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Chapter : 29
Her leg had clearly been injured, yet strangely, it no longer hurt.
The moment she stepped uselessly out of the cave, the darkened world brightened in an instant, and the scenery changed completely.
A fierce snowstorm raged.
A wind sharp enough to sting scraped across her cheeks, but Zenaida paid it no mind. Rather, she kept walking, as if she were enjoying the situation.
Reality doesn’t change.
Killing Kaiden might have vanished with her regression, but in her memories, it would remain forever.
No matter how hard she tried, it was a memory she could never forget.
Zenaida walked aimlessly.
She didn’t know where she was, nor which direction would take her back.
She knew nothing.
She simply walked wherever her feet carried her.
Then, she heard the cry of an owl.
At the sound of the bird known as a guide, Zenaida looked around. Even amid the snow, the owl’s eyes were clearly visible.
As if enchanted, she followed the bird.
Her situation was already the worst—falling even deeper into despair wouldn’t matter anymore.
After following it for quite some time, she saw someone who looked human, standing beside a horse.
She couldn’t see clearly, but one thing was certain—the figure was a knight.
Is it the pale horse?
A knight of death who had come to deliver death to her?
When she stopped walking, the knight dismounted and approached her.
Once he came close enough for her to make out his face, Zenaida stared at him blankly.
“Zenaida… are you all right?”
The one who gently called her name was Kaiden.
When she didn’t respond, Kaiden pulled her into an embrace.
Zenaida flinched violently and struggled in his arms.
She had escaped the illusion, yet she felt keenly that she wasn’t a good enough person to receive his warm concern.
But Kaiden didn’t let her go. Instead, he held her even tighter.
Overwhelmed, Zenaida clung to his chest and muttered to herself.
“I… I killed you.”
“…?”
“In my previous life, I killed you… You said you loved me, but I killed you.”
Once her mouth opened, she couldn’t stop. Everything poured out uncontrollably.
“I was wrong. Everything was my fault. Even if you made a family with another woman, I could endure it. You don’t have to treat me as your wife—use me for the rest of my life and throw me away if you want….”
“……”
“Just… don’t die.”
But it was only for a moment.
“Kh—!”
Suddenly, she coughed up blood with a sound like scraping metal.
The blood that spilled from Zenaida’s mouth streamed down onto the pure white snow.
She looked at Kaiden with a vacant expression.
He didn’t curse her as a madwoman.
He didn’t look at her with contempt.
He only worried about her as she bled.
“Don’t lose consciousness. You can’t.”
His voice trembled with fear.
“I don’t care whether you killed me or saved me. So live.”
At his words, her eyes shook in bewilderment.
She had expected him to despise her.
She thought this time she could finally push him away when he approached.
But—
“Live!”
Why… why tell me to live?
Someone like me deserves to die.
Zenaida wept as she watched her own blood seep into the snow.
Because it was heartbreaking—the man she had killed was telling her to live.
Even as her consciousness flickered and faded, she continued to cry.
Five years before Zenaida and Kaiden met.
The capital of the Arden Empire, Anima.
Within the palace that should have been peaceful, someone’s desperate voice rang out.
“No!”
A young boy with an immature face struggled desperately to avoid being dragged away by the knights.
He barely managed to escape their grip, pulled out the dagger he always carried, and pressed it to his own throat as he shouted.
“If anyone takes my mother out of this room, I’ll kill myself!”
He was Kaiden Arthur, the second son of Emperor Arthur—someone who should never be harmed lightly.
At his desperate resistance, the knights hesitated in confusion.
If he were injured, everyone present would be punished.
The one who ended the chaos was the Empress Aria, who was being dragged away by the knights.
“What outrageous behavior is this for a prince of the empire! If you are a prince, then accept the imperial command as one!”
Instead of calling him by the affectionate name she usually used, Aria addressed him only by his status as a prince, reminding him of his position.
Hearing her scolding, Kaiden stared at her blankly.
His unfocused eyes glistened, as if tears might spill at any moment.
Seeing him show weakness, Aria turned her head away without looking at him.
“I will go on my own.”
At her words, the knight commander paid his respects and led her out of the room.
Ignoring the sobbing sounds behind her, the Empress clenched her dress tightly.
Left alone, Kaiden dropped the sword he had been pointing.
A nearby attendant hurried to pick it up, but Kaiden stopped him.
“Leave.”
“But, Your Highness—”
“I said leave!”
In the end, the attendant released the sword and rushed out.
Silence filled the room.
Unable to contain his rage, Kaiden paced back and forth, breathing heavily.
This isn’t right.
How could his mother—of all people—be taken away?
The reason Empress Aria was arrested lay in a curse-like prophecy passed down through the empire for generations.
The moment a purple beast is born into the imperial family,
all those of imperial blood shall die miserably.
Kaiden’s eyes had not been purple from birth.
But after his tenth birthday, their color gradually changed into the ominous shade of violet.
Looking at himself, now a monster, Kaiden let out a bitter sigh.
“This can’t be happening.”
For the past ten years, he had lived happily with his loving father, mother, and older brother. There had been no succession disputes.
Kaiden respected Felix, and Felix cherished Kaiden.
It was his purple eyes that shattered this peace.
Kaiden violently slashed at the full-length mirror with his dagger.
Cracks spread across the glass, distorting his reflection.
Yet even so, the color of his eyes remained unchanged.
Still seething with anger, Kaiden pounded his chest.
No matter how hard he hit himself, the suffocating feeling wouldn’t disappear.
“They should’ve taken me instead…”
Everything had turned out this way because he had become the ominous symbol with purple eyes.
If so, it was only right that he be imprisoned—not the Empress.
But the knights took his mother instead.
Wiping the tear tracks from his eyes roughly, Kaiden sprang to his feet.
Crying wouldn’t solve anything.
As he tried to leave the room, someone entered.
“Your Highness! Please wait—just not now—”
The one urgently trying to stop him was none other than his older brother, Crown Prince Felix.
Seeing Kaiden’s disheveled state and the wrecked room, Felix sighed, then ordered the attendant who followed him.
“I’ll be taking Kaiden to the training grounds. Clean this up while we’re gone.”
“Yes, understood.”
Felix tried to lead Kaiden out, but Kaiden resisted.
“You know Mother’s been imprisoned, don’t you?”
“…I do.”
At that answer, Kaiden fired off his words rapidly.
“Then go talk to Father for me! Tell him to release Mother—tell him she’s innocent!”
Afraid Felix might forcibly drag him away, Kaiden dropped to his knees and begged.
“What crime has Mother committed? A prophecy? What use is a prophecy like that?! If everyone’s going to die because of me, then they should arrest me and kill me!”
He had intended to speak calmly, but the more he spoke, the more his emotions surged.
His voice grew louder, and Felix’s face darkened.
“Why does Mother have to go to prison?!”
Without a word, Felix pulled Kaiden into an embrace and whispered softly.
“That can’t happen.”
“Then why—?”
“If that happens, our country will lose the blessing of the gods. Demons will invade, and plagues will spread across the land. Do you want to see the people suffer?”
Just as Empress Aria had demanded Kaiden fulfill his duty as royalty, Felix did the same.
“If only we suffer—if only we are sacrificed—then the majority will live. They will look up to us, and this nation’s power will endure.”
“What good is any of that if Mother dies?”
At his question, Felix looked straight at Kaiden.
At some point, Felix too was soaked in tears, crying openly.
