ITIWCM 1

Prologue: The Last Blessing

In an underground chamber where only a faint candlelight offered the slightest glow, the sound of unfamiliar footsteps roused Reina, who had been lying as still as the dead.

‘Who could it be?’

Ever since she lost her sight, her other senses had grown sharply attuned. And now, she could tell—this approaching figure was not the Emperor.

A stranger had entered a place where only the Emperor had ever walked. Reina slowly sat up from her place.

It seemed that, just as she had once prophesied, the sluggish rebellion had finally succeeded.

‘Has it been ten years?’

Once, she had been called a princess. But by now, no one would remember her.

After her gift of prophecy awakened, she had been imprisoned here—blind and forgotten.

Prophecy demanded life force.

And the Emperor had no concern for his daughter’s life.

That much was clear from the moment he set out on his grand conquest, using her powers as fuel for his ambition.

“Even if it costs you your life, prove your worth. For a useless priestess, death is the only reward.”

If she refused to speak, he would force her to. One way or another.

There was no room in his heart for worry over a daughter who grew more emaciated with every vision she offered.

Perhaps that was why Reina had lied in a moment of the Emperor’s complacency.

“The Duke of Crencia—this war will be his last.”

When she foretold the death of the man who had long been a thorn in his side, the Emperor departed, satisfied.

He never understood what she truly meant by “the last.”

After that day, he never came again.

He must have assumed she had nothing left to give.

If that was true…

At the edge of long-sought peace, the moment of death had finally come.

‘At last, I can rest.’

Like someone preparing to meet the end, Reina sat quietly, awaiting her visitor.

Before long, the footsteps halted before her.

Yet the stranger did not speak immediately, as if silently assessing her condition.

After a long, suffocating pause, he finally spoke.

“Princess Reina. Can you stand on your own?”

“…!”

The unfamiliar title, spoken after so long, made Reina lift her head before she even realized it.

It wasn’t just the address that shocked her.

The figure before her defied all her expectations.

No one would have imagined that the princess, thought to have died from illness, had been locked away in the imperial palace’s underground depths.

Reina responded to his question with a faint, almost wistful smile.

“Don’t tell me… you came to rescue me?”

“And if I did?”

“No. You shouldn’t. You’re the leader of the rebels, and I’m the Emperor’s daughter. You must uphold your cause. Now you know I helped the Emperor with his conquest campaigns.”

“…Ridiculous. That’s not how I do things.”

“My life isn’t worth—ah!”

Kaiden ignored her words and swept her up in his arms.

She was so light, it didn’t even feel like lifting a person. His brow furrowed instinctively at the sensation.

“Have you been eating at all? You feel like a dried-out cucumber.”

“Fasting makes it easier to use my power.”

“Just what in the hell was the Emperor thinking…”

Kaiden bit back the surge of anger rising in him and forced it down.

“First thing’s first. You need food.”

With that, he strode swiftly across the underground chamber.

✧ ✧ ✧

The rebellion had succeeded.

The tyrant Emperor and his cronies were purged, and the Duke of Crencia, the guardian of the North, ascended the throne.

But the victory was only partial.

After a prolonged and chaotic struggle for power, Kaiden Crencia had finally claimed the crown—but at the cost of his most loyal comrades. It was as if both his arms had been severed.

And the one who had taken them from him was none other than Reina.

If not for her prophecies, their strategies wouldn’t have been exposed. They wouldn’t have suffered the counterattacks.

So she had assumed Kaiden would hate her.

She was the reason his dearest allies were dead. Even if he tore her to pieces in revenge, she would not complain.

But Kaiden did not kill her.

Instead, he assigned her attendants and a physician.

“First, let’s get you eating something. And then, treatment.”

Reina couldn’t understand him.

How can you be this way?

The more gently he treated her, the more it pained her.

She tried to tell him, over and over, I don’t deserve this, but Kaiden wouldn’t listen.

When she repeatedly refused to eat, he eventually came to her in person.

“Are you trying to anger me on purpose? If so, you’ve succeeded. Completely, Princess.”

“It’s pointless. I know my body best. I don’t have much time left. So take your revenge by ending my life.”

When Reina repeated the same refrain, Kaiden snapped, his irritation finally showing.

“There you go again. Talking utter nonsense.”

Then he shoved a bowl of soup into her hands.

“Eat. Even if I wanted revenge, I’m not the kind of man who takes it on someone already at death’s door.”

“…”

“Besides… I already know it wasn’t something you chose to do.”

Reina stared at him in silence, unable to speak.

No matter how carefully she looked, Reina couldn’t detect even a trace of resentment in him.

How could that be?

There were so many people Reina resented.

The Emperor who had imprisoned her.

Her maternal relatives, who had abandoned her and left the capital behind.

Even her older brother, who had vanished without a trace—she resented him too.

She clung to those grudges because, without them, she wouldn’t have survived.

Clutching Kaiden’s arm, Reina spoke, her voice taut with desperation.

“Because of me, your family died. Your friends too. You lost your people. So how can you just leave me be?”

Kaiden stared at her trembling hand for a long moment, then met her eyes.

“What a ridiculous question. And why, exactly, do you think that was your fault?”

“I… I only prophesied those things because I didn’t want to die. Because I was scared. Because I missed my family. I was selfish. And because of that selfishness, I kept sending you into one deadly battle after another…”

Yes. In order to survive each moment, she did what the Emperor demanded.

And as a result, Kaiden inherited a throne he never wanted, at the cost of everything else.

She had overheard the palace maids whispering and now understood just how much he had lost.

“They say he drinks strong liquor every night, but still can’t sleep.”

“It’s all to mourn the dead, apparently. What’s the point of becoming Emperor? He lost everything he wanted to protect. They say the North is as good as a graveyard now.”

Reina’s pale blue eyes shimmered with tears.

She looked like a child, utterly lost in a world too cruel to understand.

“I don’t deserve to live.”

“That’s arrogance, Princess. No human has the right to decide who deserves life—that right belongs only to the gods. As long as you’re alive, the only choice left is to keep living.”

“…”

“If you’re so eager to die, then try living first. Who knows? Maybe then I’ll finally want to kill you.”

With that blunt remark, Kaiden rose to his feet.

In that moment, for the first time in a long while, Reina felt frustrated by her blindness.

She didn’t want to sense the color of his emotions—she wanted to see his face.

‘Is this why the Emperor feared him?’

Despite his cold tone, Kaiden had a surprisingly warm heart.

His sense of responsibility seemed to match his strength.

Reina did as he asked. She lifted the bowl of soup and brought it to her lips.

Her head bowed low, partly to hide the tears she felt threatening to fall.

Kaiden, silently watching her eat, gently took the empty bowl from her hands and spoke quietly.

“Good. You eat well. I’ll be watching next time too, so don’t get any ideas about starving yourself, Princess.”