Chapter 1
Fwoosh—
“Ah.”
A small flame sprouted beside a woman with blazing vermilion hair, Clemen, like a tiny bud.
Without taking her eyes off the book she was reading, Clemen crushed the flame with her palm.
Whenever her concentration deepened, flames would appear around her, and Clemen would calmly extinguish them as if she were used to it.
Finally, the last page of the book turned.
Clemen stretched and loosened her stiff shoulders.
‘The weather is nice…’
The sky was clear, and the weather was warm.
It wasn’t as scorching and dry as the desert, but the people of the Terranova Empire still frowned whenever she passed by.
That was understandable.
The warmth around her always turned into heat.
‘I thought the Empire’s mages would know the reason.’
That was one of the reasons she had decided to come to the Empire.
She had never left the desert before.
She wanted to ask a mage about her strange constitution.
Why was her body temperature so hot?
Why did it even heat the surroundings?
‘I spent all my money, but nothing was clearly solved.’
Well, it couldn’t be helped.
At least she had read many books that could not be found in the desert.
Because of that, her reading ability improved. Some of the books she had even obtained by giving a little of her blood in exchange.
Clemen placed the book in her bag and stood up.
It was time to start moving again.
Clemen’s destination was the North.
The biggest reason she had decided to come to the Empire.
That reason was the existence of the North.
The North was a place where the sky was rarely clear throughout the year, and it was extremely cold.
“Hm… I think I’m going the right way.”
The mountain path had become so narrow and poorly maintained that it almost seemed questionable whether anyone should even be walking on it.
Still, she had heard that if you followed such a path, you would eventually reach the North.
They said you would know when you got there because it would become cold.
But even though she had been walking this path for several hours already, the weather was still warm.
How much farther do I have to go?
Should I rest? Or not?
While she was walking and looking down, Clemen suddenly noticed something.
The ground was wet.
She lifted her head.
Something pure white was falling from the sky.
Her round golden eyes filled with joy.
“Is this… snow?”
Clemen jumped excitedly with both arms raised, trying to catch the falling snow.
Soon she burst into laughter.
The snow melted before it even touched her hands, which felt a little disappointing, but a greater joy filled her heart.
“So this much is okay?”
No flames appeared.
She didn’t have to keep her nerves tightly on edge.
Normally she had to focus at level ten.
Right now it felt like level five.
Forgetting her exhaustion, Clemen began running.
With every step she took, the thin snow on the road melted instantly.
“I finally made it!”
If it was a cold place…
Maybe her burning body temperature—this strange constitution—could finally be accepted.
That single hope had carried her through a journey of more than a year.
Even if the village didn’t accept her…
Even if she had to live alone outside it…
She felt that would still be fine.
The lightness she felt right now made the long trip worthwhile.
“You accept me too—”
Rumble—CRASH!
“Ah!”
Suddenly, a massive rock fell from above.
Clemen threw herself aside.
Dust and snow spread like fog, blocking her vision. But heat surged from Clemen’s startled body and cleared it immediately.
Just like snow melting, the dust burned away and disappeared.
Once her racing heart calmed down, Clemen could only laugh awkwardly.
“I’m probably the only person who gets welcomed by a rock.”
She muttered as she looked at the huge rock completely blocking the path.
‘I can’t climb over that.’
It was far too large, smooth, and even round.
After thinking for a moment, her gaze moved to the slope the rock had rolled down from.
“Climbing the mountain should be simple enough.”
As long as she went in the direction where the road continued, that would be fine.
Clemen, who had spent her life walking between desert sand dunes, thought mountains wouldn’t be much different.
It was a serious misunderstanding.
***
Meanwhile
The young Grand Duke of Pruina,
Zephyrus Pruina.
He was wrapped in several layers of cloth as he checked documents.
The already freezing North was about to become even harsher.
The time known as the Nightmare of the Snow Mountains was approaching—a season when the cold became unbearable and the snow fell heavily.
There was much to prepare.
‘We should probably store more firewood.’
Reports said monsters roaming the mountains had become more active this year, so they had gathered less firewood than last year.
Naturally, hunting had also become more difficult, so their food reserves were smaller.
Although the Nightmare lasted only a little more than a week, the weather during that time was extremely violent.
The cold and blizzards became so severe that no one could go outside.
If preparations were even slightly lacking, many residents would die.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that resources were stored all year just for that period.
‘…What should I do?’
He had only recently come of age.
It had been six months since he inherited the ducal title from his mother, who had ruled the territory as regent.
Yet it was still difficult.
But the hardest thing of all was something else.
“Your Grace! I brought today’s reports again! Please take it easy while working!”
