Though she retorted sharply in anger, there’s no smoke without fire.
From a very young age, Terzia was surrounded by evil spirits and all sorts of monstrous creatures.
The bodiless spirits gnawed at her mind, and the beasts, neither human nor animal, constantly injured her and then licked her wounds to drink the flowing blood.
Whenever she went outside, she was attacked by monsters that seemed to appear out of nowhere. She couldn’t leave the mansion, nor could she easily ask anyone for help.
When the young girl screamed that evil spirits were chasing her, most people treated her as if she were insane. The spirits and beasts were so cunning that they never showed themselves in front of other humans.
At that time, Count Brandel was often away from the mansion. To ensure his daughter’s safety in his absence and to prevent the spread of malicious rumors, he kept Terzia confined within the mansion.
She lived as a recluse for nine years.
On her ninth birthday, young Terzia sneaked out into the garden, evading the eyes of her nanny and guards.
She tripped on the stairs and scraped her knee, and the spirits, drawn by the scent, pushed her into a corner of the grass.
She remembers losing quite a bit of blood that day.
Monsters of various sizes, appearing from who knows where, voraciously sucked at her knee.
“No, stop it. Go away, sob, don’t do it…!”
Struggling and crying out was of no use. The beasts, particularly vicious that day, bit her neck and thighs mercilessly. The fear of being eaten alive crushed the young girl’s spirit.
As her consciousness began to fade in the pool of blood, the monsters suddenly fled in a hurry. The world fell silent as if a mouse had died.
Soon, someone approached, stepping into the puddle. There was a light splashing sound. A shadow fell over her wounded, emaciated body.
Then came the calm voice of a boy.
“Hello. You must be Terzia.”
That day, Terzia met her savior, who would free her from her intense pain and loneliness.
It was the beginning of a profound connection.
*** *** *** *** ***
After a week, there was a dinner where father and daughter dined together.
During the meal, peaceful greetings and light conversation were exchanged.
“You seem very busy. You look gaunt.”
“It’s always about the same. Nothing to worry about.”
Terzia examined the Count with concerned eyes.
In just a few days, the Count’s cheeks had become sunken. He must have been buried in work, not even having time to indulge in his favorite snacks.
“I heard Elka is returning. Has the White Mountain range been completely cleared?”
“Ah, you’ve heard too. Yes, they say they’ve dealt with all the remaining magic circles in the mountains, so we won’t have to worry about the Western border for a while.”
“That’s really fortunate.”
The White Mountain range on Brom’s Western border had always been a thorn in the Empire’s side. Since time immemorial, all sorts of evil spirits and beasts had infested those mountains.
Thanks to this, the Empire had flourished greatly without interference from other powerful nations beyond the mountains, but the damage inflicted on civilians by monsters descending from the mountains was no small matter. At least once every decade, they had to send an extermination force to clear the area.
This had been going on for hundreds of years.
As the atmosphere in the border region became increasingly ominous due to the prevalence of black magic dealing with evil spirits, the imperial court, judging that they could no longer stand by, drew their sword. They dispatched a large-scale extermination force led by Elka to the White Mountain range.
Elka set an unprecedented record by clearing the White Mountain range area in just 6 years. However, Terzia scoffed.
‘6 years? Don’t make me laugh.’
She alone knew that if he put his mind to it, sweeping away that mountain range in one go would be nothing to him.
So, that great young Lord Arfair hadn’t been unable to return, he had chosen not to return. Intentionally.
“The returning Elka First Division doesn’t even have a single injured soldier, let alone casualties. There’s nothing to worry about.”
“I’m not worried. More importantly, the Duke must be relieved.”
“Indeed. He’s determined to pass on the title as soon as his heir returns.”
Count Brandel frowned. He had never been particularly fond of his daughter’s fiancé.
“When is the return scheduled?”
“Soon. They’re planning a victory celebration to coincide with His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday.”
“What? This… quickly?”
“The announcement was late, but they apparently set out several days ago.”
The Emperor’s birthday is always on the New Green Day of the fifth month. It was next week, without looking too far ahead.
Terzia dropped her cutlery a beat late.
“Father…!”
Why such important news only now!
While it’s true she had wished for his return, she certainly hadn’t wanted him to barge in without any warning like this. Terzia needed time to prepare herself mentally.
In the deepening dawn, she sat by the window in her nightgown, blankly staring up at the full moon.
It wasn’t just a year or two, but already six years.
‘I haven’t heard a single word from him all this time. Truly, not even one line.’
They had been inseparable for 10 years, day and night, and the families had even agreed to hold the wedding ceremony when they came of age, but then he disappeared.
Recalling the sense of betrayal and disbelief from that time, Terzia would kick her blankets in anger even in her sleep.
If one wears the mask of a human, shouldn’t they have at least a minimum of conscience? After all, it was because of him that she had spent her childhood in such a frail state!
“…This is ghosting!”
Flap-flap, a crow took flight somewhere.
Terzia, breathing heavily, gripped the window frame tightly.
“After kissing me like that and making me feel so strange!”
She couldn’t forget the kiss they shared on the last day. Even after he vanished without a trace, Terzia often found herself engulfed in a peculiar mood.
What they shared that day was just a kiss, but Terzia glimpsed the entrance to a greater and more distant ecstasy.
It certainly wasn’t a natural occurrence. Terzia still couldn’t understand why such abnormal desires had suddenly surged within her.
If he, who was breathing as heavily as she was, hadn’t abruptly and coldly pulled away, she might have willingly lifted her dress.
“Let’s continue from here next time, Thea.”
“When… when is next time?”
“Who knows.”
In hindsight, he never promised a ‘next time.’
At first, she consoled herself, thinking he must have had his reasons. But as time passed, her anxiety only accumulated instead of being alleviated.
She pondered over what it meant that someone she thought would return in a year, two at most, hadn’t come back even after several more years, and that not a single letter had arrived in six years.
Does he even remember that I’m his fiancée? Did he hear me when I said we should go pick out wedding rings next week?
Has he lost interest in me now?
Am I no longer ‘desirable’ to him? Did he lose affection because I embarrassingly got excited and flustered by myself that day?
‘My Terzia.’
He always referred to her as his possession. Young Terzia liked being treated that way by him.
She realized too late, foolishly, that being his possession didn’t guarantee he would stay by her side forever.
What will happen when he returns? A sigh escaped Terzia’s red lips.
“Surely it won’t go back to the way it was.”
Being tamed by someone holds more meaning than one might think.
Until he left, Terzia had never considered the possibility of him not being by her side, so she didn’t know how to stand on her own as an adult. To her back then, loneliness and pain were synonymous.
Though she was always frail and weak, and had countless brushes with death while with him, the fear of his absence was more terrifying than all that pain combined. Young Terzia relied on him excessively.
Yes, excessively.
But time is indeed a panacea.
Enough time has passed for everything that once seemed natural to change, disappear, and solidify into routine. Terzia is now twenty-five.
She often thinks that even if she went back to that time, she wouldn’t have been able to resist being drawn to him.
From the moment he found the girl who endured alone in a pool of blood every day.
From the day he became a shield that the mysterious entities tormenting her could never approach, Terzia was captivated by him.
Instinctively, she realized that only he, only in his embrace, could she find rest. But.
“Not anymore.”
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