CHAPTER 130…………………………………..
Bitter End (9)
Anje, gradually regaining consciousness, opened his eyes and looked around.
As his blurred vision slowly focused, the first thing that came into view was Hildegard looking down at him. Judging by the light seeping through the gap in the curtains, it should have been midday, yet the room was completely shrouded in darkness.
“Ugh!”
Had he been lying like this the whole time? Anje twisted his body, trying in vain to adjust his uncomfortable position with his arms bound behind him. But no matter what he did, it was impossible.
His entire body ached so much he couldn’t tell where it didn’t hurt. A groan escaped his lips as he tried to sit up.
“Are you coming to your senses?”
Anje frowned at Hildegard’s unusually gentle tone—the same person who had left him in this state.
Why do nobles always have such terrible personalities? Wait, wasn’t she originally not a noble? Then perhaps having a ruined personality was a prerequisite to attaining a noble title…
Lost in such trivial thoughts, Anje tried to sit up, only for Hildegard, who had suddenly approached, to kick him in the stomach. His half-upright body collapsed back onto the floor with a thud.
“There’s no Duke Side here to wait for you and coddle you. I don’t have much patience, so move quickly.”
It was bad enough to be hit immediately after waking, but the idea of some Duke Side waiting to pamper him…? Clearly, there was some misunderstanding.
“Wait, who’s supposed to be coddling whom…?”
Thunk!
Before Anje could even finish protesting, another kick came. At this point, it was certain Hildegard was displeased with him even just for breathing.
This time, it really hurt. Anje clutched his stomach, unable to move for a long while. The pain tore through him like his intestines had been shredded again—the same agony from the poison he had suffered from recently—so intense that no scream escaped.
Seeing Anje gnash his teeth and claw at the floor, a satisfied smile finally spread across Hildegard’s face.
“Did you really keep me alive just to vent your frustration?”
Curling up as if expecting another kick, Anje barely managed to speak.
“It took quite a bit of effort to bring you here. Do you think I, who learned my craft from Marquis Crow, would bring you here just to vent?”
“Gulp!”
Blood welled up in Anje’s mouth, which he spat out, straightening up to glare at Hildegard.
“How long has it been since I arrived here?”
The dimness made it impossible to tell the time. At first, he guessed only a few hours had passed, but no human body could stiffen this much from such a short period of being bound.
Hildegard smiled faintly and pulled a chair beside her to sit.
“About two days? Your body must be in bad shape. I didn’t expect you to stay unconscious this long. If I had known, I would have told someone to handle you more gently.”
Anje swallowed a groan, calculating roughly that the deadly influence of the White Tiger star in his horoscope had not yet passed.
“Why didn’t you just kill me? I thought you wanted to a long time ago.”
“Hmph. There’s a use for you yet, isn’t there?”
Hildegard gave an uncharacteristic, sly smile, shaking her head.
“Now that things have come to this, I’ll make the most of it.”
“Use…?”
Anje glared at Hildegard, thinking over what his usefulness might be in this situation.
“It’d be better to just kill me quickly.”
“Oh, so you’ve figured it out.”
Hildegard laughed lightly, adjusting her posture and crossing her legs. Once famed for their beauty, her legs now appeared frail and bony.
Her hollow cheeks and sunken eye sockets, concealed by makeup, revealed that her own situation was not particularly good either.
Was this dark room meant to hide her as well?
“No, that’s wrong.”
As if reading his thoughts, Hildegard shook her head and spoke.
“I haven’t had any fun lately. Thanks to whom… can you hear it?”
Apparently, the curtains weren’t for blocking the sunlight after all.
Anje focused on the low, continuous sounds. Words like “assassinated the Emperor…”, “witch”, “Empress” floated through the thick curtains intermittently.
“Until recently, these people would even praise the dirt on my shoes, and now they’re ready to kill me. Can you understand how ridiculous that is?”
Hildegard suddenly turned her head to glare at Anje as if she could kill him with her eyes.
“And it’s all thanks to your brilliant lover, isn’t it?”
Wait, who is she referring to again? How could the Duke and he be lovers? Confusion and frustration surged in him, but wisely, he stayed silent.
“When I ordered the rebels eliminated, he went into their ranks alone, persuaded them all, and sent them home. Not only that, but now even the Emperor’s faction lines up behind him in the council. Just a few days turned the world, once all mine, into this. Isn’t that amazing?”
“……”
Hildegard approached the window and sighed deeply. A shaft of sunlight filtered through the curtains, illuminating her gaunt, dry face. Her tightly pressed lips gave her a resolute look.
With her skeletal hands, she flung open the curtains, letting the noise pour in.
“Bring down the Empress!”
“The woman who assassinated the Emperor!”
“What’s all this noise?”
Anje asked calmly. Hildegard turned sharply to glare at him, her eyes bloodshot and filled with malice.
“Don’t you get it? These are the people rushing to kill me. Rumor has it I assassinated His Majesty the Emperor. But can you imagine how ridiculous it is that, without checking properly, they blindly swarm here, making a fuss over nothing?”
She turned back to the window, continuing.
“It’s infuriating…”
Infuriating? She was the one who killed the Emperor and orchestrated everything else.
Still, Anje carefully maintained a gentle voice.
“So, you kidnapped me? To vent that frustration?”
“Well, partly… but mostly because I needed a hostage.”
Hildegard had regained her composure. Anje fixed his gaze on her now sharper, leaner face.
“A hostage? Then you’ve targeted the wrong person. I’m nothing but a daughter of a fallen house with nothing to my name.”
Hildegard raised her eyebrow and frowned.
“So you think I still don’t know anything. Nothing to your name, huh?”
She stepped closer, grabbed Anje by the chin, and forced him to face the sunlight. Her bony fingers dug harshly into his skin.
“The granddaughter of Marquis Crow and the woman Duke Side fancies. That’s not all. The entire household, from Duke Algernon to Mariana, cares for you. Do you think finding a hostage of this value is easy?”
Tilting her head slightly, her violet eyes flashed with madness in the sunlight.
All of a sudden, Anje realized Hildegard had never intended to let him live.
The realization left him hollow. He had hoped to live an ordinary, peaceful life, carefully avoiding Duke Side, yet death approached mockingly from an unexpected direction. Fate was never something he could alter.
“Damn White Tiger star!”
He muttered a curse inwardly, glaring back at Hildegard without flinching.
“No. That’s wrong. Do you think Duke Side chose me out of some frustration? He’s kind to everyone in the house, unlike the Grand Dame or Mariana. If you intend to kill me, don’t waste your strength—do it here and now. Miss… or should I still call you Your Majesty?”
Hildegard’s expression twisted, and a sharp hand struck Anje across the cheek.
“Cunning! Who do you think wouldn’t know you hid that you were Marquis Crow’s granddaughter to seduce the Duke?”
The absurd claim left Anje dumbfounded, but with his body bound and the sting of her blow, all he could do was glare.
Hildegard struck him again before standing up.
“The trial was held yesterday. It was staged with the council and officials. They sentenced me to death without even listening to me, relying solely on the words of the council and foolish maids. Ridiculous, isn’t it?”
