Chapter 01
It was a bright spring day, warmed by gentle sunlight.
Though dusk was already beginning to settle, the sound of laughter did not cease. Everyone enjoying the spring festival looked happy.
Everyone—except for one man and one woman who could not smile.
At that moment, the smile on the man’s face completely vanished as he stepped out of a shop holding flowers and a small box.
“Eve, I still don’t understand what you mean…”
His lips trembled at her words. It was an unmistakable breakup.
Eve looked straight at the man who shone as brilliantly as the sunlight itself.
“I must have misheard you, Eve.”
“The annulment papers will be sent to the family soon, Valerian.”
From the very beginning, they had never been a relationship that could truly exist. Eve was grateful that she could finally end it now.
“Eve, I don’t understand what that means.”
His blue eyes wavered in confusion. He quickly replayed everything that had just happened. Had he done something wrong?
He desperately tried to think of anything—but no matter how hard he searched, nothing seemed different from usual. That was why he couldn’t understand this situation.
“Eve, did I do something wrong?”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Then why?”
Valerian was certain that his judgment wasn’t wrong.
Yes, this was how she had always been. If he had done something wrong, she would have pointed it out firmly on the spot.
She wasn’t the kind of person to express dissatisfaction through a breakup like this.
She would never lightly put the word “farewell” into her own mouth. That was why he was even more anxious.
Eve quietly observed the change in Valerian’s expression. His face, once filled with bewilderment, was now clouded with confusion and anxiety… followed by a strange, creeping certainty.
“Did something happen?”
“Yes. Something happened that makes it necessary for us to break up.”
She had no intention of telling him the truth.
Eve opened her mouth.
“My family has fallen.”
She turned around without hesitation.
“Take care, Valerian.”
Eve believed that was the end of them.
Eve Estella.
To explain why she suddenly notified her beloved fiancé of their annulment, one must look back at what happened on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony.
Exactly two weeks before she told Valerian she was leaving him—
At that time, she had been brimming with joy.
That night, the coming-of-age ceremony she had long awaited would finally be held.
In the mirror, Eve looked as if a jewel had been sculpted into human form—radiant and dazzling.
Though Count Estella was ordinarily frugal by nature, he doted on his daughter to an extreme. Thus, she wore some of the Empire’s finest jewels and a magnificent gown.
Eve beamed and spun lightly in place.
“How do I look, Mother?”
The Countess, who had been watching her with satisfaction, smiled back.
“My daughter is always beautiful.”
Yet, there was something faintly uneasy about the Countess’s smile. Noticing her subtle expression, Eve tilted her head.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, not at all…”
As the ceremony approached, her mother’s face had grown increasingly troubled.
With eyes tangled in anxiety and worry, the Countess stepped closer.
“My daughter… you can do well, can’t you?”
“Of course. Were you worried about the ceremony?”
Eve smiled faintly and shook her head. All she had to do was touch the necklace set with a magic stone. There was nothing to worry about.
‘Of course. Noah managed it easily.’
If her older brother could do it, why couldn’t she? She was confident she would do even better.
Just then, someone entered the room.
“My lady, a letter has arrived from the Imperial Palace.”
“Oh my, it seems they remembered your coming-of-age.”
The Countess gazed at the golden envelope with touched eyes. But unlike her mother, Eve felt uncomfortable.
She could roughly guess what the contents would be.
‘It’s probably telling me to break up with Valerian again.’
Crown Prince Xavier, Valerian’s longtime friend.
He had never been particularly pleased that she was Valerian’s fiancée.
‘Does he simply dislike seeing some ordinary count’s daughter by the side of the Ludwig heir?’
Though his reasoning wasn’t entirely clear, he had never openly tried to separate them.
But as Eve’s coming-of-age ceremony drew nearer, his attitude had grown more blatant.
With an unenthusiastic expression, she opened the letter.
[ I would like to invite Lady Estella, now come of age, to the imperial banquet. I hope this banquet will serve as a fine debut stage for you. ]
To anyone else, the Crown Prince would appear considerate and gracious.
