The snow crunched softly beneath their boots as the group pressed forward. The cart creaked in steady rhythm behind the wolves, the only sound breaking the quiet of the endless white.
For a while, no one spoke. The cold air was sharp, and their breaths rose like faint ghosts, vanishing into the stormy horizon.
Finally, Mira glanced at Verus. Her eyes glead with curiosity, mischief tugging at her lips.
"Hey...What’s the world you ca from like?"
She said suddenly, breaking the silence.
Verus blinked, startled. He hadn’t expected anyone to speak to him, let alone ask sothing so personal. He paused, eyes dropping to the snow before them.
"...It was warr. Much warr than this place. But chaotic."
He said at last.
"Chaotic?"
Mira tilted her head.
"Yes. There were resources everywhere—abundance, prosperity. But humans... they wanted more. Greed spread faster than anything else. And so, wars broke out. Everywhere you looked, people fought—not to live, but to kill."
Verus murmured, his voice carrying both weariness and distance.
His tone darkened with the weight of mory. The others glanced at him but stayed quiet, listening.
"I was just another soldier caught in it. Fighting, killing, surviving... and I’d just finished one battle when I ended up here."
Mira’s playful expression softened. She opened her mouth but hesitated, unsure what to say.
Berry broke the silence with a low whistle.
"That’s rough. Guess our problems look small compared to that."
He scratched his cheek, looking strangely awkward.
Verus gave a faint smile, though his eyes still looked far away.
From his tone, it was clear. He longed to return. To go back—even if the world he spoke of was drenched in blood and chaos.
Berry seed to sense it as well. His voice lowered, almost gentle.
"Don’t worry. If anyone can figure out how to send you back, it’s Lucian."
That made Verus blink. He turned, studying Berry’s sincere expression. For a mont, sothing softened in his face.
"...Thank you. It’s fine even if he fails. There’s no one waiting for back ho anyway."
He said. His voice carried quiet gratitude. But then he added, almost as if reminding himself,
The way he said it, so matter-of-fact, tightened the air between them. Mira’s chest ached faintly, though she didn’t understand why. She looked like she wanted to argue, but before she could—
Lucian suddenly raised his hand. His sharp eyes narrowed on the path ahead.
"Stop." His voice was calm, but it cut through the quiet like steel.
Everyone froze.
The wolves halted, growling low as their ears twitched.
Lucian’s gaze fixed on the storm ahead. His tone dropped, heavy with warning.
"This snowstorm... it isn’t natural. There’s mana mixed into it. Be careful."
A shiver passed through the group. They tightened formation, drawing closer to the cart.
The storm swallowed them as they stepped forward. Wind howled, snow biting at their skin like knives. At first, it seed like a normal blizzard. But then—
Mira staggered.
"W-What...?"
Her eyelids felt heavy. A strange dizziness washed over her.
Berry cursed under his breath, forcing his eyes open as if they wanted to glue themselves shut.
Even Lucian felt it. The unnatural drowsiness. The pull of sothing unseen.
His vision blurred, shadows dancing at the edge of his sight. He clenched his jaw, forcing mana through his veins to stay awake.
And then—
"Lucian..."
A voice.
Soft. Alluring. Too familiar.
Lucian’s eyes widened faintly. His heart gave a painful lurch.
That voice... no, it couldn’t be. He forced himself to keep moving, to ignore it. His boots dragged heavily through the snow.
Again, the whisper ca, closer this ti.
"Lucian..."
He grit his teeth, refusing to look. Refusing to give in.
But then—sothing touched him.
A hand. Warm. Gentle. Caressing his cheek as if it belonged there.
Lucian snapped his hand up, grabbing the wrist instantly, ready to crush it. But as his fingers closed around the skin—
He froze.
It felt familiar.
Too familiar.
His breath caught, his body trembling.
Slowly, unwillingly, his gaze lifted.
And there she was.
Her face erging through the white haze. The woman he had once loved. The first person he had ever called his wife.
His chest tightened, his pulse hamring. For the first ti in years, Lucian’s composure cracked.
"...You—"
The storm howled around them, but all he could see was her.
Her smile. Gentle, the sa as he rembered.
Her eyes. So full of warmth it threatened to break the icy walls he had built around himself.
For a heartbeat, Lucian forgot the snow. Forgot the danger.
Forgot everything.
The woman’s smile widened as she reached for him again, her voice soft, coaxing.
"Lucian... I had such a hard ti finding you. But now I’m here. You don’t need to suffer anymore. No more burdens, no more struggles. Co with . Everything will be fine. You won’t have to worry about debts, about duty, about anything at all. Just leave it behind."
She whispered.
Her words wrapped around him like silk, smooth and tempting. For a mont, Lucian only stared at her, the storm forgotten.
And then—
A low chuckle escaped him.
It started quiet, then deepened, shaking his chest as he laughed into the storm. The sound was cold, edged with mockery, and utterly out of place against the illusion before him.
The woman’s smile faltered. Her brows furrowed as offense sparked in her expression.
"Why are you laughing? Stop it. Stop laughing!"
But Lucian couldn’t. The laugh rolled from him freely now, unrestrained, like a sharp blade cutting through the haze. His shoulders trembled as he forced the words out between breaths.
"You..."
He shook his head, his eyes narrowing on her face.
"You never once managed to persuade when you were alive."
His laughter sharpened, bitter but steady.
"So tell —what makes you think you could succeed now? When you’re nothing but a shadow."
The woman froze.
Her lips parted, but no words ca out. Her eyes flickered with shock, as if the very foundation of her illusion had cracked beneath his voice.
For the first ti since appearing, she was silent.
Lucian straightened, his laughter fading into the storm’s roar, his gaze cutting through her like ice.
The silence between them was absolute.
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