The moment my gram broke, Yuli cried.
[Armin!!]
Hearing Yuli's screams, Diana Isla wanted to run to Walter right away, but her body froze and she could only stand there.
She remained frozen in place as Walter, her father's gram, tore into Armin's shoulder.
Armin was staring at Walter without taking his eyes off him, even in front of Gram, who was tearing at his own flesh.
While the enraged Yuli was running wild on the walls, biting the gauntlets of the soldiers who were trying to capture her, two of her teeth fell out and she bled profusely.
She just froze.
And then Walter pulled his sword out of Armin's shoulder and kicked him down with his foot.
Diana Isla knew that he would not be able to kill Armin.
Thousands of Armin's soldiers surrounded the imperial palace.
Armin's loyal soldiers would ignore his orders and push into the palace if they learned that he was dead.
Walter would have known that too.
And just as she had expected, WaIter ordered his soldiers to capture Armin and then returned to the castle.
Only then did Diana let out a ragged breath and run to Walter.
There was no need to explain how fast her heart was beating at that moment.
[We won. Walter. We...]
The moment she approached WaIter to hug him, he looked at Diana Isla with cold eyes.
[We are, Diana.]
[What?]
[We are not here.]
Walter laughed.
But it wasn't the warm smile he usually showed to young Diana.
That was contempt.
[You should have died then!]
Ironically. Diana Isla blamed Armin Wilhelm for Walter's sudden change.
The marriage between the two was decided in an instant.
Walter wanted the most humiliating marriage for Armin Wilhelm.
He tried to teach Armin obedience by using Diana Isla, who had been openly in love with him.
Diana Isla resisted, but Marquis Isla would not listen to her story.
The Marquis of Isla wanted to obtain the mining concessions that WaIter had promised to give him in exchange for his daughter's position as Empress.
Diana was easily sold by Walter and the Marquis of Isla.
On the day their engagement was announced, Diana slapped Armin on the cheek and said.
[If it were me, I would have died. The day Gram was stuck in your shoulder, I would have bitten my tongue and died.]
[Yeah. I'm sorry.]
Armin just smiled crookedly at Diana.
[I'm sorry I survived.]
But Amin could not die...
His death meant the death of thousands of soldiers who had trusted him and waited behind him, and it meant the death of Yuli, who had been waiting for him on the walls.
But Diana Isla didn't care about that kind of thing.
She decided that if Armin did not die, she would die.
So before she got on the carriage, she secretly bought a dagger and...
[Walter
For three days and nights, she groaned and cried out Walter's name.
Everyone outside the carriage would have heard the sound.
Only after seeing that memory did I understand why the driver outside the carriage looked at me so displeased.
A newlywed who desperately called out the name of her future husband's younger brother every night.
It was a sight that would have been blasphemous and unparalleled to anyone who saw it.
Whatever it is.
She couldn't die.
Her obsession with Walter, her strange belief that he would call her back at any moment, took possession of her.
She bought a dagger to kill Armin and herself but ended up throwing it away.
Instead of dying, she hated Armin, who became her husband, to death.
[My life is ruined because of you!]
Armin left his wife like that.
Even though Diana insulted him, got angry at him, and even threatened him with her life...
[I'm going to die!]
He just looked at Diana with languid golden eyes.
[Or so.]
Diana was frustrated, and soon Walter stormed into Wilhelm Castle.
The year Archduke Wilhelm and his wife entered their second year of marriage.
A year in which the soldiers of Wilhelm Castle were exhausted from the aftereffects of the subsequent famine and war.
Walter took advantage of that year to launch a vicious attack.
The gate was easily opened, and Armin first went to the room of Archduchess Diana.
[Escape through the back door. I have prepared a cavalry and an escort knight.]
Diana wanted to ask Armin.
So where are you going?
Are you really going to the front gate where 20,000 soldiers brought by Walter are storming in, while thousands of soldiers on the verge of starvation are barely standing guard?
In that case, it would be better.
Let's go together.
There was no way she could say something like that.
It was a year and a half of living while cursing him.
It was a year and a half of sleeping while waiting for his death.
Diana tried to escape through the back door but then changed her words.
