Chapter 119

The Archangel’s Blessing healed Linus completely.

Laila had chosen to cut his left leg on purpose. That way, even if Linus stubbornly decided to hold a sword again, he wouldn’t be able to keep his balance.

“Even with an artificial arm and leg, there are limits. If both sides had been cut, left and right, at least balancing would be easier. But with just one side missing, even walking normally will be difficult.”

Keith added this explanation.

At best, Linus might be able to walk or run like an ordinary person, but he would never fight again.

Florence no longer cared.

She just hadn’t wanted Linus to die while thinking he had fought for some noble kind of love. She also wanted him to taste pain equal to what he gave Mari—but she didn’t want to watch him suffer. Seeing it wouldn’t bring her joy or satisfaction anyway.

“You should’ve lived better, Captain.”

Laila tapped the unconscious Linus on the cheek.

Alex really liked you a lot.

Alex had once said with sparkling eyes that their captain was amazing. He had been so cute then. When Laila first saw Linus, he was already deeply obsessed with Jang Hyunji, who was wearing Florence’s body, and she had just thought he was a hopeless fool. It hadn’t seemed good or bad—just funny.

He looked like someone who would never care about love or women, yet he was the one clinging the hardest.

Alex even found that part admirable. Maybe it was because Linus carried the title of “strongest swordsman in the kingdom,” so to Alex everything about him looked admirable.

Yes, Linus was strong. But in Laila’s world, unlike knights, skill with a sword wasn’t everything. No matter how strong a person was, when they relieved themselves or lay down to sleep, they were still weak.

In the end, once you died, everything was over.

That couldn’t be admirable. Instead, Laila thought Alex—who could purely admire and like someone—was the more amazing one.

Alex wouldn’t have wanted this. He liked you, after all.

Laila, who had been squatting down, stood up and looked at Linus.

That the man Alex had died protecting wasn’t worth it, and that Alex’s death had turned into a pointless waste—that wasn’t for Laila to be angry about. She had no right.

But she was furious—furious at herself for not protecting Alex when she had been so close by.

“That’s enough. Let’s go back.”

Enoch wiped the blood off his cheek with his sleeve. Keith walked over lazily, and Florence followed behind. Enoch frowned.

“Don’t come closer. You stink.”

“The smell of blood is everywhere anyway.”

“I said don’t come closer.”

Florence strode forward and looked down at Linus. Laila had hoped Florence might at least feel some relief, some satisfaction. That way, maybe she herself would feel a little better.

But Florence’s face was hollow and lost. Maybe just like her own.

Laila reached for Florence’s hand. Florence held it back.

“Let’s go back.”

Enoch said, and silence was their only answer. They left quietly.

It was a horrific sight.

The one who found Linus lying sprawled in the middle of the bedroom was Lucas, who came running after hearing the news.

I thought he was dead.

Linus had lost his left arm and left leg, yet he was still alive. His body was clean, without even a scratch. Considering the sheer amount of blood that had soaked the carpet, it was strange that he survived so healthily.

That his limbs had been cut while his life was spared was suspicious, but Lucas decided to be grateful that his younger brother was alive. No matter how selfish and arrogant Linus was, he was still his younger brother. Officially severed ties couldn’t erase blood.

Lucas cleaned the scene while carefully listening to the servants’ reports.

The more he heard, the darker his face grew.

I was wrong.

He had known Linus lived recklessly. Or thought he knew. But Linus was the second son—without duties or the burden of inheriting the family name. Lucas had believed it didn’t matter how Linus lived. Lucas himself had to follow the life elders set for him as heir, so he thought at least his younger brother could live freely.

That was why he supported Linus’s independence as the Marquis of Baldwin, why he helped him push forward with marriage despite their grandmother’s opposition, and why he risked his own safety to try reasoning with him. He had felt brotherly affection, and he thought Linus was living the life he himself couldn’t.

Linus was obsessive toward his wife, yes, but Lucas had believed the Lindquist family could manage it.

If it made his brother happy, he thought he could allow that much.

But Lucas had been wrong.

He should have scolded Linus’s obsession and madness from the start.

According to testimony, Linus had kept a maid he was sleeping with beside his wife even before marriage, and after his wife ran away, he quickly called that maid into his bedroom.

Many eyes and ears had known. More people knew Helen was involved with Linus than didn’t. The only one completely in the dark had been his wife.

What happened inside the couple’s bedroom couldn’t be known, but everyone knew Linus was insane with jealousy. Even glancing wrongly at Florence could mean death in secret, so people said one had to be cautious to stay alive.

But obsession, devotion, and lust were different things.

If that was the case, then why be so obsessed with your wife?!

Because Florence Love Lindquist went around openly with Enoch Haines as her guardian, Linus’s reputation was already ruined.

He had even attacked the Redamas branch of the Haines Trading Company to kidnap her. Even if people called it “taking his wife back,” no one would believe it wasn’t violent when a whole building collapsed. And he had illegally used royal knights for it.

The Kingdom of Yulia allowed honorable revenge.

If family was murdered, one could take the killer’s life without being punished. If one suffered violence, they could return it equally without guilt. But only if the people involved were of equal status.

Florence had taken revenge on her husband who deceived, imprisoned, and kidnapped her. But cutting off his limbs was excessive. Legally, there was room for dispute—but Lucas chose to bury the matter quietly.

He glanced at Linus, who lay peacefully asleep in bed, not even feverish.

“You sleep so well…”

Linus had no idea what had happened to him, nor what kind of life awaited him now.

His fame shouldn’t have collapsed this easily. If he had built allies, if he hadn’t ignored everyone around him to focus only on his wife… if he had just lowered his pride a little toward his older brother Lucas, he wouldn’t have been so easily ruined by Enoch Haines and Florence.

But Linus had treated people lightly, ignored the worsening reputation, and dismissed it as meaningless. Maybe it was meaningless to him—but the world was made up of the very people he scorned.

The crown prince planned to strip Linus of his position as knight captain, citing his past negligence, the private misuse of the knight order, and the damage to the royal family’s honor.

And with his left arm and leg gone, he couldn’t continue even if he wanted to. He was effectively unemployed.

As far as Lucas knew, Linus had never saved or wisely managed the wealth he inherited. He spent freely. Even after becoming Marquis Baldwin, he had received a generous royal salary as captain, plus abundant support from Lindquist. He had inherited deposits, buildings, artworks—enough that he had never once suffered financially.

But now that ties were officially severed, all those inheritances would return to the family.

Even the Baldwin mansion was a royal gift, so once stripped of his position, he would have to leave it.

Disabled, jobless, and without wealth, Linus would be out on the streets.

Lucas wanted to help, but as Lindquist’s heir, he couldn’t. Spending private time together was fine, but giving real support was impossible. This was what Linus had thrown away: the background, chances, and wealth that could have protected him.

Linus had no real friends who might help out of goodwill. Perhaps some loyal followers might support him—but whether young knights would continue to admire a man who lost his arm and leg was uncertain.

Lucas pulled up the blanket to cover him, then turned to tidy the house.

That same day, half the servants of Baldwin Mansion fled after stealing valuables.

Among them was Helen.