SWTI 05

Chapter 5

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2. Overprotection Always Begins with a Misunderstanding

The Grand Ducal Castle changed with each passing day.

“Isn’t the new outfit so pretty? This is supposed to be our uniform, right?”

“Yeah. Wearing similar clothes like this makes me feel like I’ve become part of Runein.”

“And it makes me want to work harder.”

The number of days when the servants smiled increased.

“Butler, the main hall renovation is finished. ……Butler?”

“Ah, forgive me. For a moment…… I felt as though I were experiencing again the grandeur I felt when I first came to the Grand Ducal Castle with my father.”

Someone was moved as they recalled memories from long ago.

“Has the gardener arrived?”

“Yes, Young Madam. It seems he’s currently estimating the cost of renovating the garden. Shall I call him?”

“No, I think I’ll go myself. We should respect the domain of the experts.”

And at the center of all those changes was always one person.

Hair that shimmered like golden thread. Eyes as red as freshly squeezed pomegranate juice.

A woman who always had countless people following her around like devoted followers.

Elysia Runein.

“Let’s replace these curtains with something else. When the sunlight comes in from the east, the color will change depending on the lighting, and it doesn’t harmonize well with the surroundings.”

“Yes, Young Madam. I’ll do that.”

“Dear, that’s enough for now. Let’s have lunch.”

“Oh, Mother. Is it already that late?”

People listened carefully, afraid they might miss even a single word she said.

The strict butler now respectfully attended to the young mistress, while the Grand Duchess, who had once been as cold as the northern wind blowing down from the snowy mountains, now naturally took care of her daughter-in-law.

Everyone who encountered Elysia gradually became her follower as naturally as if it were simply one of the laws of the world.

Schubel watched the sight with a strange look in his eyes.

‘Like the sun.’

Whenever Elysia passed by, people turned their heads to look at her as though they had been bewitched.

She was that confident, capable, and charming.

Even he couldn’t help but think of her as intense.

Whenever he experienced the unfamiliar feeling that arose at such times—something like wanting to crush the people who looked at her—he tried to recall the name for such an ordinary human emotion.

‘Annoyance…… is it?’

He let out a faint laugh without realizing it.

“……? Schubel?”

“May I have lunch with you as well, Madam?”

To Schubel, Elysia was an unexplored existence.

Someone he couldn’t define.

He had never encountered anyone like Elysia in the world before.

She had aroused his curiosity.

And now, he wanted to know.

You—

“Why are you asking something like that? You can just come with us.”

What exactly were you that made you so different?

Why were you the only one who shone so brightly?

“Yes, Madam.”

‘Is your blood red, too?’

It was just as Schubel smiled brilliantly at Elysia’s permission.

“……Madam?”

Elysia suddenly stopped.

“Madam? What’s wrong?”

She slowly blinked.

And then—

Gurgle.

She suddenly coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood.

“AAAAAH! Young Madam!”

“Daughter-in-law!”

For a moment, it was as though time had stopped.

Then, after a brief silence, screams erupted like fireworks.

The entire scene felt unreal to Schubel.

Elysia’s slender body staggered as though she were about to collapse. He instinctively caught her.

Thump.

‘Too light.’

The body in his arms was far too light.

As though she might turn into a snowflake and scatter at any moment.

Schubel called her name in a trembling voice.

“……Madam.”

Every time Elysia struggled to breathe, droplets of blood fell onto the floor.

Her breathing grew weaker.

Her heartbeat grew weaker.

She was drifting farther away.

She was…… disappearing.

Schubel’s eyes shook violently.

“Call the priest! Quickly!”

“Where in the world is the doctor?!”

The shouts and tearful cries around him gradually became muffled.

Everything was unreal.

His world had always been close to unreal, but now it was even more so.

Schubel blinked with an expression devoid of reality.

His mother, shouting angrily as she searched for a priest and doctor.

The servants, thrown into a panic.

The luxurious scenery of the Grand Ducal Castle that Elysia had transformed.

Everything—

Was black and white.

His eyes could not contain the colors of the world.

He was a monster.

‘A world without color.’

The yellow of warm sunlight, the blue of a sky so bright it made one’s eyes ache, the pale green of endless grasslands, the indigo of the vast ocean, and even the red of blood flowing through pain.

Schubel knew none of it.

Perhaps because he was a monster who could see nothing but colorlessness, Schubel had possessed a narrow range of emotions from birth.

It was the same when it came to understanding others.

He could hide his bored expression beneath a convincing exterior, but that was all.

