“Dalia Alshine…?”

The man barely reacted. Muttering my name, he slowly raised his head and stared at me. His clear, light brown eyes were as bright as a child’s.

“You… Do you mean that you’re the Count Dalia Alshine?”

“Yes,” I said, hopeful that he was speaking, “do you know me?”

His eyes widened, mouth opened and closed as he hurriedly grabbed my hand. “I—I have a favour to ask of you. I’ll do anything, so please hear me out!”

I forgot to shake my hand out of his grasp as I heard his unexpected words.

“A favour…?”

“There’s something… I need to say something… I need to tell someone.”

The man said as tears suddenly fell from his eyes. I felt sorry for him that I unconsciously wanted to offer him a handkerchief that I didn’t even have. He wept for a long time. I didn’t know whether he was crying so much from suppressing his emotions for a long time or because he forgot how it was like to cry out loud.

* * *

The man’s name was Walter Hoiore, the esteemed son of Hoiore. He was the reason for Sheliak’s worry. At the moment, I felt quite befuddled because I didn’t think that the person from that request would be a medium of time magic.

After crying for a long time, Walter calmed down. He took me to the castle, where I sat awkwardly, unable to comfort him. Yeongju Castle was the largest wooden castle I had seen from afar, and it felt solid enough not to be shaken by a snowstorm.

‘I didn’t know it was built of wood because of its white appearance…”

Looking around curiously, my expression stiffened as I saw people hardened like mannequins all over the castle. Just by looking at the frozen people who had lively expressions, I could tell what the atmosphere in Yeongju Castle was like. As the only person who could move around, Walter must have suffered a lot.

“I apologise for showing you an unsightly side of myself.”

The living room had a comfortable fireplace; it was cosier than the outside. This seemed to be his hiding place. Walter skilfully poured some tea for me as he bowed and continued apologising to me.

“No, I know how you feel,” I said, stopping him.

Walter looked at me sympathetically. “The Count has also suffered from time magic…”

“Yes, you’ve heard of it, right? Two years ago, there was a commotion about how forbidden time magic had manifested in Acrab.”

News about time magic was buried due to the epidemic, but with my status as a wizard, rumours spread secretly, and everyone in the empire found out. Because of this, Kaichen and Julius had announced that Momalhaut was studying forbidden magic. Acrab was a place damaged by time magic, and I, the lord, became a medium. Thanks to the great wizard Kaichen, I was able to avoid becoming a villain.

‘That’s why it is said that The Kaichen sympathised with me and made me his disciple.”

The wizards didn’t easily believe it. They wanted to take and study me. It was unusual to live with a healthy mind after becoming a medium of time magic like this. They wouldn’t be able to find a research subject like me in their entire lives, so one could imagine how greedy they were.

The reason that greed couldn’t continue was because I was Kaichen’s disciple. Under Kaichen’s protection, I could avoid my fate as an experimental subject.

“Then the Countess has also… you were trapped in time magic like this?”

Walter asked, clasping his hands tightly as if in prayer. In the back of my mind, it was still a bit strange that he didn’t react much when I said I was going to rescue and help him earlier. Perhaps, being locked in a haunted place like was debilitating.

“It was a little different for me… Hoiore seems to be trapped in a time-stop magic, right?” I said.

“… Yes.”

“In my case, the day repeated endlessly. I lived the same day over and over again.”

“…..”

“How long have you been trapped in here?”

“It’s been… three months.”

As expected, it matched the timing of the snowstorm. Princess Exchetra used Momalhaut to unleash time magic on Hoiore and create a snowstorm so that no one would notice.

‘The relief supplies might have been used as a means to gather people from the North into the city.’

The realm of time magic was limited. Since it wasn’t possible to cover the entire northern region of Hoiore, there was a high chance that the people living away from the city would’ve noticed immediately if something went wrong in the city. Then, information would surely leak from the North, so they stole relief supplies before winter, forcing people to head to the city to get supplies on their own.

How many things did she consider just for this? She was a frighteningly meticulous woman.

“Was it your choice to be a medium? Or were you pressured into it?” I asked.

“…..”

“If it was your choice, I won’t blame you.”

Even though I asked him, just by looking at the distressed look on his face, the answer was clear; this was probably his choice. Dalia was also deceived by Momalhaut’s sweet words and agreed. It was all to escape from her painful reality. I didn’t know what caused the man in front of me to take Momalhaut’s hand, but it must have been something grave.

“It was my choice… If I had known… it was something terrible… no, no…. still, I…”

The way he hung and shook his head looked unsettling.