Until our Hatred Turns into Love - Chapter 1

It was an exceptionally cruel winter. The murderous cold wave showed no signs of ending, even after snatching away the lives of countless imperial citizens.

“Ugh, sob.”

In a desolate, frigid alleyway shrouded in a fog thicker than death, a woman was weeping. Her ebony hair was blacker than the night, and her gaunt cheeks were whiter than the snow. The tattered clothes draped over her fragile frame were frayed in places, revealing pale skin through the holes. Her flesh was red and swollen from the biting cold. Yet, those who brushed past her did not feel pity; instead, they merely muttered as if she were a common nuisance.

“That crazy woman is out here again.” “Tsk, what bad luck to see her first thing in the morning.” “She cries and laughs all day long; she’s going to make me lose my mind, too. Let’s hurry before we get cursed by her misfortune.”

The woman’s name, which no one called out anymore, was Adelheid Raines. She was the eldest daughter of the House of Raines. The reputation of the Ducal House of Raines, descendants of the empire’s founding contributors, had been truly brilliant. This lasted until the entire family was executed and their titles and assets confiscated on the grounds of insulting the Emperor.

Adelheid was the sole survivor, saved by a family knight who hid her and fled to a distant land to escape the eyes of the Imperial Army. Since leaving the capital with nothing but her life, she had spent countless sleepless nights unable to accept the horrific tragedy that had befallen her. Everything terrified her, yet she was equally afraid to end her own life.

The knight, Luke, had comforted her with warmth, and she naturally came to rely on him. To them, they were already each other’s entire world. Her heart had swelled with the dream of starting a new life, but it lasted only a brief moment. Perhaps life is truly fleeting, for before long, Adelheid had to watch Luke pass away in vain as well. Even as her heart crumbled at the sudden tragedy, there was nothing she could change. Luke was dead, and all she had left was a single old house; a space so shabby and wretched that calling it a “home” felt like a joke.

“Actually, I like this house.” “A house this cramped?” “Because I can feel your warmth so closely, My Lady.”

Still, while he was alive, it had not felt this miserable. At times, it had even felt tender. But for Adelheid, who had lost everything in her life, it was impossible to continue living sanely in such a place. Not without going mad.

Whenever she fell into a shallow sleep, her headless parents appeared in her dreams, wandering in search of their daughter. They could not see her even though she was right in front of them; they could not call her name, their skeletal arms merely flailing in the air. Even when she woke up screaming from such nightmares, there was no one by her side.

In her sorrow, she wept. She would run out into the street and wail like a child until her voice gave out. Sometimes, she would receive a few coins or a piece of shriveled bread as charity. In the North, a place known for having no mercy, she had become a woman so pitiful and destitute that she invoked the pity of strangers. It had been only a few months since she was known as the noble Adelheid of Raines.

“Heh.”

Clutching a piece of dirty bread, she laughed at herself like a wounded beast. Unlike the capital, the northern lands where she and the knight had fled were always shrouded in thick fog. Because of this, it was bleak year-round, and this eerie climate played a major role in making her look like a woman who had lost her mind.

However, on the rare days when the warm sun shone down, she invariably recalled her happy childhood. Those shining days when she drank tea and laughed with her family in a garden where lovely flowers bloomed in profusion. Then, like a lie, she would fall into the illusion that she had returned to that time.

When immersed in such a distant daydream, Adelheid never shook her head; she even tried not to blink. She did not want to drift away from the hallucination, not even for a second. Instead, she stared into the void and smiled like a happy noble lady. She wore a smile that was infinitely innocent and benevolent.

People mocked her. Among the many who looked at her with curiosity, contempt, or lustful eyes, not one knew that she was once the Lady of Raines. It was only natural. Instead of a beautiful dress, she was draped in filthy rags, and her smile looked like nothing more than the laughter of a deranged madwoman.

That day, too, Adelheid was weeping sorrowfully. Her thin shoulders swayed like flower petals falling in the wind. In a wretchedly cracked voice, she called out to those who were gone.

Mother. Father. Catherine. Oliver. Luke. Luke.

A life that had narrowly escaped death. Yet, drowned in a grief so profound that dying seemed better, she vomited out colorless sobs. Her voice was so strained and pathetic that even onlookers shook their heads in pity. But there was one person who stopped upon hearing the woman’s crying.

“Wait.”

A middle-aged man, stroking his bushy beard, turned his head toward the alley where the faint sobbing leaked out. His eyes had caught the slender silhouette crouching on the cold ground, weeping dry tears.

