The Thread of Fate
As if the world itself had frozen, Luna's vision locked in place—and there, within it, that man appeared.
The white-haired man. The strategist. The first person to join their army when no one else had cared enough to look their way.
The man who had promised to place the world in her hands—Swen.
Luna remembered every single word she had ever exchanged with him. Every syllable. And of course, she remembered every word she herself had spoken.
Swen had known. He had known that Serpina was her enemy—Lunarien's enemy. That the one who had so cruelly murdered her sister, the unacknowledged concubine of the crown prince, was none other than Serpina. He had known all of it.
And so, a man who understood every one of those circumstances could never be helping Serpina of his own free will.
After all, Lord Swen had been her strategist alone. For a man who existed solely for her sake to work for her mortal enemy was a contradiction in itself. At least, that was how it stood in Luna's mind.
Had he not been the one who promised to deliver the world into her hands? Had he not said that, barring some extraordinary misfortune, he would remain at her side forever?
Lord Swen could not have gone wrong.
The idea of a Swen who willingly aided Serpina... it simply did not make sense.
This was not a matter of Luna failing to accept the situation. It was something far more fundamental—as natural and self-evident as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.
Therefore, if Swen truly was helping Serpina, it was as absurd as the sun rising in the west.
Once her thoughts reached that point, the conclusion compressed itself into a single, inevitable truth.
Lord Swen is... being threatened.
Yes!
If Lord Swen was being coerced by that detestable woman—if his very life hung in the balance—then everything began to make sense.
Lord Swen...!!
Her legs gave out. Luna sank to the floor where she stood.
Lord Swen would never lift a finger to help the likes of Serpina of his own accord... so he must be under threat of death, or something at least that severe. He has no choice but to cooperate with her.
Thinking of it that way, everything fell into place with startling clarity.
And yet, at the same time... there was nothing she could do about the ache that bloomed deep in her chest.
Lord Swen... for me... for our army, he sacrificed himself alone—and now, under that utterly wicked woman... he has been suffering in agony all this time.
And she hadn't even known.
She had been sitting here, wondering pathetically why he hadn't come back.
The thought that imprisonment in some underground dungeon might have been preferable to working under that woman brought fresh tears welling up. After all, from Lord Swen's perspective, serving Serpina must have been an unimaginable humiliation.
But Lord Swen had to survive. He had made a promise to her. He was a man who had sworn to keep that promise.
Just as she had yearned for him all this time... he must have been yearning for her as well.
It was too late.
The timing of her uprising had been late—disastrously late. She should have revealed herself sooner, even if it meant resorting to more underhanded methods, even if it meant casting aside every last shred of justification and honor from the start.
While Lord Swen endured a humiliation beyond anything mere words about "working under Serpina" could convey... she herself had been sitting here like some lofty swan, waiting for the proper cause. The thought of it filled her with self-loathing.
I can't go on like this...!
"...Violet."
"!!!!"
Violet, who had been unable to utter a single word, flinched and took an involuntary step back—struck by a chill she had never felt in her life.
Luna's eyes... were dead.
The woman who had always looked upon her—upon everyone—with such warmth now seemed possessed by something, as though she were an entirely different person.
"This is no time to stand around. Let us prepare for war at once. We must not... keep him waiting any longer."
"Pardon...? Keep him waiting... I—I'm sorry, keep whom from waiting?"
"..."
In that moment, tears began to spill from Luna's eyes.
"Lu-Luna...?"
"Lord Swen is... even now, even now... under that devil of a woman."
"Suffering in agony... forced against his will, coerced into doing things he never wanted... groaning under Serpina's heel."
"And so... I can no longer... I can no longer waste another precious moment. Even now... with every minute, every second that passes, the pain Lord Swen must be enduring is unimaginable...!"
"Ah... I..."
Honestly, addressing the Luna standing before her now was no small challenge for a fledgling strategist like Violet. And yet she had no choice but to speak. Luna's words simply did not make sense to her.
"...Might I be permitted to say something...?"
"...?"
"That is... is it truly such a painful thing for this Lord Swen to be serving under Serpina's army?"
"Of course it is!!"
Before Violet could even finish, Luna's voice cracked out in a raw shout.
The sight of Luna screaming at her point-blank—it was a disheveled, frayed version of her that Violet had never once witnessed.
"I... that is, well..."
But no matter how strange her lord's behavior, the things that needed saying still had to be said. That was the path of a proper strategist, as Violet understood it.
"This man Swen is currently, within Serpina's army... ah..."
"..."
"He seems to be... doing rather well for himself, from what I gather...?"
"..."
"There are reports that he enjoys considerable favor from Serpina herself..."
Violet closed her eyes, bowed her head, and simply waited for Luna's reply.
How long did the silence stretch?
At last, Luna's voice—cold beyond measure—struck her ears like a blade.
"Idle rumors."
"...Pardon? Might I... ask on what grounds?"
Violet had expected Luna to explain her reasoning in that clear, easy manner of hers. But what came instead was colder still.
"How could it be otherwise?"
