TMC 02

CHAPTER :02

1. Who Are You?

The Star of the Empire, Stella Bronte.

The woman born to be Empress.

Despite being born into the unremarkable House of Bronte, she was raised to become the future Empress.

Affection from her parents was a luxury she could not afford.

For everything—what she ate, wore, and how she slept—had to be taught by a maid sent by the Empress.

Even so, she had spent her life deceiving herself, believing she was fine without her family’s love.

At least, until a fire broke out at her family estate, sparking discussions about her disposal.

That year, in the spring, as winter faded and a warm breeze began to blow.

Stella’s fiancé and the first in line to the imperial throne, Theo, barely survived a brush with death.

He had been caught in the fire while visiting her.

Everyone in the state council was furious at this fact.

The sentiment that Stella Bronte must be punished immediately quickly gained the upper hand.

Stella could not accept this decision.

While it was tragic that Theo had almost died, she had done everything in her power to save him.

Even though she had suffered burns trying to rescue him, she did not resent him.

And yet, the consequences she faced were cruel.

She had been groomed her entire life to become the Empress, but abandonment by the imperial family took only a single moment.

Though hailed as the Star of the Empire, she possessed no abilities even after reaching adulthood…

She couldn’t blame anyone.

To make matters worse, she was now scarred from the burns.

Empress Natalie, who had never favored her to begin with, would never accept this situation.

The ailing Emperor, needing a powerful faction to bolster Theo’s position, would surely have listened to the Empress.

But she never expected to be abandoned by her own family as well.

Even when the fire broke out, and the acrid smoke rising in the pitch-black darkness made it hard to breathe, she had not felt this miserable.

Stella exhaled a ragged breath, trying to make sense of her predicament, but nothing could calm her racing heart.

Beside a dagger on the desk lay a piece of paper, bearing a cruel message.

“For the sake of honor.”

She understood immediately what that brief sentence meant.

Since she could no longer become the Empress, she was to preserve the family’s honor with her death.

‘They were a family who had never shown me a shred of affection, but I never imagined they would abandon me like this.’

Disgusted by this archaic notion, she crumpled the paper in her hand.

If she hadn’t recognized the handwriting of her older brother, Asher, from her childhood, she might have gone downstairs to confront them right then and there.

Looking around, Stella headed to the window.

Down below stood the imperial knights.

‘I didn’t even start the fire. I did my absolute best to save His Highness! Is it my fault I was born the Star of the Empire?’

The imperial family had never tolerated even the slightest flaw.

Stella recalled the words she had once heard from the maid sent by the Empress.

‘Lady Bronte, if you cannot live as the Empress, it is no different from being dead.’

Those cruel words pierced her to her very core.

Her hands began to tremble involuntarily.

Clasping her shaking hands, Stella leaned forward to get a closer look at the situation below.

Then, her eyes locked with those of a man whose chilling gaze pierced through the darkness.

She quickly hid herself.

‘I only wanted to live…’

She had to escape. To survive, she was willing to abandon her family, not just the imperial court.

After all, they were the ones who had discarded her first.

‘I’ll run away. I just have to abandon this country first. Now that I know no one is on my side, there’s no reason to stay.’

On a night when the moon shone exceptionally bright.

Stella carefully slipped outside, evading the imperial knights who threatened her life.

As she turned toward the dense forest surrounding the Bronte estate, she heard the sound of barking dogs.

With the encroaching torchlights closing in, her footsteps grew faster and faster.

“Haah…”

Stella did not want to die.

White puffs of breath escaped her lips, and every step she took on the unfamiliar ground brought pain, but it was better than the metallic clang of death ringing in her ears.

If she were caught by her pursuers, her head would be severed by the swords at their hips.

‘Please, don’t come any closer.’

The distance between them felt so close, yet she couldn’t pull away.

At any moment, the footsteps echoing in the darkness felt ready to overtake her.

It even seemed as though her pursuers held leisurely smiles in their eyes.

As if they had already set a trap.

‘Just the forest… If I can just get out of this forest.’

Once she escaped this forest that was so ruthless to fragile life, the tangled web of city buildings would hide her. Even if she had to live like a beggar.

A hawk soared across the dark sky.

‘Run, I have to run.’

A feather from the hawk brushed past her cheek and fell.

Startled, she nearly collapsed.

Feeling as though she were being hunted under a cruelly persistent gaze, she looked back.

