Chapter 1

The Day She Turned Twenty

Lea had spent the entire day in the stables, overjoyed by the birth of a pair of twin foals. She happily agonized over what to name them before eventually falling asleep.

Then, deep in the night, she opened her eyes when her nurse urgently shook her awake.

“Princess, you have to get up.”

With a deathly pale expression, her nurse hurriedly dressed Lea.

After fleeing as though her life depended on it, Lea arrived at the entrance to an underground secret passage, where she met her older brother, Aren, the King of Zephiros.

“Only the king knows about this passage. It should buy us some time.”

Tears instantly welled up in Lea’s eyes.

“Brother… Aren’t you coming with me?”

The moment she finished speaking in a trembling voice, Lea burst into tears.

Looking at his pitiful younger sister, Aren said,

“I’ll… follow you later. Lea. We’ll meet again safely, no matter what.”

That day, the moment Lea and her attendants emerged from the secret passage, they headed toward the Red Mountains to the west.

Only the harsh sound of their footsteps echoed through the darkness. No one spoke.

The silence was heavier than a scream.

The barren mountain was made up of nothing but rocks, so few people ever came there. The cave they discovered was suitable for hiding.

A knight who had gone down to find out what was happening at the royal castle returned with a terribly anguished expression. The moment his eyes met Lea’s, he lowered his head.

“…No.”

Lea shook her head.

She staggered toward him and grabbed the hem of his clothes.

“Tell me it’s not true! Tell me my brother is all right!”

“Princess…”

His voice trembled.

“His Majesty… has passed away.”

Sixteen Years Later

Nortia, a vassal state of the Terra Empire.

King Nella, the ruler of the land, clicked her tongue as she looked at the woman sitting listlessly on the bed.

Her faded golden hair had been cut short like a man’s, and the ends had grown out unevenly.

She had heard that the woman refused to let anyone touch her hair, even when they tried to tidy it.

“Do you know how much the bounty on your head is?”

“……”

“For the Red Wraith whom the Empire is so desperate to capture and kill to end up looking like this. I really did pick up a corpse.”

Nella grabbed the unresponsive woman by the chin and lifted her face.

Her face was so emaciated that her cheekbones had been prominently exposed, but she seemed to have regained a little weight and looked somewhat healthier.

Yet her green eyes were still lifeless.

“I hear you don’t say a single word. Are you unable to speak, or do you simply not want to?”

When Nella released her, Lea’s head dropped limply again.

There was only one thought dominating Lea’s mind.

Why am I still alive?

The many years she had spent transforming from a powerless princess who had lost her kingdom into the leader of a rebel army fighting against the Empire flashed rapidly through her mind.

Once again, she had lost everything.

Consumed by despair and self-loathing, Lea’s consciousness wandered aimlessly.

Nella sat down on a chair beside the bed and silently watched Lea for a while before suddenly speaking.

“If you could go back to the past, would you?”

Lea slowly raised her head.

Her eyes, now filled with a faint light, stared at some distant point.

The source of the light that brought her back to life was not the force of life, but hatred and despair.

A strange glint flashed in Nella’s eyes. One corner of her lips curled upward.

She knew.

She knew that the strongest motivation that kept a human being alive was anger.

“If I could go back to the past, I would even sell my soul.”

Her voice, which she had not used in so long, scraped harshly out of her throat.

“What could you possibly do if you went back?”

“I only need to stop one person. Just one person. Everything collapsed that day because of the hands of a single person.”

“Who is that person?”

“Neria. My half-sister.”

“You remember what day it was.”

“How could I ever forget?”

Lea spoke dryly, her eyes blazing.

Nella could see the ember buried deep beneath that dryness, burning on the verge of exploding.

“Are you truly confident that if you returned to the past, you could change it?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Even if you had to lose something precious to you in exchange?”

Something precious?

Lea let out a hollow laugh. There was no way she still had anything like that left.

“A spirit.”

Lea was startled and her eyes widened.

“How…?”

A clear focus returned to Lea’s eyes. With a sneer, she took in the face of the person standing before her.

A middle-aged noblewoman with black and white hair mixed together wore a cold, elegant smile.

“You finally look useful.”

Lea could not tear her gaze away from the woman’s red eyes.

She felt as though she had been thrown before an overwhelming beast—fierce, beautiful, and so powerful that resistance was meaningless.

“Let’s make a plan.”

Lea stared blankly at Nella, unable to understand what she was saying.

“You don’t need to give me your soul.”

“Good morning, Princess!”

With a spirited voice, the curtains were drawn open, and morning sunlight poured into the room.

A woman with dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and a face covered in adorable freckles smiled brightly.

Was the reason her eyes hurt because of the sunlight, or because she could see that radiant smile again?

“Princess, I have some wonderful news that will surprise you. Can you guess what it is?”

“…Nasim gave birth last night.”

“How did you know? Nasim had her foals, and…”

“They’re twins, right? Two of them.”

“What? You must have heard it from somewhere already!”

Lea immediately jumped out of bed and hugged Penny.

“Princess?”

“Because I’m happy.”

“Oh, Princess. Are you really that happy? I told you not to worry. Nasim is healthy, so I said she would give birth safely.”

Still tightly embracing Penny, Lea closed her eyes as they grew hot with tears.

The window flew wide open, and a powerful gust of wind swept over the two of them.

