He just said that. He stroked my back with his big hand.
"Thank you for trusting me and telling me."
Ah... Thank goodness.
'You trust me.'
A deep sense of exhaustion swept over my entire body along with relief. I slowly closed my eyes. An indelible question still lingered in my mind.
'But really, how did Dante see my past in his dream?'
Was that also an incalculable whim of God, just like when I went back in time?
***
"Thank you. For trusting me. And..."
Ariana whispered, leaning her cheek against Dante's shoulder.
"Thank you. For grieving for me."
With those words, Ariana closed her eyes as if she was tired. Soon, Dante could hear her breathing as if she was falling asleep. Dante slowly patted her sleeping back and stared into space. There was something he hadn't told Ariana. What he saw in his dream wasn't just Ariana bleeding and dead.
"Is she really dead, brother? Really?"
"Look for yourself, she's completely dead."
"Edward, did you definitely get the death certificate?"
"Is there any chance, Marquis? Let's hide the body for now, and let's make it look like she got the death certificate while she was still alive, and then hold the funeral later."
Lying like a marionette with her strings cut, Ariana, lifeless and ashen, and the beasts that had been giggling in front of her.
Arriving late at the scene, he ran into those disgusting men and hugged her bleeding body. There was no sign of life in her reddened body. Her emerald eyes, which were always fresh, had lost their light, and her limbs hung limply as he shook them.
This must be a lie. His heart denied it, but his head cried out calmly. What was lying here was already a corpse. There was no way she could recover.
"What, what are you!"
"Oh my! Dante?!"
"What is Duke Heigenberg doing here... I was just dealing with the unfortunate situation my wife had just been through!"
He left the buzzing of the bugs in his ears and hugged Ariana tightly once more. No matter how long he waited, Ariana did not breathe. She did not even blink. She had gone somewhere she could not reach. So futilely.
'No. This is not right, Ariana.'
You shouldn't have abandoned me like this, without any warning. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have held a grudge and pretended not to know just because I forgot something so trivial as that. I wouldn't have turned away, saying that if you were happy when you were in someone else's arms, that would be enough.
He regretted every single one of those moments, so much that his bones ached. If this was the punishment for all those foolish choices, it was too much. It was too harsh.
"I was wrong, Ariana."
He should have been honest. He held on to the only positive memory in his life, spending every moment of the hellish battlefield with her. He spent so many nights like that that now, even when he closes his eyes, she's floating in his eyelids and he's going crazy. If he had clung to her and begged her, she might have looked back at him once, because she was so weak-hearted.
But like all regrets, it was always too late when he realized it. Her empty green eyes and her breathless lips proved it. Ariana was no longer in this world. The moment Dante realized that his vision turned red.
"Gyaaaaah!"
"Why, why are you doing this! Let me talk to you for a moment- Kyaaaaah!"
The moment he regained consciousness, blood was dripping from his sword. The floor was filled with corpses strewn about miserably.
"Huk, huk..."
The whole world was red. Like the blood flowing from Ariana's body. That memory was the end of the dream.
'What a pity.'
Dante clicked his tongue in regret. He should have killed him more cruelly, causing him terrible pain. He was so sorry that he ended him so easily because he was blinded by anger. Even more so because he knew that this wasn't just a dream, but Ariana's actual past. He believed Ariana's confession that she had died once, not just because that was her word. Of course, that was the biggest reason. Dante held the necklace he had kept in his hand.
'It was a gift from Eduardo Lopez for saving refugees.'
This relic was a necklace from a tribe that served the ancient moon God. According to legend, when the ancient Gods ruled this land, the moon God possessed the power of healing. It was so powerful that it could heal its own deteriorating body every two weeks, and it was said that it could even reverse death. It is said that he gave miracles to his followers that allowed them to regain their power if they desperately wanted to.
As he held the necklace, another memory came flooding back to him. It was the day of Ariana's funeral. Ariana, who had no relatives left, had no one to leave her inheritance to. An employee of the Imperial Bank came to the funeral and asked him in an embarrassed voice what to do with the Lopez family's safe. When he came to his senses, he was already standing in front of the safe that belonged to the Lopez family.
"No one except Ariana should be allowed in, but since Ariana passed away without leaving behind a single blood relative, what should we do...?"
Dante entered the vault without hesitation. Nothing could erase this maddening emptiness and regret, but he still wanted to hold onto something. Even the smallest trace. There, he encountered this necklace. At that time, it was emitting a faint light like moonlight. The moment he held it in his hand as if possessed, the light from the necklace swirled greatly...
His memory stopped there. If it had been before, he would have dismissed it as just a strangely vivid and terrifying dream. But now, after hearing Ariana's confession.
