Slashing, stabbing, killing, barely managing to fend off the attacks.
I fought without rest.
And it wasn’t just me—everyone was fighting.
The sky, now darkened, flashed ominously as rain poured down in bursts across the battlefield.
Just when I thought I would swing my sword until my last breath, a voice that should never have been heard here echoed in the air.
“Your Majesty! There’s trouble!”
How can I describe what I felt in that moment? Even if a blade had been pressed to my throat, I wouldn’t have felt more fear than I did then. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. I could even see the trajectory of blood splattering through the air. With all my strength, I beheaded the beast lunging at me and shouted.
“Why are you here?! Where is Leticia?!”
The servant, who should have long fled the palace with Leticia, stood trembling before me in the same clothes I had seen her in earlier. I had no time to worry about her state. Grabbing her arm roughly, I dragged her inside the building and urgently asked again.
“Where is Leticia? Where is she?!”
“Y-Your Majesty, your wound—”
“A wound like this is the least of our concerns!”
Blood was dripping from a cut on my forehead, though I hadn’t even noticed when I was injured.
I wiped the blood that obscured my vision roughly, then gave up and grabbed a discarded cloth to cover half of my face.
In the reflection of the shattered window, my eyes blazed fiercely.
“Stop stalling! Where is Leticia?! You were supposed to escape through the secret passage with her! Why are you here? Did she abandon you and leave the palace on her own? Is that why you’ve come to find me?”
“N-No, it’s not that…”
I took a deep breath.
“Don’t tell me… did she refuse to escape?”
The servant nodded, tears spilling from her eyes. For a moment, murderous rage surged within me. I squeezed my eyes shut. The servant before me had done nothing wrong. She was a victim, too.
If not for Leticia’s stubbornness, she could have survived. I should be grateful that the servant risked her life to come back and tell me what happened…
But none of that mattered!
I had told her to leave the palace with Leticia. I had ordered her to protect her. And yet, she failed. She allowed her to choose death!
“Where is she now?!”
“In… the inner palace…”
Leaving the servant, who had collapsed to her knees, I sprinted toward the inner palace.
A flash of lightning illuminated the sky, followed by a deafening crash as thunder split the heavens.
Everything felt so eerily unreal.
The screams from beyond the shattered windows, the bodies groaning in pain along the corridors, and the overpowering stench of blood—all of it felt too vivid.
I was terrified.
Terrified to the point of madness.
Terrified that she might already be dead.
As I ran toward her, I saw dozens of bodies.
Most of them were faces I recognized.
But I had no time to mourn for those I had fought alongside for years.
My mind was consumed by only one thought—her.
“Leticia!”
By some miracle, she was still in the room.
She had discarded the winter coat I had dressed her in and was curled up on the floor.
“Why haven’t you left the palace yet? I told you about the secret passage before the battle even began! Why? Why are you still here?”
I forcibly pulled her to her feet. Her empty green eyes stared at me.
I could already sense what her answer would be, and it was driving me mad.
Her parched lips, cursedly, formed the words I never wanted to hear.
“Why should I leave?”
“What did you say?”
“I’m tired. I don’t want to do anything anymore.”
“Leticia!”
“It’s all over anyway.”
She shook her head weakly and let out a faint chuckle.
“Even if I leave, I won’t make it past midnight.”
I stopped, momentarily stunned by her words, even though I had intended to force her out of the palace this time, no matter how stubborn she was.
“What are you talking about? What do you mean you won’t make it past midnight?”
There were barely two hours left until midnight. I asked, dreading the answer.
“Are you telling me that you’ll die?”
“……”
“Answer me! What do you mean by that?”
She remained silent, but I knew I had already grasped the truth.
This must be what it feels like to lose your mind.
You’re telling me you’ll die? The woman I love? In just two hours?
“Is it because of the illness you were suffering from before? You told me you were fine! You said it was only temporary!”
She smiled weakly and shook her head.
“Temporary… I wish it were.”
A flood of memories rushed through my mind.
The first time she coughed up blood, the way she had always predicted her own seizures with eerie accuracy, the doctor who had insisted that nothing was wrong with her body.
“Is this… a curse?”
How could I have been so blind? Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?
“Did the Saintess curse you? Do you know how to break it? What is it? Tell me! Leticia!”
She remained silent to the end.
Instead, she looked at me with a tired expression, as if annoyed by my questions, and then closed her eyes, as though asking me to let her die in peace.
But there was no way—absolutely no way—I could give up on her.
I checked the time urgently.
Precious moments were slipping away. There was only one person who could tell me how to save her in the little time we had left. Josephina, the Saintess of the Empire.
“If you won’t tell me, I’ll ask the Saintess myself.”
* * *
“Hah… hah.”
What time was it now?
With trembling hands pressing against the wound at my side, I wondered.
Had midnight already passed, or was there still a chance left?
Suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit me, and my vision went black. It must have been from losing too much blood.
But I couldn’t afford to care about that. Even now, she was dying.
