Capitulo 50
Chapter 50 – Good dreams.
Yes.
That face.
If you had known I was Erinsyia, I would have had a face full of screams and agony.
Just like me, sweating profusely as if you were facing the flames of hell.
If you had known, I would never have slapped you.
It’s all your fault.
《L- I’m sorry…. Your Highness.》
Do you apologise on your knees but they seem too stiff? Elden?
Thud!
Yes, you must have knelt so hard that your knees crushed against the hallway floor.
I beg you like this. Please forgive me.》
《Jo jo jo. Good. Now it seems you’ve finally descended to where you should be.》 》
For scum like me, it’s the right place.
Here it is.
How lovely.
Self-reflection?
That’s something you should do in front of me, not by yourself.
Like a sinner confessing before a priest, you should have done it in front of me.
Yes. But don’t put yourself down too much.
Huh? What do you mean?
Compared to other rubbish, your stench is less foul.
And judgment and mercy for your sins should have been decided by me.
I, who was the victim of violence and ridicule, should have done it.
Not you, but me.
You mean…?》
《Yes. If you seek mercy, you can receive it much lighter and quicker than other rubbish.
If the weight of sin is light, then it is natural to pay a light price for it.
That’s what I thought.
The stench of the other rubbish was so foul that I couldn’t get close without holding my nose.
Just as the worse the stench, the harder it is to get rid of, the stench you emit would come out more easily than the stench of other rubbish.
But you, you say you want to run away without even paying that slight price.
So, you want mercy on me?
I’ll try. To be forgiven by Miss Erinsyia, I’ll endure and accept whatever you order me to do.》
jojojo.
Yes, that’s how you should have come.
What a pleasant sight to see?
What a touching sight.
The perpetrator earnestly begging for mercy from the victim.
Desperately wishing to become my husband in the end.
A frog in the well realising that there is no eternal strongman.
The enlightenment that the karma of wrongdoing will someday finish you off.
How eagerly I have waited for this moment.
Will you do something?
Yes. I will gladly accept any punishment.
《Puhuh. Then… Will you roll around on the ground like a dog like I did?
Yes.
Roll, roll, roll.
Puhuh.
Really rolling around like a dog.
How funny.
How about barking like a dog?
Woof woof!
《Puhut, the sound is good, but have you forgotten that dogs walk on all fours?》
Bending his legs and stretching out his arms to touch the ground, Elden barks like a dog.
Woof woof woof! Bow wow!》
That sight is so ridiculous and pathetic, but at the same time, thinking that Deron’s gang must have looked at me like that, my heart aches and stings.
But I am happy.
Elden Raphelion, the villain’s act of penance is more touching and emotional than I expected, which makes it worth the wait.
《I like your determination to atone without wavering. So how far does that determination go?
If I can be forgiven by Erinsyia and betrothed to the Lermian Duchess, I would even face death.
Jojojo.
You have an excellent mentality.
Honestly, it’s more than I expected.
If you keep that mentality until the end, maybe what you wish for will come true.
《So, would you like to try the monster cuisine you despised so much? I prepared it with great care.》
《….》
What, your determination isn’t strong enough to overcome your disgust?
N-No. I’ll eat it with gratitude.
Elden eats the monstrous kitchen.
Soon, his face turns red and he starts retching.
I heard you talking at the academy.
They said monster cooking was disgusting and filthy rubbish.
You said you couldn’t understand the barbaric bastards who cooked and ate such horrible things.
You almost vomited just looking at it, you said, Elden.
So I prepared this feast with diligence.
So naturally, you must eat it with difficulty, with retching.
Not eating it deliciously like a delicacy, but like the other rubbish, eating it with vomiting.
Just like now.
How delicious to see?
《Ugh…. I-I ate well….》
《Hooh. You proved that your determination wasn’t just a bluff. If you marry me, you might have to eat it all your life, are you okay with that?》
If I can atone by your side, I don’t care about anything.
Yes.
That’s right.
Elden Raphelion, that’s how you should be.
If you really want to atone, it’s only natural for you to atone by my side.
You knew that too, didn’t you?
You realised what even I didn’t realise about my heart, didn’t you?
You were looking for a chance to become part of the Winterfell family through a light atonement, weren’t you?
