RAMHM - Chapter 124 < Madness >





I had nightmares all the way to the Acacia Estate.

In my dream, my father appeared. I shouted at his back, which did not look back.

Why did you abandon Blie? No matter how much I yelled and cursed, the answer was the same.

'Who is this Blie you speak of?'

Whenever I felt lost for the answer, I would always wake up from the dream with wet eyes.

When I woke up after falling asleep with my head on Rhodnes's shoulder or knee, I met his quietly shining gaze.

He wiped my tears away with his lips as if he were someone who protected me without losing a wink of sleep.

If it weren't for that immense warmth, I wouldn't have been able to overcome the nightmare.

“It’s okay to cry, Adrienne.”

Rhodnes whispered quietly. All along the way, he kept telling me that it was okay to cry.

“Cry and let it out.”

As I listened to those words while being wrapped in strong arms, I suddenly remembered Rhodnes, who had not shed a single tear at the Crown Prince's funeral.

'Isn't it Rhodnes, not me, who really needs comforting?'

Since the Crown Prince's betrayal and death, Rhodnes has never cared for himself and has only clung to me.

I felt anxious because I couldn't reach you as if you were the only one left in my world.

“Roan, you too...”

"Your Highness."

I wanted to tell you that it's okay to cry too.

The carriage, which had been running for a while, slowed down for a moment, and Neil suddenly looked through the window at some newspapers and gossip.

After Bardenaldo died, Rhodnes was willing to compete for the throne if necessary, so he always received messengers from the capital.

But today, strangely, the delivery was later than usual, and at the same time, Neil's voice was also quiet.

The alert Rhodnes could not have missed him.

The expression on Rhodnes’ face, who had been quickly scanning the front pages of newspapers and gossip magazines before me, gradually hardened.

Because of the ominous atmosphere, I couldn't bring myself to say anything and just glanced at the contents.

If it were normal, we would spread it out and read it together, but it seemed like Rhodnes wanted to read it alone for some reason.

[Could it be that the real culprit who killed His Highness the Crown Prince is actually His Highness the Second Prince?]

[Did the second Prince, who had become greedy for the throne, use Countess Acacia to get rid of the Grand Duke?]

[As soon as the ominous 'Second Prince' who summons demons leaves the capital, the demons start to run wild in the north. Is this a coincidence?]

Rhodnes hurriedly closed the gossip paper he was reading, and his gleaming red eyes met mine.

“Roan, don’t worry. I don’t believe in such ghost stories. Is it only for a day or two that monsters appear? Besides, the monsters that appeared in the West were the work of Noevian. On the road, I’m taking now, not even a single wild animal passed by, let alone a monster.”

So there's no way you're the one who summons demons.

His stiff expression slightly relaxed as I poured out excuses that were almost like consolation. But it only lasted a moment.

“Ugh! Monster! Monster!!”

The air inside the carriage froze in an instant.

Rhodnes' face turned much paler than it had been the moment he had read the disgusting rumors.

“Never. Don’t come out.”

“...Roan?”

It was the first time he had ever spoken so forcefully to me. Rhodnes gripped my shoulders tightly as if giving me an order that I could never disobey and spoke again.

“Don’t ever come out, Adrienne.”

It was a voice that sounded like an earnest request.

As the ground began to rumble, Rhodnes leaped out of the carriage like lightning.

***

The sudden appearance of a monster occurred right before the Acacia Estate.

People were terrified by the monster that was clearly visible from a distance.

Even the Knights Templar, who were accustomed to monsters, were terrified when five or six monsters approached the group.

Thud. Thud.

The monster, approaching with a heavy sound as loud as its massive size, looked like a furry beast covered in filth.

One of the three-eyed monsters on its head was running at him with its huge mouth wide open, picking up speed.

“Ephero, you stay here and guard the carriage.”

Before those startled by the commotion could even look out of the carriage, Rhodnes rode on his horse and charged, stepping on its back.

There was no time to say anything.

Rhodnes stepped on the hand of the demon that was reaching for the cart and jumped up, cutting off three of its eyes in one go.

“Kweeeeeeek!”

“Gyaaaah-!!”

The groans of the agonized monsters and the screams of their servants echoed through the forest path at the intersection.

Neil and Victor, who had been riding behind Rhodnes, took charge of the horse that was next to him and started to deal with it.

Meanwhile, Rhodnes climbed onto the back of the creature whose eyes he had just cut off as if he were climbing a cliff. Screams erupted from the surroundings as he climbed, clutching onto its dirty, damp fur.

“Your Highness! Your Highness!!”

Kkueeeeeek-!

The neck of the monster that was running wild with its eyes closed was cut off by Rhodnes' longsword in an instant. The crimson blood that spurted out from its neck poured down onto Rhodnes.

Everyone's mouth was open at what happened in an instant.

Rhodnes' red eyes burned like wildfire at the sight of the demon's blood. Blood boiled again in his heart, which he had thought he had hardened to control his emotions.

'Madness.'

As the feeling of thirst and a boiling heart began to take over Rhodnes, he swung his sword like a madman.

Thick veins stood out on the hand holding the longsword.

It was a heavy and powerful weapon that most knights had difficulty lifting with both hands.

“Step back, Your Highness Prince Victor!”

Neil, who was familiar with the sight, retreated, dragging Victor, who was struggling against the monster.

