TCS 01

Chapter : 1. Who Are You?

The Star of the Empire, Stella Bronte.

A woman born with the destiny to become the Empress.

Even though she was born into the modest Bronte family, she was raised solely to take the crown. Affection from her parents was a luxury she could never afford; everything she ate, wore, and slept in was strictly educated under a maid sent by the Empress herself. Still, she lived deceiving herself that it was fine not to receive her family’s love.

That self-deception lasted until a fire broke out in the estate, sparking discussions regarding Stella’s ultimate fate.

It was spring of that year, just as winter parted and warm winds began to blow. Teo, Stella’s fiancé and first in line to the throne, narrowly survived a life-threatening crisis.

He had been caught in the flames while coming to see Stella.

Everyone present at the State Council was furious over the incident. The dominant consensus was that Stella Bronte should be punished immediately.

Stella could not accept such a sentence. While Teo’s brush with death was tragic, she had done everything in her power to save him. Though she suffered burns while rescuing him, she never resented him for it.

Yet, the return for her sacrifice was cruel.

She had been raised her entire life to become the Empress, but abandonment by the imperial family took only a single moment.

They called her the Star of the Empire, yet even upon reaching adulthood, she possessed no special abilities whatsoever…

She could blame no one.

To make matters worse, she was now left with permanent burn scars. Empress Natalie, who had never favored her in the first place, would never accept this turn of events. The frail Emperor, needing a powerful faction to bolster Teo’s standing, undoubtedly yielded to the Empress’s words.

Still, she never imagined her own family would abandon her too.

Even when the fire erupted and she gasped for breath through the thick, choking smoke rising in the dark, it had not been this painful.

Stella exhaled a rough breath, trying to process the situation she was thrust into, but nothing could calm her frantic heart. On the desk, placed beside a dagger, was a paper inscribed with cold, ruthless words:

“For the sake of honor.”

She knew instantly what that brief sentence implied.

Since she could no longer become the Empress, she was expected to restore her family’s honor through her death.

‘They were a family that never offered a shred of affection, yet I never thought they would cast me aside like this.’

Disgusted by such an archaic concept, she crumpled the paper in her hand. Had she not remembered the handwriting of her older brother, Asher, from her childhood, she might have marched downstairs right then and there to demand an answer.

Glancing around, Stella moved toward the window. Down below stood the Imperial Knights.

‘I’m not even the one who started the fire. I just did my absolute best to save His Highness! Is it my fault that I was born as the Star of the Empire?’

The imperial court had always been a place that tolerated not a single flaw. Stella recalled the words once spoken to her by the maid sent by the Empress:

‘Lady Bronte, if you cannot live as the Empress, it is no different from being dead.’

Those cruel words penetrated deep into her chest.

Her hands trembled uncontrollably.

Clutching her shaking hands, Stella leaned forward to get a closer look at the situation below. Suddenly, her eyes locked with a man whose terrifying gaze glinted sharply even in the dark.

She hurriedly pulled herself back into hiding.

‘All I wanted was to live…’

She had to run. If it meant staying alive, she was ready to abandon not just the imperial court, but her family as well. After all, they were the ones who threw her away first.

‘Let’s run. I just need to abandon this country first. Now that I know no one is on my side, I have no reason to stay.’

It was a night lit bright by a particularly radiant moon.

Evading the Imperial Knights threatening her life, Stella carefully slipped outside.

As she turned her steps into the dense forest surrounding the Bronte estate, the sound of barking dogs echoed in the air. The tightening circle of torches made her pace faster and faster.

“Haaah…”

Stella didn’t want to die.

White frost leaked from her mouth with every ragged breath, and her feet throbbed in agony against the unfamiliar ground, but even that pain was better than the metallic screech of death closing in on her ears. If those hunting her caught up, their drawn swords would sever her neck in a heartbeat.

‘Please, don’t come near me.’

The distance between them felt dangerously close, never quite widening. It felt as though footsteps echoing in the dark would pounce over her entire body at any moment. The eyes of her pursuers even seemed to carry leisurely smirks—as if they had set a trap and were merely watching her fall into it.

‘Just… if I can just get out of the forest.’

Once she escaped this unforgiving forest that showed no mercy to fragile life, the tangled buildings of the city would hide her—even if she had to wander around looking like a beggar.

A hawk soared across the dark sky.

‘Run, I have to run.’

A feather from the hawk grazed her cheek before falling away.

