Maybe it was because he had come farther north.
Even as spring arrived, the chilling air now held the bite of a harsh winter.
Although the northern regions of the continent usually gave off at least some feeling of warmth here and there, the Yuta Kingdom was different.
Fwhoooooosh!
Here, snowstorms were still raging.
The world was pure white. Each breath he exhaled tore into the drifting snow in the air.
Even the warmth of spring could not push away the merciless winter of this remote land.
“This place hasn’t changed.”
Winter in the Yuta Kingdom was still not over.
But it wasn’t something surprising. Here, this scenery was simply everyday life.
The people of the Yuta Kingdom lived all the more fiercely for that.
The environment was harsh, and wild beasts were plentiful.
Food was not abundant.
Thus, the people who managed to survive here had no choice but to be strong and unyielding.
Every day they fought to survive. Sometimes, that could look violent and barbaric to outsiders, but that was simply the way they survived.
A nation that throbbed hotter than any other, even within this severe cold.
That was the Yuta Kingdom.
‘Anyone else would have frozen stiff the moment they faced this cold.’
But even this extreme cold could not affect Ludger in the slightest.
His coat was embedded with protective functions, and as someone who possessed transcendent power, Ludger was no longer affected by environmental factors such as heat or cold.
Beyond the cold coniferous forest blanketed in white snow, the sight of a city came into view.
‘Judging by the location... a city slightly away from the capital?’
He had aimed to arrive in the capital through spatial movement, but due to the worsening weather, the coordinates seemed to have twisted somewhat.
It meant that spatial movement magic still wasn’t perfectly accurate.
‘If it were Rinne, she would have gone exactly where she wanted without a problem.’
That was because she was born with spatial mana. For Ludger to achieve that level, he would need many more attempts and adjustments afterward.
Of course, it wouldn’t take very long.
‘So this place... Demarkirye, huh. A city about 20 km east of the capital.’
Well, 20 kilometers was still an acceptable margin of error.
He had crossed a distance on the scale of an entire nation—this sort of deviation could certainly be reduced further.
There was no need to rush. Even if he couldn’t meet Yekaterina in the capital, it didn’t matter.
Just recalling the days when he had worked as a mercenary was enough.
‘But of all places... Demarkirye.’
He had worked as a mercenary, yes, but this place was particularly memorable for Ludger.
The fact that he recognized the city just by its layout and geography was proof of that.
Was it a good memory? No.
Memories related to war could never be good.
‘The timing, too... So this was around when the civil war was nearing its end.’
He hadn’t aimed for that specifically, but the timing ended up matching coincidentally.
Ludger slowly headed toward Demarkirye.
The city was covered in snow, and people tightened their clothes as they walked the streets.
The city was more developed than when he’d seen it before.
Buildings destroyed by the civil war had been restored, and there were structures he had never seen.
Several years had passed since the civil war.
Plenty of time for the scars of that day to be repaired.
On the contrary, after the civil war ended and Tsaritsa ascended, the Yuta Kingdom enjoyed a glory it had never known before.
‘Seems she’s doing well.’
As he walked the streets, people’s gazes turned toward Ludger.
Wearing only a coat in such harsh weather naturally made him noticeable.
Still, because of the expensive-looking coat and Ludger’s appearance that matched it, people simply assumed he was a magician or a noble and let it pass.
‘Did I attract too much attention?’
Ludger stepped into a nearby clothing shop.
Since he was drawing too many eyes, he adjusted his outfit to look less suspicious.
He bought a scarf, a hat, and winter gloves.
After wearing them, he blended into the surroundings somewhat better.
The fierce wind that had been blowing earlier grew calmer.
Ludger stopped ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) walking.
People were moving toward a certain direction.
Adults, children, elders—everyone was heading the same way, which stirred his curiosity.
He quietly followed the line of people for some time.
Soon, a national memorial appeared before his eyes.
People went up to the gravestones buried under white snow, brushed the snow away, and placed flowers upon them.
Some bowed their heads.
Others pressed their hands together and offered prayers.
‘A grave honoring the victims of the civil war.’
The Yuta Kingdom’s civil war: the War of Frost and Flames.
Many lives had vanished without meaning in that war.
To avoid forgetting that day, the people of the Yuta Kingdom created these gravestones.
To honor all those who died in the midst of the tragedy.
It didn’t matter whether they were the prince’s faction or the princess’s faction.
They were all people of the kingdom.
‘The civil war, huh.’
Yes. This city had also been swept up in the war.
Among the countless battles that took place, this place had seen one of the fiercest.
Ludger had taken part in that battle as well.
A battle that gave the princess’s faction—previously at a disadvantage—a chance to seize victory.
But for that, far too many people had shed blood.
Among them was a man Ludger still remembered.
A remarkable sniper who had gone out alone with his rifle to stop the enemy assault.
Ludger looked around the gravestones.
But his name could not be found anywhere.
Perhaps it made sense.
His body hadn’t even been recovered, and his final moments had been in a remote forest outside the city.
Probably, no one remembered him.
No one except Ludger, who had spoken with him in his final moments.
Pulling down the brim of his hat, Ludger turned away.
He walked against the stream of people heading toward the memorial.
Leaving the city, Ludger rose with the wind and headed toward a forest.
Most forests in the Yuta Kingdom were coniferous.
And because everything was buried under snow, every forest looked nearly identical.
But Ludger could tell.
The closer he got, the more vivid his memories became.
Eventually, Ludger reached a small cabin.
