Chapter 1

Prologue

“Your Grace, Reina Botn requests an audience.”

“Let her in.”

The Duke of Winternight leaned back in his chair and lightly set down the quill he’d been holding.

Moments later, the door opened and Reina stepped inside.

Despite having lived in the mansion for several years, Reina still looked as pale and emaciated as she had on that winter day long ago.

Rough, faded pink hair and sharp yellow eyes.

An excessively faint and indistinct presence that didn’t suit the name Reina at all.

She spoke.

“…There’s a group plotting to kidnap Lady Estelle.”

“So those lunatics desperate to die have finally crawled out.”

“I-I can help you catch the culprit.”

A brief silence followed.

“Help me?”

Reina gave a nod and pulled a small piece of paper from her apron pocket.

“T-This is the letter written by the person who ordered me to kidnap the young lady.”

“…”

When the duke reached his hand toward her, Reina quickly hid the letter behind her back.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Anger flickered in the duke’s eyes.

“I’ll give you this, but I want something in return.”

Reina spoke in a voice strained from holding back tears.

“My child…”

“…”

“Please save my child.”

What had felt like nothing but a frozen winter at the Duke of Winternight’s estate was finally met with spring.

Estelle Winternight.

The name of the duke’s daughter, now watched by the entire empire.

Though the young lady possessed white hair that many people considered ominous, it resembled clouds drifting across a clear sky. Her round, pink tinged eyes were like flowers announcing the arrival of spring.

However, it wasn’t just her lovely appearance that drew the empire’s attention to Estelle.

About eight years ago, while the Duke of Winternight was away, his territory was attacked. Countless people were injured and killed.

At the same time, the duchess he loved and their newborn child vanished without a trace.

The two people the duke loved most disappeared from the world that day. He searched the entire empire for them, but not even a single hair was found.

That was when his madness began.

He hunted down and killed every noble connected to the attack on his household.

The duke’s so called atrocities grew without restraint. At the time, there was no one capable of reining him in, and he had no intention of stopping.

Eight years later, the House of Winternight came to wield power rivaling that of the imperial family itself.

Just as everyone began calling the Duke of Winternight a villain, Estelle appeared.

The child was filthy, with tangled gray hair and a scrawny body that made her look pitiful.

Her presence was so faint that one might’ve passed her by without noticing at all.

“…Your Grace?”

The duke’s aide called out to him, but the duke didn’t move an inch. With empty eyes, he stared at the child who was begging before him.

Without hesitation, he approached the small child.

“What’s your name?”

“…”

The child stared silently at the large, intimidating man for a long while without answering.

It was strange.

Children who faced the Duke of Winternight usually burst into tears within a minute. Yet this child simply looked at him without any expression.

After gazing up at the duke for a long time, the child finally opened her parched lips.

“…White.”

“White?”

“White hair.”

“What are you doing here?”

“…Earning money.”

“Why?”

“If I don’t earn money, the teacher bothers me.”

It was truly odd.

Though there wasn’t a single thing about the child that seemed Winternight like, the duke instinctively believed she was his daughter and asked her to come with him. The child hesitated, but decided things couldn’t get any worse and took his hand.

* * *

Blink. Blink.

The child, skin and bones in ragged clothes, stared out at the extravagant carriage window.

Then she stole a glance at the large, frightening adult sitting across from her.

“…”

The man sat with his arms crossed and eyes closed, showing no sign of moving or making conversation. In the end, the child cautiously read the room and folded her hands neatly in her lap.

Her short legs didn’t reach the carriage floor and almost dangled, but she focused hard to keep them still.

Is it really okay for me to be sitting in such a fancy carriage? Why is he taking me?

She was sure she smelled, yet the duke sitting across from her didn’t frown even once.

‘They say the Duke of Winternight eats children.’

The child lightly touched her thin arm and decided she probably wouldn’t suit his taste anyway.

“…Your hair color.”

“Huh? Y-Yes!”

The duke suddenly spoke to her in a flat voice.

“Was it always that ashy?”

“…Ah.”

The child shook her head with a frightened expression.

“No… it was originally white, but the teacher said it was ominous, so she dyed it every week.”

Another long silence filled the carriage.

While the silence continued, the two arrived at a massive estate. When the enormous gate of what looked more like a fortress than a mansion opened, the child began to hiccup.

“Hic!”

“…”

“H-Hic… hic.”

Worried she’d be scolded for being noisy, the child covered her mouth with both hands and tried hard to suppress the sound.

Though they had arrived, the carriage traveled through the vast garden for quite some time before stopping. The duke stepped down first, took a breath, then wrapped the child in a blanket and gently lifted her into his arms.

“…!”

I definitely smell.

The child fidgeted nervously and looked at the duke. The duke gave orders to the servants who had come out to greet them.

“Bring a maid suitable to care for a child.”

* * *

It felt like she’d been rolled around inside a bucket. Her stomach churned. What was I doing just a moment ago? I remember talking to someone, but…

She couldn’t recall anything beyond that.

One thing was clear. Something urgent had happened.

“…?”

‘Wait a second. Why am I lying down?’

When Eugene opened her eyes wide in confusion, a girl she’d never seen before was sobbing while looking at her.

“Mom!”

The child cried so hard it felt like her entire tiny body was made of tears.

“I…”

“Mom, I’m sorry… I won’t be stubborn anymore. Sob. Mom…”

Eugene was completely flustered. Why was this child calling her mom?

First things first, she needed to calm the child down.

“Hey, sweetheart? Stop crying…”

Pink hair and light purple eyes.

She was crying her heart out and terribly thin, but she was a lovely child.

As Eugene reached out to soothe her, she suddenly noticed something strange.

Her hands were covered in unfamiliar calluses, and her sleeves were so worn that loose threads were obvious at a glance.

She barely managed to sit up, and as she leaned forward, pink hair brushed across her vision.

“W-What is this?”

Reina looked around in panic.

The house was old and shabby, yet there was no dust. Eugene spotted a cracked mirror nearby and approached it to look at her reflection.

A woman with pink hair and yellow eyes she’d never seen before.

“Aaaah!”

What is this? What is this? A dream? It feels way too real.

Eugene slapped her cheeks hard, over and over. The child clinging to her turned pale when she saw her mother hitting herself and grabbed her arms.

“Mom, mom, that hurts. I’m sorry. Stop. I’ll be good, okay?”

It hurt.

Her cheeks throbbed so badly they were burning red. The child started crying again as if she were the one being hit.

“Who are you…”

Just as Eugene was about to ask who the child was, a sharp ringing filled her ears and a splitting headache struck.

“Ugh.”

“M-Mom, are you okay?! Does it hurt?! What do I do! I’ll make it not hurt, not hurt, I’ll rub it!”

Moments Eugene had never experienced in her life began flooding her mind.

The handsome young master she met at the magic stone refinery where she used to work.

Weeks of sweet time together, vows of love, and one single night.

The promise he made, smiling brightly, saying he’d take responsibility when he learned she was pregnant…

‘And…’

…The man who vanished without leaving a single trace.