~Chapter 44~
Blake walked out of the arena.
Behind him, Chris Felton was left on the ground, missing a few teeth after just one light punch.
The crowd was silent. No one could complain about such a clean win.
“Uh, then… Chris Felton loses. What’s your name, winner?”
Blake didn’t even look back. He spoke lightly.
“Just write any name.”
“Um, the unknown Uffus man in the robe wins!”
While even the announcer hesitated, Blake came back to Lily.
“How many times?”
“Huh?”
“How many times did we win the bet?”
Gianna, the maid, answered happily instead.
“Six times! That jerk won’t be able to run his mouth again!”
“Now we can finally buy enough chicken skewers for everyone,” Blake joked, and took back the robe he had given to Lily.
“Are you all right? You don’t look very happy,” Lily asked.
“Me? Why wouldn’t I be? We won money, I got to fight someone for the first time in ages… It was fun.”
On the outside, Blake looked as usual, but before, he had seemed really angry…
Anyway, Blake’s group was finally able to leave the square.
Some of the crowd booed Chris and praised Blake and his group.
“Hey, you’re something else.”
“I bet on you just in case, and you did it! My wife won’t be mad at me today.”
Some people, even Uffus like Blake, didn’t recognize he was a duke.
“So satisfying! How dare they call us barbarians? Need a drink?”
But Blake didn’t answer anyone. His jaw was clenched, and his fierce eyes looked cold.
Why am I like this? Blake wondered.
He expected to be angry when he heard Chris insult Lily. But this time, the anger was much stronger. He felt cold all over—like something inside him was broken.
I’m not myself… Maybe I’ve been changing for a while. Maybe since I knelt and apologized to Lily that stormy night, or when she comforted me in that old little house, or maybe from the first time I saw her as an adult in the snowstorm.
I should’ve hit that blond guy even more. Just one punch isn’t enough.
But there was no more time. Night was falling.
When would the fireworks start? He wasn’t sure, but he knew it could be dangerous.
As they were almost out of the square—
“Whoa, what was that guy’s problem?”
Some commotion started in the distance, but at festivals, anything can happen. Blake and Lily didn’t bother looking.
But soon, the noise got closer. When they finally turned to look, Chris Felton was rushing toward them with a dirty dagger in his hand.
“Die, you barbarian…!”
Everything happened so fast.
Blake grabbed Chris’s wrist and twisted it, breaking the bone.
“Aaagh!”
Chris screamed and dropped the dagger.
“He’s really insane!” one maid said.
“Master, we’ll hand him over to the guards,” said another.
Blake was just annoyed. I didn’t think he’d go this far…
But Lily wasn’t very surprised. She’d seen young noblemen fight with knives over her before.
Blake noticed her calm reaction.
“What’s the problem with you?” he wondered.
He didn’t want to blame Lily. He just wanted to destroy men like Chris.
He tried hard to calm down.
Suddenly, fireworks filled the night sky.
“Oh, wow. Amazing,” Lily said.
Fireworks painted the sky above neat houses and iron fences—red mixed with pink, blue, and a faint scent of gunpowder. Families and couples smiled, but not Blake.
To him, the fireworks were just loud explosions. For a moment, he felt like he was back on the battlefield.
Chris, with a broken arm, was still trying to fight.
“Let me go, you bastard! Let go!” Chris shouted, kicking weakly at Blake.
Blake, dazed, looked at the sky, then down at Chris. Fireworks flashed in his red eyes.
“W-what…” Chris whispered in fear.
Blake punched him—no skill, just raw power. Chris’s face collapsed under the blow.
“Aaah!” Chris screamed, not even sounding human.
Still, Blake didn’t stop. He hit Chris again and again, blood flying in time with the fireworks.
“Stop! Please, stop!”
“Blake, that’s enough!” Lily shouted.
But even then, Blake couldn’t stop. So Lily covered his face with her white hand.
The soft scent of peaches filled his mind. As he froze, Lily quickly signaled to the maids.
“Take that man away—far away,” she told them.
Lily hugged Blake, letting his head rest on her shoulder. She could feel him shaking.
“Breathe. Slowly. In, out… that’s it,” she said gently.
The fireworks still lit up the sky, and the world seemed happy—but Lily’s job was to make sure Blake didn’t kill someone.
“Are you calm now, Mr. Soon-to-be-Criminal Duke?”
“What did you just say?”
“If you can correct my slip, you must be fine. Good.”
Blake still looked pale, but he was better than before.
Lily thought, At least we can talk now. But I should keep him talking to make sure he’s really okay.
“Why did you do that? Why so violent?”
“Because…” Blake suddenly became quiet. In front of Lily, he was like a tamed wolf.
“I hate seeing you suffer.”
“All of a sudden?”
“Your damn parents, your ex-husband, that worm—they all make me mad. I’d like to bury them under an old church and have a toast over their graves.”
To Lily, Blake seemed almost drunk or sleepy—he was just that soft and honest.
He muttered in her ear,
“Sorry, Lily.”
“Again, all of a sudden?”
“You must have been scared of me.”
He was worried she’d remember her ex-husband’s violence.
Lily looked at Chris Felton, now crying under a shabby bench.
“Mom… Mom…” he sobbed, completely humiliated.
Lily wasn’t kind enough to feel sorry for him.
“No. You did well. I almost want to kiss you,” she said, patting Blake’s back.
Having someone fight for her felt completely new. Lily Hedwig felt, for once, that maybe she was a person with value.
“If I keep a straight face when I see my ex-husband, it will be thanks to you,” Lily said.
“Really?”
“I know I have somewhere to go back to now. And if my ex-husband says anything cruel, you’ll get mad for me—like you did today.”
To Lily, Blake was adorable, and sometimes as strong and reliable as a stone statue guarding Winter Castle for a hundred years.
Did my younger self ever feel this way about him? she wondered.
“So I hope things don’t get too hard for you, too.”
Everyone has hard times. Sometimes pain can feel like a huge mountain that you can never cross.
But you must remember:
Even when it’s hard and painful, and you feel alone in the world—someone out there loves you.
Even if you can’t think of anyone right now, that’s okay. Maybe you just haven’t met them yet.
That means you have to keep going, to meet those people.
“I hope we all find a time when we’re happy.”
At that moment, the official who lit the fireworks turned off his match—there were no more fireworks left.
A moment later, the magic lamps along the canal city lit up again.