If so, I’m very glad.
You made the right decision.
《jojojo. It would have been so good if you had done this earlier.》
《It was my fault. If my anger can be appeased, I’ll even roll in the fires of hell.》
《Even if my side is that hellfire?》
I will bear it gladly.
jojojo.
Yes.
You were that kind of person.
You always fought against everything.
You wouldn’t avoid any fight that came your way.
So naturally, you wouldn’t back down from the fight I picked either.
Wouldn’t you?
Hahaha.
«Miss? Are you awake?»
Hahaha.
«…Why, why are you laughing?»
Hahaha.
«Miss…? Did you have a good dream?»
Hahaha.
Another dream about Elden.
……….
…….
…
Yes.
It was a good dream for once.
**
«What kind of… dream did you have that made you laugh in your sleep?»
Marien asked as she sat up in bed.
Unlike that day when her whole body was drenched in sweat from a nightmare, her mistress’s face was as white as before she slept.
Marien didn’t know if that light was fortunate or unfortunate.
«….»
Lermian silently stroked his left hand.
The hand that had slapped Elden, the hand she herself had injured, was wrapped in bandages.
She had told Marien that she had cut herself on a broken plate.
Her palm throbbed.
She didn’t know if it was the pain or a new sensation.
He smiles.
With one corner of his lips turned up, Lermian twitched his chapped lips.
«Yes. It was a good dream. For once.»
«…That’s…a relief, isn’t it?».
Lermian smiled again at Marien’s question.
Seeing his smile so lonely and bitter, Marien had to swallow a sigh.
She had been so startled yesterday.
Marien had screamed when she saw her mistress’s hand covered in blood as she left the hall.
«What relief is there now?»
«…Is your hand all right?»
«Yes.»
«That’s good…. Please have some of this.»
Marien offered her a cup of winterflower tea.
It was the tea she always reached for when she needed to calm her mind and body, whenever the pain of that day throbbed.
But the young lady did not take a sip of the offered tea.
«You… won’t… drink it? Please take at least a little.»
«I’m fine.»
In the end, the lady put down the cup of tea.
She had never done this before.
She always looked for this tea when she needed comfort and rest.
Could it be… that she no longer needed them?
Marien watched the lady’s countenance uneasily.
The eyes that once held a clear blue shore now seemed as dark and deep as an abyss.
She thought the light would return after a good night’s sleep, but it was the same as yesterday.
«Miss… How about we stop this now?»
Marien asked cautiously.
In response, Lermian looked up at the window through which the bright sunlight was streaming in.
Today the window was especially dazzling in the sunlight.
Lermian pressed his right hand into the palm of his bandaged left hand as he responded.
Again, with a smile.
«How can I stop?»
«…What?»
Instead of a direct answer, a cryptic question returned, and Marien understood the deep darkness in her mistress’s eyes with the words that followed.
«I haven’t even started yet.»
Only Elden Raphelion, Count Raphelion’s son, could bring the bright light back into his mistress’s dark eyes.
And his official declaration of withdrawal and the appearance of the pardon treaty darkened his mistress’s eyes even more.
Marien could not prevent her mistress from storming out when she heard the news.
Bang!
Crash!
The door to the head office burst open with a thunderous noise.
Lermian burst into Gelwood’s office and called out to him in an angry voice.
It was the first time he had shown such fierce hostility.
«Gelwood…!!!»
Gelwood, who had anticipated the visit of the harbinger of collapse, greeted her with a solemn expression.
He, who had made a life-changing decision to avoid the predicted collapse of the rifts, was facing the harbinger of that collapse.
«You have arrived, Your Highness.»
«Are you mad! Who gave you the right to forgive Elden?! I haven’t forgiven him yet, so who gave you the right to forgive him?»
«Calm down. His Highness the Grand Duke delegated all decision-making authority to me before I left for the capital.»
«What?»
«I did not pardon him willingly. It was simply the result of what was already determined. Elden told me everything. Please, I beg you, stop this now.»
They keep telling me to stop when I haven’t even started.
Lermian, who had to fight alone in an endless mess, didn’t understand what they wanted her to stop.
It was a fight directed into the void, an empty fight with no one to receive it.