A cabin untouched by human hands for several years—half-collapsed under the weight of snow.
But even the half-standing shape stirred old memories.
Memories of sitting inside with his comrades of the civil war.
“Are you... still somewhere in this cold forest?”
Ludger rose again and moved through the woods.
He didn’t know the exact spot where the battle had taken place.
But he could make a good guess.
The man had been a born hunter and sniper.
The enemies had been chasing from beyond the ridge, cutting through the forest.
Their movement routes were limited—and so there would have been only a few strategic points to block them effectively.
Ludger began searching the most likely spots.
“There it is.”
Ludger landed before a certain tree.
A large tree still intact after all these years, but its scars remained.
Bullet marks embedded all over the trunk.
Some nearby trees had chunks torn out, clearly from explosions.
Traces of battle.
Ludger followed those traces.
Amid the howling wind, phantom gunshots echoed in his ears.
With every clue he found, he pieced together the battle that had unfolded here, like assembling a puzzle.
Screams, gunfire, explosions.
The greatest amount of chaos one man could create with his life on the line.
But ultimately, he must have been overwhelmed, forced to flee as the enemy closed in from all sides.
His wounds would have grown with every moment.
He would have exhausted every card he had.
Even so, he became bait to draw the enemy’s attention.
Crunch. Crunch.
Ludger walked through the conifer forest.
In front of him, he could almost see the man’s back—running, evading the enemy.
His cloak, which should have blended perfectly with the snow, was stained with blood whose origin was uncertain.
Was it the enemy’s?
His own?
Probably both.
Drops of blood fell where he ran.
Red against the pure white snow.
Following the trail, Ludger eventually reached a spot.
A small clearing where the trees had not grown properly.
At the center of it—
Ludger closed his eyes.
His mind clearly reconstructed what had happened there.
After losing too much blood, he must have stopped here.
And collapsed.
Gasping for breath, feeling the falling snow on his face.
At last, he had breathed his final breath.
This was the man’s final resting place.
Ludger looked up.
The sky was filled with dark clouds, endlessly pouring snow.
Standing in the center of the clearing, Ludger left footprints.
The place where an unnamed hero had met his end.
And in the place he thought would hold nothing, something small protruded from the snow.
“What is this...”
Ludger swept away the piled snow with a bit of magic.
What had been hidden beneath was revealed.
It was a small gravestone.
A crudely stacked pile of stones, but unmistakably a grave.
Compared to the other victims’ gravestones, it was extremely humble and hastily made.
But before anything else, Ludger felt curiosity.
“Who in the world...”
Someone had made a grave here.
But how? Very few people even knew what had happened.
Had someone really come here and made this grave themselves?
Just as he thought that—
Creeeak.
Footsteps on the snow.
Perhaps because he had been too focused on the grave, he noticed the presence late even though the person had come close.
Ludger slowly turned his head.
A woman stood there, wearing a robe with the hood pulled low over her head.
Who would ever imagine meeting someone in such a remote forest?
Just as Ludger found it unexpected, she seemed equally surprised.
“You...”
“You...”
Both opened their mouths at the same time, then closed them.
In the snow-covered forest, they sensed each other’s existence more clearly than anyone else.
How could they not recognize each other?
The woman pushed back the hood that had covered her head.
What was revealed was silver hair—shining more beautifully and cleanly than the snow itself.
There was only one person in the kingdom whom that silver hair signified.
The Queen of the Yuta Kingdom.
The woman who had planted burning flames into the hearts of the people of the frozen land, becoming the lighthouse of all.
The Torch Queen.
Yekaterina Volsbaya.
Even after three years, she had grown even more beautiful with time, and she stared blankly at Ludger.
She recognized him too—the fact that this man was Ludger.
“This grave. Did you make it?”
“Yes. I made it myself. And every year, whenever we commemorate the civil war, I come here personally.”
“I see.”
Even though the two were meeting again after a long time, there was no dramatic reaction.
Yekaterina stepped up beside Ludger.
Her gaze fixed on the grave—the crude little grave she had built with her own hands.
“As a queen, is it really fine for you to come here all alone, with no one else?”
“It’s not just one or two days, you know. People have gotten used to it by now. Of course, the guards are waiting outside the forest.”
“I told you countless times to maintain your dignity as a queen, and yet you still refuse to listen.”
“I am working hard, you know? But sometimes, I need freedom too.”
“Is that so.”
Ludger let out a faint snort.
“To think I assumed you would be living lonely and alone. Seems that was just my misunderstanding.”
“All I could do was make a crude grave like this.”
“No. It is not crude.”
The moment he saw the grave, Ludger could feel it.
The sincerity and respect directed toward the deceased.
That was why he felt relieved.
And that was why he was grateful.
“He would surely be thankful too.”
And Ludger was thankful as well.
For not leaving his old comrade alone in this place.
A brief silence lingered between them.
The one who couldn’t bear it was Yekaterina.
“More importantly—why are you here? Without a word! If you were coming, you should have told me!”
“Did you not hear the news that I was executed when I returned?”
“Of course I heard it! And of course, I also knew you were still alive!”
“Right. I’m alive. As Ludger Cherish, that is.”
Yekaterina let out a long sigh, realizing that getting angry was pointless.
“I was planning to visit you eventually. But I didn’t expect to meet you here of all places.”
“Same for me.”
“Well, this saves me some trouble.”
Ludger removed his hat and brushed off the snow.
“Since I’m here anyway, we might as well talk. About how you’ve been.”
“Yes. All right. I have sooo many things I want to hear from you.”