“What is that girl?” “Ah, she’s a madwoman. Just a lowly beggar, so ignore her and let us hurry.” “A beggar, you say?” “I am ashamed to show you such a sight.”

At the slave trader’s words, the expression of Gaiman, a lord from the southern regions, colored with a strange excitement.

“Then that means she has no owner.”

The slave trader was well aware of the type of greed glistening in the man’s eyes.

“Is he really going to lay hands on a woman like that? Southerners, I tell you.”

Letting out a faint sigh, he replied, “Yes, she’s not a slave; it seems she ended up like that after the man she lived with died.” “Well, that’s a pity!” Gaiman said, the corners of his mouth curling upward. “If she’s a beggar, isn’t me taking her the same as helping her?” “But she is a lowly woman of the streets.”

In the Empire, a young woman’s purity was a virtue emphasized by custom, and naturally, the opposite was a target of censure and blame. But Gaiman, strangely drawn to her, had no room for other thoughts.

“Even if you take such a wanton woman, My Lord!”

In truth, he was possessed by only one goal: he must have that woman. Even though her face was barely visible due to her hair being matted with dust, he felt something special. It was a certain alluring beauty that he had never seen anywhere else. Since she sat so defenselessly on the street, many men must have already passed through her. But the Southern Lord thought, “If I take her in, she will never have to suffer the hands of another man. There could be no more valuable charity for this woman than that.”

Gaiman’s plump arm grabbed the woman’s gaunt chin.

“Now, show me your face.” “Th.” “Hmm? What did you say?” “Let go.”

Though she resisted with a parched voice, she lacked the strength to push him away, and her pale face was dragged up helplessly. Her cheeks were dry, and her lips were severely chapped. Under her pale eyelids, her mournful lashes were clumped with sleep and soaked with tears, looking utterly pathetic. Nevertheless, she was a beauty who exuded an inexplicable dignity. That fact startled the man.

He gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Now, he was dying to see the woman’s eyes.

“A pearl in the mud.”

With hands trembling with desire, he carefully tucked Adelheid’s messy hair behind one ear. A slender but graceful facial line was clearly revealed.

“Open your eyes, child. Be a good girl.” “Ugh, I said let go!” “Now, come on, your eyes.”

When she finally raised her vacant gaze, Gaiman let out a low exclamation. She had eyes of an incomparable bluish-violet. He had heard that some people possessed violet eyes, but it was his first time seeing such transparent and mysterious colors.

“You, what is your name? Won’t you come with me?”

As she tried to drop her lifeless gaze again, Gaiman’s hand roughly repositioned her face.

“Won’t you be my concubine? You’ll never go hungry again. Into these pretty lips, I’ll feed you many good th, KAAK!”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

Along with a deep, chilling voice, a silver blade flashed before Adelheid’s eyes. With a thud, the wrist that had been holding her chin just a moment ago fell to the ground.

“Ah!”

Adelheid was so shocked she could not even scream, her body convulsing in fear.

“Wh, who the hell are you?” “The mouth is next.” “Ugh, Aaaaah!”

At the terrifying warning, the middle-aged man picked up his severed wrist and fled frantically. The slave trader who was supposed to guide him to the market had already run away as well. There was no one here in the North who did not know this young noble who had appeared with the cold winter wind.

The man’s jet-black boots approached and stopped before the woman with an elegant stride. As he stepped into the pool of metallic-smelling blood with a soft splash, Adelheid trembled slightly. In truth, she was so exhausted it would not have been strange if she fainted right then. Her bony shoulders shook intermittently, and her tear-soaked eyes remained fixed on the ground, motionless. Within her hazy mind, the sudden fear of death rang out. It was a roar, like a giant bell being struck repeatedly.

“The Emperor’s man has finally found me.”

If she gave up without even pretending to flee, she would have nothing to say to Luke, who had risked his life to save her. But her body, which had not eaten properly for days and had done nothing but cry, did not even have the strength to stand. All she could do was bite her dry lips and stare at the black tips of his boots.

Just then, the man lightly lowered himself. His long legs folded flexibly, and she saw a firm chest with animal fur lining the lapels. A distant scent she had never smelled before filled her lungs. Soon, the man’s hand reached out and slowly stroked the woman’s cheek.

“You’ve got something dirty on you.”

As if the only dirty thing was the drop of blood that had splattered on her cheek, the man seemed not to care in the slightest about her filthy appearance. At the unexpected touch, the woman raised an uncertain, yet strangely sharp gaze. Then, the man’s handsome face tilted slightly to the side, as if looking into something very small and delicate.

“Hello.”

That was the first meeting between the two.

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