TOPWL 107

“I’m feeling a little better now.”

“That’s a relief. Um… you must’ve been close to her.”

Yudit shook his head.

“We barely even spoke.”

He tried to recall Kanila’s face—but strangely, it wouldn’t come to mind clearly. Instead, his hand slipped into the pocket of his coat, feeling around until his fingers brushed something round. A brooch. He pulled it out, and on its surface, he saw clumsy embroidery: two three-leaf clovers and a white clover flower, all stitched in pale green thread. It was Kanila’s final work.

“She stopped knitting baby clothes the other day and started making that… Said it was a promise to Your Highness. I suppose making clothes had become too much for her.”

Yasin had told him that while handing over the brooch with its uneven embroidery.

Yudit recalled their brief conversation.

“It’s for the baby. When they’re born, I’ll dress them in this.”

“Yes… soft and warm. I’m sure the child will love it.”

“Really? Then next time, I’ll make one for Your Highness too.”

“I’ll look forward to it.”

Yes, that was all. Such an ordinary exchange. Certainly not anything that warranted a final gift.

The embroidery was a mess. Threads were frayed and broken. The lines were meant to be straight but crisscrossed erratically. It barely even looked usable as a brooch. And yet… as he stared at it, he found it hard to breathe.

“Three leaves…”

Had she meant to make four, but lost the strength partway through? As he wondered, Yasin spoke quietly.

“She liked three-leaf clovers. Said she preferred certain happiness over uncertain luck. I think… she wanted to give Your Highness that kind of happiness.”

Kanila’s innocent face came to mind. She had looked like a child, smiling with wide, dreamy eyes as if floating through a dream. Yudit stared blankly at the brooch.

“…I’m angry, actually.”

“Angry?”

“At the country that couldn’t save a single innocent life. At myself, for being too caught up with the district to notice. It wasn’t even a proper estate…”

He paused, then shook his head.

“No. That’s not it. I think… I was angry at Kanila.”

He had looked down on her, even despised her. A woman abandoned by a man, grieving over a stillborn child—ready to throw her life away. Yudit had resented how easily she had given up, while he had to claw his way through each day. He had scorned her. Maybe even envied her. So he hadn’t reached out. Hadn’t gotten involved. He had known she would die if left alone, but perhaps that was exactly why he kept his distance.

“Yes… soft and warm. I’m sure the child will love it.”

That one meaningless sentence was all he had offered her. And the result… was the death of an innocent woman.

A woman whom everyone would have forgotten in time had left him her final gift—and vanished, unburdened.

Now, he would live bearing the weight of that small brooch.

“I keep thinking… if I meant enough to her that she kept a passing promise even in the face of death… then maybe… if I had said something else… maybe she wouldn’t have died.”

“Your Highness…”

“What kind of leader am I, if I can’t even care for one person beside me? I never even truly understood her pain, yet I dared to judge her. But for her… just living must’ve been harder than dying…”

Yudit covered his face with his hands, unable to go on. Selena stepped forward and gently embraced him. Her warmth surrounded him.

“Maybe so,” she murmured. “You’re a warm-hearted person, Your Highness. Perhaps you could have reached her. But… please don’t hold yourself responsible for everything. Even gods cannot save everyone.”

She wiped away his tears with care.

“I’m sure she was happy… just making that brooch for Your Highness.”

Selena’s eyes, too, brimmed with unshed tears.

“And must a leader be perfect? People make mistakes—because we’re human. And a person who’s never once made a mistake… how could they ever understand others, let alone lead them?”

Her words flowed easily into the softened places in Yudit’s heart.

“I admire you, Your Highness,” she said. “Because you care. Because you grieve for pain that isn’t even your own. Others do too, I’m sure. So… please don’t hate yourself for too long…”

Yudit gave a small nod. Her words brought him some comfort—but once the thoughts had taken root, they didn’t fade so easily.

What truly made a good leader?

Did he really have what it took?

What should’ve been a 15-minute walk turned into over 40. Part of the delay came from dragging their feet, their eyes and noses red with emotion.

That was when someone stepped out of the inn.

It was Hess.

