The estate's steward stared at Valorant with wide eyes and asked,
"What do we do now?"
Valorant stood still for a second before replying,
"He couldn't have gone far."
Then he turned toward the girls in the room.
"I don't understand how he managed to escape. Suna and Anna were standing by the door. There's no way they wouldn't have noticed."
Gustav turned his head toward the corridor and looked at the body lying there.
"Then who is the one lying in the hallway?!"
"That's also a body—but not a complete one. More precisely, it wasn't the main body."
Hearing their conversation, Anna—who had been listening from inside the room—felt anger surge within her. Hearing her grandfather, one of the empire's two dukes and a member of the imperial family, spoken of like an object made her clench her fists in anger.
"What are you even saying?!"
She looked straight at one of the Seven Sages.
"What happened to my grandfather?! Explain everything to me!" she shouted at Valorant.
Despite understanding the young girl's condition, Valorant did not lose his composure.
"There's no time to explain everything right now."
Anna's expression hardened even further.
"If you don't explain everything to me right now, I'm not going anywhere! What happened to my grandfather? Why were they trying to kill me?!"
Her words were followed by the steward's low voice.
"Sir Valorant… perhaps it's better if we tell her," Gustav said, pausing briefly.
"I'll search for it. You explain everything to Anna."
Valorant remained silent for a moment. Then he took a deep breath and exhaled.
"Search every corner of the estate. Leave nothing unchecked."
Gustav hurried out of the room at once. Valorant turned to the girls standing before him.
"Until Gustav returns, I'll tell you everything I know," he said.
"Sit down."
Anna hesitated, then obeyed. Valorant began to speak.
"This all began many years ago. Before I became one of the Seven Sages, when I was sixteen, I enrolled in Chronos Academy. That's where I first met Alaris. We became friends quickly—mostly because we came from the same place."
Valorant paused briefly.
"But after some time, Alaris began to change. He attended classes less and less, spending most of his time with mysterious companions only he seemed to know. They always stayed apart from others, discussing things in secret. At the time, I didn't think much of it—it matched his personality."
A complicated expression formed on the Seven Sage's face.
"After we graduated, I didn't see him again. He vanished completely—like a drop of water falling into the sea. I searched for him through both the imperial palace and the academy, but couldn't find him. That is, until half a year later, when I finally saw him again at the palace—calm, as if nothing had happened."
Valorant frowned, recalling the unpleasant memories.
"For those six months, no one knew what he had been doing—not even the emperor. Naturally, rumors began to spread. People said he had turned to dark magic and joined a secret organization. When the emperor heard this, Alaris was removed from the line of succession. Instead, his younger brother was declared crown prince."
Anna spoke in a trembling voice,
"The late emperor… Virmus."
"Yes," Valorant replied.
To prevent his son from being left with nothing, Emperor Virmus granted Alaris a second dukedom—something that had never existed in the empire's history. Until then, there had been only one duke.
Valorant closed his eyes meaningfully.
"Even after becoming a duke, Alaris lived in constant anxiety. As if he were being watched. That continued for a long time—until one of the Demon King's commanders attacked the empire."
"At that time, Virmus sat on the throne, and I had risen to the rank of general," Valorant continued.
"The war reached its fiercest stage. Then, unexpectedly, Virmus died in battle. That single event shattered the army's morale, and we suffered massive losses."
The Blackwood Empire began to lose ground numerically.
"Even so, I managed to defeat the enemy commander alone—though at the cost of severe injuries. I believed that once the commander fell, the demons would retreat. But I was wrong. Instead, they pressed deeper into the empire."
Suna tightly grasped Anna's hand, as if remembering something.
"I was gravely wounded, the soldiers were exhausted from prolonged fighting, and help from allied nations showed no sign of arriving. It felt like nothing could save us anymore."
Valorant paused.
"But then… he appeared."
Anna asked hesitantly,
"W-Who?"
Valorant answered after a brief silence.
"A necromancer."
Anna raised her brows in disbelief.
"But dark magic is forbidden in the empire. Necromancy stands at the very peak of dark magic."
"That's correct," Valorant said.
"But that situation was different."
He continued,
"The necromancer raised all the dead on the battlefield and turned them against the demons. The battle was won. You already understand who that necromancer was."
Anna's voice wavered.
"My grandfather…?"
"Yes. He saved the empire from the brink of collapse. Thanks to him, we survived. But when it came time to pass judgment, everyone remained silent. That silence lasted for a long time—until the current empress, Aurelia, chose to turn a blind eye."
Valorant lowered his head.
"Alaris's use of dark magic was never made public. Other noble families were warned to keep their distance. And those who knew the truth…"
He paused for a long moment.
"Everything seemed fine—but Alaris forgot something crucial. Anyone who uses dark magic must pay a price. The greater the spell, the greater the payment. What happened today is the beginning of that payment."
Valorant lifted his head and looked at the girls.
"Right now, that curse is trying to gather souls equal to the number of dead from that war—using Alaris's body."
Silence filled the room. No one rushed to speak.
Anna lowered her head, her expression a tangled mix of trust, doubt, and confusion.
"So all this time… people avoiding our family, everyone running away… was it because of what my grandfather did?"
Suna gently squeezed Anna's hand.
"Anna, this was all—"
"I don't understand anything," Anna interrupted.
"Alaris did all of this to save the empire," Valorant said firmly.
Suna suddenly spoke up.
"Then the duke knew everything… even what would happen after his death?"
Valorant closed his eyes briefly, then turned to Anna.
"I'm here to protect you. We need to take you to Yggdrasil, to the Elven Forest. Entering it isn't easy—it's protected by a barrier."
Suna asked anxiously,
"If we leave, what happens here? The undead figure will overrun everything."
"That won't happen," Valorant replied.
"No matter how powerful dark magic is, it cannot exist long without a source."
Every spell—no matter its nature—requires a source. Even ordinary magic draws upon mana within the body.
"It needs a vessel. When I destroyed Alaris's body, I eliminated the core source—his heart. That body is dead."
Anna asked, confused,
"But you said it escaped."
"Because he used soulless necromancy. He can move between bodies. If there's a corpse, he can inhabit it."
"But there aren't any corpses here!"
"That's exactly what I don't understand either—how he managed to escape without a body."
Suddenly, heavy footsteps echoed through the corridor. Someone was running toward them. The figure stopped at the door and looked inside.
"S-Sir Valorant! We have a problem!" Gustav said, gasping for breath.
His face was pale, cold sweat covering his body.
"What kind of problem now?"
"Look outside!" Gustav shouted, pointing toward the far end of the corridor.
There was a window there—one that overlooked the estate's entrance. Understanding immediately, Valorant rushed out of the room toward it. The others followed close behind.
As Valorant reached the window and looked out, his face turned as white as snow.
Then he asked quietly,
"Gustav… was there a battlefield nearby?"
"No. But many years ago, there was one not far from here."
Anna and Suna arrived a moment later. Not understanding what they were talking about, Anna stepped forward to look for herself.
From the second floor, the surroundings were visible at a glance. Though it was night, the recently fallen snow reflected enough light to reveal the scene below.
As Anna looked down, she saw figures entering through the gate.
She had only ever seen such things in books.
The beings crossing the gate had no flesh, no skin—only bones, wrapped in decayed, grotesque armor.