‘Yes, the pretense is flawless.’
If she attended the debutante, etiquette required her to greet the Crown Prince. And when she did, she already knew what he would say.
‘Do you not think Lady Estella might have another, more suitable match?’
Spoken in a gentle tone, with impeccable elegance.
‘Tell him to get lost.’
Eve scoffed and adjusted the necklace around her neck. Outside the window, darkness had already fallen.
It was time for the ceremony.
“Let’s go, Mother.”
When Eve arrived at the corridor, many people had already gathered.
Since outsiders were not permitted to attend, they were all relatives.
“We will now begin the ceremony.”
Seeing that Eve had arrived, Count Estella spoke from the platform.
The coming-of-age ritual in the Estella family was simple.
The one coming of age would personally use the moon’s artifact, the light magic tool ‘Radia,’ to illuminate the darkened corridor.
Compared to other noble houses, it was somewhat unique.
Following her father’s signal, Eve slowly ascended the platform.
Her red eyes sparkled as she looked at the necklace encased in glass atop the platform.
“It’s beautiful…”
She had never seen a necklace that emitted such a brilliant glow.
Though simple in design—with a jewel of iridescent hues set at its center—it held an inexplicable allure.
‘Is it because it’s made from a magic stone?’
Bathed in moonlight from the circular opening in the ceiling, it shimmered even more mysteriously.
‘So I just have to touch it?’
Every human possessed a trace of magic power. This was a good opportunity to try using hers.
Yet somehow, she felt a strange sense of danger and hesitated.
“Eve, light the corridor with the necklace.”
Reassured by her father’s usual gentle tone, she reached out.
The moment her hand touched the necklace—
“—!”
An immense burst of light erupted from the jewel’s center, engulfing the corridor.
“Ugh!”
Everyone was blinded, unable to open their eyes.
But for some reason, Eve could look directly at the light.
“So this is the power of the successor…”
She thought she heard a distant voice, but it didn’t fully reach her.
“Wait— the necklace is getting hotter…!”
She tried to pull her hand away, but remembering that her father had not told her to let go, she hurriedly asked,
“How long do I have to hold it?!”
“Eve, calm yourself. Think of it not as a hot jewel—but a cold one.”
There was an odd excitement in her father’s voice.
Startled, Eve hesitated—but she didn’t release it.
Noah had done it. She refused to fail where he had succeeded.
‘Think of it as cold?’
It was absurd. No ordinary person could change the inherent nature of a magic stone.
“If you believe you can, you will. Eve Estella.”
Noticing her hesitation, the Count encouraged her.
Closing her eyes, she repeated to herself,
‘This is a cold jewel. A cold jewel.’
And astonishingly, it began to feel cold in her hand.
Eve tilted her head, wondering if it was simply the power of belief—only to realize it truly was cold.
“…It turned cold.”
And perhaps even slightly bluish?
She looked at her father in confusion. His satisfied gaze filled her with dread.
“This isn’t possible… It must be my imagination, right?”
Suddenly, she remembered something she had once read in a forbidden book.
‘A mage can use magic stones to perform various spells.’
With trembling lips, she asked,
“Father… am I a mage?”
Under the moonlight, the Count’s violet eyes gleamed unnaturally.
“This light artifact is not of the moon, but of the sun.”
He clasped her hand holding Radia and nodded, overwhelmed with emotion.
“You are the last mage left in this world. One who can easily alter even a sun magic stone!”
She could not see her father’s joy.
All Eve could feel was the world spinning before her eyes.
I’m… a mage?
‘This life… is over.’
After the demonic summoning incident a hundred years ago, mages had become the Empire’s number one target for eradication.
And clearly in her mind, one person surfaced.
‘Valerian Ludwig.’
Her fiancé. The holy knight who would stand at the forefront of exterminating mages.
And the male protagonist of the original story…
That’s right.
She was the villain destined to be executed by that very man.
‘And I found that out on the day of my coming-of-age ceremony.’
What a disaster.
