*First pov*

When I was studying the history of Stern, I read such a saying.

The silver trees, and the insignia of Stern. The constellation gold and the noble guardian always protect Stern, they will always shine nearby…

I thought it was a common praise for Stern, but I had a feeling that maybe the saying was right.

I let out a breath.

Scratched here and there, my hands, and ankles were swollen from being bumped, but it was only minor wounds. I couldn’t afford to worry about my body now. I only saw the black Stern’s insignia shattered like a lie in front of me.

I couldn’t figure out why it was so polluted with Magi or why it was so full. In the first place, I didn’t even know why it was lying around in front of the fallen me.

But.

The letters were engraved there.

{My moon.}

The letters, as if mocking me.

{If you take that man’s body, you will love me.}

“….”

{Even if you want to hate me, you can’t hate me.}

I had a hallucination that Liegel’s voice, which could not be heard, seemed to be stuck in my ears.

{That’s all I need, Seria.}

For that reason…

I lifted my head.

Maybe twenty steps? The distance between Lesche and I.

A snowy field with endless snow. Lesche stood firm on his two feet like a giant tree. The skin visible through the golden armor of his constellation was a mess. The black skin that started from his wrist. He was all stained with Magi.

Was it because of the powerful divine power that permeated my body?

I knew instinctively. He, Lesche Berg, was becoming a demon.

“…Lesche.”

With a little strength in my legs, I managed to get up. I limped on one leg and ran towards him. Much more ingenious than usual and indifferent red eyes stare at me.

“Seria.”

“Lesche!”

“Don’t come.”

“…”

A weakly distorted forehead, Lesche took a step back.

My heart broke at the act of avoiding me.

That man knew it too. He knew that he was tainted by magi, and that he was becoming a beast.

Therefore….

I clenched my teeth and ran to Lesche and caught him. At the same time, the divine power exploded. I gathered the divine power from my body as if scratching even the blood vessels of my body and sent it to Lesche, but to no avail.

Nothing has changed.

I gathered divine power several times and poured it on him, but it was the same. It’s just my hair that’s fluttering like crazy. Lesche grabbed my hand as I was about to try again.

An eternity of silence passed.

“Since when….”

I barely let out my voice.

“Since when have you been like this?”

Lesche looked down at his wrist.

“It looks like since when Prince Jun was trying to bite me.”

“….”

“I think it has been since then. Guess what, that madman is really a demon.”

With an expressionless expression on his face, Lesche raised his head.

“Seria.”

He took his gaze away from me and turned around.

“Your knight will come to find you.” (Lesche)

“…Lesche.”

“Go this way. I beg you.” (Lesche)

“And you?”

Lesche didn’t answer.

“You, Lesche..”

Tears fell from my eyes.

“And you!”

Lesche did not return any reply. He didn’t even look at me. What emotion jumped out in that moment?

I grabbed Lesche, squeezed out my strength, and held him.

Then, slowly, Lesche looked back at me. For a moment, it felt like someone was choking me. I knew it after looking at it up close. Because I knew. The fact that those cold eyes were shaking like that.

Lesche couldn’t even reach out to me. Only my wrist, which was protected by Stern’s formal dress, was held.

“…Seria.”

There were no more words.

But he fixed his sword and held it. At the same time, an energy that made my spine scream.

Nightmarish beasts were crawling endlessly.

Kang!

Sharp metal cut the beasts’ necks, and the beasts who had lost their breath collapsed, burned and disappeared with black smoke.

Then, suddenly, I felt strange and shifted my gaze.

The holy constellation armor that protected people from the demons. There was something strange about Lesche’s skin that could be seen through it. Once, twice. I only realize it after taking a few breaths.

Lesche’s skin was burning.

It was clearly burning. The body gradually spread and turned to ashes…

A brutally obvious fact. The fact that the demons couldn’t touch the holy armor….

“Lesche.”

The end of my calling voice trembled a little. My cold hands grabbed Lesche’s constellation gold armor.

“Take it off. The holy armor is burning, so hurry up…”

But Lesche’s hand came out and grabbed the back of my hand.

“…What’s wrong?” (Seria)

“Leave it.” (Lesche)

“Why? You’re like this…” (Seria)

“If I even throw away the holy armor, it would be really difficult to protect you.” (Lesche)

I closed my mouth slowly.

“Let me keep my last reason. Seria.”

“…”

Lesche’s expression, who was staring at me, was rarely blurred.

“I make you cry every time.”

“…”

“…I don’t know how I could die leaving you like this.”

With one breath, tears flowed down as if a dam had broken.

I couldn’t help but understand him. This terrifying constellation armor that burned Lesche’s body alive was the thin cord that kept him rational as a human being.

So he wouldn’t take it off.

To protect me…

For that reason…

At the same time, Lesche’s eyes shone sharply. The demon’s lull was only temporary. Now the snowfields looked black. A swarm of demonic beasts that can’t be broken through.

The crawling beasts were slaughtered and disappeared in an instant. However, Lesche’s breathing, wielding the sword, was getting rough little by little.

Black stains started to run up his neck and up to his cheeks.

My ankle, which was injured in the fall, was swollen and it was difficult to walk now. I was limping and walking with the contaminated insignia.

And threw a holy power bomb. But the insignia was purified too slowly. A feeling of helplessness enveloped my body.

It was then that even the blood disappeared from my ice-cold hands. Suddenly, like a lie, I felt a heavy warmth on my shoulders.

I blinked my clouded eyes.

“…Lesche?”

