<Episode 90>

When Eveline remained frozen, unable to answer, the letters on the snow shifted.

[To prevent such a thing, make a pact with me.]

“What kind of pact?” Eveline asked cautiously. She didn’t trust the goddess Yulias completely. Trust was a scarce commodity in this place. Yet, she felt she had no choice but to grasp at whatever hope she could find.

[I will manifest in your body for just one minute. Then, I will reveal a way for everyone to survive.]

“Your divinity…”

[Not just my divinity, but also my divine powers, including my dominion over the present time itself.]

Eveline knew that a god’s vow was vastly different from a human’s. Every citizen of the Croppers Empire understood this, even without being a priest.

“…Alright,” Eveline finally agreed.

As soon as she spoke, a blue mark, the sigil of the goddess Yulias, appeared on her wrist.

[If Elkais de Robein imprints with you, then kills Abellard, the wager will be nullified if the three of you are bonded through an imprint.]

“Imprinted individuals…” Eveline trailed off, and then, realization struck.

Imprinted individuals couldn’t kill one another. It was as if some instinctive force made it an impossibility. There were no known exceptions. Once bonded, the lives of the imprinted were valued more than one’s own.

“Then, if all three of us are imprinted, none of us can harm each other, and the wager becomes void?”

[Exactly.]

“And since my survival is ensured, you, the goddess Yulias, will win.”

But Eveline didn’t know one crucial detail—that Abellard’s wish wasn’t for all of them to survive. It was solely for Eveline Wilden to live.

“Thank you,” Eveline said sincerely.

And Yulias, of course, must have been fully aware of this.

With that, Eveline set out to find Abellard. She anticipated that Elkais would begin pursuing her by the time she reached him.

* * *

Elkais was chasing after Eveline, but the thick scent of Eveline’s pheromones clinging to him and his own pheromones left on her body made it difficult to track her.

Whenever the snow fell, it felt as though the trail of pheromones was deliberately severed, as if an invisible force was blocking him from pursuing her.

“Haa…”

Throwing on his clothes hastily, Elkais tried to follow Eveline’s footprints. Yet, there were no footprints to be found.

Instead, he noticed something peculiar—the areas of shallow snow. The way the snow was unevenly layered hinted at her path. Fresh snow had begun to fall, but the melted trail behind her marked the way she had gone. It was an imperfect clue, but it was something.

Despite this lead, Elkais was deeply unsettled.

He couldn’t understand why she had left him after their shared moment of intimacy. A deep fear gnawed at him, paralyzing his thoughts.

Why hadn’t she returned?

He had waited for two hours. For two hours, Eveline hadn’t come back, and the faint trace of her pheromones had completely vanished.

“Eveline.”

She must feel the same as I do, so why?

What Elkais feared most was that she would deny her feelings for him.

Even if she loved him as he loved her, what good was it if she refused to accept it? Elkais had never loved anyone like this before, and he had foolishly assumed that shared emotions would resolve everything.

But as the hours dragged on, the fear that gripped him grew suffocating. Rational thoughts began to creep in, clouded by despair.

In frustration, he crumpled the white note that appeared in his hand and threw it to the ground.

Then, forcing himself forward, he quickened his pace, following the path Eveline had left.

Suddenly, snow gathered ahead of him and formed floating letters in the air.

[When you find Eveline Wilden, imprint with her. She will forever rely on you.]

“You’ve got it backward. Eveline doesn’t rely on me,” Elkais muttered bitterly, wounding himself with his own words. The truth was, he couldn’t live without her. Nothing else could explain the ache in his chest.

She, however, could live without him. Eveline had left him behind, proving it.

“But I can’t.”

Tears trailed down his face as he uttered those words, falling silently onto his chin. His breath escaped in long, misty clouds that dissolved into the frigid air.

The gray storm clouds above and the relentless snow covering the ground felt cruel and unforgiving.

That unfeeling cold seeped into him, freezing his very heart.

[If you do not imprint with Eveline Wilden, she will die.]

“What do you mean?” Elkais demanded.

[If you wish for Eveline Wilden to survive, you must imprint with her.]

At that moment, the snow before him scattered entirely, dissolving into the wind.

Elkais began to realize that this wasn’t the work of some lowly magician. No sorcerer would dare play such games with him, nor would they have any reason to.

