Prologue

Ashen clouds covered the sky.

The dark clouds, blotting out the dim light, made it impossible to tell whether it was day or night.

No, in truth, what confused him wasn’t the clouds, but the damned woman standing before him.

Arcturus Cloen took a trembling hand and pulled a cigarette case from the inner pocket of his coat, placing one between his lips.

There it was. This cursed weather, this cursed woman…

Click, click.

And this cursed lighter, too.

Of all times, when he needed a cigarette most, the Zippo wouldn’t catch a flame.

As though his life depended on breathing in cigarette smoke at this very moment, he desperately flicked the lighter, but the flame refused to appear, not even as drops of rain began to fall from the ominous clouds above.

Thick raindrops quickly soaked the navy blue fabric of his polo coat, darkening it to something closer to black. 

In the end, with a vicious curse, Arcturus hurled the cigarette and lighter away.

“Arcturus.”

He tried not to look at the woman.

That woman who blocked his sight, who shut out his ears, in this moment when even day and night had become indistinguishable, he shouldn’t look at her.

“Arctur.”

Running away was a coward’s act.

It would be more honorable to be shot dead by an enemy’s bullet.

Born the son of a soldier, raised as one, and now a man who made weapons for soldiers, Arcturus Cloen had lived by those principles.

And yet, at the sound of that soft voice, he felt an unbearable urge to flee.

Perhaps, if she had been even a moment later, if she’d delayed by a single second, Arcturus might have turned and taken the path of retreat.

But in the end, the moment Karen Chaner clutched at his collar, he lost reason like a beast bred and broken into submission.

Without even realizing it, now thoroughly drenched, Arcturus turned his heavy head toward Karen.

Damnable Karen Chaner, even in this moment, she was unbearably beautiful.

“Say it wasn’t you.”

Beautiful enough to make him want to endure whatever humiliation this wretched reality demanded.

“It’s alright.”

“…”

“Didn’t I tell you? I’ll believe anything you say.”

It was a desperate plea, as if he might drop to his knees at any moment.

“Say you weren’t the one. That you’re innocent.”

“…”

“That one word is enough.”

Karen’s silence made him want to kneel before her.

“I…”

And yet, it was Karen who sank to her knees.

Like someone whose legs had long been broken but forced herself to stand, she collapsed, her legs giving out beneath her.

“I’m so tired…”

Even with the relentless downpour pounding her entire body, the voice she exhaled was as vivid and clear as a breath.

Arcturus tried to run, but Karen did not.

Perhaps she couldn’t, as though her legs were broken.

Not that it mattered anymore.

Arcturus drew the gun he had kept hidden in his pocket.

A personal, custom-made weapon he had named ‘Karen.’

And now, he aimed it at her forehead.

“A dream was always going to be fleeting anyway.”

“…”

“Even though I knew that…”

She didn’t flinch, even with the cold barrel pointed at her head.

If anything, she looked peaceful, as though she had been waiting for this moment all along.

It was Arcturus who bit down hard against the agony gnawing at him.

“I should’ve never dreamed a dream like this.”

Karen closed her eyes as she felt the icy barrel against her skin.

It was time to end everything.

Arcturus did not look away from the face of the woman, soaked in rain, as he bid her farewell.

“Goodbye, Karen.”

Bang!

A gunshot rang out through the street, piercing the roar of rain.

It was the end of a moment that had once been as beautiful as a dream.