Chapter 1: Divorce

It had been seven years since the divorce.

If life could be written as a paragraph, there was always one word left at the end.

In a place no one else could ever replace, she had always been there like fire.

Even if time had weathered those memories, that part remained vivid.

And now, returning to the territory I swore never to set foot in again, I take in the devastation before me.

“…”

A battlefield so disoriented, I couldn’t even tell where I stood.

I stepped on something— something not quite soft.

A sinking sensation beneath my foot. 

It wasn’t something seen, but something warm… or once warm. 

I held my breath and bent down.

As I searched the blood-soaked ground, a familiar silhouette caught my eye.

If my eyes weren’t mistaken, it looked just like my wife.

More precisely… my ex-wife.

Yuria von Ehrenheit.

“…”

I ran to her as if guided by instinct. 

The closer I got, the clearer she became her shoulders, her arms… human.

Near the war’s end, my wife— no, the woman who was once my wife lay crumpled by the riverside, drenched in blood.

By the time I fought my way through the enemy ranks and reached her, the blood loss was already too severe to guarantee her survival.

“Ugh…”

The stench of blood wrinkled my brow involuntarily.

My stomach twisted even harder.

They said she’d been ambushed during a covert mission caught off guard, forced into a desperate fight.

Crawling through a field of corpses, I looked down at the fallen woman.

“…”

Words failed me as soon as I saw her.

She looked as if she’d bathed in blood. 

Her neck and upper body were soaked in crimson.

Had she not barely opened one of her eyes, I might not have recognized her at all.

Yuria struggled to squint at me and parted her lips.

Her unusually long lashes trembled faintly.

“…So… you’ve been doing well… I see.”

It wasn’t her usual cold tone, but a voice drained of all strength.

She forced a faint smile as she squinted again.

I gripped her falling hand tightly.

Her skin was chillingly cold.

“Why…?”

Charging in like this, in her weakened state, after the last battle this was nothing short of suicide.

Most of her subordinates were still recovering.

Why would someone so rational, someone who always valued sound judgment, throw herself into something so reckless?

It was clear now she was nothing like her usual self.

“…I just… did something… you would’ve done.”

“…”

She tried to lift her arm once, then grimaced in pain.

She ignored the cries from her seizing chest.

Her lungs were riddled with holes. 

Her vision was blurring.

Even so, I hoisted Yuria onto my back.

“What… are you doing…?”

To this day, I don’t know why I did it.

“Just shut up… and hold on.”

I simply wanted to.

And so, I carried her and ran.

Seeing a snow-covered corpse by my feet, Yuria gave a faint nod.

I trudged forward with her on my back.

I could feel her breath barely there against my neck. 

Her hands couldn’t even cling to me and slipped away limply.

She wasn’t light. 

Of course not. 

I ignored the screaming ache in my thighs.

I gritted my teeth. 

The wind sliced my cheeks. 

My limbs went numb. 

Debris kept piling up around us, smoke blinding every direction.

Still, I pressed on.

“Yujin…”

She called my name from behind me.

That anxious voice still tickled my ear.

“…Stop. Please… stop.”

Her fading breath tapped gently against my nape.

This was a woman I had once hated with a passion.

A woman who’d flinched from me, called me repulsive, and turned her face away.

So why now?

Why did I feel dizzy watching her speak as if uttering her final words?

What was this suffocating feeling in my chest?

“We’re divorced. So I’ll do as I please.”

“…”

Thud.

A dull impact hit my back.

But it didn’t hurt.

Which only meant her strength was almost gone.

“…”

I had no choice but to stop and set her down.

Catching her breath, she finally spoke each word in a struggle.

“If you were going to do as you pleased… you should’ve pushed me away back then.”

“…What?”

“At first, I hated you. People as reckless as you… And you didn’t care about me. But after that incident… even while pushing you away… I kept wanting you nearby.”

“…”

“Somehow… I’ve come to care for you… but only now… I don’t know why.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“…But you… cruel man. Not once… not even once did you turn around and look back. That’s why.”

“…”

I felt her breath behind me.

Faint and fragile. 