Shocked, she nearly collapsed on the spot. Feeling as though she were being hunted down under a cruelly persistent gaze, she glanced behind her. Goosebumps broke out across her arms as she met the razor-sharp eyes of the knights.

“Over there!”

Though summer was approaching, the night air remained quite chilly. The mud clinging to her legs dried rapidly, dragging down her movements.

Curiously, despite everything, they still hadn’t caught her. They simply waited—like beasts waiting for their prey to draw its final breath.

They were waiting for her to exhaust herself.

‘I can’t get caught here.’

Stella grit her teeth and ran.

It didn’t matter if they were playing with her like sport. If she kept running until the absolute end, she might just be able to slip away from them.

It was during the darkest hour of the night when the squelching mud beneath her gave way to cold stone ground.

‘Once I cross this point, I’ll be outside the Bronte domain.’

Gazing up at the sky painted in pitch-black darkness, Stella barely managed to settle her ragged breathing. Now, all she had to do was descend the long flight of stairs connected to the forest.

‘Just a little more…’

She took a step downward.

In that exact instant, the hawk in the sky swooped down violently, lunging straight at Stella as she tried to head down the stairs.

Startled, her body wobbled, and her pale arms flailed pitifully in the air. Contrary to her desperate attempt to grab hold of anything, a series of dull thuds echoed out before a heavy thud reverberated through her head.

“Ugh!”

In a flash, her world turned completely white.

‘I can’t… pass out here…’

Though her mind panicked and urged her to raise a hand, her body wouldn’t budge at all. She forced strength into her eyes to preserve her fading vision, but the blurred world lost all its color and turned pitch black.

How long had she been unconscious?

Stella shook her head from side to side, struggling to recover her vision. A throbbing pain struck her head.

‘It hurts… it hurts so much.’

In truth, her heart hurt even more than her head.

Exhausted from all the running, she hunched her back deeply.

The first thing that caught her eyes was her ruined feet. Having traversed the forest barefoot, they were covered in all sorts of debris. Among them, a single green leaf caught her attention. Stella reached out toward the leaf stuck to her filthy foot.

The damp leaf tore cleanly in half.

The split leaf looked pitifully similar to her own miserable fate.

‘There’s no time for self-pity.’

Perhaps her head injury was severe; her own urgent voice kept echoing inside her head repeatedly, sounding like a muffled, rusty machine.

‘If I don’t run right now, I might die.’

Jolted awake by the warning ringing in her head, she began to push forward once more.

Past the remaining stairs lay a narrow alleyway lined with small houses. The homes faced each other so closely that barely one person could squeeze through, but because the sun had yet to rise, her surroundings were dead silent.

‘They’ll kill me. They will…’

Perhaps because of the quiet, the cruel voices in her head rang out even clearer.

‘There’s no time, I have to hurry and run.’

She desperately wished these terrifying voices were all just a lie.

Had her prayer reached the heavens?

‘But why…? Who is trying to kill me?’

As she emerged from the tangled web of alleyways, her headache grew progressively worse until everything faded—except for those last few echoing words.

As her memories dissolved, the emotions embedded within them vanished as well. Though the physical pain hadn’t fully subsided, her mind was strangely at peace.

Breathing in a rough gust of air, she lifted her head.

The sun began to paint the sky, overlapping the purple hue left behind by the dawn air. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful.

‘Morning is coming.’

Having lost her memory, she stood there blankly, staring up at the sky.

At some point, her steps as she walked while looking up slowed down.

Stepping off the stone stairs caked in mud, an open street came into view. The street, bathed in the early morning light, carried an entirely different atmosphere from the gloomy alleyways.

Red-roofed buildings stretched long along a flowing river, their shadows casting an alluring painting upon the water’s surface. The stone wall was neatly stacked in square blocks to prevent the river from overflowing.

Stella slowly approached the stone wall by the river.

She placed her hand on the wall, which was coated in morning dew. A cool chill traveled up through her hand.

‘It feels nice.’

She quietly stared at the flowing river.

The artwork painted by nature unfolded right before her eyes, keeping her gaze completely spellbound. It felt like a portal leading to another world.

Out of curiosity, she leaned her body far forward.

As she did, her reflection appeared in the water.

Beside her straight nose bridge, blue eyes sparkled like the Milky Way. Her hand, which had been touching the corners of her eyes, traced down her slender cheek to her red lips, finally stopping at her shoulder after following her delicate neck.

Stella touched her hair, which resembled the early dawn—a mixture of blue and purple. The wavy strands felt quite soft.

She asked the woman reflected in the river water:

“Who are you?”

The water rippled gently.

