Medea, struck by the arrow, leaned against the window and stared blankly outside, her breathing growing ragged.
It was a craving that could not be described as mere "beauty" alone—a longing as though her very soul were being torn out by the roots.
"Ah... aaah..."
Like a sleepwalker, she took her steps down toward the castle walls.
It was an outing her father had strictly forbidden, yet at this moment, that fact did not even occur to her.
Meanwhile, as I walked along a forest path lost in thought, Lady Hecate spoke to me.
"My disciple, the air has changed. A very vile, very sweet fragrance has begun to drift through it. It seems the Queen of Olympus has thrown a great variable your way."
Lady Hecate's languid laughter, hidden within the shadows, tickled my ears.
At her words, I was puzzled when I heard something rustling in the nearby brush.
Turning toward the sound, I saw a woman emerge from between the shrubs, silver moonlight shattering across her as she came forward, breathing hard.
The woman who appeared before me was, in some way, not normal.
"Ha... haa..."
Her gaze was fixed only on me.
Unconsciously, I narrowed my eyes.
"...I've never seen your face before."
But something was strange.
This was not merely the feeling of facing a stranger.
An indescribable, unpleasant sense of wrongness.
It kept feeling as though someone had "forcibly stitched" this encounter together.
"Heh... you noticed, did you, my disciple?"
As I was thinking that, Lady Hecate's low laugh drifted out from the shadows as she watched the scene unfold.
"That girl is not in a normal state right now. From the look of it, she seems to have been struck by a golden arrow."
Golden arrow.
An arrow that makes the first person one sees after being struck fall in love.
The instant I heard that, I understood that the indescribable feeling I got from her was because of that.
Then I slowly placed my hand on the hilt of my sword.
Alert.
But not hostility.
It was simply... a judgment that this was dangerous.
"...Who are you?"
When I asked in a low voice, the woman took one more step toward me.
Her eyes were already losing focus, and her breathing was growing more and more frantic.
"...You..."
Then, in a trembling voice, she spoke.
"...You are my..."
The words that came from her mouth were strange.
We had clearly just met, yet she spoke as though she had found someone she had known for a long time.
I frowned.
"...You're someone I've never seen before. Are you living in this kingdom?"
At that, the woman's body trembled faintly.
"...Yes. That's right."
But then...
"And..."
The corners of her lips lifted, just a little.
"...I love you. We've only just met, but the moment I saw you, I fell in love with you."
In the stillness of the forest, where moonlight seeped through the branches, her confession sent an alien ripple through the air.
"...I've only just met you, and I don't even know who you are."
At my words, the woman smiled and answered.
"I am Medea, princess of Colchis."
At that, I was deeply startled.
If it became known that a princess of a nation had made such advances toward a man she had only just met, trouble would surely follow.
Her eyes had already lost focus and were hazy with a dreamlike glaze.
With every breath she drew, the magical energy pouring from her body mingled with Colchis's cold night air, creating a strange heat.
"....My disciple. Look at that girl's heart. Eros's arrow has sunk in very deep. Right now, to her, you are the law of the world itself, the order of existence. How pitiable."
Lady Hecate's languid voice drifted from the shadows, but I did not loosen my grip on the sword in my hand.
There is nothing more uncontrollable than emotions forcibly implanted into the heart.
"Love, huh... That's a rather heavy word to hear from a first meeting."
At my low voice, she trembled and lifted her head to look up at me.
Her shaking hand carefully reached out as she spoke.
"You may laugh at me... I don't mind if you think I've lost my mind. But the magical energy inside me... my soul... it wants you."
As I listened to her,
"My disciple, would it be all right if I came there for a moment?"
Lady Hecate spoke to me.
I was silent for a brief moment, but in the end I agreed.
As soon as my assent fell, my shadow twisted faintly.
Swish.
Darkness spread as though seeping up from the ground, slowly taking shape behind me.
The cold night air instantly grew deeper and heavier.
"...!"
Medea's body jerked as she watched it.
She could not understand it, yet she could not resist it.
Her gaze naturally shifted behind me.
And there stood a woman who seemed to be made of darkness itself.
Her long hair flowed down like night, and her eyes were as deep as the abyss.
Hecate.
Lady Hecate, my teacher and the goddess of witchcraft, looked down at Medea without a word.
"...It's been a long time."
A low, hushed voice.
And with that one sentence, Medea's breath came to a complete stop.
"...Teacher?"
And from her lips came an unbelievable form of address.