I couldn’t easily understand what Kian was saying.

“Father? Which father are you talking about?”

Kian could no longer speak, and Durion bowed deeply to me and said,

“Last night, His Grace passed away.”

“Durion? What are you saying right now? Are you telling me Sikar Blake is dead? That can’t be true, right?”

Durion lowered his head with a heavy expression.

“Though it may be hard to believe… he has passed away.”

“What on earth are you saying…? This doesn’t make sense. How can someone who was sleeping beside me just last night suddenly be dead?”

I had never felt so bewildered.

Sikar Blake, who showed no signs of anything until now, suddenly dead? Are they seriously asking me to believe this?

It was clear he must have died to escape me, since I kept insisting he break the curse. Otherwise, none of this made any sense.

“I don’t know what scheme you’re plotting, but I won’t fall for it. Take me to where Sikar Blake is.”

Durion wiped the moisture from his eyes with a somber face and said,

“I will let you verify for yourself.”

When Durion raised his hand, soldiers dressed in white, emerging from unseen places, came forward and opened the coffin.

Inside lay Sikar Blake, seemingly asleep.

T-this was impossible. How could Sikar Blake, perfectly fine just moments ago, suddenly be dead?

Thud.

Literally, I collapsed right where I stood.

How could this happen? How could it happen so suddenly…?

“This doesn’t make sense! How can a person just suddenly become like this overnight?!”

Durion bowed his head deeply, as if holding back tears.

“His Grace… recently refused the treatment offered by His Majesty the King. According to the priest, he had been receiving treatments to halt the curse’s manifestations each time they occurred, but suddenly stopped the treatments, which led to his death… His Grace had been continuously lacking energy lately. Did you perhaps not notice?”

Lacking energy?

I had thought Sikar Blake had become quite gentle recently. Given the circumstances, I assumed he was simply drained because he was preparing to say goodbye to me.

But it was because he lacked energy…?

“Ah, no matter what… how can someone just die so suddenly like this?!”

“A curse can kill a person overnight.”

I was too numb to even cry.

The warmth of Sikar Blake’s arms holding me last night still seemed to linger… and now he’s dead?

I sprang up and stared again and again at Sikar Blake lying in the coffin.

No matter how I looked, that face was unmistakably Sikar Blake’s. Yet still, I couldn’t believe it.

“King, is this truly His Grace? Is it really true that His Grace has passed?”

Kian nodded weakly.

“Ever since I confirmed Father’s body earlier, there has been absolutely no sign of life…”

If Kian, who possesses sacred power, sensed no life at all, then yes, he was truly dead.

I reached out with trembling hands to touch his, and felt no warmth whatsoever.

Durion knelt down, weeping.

“His Grace suffered greatly last night. But he said if Milady found out, she would worry—so since Milady was having trouble sleeping, he instructed us to give her sleeping medicine…”

“Then you should have taken him to the King for treatment even then!”

Durion’s voice trembled, choked with emotion.

“We couldn’t… His Grace refused.”

“So you just let him die?!”

Durion said nothing more. Sikar Blake must have been stubborn. I knew that even without being told, but I couldn’t ease this suffocating frustration.

Sikar Blake, who always shouted loudly with veins bulging in his neck… I hadn’t noticed at all that lately, he looked so listless and drained…

Perhaps I was the one who neglected Sikar Blake’s death.

“His Grace… requested to be buried in the Snow Mountain. So we intend to lay him to rest beside where Lord Valije is enshrined.”

Hearing even the word “enshrine” regarding Sikar Blake made his death undeniably real.

Kian had somehow brought a paper crane and placed it gently on Sikar Blake’s chest inside the coffin.

It was the paper crane we had folded together long ago.

Kian carefully placed the crane and clasped his hands together. His hands trembled violently.

“Mother… remember how we were told that if we folded a thousand paper cranes and made a wish, it would come true? I will wish for Father to come back to life. Don’t worry, Mother. I will wish and wish again for Father to return… to come back to us…”

Seeing Kian, tears streaming down his face, desperately wishing for Sikar Blake to return, my own suppressed tears finally burst forth.

“Kian…!”

I went to him and pulled him into my arms. Kian, nestled against me, cried as he spoke.

“If I wish and wish again, Father will return to us…”

I fervently wished such a day would truly come. I’d rather leave this place if only Sikar Blake could come back to life…

I wished for such a miracle…

Kian and I stood holding each other, crying. Durion turned his gaze away, as if unable to bear watching us.

Kian and I clung to each other for a long time, weeping. My chest felt so heavy… so painful… I felt like I’d go mad.

I should have been the one to disappear. I shouldn’t have let Sikar Blake die.

But he’s gone… how am I supposed to live here now, without him?

