Prologue
“Are you trembling?”
I snapped my head up at the words that fell from above. Bert hyung was staring at me intently. Out of habit, I curled the corners of my lips upward and gave a small shake of my head.
“No….”
That was a bit of a lie. I was trembling, just a little. I was, after all, moments away from making my entrance at my own wedding.
But the feeling of detachment was far stronger. I had imagined this moment over and over again. A wedding with Bert hyung — the one I had loved unrequitedly since childhood. Now that it was finally happening, I felt nothing like happiness.
It was because of what he had said to me three months ago.
‘Is it… because of that?’
‘Yes.’
‘So you decided to marry me simply because my father said he’d hand over all his assets?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Then what was the proposal? Were you… using my feelings?’
‘Well… you could look at it that way. But from what I heard, you wanted this marriage too — so what’s the problem?’
Bert hyung had asked me that in return, as though he genuinely didn’t understand.
‘Doesn’t it work out for the better? Is there anything more to discuss?’
Bert hyung had proposed to me solely to inherit a fortune — and he had done it knowing full well that I had loved him for a long time.
And that wasn’t all. My father intended to strip me of my succession rights under some convincing pretext, transfer the title to Bert hyung, and ship me off to a remote region as though exiling me. Then he planned to bring in Bert hyung’s mistress and make a child of hyung’s bloodline his own heir.
And Bert hyung appeared to be in agreement with all of it.
There was no use blaming him for such cruelty. Because Bert hyung couldn’t feel emotions.
From the moment he was born, he had been cursed by a sorcerer who harbored a grudge against his father, the Duke of Kildun. They called it the Curse of Sealed Emotions.
Bert hyung was someone who knew neither sorrow, nor joy, nor love. And it was I who had been captivated by that peculiarity of his — so I supposed I had brought it all upon myself.
Even so, I couldn’t help the bitterness that welled up in me. At the same time, the feelings I’d held for Bert hyung had grown cold.
I could not accept a marriage like this. I would not let things unfold according to their designs. And so I had decided to put a stop to this wedding.
At the very moment my father and Bert hyung believed their plan was proceeding exactly as intended — at the very moment I walked down the aisle —
I would drop dead.
Not literally dead, of course. I would simply be leaving this body behind; my soul would live on.
It was a plan built upon the bloodline magic passed down to me by my mother. I had been told that using that magic would allow one to undergo an out-of-body experience, enter another person’s body, and permanently take occupation of it.
One could live an entirely new life in someone else’s body. My mother had already done just that — when I was fifteen, she bid me farewell, used the magic, and disappeared somewhere. Whose body she entered and now lives in, I still don’t know.
When I was young, I resented her for leaving me. But I understand now.
The prospect of living a new life was an extraordinarily tempting one.
In the three months since I’d learned the truth behind this marriage, I had spent my time thinking about how to build my future — and this was what I had devised.
“You will now make your entrance.”
It was time for Bert hyung to enter first. Without a word, he moved his feet and walked through the doors that opened right on cue.
I stood behind him and peeked at the interior of the venue. In a space flooded with pure white sunlight, the guests turned to look at hyung as the doors closed once more.
Now, when the doors opened again and it was my turn to enter, I would walk to roughly the midpoint of the aisle and use the magic.
I hadn’t wanted to take someone else’s body against their will, so I had made arrangements well in advance.
Together with my acquaintance, Edgar, I had planned out today’s events.
Most gratefully, Edgar had told me he wanted to repay a debt he owed me, and that he would willingly offer me his body. He was here now, seated among the guests on my side.
I thought that once I had collapsed, I would enter Edgar’s body and watch for a little while to see how hyung would handle it.
He’ll act as though nothing happened. He’ll feel nothing but irritation that his plan has been disrupted.
Everyone knew what kind of person he was, what kind of person he would be — so had I alone been under some spell, lost in an illusion all this time?
Because Bert hyung allowed me close to him, I had mistakenly believed I was someone special to him.
‘Rowell, will you marry me?’
When hyung sat across from me and said those words with a smile, I had been euphoric — as though every dream I’d ever had had come true, as though I held the entire world in my hands.
He must have never once imagined I would refuse. Recalling the memory of that day, my chest ached, and I clenched my fist.
This was how I had chosen to make my refusal known.
“You will now make your entrance.”
Hearing those words from ahead, I gave a small nod and stepped toward the doors. Moments later, they were pulled open from both sides, and the inside of the venue began to reveal itself. A radiant hall decorated with white flowers. Guests smiling warmly as they welcomed me.
And visible through them all — Bert hyung, standing at the far end of the aisle, his gaze fixed on me.
I swallowed and stepped onto that path. I moved my feet slowly, to the sound of the wedding march. Then I let my eyes drift across the guest seating, searching for a particular face.
Before long, my eyes met Edgar’s, and I gave a slight nod. Edgar, receiving my signal, nodded back.
I shifted my gaze forward again and looked directly at Bert hyung.
He wore the same expression as always — which was to say, no expression at all. The smile I once saw on you — what, I wonder, was that?
I had thought there was nothing I wouldn’t do if it meant I could see that face again. But in this moment, I wanted to act for myself, and myself alone.
I held his amber eyes in my gaze as I gradually slowed my steps and drew in a breath. And in the next moment, I activated the magic.
Immediately, a sharp tingling shot through my hands, a numbing sensation that traveled up my wrists and spread in an instant from my torso throughout my entire body.
Then came a pounding in my head that made my eyes fly wide open — I felt the life drain out of me all at once, and I crumpled helplessly to the ground.
I came to at the sound of a heavy thud. That loud sound I’d just heard was the collision of my body hitting the floor.
My body felt light enough to float away — and not just as a feeling. It was real. I could fly.
I looked down from a considerable height at my own body, sprawled face-down on the floor. I raised my hand before my eyes, but there was nothing to see. I knew I had entered a state of pure soul.
“What happened?”
“What’s going on?”
The musicians, hearing the guests’ screams and murmuring, stopped the wedding march at an awkward point mid-song. The guests began rising from their seats one by one, trying to make sense of the situation, and the inside of the venue grew louder and more chaotic than it ever had before.
Within it all, I turned to look at Edgar, who remained seated, maintaining his composure — then, imagining myself stroking my arms as though swimming, I moved toward him.
I moved far faster than one ever could through water. In an instant I was above Edgar’s head, and I reached out my invisible hand and placed it against his.
The moment I cast the magic once more, I felt as though I were being sucked into a whirlpool, and I lost consciousness.
And immediately after — I awoke to the heavy, solid sensation of a physical body. I exhaled and looked around.
It was the view from where Edgar had been sitting. The magic appeared to have worked properly. Relieved, I rose like the others around me and turned to look toward the aisle.
“Rowell?”
And then — Bert hyung called my name. I could hear a faint tremor in his voice.
Bert hyung was flustered. He seemed shaken.
I maneuvered around the heads of the people around me, trying to get a clear line of sight. And at last, I managed to see Bert hyung’s face. His eyes were wide, his lips parted slightly.
And he stood there, frozen — utterly motionless.
Bert hyung looked, for the first time, like a fool.
I followed the gazes of those rushing past hyung toward where I had fallen, then looked back at Bert hyung, who remained standing in place, unable to do a single thing.
I thought: this is the last time. I let that image of him burn into my eyes.
This was how my final moment with Bert hyung — the one I had loved my whole life — looked.
And so, in secret, I said my farewell.