“Ugh…”
I barely managed to stand, but my legs gave out. I collapsed to one knee, just avoiding a complete fall. My body no longer felt like my own.
Desperately, I pressed harder against the wound to stop the bleeding. But the effort was futile as hot blood surged over my hand.
Josephina watched me with a mocking smile.
“King Dietrian, if you get treated now, you might survive. What do you say? Don’t you want to live?”
I ignored her words, feeling around the ground. Somewhere nearby was the dagger I had dropped earlier. I needed it—only with it could I threaten Josephina.
‘That’s the only way… to save her.’
My vision blurred again. I clenched my eyes shut for a moment. Grabbing a broken arrow instead of the dagger, I prepared to charge at Josephina.
But all I managed to do was collapse forward in a pathetic heap.
Josephina burst out laughing as I knelt there, gasping for breath.
“Haha! King Dietrian, what was that? Were you trying to kill me? You, in that state, trying to kill me?”
Josephina, still laughing, turned to the third wing standing behind her.
“Ahwin, did you see? The king tried to kill me! In that pitiful state, he actually tried to kill me! Haha!”
Yes, she was right.
I had tried to kill Josephina in this pathetic condition.
But so what? I had nothing left to lose.
Not far from me, Yulken lay dead. Everyone I cared for had died—or would soon be dead.
I, too, would soon die.
But I couldn’t give up yet.
Leticia.
That woman.
The one who had never once looked back at me—the pitiful woman.
I had to save her.
“King, shouldn’t we continue our conversation? Are you still curious about how to save Leticia? Even though you’re the one about to die?”
I felt a deep guilt toward those who had sacrificed their lives to protect me.
I should have been mourning their deaths, but my mind was consumed with thoughts of only one person.
Perhaps they would understand. Perhaps they would forgive me for my selfish desire to live out the rest of my time not as a king, but as a man who loved her.
“Or maybe you don’t care anymore whether that woman lives or dies?”
When I had left her side, searched the battlefield for Josephina, and asked her about the curse’s conditions, Josephina had laughed like a madwoman.
As if she had heard the funniest story in the world, she had roared with laughter.
Even though her daughter was dying from the curse, she laughed like that.
I felt an overwhelming surge of fury as I realized just how terrible Leticia’s life must have been. The murderous intent inside me flared uncontrollably.
I lost control and charged at Josephina, but she overpowered me with the power of the Goddess. Even as I was stabbed, I gasped, demanding to know how to break the curse. Josephina only laughed at me, mocking my desperation.
She never once spoke of how to break the curse. Instead, she ridiculed me.
“Come on, admit it. You don’t really care about that woman’s life. Just beg me to save you. Grovel like a dog. Who knows? I might heal you. I’m the ruler of Kailas. I can heal that pathetic wound of yours in no time.”
“…”
“At this rate, you won’t make it past midnight. No, you probably won’t last another hour. You’ll die soon from blood loss.”
Ironically, her mocking gave me the answer I was looking for.
Right now, the one thing I wanted most was to break Leticia’s curse.
Josephina, knowing this desperation, kept offering to heal me.
Her daughter would die at midnight, yet here she was, tempting me with the promise of surviving beyond it.
“You don’t want to die, do you? Come on. Beg me. Entertain me, last heir of the Dragon. Hm?”
At that moment, memories of the past six months with Leticia flashed before my eyes.
From our first meeting, when she feared me for no reason, to the moment she raised a dagger to kill me, and finally to the words she had spoken earlier today.
“I know Genos is precious to you, but don’t overdo it. Stay alive. That way, at least my giving up won’t be in vain.”
“No matter how I think about it… you’re better off than I am.”
I laughed and cried at the same time.
Now I finally understood the meaning behind her words.
The woman I loved had known how to break the curse all along, but in the end, she had given up.
She had chosen my life over hers.
“Josephina, the way you’re talking confirms that my guess was right about how to break the curse.”
“What?”
“Yes. I had a feeling. After all, there’s only one thing someone like you would think of.”
“What are you talking about!”
Josephina’s laughter slowly faded, and in that moment, I knew my guess had been correct.
“I was right. Haha… yes. So that’s how she can be saved.”
I coughed, blood filling my mouth. I spat out the dark red blood, but even then, I kept laughing.
Since falling in love with her, I had never felt so free. Loving her had been both a joy and an agony.
It had hurt deeply to love someone who hated me so much that she wanted to kill me.
I had selfishly loved her, even resenting her for not reciprocating.
But now, I realized that wasn’t true.
None of the pain she caused me had been her true intent.
It wasn’t that she didn’t love me. She simply couldn’t.
‘That’s enough.’
Really, that was all I needed.
I didn’t need her love to be happy.
The resentment vanished, replaced by overwhelming regret.
For the past six months, how scared and lonely must she have been?
I never understood her suffering… never.
‘Did I at least give you some comfort in your final memories?’
Smiling, I gripped the broken arrow tightly.
Now that I knew the truth, I would save her in return.
“You’ve lost, Josephina. The curse will be broken soon.”
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