Chapter 1
As I crossed the gates of Roktana, my hell unfolded.
“Die!!”
“You son of a devil!! You deserve to die!!”
“Give back our son…! Waaa!! Give me back my baby!!”
“Die, you Allen bastard!”
The beautiful nature outside the castle vanished, and the crowd, rushing like a swarm of ants, lifted their heads as if they were one living entity.
This entity was named hatred.
-Thwack!
Out of nowhere, a stone flew through the air and struck my forehead.
“Ugh!”
Sharp pain shot through me as crimson blood trickled down my forehead.
Like a signal, this initiated a barrage of stones raining down on me.
So many stones fell that the sky momentarily darkened.
Had I really earned this level of animosity from them? Not really.
To be precise, it was my family that did. I was merely the eldest son of our family.
Our family, the Allens, was enemies with the Rondore family that ruled over this Roktana.
A knight of Rondore, who had dragged me all the way to Roktana, had quietly approached me and whispered.
“Look, Kyle Allen.”
As his slow hand lifted, another heavy stone ricocheted off his gauntlet.
“See with your own eyes the grudge your family has built… and remember it well. The anger of Roktana… is no different from the anger of the Rondore family.”
Elderly men weeping blood tears.
Children throwing stones with eyes full of resentment.
My peers, trampled by adults as they rushed in to attack.
Parents who lost their children and children who lost their parents showered their anger upon me.
If anyone ever witnessed such a scene, even without being told to remember, they wouldn’t be able to forget.
It was horrific.
There were no words to describe it differently.
Even just trying to understand the swirl of emotions within me was overwhelming.
“…”
But I shrugged off these feelings as best as I could.
They were emotions I didn’t need to understand.
I had to remember.
This was the Rondore territory, Roktana.
The territory of my enemy family.
One thing was certain.
Just like my father did, and just as his soldiers did, I too had to fight.
This was my battlefield.
In the face of fear, lowering my sword and shield would only return death.
If I showed weakness, I would suffer.
My father always said that if you were hit, you should hit back.
So I wiped away the blood harshly, swallowed my fear, and shouted.
“…Did we kill only you?”
I raised my voice further.
“Are we the only demons? Do you even know how many of our people you’ve killed? We were just stronger, you’re the same kind of people!!”
For the past five years, there had been war between the East Kingdom and the Delum Kingdom.
The Allen family belonged to the East Kingdom.
My father, under the banner of the East Kingdom, bolstered the reputation of the Allen family as he faced numerous families of the Delum Kingdom.
And among those families was one we regarded as our greatest rival.
With territory and fighting strength comparable to ours.
The Rondore family.
The first family that blocked my father, who gained the title of ‘Unbeaten Knight,’ and the one that we had both killed the most and had killed us the most during the war.
It was also the reason the two families had constantly tangled—Rondore was located straight south of the cold northern lands where the Allen family resided.
We fought fiercely, deepening our emotional rifts.
Then last year, while our family had nearly driven the Rondore family to the brink of destruction, effectively ending the competition between our families in our victory…
War cannot be won by a single family.
The war between kingdoms ended in defeat for our East Kingdom.
A peace treaty was established, but as the losing side, we had to provide guarantees for the negotiation.
Many noble children of the East Kingdom were thus taken as hostages to the Delum Kingdom.
Not every family’s child was taken, but… I was one of them. No, it was mandatory.
Considering my father’s exploits in the war, the Allen family could not escape the wrath of the Delum Kingdom.
And my destination was of course one place.
A family that had fallen to ruin due to allegiance to the Delum Kingdom and continued the war against us.
Our greatest enemy, our adversary.
I had to come to the Rondore family’s territory, Roktana.
I must be crazy.
As I pressed my palm against my split forehead, I thought.
I certainly had a choice.
Before I was dragged off as a hostage, my father had asked my brothers with a pained expression.
“Which one of you will go to Roktana? Who will sacrifice for the Allen family?”
…Honestly, I didn’t want to.
Thinking of the relationship between us and the Rondores, I really didn’t want to go.
We had killed many of Rondore’s soldiers, or in other words, the subjects of Roktana.
And that wasn’t all.
The Duke of Rondore also died from wounds he sustained in battle with my father.
Their firstborn son… tangled in a complex story, could also be said to have died by our hands.
So what remained in Roktana?
A multitude of subjects grieving for their lost husbands and children.
The Duke’s wife and her daughter, who would share the same sentiments.
And a vast amount of anger.
This anger would be directed at whoever was taken as a hostage and become a target for their wrath.
That’s why I didn’t want to come here. It could mean dying under the weight of this anger.