Their clothes fluttered, and their hair scattered in every direction.

“Oh my! What a gust of wind!”

Penny let out a short cry of surprise before bursting into laughter.

Lea gently curled her fingers into a fist, as though trying to grasp the wind.

The wind slipped into her grasp like a stream before flowing back out.

It’s you, isn’t it? You came back with me too, didn’t you?

As if in answer, the wind brushed against her cheek.

On the day she turned twenty, when she learned of her brother’s death, Lea had awakened the power of a spirit in the midst of despair so suffocating that it felt as though her throat were being strangled.

“The probability is extremely low.”

Nella had told her.

“You are going against the laws of the world by returning to the past. The probability of success is extremely low. The probability that you will awaken the power of a spirit again is even lower.”

I succeeded, Your Majesty. And a miracle happened.

She had returned to the past together with her spirit. It was not a matter of awakening her powers anew.

Something had happened that surpassed all predictions.

There was no other way to describe it except as a miracle.

Lea squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again, her gaze flashing fiercely.

Neria.

Tonight, I will stop you. No matter what.

The Desert Kingdom of Zephiros

At the southernmost edge of the continent stood the desert kingdom of Zephiros.

Within the kingdom’s holy sanctuary was a great sacred relic known as the Eye of Zephiros.

The Eye of Zephiros was a mysterious artifact that summoned a sandstorm to sweep away enemy forces whenever they crossed the kingdom’s borders.

Thanks to this perfect defensive artifact, the kingdom had maintained a thousand-year history.

Even in this era, when an empire had emerged on the continent and every nation bowed its head beneath the Empire’s influence, the Kingdom of Zephiros had maintained its proud independence.

Under the protection of the sacred relic, the kingdom was peaceful and safe.

Is it really?

Lea stood atop the high tower of the royal castle, looking down coldly at the kingdom spread out beneath her.

This isn’t peace. It’s slowly sinking.

Born as a princess of the kingdom, she had spent a happy childhood without a single worry.

She loved the kingdom and believed this place was paradise.

She had thought that Zephiros, protected by such a mysterious sacred relic, was truly blessed by the gods.

But…

At some point, the kingdom’s sacred relic had become a poison that slowly ate away at the kingdom.

The fact that no one had noticed was even more tragic.

Lea only realized it after losing the kingdom.

Relying on the power of the sacred relic, the kingdom had grown lazy and stagnant.

One day, it would have eventually collapsed under even the most insignificant sandstorm.

But that doesn’t mean what you did can ever be forgiven, Neria.

The Eye of Zephiros was the most precious treasure among the kingdom’s treasures, yet its security was not particularly tight.

That was because anyone who approached it, except members of the royal bloodline, would be crushed beneath an overwhelming mental pressure and rendered unable to move.

There was a legend that only those of Zephiros blood could destroy the Eye of Zephiros.

Lea had never taken that legend seriously.

How could a member of the royal family possibly destroy a sacred relic?

The sacred relic was the foundation of Zephiros itself.

And yet, Lea’s half-sister and the princess of the kingdom, Neria, had actually committed such a horrifying act.

Tonight was the very night it would happen.

“Lea.”

Lea whipped her head around.

A handsome young man with the same golden hair and green eyes as Lea looked at her in confusion.

“Why did you suddenly call me all the way out here…?”

Aren was startled when Lea suddenly threw herself into his arms.

But when he felt his younger sister’s shoulders trembling, he was even more surprised.

“Lea, what’s wrong? What happened?”

This was not how Lea had originally planned things.

But the moment she saw Aren’s face, she could not hold back the tears that burst forth.

She was afraid this might all be a dream—that she was truly seeing her brother alive again and could actually touch him.

And yet, she was happy because it was real.

Aren patiently waited, gently patting her back until Lea stopped crying.

Just as she remembered, her brother was incredibly kind.

“Your Majesty.”

Aren’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“Your Majesty?”

“Please listen to what I’m about to tell you. It concerns the fate of you, me, and the entire kingdom.”

Aren stared at Lea for a moment before nodding.

The younger sister he knew could be a little spoiled at times, but she was not the kind of girl to spout nonsense.

“I received a divine revelation.”

Lea did not want to explain every single thing she had experienced.

It would take too long, and it would sound completely absurd.

Someone might argue that mentioning a divine revelation was even more ridiculous, but this was the Kingdom of Zephiros—a land that truly received the protection of the gods.

“Something terrible will happen tonight. Many people will die, and the kingdom will be on the verge of collapse.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you what will happen right now.”

If she told him that the sacred relic might be destroyed, Aren would strengthen its security.

That could not happen.

Everything had to occur exactly as it was meant to.

“I can stop it. I have to stop it. So please, don’t ask me anything and just trust me today. Even if there are other things I might lie about, I could never lie when the fate of our kingdom is at stake.”

Aren silently stared at Lea before lightly tapping the tip of her nose with his finger.

“You’ve gotten a red nose. If you had a nightmare, go back to sleep for another hour.”

“Your Majesty!”

“I don’t have time to listen to nonsense, but I suppose someone else might.”

Seeing the playful smile on Aren’s lips, Lea blinked.

“…Brother.”

Aren grinned.

“What can I do to help?”

“Tonight… please don’t go to sleep. Keep the knights on standby.”

Her voice became choked with emotion on its own.

“Again?”

“That’s all I need.”