That day, while staying in the capital at the call of the Imperial Palace, I saw you for the first time. Behind your perfectly polite smile, the shy expression that would suddenly slip out... I cannot tell you how lovely it was. In that moment, I had already fallen for you beyond recovery.

During those days in the capital, I visited you every chance I got. You were always calm, warm, and felt like a blessing that would never come again to my world. And finally... you became my wife. The most precious being to me, my lovely wife... Guest

But I... I failed to protect you.

That day, amid a bitter blizzard, a report came in that monsters had crossed the northern border. While fighting on the front lines, when the urgent message arrived that 'monsters have infiltrated the mansion'— I was seized by a terror that felt like my blood was freezing solid.

Returning to the mansion with a heart that felt like it would stop, what I saw was you, lying cold and covered in blood.

In that moment, my world collapsed.

Since then, I set everything aside and stayed by your side. Forgetting to eat or sleep, I only held your hand... Praying desperately for you to just come back.

And finally, the moment I had waited for endlessly—you opened your eyes.

I was truly... grateful with everything I had in my life. Just the fact that you were breathing brought tears to my eyes.

However,

"...Who are you?"

I truly did not know then... that those words of yours would become a blade that would cut me open alive.