Chapter 3
“What…?”
A cracked voice escaped her lips in a ragged whisper. Before long, the words died in her throat entirely, leaving her opening and closing her mouth like a fish gasping for air.
The object before her felt too unreal to be real.
Lilet forced her legs to move toward it, but it remained stubbornly tangible—refusing to disappear, proving its reality by clamping around her ankle like the jaws of a beast.
Bang.
She was still struggling desperately to undo the shackle when the door suddenly swung open.
Lilet’s head snapped toward the sound.
The man standing there possessed a face so striking it would not have been an exaggeration to call it heaven-blessed. She had never seen him before.
And yet, with the scraps of information she already had, Lilet immediately knew who he was.
Her brow twisted sharply.
“What is this?”
Despite the hostility in her voice, Valderion remained completely unbothered.
He dragged a chair over and sat beside the bed with effortless precision, every movement neat and businesslike.
“It’s winter right now.”
“…?”
“A winter where trying to run away without proper outerwear or shoes can only be described as insanity.”
Lilet instantly understood what he was implying.
“I didn’t expect you’d run off that recklessly.”
Crossing one long leg over the other, the man fixed her with a cool, piercing gaze.
“At the very least, I need a reason to leave this place without worry.”
Meaning—
This was to stop her from escaping.
“Take it off.”
“You weren’t in good condition. It’s impressive you even got that far. Not sure whether to call it stubbornness or determination.”
She put force into her voice, but he acted as though he hadn’t heard her.
Lilet bit down hard on her lip.
Valderion slowly leaned forward, studying the pretty face twisted with indignation as though dissecting it.
“How much do you know about Names?”
Lilet’s shoulders trembled.
Instinctively, she shifted backward as though trying to hide the name carved into her back.
Seeing that, Valderion let out an amused laugh.
“You think hiding will make it disappear?”
She knew it wouldn’t.
Still, she couldn’t help it.
Because it was his name.
Lilet remembered perfectly how she had felt when the physician explained the diagnosis regarding the Name.
She couldn’t describe it exactly.
Only that it had felt so devastating that she would rather the sky itself had collapsed.
“For now, I’d like to make one thing clear.”
“……”
“It’s one-sided.”
His gaze remained calm.
“My body never manifested your name.”
That much was obvious just by looking at him.
Ever since the Name had appeared, Lilet’s health had steadily deteriorated.
Meanwhile, the man before her looked irritatingly healthy.
Strong.
Untouched.
So in the end—
She alone was the one being dragged around by a name that had appeared without warning.
Lowering his eyes briefly, Valderion recalled the information his aide, Moses, had desperately gathered over the past few days.
There were two kinds of Names.
Mutual Names.
One-sided Names.
Mutual Names manifested on both individuals.
One-sided Names appeared on only one.
“The probability of mutual manifestation is around fifteen percent worldwide,” Moses had explained.
“One-sided manifestations occur in less than three percent of cases. Which means if one person manifests first, the other usually follows.”
“And how do you distinguish between the two?”
“Time. If the second person doesn’t manifest within one year of the first appearance, it’s considered a one-sided Name.”
One year.
Meaning—
Whether he liked it or not, he would have to keep this woman around for at least that long.
Recalling the conversation, Valderion briefly summarized everything for her.
The more he explained, the paler Lilet became, until she looked as white as the snow outside.
As expected, the palace hadn’t properly informed her of anything.
“So there’s no arguing this,” he concluded. “I have to keep you here for a year.”
To Lilet, it sounded like a death sentence.
Those few words scraped across her throat like an invisible blade.
Even if she screamed.
Even if she fought.
The cold face before her looked like the type that wouldn’t budge an inch.
Behind him, she could almost see the crest of House Eustutia.
A memory surfaced with nauseating clarity.
That banner.
The one that had once arrived at her family estate in the middle of the night.
“…This constitutes undeniable treason against the Imperial Family. Therefore, House Blewitt and the remaining five families involved shall be stripped of all titles, and every member of their households sentenced to death.”
Sharp fragments of memory stabbed into her mind.
Years had passed.
Why did it still feel so vivid?
Lilet clenched her fists as nausea rolled through her stomach.
“Are you a virgin?”
The question shattered the fragile calm she had painstakingly built.
Lilet slowly lifted her head, face frozen in disbelief.
For a second, she wondered if she had misheard.
But the man sat there calmly, waiting for an answer to a question that sounded more like mockery.
“…Why would you ask something like that?”
“Makes me wonder if you listened to anything I just said.”
“……”
“Or perhaps you still don’t understand your situation.”
Tilting his head, he rubbed his temple lazily.
His movements were indifferent.
His eyes were not.
“Aren’t you in a position where you absolutely need my help?”
