Then my knees and looked at Hazel, who was exhaling.
'I'm going to die anyway if I stay in the carriage.'
If so, there is only one way.
I raised my head as if I had made up my mind about something, and without a moment's hesitation, I jumped out of the carriage, holding Hazel tightly in my arms.
But was it too late?
Because we jumped out of the carriage just before it crashed, the two were unable to avoid the disaster of falling down the cliff.
But at the moment when I fell, I was able to grab onto the tree roots that stood tall on the steep cliff.
“Ugh.”
I let out a groan of pain, holding the tree root in one hand and Hazel's hand in the other.
'Shit.'
The tree roots began to make a precarious noise as if they were too heavy to support the weight of two people.
Furthermore.
The shock caused the Riventia to slip out of my pocket and hang precariously on my clothes.
'If we continue like this, Riventia....'
It will fall down and never be found again.
If that happens, I too...
I bit my lip as the future pictured in my mind emerged.
In a matter of seconds, I had to make a choice.
Whether it was Riventia, who was as important as my life, or Hazel.
What are you hesitating for?
Riventia was an item that could not be exchanged for the enemy who killed my parents.
It definitely was like that...
In the end, it wasn't Riventia that Bellona chose.
With a thud, the Riventia fell down, and I, who had been staring at it, shut my eyes tightly.
“Ellie.”
At the same time, a soft voice was heard from below.
By that name that no one calls anymore.
“You asked me earlier... whether everything I told you was a lie.”
Hazel shook her head in response.
“There has never been a single moment that was a lie.”
There has never been a moment when I didn't love you.
From the moment a little child in rags called her mommy until now.
Loved the child.
“My Ellie.”
“Ah, no...”
I shouted urgently, sensing what Hazel was going to do with those words.
“Don’t let go!”
“My dear daughter.”
Please, you at least...
So Hazel let go of my hand, and my screams echoed through the air.
My hands were now flapping in the empty air, where there was no one, only cold air.
"mother..."
I hated you for killing my family.
But as much as I hate you, I...
“I loved you...”
I muttered the words I could not bring herself to tell Hazel.
And I regretted it.
If only I had said it a little sooner. Or if I had just held Hazel's hand tighter, if only...
I was so filled with regret and frustration that I could barely breathe.
The cold wind surrounding my skin seemed to sharply tear at me.
My lips were licked and pitiful sobs continued to leak out.
Tears flowed so heavily that they blocked my vision, but I couldn't even wipe them away.
Because I was now holding on to the tree roots with both hands, desperate to live.
It was after some time had passed.
As if unable to hold on any longer, the tree roots that I had been hanging on to snapped.
And that moment when I fell down with the broken branches.
Someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.
A person who appeared when I wanted to give up everything.
“...Carsis.”
It was Xarsis.
“Bellona.”
In an instant, Carsis pulled me up and held me in his arms.
The familiar warmth of his body wrapping around my cold body made me shed tears again.
"Why..."
Why did you come only now?
A warm feeling like the sunlight in the middle of winter, and a familiar scent that puts your mind at ease.
It was the arms of the man that I had been longing for and waiting for all day.
“Sorry I’m late.”
I was too exhausted to continue my story, but Carsis answered as if he already knew what I wanted to say.
Holding me tightly in his arms.
Could it be because of the fear of almost losing me?
At first glance, it seemed as if Carsis' hands holding me were trembling.
“It’s okay now.”
He whispered to me, who was digging into his arms, and patted me.
At the same time, the sky, which had been cloudy since the daytime, began to pour down heavy rain as if it had been waiting for it.
Meanwhile, Ernest, who had followed the carriage's tracks to the cliff, looked down at the river swollen by the rain.
The river, with its torrential waters, was turbulent and seemed as if it would swallow everything up.
“The trail ends here. There are also fragments of carriages visible around.”
Ernest turned his gaze to Cullen's words.
Around the edge of the cliff, the remains of a carriage remained, and the deep, hollow earth was not covered by rain.
And what they were saying was one thing.
“It looks like she fell off the cliff along with the carriage.”
“...”
Ernest couldn't bear to deny Cullen's words.
All the circumstances surrounding it were already proving that it was not a lie.
Ernest, who had been silent with a complicated mind, asked.
