“...You loved me so much.”
Where did that lovely person who couldn’t even say “I love you” to her husband who she hugged and slept with every day go?
“Ugh. Ugh.”
Every time Kaian tried to hold back his tears, the water droplets dripping down his cheeks grew thicker.
It was so painful like a piece of his heart soaked in blood had been ripped off.
However, it wasn’t as bad as her not being by his side.
“You’re my wife.”
Whether it was forced or a lie, even if she had been dragged here without a single piece of true vow or affection, they were a relationship that could not be broken even in death. He blindly believed that it would be so.
“Claudel. I was wrong.”
He drove the poor thing to death, satisfied with the fact that the gravestone made of pale pink rose quartz had his name engraved on it and that it was her place to die. He thought that since he had made her this comfortable, this was enough.
It’s not that he's bullying her or making her life miserable, so he's telling her to know the subject and be grateful.
But it was a big mistake.
The one who always reached out first among them was not Kaian himself, but Claudel.
The little fairy who would hover around him awkwardly and hug him whenever he opened his arms.
When he confirmed that Claudel had been anxious while living in Rowen, pushed around by the mean and despicable old fox, his heart ached so much that he thought he could die.
“I asked you why you were so concerned about Vermont.”
He shivered when he thought that the Duke of Vermont had pushed his niece into his arms and was using that to threaten Claudel again. He was so angry that he wanted to strangle the Duke of Vermont right away. But the more he thought about it, the more it was all his fault.
“I like you.”
To the woman who had shyly offered her heart, which seemed to have been folded neatly .
“It’s annoying, but isn’t it better than Vermont’s daughter starving and suffering from insomnia in my house?”
The opportunity to tell her that he loved her was everywhere, like the air, like the sunlight, like the wind.
“Because I never told her.”
She gave up on him.
Claudel loved him.
He calculated that she would never leave him.
That shouldn’t have happened.
Wasn’t it encouraging that he had reached the ideal of emotions that many people praised as so noble by embracing Claudel?
He should have known that something that didn’t exist could disappear even if it did.
He didn’t know that she shouldn’t just be happy about what she had by chance, but that he should work to protect those emotions as well.
She was a miracle that had come into his life.
It was heartbreaking to think that Claudel had left him because he didn’t want children and because he hated children with Vermont blood.
No.
It really wasn’t like that.
Misunderstandings and lies piled up, crushing and crushing their relationship.
Everything that he had believed to be smooth and harmonious was ruined in an instant.
“What should I do? I can’t live like I used to.”
He couldn’t remember how he had lived without Claudel.
His eyes and head kept getting darker as if the sun had risen and sunk beneath the lake.
“I can’t even breathe without you.”
The stone that he had been holding for a long time became wet and hot with tears.
If only I could see you once more.
Even if it meant being punished by having the flesh of my broken heart ripped out, I could endure it.
A dark night without a trace.
The Rowen Castle, which had been a formidable fortress day and night, was extremely quiet.
After the accident of the Lord's wife, those who searched for her all night with torches were exhausted and collapsed to the point of not being able to sleep.
The only people who could not sleep at night in this chaos, both inside and outside the Rowen Castle, were the babies who cried day and night to be fed and the elderly who were not taken away for the search, but were tired in spirit instead of body.
After three full nights of emergency, on the fourth day of the castle, except for the soldiers controlling the drawbridge, no one patrolling the corridors had disappeared.
This was because they had all been drafted to track down Claudel.
The sun rises and sets three times.
Living beings leave traces. A pregnant woman who fell into the water had no connections in Rowen who could help her.
When the lord's favor seemed plausible, they had been tactful, but when they found out that she would be kicked out of the castle once she completed thr marriage period, they found out as if they had turned their backs on her.
Then, after seeing Kaian going wild after the misstep, they thought, 'Huh? Didn't you say you were going to kick her out?' and then, when the news spread that Claudel was actually pregnant with the glorious successor of Temnes, they suddenly changed their mind as if they had never treated her like a foreigner and threw stones at Burbrook and Antjone who had caused irreparable harm to the family.
Meanwhile, terrible rumors followed him.