Her heart was pounding.
It would have been nice if Armin's end was because of the last remaining conscience that he wanted to protect, but that wasn't the case.
Her heart yearned to see Walter's face just one more time.
She was running because of that hot love.
She was disgusted with herself, but she couldn't stop herself.
[Ahhh. Stupid Diana. No matter how much you beat her, you're like a hunting dog that comes back to its master.]
Even at the last moment, she hears humiliating words from Walter.
She begged, unable to stop herself.
To Gram, who came in tearing at her own body.
Next time, please let me be born as a sword without a soul.
So that I may become the sword of the one who curses Walter the most.
If you give me the sword, I won't be able to stab Walter with it.
She would rather have herself become a sword and stab Walter.
And Gram answered her.
[Is it really okay for me to turn your body into a sword, Diana?]
Yes.
The voice ringing in Diana's ear was definitely Gram.
[Then your soul may be scattered. If that doesn't matter...]
Diana nodded.
Her body was gradually stiffening as she exerted her last strength.
[I will find a woman worthy of your body.]
A woman worthy of your body.
That's me.
A woman who entered the body of Diana Isla', chosen by my father's gram.
That too, in the body of the regressed Diana Isla.
Even my gram told me that.
Is there a connection between my father's 'gram' and my 'gram'?
Just like 'Diana' and 'Diana Isla' swapped souls?
Nothing was certain now.
What is certain now is...
"Yeah. It's better to make a fuss about killing someone than to make a fuss about dying..."
I looked up at Armin standing in front of me.
Armin was looking down at me with his characteristically languid golden eyes.
There was a strong smell of alcohol coming from his body.
"... It's bearable."
He unbuttoned his loosely-fitting shirt a little more.
A long scar ran down his shoulder, along with solid muscles.
His eyes lit up.
"Then, try stabbing it."
The only thing that mattered was that I was now married to this bastard.
***
According to Diana Isla's recollection, Armin spent his life intoxicated after losing to Walter.
The guilt of having driven thousands of his people to their deaths.
And yet, the sadness of not being able to rescue the Third Princess who was still being held captive.
And above all else...
[If it were me. I would have died.]
A shameful marriage.
All of this causes him to have a hard time for a while.
Even though he was mentally exhausted, he tried to erase the aftermath of the war that remained in his territory and even went out to fight when monsters attacked, but the situation did not improve, and he fell deeper and deeper into the swamp.
In fact, there were probably many overlapping problems, but from Diana Isla's perspective, his biggest problem seemed to be alcohol.
Because he always carried a keg of alcohol around with him, and he always smelled of alcohol.
Just like now.
"Shall we make a bet?"
Aimin, with a languid face, smiled at me.
"If you can stab me with that, I'll make this marriage void. By the way..."
He picked up the liquor in the honeymoon room and sat down on the sofa.
This caused the hem of his shirt to flare out further, revealing his toned abs and his long scar in greater detail.
"The heart is here."
He pointed to his chest.
"If you stab the heart like this from the bottom up, you can stab the lungs as well. Then, instead of a scream, you'll hear the sound of air escaping from my mouth."
I found it funny that he told me this.
I learned all that stuff six years ago.
When I was dragged away by Walter's guards.
"Then you cut off my ear and ride the horse at the back door to the Margrave of Lotzen. A delicate young lady like you can get there in a day's riding. From there, beg to be sent to the Kainen Castle. Say you have brought the ear of the insolent Armin Wilhelm, who dared to speak against the Emperor. You will be treated as a madman, but the Margrave of Lotzen, who does not want to cause diplomatic trouble, will take you to Walter, and you..."
Armin chuckled.
"Walter's love can be regained."
But I think his problem was a little different.
He is...
"Yes, let's get started."
Armin tilted the bottle, moistened his throat, and then put it down. Then he got up again and grabbed the broken end of the gram.
He kindly brought the tip of the sword to his chest.
To where his heart is, he said.
He tilted his head toward me and whispered.
"Try killing me."
No. That's not true.
He has only one problem.
He's just a drunkard and a punk.
I looked at his face and came to regret the time I had thought of him as Gram's master.
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