Although Annan had promised the Grandmother that he would confront his feelings—
he still hesitated and delayed before setting off.
There was a certain reluctance, a sense of dragging his feet.
After all, in the two lifetis Annan had lived, this was the first ti he had developed feelings for the opposite sex.
For a mont, he couldn’t discern whether his emotions were genuine affection for the other party, a sense of closeness due to "having known her before," possessiveness toward a Kafney who loved him, or simply the adolescent infatuation born from this body’s youth.
In reality, the feelings of White Annan and Black Annan toward Kafney were not the sa.
The first to et Kafney was Black Annan.
According to the mories Annan had now recovered, at that ti Black Annan’s Winter Heart had not yet reversed, and love was absent from his heart.
When Annan first encountered Kafney in the silver-violet sea of flowers in Noah’s rear garden... his first reaction was one of perception. He was struck by the harmonious beauty of that fleeting mont.
—But it was only a brief stirring.
Black Annan was cold and rciless from beginning to end.
Indeed, he had promised to protect Kafney, and he’d even said striking and heroic lines like "I’ve co for this very purpose."
But his motives slightly differed from White Annan’s interpretation...
At that ti, Black Annan wasn’t entirely driven by a noble inability to ignore the tragedy unfolding before him—sothing that might sound like a masked hero accompanied by a dramatic BGM.
It was simply because Kafney’s clairvoyance made Annan believe she possessed extraordinary significance.
This led the indifferent Black Annan to elevate Kafney higher in his regard, moving her from a "completely unrelated passerby" to an "important figure." Her survival and her opinion of him beca crucial considerations.
It was for this reason that, when Annan keenly detected a conspiracy involving Kafney, he opted against the simplest and most direct solution—collaborating with Philip.
After all, no matter how Philip orchestrated his plots—whether to assassinate ministers or overthrow the throne—the impact would only affect Noah, not Winter. If anything, if Philip caused chaos in Noah, it might actually benefit Winter instead.
—After all, Winter is fortified by blizzards and the protection of the Frost Beast Legion. You can’t invade it anyway, so you might as well stir up as much trouble as you want.
...Of course, this was only one potential scenario.
Even if there were no Kafney, Annan might not have cooperated with Philip either.
To Annan, the chubby doll-faced man with a love for sugary treats was far from endearing—after all, they were reflections of one another. Perhaps after prolonged interaction, Annan might grow to despise Philip and, driven by sheer curiosity, disrupt his plans just for amusent.
Up to this mont, Annan had no special feelings toward Kafney. At most, she seed agreeable or potentially useful.
Later on, Annan lost his mory.
But Kafney did not.
When she saw Annan again, the madness brought on by her clairvoyance and the corruption of curses had beco even more severe, to the point of affecting her ntal clarity.
Her mory and cognitive functions had deteriorated as a result. At that ti, Kafney was painstakingly traversing her path of descent—her entire being was shrouded in demonic energy, even her speech was fragnted and illogical.
Yet upon seeing Annan, she unhesitatingly grabbed his hand and spoke sothing he had forgotten, but she still rembered.
The feelings exchanged between Black Annan and Kafney were far from pure...
Similarly, Kafney’s feelings for Annan were hardly untouched by ulterior motives.
For Kafney, who awakened her gift of clairvoyance as a child and endured bullying from peers because of it, Annan’s existence held a completely different aning.
Her father loved her deeply, but there was a lingering fear toward her; her biological mother tried to kill her; the Dream Stealer sought to manipulate her father through her; her teacher, the self-proclaid ’Nicolas Flal’—Nicholas II—essentially used her to commit murders...
She had been ostracized, had her mories altered, and had narrowly escaped assassinations multiple tis. Growing up in the Noah royal court, Kafney, born with clairvoyance, had long since awakened the ability to see through the essence of others.
To her, Black Annan’s presence was overwhelmingly powerful.
After all, he was soone who, in interactions with Vladimir, who had not yet transford into the "Winter Reverser," maintained absolute control. His coldness, wisdom, decisiveness, and dependability reminded Kafney of her grandfather.
Like a sun cloaked in darkness.
—If only my father had been this reliable, she thought.
If that were the case, she wouldn’t have had to endure all these grievances...
Her paintings, warped yet reflecting the essence of what they depicted, had been mocked by peers and cursed by her mother. And her father... his intellect was limited, so he couldn’t understand the true aning behind them.
Annan was the first peer who didn’t see her as a monster and the only one who sincerely thought her art was beautiful.
This stemd from Annan’s ntal maturity as well as his intelligence and ability to imdiately recognize the nature of her work... along with his open and honest deanor, which left no hidden truths to sha or frighten him.
He was Kafney’s first kindred spirit.
And his act of "risking his life to save everyone" profoundly shocked Kafney.
Having grown up in Noah palace, she had never seen a soul as radiant as his.
Annan could even be considered her initial reason for survival. It was Annan who gave her the courage to resist all malevolence—and a confidence to overco it all.
Though Kafney spoke of the bullying she endured with an indifferent tone, as though nothing mattered to her, her composure reflected not maturity but numbness.
At that ti, Kafney was not yet a true "demon."
Her spirit had not yet been corroded by curses. In other words, she was still a normal eight- or nine-year-old girl.
A girl whose birthday was forgotten by everyone, one who had experienced so much malice that she had grown accustod to living within it.
Their feelings, in their earliest forms, weren’t love.
Just as Kafney told Annan—she saw Annan as a god, and herself as his devout follower.
As the price for accepting gifts from Annan, she had promised to offer him a gift of equal value to the "Eye of Frost" when they t again.
"I’m strong... I can protect you."
That’s what she said back then.
At that ti, Kafney intended to give herself as the gift to Annan.
To protect him, in the role of a guardian and believer.
Because she believed she wasn’t worthy of Annan yet. She wanted to beco better... good enough to protect Annan, and worthy of having him.
This misaligned perception persisted until Annan experienced the nightmare of the "Great Hunt," and he and Kafney unknowingly tead up in the sa dungeon instance within the nightmare...
Finally, Kafney ca to understand her feelings and stopped hiding them.
Annan, in turn, only realized his affection when Kafney displayed intimacy toward him. He didn’t dislike it... nor did he dislike Kafney. In fact, it could be said he liked her. Because when he was with Kafney, he didn’t need to worry about anything else and could simply enjoy peace.
He even worried about Kafney—a concern that felt paternal or ntor-like... as Annan believed that without him, Kafney might not survive.
From that point on, an intriguing and novel bond began to form between them—
Due to their peculiar "connection," these two children who didn’t understand what love was developed an intense and greedy desire for possession over each other... neither wanted the other to be taken by anyone else, nor did they wish any harm to befall the other.
This feeling, however, did not extend to anyone else in their lives.
...Was this love?
Annan himself couldn’t fully confirm.
But at the very least, Annan had co to understand one thing—
—It seems, from the very beginning, he was taking on the role of the protagonist in a romantic tale.
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