It was said that the Duke pushed his wife with his own hand because he was afraid that a child with Vermont's blood would be born. They said that he saw the woman fall into the water as soon as the Duke reached out.
Madame Cronach, who watched it all, beat her chest and wept.
'Those shallow and mean things.'
How could they have treated and persecuted my daughter so badly?
Madame Cronach had been rolling around in the depths of hell for the past three days.
Her life as Leonie, the fortune teller of Arbor, was not much different from that of a reclusive monk. The woman who lost her first life when the village was burned down devoted her second life to revenge.
So she thought that when her life came to an end, she would fall into the fires of hell. She decided to commit a justifiable murder in the name of revenge.
'Ask the tree. Will you be able to see me become king?'
'...They say you will.'
'Really?'
Valquiterre who was confident that he would take her life, would have no idea.
'Wrong. What kind of prophecy is this when you can't see even an inch ahead of you?'
The tree's prophecy was right.
She watched with her own eyes wide open that he didn't die and that he became King.
She had lived her life with the sole goal of stabbing her enemy's heart with the sword he had used against her. She had planned to use her own life as kindling to relieve the resentment of everyone in the village of Plogne who had been unjustly burned without even knowing what had happened. Who would have thought that she would go to hell as retribution?
There was a world of difference between hearing it through a telegram or through a person and seeing it in person.
How much pain must Claudel have felt How lonely and sad must she have felt?
If only someone had understood her, she wouldn’t have made such a terrible choice.
She didn’t feel like blaming Hannah at all.
The responsibility to protect and protect Claudel’s life lay elsewhere.
‘Kaian.’
Madame Cronach walked slowly and quietly through the hallway that had become empty as if the house had become empty. She had hidden herself in the castle, and now she was dressed as a maid working at Rowen Castle. She silently entered the bedroom that her daughter had once used and locked the door from the inside.
Click.
She held her breath for a moment, tense at the faint metallic sound. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Kaian had woken up.
‘You’re sleeping so well.’
Her heart felt like it was going to burst from the boiling anger.
Holding back her breathing, she took out a dagger from under her apron and held it tightly.
The sword that had been sharpened for ten years to return to Valquiterre found another use.
The short, sharp blade cut through the air and aimed for his neck.
Kaian, who opened his eyes, quickly dodged the attack by grabbing her hand.
“Slow down.”
What made her even more angry was that Kaian looked no different than usual.
His eyes were sharp when he read her moves, and his movements were as respected as the best warrior in the kingdom. There was no way Madame Cronach could defeat Valquiterre or Kaian in a head-on fight.
Originally, she had planned to put them to sleep with medicine or poison and then judge them, but now it seemed like it was better.
“What good is anything without Claudel?”
The news of her daughter’s accident had taken away her will to that extent.
In the end, Madame Cronach was subdued by him, having her wrists grabbed and her arms broken before she could even swing her sword at Kaian a few times.
“Ugh. Huh.”
"I was in the face of the king," he said.
Where did that lovely person who couldn’t even say “I love you” to her husband who she hugged and slept with every day go?
“Ugh. Ugh.”
Every time Kaian tried to hold back his tears, the water droplets dripping down his cheeks grew thicker.
It was so painful like a piece of his heart soaked in blood had been ripped off.
However, it wasn’t as bad as her not being by his side.
“You’re my wife.”
Whether it was forced or a lie, even if she had been dragged here without a single piece of true vow or affection, they were a relationship that could not be broken even in death. He blindly believed that it would be so.
“Claudel. I was wrong.”
He drove the poor thing to death, satisfied with the fact that the gravestone made of pale pink rose quartz had his name engraved on it and that it was her place to die. He thought that since he had made her this comfortable, this was enough.
It’s not that he's bullying her or making her life miserable, so he's telling her to know the subject and be grateful.
But it was a big mistake.
The one who always reached out first among them was not Kaian himself, but Claudel.
The little fairy who would hover around him awkwardly and hug him whenever he opened his arms.
When he confirmed that Claudel had been anxious while living in Rowen, pushed around by the mean and despicable old fox, his heart ached so much that he thought he could die.
“I asked you why you were so concerned about Vermont.”