The Luna who had always regarded her with such warmth now spoke with dead eyes and a tone sharp enough to draw blood at a touch.
"Of all people, under that damned Serpina—Lord Swen could never be happy there."
"Favor, affection... all of it is just wordplay. A form of vicious torment, no doubt. She intimidates people, draws them into her grasp, and takes pleasure in controlling them however she likes. Lord Swen simply got caught in it. And by spreading such despicable nonsense, they've only made his situation more difficult."
"She's vile. Unspeakably so... the lowest kind of human being."
Having said that much, Luna let out a short breath. A faint light flickered in her ruby-red eyes.
Standing before that expression, Violet found herself unable to press any further with the intelligence she had gathered.
"Violet. I believe you only trusted those words because you don't know better. But if you understood the heart with which Lord Swen left our side—if you knew... with what feelings..."
By this point, her tears were no longer mere drops. They fell in heavy beads, striking the floor one after another.
It was the first time. The first time Violet had ever seen Luna—always so gentle, yet possessed of an undeniable charisma—weep so wretchedly.
"...with what feelings he is working under that hated woman—if you knew that... you would never believe such things."
"My lord, I was only—"
"They're all false rumors."
Luna cut her off.
"I don't know what you've heard, but every bit of it is nothing but idle gossip. I hope that going forward, Violet, you'll learn the wisdom to simply filter out the things that deserve filtering. Understood?"
Whether she should call it a relief or not, Luna's voice had grown gentle again.
No—the voice was Luna's, warm and kind as ever... and yet she seemed like someone else entirely.
This person—
"Understood?"
—was terrifying...!
"...Y-yes, my lord. I... I apologize for my presumption."
"Not at all, Violet. As long as you understand, it's fine. Things are going to get quite busy from here on, so I hope you'll steel yourself as well. All right?"
"Yes. Yes, ma'am."
"Good."
Watching Luna rise without another word and walk away into the distance, Violet sank into thought.
The moment she had heard the keywords "young white-haired man," Violet had immediately sought out retired officers who had spent time on the northern continent. Fortune had smiled on her—she had found an elderly man who, until recently, had served in Serpina's army before retiring in his old age and returning to his hometown here. From him, she had heard a detailed account.
The man had insisted he was merely an ordinary officer with little connection to central politics, and that everything was just rumor—but Swen's enjoyment of Serpina's favor had seemed an established fact.
No, "favor" didn't begin to cover it. There had even been talk that the handsome Swen had swallowed Serpina whole, like a fox devouring its prey.
And that wasn't all. The female knight who had crossed over to Serpina's army alongside Swen was said to have received an extraordinarily high title at an unprecedented speed.
So according to Luna... this man Swen was being coerced into working under Serpina against his will.
But would someone normally keep a coerced man close and shower him with favor? If the goal was to torment him, would she really grant high rank to the people he had brought with him?
Unable to voice any of the questions swirling through her mind, Violet could only recall the unprecedentedly cold expression Luna had shown her moments ago.
Why?
Who on earth was this white-haired mage—this man called Swen?
What was he to Luna, that he could shake so thoroughly a woman who always maintained such gentleness and dignity?
In that moment, young Violet felt a certainty settle over her.
If her lord Luna—Lunarien—were ever to go astray, it would almost certainly be connected to this man named Swen.
And as for Luna herself—
Leaving Violet behind, she wiped the tears streaming down her face with her sleeve as she left the royal palace, and swore once more.
I was a fool, Lord Swen.
And so—
I will no longer leave you abandoned in pain and suffering.
I'll settle the Karelia army as quickly as possible.
Somehow unify the southern continent... then advance into the central continent.
The Aesius army, which was presumed to have sold Lord Swen away.
And the Serpina army, which was forcibly coercing him...
Luna slowly opened her hand.
A pure white hand. A delicate hand still largely unstained by blood—too fine to belong to a warlord.
She thought to herself.
That her meeting with Lord Swen had been destiny.
After all, from the very first moment they met, he had staked everything on her. More than Brans, more than Aesius, more even than Serpina—he had believed that she could unify the continent.
He was the one who had shown her that hope.
And even now, in Luna's hand—it was unmistakably there.
The thread of fate that bound her to Lord Swen.
Though invisible to their eyes, from the very moment they parted she had never once forgotten that they remained connected by it.
Yes.
What was lacking... was perhaps blood.
Only when she soaked that hand thoroughly in crimson blood would the "fate" connecting her to Lord Swen reveal itself, dyed a vivid red.
And so, by any means necessary, she would deal with those women with her own hands.
Lord Swen. Just wait a little longer. I, Luna... will come and save you...♥
So please—
Just a little, just a little longer... wait for me...!
At the very hour that Luna and Violet's strange conversation was unfolding, within Aingart Castle—
"However, there is something I would ask of you."
Serpina turned her golden eyes upon Swen, letting them sparkle as she spoke in a tone of extraordinary softness.
"Become my consort, Swen."
—Though it was rather far removed from what Luna had imagined, he was, in any case, in quite a difficult situation.