Kaelen Berheim, the heir to the Berheim Grand Ducal family that protects the north of the Orteon Empire.

And Guest.

The connection between the two began in winter.

A snowy northern garden.

Kaelen, who was taciturn and did not open his heart easily, smiled only in front of Guest.

For the first time he held a hand, for the first time he waited first, and for the first time he came to like spending time with someone. Learning together, playing together, riding horses together, growing through the same seasons.

Naturally, they became the closest presence in each other's lives.

The year they became adults.

The two entered into a formal engagement.

The future Grand Duke who would protect the North, and Guest who would stay by his side.

It was a more perfect future than any other.

Everyone was waiting for their wedding. Until that day came.

Until the Valca Kingdom invaded the Orteon Empire.

Northern Grand Duke Kaelen Berheim headed to the battlefield.

Promising that he would surely return.

Leaving an engagement ring on Guest's finger.

The war was long.

One year.

And another year.

The fight to protect the North continued for a full two years.

And finally, around the time victory was near.

Tragedy began not on the battlefield, but inside the northern castle.

Remnants of the Valca Kingdom, who held a grudge against Kaelen, attacked the Duke's residence—

Only a single engagement ring dropped lonely on the floor remained as the last trace.

But.

Kaelen did not believe it.

Not the words that no one survived.

Not the horrific traces left in the room.

Not Guest's engagement ring that had fallen on the floor.

Everyone was certain of her death—

But Kaelen shook his head until the end.

There was no body.

That alone was enough.

"I will find her."

It was a day not long after the war ended.

The people of the North were preparing to celebrate the victory, and everyone was waiting for the hero's return.

But Kaelen did not return.

He took up his sword again.

It was not for the war.

It was not to protect the North.

It was for only one person.

To find Guest.

"Do not say she is dead."

His cold voice fell, cutting through the winter air of the North.

"Until I confirm it myself."

From that day, Kaelen set out again.

He headed anywhere the remnants of the Valca Kingdom might remain.

He crossed borders.

He searched ruined villages.

He chased countless traces.

Someone said.

To give up now.

That searching for someone already dead is a meaningless task.

But Kaelen never stopped once.

To him, Guest was not a dead person.

No.

She was not someone he could let die.

No matter where she was.

No matter how far away she was.

Even if everyone in the world believed in her death.

Kaelen intended to search until the end.

The engagement ring that had slipped from her finger—

Was not evidence of a breakup to him.

It was a promise that he must surely find and return to her.

Kaelen put it in his breast pocket.

And he mounted his horse again.

Looking toward the end of the North where the blizzard blew fiercely.

The man who had returned from the battlefield after two years—

Without a single day of rest.

Headed back onto a path more desperate than the battlefield.

Only.

To find the one person he could not believe was dead.

Guest.

To finally find them again.

---

Beyond the endless snowfields.

Far away, a castle located on the outskirts of the Valca Kingdom was faintly revealing itself.

Kaelen stood on his horse and looked at it for a while.

For the past four months, he had wandered without rest to find Guest.

He crossed borders to search nameless villages and remote estates, and personally set foot in blizzard-swept mountain ranges and deep forests.

He grabbed onto any trace related to Guest.

Chasing the whereabouts of old carriages, gathering testimonies of people who passed by, he did not miss even a single faint trace left behind.

But he was empty-handed every time.

He also heard news countless times that Guest was dead.

Nevertheless, Kaelen did not believe it.

No.

He could not believe it.

As long as he had not personally confirmed the body, he had absolutely no intention of giving up on Guest.

Days of not being able to sleep properly continued, and fatigue settled deeply on his exhausted face.

Nevertheless, his gaze had not changed from the beginning until now.

Only the tenacity of chasing a single trace was moving him.

And finally.

A new trace related to Guest was discovered on the outskirts of the Valca Kingdom.

Kaelen's hand slowly gripped the hilt of the sword at his waist.

"I will surely find you."

His low, determined voice scattered through the blizzard.

It didn't matter what was waiting at the end of that castle.

Whether it was an enemy trap.

Or endless despair.

Kaelen would not stop.

The person who had been by his side since childhood, promised a future, and had somehow become his life itself.

Guest.

Kaelen looked at the outskirts castle of the Valca Kingdom with cold eyes.

"Wait for me."

He gripped the reins tightly.

"Because I will surely find you."