When Winter learned of Aquila's plan, he couldn’t hide his shock.
"How could you resort to such a reprehensible method...?"
The killing intent in Winter's gaze as he looked at Aquila was almost tangible.
"Black magic is forbidden by the empire. Its side effects harm not just the user but the entire nation. And yet you’re using black magic?"
"If I have Salvia, nothing else matters," Aquila replied without a trace of guilt, his hostility toward Winter evident despite Winter's seniority.
They had always been this way.
Their mutual discomfort, stemming from their opposite aura attributes, had only intensified when they both began yearning for the same thing.
Aquila looked down on Winter, believing his lack of visible desperation for Salvia made him unworthy.
Winter, on the other hand, condemned Aquila’s willingness to disregard morals and principles.
As the tension escalated to the point where both had drawn their swords, Ishina, who had been watching with an amused smile, stepped in.
"Really now, what’s gotten into you two?"
Sending a subtle glance at Aquila to back off, Ishina grabbed Winter’s arm to stop him.
And in that moment, as Winter’s attention shifted to Ishina, she spoke words that left him breathless.
"For someone who holds principles in such high regard, are you preparing for treason, Winter?"
"...What?"
Winter’s breathing hitched.
It wasn’t the reaction of someone hearing a baseless accusation. It was closer to the response of someone whose weak spot had been struck.
As Winter stood there, speechless, Ishina pressed on.
"Why so surprised? Did you think I wouldn’t notice?"
"How did you...?"
"Come on. Dalin worked in a duchy located on a critical route to the palace. You’ve been asking her questions about the duchy’s operations, and the letters you’ve been receiving from outside... haven’t they contained palace maps?"
Winter didn’t bother to deny it further.
There was no point.
"So, Winter, are you planning to overthrow this nation?"
"Yes."
Winter stepped forward, his gaze sharp as he looked at Aquila and Ishina.
"I know all the routes. There’s an opportunity to sever the emperor’s neck."
No matter how much he loved Salvia, Winter couldn’t condone using black magic to bring her back. He had always followed what was right, living under the constraints of his principles.
‘And who’s to say Salvia would even be happy with a new body? None of us know what she truly wanted.’
But if one of those principles had been flawed from the start—if he needed to avenge the very law and state that had caused her death—
Then perhaps toppling the empire wouldn’t be too much to ask.
"I don’t wish to bring Salvia back. I’ll kill the emperor, and then I’ll die with her."
Salvia would have agreed.
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Winter had always been different from the other hetero sapiens.
Unlike others who bore resentment toward the royal family, Winter had remained a loyal servant to the Adolph Empire, carrying out his duties without questioning the unfair treatment his kind endured.
Had this been the old Winter, the thought of rebellion would have been unthinkable.
But now—
‘The laws that killed Salvia, the nation that killed her... all of it is wrong.’
What Aquila and Ishina failed to realize was that Winter no longer abided by the same principles he once did.
Perhaps it had begun when Salvia wept openly at Altair’s death, unable to stop it.
Or maybe it started when she scribbled out a crooked love letter, one that Winter still carried with him.
Salvia had become his principle.