Chapter 128

There was no way back to that world, no matter what she did.

Linus didn’t matter anymore. Whether he betrayed her, laughed behind her back, or treated her like filth—it no longer mattered. What mattered to Hyunji was Florence. She felt she could not die unless she saw that girl crawl on the ground again in misery.

But Hyunji now had no method left. She couldn’t even see a wall to pound on.

“How can you do this? I lived your life well for you!”

Hadn’t she achieved everything Florence couldn’t? Because Hyunji lived in her place, Florence gained so many things.

“If I hadn’t existed—if I hadn’t taken that body—do you think you could pretend you never wanted any of it?”

She had married Linus, so Florence could afford to hate him.
She had made peace with the family, so Florence could whine that it wasn’t love.
Because Hyunji took it first, Florence could use magic and spirit arts she couldn’t use before.

They were all things Florence had wanted. Hyunji had led her life in the right and forward direction—like civilizing a savage, undeveloped frontier into a city.

But look at what Florence did.

Hyunji never wanted to do her uncle any favors. She knew how she had gotten that money—she would burn it all before giving it to them. The thought of them using her money to grill beef and swagger around with drinks made her insides twist.

And Florence had messaged Hyunji’s acquaintance on her own. She showed every shameful secret to the one person Hyunji least wanted to know. Hyunji could see that woman—who once sat beside her and sneered about her greasy hair—grinning and talking behind her back. Her whole body boiled.

Hyunji thought she had no attachment to this life. It had been all mud, with no future—nothing to care about.

But the reason she never feared failure in this world was that her real life was safe, far away. Even if this life ended as a failure, her true life existed there, and it couldn’t get worse. In other words, she had a spare life.

Hyunji felt more despair looking at her empty balance than when she learned of Linus’s betrayal.

Worse than finding out Helen was his lover, worse than realizing the Seymours never liked her—far worse—were the messages Florence had left, pretending to be Hyunji, to Hyunji’s contacts.

She had never imagined Florence could ruin what was hers.

“You didn’t have to go this far…”

Her hands trembled.

She tried to justify herself and feed her revenge, but when there was no path back to that world—no matter how she screamed until her throat broke—what remained was only her reality.

A reality lower than what she’d originally had.

Even escape into fantasy requires the right conditions. You need someone to feed you and care for you. That kind of escape is a luxury.

“You didn’t have to do this much, Florence…”

How could she be so cruel—knowing how pitiful Hyunji’s life had been?

“Just as I knew you, you knew me…”

More than Linus, more than your precious Enoch Hains, more than Helen, Keith, or Marie… you and I knew each other best.

Cruel girl. Vile woman.

“You did this.”
“I only returned it to you.”
“You never imagined you’d receive back what you did to others.”

Forgiving wrongs is a right.
To be hated by your family, to be unloved by your fiancé, to grieve and to rage—those are also rights.
How ridiculous to strip someone of all of that, then brag you “led them on the right path.”

Florence wanted Hyunji—who stole Marie’s future—to chew on how precious that chance was until the very last moment of Hyunji’s remaining future. She wanted her to feel the burning urge to live and to savor her dwindling life from inside a trash can.

Linus slowly opened his eyes.

He felt as if he had woken from a long dream.

His head throbbed as if it would split. He smacked his lips. His throat was dry, and his eyelids ached.

“Bring me water.”

There was no answer.

“Is no one there? Helen!”

No reply. Not even a trace of someone nearby. Strange—even if people were unwell, a place this large must have servants moving about. To run a great mansion, many hands were required. Linus employed several servants from Lindquist, including Helen, and most of them always waited close by for his orders.

What is going on?

Why was he even lying down…?

He searched his last memories. He remembered drinking heavily. Helen came to move him to the bedroom…

He had probably given in out of habit.

Then Hyunji arrived and said a few words, asked him to hold her. And then…

Right—Florence came back.

Hyunji’s true form had been a hideous hag. Not human, not some mysterious person from another world—just a filthy demon who had stolen Florence’s body. Linus realized he had been bewitched by that demon, and that what he had loved with all his heart was merely the traces of Florence the demon had used.

Yes. That’s what it was.

Florence might be confused now, but if he kindly explained, she would understand. She had always loved him.