I didn’t want to die. There were so many things I wanted to do, eat, and see.
…But why was I doing this?
I was foolish.
There are five of us siblings.
I am the eldest son, 14 years old.
The second and third are girls aged 13 and 11.
I wouldn’t want to imagine the terrible things that might happen to a girl being taken as a hostage, so they were out of the question.
The fourth is a 6-year-old who still sucks his thumb, and the fifth is a 2-year-old who can’t even talk yet.
…Both are boys, but their age doesn’t allow them to understand what vengeance is.
As the eldest son, as a man, as my father’s child, as a brother, as a member of the Allen family, it was clear who should be taken as a hostage.
That’s why I’m here.
I couldn’t send my younger siblings.
But now, I regret it.
Even if my conscience pricks me, I should have never come.
The cries filled with resentment grew louder.
“That bastard!!”
“Kill him!! Kill him!!”
“Knights, make way!! I’ll definitely kill that guy and send him to hell!!”
I shouted back fiercely as well, facing thousands.
“Throw more! You think this little bit scares me? This is all you got!! That’s why the Allen family beat you!!”
My shouting turned the square into chaos.
The crowd pushed and shoved the knights in different directions. The stone barrage grew rougher.
Those with stones in hand tossed whatever they could grab, be it dirt or weeds.
I too began to hurl insults with more fervor. The more I immersed myself in anger, the less fear gripped me, even if just for a moment.
“As long as I make it back home alive!! I’ll come back with an army and kill you all!!”
“You think you can survive and return?!”
“The Duchess will kill you!! The Rondore family will kill you!!”
-Clang!
In that moment, the leader of the knights bellowed like thunder as he drew his sword.
“Enough!!”
As the captain drew his sword, the other knights followed suit.
The uproar fell silent, and the square grew quiet.
The captain of the knights spoke.
“This commotion ends here!”
He then began a lengthy speech, reassuring the people of the territory. Saying that there was still time to come and that I must at least be taken before the Duchess…
While he said this, I pressed on my split brow, trying to staunch the blood as I caught my breath.
Initially, the crowd, unable to calm their excitement at the captain’s speech, gradually parted ways at the gleam of his sword.
Finally, seeing the wide path parting, the captain sheathed his sword, and the rest of the knights followed suit.
Then ahead, I caught sight of something.
As everyone moved aside, occupying the center of the path was one figure.
It was an old woman.
“…”
Her hair was white, her face was lined with wrinkles, and tears streamed down her cheeks.
Amidst her hazy appearance, her eyes shone brightly.
She did not hide her hatred towards me either.
“Unbeaten Knight, Jade Allen’s eldest son, Kyle Allen.”
Her voice echoed amid the now quiet crowd.
In the silence, whispers of “witch…” floated around.
The captain of the knights was so taken aback by her that he couldn’t even utter a word to make her step back.
The old woman, labeled a witch, slowly opened her mouth.
“…You probably don’t care, but… your father killed my son in the war.”
“…”
“And my son… comes to me every night, asking for revenge on the Allen family in my dreams… He was such a whiny child from a young age, but still… what can an old woman like me do? How could I alone challenge the mighty northern house…?”
As the old woman’s tears flowed, she broke into a smile. It was a bizarre smile that sent chills down everyone’s spine.
“But… I must at least try…”
Her eyes, wide open, turned towards me.
“People called me a witch. I wasn’t a witch, but… if I had such power, if I really were a witch as they say…”
With a soft whisper, she said to me,
“I curse you.”
In a calm yet furious tone, she continued.
“You will not bear children, and you will die before you reach thirty, and if you do have children, they will be unhealthy…”
The longer her words went on, the more the discomfort I initially felt faded. She was rambling on and didn’t seem like a witch at all.
Just as I thought to interrupt her.
“Northern women don’t believe in curses-”
-“You will fall in love with someone you shouldn’t.”
“…”
I instinctively froze at the old woman’s final words.
And the moment those words left her lips, it kept ringing in my head.
“Ugh… Waaa…”
From the moment I met her, I began to doubt whether the curse was real.
With her bright red hair, small stature, huge red eyes, and striking beauty, she was meant to be my enemy.
“…Ka, Kyle Allen.”
As I looked at her, my heart pounded vigorously. Whether it was due to tension or truly because of the curse, I didn’t know.
It was my first time feeling this way looking at a girl, and I found myself in confusion.
Maybe it was just because she was beautiful, or maybe it was because she looked so pitiable, or perhaps it was because the situation was just far too unexpected…
But one thing was for sure, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her.
She spoke.
“…I’ve been waiting for you.”