Goosebumps broke out on her arms as she met the sharp eyes of the knights.

“Over there!”

Perhaps because the nights were still quite chilly despite summer approaching, the mud clinging to her legs dried quickly, slowing her movements.

The strange thing was that even in this state, she wasn’t caught.

They waited like beasts waiting for their prey to draw its last breath.

Waiting for her to collapse from exhaustion.

‘I can’t get caught here.’

Stella gritted her teeth and ran.

It didn’t matter if they were playing with her like hunters enjoying a game.

If she kept running until the very end, she might just manage to escape them.

The sticky muddy ground gave way to cold stone pavement just when the night was at its darkest.

‘Once I cross this point, I’m out of Bronte territory.’

Stella looked up at the pitch-black sky and barely managed to steady her ragged breathing.

Now, she just had to go down the long flight of stairs connected to this forest.

‘Just a little more…’

She took a step downward.

At that moment, the hawk in the sky swooped down, diving straight at Stella as she tried to descend the stairs.

Startled, her body faltered, her pale arms flailing desperately in the air.

Contrary to her pitiful attempt to grab onto anything, a series of dull thuds echoed, ending with a heavy thud that vibrated through her head.

“Ugh!”

In an instant, the world went white.

‘I can’t… pass out here…’

Though her mind was frantic as she tried to raise her hand, she couldn’t move an inch.

She strained her eyes to keep her fading vision steady, but the blurry world lost all color and turned pitch black.

* * *

How long had she been unconscious?

Stella shook her head from side to side, trying to clear her vision.

Her head throbbed.

‘It hurts, it hurts so much.’

Honestly, her heart ached more than her head.

Exhausted from running, she hunched her back.

The first thing she noticed was her filthy feet.

Since she had run through the forest barefoot, they were covered in all sorts of debris.

Among them, a green leaf caught her attention.

Stella reached for the leaf stuck to her dirty foot.

The damp leaf tore lengthwise down the middle.

The split leaf looked pitifully like her own situation.

‘I don’t have time for self-pity.’

Perhaps due to the blow to her head, her own urgent voice echoed repeatedly like the raspy noise of an old machine.

‘If I don’t run away right now, I might die.’

Jolted awake by the words ringing in her head, she began to move forward again.

The alley she reached after descending the remaining steps was lined with small residential houses.

The buildings faced each other so closely that the path was barely wide enough for one person to pass, but perhaps because it was before sunrise, the surroundings were completely still.

‘They’re going to kill me. They will…’

Perhaps because of the silence, the cruel voice sounded even clearer.

‘There’s no time, I have to run.’

She wished this horrible voice were all a lie.

Did her wish reach the wind?

‘But why…? Who is trying to kill me?’

As she emerged from the labyrinth of alleys, her headache grew increasingly severe, and eventually, she couldn’t remember anything except for the last few words echoing in her mind.

As her memories vanished, even the emotions woven into them were forgotten.

The pain hadn’t entirely subsided, but her mind was strangely at peace.

She took a deep breath and lifted her head.

The sun, beginning to blanket the violet sky where the dawn air lingered, painted the surroundings in warm hues.

The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.

‘Morning is coming.’

Having lost her memory, she stood blankly, gazing at the sky.

At some point, her steps slowed as she kept her eyes fixed on the heavens.

Stepping down from the stone stairs caked in thick mud, an open street came into view.

Bathed in the dawn light, the street possessed an entirely different atmosphere from the gloomy alleys.

Red-roofed buildings stretched long alongside a flowing river, their shadows casting alluring pictures upon the water’s surface.

A stone wall was built in neat, square shapes to prevent the river from overflowing.

Stella slowly approached the stone wall by the river.

Then, she placed her hand on the wall, which was damp with morning dew.

A chill traveled up her hand.

‘It feels nice.’

She quietly watched the flowing river.

She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the natural painting unfolded before her.

It felt like a door leading to another world.

Driven by curiosity, she leaned forward.

This caused her reflection to appear in the water.

Beside her straight nose, her blue eyes sparkled like the Milky Way.

Her hand, which had been touching the corner of her eye, traced down her slender cheek to her red lips, and finally stopped at her shoulder after sliding down her thin neck.

Stella touched her hair, which resembled the blend of blue and purple found in the dawn.

Her curly hair felt quite soft.

She asked the woman reflected in the river.

