Chapter 1
— — —
Imperial Year 997.
The Hundred Years' War came to an end as Declain Caesar decapitated the king of the enemy nation.
The castle was thick with the stench of blood.
The knights, lined up in formation, held their breath as they watched the man who had severed the king’s head.
Declain, with his jet-black hair, was as handsome as a god from mythology, but his crimson eyes looked like the mark of a demon in disguise.
The prince, knowing he was next, trembled violently.
‘I don’t want to die. I didn’t do anything wrong!’
It was his father who had done everything wrong!
He was just a “good prince” who exploited commoners and filled the bellies of the nobles!
He wept bitterly, waiting for his turn.
But—
‘What is this?’
The demon who had been conducting the massacre was suddenly standing there, lost in thought.
Not just the prince, but everyone in the castle looked at Declain, who had suddenly stopped moving, with confusion.
“Ah.”
A low sigh escaped his lips.
That demon… was sighing?
“I can’t remember.”
The words he uttered after suddenly stopping his slaughter were that he couldn’t remember.
‘Why is this madman acting like this all of a sudden?’
While everyone held their breath, Declain was lost in deep thought.
Why had he been in such a rush to end the war?
Even in the moment he was devising battle strategies, even when he was breaking down the castle gates, and even up until the moment he cut off the king’s head…
There had definitely been a reason.
A reason why he had to end the war in such a hurry.
A reason why he had to return quickly.
But now, he couldn’t remember that reason.
What on earth was it?
-Don’t worry about me, just go safely.
At that moment, a voice brushed through his mind.
It was a voice as clear as a skylark.
-I’ll be waiting. Come back safely.
-You mustn’t get hurt, Hugh…
As the mirage-like voice echoed again, he furrowed his brows.
He couldn’t remember at all. No, had that memory even existed in the first place?
“What could it have been?”
At his mutterings, the prince’s shoulders flinched.
At that moment, Declain’s crimson eyes turned toward the prince.
“Ah.”
The demon smiled faintly, as if he had just remembered.
“P-please, spare… Gack!”
But there was no hope.
Declain, having swung his sword, pulled out something that had been pressing against his chest throughout the battle.
‘A locket?’
Inside it was a portrait of someone.
He had never owned such a thing.
If so, why was this found tucked in his clothes?
The moment he tried to open the pendant,
Plop—
A drop of sticky blood fell and stained the portrait.
The deep red color bled along the grain of the paper, completely obscuring the person’s face.
He stood still for a moment, staring at the spot.
A cold irritation rose quietly within his chest.
“Your Excellency, we have secured all the spoils as ordered…”
Gulp.
The knight’s words trailed off.
The moment he met Declain’s gaze, his body froze at the murderous look in those eyes.
“I see. Gather the prisoners and let us return.”
Declain wiped his blood-stained forehead.
Though his entire body was dyed red with the blood of others, the blood flowing from his forehead was his own.
“Your Excellency, you have a wound on your head…! Are you alright?”
Ah, I injured my head.
When was that?
From some point in his memory, it felt as if the scene had been cut out.
Perhaps that was why he felt as though he had forgotten something important.
A sweet scent lingered at the tip of his nose, and a voice like a skylark flickered in his ears…
But he could not know the source.
Declain stared at the blood-soaked portrait for a long time, then,
Click, he closed the pendant.
Well, it didn’t matter anyway.
* * *
Shiver—
What is this sticky, chilling sensation?
‘It’s been happening a lot lately.’
Prina rubbed her arms against the passing cold, even though it was midsummer.
“Hey! Why hasn’t the food I ordered a while ago come out yet?”
“Knight, I’m going now!”
The Imperial cafeteria, Daisy Hall.
Built for the commoner knights and officials of the Imperial Palace, this place was bustling with people today as well.
Perhaps that was why.
The kitchen was filled with shouting and fighting every single day.
“Scrub it hard! I told you to make the plates shine!”
“Is that the speed you’re going to stir the ladle at?!”
“Bring it out quickly! The food is getting cold!”
Prina was being ground down again today.
She moved busily, carrying several plates and going back and forth between the tables multiple times.
‘Haa, I’m exhausted.’
She was out of breath.
She wanted to rest for just a moment, but it felt like there were even more guests in Daisy Hall today than usual.
“Hey, Prina! There’s a hair in my food!”
Just then, a knight shouted.
At the tip of his finger was a single strand of green hair.
Prina stared intently at the knight’s hair.
…The same green.
“That, Knight, that’s your hair…”
“Ahem, I told you to be more careful!”
…Me?
