Chapter 01

LThe castle was silent.

Everything was draped in black.

Black curtains. Black banners. Black mourning dresses.

Beyond the heavy black drapes, hushed whispers drifted through the air.

Nina muttered under her breath.

“What a load of bullshit.”

Adrian, who had been reading by the window, looked up.

“Nina, are you going to keep talking like Jin?”

“But everyone is talking bullshit.”

Every time she spoke, her breath turned to white mist despite being indoors.

The room assigned to them was a drafty corner chamber, and they hadn’t even been given a single log to burn.

Adrian smiled.

“It’s true that I’m an illegitimate son.”

“Just because it’s true doesn’t mean everyone has to keep saying it. Besides, how is it our fault that her son died?”

Nina grumbled.

Her hair had been neatly trimmed by Adrian, but that was about the only respectable thing about her appearance.

With hair just short of shoulder length and an oversized uniform folded up at the sleeves and cuffs, she looked exactly like a poor young squire.

They were attending a funeral.

No… attending was too generous a description.

For the entire ceremony, they had remained on the fringes. They had almost not even been allowed to stand with the family.

The Duke of Ruboaine had three sons.

Adrian, his acknowledged illegitimate son.

And Gerald and Jayden, the sons born to the Duchess.

Although Adrian was born out of wedlock, the Duke had officially acknowledged him, granting him a place in the line of succession.

Of course, Gerald and Jayden still ranked ahead of him.

Today was Gerald’s funeral.

Nina already knew exactly what the Duchess intended to do after losing her eldest son.

That was why she had come.

Adrian—her childhood friend and now the Knight Commander—looked as calm as ever.

She knew that unwavering composure was one of his greatest strengths.

It also worried her.

At this rate… how is he supposed to survive in a world this cruel?

She had already sent Jin, Kiril, and Louis—the deputy commander of the Order—back the previous day.

They couldn’t leave the borders of the Violet Forest unguarded for long.

Adrian had tried to send Nina away as well.

She had simply refused and planted herself on the floor until he gave in.

Unable to argue any further, he reluctantly allowed her to stay.

Knock. Knock.

“Come in.”

At Adrian’s reply, Nina walked over and opened the door.

A servant stood outside.

Strangely enough.

Since the day they arrived, not a single servant had shown their face. They’d had to figure out every schedule and arrangement on their own.

Jin, with his mercenary temper, had nearly punched one because of it.

And now one suddenly appeared?

“The Duchess requests that you join her for tea.”

It wasn’t an invitation they could refuse.

Nina let out a quiet snort.

The servants had been nowhere to be found until now, yet they certainly knew when to appear.

“I understand. Allow me to prepare—”

“Her Grace requests your presence immediately.”

Nina narrowed her eyes.

She spread her feet apart, ready to give the servant a piece of her mind, but Adrian quietly closed his book and stood.

“If Her Grace is in such a hurry, then we shouldn’t keep her waiting. Nina, if I ask you to stay here—”

He looked at her expression and gave a helpless smile.

“…No, I suppose that won’t happen.”

He nodded.

Nina immediately fell into step behind him.

The servant offered no objection.

The deeper they walked into the castle, the brighter it became.

It had been so long since Nina last visited Silver Lake Castle that she found herself struggling to remember the way.

Even the cold disappeared.

By the time they entered the Duchess’s tea room, it was almost uncomfortably warm.

The Duchess didn’t bother standing to greet them.

Dressed in black mourning clothes with a necklace of black pearls around her neck, her face was pale from grief.

Yet her expression remained strangely gentle.

“My greetings, Your Grace.”

Adrian bowed politely, his black hair falling smoothly over his shoulders.

“Please, sit.”

As Adrian took his seat, the Duchess personally poured him a cup of tea.

Nina instinctively stepped forward.

As always, she intended to test it for poison first.

“It’s alright, Nina.”

With a voice as soft as a lullaby, Adrian stopped her and accepted the teacup.

The Duchess spoke.

“I’ve spent these past few days thinking… about our family. Gerald was such an intelligent and beautiful child.”

Nina barely heard a word.

Her eyes never left Adrian’s cup.

This is it.

It has to be.

And even if it isn’t… I don’t care.

That tea is not reaching Adrian’s lips unless it goes through mine first!

The instant Adrian lifted the cup—

Nina snatched it from his hand.

Warm tea splashed across her fingers.

Without hesitation…

She drank the entire cup in one gulp.

A metallic, fishy scent lingered in her nose.

“Nina!!“

Adrian shot to his feet, his face drained of color.

His chair crashed to the floor behind him.

At once, it felt as though flames had erupted inside her stomach and throat.

Nina clamped both hands over her mouth.

She couldn’t stay standing.

Blood poured through the gaps between her fingers.

Nina wanted to see his face, but her eyes would not open. Not a single finger would move.

Flames and ice were fighting inside her body. Everything was growing cold and slowing down.

Nina had no intention of resisting it.

The ice within her was desperately trying to protect her from the flame that sought to burn her alive.

Her spirits, North Wind and Frost, were doing everything they could to delay the spread of the poison.

As she savored the sensation of slowly sinking beneath a glacier, Nina drifted into a dreamlike recollection.

The moment she regained memories of “another world.”