“Who are you?”

The water rippled gently.

She reached out, wanting to hear an answer from the river.

However, her injured feet throbbed so painfully that she could no longer stand.

Swallowing the pain, she leaned her body against the stone wall.

“Why was I running away?”

Before she could find an answer, the sky turned a bright blue.

Stella shielded her eyes from the glaring morning sun with her hand.

As the day broke, the people emerging onto the street spotted her and began to murmur.

“Oh, my goodness!”
“What on earth is a lady doing out here?”

A beautiful woman emerging from the back alleys.

It was only natural that everyone’s attention gravitated toward her.

Stella shrank back, trying to avoid their stares.

Their gazes seemed to gather and grow, completely dominating her surroundings.

Among them, a grey-haired old man approached her.

“Are you alright, young lady?”

Stella hunched her shoulders and looked at the old man’s hand.

The hand of the man, who was wearing a worn jacket, bore a long scar like an old medal of honor.

She looked back and forth between his hand and his face.

The rough marks on his hands, which did not match his gentle-looking face, made her hesitate.

“Take my hand and stand up.”
“…….”
“It’s dangerous to stay in a place like this for too long.”

She looked around at his firm tone.

Aside from the old man, there were many others watching her.

The old man urged her again.

“Hurry!”

Startled, Stella pulled away from him.

In that instant, a sinister smile played on the old man’s lips.

He grabbed her hand with brutal force.

“I said, come here. How can you wander around when you don’t even know how dangerous this place is!”

Feeling uneasy, she tried to pull her hand away, but the old man’s grip was too strong.

“These alleys are crawling with packs of wolves in human clothing. Whenever they see a beautiful woman, they lose all sense of shame and rush to pounce on her.”

His raspy voice struck her ears.

Stella pushed against his hand.

“Let me go.”
“Now, now. Just follow me quietly, will you?”

The old man stopped and turned toward the frightened girl.

Stella looked directly into the face of the old man leaning in close to her.

His eyes, clouded by age, glinted like those of a beast starving in the wild.

“Do you want to die here?”
“No, I…”

Die. At that word, she trembled.

Though she had forgotten everything else, the warning to run if she didn’t want to die remained deeply etched in her mind.

As she stood there frozen, the old man pinched the bridge of his nose.

“What a stubborn young lady.”

Due to the commotion, more people began to gather.

“What is all this noise about?”
“Shouldn’t someone save her? Honey, go do something.”
“If you don’t know who that old man is, you’d better keep quiet. No need to get involved and look for trouble.”

Yet they only glanced at each other, and not a single person stepped forward.

Her dread of what was to come escalated.

Stella cried out to escape from the old man.

“H-help me!”

Unfortunately, her terrified voice was drowned out by the whispering onlookers.

Stella shattered her resolve, twisting her body with all her might to resist him.

“I am not going with you!”

Was she being punished for ignoring the voice that had echoed in her head?

Feeling like a fool for getting caught, she hung her head and bit her lower lip.

She couldn’t just stand by any longer.

Acting on impulse, she bit down hard on the old man’s forearm.

“Ugh, what the…”

The old man clenched and unclenched his rough hand.

“D-don’t come any closer. If you do, I’ll bite your neck next time, not your arm!”

Stella glared at the old man, baring her white teeth like an angered beast.

However, as if he had expected at least this much, the old man approached her with a chilling smile.

Overwhelmed by his spine-chilling aura, she closed her eyes.

‘Someone, anyone, please help me!’

A sharp, metallic ring of drawn steel sent a cold shiver through her body.

It seemed the old man had drawn a blade.

The sound of a fierce wind sliced through the air, and she believed she was dead for sure.

But unexpectedly, a horrific scream from the old man echoed throughout the square.

“Aaaargh!”

‘What happened?’

Stella opened her eyes to assess the situation.

Before her, the old man’s severed arm lay rolling on the ground.

Her gaze slowly traveled up the sword drenched in the old man’s blood.

Standing before her was a man with silver hair, crimson eyes, and a face so breathtakingly beautiful she wondered if she had ever seen anything like it in her life.

Looking at the man with such unbelievable looks, her eyes blinked in daze.

‘Did he… save me?’

Stella belatedly shook her head.

Though she had lost her memory after being abandoned by everyone and chased away, she could tell from the sheer aura radiating from him that the man standing before her was no ordinary person.