Why am I suddenly wearing a cloak?

“I remember the first time I heard you say ‘I love you’.” (Lesche)

“…”

“I felt like those words were engraved in my heart, but now that I think about it, it’s not.” (Lesche)

“…what do you mean? Suddenly.” (Seria)

“If it was engraved, I’d rather have your name engraved.” (Lesche)

“Lesche…?”

I thought it was strange so I raised my head and when my eyes met his, I stopped. I had no choice but to do that.

As for Lesche, the man was still wearing the Berg Knight’s cloak. Just as I fixed it before he left for war.

So the cloak he put on me was…. (the cloak Lesche put on Seria’s shoulders was the one he used to wrap the Stern insignia a while back in another chapter.)

“Don’t do that.”

What was in Lesche’s hand was obviously Tuban’s insignia.

“Don’t do that. What are you doing? Lesche?”

I jumped up reflexively, but fell down with a short moan. A terrible pain, like being stabbed in the ankle with a thick awl. I clenched my teeth and barely got up. I limped and walked to Lesche. As I walked, I continued to shake my head.

“Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Lesche, don’t do it… Don’t do it!”

Indelible writing engraved on the surface of the insignia.

{The heart of Lesche Berg.}

I had once seen the vivid scar in Lesche’s red eyes. It was a thing of the past. I once told him that he was cruel to me because he was dying and didn’t say anything. The bitter wounds I inflicted on Lesche bothered me, and I never kept anything secret from him since.

So Lesche knew.

How I delivered the jewels to Tuban.

How to get gems…

It would have been better if he didn’t know forever.

I lifted Stern’s insignia, which was too heavy for me to lift with one hand, and Lesche lifted it with ease. I couldn’t even see the expression on the noble man’s face before his death.

“….!”

Then a terrible scream was heard. My eyes widened as I looked back. Liegel slipped out of Stern’s insignia that had been engulfed in magi and began to crawl quickly, but I felt no fear. (*The tainted insignia was the one Lina took from the frozen lake, which just now Liegel crawled out of. And the insignia Lesche was holding and wrapping in his old cloak was Seria’s insignia which she used to deliver jewels to Tuban)

I only captured the vivid red blood in my eyes. Fresh blood poured from Lesche’s body, wet the insignia, and dripped onto the pure white snow.

I ran blindly towards Lesche’s body, which was slowly breaking down. I couldn’t speed because of my broken ankle, and tears fell endlessly. Everything seemed like a lie, and pleadings were as fleeting as broken breaths.

The moment when Liegel rushed in and tried to snatch Lesche’s wrist, a powerful spark bounced off Liegel’s body. My eyes widened. It was because the bracelet that fell under Lesche’s feet, like braids of hair, tied Liegel’s body tightly like a thin thread. (*It was the bracelet made of Liegel’s hair that Lina gave to Lesche before she died.)

“Lunaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Evil screams. The divine power was felt from the bracelet bound Liegel for a moment…

….Lina??

I clenched my teeth and ran to Lesche. Almost at the end, I crawled and arrived in front of him.

Lesche’s heart was already being eaten by the insignia. I could not at all admit that this blood on his hands belonged to Lesche.

I raised my hands as if vomiting blood. I gathered and poured divine power into Stern’s insignia.

Poof!

My body was drained of strength and my heart was completely consumed like a lie. The letter ‘1’ on Stern’s insignia disappeared completely.

Powerful divine power and light emitted from the insignia.

Tuban, who came out like white smoke, was no longer looking like Lesche. It was just the shape of a dragon so huge that I had raised my head high to look up.

“Aaaaah!”

Tuban bit Liegel, who rushed at him. The beasts ran towards them with monstrous screams, and Liegel struggled, but he could not defeat Tuban. The giant guardian frantically exploded with divine power and began to purify the magi.

Thump, thump.

Liegel’s body, torn by Tuban’s fangs, fell on the snow. Liegel’s eyes flashed with only his upper body. He slowly crawled to me with his arms.

Gel’s eyes twinkled. Rigel slowly crawled towards me with his arms.

“My moon… my moon… my… everything…”

“…”

“Kiss me just once. Just once… Just once…”

Boom!

Tuban’s feet completely crushed Liegel’s body.

His long arms outstretched towards me trembled, and then Liegel’s body began to scatter in gray dust. The moonlight pouring out of Liegel’s body began to be absorbed as if it had melted beneath the earth.

“Tuban.”

I said in a trembling voice while hugging Lesche.

“Give it back.”

“…”

“Give it back!”

No answer came back. Damn it.

Tuban was my guardian, so I could tell without listening to an answer.

Lesche’s heart no longer existed in this world. Like the jewels that I lost to Tuban and regretted.

Like those gems that were eventually absorbed and completely disappeared…

As if the lacrimal glands were broken, tears fell nonstop. Lesche’s body was trembling with the thick divine power that Tuban pushed with his heart.

I hugged Lesche’s body tightly. Red blood smeared all over my face without mercy, but it didn’t matter. At the same time, the divine power left by Tuban was absorbed by me.

A strong divine power shone from Lesche’s wrist. The bracelet, which looked like a braid of Tuban’s hair, stretched out like a string connecting two things.

It was then that I instinctively realized it.

Why Tuban gave this bracelet to Lesche.

I grabbed the bracelet that was hanging around Lesche’s wrist as if tied to it. My hands trembled. I didn’t even have the strength to keep my eyes open, but it must be nothing compared to Lesche, who gave his heart away.

I poured out the last of divine power.