Like smoke on the verge of vanishing, a warmth that might disappear at any moment.

“I even said we should get a divorce… and now, like this… how ridiculous. Truly.”

“I never laughed.”

“…I’m sorry. Did I kill the mood?”

“What are you—”

“Even now… could you look at me?”

I hesitated.

And the moment silence stretched, she let out a faint laugh.

“…Really now.”

“…”

“It’s not like you, but… I like that answer. It’s not something I can hate.”

A subtle movement from her shoulder, 

Yes, she was smiling.

She slowly, ever so slightly, opened her eyes.

And in the depths of those unlit eyes, I saw myself reflected.

“If… there is a next time, between us…”

Her breath grazed the nape of my neck shallow and fast.

Then, it softened, tapping lightly against my skin.

She paused, lips closed, and gazed at me quietly.

In a world turned white, where everything came to an end.

Placing a hand on my burning cheek, she smiled beautifully, like a flower blooming in the field.

“…”

“Please divorce me. Preferably soon.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I’m sorry. I was afraid you’d leave me… so I kept you close, nothing more than that.”

“…”

“If there is a next time, it’ll be… a busy one, for you…”

“…Ria?”

“…..”

There was no answer after that.

Only the weight of her head slumping down, her body cold and stiff against mine.

With those last words, her hair swayed. 

Yuria collapsed. And only then did I see the deep wound stretching from her thigh. 

The torn dress, the chest that had struggled to rise and fall… now still.

Gently, I laid her down upon the snow. 

Snowflakes landed on her lashes, her lips, her hair.

I lowered the body that still wore a quiet smile.

A “next time,” huh?

I walked alone, toward the avenue of the sprawling metropolis.

Past the fallen bodies, until I arrived.

—Tap. Tap.

And at that moment, something inside me… quietly shattered.

But no tears came. 

No, they couldn’t.

I lifted my head. 

I looked up at the sky.

Snow was falling. Soundless.

Above, there was nothing. 

No clouds, no stars, no gods.

Only white. Endless white.

Everyone had said she wasn’t right for me.

They weren’t wrong. 

Not just them— even I might have said the same. 

In a world where bloodline is privilege.

She needed a temporary husband, and I needed a place to stay. 

We were convenient companions, nothing more.

That was all there was to it.

And yet… we still couldn’t love each other.

She committed unforgivable acts against me.

Starting with her indifference. 

And the torment from her noble family— too many incidents to count on both hands.

Would you… have been disappointed by that?

In the end, we broke apart. 

Grew envious of each other.

When the divorce was finalized, I quietly celebrated.

But why, then… does it feel so wretched?

— “Even now… could you look at me?”

“…Right to the end, you kept me dancing to your tune.”

I inhaled sharply, toward the sky.

Just to keep myself from falling apart.

Before the final trace of her warmth vanished—

I had to walk again.

The road leading to Bellastine Avenue.

With familiar, practiced steps, I moved forward. 

In my hand, I held a small box I had taken from her.

The weight in my palm—

A gleaming thing, too bright for these bloodstained hands.

Two ornate rings.

Each engraved with our names.

A message she never had the chance to deliver.

A heart that was… finally honest.

“…”

I stared down at the rings, bitterly smiling, lost for words.

“…What was it you truly wanted?”

—Crunch.

The fog was especially thick today.

My footprints lingered in the snow I stepped through.

The black sword I slid the ring onto… didn’t feel as foreign as I expected.

But that didn’t matter.

I didn’t need it to feel familiar.

I’d be seeing you again soon.

My grip tightened on the hilt.

Surrounded now, I glanced at the enemies encircling me—

And summoned the last of my magic.

///

“…?”

My right eye was clear.

The sight I had lost had returned, and the sword hilt that had been in my hand had vanished without notice.

Nerves that had been unresponsive now buzzed as if they’d just awakened.

“Where is this…?”

It was a familiar room.

How could I forget a place where I’d spent so many years?

I had lived apart from her— my wife. 

In an entirely different estate.

Back then, I hated it. 

Living separately from my wife, who would enjoy that?

But thinking back now, perhaps it had been her way of showing consideration.

