Nerea didn’t stop talking, but Brianna didn’t listen.

“Let’s go!”

“Don’t you… from there?”

We must get out of this house quickly.

There was no need to listen to that mad girl’s words anymore.

Not sure what state of mind she left in, but once the carriage departed, Brianna muttered as if exhaling.

“…She must be mad.”

“It’s true. Did you see those eyes earlier? I was only there briefly but I got goosebumps like this, Your Highness.”

Blanche across from her clutched her delicate arms and shuddered. Judging by the goosebumps on her arms, she seemed to be thinking the same thing. Brianna nodded.

If she weren’t mad, how could someone like Nerea dare to look at her with such eyes?

That chillingly slow way of speaking, eerie gaze, and somewhat bizarre mouth.

As she quietly recalled Nerea, Brianna slowly began to smile.

“To that extent, yes. To that extent, it might be better to officially invite her.”

“But Your Highness, inviting such a mad woman? Isn’t it too dangerous?”

Hearing Blanche’s worried voice, Brianna smiled brightly.

That was exactly what Brianna wanted.

For the whole empire to see a former hero spouting nonsense, and never yearn for that girl again.

* * *

“…Do you know what I thought there?”

Nerea, who had been quietly mumbling even after Brianna left, smiled palely.

I wish there was just one person who would find me among the dead. But Alejandro not only found her, he came looking to save her.

Nerea quietly looked at the shoes. The shoes sparkling under the light were very pretty, but they gave Nerea no feeling at all.

“Miss. Are you alright?”

Along with the sound of the carriage rolling away, Heather ran into the house with tears in her eyes. Seeing the worried face, Nerea straightened her back.