He shivered when he thought that the Duke of Vermont had pushed his niece into his arms and was using that to threaten Claudel again. He was so angry that he wanted to strangle the Duke of Vermont right away. But the more he thought about it, the more it was all his fault.
“I like you.”
To the woman who had shyly offered her heart, which seemed to have been folded neatly .
“It’s annoying, but isn’t it better than Vermont’s daughter starving and suffering from insomnia in my house?”
I shouldn’t have said that.
“I’m not your enemy. I... Temnes.'
'But Vermont.'
Even with her pale face, her golden eyes that were filled with despair while holding the fireworks that decorated the night sky were vivid.
Even to the very end.
'Is it a problem that I'm a Vermont? Really?'
'Is there anything else I can say?'
Until she stepped onto the water's diagonal line.
'I wish I wasn't Vermont.'
'It doesn't matter whether I'm Vermont or not. Hurry up.'
“I’m not your enemy. I... Temnes.'
'But Vermont.'
Even with her pale face, her golden eyes that were filled with despair while holding the fireworks that decorated the night sky were vivid.
Even to the very end.
'Is it a problem that I'm a Vermont? Really?'
'Is there anything else I can say?'
Until she stepped onto the water's diagonal line.
'I wish I wasn't Vermont.'
'It doesn't matter whether I'm Vermont or not. Hurry up.'
He had never told Claudel the truth, so it was only natural that she didn't believe his shabby words and dismissed them as 'lies.'
Like the dazzling sunlight that fell between the thick, dense leaves on a bright summer day in Rowen, like stars shining through the thick, dense leaves. Like the golden ears of barley that filled the wide fields and danced as the wind caressed them. Like the white Margaret flowers that bloomed in profusion on a low, green hill.
The opportunity to tell her that he loved her was everywhere, like the air, like the sunlight, like the wind.
“Because I never told her.”
She gave up on him.
Claudel loved him.
He calculated that she would never leave him.
That shouldn’t have happened.
Wasn’t it encouraging that he had reached the ideal of emotions that many people praised as so noble by embracing Claudel?
He should have known that something that didn’t exist could disappear even if it did.
He didn’t know that she shouldn’t just be happy about what she had by chance, but that he should work to protect those emotions as well.
She was a miracle that had come into his life.
It was heartbreaking to think that Claudel had left him because he didn’t want children and because he hated children with Vermont blood.
No.
It really wasn’t like that.
Misunderstandings and lies piled up, crushing and crushing their relationship.
Everything that he had believed to be smooth and harmonious was ruined in an instant.
“What should I do? I can’t live like I used to.”
He couldn’t remember how he had lived without Claudel.
His eyes and head kept getting darker as if the sun had risen and sunk beneath the lake.
“I can’t even breathe without you.”
The stone that he had been holding for a long time became wet and hot with tears.
If only I could see you once more.
Even if it meant being punished by having the flesh of my broken heart ripped out, I could endure it.
***
A dark night without a trace.
The Rowen Castle, which had been a formidable fortress day and night, was extremely quiet.
After the accident of the Lord's wife, those who searched for her all night with torches were exhausted and collapsed to the point of not being able to sleep.
The only people who could not sleep at night in this chaos, both inside and outside the Rowen Castle, were the babies who cried day and night to be fed and the elderly who were not taken away for the search, but were tired in spirit instead of body.
After three full nights of emergency, on the fourth day of the castle, except for the soldiers controlling the drawbridge, no one patrolling the corridors had disappeared.
This was because they had all been drafted to track down Claudel.
The sun rises and sets three times.
Living beings leave traces. A pregnant woman who fell into the water had no connections in Rowen who could help her.
When the lord's favor seemed plausible, they had been tactful, but when they found out that she would be kicked out of the castle once she completed thr marriage period, they found out as if they had turned their backs on her.
Then, after seeing Kaian going wild after the misstep, they thought, 'Huh? Didn't you say you were going to kick her out?' and then, when the news spread that Claudel was actually pregnant with the glorious successor of Temnes, they suddenly changed their mind as if they had never treated her like a foreigner and threw stones at Burbrook and Antjone who had caused irreparable harm to the family.
