Chapter 3
“What on earth…”
Her cracked voice came out rough and clumsy. Before long, her throat closed up with emotion, and she could only flap her lips like a goldfish.
Unable to accept the reality of the object, Lirete moved her leg with difficulty. But it was entirely real, refusing to disappear as if proving it had her ankle clutched in a firm grip.
*Bang.*
While she grunted and struggled to undo the shackle, the door suddenly opened.
Lirete’s head whipped around. The man’s handsome features—so fine it would not be an exaggeration to say the gods had blessed him—were unfamiliar to her at first sight.
But even with only the scattered information available, Lirete could infer who he was. Her brow crinkled unpleasantly as she faced him.
“What is this?”
Despite Lirete’s sharp reaction, Valderion remained perfectly composed throughout.
He pulled over a chair placed nearby and sat down before the bed, his manner so matter-of-fact it was devoid of any superfluousness.
“It’s winter right now.”
“…?”
“A winter where running outside without proper outdoor clothes or shoes can only be seen as madness.”
Lirete quickly grasped what the man was driving at.
“I didn’t expect you to run out so recklessly.”
The man, sitting with his long legs crossed, fixed her with a cool gaze.
“At the very least, I need an excuse to leave here without worry.”
That meant this was a pretext to prevent Lirete from running away.
“Take it off.”
“You’re in poor condition, yet getting that far was quite impressive. Should I call it a uselessly strong will?”
She put force into her voice, but the man didn’t even pretend to listen. Lirete pressed her lips together tightly.
Valderion, staring as if to dissect her pretty, indignant face, slowly leaned his upper body forward.
“How much do you know about the Name?”
Lirete’s shoulders flinched.
She shrank back little by little, as if wanting to hide the name engraved on her back.
Seeing this, Valderion gave a bitter smile.
“Do you really think you can hide it that way?”
She knew it wouldn’t work, but she couldn’t help it.
After all, wasn’t it this man’s name?
Lirete clearly remembered how she had felt when she received the physician’s diagnosis regarding the Name. She couldn’t define it precisely, but it had been so devastating that she thought the sky falling would have been better.
“First, let me make it clear that it’s one-sided, not mutual.”
“…”
“Your name hasn’t appeared on my body.”
That much was obvious just by looking at his appearance before her.
Unlike herself, who had been unable to even function health-wise since the Name manifested, the man was perfectly fine. He was blatantly, annoyingly robust.
It seemed she was the only one bound and controlled by the suddenly manifested Name.
Valderion lowered his gaze and recalled the information about the Name that his aide, Moses, had hastily gathered over the past few days.
There existed mutual Names and one-sided Names.
In the case of mutual, the Name manifested on both parties; in the case of one-sided, it manifested on only one of the two.
*’The probability of mutual manifestation is about 15% worldwide, and the probability of one-sided manifestation is less than 3%. That is, when a Name manifests on one of two people, the probability of it manifesting on the other is high.’*
*’Is there a way to distinguish between mutual and one-sided?’*
*’Usually, it’s determined by time. If the other party hasn’t manifested within one year of the first manifestation, it’s considered a one-sided Name.’*
One year.
That meant, like it or not, he had to keep this woman with him for at least a year.
Recalling what he had heard from Moses, Valderion concisely recited the information regarding the Name. As the explanation continued, Lirete’s complexion turned ashen, as if she had scraped up the snow from outside and plastered it onto her face. As he had guessed, it seemed she hadn’t been properly informed at court.
“Therefore, the fact that I have to keep you with me for one year is indisputable.”
To Lirete, those words sounded like a death sentence. A single phrase sent a chill down her spine, as if an invisible blade had swept across her neck.
Behind his stern face, which looked as if he wouldn’t bat an eye even if she screamed and raised a ruckus, the emblem of the House of Justutia was faintly visible.
The memory of that emblem’s flag visiting her family’s mansion one night rose up in her throat like bile.
*’…This is a clear act of treason against the Imperial Family. The titles of the March family of Blevit and five other families are hereby collectively revoked, and all members of those families are sentenced to death.’*
The sharp shards of memory mercilessly stabbed somewhere in her brain. Even though years had passed, why was it so vivid? Lirete clenched her fists tightly, as if nauseated.
“Are you a virgin?”
But the words that came next shattered the composure she had so painstakingly regained.
Lirete slowly, haltingly lifted her face, frozen in shock.
For a moment, she thought her ears had malfunctioned.
Yet the man, having thrown out a question that wouldn’t be out of place as a mockery, was waiting for an answer with perfect equanimity.
“Why… why would you ask such a thing?”
“I’m starting to wonder where you’ve been directing your ears regarding everything I’ve just said.”
“…”
“Or perhaps you still haven’t properly understood your situation.”
Tilting his head to the side, he massaged his temple. Unlike his languid gesture, his eyes were clear, urging a definite answer.
“Aren’t you in a position where you absolutely need my help right now?”
“…”
“If you want to live, forget shame or anything else—you should be begging me to hold you.”
Valderion chuckled.
He chuckled because, the moment she heard those words, Lirete made a face that clearly said she wanted to punch him.
Her expression, unable to hide her revulsion, was not just foolish but almost innocent to the point of naivety.