“……”
“If survival is your priority, shouldn’t you be begging me to hold you, pride be damned?”
Valderion smirked.
Because the moment he finished speaking—
Lilet looked like she wanted to punch him.
The disgust on her face was almost innocent in its transparency.
“Don’t take it too personally,” he said casually. “I’ve never seen a virgin among the women who rolled around under Dailyn.”
Lilet inhaled slowly.
Repeated the question in her mind.
Are you a virgin?
“What a ridiculous thing to ask.”
“Why? Aren’t you a woman?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes, which had avoided his until now, finally met his directly.
Coral-colored irises—like spring flowers—burned with quiet determination.
“At least under him.”
“……”
“People don’t sleep with livestock.”
Silence.
“To him, that’s all I was.”
Livestock.
What a brutally honest way to describe herself.
Yet those lifeless eyes didn’t even hold enough emotion to feel humiliation anymore.
Valderion silently guessed how thoroughly that vitality had been destroyed beneath Dailyn’s cruelty.
Though—
It wasn’t his concern.
“I won’t run away. Please remove this.”
He smiled again.
“With that expression?”
“……”
“If you knew what you looked like right now, you wouldn’t say that.”
His voice lowered.
“You look like you want to snap my neck and run the moment I turn away.”
Lilet gripped the blanket tightly between trembling fingers and glared.
Invisible sparks crackled between their gazes.
In the end—
She looked away first.
Her head lowered weakly, as though facing him alone had drained the strength from her body.
Seeing resistance finally crumble, Valderion stood.
“For now, focus on recovering.”
“……”
“Even if you somehow escape, how far do you think you’ll get looking like that?”
Despair slowly swallowed Lilet’s face.
She stared after the man as he left the room.
An old memory overlapped with his retreating back.
Of course—
It wasn’t him.
Probably his father.
The former Duke of Eustutia.
Even so—
This place was House Eustutia.
He carried Eustutia blood.
That alone filled her with dread.
Lilet wrapped her arms around herself.
Why didn’t I die?
Why didn’t that frozen field bury me beneath the snow forever?
Regret pooled inside her like unshed tears.
* * *
Lilet Blewitt.
That had been her name before she lost every honor and privilege she had been born with.
The first Marquis of House Blewitt had been one of the founding contributors who helped establish the Empire itself.
Including the previous Marquis Blewitt, five ancient houses existed within the Alaint Empire—families that had shared history since the empire’s creation.
Lilet’s life began to twist the moment her father started dreaming of treason beneath the surface.
She had been young then.
Too young to understand what he was plotting.
Everything had been kept secret.
And from the outside, House Blewitt had always looked peaceful.
How could she have imagined they stood at the center of dangerous political currents?
“My dear child. My beloved Lilet.”
But tiny clues gradually connected.
Truth surfaced.
And when reality finally revealed itself—
The banners of House Eustutia surrounded their estate like walls.
Her father had said:
“Even now, I believe I made the right decision.”
“……”
“The Imperial Family is rotten. None remain who embody the ideals of the First Emperor.”
“Only beasts drunk on inherited power, committing evil and corruption.”
“I saw no reason to serve them.”
“Someone new should have risen.”
There was not a trace of regret in his voice.
Amid the chaos swallowing the estate whole, Lilet stared at him fearfully.
Questions clogged her throat.
Why are they here, Father?
Why House Eustutia?
The family known for staining their hands with blood in place of the Imperial Family—
Why them?
Before she found answers—
Everything collapsed.
Like a storm.
The home where Lilet had lived her entire life became ruins in moments.
Things shattered.
Snapped.
Crushed.
Nothing remained unchanged.
House Eustutia swept through the estate mercilessly before dragging Lilet and her family to the Imperial Palace.
The executions took place before the Imperial Family itself.
“I am not a sinner.”
Her father stood beneath the imperial gaze without bending.
“I merely did what should have been done.”
“It saddens me only that my intentions were misunderstood.”
The Imperial Family looked bored.
Cold.
Lilet trembled beneath that atmosphere while staring helplessly at her father’s back.
Then—
A blade flashed.
His head fell.
A horrific end.
It rolled across the floor.
Stopped before kneeling Lilet.
Blood poured from the severed head.
Yet the eyes remained frighteningly clear.
Even in death—
Her father clung to rebellion.
“Please… no…! My child knows nothing!”
Her mother begged desperately.
“My child—at least spare my child—!”
One by one, the family died.
Finally—
Her mother too became a corpse.
Lilet remained alone.
Surrounded by blood.
Something lifted before her eyes.
Her dull gaze followed it.
A long sword filled her vision.
Then—
Someone spoke.
“Wait.”
The execution stopped.
Because someone had intervened.
Every gaze turned.
Toward the Crown Prince seated arrogantly beside the throne.
Dailyn.