She had come out with a mat and a bat, likely to beat out the dust. When she saw them, she gave them a shy smile.

“Welcome back. Have you had supper?”

The strange question oddly brought Yudit some relief. He smiled faintly and shook his head.

“No, not yet.”

“It’s cold out—come in quickly. I’ll bring the meal right away. It’s chilly today, so I added a bit of spice to the stew.”

“Sounds good.”

“Oh, and—you’ve got a visitor.”

A visitor? He thought perhaps Raphine or Sonia had dropped by and turned to go inside, but something made him stop. A strange sensation prickled at the back of his neck. He turned his head instinctively, like an animal sensing danger.

The sky beyond the mountains was cloaked in dull grey. The air felt unnaturally heavy, and the forest had fallen into an eerie silence.

“Sel—”

Before he could call Selena’s name, Shane had already bolted toward him from the distance and wrapped him tightly in a firm embrace. Yudit’s chest clenched with the certainty that something was very wrong.

Then, from far away—

A growl split the sky.

The sound alone was enough to make one’s knees buckle and goosebumps erupt across every limb. A wail of fury and grief, so raw that just hearing it made the heart shudder.

Yudit pulled the now-pale Selena into his arms. Hess had also stopped in shock, frozen mid-motion with the bat still in hand, eyes fixed on the distant mountains.

Frightened birds burst into the sky all at once, a deafening flurry of wings overhead. Crows and other birds cried out in confusion, their calls wild and panicked, like the sky itself was screaming.

With the black mass of birds filling the sky, it looked like the end of the world.

“Are you all right?”

Selena asked in a trembling voice. Only then did Yudit realize that he was shaking. The air against his skin was ice cold. He gathered his thoughts and called out.

“Hess. Let’s go inside. Now.”

“Y-yes, right away.”

Looking ghostly pale, Hess turned and rushed back inside. Despite the terrifying sound, the inside of the inn was still full of music and laughter from drunk patrons. It seemed no one inside had heard it. It felt surreal—like a dream. Yudit glanced to the side. Selena and Hess both looked drained of color. No, it hadn’t been a dream. It was real. They had heard it.

Yudit was still wondering whether they should tell the others about the sound when suddenly someone seized him in a tight embrace.

“Oh, my dear Prince!”

The scent was familiar. Even without looking, Yudit knew who it was.

“You’ve gotten even thinner, my poor boy…”

His old nanny, far more haggard and frail than when he had last seen her, looked up at him with tearful eyes etched deep with age. What startled Yudit was not the nanny’s tears—but his own lack of reaction to them.

“…So it was you.”

“Your hands are freezing! Come inside. I’ll make you some hot soup.”

Yudit gently pushed her away. At the subtle but firm rejection, the nanny hesitated, then forced a light tone.

“What’s wrong, dear? Is it awkward seeing me again after so long?”

“I thought I made it clear I didn’t want to see you anymore.”

“…Are you still angry?”

“How did you know I was here?”

“You shouldn’t keep your heart closed like that. It won’t make you a fine man.”

“I said, how did you know I was here? I won’t ask a third time.”

Realizing Yudit’s patience was wearing thin, the nanny pursed her lips before speaking.

“I already knew you were stationed in District 3 of Bern. When I arrived in the village and asked after you, someone guided me here.”

Yudit sighed.

It was public knowledge—his appointment to Bern’s third district had been printed in the papers. But the fact that no one had stopped this woman—whose identity hadn’t even been properly confirmed—from reaching him, was a glaring oversight. And a dangerous one.

“We agreed to part ways at the palace.”

“Why are you being like this, Your Highness? Are you still angry with me? I was wrong…”

The nanny suddenly burst into loud sobs. Though people around them pretended to be chatting, they all stole glances in their direction.

“I’ve been reflecting, truly…”

Noticing the stares, the nanny only began to cry louder. Yudit brushed a hand over his brow.

“Let’s talk outside.”

“I was wrong, Your Highness! I was wrong!”

She dropped to her knees in front of him, her voice ringing through the inn. The atmosphere inside turned icy.

A prince coldly rejecting an elderly nanny—no matter the reason, it didn’t look good.

And she knew it.

She knew exactly how to make use of that.