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Chapter – 32
My Savior
“What do you mean…?”
Josephine couldn’t bring herself to continue. The phrase previous life sent a chill down her spine, though she soon forced herself to calm down.
“I’ve been searching for you ever since. From the day you saved my life—and even after I finally learned who you were.”
Josephine frowned again. His claim that she had saved him had been bothering her for a while now.
“I… saved you?”
Despite Siegfried’s certainty, nothing came to mind. After racking her brain for a long time, she slowly shook her head.
“I’m sorry, but I think you’re mistaken. I swear I’ve never met anyone from Norden in my life, nor have I ever treated one.”
“It was ten years ago.”
Siegfried stepped closer, blocking the sky above her.
Then, suddenly, he began to tell a story from the distant past.
“There was a young prince cursed with a terminal fate. He had left his homeland and was living here.”
Josephine had no choice but to look up—not at the sky, but at his blood-red eyes, shimmering with sorrow.
“That prince was constantly tormented by the emperor and imperial family for being royalty from an enemy nation. Whenever war broke out, he was hung from the watchtower at the fiercest battlefield.”
The cold wind that had been sweeping through the garden gently settled on their shoulders. Josephine listened intently to every word he spoke.
A prince hung from a watchtower. A young Siegfried abused by the imperial family. Without realizing it, her clenched fist began to tremble.
“How could they do something like that…”
“Every day, he faced death. Sometimes he was beaten or injured to the brink of it.”
After a brief pause, Siegfried let out a slow sigh.
“And no one cared. His homeland had long since forgotten the cursed prince, and the imperial royals were too busy venting their frustrations by tormenting a helpless child.”
And yet, Siegfried looked strangely happy—as if he were genuinely glad to finally be able to tell this story.
“Then one day, the prince was falsely accused of crippling the empire’s crown prince. He was beaten half to death and locked away in the tower where criminals were imprisoned.”
A cold wind that had long since died surged through Josephine’s chest.
The more she listened, the harder her heart pounded.
“…And then?”
“The prince was supposed to die there. His cursed body had already reached its limit after enduring years of abuse.”
Siegfried gave a faint, dry laugh, as though reminiscing about a death long past.
“But then… someone passing by saved him.”
Josephine’s racing heart stopped dead.
Surely not.
Time itself seemed to freeze.
“Who was it?”
“A young girl. An apprentice healer who went back and forth from the imperial palace.”
He answered without hesitation.
“She applied medicine to the prince’s festering wounds, brought water to his exhausted body—and even shared her divine power with him.”
“Shared… divine power?”
“Yes. Just like an empress in legend who breathed new life into an enemy prince with a kiss.”
Siegfried had known all along.
That Josephine’s kiss had not been an impulsive act—but a deliberate one meant to infuse him with divine power.
“Divine power…”
And he also knew that, after graduating from the academy, when Josephine worked as an apprentice healer, she secretly used that power to save nameless, pitiful souls.
That one of them had been Siegfried—something she had never even imagined.
But Josephine soon steadied herself and let out a cold laugh.
“That’s all in the past. It means nothing to me now.”
There had been a time when she couldn’t ignore those in need. Now, it meant nothing—at least, that’s what she told herself.
Siegfried, who had been listening quietly, shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. Thanks to you, I’m alive.”
He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it.
“No…”
Josephine whispered, holding her breath.
The fine hairs on her skin stood on end where he had kissed her, and her chest began to feel unbearably full.
“I wasn’t trying to save you.”
She was sick of the idea that she’d once been such a foolishly kind person.
She had blamed herself endlessly—telling herself she’d only been used and discarded.
“I just couldn’t walk past someone who was suffering. I’m not that good of a person.”
She clenched her teeth and denied it.
She had only just resolved to become cruel—to live for herself.
Yet recalling that innocent past made her feel as though she might revert to the powerless Josephine who could only endure and be hurt.
“That’s why I wanted to save you.”
Ignoring her resistance, Siegfried gently caught her as she tried to pull away.
“You were my one and only savior. This time… I wanted to be the one who saves you.”
His voice trembled with longing.
“So I waited. For a chance to stand before you proudly. All this time.”
From their first meeting to now, memories flashed before her eyes. Josephine could no longer push him away.
“So don’t ever back down from Henries or Hausen. Whatever you do from now on, remember—you’re not the same as them.”
Still holding her hand, the man dropped to one knee in reverence.
“I want to keep remembering you as that kind of person. Josephine.”
He called her by name—not by her title as empress. His voice etched itself clearly over memories from a distant past.
To think someone like this—beautiful and cold as black obsidian—had been watching over her all this time.
“…Then why didn’t you appear before me sooner?”
This time, Siegfried said nothing. His crimson eyes wavered faintly behind strands of black hair.
“Because when I saw you again… you were too radiant.”
Josephine was left speechless. The answer was absurdly distant, unreal.
“So you just watched me from afar all this time?”
She asked again, unable to believe it.
“Compared to you, I…”
Siegfried couldn’t finish. Even in silence, his unspoken words were painfully clear.
She had never imagined such a situation—that he lacked the courage to stand before someone like her.
Josephine met his eyes, still hidden behind dark strands, even now unable to fully meet her gaze.
His eyes were always trapped behind dark bars like this. His mouth so bold—yet he lacked the courage to meet her eyes.
“You asked me to form a bond with you.”
She lifted the hand he was holding.
“If we do that… can I save you from the curse once more?”
She was the only one in this empire who had ever wanted to save him.
Then it was only right that she be the one to save him again.
“Please save me, Empress.”
The black beast pleaded in a trembling voice.
“Just once more… I want to walk through this life with you.”
After a long deliberation, Josephine accepted his proposal.
“I have one condition.”
Siegfried stiffened at her firm tone.
Without a word, she brushed aside the hair hiding his eyes.
“Stop hiding.”
For the first time, Siegfried’s fully revealed face was frozen in shock.
Josephine leaned down and kissed him first.
Naturally, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close.
As their breaths mingled from mouth to mouth, mana began to circulate.
The head of the curse that entered through his breath finally connected to its tail, becoming whole and engraving itself upon her heart.
In that moment, Josephine swore before the god of vengeance that she would bear even his curse.
“And don’t run away again. Not from Henries, not from his brothers. Not even from me.”
That day, Josephine realized for the first time—
That her foolish past had not been meaningless.
That because of her naïve actions, someone had been saved.
“Live in the light now.”
She wanted to watch over him a little longer—standing face to face like this.
“I will.”
Even if only once, she wanted to try living the way he said.
“Form the bond with me, Siegfried.”
And when they reached the very end, she wanted to hold his hand and say—
That it had been worth living.
