"My sword is one inch away from slicing your neck. My victory is one inch away, yet why can't I do it, Althea? What kind of spell have you cast on me to have me thinking about you all day?!"
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Byeol meets a tragic death at age nineteen...
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I stood outside the small hut, just behind the big willow tree that had grown white from the snow, listening in for a hint that he was near.
I was going to contact Aias about this - but I couldn't reach him. My letters must have gotten lost in the mail, because why else would he simply not reply?
Surely he can't hate me that much, right?
No, that's silly. Of course he doesn't hate me. He let me sleep in his arms that night when I got the letter. The next morning, he sent imperial knights to the Asten Estate.
He's simply busy. That's what I told myself, even as my gut told me something else - something I tried to ignore for my sake.
It was time I put a stop to this neverending war, with or without the crown prince. After all, it started with me. It's bound to end with me, too.
It was already April, yet the cold wind pierced my skin as I pulled my fur cloak tighter, and rubbed my palms together through the warm gloves I was wearing. It wasn't like this when I walked out the door this morning. It wasn't like this when I walked around the Estate's huge garden my father had built for my mother. It certaintly wasn't like this when I was speaking to the woman, whose name I know now is Agatha.
I kept my eyes on the small wooden cabin, a small wave of worry washing over me. Maybe I went into this a bit too fast. I mean, I didn't really think about it, did I? I simply told her confidently that we'd lure him here and confront him, and then I'd send him right back to where he came from - but I've never really done this. The only time I've used my power, I, not Althea, was when I was healing Aias. Who knows how many times Althea had used hers before ending her life.
Suddenly, the morning sun disappeared behind the thick clouds, covering the world in a depressing shadow.
How ironic. It's as if the goddess who blessed me was hiding behind the clouds, afraid of what is to happen.
My eyes didn't wander from the cabin, they didn't check above my head to look at the clouds, that I knew were frowning down at me, for putting my life in danger and worrying the only light they've ever known.
Clouds are a funny thing. Back in Seoul I never gave them a second thought, except getting angry when they took over the sky, but in this world, the clouds seem alive. They have the power to shield the Solacian empire from the sun, or - well, the sun from the empire, depriving the humans of the only thing they've believed in - the only thing that brought them a sense of solace. The people of Solacia think of the sun as the only thing that connects them with their goddess, and the clouds have the power to take that source of connection away. Yet, they're only little bodies of evaporated water, that, when it gets to much, get heavy and let the water fall, knowing that no matter how much water they let fall, it'll come back to them, and the cycle will repeat.