Sometimes, unreasonable customers were just part of the job.
But in times like these, conceding was the fastest way.
“I’m sorry, Knight. I’ll bring it out properly next time.”
“Yeah, Prina. I’m only forgiving you because I’m kind.”
Prina forced the corners of her mouth upward.
Let’s endure it by thinking about the paycheck coming in soon.
‘Still, since it’s the Imperial Palace, the pay is decent.’
Even if the labor intensity was high, it was by far the best place she had worked so far.
Soon, the knights who had finished their meals left like an ebbing tide.
Only then did she have a moment to catch her breath, but today, she couldn’t rest as easily as usual.
The trouble that had been bothering her for a few days came back to mind.
“Prina, your complexion isn’t good. Are you sick?”
“That’s right. You look especially strange today.”
As Prina remained more slumped than usual, her colleagues approached with worried looks.
“Mm, I’m fine. I’m just a bit tired today…”
She forced a smile, but she wasn’t fine at all.
Because…
‘Today is the day Hugh is supposed to return! What do I do!’
Prina’s lover, Hugh.
Jet-black hair, red eyes, and a mole under his eye like the finishing touch on a dragon painting. He was a beautiful man.
It had already been a year since she had been apart from such a Hugh.
‘He said he was taking on the escort of some noble, right?’
Hugh was a knight.
He had left to protect his master, and they had spent a year apart.
And today, it was finally the day she would meet him again.
But Prina was…
‘How should I tell him we should break up?’
She had decided to break up with Hugh.
‘Is it okay to tell a lover I’m meeting for the first time in a year that I want to break up?’
No, but it’s also strange to pretend we’re dating normally and then break up…
“You there, how long are you planning on resting there!”
That was when it happened.
The head chef came out of the kitchen, checked on the slacking workers, and bellowed.
The workers were startled and jumped up from their seats quickly.
“Prina! Come here and do the dishes! They’re piled high here!”
Prina, who had been lost in thought, finally turned her head.
‘Wow, he’s right.’
The dishes were piled up like a mountain.
“…”
For now, let’s finish the work and think about it!
* * *
Trudge.
A living corpse walked slowly down the dark night road.
‘Ugh, I’m dying.’
By the time her shift at Daisy Hall ended, her body felt like it was going to fall apart.
And it’s cold!
The night air was colder than she had thought. Prina arrived at the meeting place, shivering.
Layton Bridge.
It was a famous dating spot for lovers.
There was a superstition that the love of lovers who reunited here would last forever.
‘Ah.’
…That shouldn’t happen.
Because they had to break up.
Hugh had many secrets. If Prina’s intuition was right, it was probably on the bad side.
“...Anyway, all sorts of things happen when you’re raising younger siblings. Come to think of it, what was Hugh like when you were young?”
“I’m more curious about your story, Prina.”
Whenever she asked about his past, he would offer a gentle smile and avoid answering as naturally as water flowing.
That wasn’t all.
“Oh, right, Hugh, I wanted to send you mail, but I don’t even know where you live.”
Residence, family, past.
Hugh didn’t tell her any of those things.
Why?
He wasn’t a criminal, so what reason could he have for hiding them?
It was one day when suspicion was slowly sprouting.
“I’ll return quickly, Prina.”
Hugh had said, holding her hand with pathetic eyes.
“So, you mustn’t meet any other guys besides me.”
“D-don’t worry, Hugh.”
“I’m afraid you’ll forget me. You mustn’t abandon me, Prina.”
“I won’t… a-abandon you.”
“You’re abandoning me?”
“Huh?”
The gaze staring at her while holding both her hands tightly grew intense.
“You really mustn’t abandon me. And you mustn’t forget how much I love you.”
Hugh hugged Prina and urged her as if it were a very important fact.
But would he know?
That in fact, that day…
Prina had been intending to tell him to break up.
She couldn’t bring herself to say “let’s break up” to a man leaving for a dangerous mission.
A year had passed like that.
‘And he left saying we’d meet at Layton Bridge today.’
She had worried about whether it was okay to tell a man who had returned after a long time that she wanted to break up, but she felt she couldn’t put it off any longer.
‘Right. Let’s say it clearly.’
When Hugh comes!
So Prina waited for Hugh.
However, two hours passed, and Hugh did not come.
‘Right. Hugh is a busy person, so that can happen.’
He’s returning from a distant land, so that’s understandable.
He’ll come tomorrow.
But the next day, and the day after that, he did not appear.
A week evaporated in an instant.
Huh?
…Is this, by any chance, a ghosting breakup?
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