RAMHM - Chapter 105 < If this is the last minute >

My whole body ached like I'd been beaten, but strangely, I could breathe much easier than before I died. It wasn't my body that was sick, but my mind.

'Then shouldn't I help you?' 

The realization that I had returned to my original body was in fact incredibly confusing. Since Blie's body had lost a lot of blood and was almost killed by the Crown Prince, did my soul briefly escape and enter my corpse nearby? Could it be that my deep attachment to this life was holding me back to my original body? 

It was an absurd assumption, but I was desperate. Maybe this moment, was my last, when I should have already died. 

"I told you earlier, but you didn't realize the reality. How could I love someone like you?" 

Then, to get rid of Bardenaldo, who was my enemy and someone I couldn't bring myself to kill with Rhodnes's hands... 

This might be the last chance that the Lord gave me. A chance to achieve what I couldn't achieve in my life, in Adrienne's body! 

'Instead of the little guys I put in front of, stab the enemy who really killed me...' 

My eyes were soon drawn to Rhodnes. At every word of Bardenaldo, the face slowly sank as if a dam had collapsed. But even the jaw that still clenched its teeth to keep the sobs from escaping, blocked Blie’s side. If this were the last time in this life. 

‘Rhodnes, you...’ 

And soon, my trembling gaze passed Blie, who had collapsed as if dead and turned to the dagger I had left in front of the glass case. 

*** 

The Crown Prince could not be normal as this space, which he had protected for countless years, was on the verge of being revealed to outsiders. 

“If Adrienne Piretta had seen your eyes, she would never have loved you. I guarantee that. I would have been too eager to ask. But how can I ask a dead person?” 

“...” 

“I will answer for you. Adrienne would not have loved you. If she had seen your eyes and known that you were that ominous Prince, she would not have even made eye contact, let alone said a word. So the only one who loves you is me, Roan. Now... hurry...” 

Let’s get rid of those rats and go up to the surface. Bardenaldo whispered to Rhodnes like a grim reaper rising from the darkest shadow of his heart. Rhodnes had already lost his senses from the moment Adrienne collapsed and died, his breathing faintly. The moment he shouted for a doctor was the only time he had existed in reality. 

Rhodnes was trapped in a world where only he, Bardenaldo, and Adrienne in his arms existed, and he cried silently. The past days when he had achieved nothingness that no one could approach were shattered and trampled, scattering like grains of sand. 

He stared at Bardenaldo, who was babbling inaudibly with a face that was anxious because he couldn’t hurt him. 

Ah. Why is it that I suddenly remember myself that day? 

The last day of his mother, Empress Letina’s funeral. The voices of people laughing and chatting could be heard from afar as if they didn’t care about his own crumbling heart. The dark times killed and killed his weak thoughts that he wished someone would pick him up, that he wished someone would hold him and tell him it was okay to cry. The day he ran away, unable to say those words to anyone. 

Why does it suddenly come to mind like a nightmare he had yesterday? 

“The woman you’re holding is neither Adrienne nor anything. She was just my uncle’s toy. So throw away your useless attachments and go up quickly to prevent unrelated people from coming here, Rhodnes. It’s your master’s order.” 

Bardenaldo, feeling his patience limited, immediately urged him with a sharp face. It was because his insides began to twist uncontrollably when he saw Rhodnes, who had a pitiful face like a dog abandoned by its owner.

“Are you going to ignore your mother’s will? Are you going to bring people in and dishonor your brother? It’s your father’s birthday, not any other day. When people come, I’m sorry, but I can only point at you with this hand!”

Bardenaldo sneered at Rhodnes, who was shaken the moment he mentioned his mother’s will.

He whispered that he was the only person in the world who cared for Rhodnes.

Just like when Rhodnes was first shunned by people, Bardenaldo wanted to make sure that Rhodnes, who was standing in the middle of hell, knew his place.

“That woman is destined to die like Adrienne Piretta anyway! It is my mother’s cause and your cause that I survive and become Emperor! If you don’t go out and stop the people from barging in, I can only say that you did all this for our cause. No matter how much you resent me, no matter how much you resent your uncle... who would listen to you, a troublemaker...”

But Bardenaldo could not continue.

A strange sense of discomfort surged up from behind him like a tidal wave.

Boom-!

Bardenaldo's eyes briefly went wide as the pain struck his wingtips.