And he loved her.

Linus had never once imagined loving someone who didn’t love him back. He was always the one who chose. Woman or man or anything—he only had to pick. He was thanked and praised without doing anything great.

So if he just kept loving Florence, she would soon break her stubbornness and wake from her delusion…

Up to that point, Linus remembered. He decided to get the water himself.

He meant to rise lightly, but his raised upper body tipped to the left. It didn’t stop there—his whole body flipped over.

For a while, Linus froze, unable to grasp what had happened.

There was no pain. In fact, his body felt in perfect condition. His head ached as if it would split because long sleep isn’t always restful.

Then why couldn’t he keep his balance?

With a fear he had never felt before, he looked down.

What he saw were a left leg severed at mid-thigh, and an empty space where his left arm should have been.

The flesh had healed smooth, as if he had been born that way, leaving no sense of wrongness—except that no matter how tightly he closed and opened his eyes, the left arm and left leg were still gone.

“Ah—aaah! Aaaah!”

When he realized it wasn’t a dream or a hallucination but reality, a scream burst out of him. Linus thrashed on the bed, his body tossing and rolling with each flail.

“Argh—aaah—ghaaah!”

He smacked his missing left arm with his intact right arm. His right leg moved, but that only buried his head deeper into the blankets instead of helping him balance.

At last, Linus remembered what he had forgotten.

Florence had tried to kill him. He had noticed only her pretty face and lips; he hadn’t even really heard what she said. He assumed it was nonsense and not worth hearing.

Why listen? Soon she would love him anyway. She would be grateful he chose her and fall into his arms. He had wanted to hold that body as soon as possible.

If he killed Enoch Hains and that damned magician, she would come to her senses quickly…

But Laila was not an easy opponent. Even Enoch Hains, a piece of trash, knew how to struggle.

He dodged Laila’s sword, even though he knew his beloved Florence was underneath him, and he…

“I am a man who could sacrifice my life for love…”

He had thought so.

To survive, he rolled on the ground.

At that instant, as if they had expected it, the magician cut off his arm.

He remembered nothing after that. He had been drunk up to that moment.

“You crazy bastards…”

A group had jumped him while he was drunk, cutting off his arm and leg. Linus ground his teeth. Vermin had combined their strength and managed something impressive…

It was a coward’s trick, but they would surely boast of their “great achievement.” They would pay dearly for it.

He would make them regret leaving him alive. What were arms and legs? He would cut off all their limbs and throw them into the slums.

Just then—

“Commander.”

“Jul? Is that you, Jul?”

The voice was young. The knight, now a youth grown from a boy, had been one of Linus’s followers.

“Support me at once. And call a priest and a doctor.”

Linus lifted his head.

Jul looked down at Linus thrashing on the bed as if he were an insect.

“The priest and the doctor both say torn tendons and nerves can’t be healed.”

“What…”

“As for the arm and leg—they’ve healed as if you were born that way. Even if we attach prosthetics, they say your nerves can’t be connected.”

“That can’t be. It can’t be. I…”

“They say you’ll never hold a sword again, Commander. You won’t even be able to walk on your own.”

“You lie. I don’t forgive lies!”

Jul, who had been speaking respectfully, suddenly smiled.

“If you don’t forgive me—what will you do?”

“What?”

“I can’t believe I admired something like this… What a waste of years. I should’ve listened to Senior Gerard.”

Linus’s eyes bulged. Jul looked down at him as one might at a pitiful bug.

“Commander—no, not Commander anymore. By order of the Crown Prince, Senior Gerard became the new captain of ‘Blue Dawn’ this morning. His Highness, merciful despite your many crimes and the damage you caused the royal house, will not strip your title. But this mansion belongs to the crown. You must vacate it before today ends.”

“Lies… I’m Lindquist’s son…”

“You’re the one who cut ties with Lindquist. With no one to back you, the servants all left. The only people in this mansion are you and me.”

Jul let out a small laugh.

“Well then, Marquis Baldwin. As promised—will you take responsibility?”

Not Lindquist’s son.
Not the captain of “Blue Dawn.”
Not a man who could do anything for love.

Who knew what a man, deluded and full of himself, could actually do?

It was time to keep the promise he had made with his own mouth.