“Kueeeeek!”

Another giant monster's head fell down in front of the group!

Wherever Rhodnes' sword passed, the heads of monsters fell off and crimson blood gushed out.

The battle of the Second Prince, who seemed to be swinging his sword elegantly, was something raw.

The sight of him crawling up the monster's body, rubbing himself against its dirty fur, grabbing it with his teeth, and eventually cutting off its head was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

However, the heart of Rhodnes, who was actually fighting the monster, was sinking deeper and deeper underground.

He too thought the rumor that the red eyes would destroy the world was ridiculous, but whenever he slaughtered monsters and saw the ones that were particularly aggressive towards him, his heart would shiver.

It wasn't because he was afraid of monsters.

He was afraid that the horror story would become true and that he would lose his senses even just a little bit and end up cutting down his allies instead of his enemies.

And now there was something else he was most afraid of.

Rhodnes's gaze, which had been staring at the gushing blood, moved to Adrienne's carriage.

'Am I really an ominous guy?'

The question that had always weighed on him like a rock expanded as if it were going to burst his chest.

What if Adrienne were to be labeled a sort of curse, a scandal created by his own image and an ominous Prince?

Thick veins bulged out on the back of the hand holding the longsword.

He couldn't help but feel regretful that his past of dedicating his life to Bardenaldo was holding him back so much. He had always lived his life proving himself, but he refused to let Adrienne join that burdensome life.

If the rumors around him shake Adrienne's heart and eventually Adrienne becomes even a little bit afraid of him or thinks of something ominous...

'I might die.'

Just thinking about it made Rhodnes' feel like he couldn't breathe.

His dark gaze lingered on the carriage Adrienne was in, then fell straight down.

A total of about 20 monsters, including those that arrived late, were lying on the ground. These were the monsters that Rhodnes had killed when the two knights in charge of the escort rushed in and barely managed to kill three or four of them.

In a space where crimson blood spread like a swamp, the red eyes of Rhodnes, who had finished slaughtering, suddenly stopped in midair.

It was right after the massacre that he discovered Adrienne naturally coming out of the carriage.

'Adrienne saw it.'

The pupils that had been tightly constricted relaxed, and the blood in the boiling heat cooled down.

Ah. You saw it. You heard it.

The sight of the beheading of a monster with its red eyes shining like blood flowing under its feet. Even the cries of fear from those who were paying their respects.

'I'm so pickled in blood that it's hard to hold you when you're crying with your hands over your mouth.'

Rhodnes barely managed to hold back his heart from growing faint.

'The eyes of this murderer who won't stop until he catches something and kills it...'

She saw it.

Rhodnes wiped his hands soaked in the demon's blood on his clothes, then quickly took off his jacket and threw it away.

He took off his shirt, which had no white parts, and wiped his face, but his face, which had barely gotten rid of the redness, was unable to erase even the faint traces of blood.

'I tried to love.'

'But who in this world....'

'Can you love a child as sinister as me?'

'If Adrienne Piretta had seen your eyes, he would never have been able to love you
.'

'If she had known you were that ominous Prince, she wouldn't have even looked at you properly, let alone said anything.'

Every time Rhodnes wiped away the blood, the voice of Bardenaldo that had been suppressed in his head would torment him.

Yes, he knew that, so he hid himself and communicated with Adrienne.

Because people are always busy looking at themselves and being afraid.

Adrienne wasn't the only one who found his eyes beautiful.

But when the bloodlust of madness dawned, no one dared to say that the sparkling eyes were beautiful.

Even if that's his mother.

It was an eye that Adrienne did not want to be caught with.

It was a sight that Adrienne at least did not want to be caught in.

In the heavy silence, the sound of exhausted knights clearing away the monster's corpse could be heard. But Rhodnes was already desperately wiping his face with his blood-stained shirt.

“Roan.”

“Wait a minute, don’t come.”

As Adrienne's trembling voice approached, he turned away from her and wiped his face more diligently.

Just as he was scrubbing away enough to peel off his skin, he heard Adrienne's footsteps behind him. Rhodnes tensed his spine and turned his back even further.

“Roan, look at me.”

“Go away, Adrienne. I’m bleeding so much right now...”

In the end, Rhodnes is unable to face Adrienne and just wears the shirt that Neil ran over and handed him.

There was nothing good about making eye contact.

Even though the madness had subsided, the eyes that sparkled as if lights were on even in the dark did not completely subside.

It was harder to look into Adrienne's eyes, stained with fear than to face dozens of monsters.

“Roan...”

At that moment, the sound of urgent horse hooves drew near.

Rhodnes, who had come to his senses, hid Adrienne, who was hesitating, behind him and stepped forward to guard.

At the same time, Ephero and Victor stepped forward and drew their swords toward the approaching sound.

“Hey, the corpse of the monster...!”

A man, whose voice sounded older than expected, got off his horse and ran with his back to the sun that was high in the sky. The sound of the sergeant's sword clanking followed.

As soon as he confirmed the identity of the man who had approached him staggering as if he was about to fall, Adrienne's eyes widened in disbelief.

White blond hair and amber eyes. And a wrinkled face with droopy eyes.

Adrienne felt her somewhat depressed mood lift in an instant.

“...Count?”

Count Acacia, who was thought to be dead, was standing there, unharmed.


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