"..."
He slowly closed his eyes. A fierce desire for revenge surged through his eyelids.
'So.'
He slowly collected his thoughts.
'How should I kill him?'
Fortunately, he was given a second chance. A second chance to take Ariana's revenge thoroughly, not just kill him in a fit of anger. He knew that Edward had recently become attached to the Crown Prince.
'Good.'
How could he not be happy when he was offered the chance to slaughter them even more brutally?
'Edward Lopez. Elena Lopez. And Lucas Pedegreen!'
He was the demon who had laughed and rejoiced at the death of his wife. This time, It was time to make them pay double the price for their sins, including their share of their past lives.
***
The system was in turmoil. For a while, the system had been chaotic with cheerful gossip every other day, but the last few days had felt different.
"Wait, are the rumors true? Is His Highness the Crown Prince really being summoned to the court ?"
It was an unprecedented situation for a member of the royal family to be summoned to the court. Moreover, the charges were so horrific.
"The late His Highness the Crown Prince was actually murdered?"
"And the culprit..."
People were reluctant to even speak and only exchanged fearful glances. The current Crown Prince was accused of murdering the former Crown Prince. Just saying it out loud was tantamount to treason. The one who raised the suspicion was none other than Duke Heigenberg, who was said to be one of the most powerful figures in recent times.
"But if by some chance the suspicion turns out to be true, His Highness the Crown Prince... will be dethroned, right?"
"Then what will happen to the next Crown Prince?"
"If His Highness the Crown Prince is the next in line to the throne, isn't it Duke Heigenberg?"
"Oh my, what on earth will happen?"
When the trial day finally arrived, all the people of the empire could not calm their excitement and tension. Duke Heigenberg, or the Crown Prince. One of the two forces would be completely destroyed today. Whichever it was, the political landscape of the empire would change forever.
A swarm of people gathered in front of the Imperial Court. Only a few high-ranking nobles were allowed into the court, but all kinds of onlookers, including reporters, clung as close to the building as possible, despite the guards' spears as if they wanted to hear even the slightest sound. The courtroom was also bustling. The Emperor was seated on the throne. The nobles cautiously glanced at the Emperor's face. The face, which was usually solemn, was frozen with worry, as the matter was the matter. The judge and the prosecutor were also seated. The only empty thing was the defendant's seat.
Ding, ding, ding.
The clock tower rang its bell fiercely, signaling twelve o'clock. It was the time for the trial to begin. However, the defendant's seat was still empty. The nobles began to whisper.
"Strange. Why...?"
"Why isn't His Highness the Crown Prince showing up?"
***
Ugh. The Emperor looked at the clock, groaned softly, turned his head, and shouted.
"Hey, you!"
The Crown Prince's alde got up with a puzzled look on his face.
"Where is the Crown Prince? Why isn't he showing up? Punctuality is a basic requirement in this sacred courtroom!"
"T- that."
The Crown Prince's aide said, sweating profusely.
"I have not been able to contact His Highness either."
"What?"
The Emperor doubted his ears. He really did not intend to appear at all, did he?
'This is not a problem that can be solved by avoiding!'
How wrongly did I raise my son?
The Emperor could not help but feel regretful.
Ariana tilted her head as she watched him.
'This is strange.'
If the Crown Prince really did not appear at all, public opinion would turn sharply against him. Whether he was a member of the royal family or not, avoiding the summons was never a good idea. The Crown Prince would not have been unaware of this. No matter how dull and irresponsible he was.
'And yet he did not appear...'
"Your Highness."
Ariana whispered carefully to Dante.
"Something is strange. I don't think he is simply avoiding the summons."
Dante had the same suspicions as Ariana. The Crown Prince was stupid, but he wouldn't be so foolish as to believe that the problem would be solved by burying his head in the sand and avoiding it since he wasn't an ostrich.
'Ah...'
At that moment, an absurd suspicion flashed through Ariana's mind.
'No way.'
The Crown Prince disappeared without even casting a shadow. In this place, all the powerful figures of the empire, excluding the Crown Prince, and above all, the evidence that would reveal the Prince crown Prince's crimes in detail, were gathered.
It was the moment when Ariana unknowingly raised her body. At that moment, Dante, who was going through a similar thought process as Ariana, suddenly flinched and froze. His keen sense of smell caught a subtle scent. A pungent scent brushed past the tip of his nose. He was used to it. The smell of death that he had smelled so much on the battlefield. It was the smell of gunpowder.
"Bern, Tenor, Leona."
Dante quickly recited the names of the shadow knights. The knights who had been hiding tensed up in unison.
"Take Ariana and run."
Dante ordered firmly.
"Get out of the building. Now! And guard it!"
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