I came here and relied on him for everything, and now he’s abandoned me so suddenly—that awful man. He really was terrible.

Thinking back… he must have been preparing since the moment he dissolved the oath with Vika Lamberst.

Recalling last night, he had tried to say something to me. But I postponed it, telling him we could talk about it today.

Back then, Sikar Blake must have known he was going to die. He probably wanted to say goodbye to me before he passed.

I should have accepted his farewell then. I shouldn’t have brushed it aside. Now, looking back, I’m filled with nothing but regret.

Just as I was utterly exhausted from crying, Reidox finally rushed in.

“His… His Grace… what… what has happened…?”

Durion spoke in a heavy voice.

“His Grace did not wish for a funeral. He only desired to be quietly buried in the Snow Mountain. Thus, I intend to honor his final wish and depart for the Snow Mountain today.”

“Why so urgent?! No! We can’t send him off like this today!”

“I already sent a letter to Her Highness Princess Veronia at dawn. She is expecting us.”

“It’s already hard enough to accept such a sudden death—must we already proceed with the burial?”

Durion lowered his head apologetically.

“I’m sorry. I have no choice but to honor His Grace’s final wishes.”

Why was he in such a hurry? Was it because he feared we’d grieve too deeply, so he chose to leave so quickly?

I resented Sikar Blake for knowing he would die and rushing everything to completion.

“His Grace also requested one more thing—he wished that news of his passing not be told to Grandmother.”

“But we’ll have to tell her eventually, won’t we?”

“He wished it not be revealed for several years, for the sake of Grandmother’s health.”

He must have worried her dementia would worsen. I could understand that much.

Reidox sighed deeply, looking conflicted, and said,

“I will announce His Grace’s passing to the nobles during the council meeting.”

Durion and Reidox were considerate toward Kian and me, but it did nothing to ease this despairing grief.

Since not many could go to the Snow Mountain, only Durion and Reidox joined us in the carriage.

The rattling sound of the moving carriage felt endlessly hollow.

As the Snow Mountain drew nearer before my eyes, tears flowed again. Kian, who usually fell asleep on the journey, remained wide awake today.

His eyes were swollen red as he stared blankly out the window.

Poor Kian, losing his father once again…

Kian, gazing emptily out the window with hollow eyes, met my gaze and—choked up again—pulled me into a tight embrace.

We held each other, offering mutual comfort, until we arrived at the Snow Mountain.

Princess Veronia frowned deeply as she gazed at Sikar Blake’s funeral carriage.

“Prepare a place for Duke Blake in the enshrinement hall. Bring the bier inside.”

“Thank you for your consideration, Your Highness.”

Veronia sighed and looked at Yura with a worried expression.

“You must be terribly shocked.”

“…I’m sorry to impose on you so suddenly, Your Highness.”

“No. If Duke Blake is enshrined here, it will be easier for the King to perform memorial rites.”

Veronia sighed again, looking stifled, as she watched Kian with his head bowed, utterly dejected.

“The King has lost his father twice now…”

The Princess’s warm words made Yura, who had been holding back tears, cry once more.

“Hic… Your Highness…”

Yura felt deeply sorry for Kian. She also worried he might be blaming himself.

Even Princess Veronia, for once today, was concerned for Kian.

May he overcome this period successfully…

The funeral was even more modest than Valije’s.

The only mourners were Reidox and Durion, accompanied by only a few soldiers.

Kian placed rosemary atop Sikar Blake’s coffin instead of lilies.

He remembered how, in childhood, Sikar Blake had gifted rosemary for the sake of family peace.

“Even if Father has gone ahead, we are still a family…”

Yura, surprised to see Kian had brought rosemary, hugged him. She was endlessly grateful that Kian remembered those childhood days.

“If night grows too deep, it will be hard to leave. You should go now. I will take good care of Duke Blake.”

Durion bowed deeply, as if pouring out his sincerity.

“Thank you for honoring such a sudden request, Your Highness.”

“Such formalities are unnecessary. Go before it gets too late.”

Though everyone wished to stay a little longer, the shortening daylight forced them to depart hastily.

Yura and Kian, who had lost their beloved so hollowly overnight, found it hard to move—but since the sun had already set, they had no choice but to leave.

“See you again.”

“May I visit often?”

It was Yura’s most earnest wish. Veronia nodded gravely.

“Anytime.”

“I am deeply grateful, Your Highness. Deeply grateful.”

Veronia gestured to Durion as if to say, “Take them away quickly.” Durion and Reidox bowed respectfully and boarded the carriage to depart.

After everyone left, Veronia was once again left utterly alone on the Snow Mountain.

Alone, Veronia sighed deeply and murmured softly,

“Come out now.”