Meanwhile, terrible rumors followed him.
It was said that the Duke pushed his wife with his own hand because he was afraid that a child with Vermont's blood would be born. They said that he saw the woman fall into the water as soon as the Duke reached out.
Madame Cronach, who watched it all, beat her chest and wept.
'Those shallow and mean things.'
How could they have treated and persecuted my daughter so badly?
Madame Cronach had been rolling around in the depths of hell for the past three days.
Her life as Leonie, the fortune teller of Arbor, was not much different from that of a reclusive monk. The woman who lost her first life when the village was burned down devoted her second life to revenge.
So she thought that when her life came to an end, she would fall into the fires of hell. She decided to commit a justifiable murder in the name of revenge.
'Ask the tree. Will you be able to see me become king?'
'...They say you will.'
'Really?'
Valquiterre who was confident that he would take her life, would have no idea.
'Wrong. What kind of prophecy is this when you can't see even an inch ahead of you?'
The tree's prophecy was right.
She watched with her own eyes wide open that he didn't die and that he became King.
She had lived her life with the sole goal of stabbing her enemy's heart with the sword he had used against her. She had planned to use her own life as kindling to relieve the resentment of everyone in the village of Plogne who had been unjustly burned without even knowing what had happened. Who would have thought that she would go to hell as retribution?
There was a world of difference between hearing it through a telegram or through a person and seeing it in person.
How much pain must Claudel have felt How lonely and sad must she have felt?
If only someone had understood her, she wouldn’t have made such a terrible choice.
She didn’t feel like blaming Hannah at all.
The responsibility to protect and protect Claudel’s life lay elsewhere.
‘Kaian.’
Madame Cronach walked slowly and quietly through the hallway that had become empty as if the house had become empty. She had hidden herself in the castle, and now she was dressed as a maid working at Rowen Castle. She silently entered the bedroom that her daughter had once used and locked the door from the inside.
Click.
She held her breath for a moment, tense at the faint metallic sound. Fortunately, it didn’t seem like Kaian had woken up.
‘You’re sleeping so well.’
Her heart felt like it was going to burst from the boiling anger.
Holding back her breathing, she took out a dagger from under her apron and held it tightly.
The sword that had been sharpened for ten years to return to Valquiterre found another use.
The short, sharp blade cut through the air and aimed for his neck.
Kaian, who opened his eyes, quickly dodged the attack by grabbing her hand.
“Slow down.”
What made her even more angry was that Kaian looked no different than usual.
His eyes were sharp when he read her moves, and his movements were as respected as the best warrior in the kingdom. There was no way Madame Cronach could defeat Valquiterre or Kaian in a head-on fight.
Originally, she had planned to put them to sleep with medicine or poison and then judge them, but now it seemed like it was better.
“What good is anything without Claudel?”
The news of her daughter’s accident had taken away her will to that extent.
In the end, Madame Cronach was subdued by him, having her wrists grabbed and her arms broken before she could even swing her sword at Kaian a few times.
“Ugh. Huh.”
"I was in the face of the king," he said.
He didn't even know whether it was in the cold water, he was looking for a cloak.
"Do you know Claudel?”
"Do you know Claudel?”
The hand that released her neck and wrists this time gripped her shoulders so tightly that it hurt.
“Because we’re from the same village. Yes.”
Kaian shook Madame Cronach so hard that her neck snapped back and forth.
“Do you know where Claudel might go?”
Madame Cronach forgot what to say and faced the madman.
“Please. If you know anything, tell me.”
“...Why did you do that to her?”
“....”
Unable to hold back, she hit Kaian with her bare fist.
“That girl couldn’t have ended up like this? Ugh. Son.”
Kaian looked at her as she finally burst into tears.
“That girl?”
“Claudel. She’s my daughter. Sob.”
Kaian’s face distorted strangely at those words.
“You really pushed my daughter? Are you afraid that a child with Vermont blood will be born?”
He couldn’t answer the question that was asked with anger. Kaian knelt before her as if collapsing and appealed with a painful expression.
“Kill me,”
Madame Cronach said as she faced the man in hell.
“Let me go to her.”
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