She reached out her hand, hoping to receive an answer from the river. However, her injured feet throbbed so intensely that she could no longer remain standing.

Swallowing the pain, she leaned her body against the stone wall.

“Why was I running away?”

Before she could find an answer, the sky shifted into a bright blue.

Stella shielded her eyes with her hand against the pouring morning sunlight.

As the day brightened, people coming out onto the street spotted her and began to whisper.

“Oh my goodness!”

“What is a young lady doing out here?”

A beautiful woman emerging from a back alley.

It was only natural that everyone’s curiosity instantly shifted toward her.

Stella flinched and took a hesitant step back to escape their stares.

Their gazes gathered and grew, gradually taking over the entire surroundings.

Among them, a grey-haired old man approached her.

“Young lady, are you alright?”

Stella pulled her shoulders inward and looked at the old man’s hand.

On the hand of the old man, who wore a worn jacket, a long scar was engraved like an ancient medal of honor.

She looked back and forth between his hand and his face. The contrast between his gentle-looking face and the rough marks on his hands made her hesitate.

“Take my hand and stand up.”

“…”

“It’s dangerous to stay in a place like this for long.”

At his firm voice, she looked around. Aside from the old man, many people were staring at her.

The old man urged her again.

“Hurry!”

Startled, Stella pulled away from him.

In that moment, a chilling smile crept onto the old man’s lips.

He roughly grabbed her hand.

“Come here, I said! Walking around without even knowing how dangerous this place is!”

Her instincts warned her of an unsettling atmosphere, and she tried to pull her hand away, but the old man’s grip was far too strong.

“This alley is filled with packs of wolves in human skin. When they see a beautiful woman, they can’t wait to pounce without knowing their place.”

His raspy voice struck her ears.

Stella pushed against his arm.

“Please let go of me.”

“Now, now. I told you to just follow me quietly!”

The old man stopped and turned his body toward the frightened girl.

Stella met his eyes head-on as he shoved his face close to hers. His faded eyes, worn down by many years of life, glinted fiercely like a starving beast in a desolate field.

“Do you want to die here?”

“No, I…”

Die. At that word, her body trembled.

Even though she had forgotten everything, the warning to run if she didn’t want to die was deeply engraved in her mind.

As she stood there frozen, the old man pressed a hand to his forehead.

“What an extraordinarily disobedient young lady.”

Drawn by the commotion, more and more people began to gather.

“What’s all this noise about?”

“Shouldn’t someone help her? Dear, go do something.”

“If you don’t know that old man, you’d better stay quiet. You’ll only get involved and suffer for nothing.”

However, they merely read the room and exchanged glances; not a single person stepped forward.

Her fear of what was about to happen escalated rapidly.

Stella shouted desperately to break free from the old man:

“H-Help me!”

Regrettably, her terrified voice was buried and lost beneath the whispers of the crowd.

Stella twisted her body even harder, refusing to follow him.

“I won’t go with you!”

Was she being punished for ignoring the voice echoing in her head?

Feeling foolish for getting caught so easily, she bit her lower lip and hung her head.

She couldn’t just stand by any longer.

In an instant, she bit down hard on the old man’s forearm.

“Argh! What in the…”

The old man clenched and unclenched his rough hand.

“D-Don’t come any closer! If you step closer, next time I’ll bite your neck, not your arm!”

Stella glared at the old man, baring her pearly white teeth like an enraged beast.

Yet, as if he had anticipated that much, the old man smirked terrifyingly and stepped closer.

Faced with his hair-raising aura, she closed both of her eyes tight.

‘Anyone, please… someone help me!’

Clang! The sharp screech of steel tore through the air, sending a cold chill over her body.

It seemed the old man had drawn a blade.

A fierce gust of wind sliced through the air, and she was certain she was dead for sure.

Unexpectedly, a blood-curdling scream from the old man echoed across the plaza.

“AAAAGH!”

‘What happened?’

Stella opened her eyes to check the situation.

Right in front of her, the old man’s severed arm was rolling across the ground.

She slowly lifted her head, following the path of a sword dripping with the old man’s blood.

Standing before her was a man with silver hair, crimson eyes, and a strikingly handsome face—the kind one might only hope to see once in a lifetime.

Her eyes blinked rapidly as she stared at the man possessing such unbelievable beauty.

‘Did he… save me?’

A moment later, Stella shook her head inwardly.

Though she was now an outcast on the run who had lost her memories, she could tell from the suffocating aura radiating off him alone that the man before her was no ordinary person.