Chapter 05
The grand ducal estate changed with each passing day.
“Isn’t the new outfit so pretty? They said this is our uniform.”
“Right. Wearing similar clothes like this makes me feel like I’m part of Lunein too.”
“It makes me want to work harder.”
The number of days the servants smiled increased.
“Head Butler, the main hall renovation is complete. …Head Butler?”
“Ah, my apologies. For a moment… it felt like I was experiencing again that grandeur I felt when I first came to the grand ducal estate with my father.”
Someone, recalling old memories, was moved to emotion.
“Has the gardener arrived?”
“Yes, Young Madam. It seems he’s currently estimating the garden. Shall I call him?”
“No, I’ll go instead. One should respect a professional’s domain.”
And at the center of all this change, there was always one person.
Hair that shimmered like golden threads. Eyes red like freshly pressed pomegranate juice.
The one who always drew countless people around her like followers—
Elysia Lunein.
“Let’s change these curtains. When sunlight comes in from the east, the color will shift depending on the lighting—it won’t harmonize with the surroundings.”
“Yes, Young Madam. We’ll do that.”
“My dear, that’s enough for now. Let’s have lunch.”
“Oh, Mother. Is it already that time?”
People listened carefully, afraid to miss a single word from her.
The strict head butler respectfully attended to the young mistress, and the grand duchess—once like the biting northern wind of a snowstorm—now naturally took care of her daughter-in-law.
Those who experienced Elysia became her followers as if it were the natural order of the world.
Shubel watched the scene with a strange gaze.
‘Like the sun.’
Wherever Elysia passed, people turned to look at her as if enchanted.
She was that confident, capable, and captivating.
Even he, unconsciously, found her intense.
And whenever he felt that unfamiliar emotion—something like wanting to crush those who looked at her—he identified it.
‘Unpleasant… is it.’
A faint smile slipped from his lips.
“…? Shubel?”
“May I join you for the meal, Madam?”
To Shubel, Elysia was an uncharted existence.
Someone he could not define.
He had never seen someone like her before. He was curious. And now—
He wanted to know.
What are you—
“Why ask something like that? Just come with us.”
Why are you so different? Why do you alone shine like this?
“Yes, Madam.”
‘Is your blood… red as well?’
Just as Shubel smiled brightly at her permission—
“…Madam?”
Elysia froze.
“Madam? What’s wrong?”
She blinked slowly.
And then—
Cough—!
A mouthful of red blood burst from her lips.
“Ahhh! Young Madam!”
“My daughter-in-law!”
Time seemed to stop.
After a brief silence, screams exploded like fireworks.
To Shubel, everything felt unreal.
Elysia’s slender body wavered as if about to collapse. Instinctively, he caught her.
Thud.
‘So… light.’
The body in his arms was far too light. As if it might scatter like snowflakes at any moment.
With a trembling voice, he called her.
“…Madam.”
Each time Elysia exhaled with difficulty, droplets of blood fell to the ground.
Her breathing weakened.
Her heartbeat faded.
She was slipping away.
She was… disappearing.
Shubel’s eyes shook violently.
“Call a priest! Hurry!”
“Where is the doctor?!”
Shouts and sobs echoed around him, but everything felt muffled and distant.
None of it felt real.
His world had always been close to unreal—but now, more than ever.
Shubel blinked blankly.
His mother shouting for help, the servants panicking, the refined scenery of the estate Elysia had transformed—
All of it—
Was black and white.
His eyes could not perceive the colors of the world.
He… was a monster.
A world without color.
The warm yellow of sunlight, the piercing blue of the sky, the green of vast meadows, the deep blue of the ocean, even the red of blood born from pain—
He knew none of it.
Perhaps because he only saw in monochrome, Shubel had been born with a narrow range of emotions.
He struggled to understand both himself and others.
He could mask his emptiness beneath a convincing exterior—but that was all.