…Though, in the end, it had only led to a worse outcome.

The reflection in the full-length mirror showed me exactly as I once had been.

Both eyes intact.

Burn scars gone, my skin pale and smooth, my hair neatly flowing down.

‘…Is this a dream?’

I scratched my head.

It still didn’t feel like reality.

I had just confirmed her death with my own eyes.

Moments ago, I’d been surrounded by enemies in the middle of the boulevard and I died.

The strange, cold sensation I’d felt on my ring finger still lingered vividly.

Then, a soft knock sounded at the door, and someone stepped inside.

“…”

Before me stood a beautiful young woman, silently gazing at me.

She must have been around twenty-one at the time.

A flower just beginning to bloom yet her beauty was already something otherworldly.

Her pale skin, her large eyes—

Her hair, slightly visible under the shadow of her dark robe, was as black as obsidian, while her eyes shimmered with a clear, pure light.

Even in the gloom, those eyes shone vividly, and her every subtle movement carried an air of grace.

My wife, Yuria.

She stood there, as she had in her younger years, silently staring at me.

Not in the room— at me.

Still, she said nothing.

Only fixed her gaze on me, quiet and unmoving.

There was something unsettling about the calm on her face.

Just as a sense of awkwardness crept over me—

“What day is it today?”

I asked.

Yuria let out a sigh, shaking her head.

“Haa… I wondered what nonsense you’d spout. At least try to remember your own appointment schedule.”

Her blunt, no-nonsense response made me marvel despite myself.

‘…Wow. This feels too real.’

Too vivid for a dream.

The sensations, the scent, everything felt real.

Still, I knew this had to be a dream.

There was no way she could be back like this not after dying.

And I, too, had died. I knew that.

Unless some god had sent me back in time, there was no way this could be happening.

If anything, it was probably one of those… final visions people see before they die.

A flashback of one’s life, like they say happens just before death.

Having come to that conclusion, I looked at Yuria.

“…What are you doing just standing there? Today is important. We don’t have time to dawdle, grab your sword, now.”

She stared at me with that familiar cold gaze.

In the past or now, she was always the one pushing me around.

She only confessed her feelings when I was on the verge of death, but I had known, long ago, about the attention she paid me.

And yes, there had been moments when I liked her too.

But once she started looking down on me, I couldn’t stand her anymore.

She dismissed me.

Excluded me from the family affairs.

She hadn’t even considered me part of the bare minimum she called family.

We lived with a line drawn between us.

I can still picture her perfectly how she stood by, completely indifferent, no matter what I went through.

Even that day, the one when I lost my right eye if she had tried to stop it, maybe it never would’ve happened.

But even putting all that behind me…

Could I ever have truly loved a woman like her, who had to control everything with her own hands before she felt satisfied?

That’s why she must have said it like this—

“If… there’s never a next time for us…”

“…”

“Please make sure we get divorced. As quickly as possible.”

Her final words drift through my mind.

In the end, it meant we were never meant to be.

‘…Well, since this is a dream anyway.’

Maybe I should try doing the things I never could before.

Looking back at everything I held back until now—

She felt infuriated.

Hiding her feelings to the very end, toying with me?

“Can’t you hear me? This isn’t the time to—”

Smack—

Yuria’s head jerks violently to the side.

Her eyes widen as a sharp sting spreads across her cheek.

Her face, tilted and slowly freezing in place, is quite a sight.

“I’ve thought about this a lot. For a long time.”

We were bound by over a decade of shared history.

But now that I’ve reached the end—

Just as she once wished—

“You never loved me. Did you?”

“…”

“You only married me because you had no choice.”

Even Yuria, who’d gone cold and numb, looked startled at that, her face showing a flicker of surprise.

Just as she was about to softly whisper, “That’s not true,” I pressed on, cutting her off.

The right glove symbol of our marriage, given by her family—

“Ria.”

I pull off the glove, the one that signified we were two halves of a whole, and toss it out the window.

“It’s time for us to go our separate ways.”

The cold dawn wind rushes in.

“Let’s get divorced.”

The elegant glove flies off into the sky.

“…Are you serious…?”

For the first time, her composure breaks.