“I heard that the Hamelon region is a flat land. Was this kind of terrain originally there?”
The sudden appearance of a cliff was puzzling, as the reason they had designated this area as a trading area was because it was flat and there was no room for ambush or traps.
“Yes. Originally, there were no cliffs in Hamelon, but the heavy rain last summer caused the ground to collapse, creating a cliff. It seems they didn’t realize this fact either.”
“...I see.”
Ernest clenched his fists as he looked at the river with its rough currents.
'Father...'
His own father and Emperor eventually drove Bellona and Hazel to their deaths.
Even deceiving his own son.
'Did you really have to go this far?'
He knew that he would kill Bellona someday. He even thought that there might come a day when he would have to kill Bellona again with his own hands.
But...
'Even killing the Duchess of Cretian.'
She has been a loyal subject of the royal family for a long time.
Enough to betray a long-time friend and take the Emperor's side.
But to repay that person's trust in this way.
Ernest, who had always valued trust, did not understand the current situation.
Moreover, wasn't the Duchess also a victim?
'Who the hell is the bad guy?'
Carsis, the half-brother abandoned by his father?
Or maybe Bellona, who lied about everything to get revenge for the destruction of her family?
Or is it the Duchess who was tricked by Bellona and raised a traitor as her daughter?
Ernest was confused.
It felt like the justice he believed in was collapsing.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince will always protect us?”
At the same time, the image of a child handing him a trumpet flower with bright eyes flashes before his eyes.
"I will protect you no matter what happens."
Contrary to the promises he had made to the child that day, he was unable to keep any of them.
It was when he was bowing his head in such endless helplessness.
One of the knights who had been investigating elsewhere rushed to Ernest.
"Your Highness!"
Ernest raised his head and looked at the knight.
“A woman’s body was found downstream!”
Wherever the knights led, there was a corpse covered with a cloth.
Several carriage wrecks were also found near the bodies, which were believed to have floated down the river.
“What is your impression?”
Before checking the body's face, Ernest asked the knight.
“I have confirmed that she is the Duchess.”
“...I see.”
He had hoped that she might be alive.
'I'm going to die anyway if I stay in the carriage.'
If so, there is only one way.
I raised my head as if I had made up my mind about something, and without a moment's hesitation, I jumped out of the carriage, holding Hazel tightly in my arms.
But was it too late?
Because we jumped out of the carriage just before it crashed, the two were unable to avoid the disaster of falling down the cliff.
But at the moment when I fell, I was able to grab onto the tree roots that stood tall on the steep cliff.
“Ugh.”
I let out a groan of pain, holding the tree root in one hand and Hazel's hand in the other.
'Shit.'
The tree roots began to make a precarious noise as if they were too heavy to support the weight of two people.
Furthermore.
The shock caused the Riventia to slip out of my pocket and hang precariously on my clothes.
'If we continue like this, Riventia....'
It will fall down and never be found again.
If that happens, I too...
I bit my lip as the future pictured in my mind emerged.
In a matter of seconds, I had to make a choice.
Whether it was Riventia, who was as important as my life, or Hazel.
What are you hesitating for?
Riventia was an item that could not be exchanged for the enemy who killed my parents.
It definitely was like that...
In the end, it wasn't Riventia that Bellona chose.
With a thud, the Riventia fell down, and I, who had been staring at it, shut my eyes tightly.
“Ellie.”
At the same time, a soft voice was heard from below.
By that name that no one calls anymore.
“You asked me earlier... whether everything I told you was a lie.”
Hazel shook her head in response.
“There has never been a single moment that was a lie.”
There has never been a moment when I didn't love you.
From the moment a little child in rags called her mommy until now.
Loved the child.
“My Ellie.”
“Ah, no...”
I shouted urgently, sensing what Hazel was going to do with those words.
“Don’t let go!”
“My dear daughter.”
Please, you at least...
So Hazel let go of my hand, and my screams echoed through the air.
My hands were now flapping in the empty air, where there was no one, only cold air.
"mother..."
I hated you for killing my family.
But as much as I hate you, I...
“I loved you...”
I muttered the words I could not bring herself to tell Hazel.
And I regretted it.
If only I had said it a little sooner. Or if I had just held Hazel's hand tighter, if only...