Someone had turned Eveline into an omega and orchestrated these incomprehensible events.

It could only be a god.

The color of the notes, the motives that didn’t align with his desires—all of it pointed to one figure.

“Remeros.”

Elkais finally understood the identity of the goddess behind him.

* * *

Eveline followed the blue arrows appearing in front of her, trudging through deep snow that swallowed her feet with each step. Unlike before, the snow no longer melted in her path, likely because she now had proper shoes.

Despite the inconvenience, she considered it a small blessing. Leaving footprints meant Elkais would find it easier to track her, and she needed to avoid that.

“Haa…”

Eveline hitched up her voluminous wedding dress with one hand as she shuffled forward. The cold, the heavy dress, and her aching body made every step a struggle. She hadn’t noticed earlier, but her abdomen throbbed painfully now, likely from her intimacy with Elkais. It felt as though she had been punched in the gut, leaving her sore and raw.

Her legs, particularly her thighs, felt tight and numb—sensations she hadn’t even experienced during her most grueling training. Even her ankles ached, though she suspected it wasn’t entirely because of the high heels. The chafing dress irritated her collarbone, which was already sore, and the bite marks Elkais had left on her wrist stung with each movement.

The worst pain, however, was in her chest. It wasn’t emotional; it was a sharp, physical ache, one she suspected was yet another lingering mark from Elkais’s fervent attentions.

Eveline, imagining the bruises Elkais might have left on her body, lost her grip on the dress in embarrassment.

“Damn it.”

Her ears burned, and her face felt like it was on fire.

<I love you, Eveline.>

She remembered his calm confession, and the memory made her want to scream in frustration.

“Why is this place so far?”

After rubbing her face briskly with her hands, Eveline adjusted her grip on her dress and kept walking. The gun strapped to her garter belt pressed against her thigh, sending a chill through her skin.

Eventually, she caught sight of the cabin in the distance.

The absence of animal sounds in the forest reassured her slightly, but her growling stomach made her wish she could catch at least a rabbit to take back. Yet, the area was barren, not even a single fruit-bearing shrub in sight.

Eveline continued following the blue arrows until they led her close to the cabin. Then, they disappeared, evaporating into thin air.

She noticed the light inside the cabin and immediately realized someone was already there. There were only four people on this island: Elkais, Abellard, herself, and Ferite.

But something didn’t add up. There were three gods, yet four people.

Why?

Eveline hesitated at the threshold of the cabin, remembering a conversation she had once had with Crown Prince Ferite.

<Did you know that in the beginning, there were only two gods?>

<What?>

<The temples might call me a heretic for saying this, but it’s true.>

<What do you mean?>

<Originally, there was only Order and Chaos—two concepts.>

She remembered Ferite explaining, almost playfully, that the three gods of Order had emerged from a split. But even now, there were still only three gods, as far as she knew. There had never been a new one.

Then who was Ferite’s god? What was their piece in this wager?

Before she could dwell further on the mystery, the cabin door opened.

“Eve!”

Standing in the doorway was Abellard, his crimson eyes wide with surprise.

“I knew you’d come, Lady Wilden,” said Crown Prince Ferite, smiling warmly.

And behind her, gasping for breath, was Elkais.

“Eveline,” he called softly. “Why…?”

Eveline, struck by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, instinctively tried to step away from Elkais.

It was then that the blue sigil of the goddess Yulias on her arm began to glow.

Her vision was flooded with blue light, rendering her momentarily blind.

“Eveline!”

“Eve!”

The voices of Elkais and Abellard echoed in her ears, but they, too, began to fade. Eveline felt as though she were losing her hearing, sinking into a void.

Her consciousness dimmed, and the spirit of the true Eveline Wilden fell silent.

“Eveline.”

It was Elkais who caught her as she collapsed, his arms encircling her trembling form. His concern was etched across his face, all thoughts of her having abandoned him momentarily forgotten.

“Elkais de Robein.”

“Eveline… why does your voice…?”

Elkais froze as Eveline’s voice, now utterly unfamiliar, reached his ears. Her eyes and hair had turned a deep, radiant blue, and an eerie chill ran through his body as he took in the transformation.

“Goodbye.”

At that moment, the Desert Eagle in Eveline’s hand fired. The muzzle pressed against Elkais’s neck spewed flames.

 

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