When he turned around with his trembling body, his eyes opened wide. Never in his life had his eyes opened so wide.

Blonde hair that looked sweet as honey, pale face, and bright green eyes.

A woman who clenched her teeth and stabbed a dagger into his wingtips with her slender hands.

"Shut up, please."

The dead Adrienne Piretta stood before him with bloodshot eyes. He clearly screamed, but no sound came out. He opened his bloodshot eyes without being able to utter a sound from his gaping mouth.

"You, pervert..."

"Stop... Don't...!"

At the sight of Adrienne Piretta standing with her back to the open glass coffin, Bardenaldo felt the hairs on his ears stand on end.

The pain in his back that burst out belatedly, consumed by fear, finally knocked him down on the cold floor.

***

How dare you bring up Empress Letina! 

I briefly hesitated whether to hit the Crown Prince in the head first, who was trying to use Rhodnes for his own purposes.

However, I pushed the lid of the coffin away and picked up the dagger first.

This was because the thought that this might really be my last chance swirled around in my head.

I didn’t know that I would end up pointing the dagger at the Crown Prince, thinking that I might stab Noevian Trovica with it.

When I picked up the dagger and straightened my spinning vision for a moment, the first thing that caught my eye was Noevian, who was standing near Rhodnes.

As soon as he saw me opening the lid of the coffin and coming out, he made a breathless expression.

I slid my gaze over Bardenaldo's shoulder to Rhodnes.

Rhodnes was simultaneously suppressing anger, contempt, sadness, and sobbing, clenching his teeth.

His face was like a patient warrior, but ironically, it reminded me of Rhodnes's face as a boy who desperately needed help.

I gathered all my strength and stabbed my dagger into Bardenaldo's wing, which was barking like a dog. I felt the wet flesh split open, and the sharp tip of the dagger catching the hard bone.

Ah. I did it.

A strange joy surged through my body like a wave.

Rhodnes' face froze as if all the blood had drained from his body, and he stared at me without blinking.

Rhodnes's gaze, which was blankly standing up after putting down Blie's body, and my gaze were entangled.

I felt my heart pounding.

Whatever the reason, I ended up hurting his older brother Bardenaldo, so I might be hated by Rhodnes.

But, but...

'This might be the last time I can be with Rhodnes.'

I hurriedly and staggered, teasing Rhodnes, who still couldn't blink, to slow down.

His face looked like he had forgotten to breathe.

I stepped on Bardenaldo, who had fallen forward from the unexpected attack and stood up.

Then I covered Rhodnes's injured cheeks.

"Ad, Adrienne...?"

"Bardenaldo, that son of a bitch is wrong."

Ah.

It felt like dry, dry grains of sand were scattering from my throat, but it was definitely Adrienne... my original voice.

Tears, whether real or imagined, welled up and flowed down my cheeks.

"Twenty-year-old Adrienne would have definitely said this when he saw your eyes."

If this miraculous moment is a revelation that I will pour out all my remaining strength and die...

“You are so beautiful, An.”

I whispered as I pressed my forehead against Rhodnes’s, who was frozen in place, unable to even think of saying a word other than to keep repeating my name.

“Like the sun on a clear day without a single cloud. Like the sunset caressing the deep sea.”

These were the words I always wanted to say.

I could feel the firm cheeks of Rhodnes, soaking wet and trembling beneath my two palms.

“I love you, An.”

I pressed down on Bardenaldo’s squirming back with all my might and lifted my toes.

I stared straight at Rhodnes’s shaking eyes as if holding them tightly, then closed my eyes as if saying goodbye to the world.

And finally, I placed my wet lips on those lips I had always coveted. They were dry and squeaky, but a warmer sensation than anything else enveloped my entire lips and quickly warmed my body.

I bit his hardened lower lip, not even thinking of responding as if I was kissing the sweetest fruit in the world, and kissed him more deeply.

Since it was a kiss as the perfect Adrienne Piretta, I wasn’t sad no matter how many tears fell from my eyes.

Ah, what a splendid last moment.

The sense of crisis that this might be the last might be a blessing for me, a selfish person.

This feeling of anger and joy mixing together like firecrackers, exploding simultaneously above my head, couldn't be anything but the most perfect last for selfish Adrienne.

Even though my body was clearly dead, my heart, which must have stopped, was pounding inside my head, making my ears numb.

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