Lisianthus could easily befriend anyone if he put his mind to it, even the despised princess whom he had so thoroughly scorned before.
‘The way she wielded her sword before, she’s completely reckless. I have to go. I asked Father about it.’
Raymond had seen him gently holding Titania’s hands in a gesture of healing. When had they gotten so close? He couldn’t bring himself to ask. It felt like a steel nail was scraping his rusted heart. I will protect her, I will go and protect her… Lisianthus’s words wouldn’t leave his mind.
He, Raymond, was so much stronger. His ability to handle unexpected situations was far superior, and he was her fiancé. And yet, the one who could go and directly protect her was Lisianthus.
“But looking at the situation now, it’s a relief that he’s there. We don’t know what kind of foolishness the Southern Temple is plotting, or what other scoundrels are causing trouble… but with a skilled person like Young Master Lisianthus there, we can feel a little more at ease no matter what happens.”
“…”
“And the young lady Vivi sending so many communication orbs was a godsend… Young Master?”
Suddenly, his throat tightened. His vision went black. His head was throbbing. It was as if a bug had been put into his ear, and it was scratching, scratching, scratching, as if carving out his memories. No, as if it were revealing them. It felt like pouring black ink over feelings and memories that had been repeatedly painted over, only to have them washed clean again.
What was this? What was this scene?
His heart was pounding. ‘Raymond’ shouldn’t know this memory.
-I’m sorry.
Someone was begging. Tears streamed down her face, and her green eyes were like moss in a sunken valley. Once they captured his gaze, they wouldn’t let him go. Damp and gloomy, like a swamp pulling at his ankles. No matter how much he tried to get out, there was no end.
-You… you want to, you want to k-kill me, right? Yes, I… I know. But, please, save me. I… I have something I have to do. Just that, if I can just do that…
Her chapped lips curved into a crooked smile. Her lips were covered in a scab of dried blood. She tried to smile, but her mouth twisted in the end. Her hair, once like silk, was now like straw, spread on the floor.
-You can cut off my arm, my leg… You can do whatever you want to me. As long as I can… in Vivi’s place…
In her place? In place of what?
-Vivi will be okay.
The woman was like a mangy dog. A dog that had been beaten by everyone, its spirit broken, only looking at him to read his mood. Yet her eyes were desperate, and she gripped his hand with her bony arm. Her fingertips were trembling as if she expected to be cast aside. But even so, she acted as if she couldn’t help it. As if there was something she could never give up, even if she were beaten, even if she were rejected.
-I know… you can’t trust me… You think what I’m saying makes no sense… B-but… you love Vivi, don’t you?
A voice like boiling lava poured from her throat. A heat she couldn’t even control herself.
-What makes you think I’d trust you?
-…
Her gaunt body cringed.
-You say you love me, and then you poison my sister. And now you come back after disappearing when everything went to hell, and you tell me you know how to make my sister well? So I should save you?
-…
-…Liar.
He felt as though his stomach was twisting. Her trembling arms and legs were so thin that it made him feel crazy. Where was this rage coming from? He wanted to grab her by the throat and demand the truth. But he was afraid that if he even touched her slender neck, her faint breath would vanish. If she died, would it truly be the end? Of whatever it was.
-Was your claim to love me a lie too?
The woman’s green eyes cracked like porcelain. Crack. Something that had held a faint light slowly disappeared, like the warmth leaving a body after it had died. Like a hope she had never truly held. The woman let go of the man’s clothes, which she had been clinging to like a lifeline. It was a light motion, barely making a sound, yet he suddenly realized he had unconsciously sucked in a sharp breath.
He also realized that the lump of emotion he had thought was just anger wasn’t just filled with hatred.
-…Yes.
Her voice was strangely clear.
-That wasn’t love.
Like a soul disassembling its past, present, and future and tossing them away. It was strange, but that answer displeased him even more. Every time he heard that voice, he felt as if someone was throwing a stone to break the last remaining bit of his composure. So that in the end, nothing would be left but fragments.
-So… you can really believe me…
Because I have nothing left to lose.
Not even love.
It was strange. Her face was calm. She even seemed to be smiling faintly. But in that last moment, the voice he heard sounded like a sob.
So much so that it choked the very breath out of him.
“Young Master?”
“…”
Raymond loosened his hand, which he had clenched so tightly that blood had been seeping from his fingertips. Cassian looked at him with a flustered expression.
“Is nothing wrong?”
…There was no way nothing was wrong.
Raymond wasn’t a fool. He was only miserable because the more he theorized, the more he couldn’t understand. He felt like he was going crazy. One day, Titania had suddenly changed, and the ducal family had gained a new member, Vivi. Titania no longer obsessed over Raymond… After a day when she had almost died. Titania often joked that “her former self had died and she had been reborn,” but there was no way she meant it so lightly.
Something, something he didn’t know, was there. But he couldn’t be certain of anything. He could only guess based on instinct. The woman in that vision… wasn’t just “someone.” It was Titania. And it was probably Raymond himself. The scene in the vision wasn’t remotely normal. Titania was a member of the imperial family. It was strange for her to be in such a pitiful state, begging Raymond for her life, and for it to sound as if Vivi’s safety was in danger. He couldn’t understand a single thing. Was it just a dream? A hallucination?
Could a mere hallucination truly scrape at his heart like this, as if it were retracing a reality that had once existed? So much so that it would choke him, even without knowing the reason?
Raymond was certain. Whatever he saw, it was no simple hallucination.
At a similar time, in a large room on the outskirts of the temple.
The doors and windows were all closed, but dozens of candles lit up the room as if it were daytime. No one was allowed near the room, so it was quiet.
“Her Majesty the Empress is furious.”
Gregory looked like he was suffering from a headache. A knight who was at least well-built in physique was openly frowning, so a faint-hearted person would have been intimidated.
But the person standing in front of him didn’t care. No, he clicked his tongue as if to ask what the problem was.
“So what are you saying I should do?”
Kronen grabbed a handful of incense and put it into the censer in front of him. A faint ember ignited the incense. Kronen inhaled the aroma of the incense and sank into his chair. Unlike the relaxed and humble demeanor he showed to others, his movements were infinitely apathetic and arrogant.
Gregory saw Kronen’s behavior and bit his lip as if he had been insulted. The same man who had been so humble his head almost touched the floor when he had brought Prince Brian here before. What was this disrespectful attitude now?
No matter that Kronen was the real power here, he shouldn’t be so openly dismissive of Gregory, who was moving on the Empress’s secret orders. But Gregory suppressed his rising anger and said, “She told me to make a public example of them this time. That the sword is absolutely not a holy sword. That they might be using magic in alliance with the Castrain family, and she will give a huge sum of money if we can expose their secret and humiliate them…”
“Didn’t you make a similar unreasonable demand during the last offering ceremony?”
Kronen’s expression was very displeased. Gregory, who had some idea why, felt his insides burning up.