He couldn’t properly communicate with the officials working on the front lines.
Zephyrus let out a short sigh.
Only a few people were allowed to stand in front of his door.
Only knights who possessed magical power could approach it.
Because of this, even a small task required multiple steps to be processed.
Things that should take moments ended up taking days.
Of course, simply being near him didn’t guarantee someone would freeze.
But no one knew what might happen.
Crack—
Even a slight disturbance in his thoughts caused cold energy to leak out, creating ice around him.
The very idea of someone approaching him was frightening.
Except for one person.
The only knight commander of the North.
Gwen.
“Your Grace! Did you hear me? You must have! It’s me, Gwen! I might cry if you ignore me!”
Of course, that knight commander always added unnecessary chatter while delivering reports.
Still, Zephyrus felt somewhat comfortable with him.
Gwen had once endured the curse for a brief moment.
“I will handle it. You should rest as well.”
“As expected, Your Grace is the only one who cares about me! I accept your command!”
Zephyrus pricked up his ears.
He listened to the sound of footsteps gradually fading away.
Only then did he pull the report inside.
Below the door was a structure that could open like a window, allowing documents to be passed through without opening the door.
The Grand Duke lying on the floor pulling documents toward himself.
If someone saw it, he would become the laughingstock of society.
No—
If they discovered he was cursed, he might become a target to be eliminated instead.
“Ha…”
Sometimes he wished he would just become real ice.
He suppressed the thought.
If he had negative thoughts, the curse would grow stronger.
If that happened, the entire castle might freeze.
‘Get a hold of yourself.’
He continued working for a long time.
Then suddenly he felt something strange.
The cold seemed to have lessened.
What is this?
Zephyrus did not feel cold easily.
Even when everything around him froze, he felt nothing.
He had lived ten years without lighting a fireplace.
Since receiving the curse, he had never gone outside, so he didn’t know whether he could withstand the cold outdoors.
But still—
‘That’s why it’s strange.’
If he didn’t feel cold, how could the cold seem weaker?
After thinking for a moment, Zephyrus spoke toward the door.
“Is anyone there?”
“Your Grace, this is Jin. Please give your command.”
“How does the temperature feel to you right now?”
“Pardon?”
Jin sounded confused but quickly answered like a proper Northern knight.
“It is just as cold!”
“The same as yesterday?”
“It is colder than yesterday!”
“I see.”
So it must have been his imagination.
Or perhaps the curse had begun affecting his senses.
Zephyrus came to a simple conclusion.
It was a curse with an unknown cause.
It wouldn’t be strange if there were aspects he didn’t understand.
Still, just in case, he planned to order the knights to check whether anything unusual was happening during patrols.
“Your Grace, I will leave the report here. This is the final report for today!”
Already that late?
After Jin’s footsteps disappeared completely, Zephyrus repeated the same process and began reading.
[The Grand Duchess skipped her meal again today. She seems to be finding it increasingly difficult to eat.]
[We still have not discovered the cause.]
The Grand Duchess had always been healthy.
She had never even caught a small cold.
That was before she went to the capital saying she wanted to rest.
She stayed there for several months and returned one month ago.
Since then, she had been ill.
What seemed like a mild cold quickly worsened.
Neither the physicians of the North nor the famous doctors of the capital could find the cause.
[Should we inform the Imperial Palace and request a royal physician?]
Zephyrus clenched his teeth.
Do not inform the Imperial family about my condition.
That was his mother’s command.
Even if she died, he was to delay telling them as long as possible.
He didn’t know what she had seen in the capital.
But he could only assume it was related to the Empire cutting support to the North.
‘But if she dies like this…’
She had claimed she was resting.
But Zephyrus knew the truth.
She had gone to secretly investigate his curse.
‘It’s all because of me.’
After his father…
Now his mother would die because of his curse.
Then what was he supposed to do?
If only the curse harmed him instead!
CRACK!
The paper in his hand froze and shattered.
The sound snapped him back to his senses.
Zephyrus looked down at his hands.
“…That’s different.”
The frozen powder should have scattered and refrozen.
Instead, it melted and disappeared.
It seemed like a small change, but it had never happened before.
Could it be related to the moment earlier when the cold seemed to weaken?
‘Could the curse be weakening? …No.’
Hope had two sides.
The despair that came when hope collapsed was many times worse.
He didn’t want to experience that again.
Days passed after he forced himself to calm down.
It seemed like another ordinary day.
Until—
“Can I come in?”
Suddenly, warm vermilion light filled the dark and cold room.
It was his first meeting
with the hope he would hold onto for the rest of his life.