“Don’t take it too offensively. I’ve never seen a virgin among the women who served under Dailun, so I was just asking.”
Lirete steadied her breathing to keep from getting agitated. Then she recalled the question he had asked.
Was she a virgin?
“Asking something so obvious.”
“Why is that obvious? Aren’t you a woman?”
“Yes. At least while I was under him.”
Her eyes, which had been slanting away as if unwilling to meet his, finally turned straight toward him for the first time. Her coral-colored eyes, reminiscent of spring flowers, gleamed with resolve.
“He doesn’t bed his livestock, does he?”
“…”
“That’s all I was to him.”
*Livestock*, she said.
To describe her own situation so caustically.
Yet even so, her lifeless eyes showed no sign of self-loathing on that point.
Valderion guessed that the vitality that had once filled those eyes had been constantly damaged and broken under Dailun’s brutal nature.
Not that it was any of his business, of course.
“I won’t run away, so please take this off.”
Valderion’s lips curled with sarcasm again.
“You say that with a face like that.”
“…”
“If you knew what your expression looks like right now, I guarantee you wouldn’t say that. It’s the face of someone who wants to get out of here immediately, even if it means breaking my neck.”
Lirete glared at him, gripping the blanket with her barely mobile thumb and forefinger.
An invisible current flowed between their entangled gazes.
It was Lirete who averted her eyes first.
As if the mere act of facing Valderion had exhausted her strength, she let her head hang weakly. Sensing that she had realized reality and her will to resist had broken, Valderion rose from his chair and added:
“Focus on recovering for now.”
“…”
“Even if you used every method to escape from here, in that pathetic state, how far could you possibly go?”
Lirete’s face gradually filled with despair.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the man’s back as he finished speaking and left the bedroom.
It seemed as if childhood memories were overlaying that figure.
Of course, it wasn’t him.
Probably his father, the previous Duke of Justutia…
Nevertheless, simply because this place was the House of Justutia, simply because he was of Justutia’s blood, it was horrifying and despairing.
Lirete raised her arms and hugged herself.
Why hadn’t she died?
Why had that cold snowfield not willingly drawn her into eternal sleep?
Grief pooled inside her like tears.
—
* * *
Lirete Blevit.
That was the name she had held before losing all the honor and glory she was born with.
The first lord of the illustrious March family of Blevit was one of the founding contributors who assisted the first emperor both materially and spiritually when the nation was established. Including the previous Marquis of Blevit, there were five great families in this Alaint Empire that shared that history.
The distortion of Lirete’s life began the moment her father started dreaming of treason beneath the surface.
At the time, young Lirete had not known what her father was plotting.
It was kept so secret that it was hushed up both inside and outside. Moreover, on the surface, the March family had always been peaceful, so she couldn’t even suspect that they were embedded like a blind spot in the midst of such political strife.
*’My child, our beloved Lirete.’*
But when the tail was gradually caught from small clues, and eventually the truth was exposed in the face of reality—
When the flag of the House of Justutia surrounded the March family like a wall, her father had said this:
*’I still believe I made the right decision.’*
*’…’*
*’The Imperial Family is corrupt. There is no one left who continues the foundation of the first emperor. Only foolish quadrupeds remain, using the power they were born with to commit evil and immoral acts. I felt no need to serve them, and I believed a new ruler should be enthroned.’*
In his clear voice, there was truly not a trace of regret. In the chaos all around, Lirete stared at her father with frightened eyes.
She wanted to ask, but her lips would not open.
Instead, the question pooled inside her.
*Why have they come to the mansion, Father?*
*Why the House of Justutia?*
*Why them—that family of executioners who volunteer to stain their hands with blood on behalf of the Imperial Family? Why?*
Before her questions could be answered, everything swept through like a typhoon. The home where Lirete had lived her entire life was soon reduced to ruins. Things shattered, broke, were crushed.
Nothing remained. Everything lost its original form.
The House of Justutia swept through the March family in an atrocious manner and dragged the frozen Lirete and her family to the imperial palace.
The gruesome execution took place before the Imperial Family’s eyes.
*’I am no criminal. I merely took the lead in what needed to be done. It is only regrettable that my intentions are being misconstrued and misunderstood.’*
The Imperial Family, with her father shouting at their feet, wore bored expressions, not a single crease of concern on their faces.
Trembling in the ruthless, cold atmosphere of the Imperial Court, Lirete could only stare endlessly at her father’s back.
Soon, a flashing blade cut her father’s neck.
It was a gruesome end.
The head, rolling *deurururu*, came into view of Lirete, who was kneeling. On top of the head, still gurgling blood, the bloodshot eyes remained clear.
Even in death, her father continued his will to rebel.
*’No, please! No…! My child knows nothing. Please, just the child, only the child…!’*
One by one, the heads of the household members flew. Her mother, the last remaining, who had been pleading earnestly, also became a cold corpse in the span of a blink.
Left alone, Lirete stared vacantly at the blood-soaked surroundings. Something was raised in her dazed field of vision. Her helpless eyes turned toward it. A long sword filled her darkening retina.
That was when—
*’Wait.’*
The execution was stopped.
Because someone had intervened.
All eyes turned in one direction.
Toward the crown prince, Dailun, who occupied one of the imperial thrones in an arrogant posture.
