chapter 02
The hem of the prison uniform was rolled up, and her eyes were crushed by the sight of bare legs beneath. The coldness she would have felt had she left Adeline’s Forest still hadn’t reached her. Teresia shouted with an angry voice.
“What are you doing right now?!”
“I… I can’t help it. I’m just following orders!”
But the coachman, sweating profusely in the snowy field, muttered something and scrambled onto the carriage without looking back, leaving alone.
“Hah, such a foolish….”
The magical Adeline Forest had clearly defined entrances and exits, and if one didn’t follow the designated path properly, one could get lost forever. It was designed so that even if monsters penetrated the north, they would be filtered here again, making the forest essentially a labyrinth of illusions.
Anyone who knew even a little about this place would never foolishly try to retrace their steps.
But Teresia had no time to worry about the one who had abandoned her. She herself had no clear way out.
Moreover, while the coachman had a carriage, Teresia had nothing but her own body. And she had never walked such a long path alone. She was always accompanied by top-tier carriages along her journeys.
Teresia stood up and looked back and forth, trying to figure out which way to go. The space wasn’t designed for people to pass through—it was meant to prevent creatures from escaping—so it was impossible to gauge her position.
Then all her strength drained. If she did nothing, it would be easier. She wouldn’t have to struggle in guilt or endure her nightmare days any longer.
“…No, I can’t do that.”
She still had something to do. Delivering the heads of the Royal Family and Azer to Aaron.
Gathering her resolve, Teresia muttered under her breath and reached for the necklace hidden beneath her prison uniform. It was the only item she had prepared before being captured in the Count’s bedroom, thinking ahead to the situations she might face. She had kept it in her mouth until entering the prison to bring it with her.
Instead of a pendant, the necklace held a ring. Teresia loosened the chain and dropped it to the floor, taking out the ring. Its jewel, the red color of her hair, sparkled brilliantly.
Mesmerized, she finally slipped the ring onto her finger. Having eaten nothing for days, it felt slightly loose, but once she pushed it to the tip of her finger, it shrank to fit perfectly.
It was the engagement ring she had taken when leaving the palace years ago. It contained Aaron’s blood, infused with magic, and whenever she met him, she remembered how the ring would vibrate slightly with joy.
After Azer ascended the throne, Teresia boarded the carriage sent to Count Neblun herself to reclaim the ring taken from her. That’s how she got it back.
She clenched her hand with the ring. Memories and emotions were so vivid, yet the past would not return. Aaron was gone, and she was left alone.
Adeline’s Forest, where those who gave up on themselves are said to live trapped forever in their desired imaginary time.
Now she understood their feelings. Perhaps if she stayed here, she could remain in her memories for a long time. If only she could spend the rest of her life thinking of him…
The ring began to tremble.
“Wh-why…?”
Teresia, barely noticing her own breath, stared at the faintly vibrating ring. It grew stronger, as if someone who could never return was approaching her.
“This can’t be… How…!”
Then whose footsteps was she hearing? Teresia held her breath, unable to lift her head. Her heart raced violently. Her lungs felt constricted, sweat cold on her skin, yet she did not move.
She couldn’t bring herself to look.
Who could it be? Could it be someone with Aaron’s blood…
The footsteps continued, steadily drawing closer. Teresia suppressed the impulse to flee, clasping her trembling hands together.
The ring had never vibrated even once since his death. She had kept it carefully at the Count’s house, unwilling to watch the jewel’s color fade. It was the only remaining keepsake of Aaron in her possession.
No, it couldn’t be. He couldn’t be alive.
Not at a moment like this, like magic… returning to her.
“Teresia.”
…It shouldn’t be him.
Then who was this man?
Teresia slowly opened her eyes. A man stood a few steps away. The artificial wind between them blew, rustling the leaves. Some fell to the ground. Everything was perfect.
But it was false.
In a scene she couldn’t have imagined even in dreams, Teresia watched the man’s silver hair flutter in the wind. She saw his deep-set double eyelids, long lashes shading his blue eyes, a small mark on his sharp nose, and lips closed in a stern, almost stubborn line.
He resembled Aaron.
The only difference… was that the eyes that once held warmth like a summer sea were now chillingly cold. His expression was so icy that just facing him made her shiver.
“Aaron…”
Still, Teresia uttered his name. No, she didn’t even realize she did. Her lips moved, and the voice emerged.
It was full of longing. Yet he did not react. Still expressionless, as if he didn’t care who she was. He merely observed.
Teresia took a step forward, despite the dizziness from hunger and thirst over several days. Neither of them minded. She struggled, step by step, until she reached him.
Finally, one step away, he stepped back as if to mark the limit.
Her eyes scanned his face, shaking uncontrollably.
Ah, I see. If I touch him, this illusion will break. Teresia understood, frightened. She couldn’t let it disappear after meeting him. She took a couple steps back, holding him with her gaze instead.
Finally, his tightly closed lips parted. Teresia, never having looked away, suddenly found herself facing the blade he drew.
“Not bad, Teresia Ro Greer.”
He lifted her chin with the cold blade, inspecting her face as if searching for something lost in time.
Teresia felt the urge to touch her own face. Was something lingering from her fleeting past? What did he see in her?
She couldn’t read Aaron’s thoughts and felt uneasy. At the same time, she was absurdly happy just from his gaze, despite the blade at her throat. She was powerless. She had always begged Aaron, not verbally, but with her eyes and gestures. Even if she scolded herself for losing her sense of being a princess, she returned to that state before him easily.
Even now. She breathed heavily, not out of fear of the blade, nor because someone thought dead returned alive, but because of the intense longing, joy, sadness, and regret surging from her core. Above all, fear—the fear that this might be a vision she created in Adeline’s Forest.
“…It’s been a long time since I’ve called this name.”
Aaron gave a self-mocking smile.
But he was wrong. He had never called her that. After the engagement, it took time for him to move from her name to the nickname “Terry.” He had never once called her “Teresia Ro Greer.”
“You don’t seem to have fared very well. What are you thinking now?”
“…Perhaps.”
Seeing Aaron’s scorn at her shabby appearance, Teresia barely managed to speak, her voice hoarse and dry.
“A dream?”
“Do you wish it were?”
The icy retort said it wasn’t a dream. Teresia frowned, anxious.
“So…”
She couldn’t form a complete sentence. Frustrated, she realized the blade was still at her.
Then she understood why Aaron appeared before her now.
“Ah…”
Teresia sighed.
“You came to punish me.”
“Punish… for what?”
Aaron smiled—the first time since appearing. But it wasn’t the smile she knew. It was cynical, dark.
He adjusted the blade’s edge toward her.
“For giving me and my family to Azer? Or… for betraying me and marrying another man?”
Teresia noticed the ring still trembling violently under his gaze. His eyes were fathomless; she felt anxious.
“Ah… yes, I suppose that could be called punishment.”
Her face already bore the pain of imagined wounds; he found it almost amusing.
Aaron’s voice carried his final message.
“Teresia, remember that breaking you is my final mercy.”
It was the ending she had long dreamed of. She did not dare resist.
She looked briefly at the sky. The radiant sun shattered into shards by Aaron’s lifted blade.
Was even the sun an illusion in Adeline’s Forest?
She thought briefly, then let herself believe it didn’t matter. As long as Aaron existed…
She watched the sword descend, slowly closing her eyes. Light scattered, dazzling even with her eyes shut. Soon, darkness blacker than pitch would come.
The sound of the blade slicing through the wind. At the same time, her body, at its limit, collapsed. Leaning, Teresia, in the very last moment, could not reach Aaron.