Then, one day, when he could no longer endure the boredom that grew stronger with every passing day—

‘I’ll propose a contract. A contract where neither side needs to humiliate themselves, and both sides can benefit.’

He met the woman who possessed the most dazzling colors in the world.

‘Let’s get married.’

Schubel touched the woman’s cheek with trembling hands.

“Elysia.”

Brilliant golden hair.

Vivid red eyes.

A beautiful woman who shone like the sun.

She had caught his attention from the very beginning.

She had no choice but to.

The brilliance of colors he had never seen before in his entire life was enough to blind him.

Elysia was the embodiment of the only color Schubel could see.

If she disappeared from the world, his world would once again sink into darkness.

With that realization came despair.

“I’m a doctor! Where is the patient?!”

A crowd of people rushed inside.

But nothing could enter his eyes.

In the middle of a play where gray puppets moved about, Schubel held the only person who possessed color in his arms.

Transparent tears devoid of any color fell from his eyes and dampened Elysia’s bloodstained lips.

At last, he found the answer to one question that had been bothering him.

‘……Red.’

Elysia’s blood was red.

And that drove him mad.

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The woman spoke.

‘Let’s make a deal.’

‘……’

‘Just like our first deal. I’ll give you what you want. So grant me what I want.’

The man asked with an exquisitely handsome but expressionless face.

‘What?’

He was a perfect being by nature.

He was perfect because he had no flaws, and among those missing flaws was something called humanity.

He was an existence from whom something that a human being was supposed to possess had been removed.

His emotions had been worn away day by day.

And the more they faded, the closer he rose to the highest realm.

It was extremely rare for him to show any reaction at all.

The woman’s red lips curved into a distinct smile.

‘Take revenge for our ■■.’

Whoosh—

Her voice was swallowed by the mournful cry of the pure-white forest.

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‘A dream……?’

I opened my eyes to a throbbing headache.

The faces were definitely familiar.

The man was Schubel, and the woman was……

“……Me?”

It was me.

Elysia Seton.

Or Elysia Runein.

But I had no memories like that.

‘If it’s revenge…… is it something from the original story?’

The original-story Elysia was merely an extra who died almost immediately, so this was probably just a ridiculous dream.

But strangely, I had the feeling that this dream contained something incredibly important.

I tried to recall every part of the original story where the character named Elysia was mentioned.

But, as expected, nothing like this existed.

“What is this?”

Feeling frustrated, I habitually touched my left ring finger.

The Ring of the Covenant that I had received from Schubel was there.

This ring was said to be an object that the Grand Duke of Runein, a hundred years ago, had exchanged with a dragon after ending the Thousand-Year War in the north.

It was also my wedding ring.

‘Ah, come to think of it……’

I remembered the deep, resonant voice that had sounded just before I coughed up blood.

[Pay the price.]

It was exactly the same voice I had heard on my wedding day.

The voice had been followed immediately by the sudden coughing of blood.

And despite having collapsed after vomiting blood, my body didn’t even hurt.

‘If anything, I actually feel rather refreshed?’

I toyed with the ring.

If all I had gained was knowledge of the future, I might have simply thought, ‘Thank you. No refunds,’ and pretended not to know anything while continuing to live my life.

‘But coughing up blood is different.’

With a suspicious look, I held the ring up to the light coming through the window.

Because I had remembered the original story immediately after receiving my wedding ring, I had once asked Schubel about it, wondering whether it might explain what was happening.

‘Schubel, is there some kind of special blessing placed on this ring?’

‘The ring? It is a family heirloom, but……’

It certainly made sense that it would be a treasured heirloom of the Grand Ducal family.

After all, it was regarded as a symbol of the end of the Thousand-Year War.

The Thousand-Year War

It was a war between humans and monsters that had continued for an incredibly long time over territory, beginning at the same time as the continent’s history.

Beyond the northern frozen wasteland, where blizzards raged throughout all four seasons, stood the ruler of the White Forest, which was called the end of the world.

The Demon Dragon, Kaiseus.

When humans began establishing kingdoms and building civilizations, Kaiseus began sending out armies of monsters.

The reason was unknown.

Humans took up weapons simply to survive, and at the forefront stood the Grand Duke of Runein from more than a thousand years ago.

Thus began a war that would continue for no less than a thousand years.

‘I don’t know about a blessing, but……’

‘You don’t?’

‘There could be a curse.’

When I panicked and tried to take off the ring, Schubel chuckled quietly and added that he was only joking.

Honestly, I almost punched him.