One day, when his growing boredom became unbearable—
—
‘I’ll propose a contract. One where neither side needs to grovel, and both can benefit.’
—
He met a woman with the most brilliant colors in the world.
—
‘Let’s get married.’
—
With trembling hands, Shubel cupped her cheek.
“Elysia.”
Brilliant golden hair. Vivid red eyes. Someone who shone like the sun.
From the very beginning, his gaze had been drawn to her.
It couldn’t not be.
The brilliance of colors he had never seen before was enough to make him feel blind.
Elysia was the only essence of color he could perceive.
If she disappeared from the world, his world would sink back into darkness.
With that realization, despair engulfed him.
“I’m a doctor! Where is the patient?!”
A crowd rushed in.
But nothing registered in his eyes.
In a play where gray puppets moved, Shubel held the only being with color.
From his eyes fell transparent tears—colorless—onto Elysia’s blood-stained lips.
At last, he found the answer to one lingering question.
‘…It’s red.’
Elysia’s blood was red.
And that—
Drove him mad.
* * *
The woman spoke.
‘Make a deal with me.’
‘…’
‘Like our first deal. I’ll give you what you want—so grant me what I want.’
The man, with an exceptionally beautiful yet expressionless face, asked:
‘What?’
He was, by nature, a perfect being.
Because he had no flaws, he was perfect—and that included lacking “humanity.”
Something essential to being human had been cut away.
His emotions wore down with each passing day, and the more they did, the closer he came to a transcendent state.
For such a man to react was exceedingly rare.
The woman’s red lips curved into a vivid smile.
‘Take revenge for our ■■.’
Whoosh—
Her voice was swallowed by the wailing of a pure white forest.
* * *
“…A dream?”
I opened my eyes, my head throbbing.
Those were familiar faces.
The man was Shubel.
And the woman…
“…Me?”
It was me. Elysia Seton. Or Elysia Lunein.
But I had no such memory.
‘If it’s revenge… is this from the original story?’
In the original, “I” was just an extra who died quickly—so this must be a meaningless dream.
Yet strangely, I felt like it was something very important.
I tried to recall any mention of “Elysia” in the original.
But nothing like this existed.
“What the hell.”
Out of habit, I touched my left ring finger. The “vow ring” Shubel had given me was there.
This ring was said to have been split between the Grand Duke of Lunein a hundred years ago and a dragon after ending the Thousand-Year War in the North.
It was also my wedding ring.
‘Oh, right—’
I recalled the resonant voice from before I coughed blood.
—
[Pay the price.]
—
It was the exact same voice I heard on my wedding day.
Right after hearing it, I suddenly coughed blood.
And despite collapsing, my body didn’t hurt at all.
‘If anything, I feel… lighter?’
I fiddled with the ring.
If all I gained was knowledge of the future, I would’ve just said, “Thank you, no refunds,” and moved on.
But coughing blood was different.
I held the ring up to the light coming through the window, eyeing it suspiciously.
I had once asked Shubel about it after recalling the original story.
—
“Shubel, does this ring have some kind of special blessing on it?”
“The ring? It’s a family heirloom, but…”
—
A relic considered the symbol of the end of the Thousand-Year War—it made sense it was a family treasure.
<The Thousand-Year War>
A war that lasted since the beginning of the continent’s history, fought between humans and monsters over territory.
Beyond the frozen northern wastelands, where blizzards rage year-round, lies the white forest said to be the end of the world.
Its ruler—
The dragon, Kaiseus.
As humans built nations and civilizations, Kaiseus began sending out armies of monsters.
No one knew why.
Humans took up arms to survive, led by the Grand Duke of Lunein from a thousand years ago.
And so began a war that lasted a thousand years.
—
“Not sure about a blessing…”
“Not sure?”
“There could be a curse.”
—
When I tried to rip the ring off in shock, Shubel laughed quietly and said it was a joke.
Honestly, I almost punched him.