I was so filled with regret and frustration that I could barely breathe.
The cold wind surrounding my skin seemed to sharply tear at me.
My lips were licked and pitiful sobs continued to leak out.
Tears flowed so heavily that they blocked my vision, but I couldn't even wipe them away.
Because I was now holding on to the tree roots with both hands, desperate to live.
It was after some time had passed.
As if unable to hold on any longer, the tree roots that I had been hanging on to snapped.
And that moment when I fell down with the broken branches.
Someone grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.
A person who appeared when I wanted to give up everything.
“...Carsis.”
It was Xarsis.
“Bellona.”
In an instant, Carsis pulled me up and held me in his arms.
The familiar warmth of his body wrapping around my cold body made me shed tears again.
"Why..."
Why did you come only now?
A warm feeling like the sunlight in the middle of winter, and a familiar scent that puts your mind at ease.
It was the arms of the man that I had been longing for and waiting for all day.
“Sorry I’m late.”
I was too exhausted to continue my story, but Carsis answered as if he already knew what I wanted to say.
Holding me tightly in his arms.
Could it be because of the fear of almost losing me?
At first glance, it seemed as if Carsis' hands holding me were trembling.
“It’s okay now.”
He whispered to me, who was digging into his arms, and patted me.
At the same time, the sky, which had been cloudy since the daytime, began to pour down heavy rain as if it had been waiting for it.
***
Meanwhile, Ernest, who had followed the carriage's tracks to the cliff, looked down at the river swollen by the rain.
The river, with its torrential waters, was turbulent and seemed as if it would swallow everything up.
“The trail ends here. There are also fragments of carriages visible around.”
Ernest turned his gaze to Cullen's words.
Around the edge of the cliff, the remains of a carriage remained, and the deep, hollow earth was not covered by rain.
And what they were saying was one thing.
“It looks like she fell off the cliff along with the carriage.”
“...”
Ernest couldn't bear to deny Cullen's words.
All the circumstances surrounding it were already proving that it was not a lie.
Ernest, who had been silent with a complicated mind, asked.
“I heard that the Hamelon region is a flat land. Was this kind of terrain originally there?”
The sudden appearance of a cliff was puzzling, as the reason they had designated this area as a trading area was because it was flat and there was no room for ambush or traps.
“Yes. Originally, there were no cliffs in Hamelon, but the heavy rain last summer caused the ground to collapse, creating a cliff. It seems they didn’t realize this fact either.”
“...I see.”
Ernest clenched his fists as he looked at the river with its rough currents.
'Father...'
His own father and Emperor eventually drove Bellona and Hazel to their deaths.
Even deceiving his own son.
'Did you really have to go this far?'
He knew that he would kill Bellona someday. He even thought that there might come a day when he would have to kill Bellona again with his own hands.
But...
'Even killing the Duchess of Cretian.'
She has been a loyal subject of the royal family for a long time.
Enough to betray a long-time friend and take the Emperor's side.
But to repay that person's trust in this way.
Ernest, who had always valued trust, did not understand the current situation.
Moreover, wasn't the Duchess also a victim?
'Who the hell is the bad guy?'
Carsis, the half-brother abandoned by his father?
Or maybe Bellona, who lied about everything to get revenge for the destruction of her family?
Or is it the Duchess who was tricked by Bellona and raised a traitor as her daughter?
Ernest was confused.
It felt like the justice he believed in was collapsing.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince will always protect us?”
At the same time, the image of a child handing him a trumpet flower with bright eyes flashes before his eyes.
"I will protect you no matter what happens."
Contrary to the promises he had made to the child that day, he was unable to keep any of them.
It was when he was bowing his head in such endless helplessness.
One of the knights who had been investigating elsewhere rushed to Ernest.
"Your Highness!"
Ernest raised his head and looked at the knight.
“A woman’s body was found downstream!”
***
Wherever the knights led, there was a corpse covered with a cloth.
Several carriage wrecks were also found near the bodies, which were believed to have floated down the river.
“What is your impression?”
Before checking the body's face, Ernest asked the knight.
“I have confirmed that she is the Duchess.”
“...I see.”
He had hoped that she might be alive.
As always, his shallow hopes were brutally crushed.
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