<Episode 42>
Not only her title as Princess Bastevan, but all the property and titles of her father, the great hero Sion Archaic Bastevan, were confiscated, and the Bastevan family itself fell.
And Mariette, along with her father, was exiled from the capital and imprisoned in the most miserable village in a remote manor.
“She…why on earth was she expelled!”
It was such shocking news that I couldn’t dare believe it.
Riat couldn’t accept all of this.
“Uh, Your Highness!”
Riat grabbed his subordinate’s neck with a cruel hand and asked for the reason.
The answer that came back was shocking.
It was said that Mariette’s fiancé, Roberick Arne Heilian, betrayed Mariette and her family and fell in love with a commoner widow.
Mariette, enraged by the shameful betrayal, took ‘vicious’ revenge against Heilian and his widow… and was exiled to the countryside, losing everything in return.
“…You’re as bad as a dog!”
bang-!
Riat spewed out hatred filled words as he glared at the image of Roberick Arne Heilian, who appeared like a hallucination in the air with red, bloodshot eyes.
Why did I give up on her?
It was only because she truly loved you, Roberick Arne Hailian, and only you…
“…I will go to the Roshan Empire.”
“Your majesty!”
Nothing could stop him anymore.
Riat hurried to the land where Mariette was exiled.
***
Squeak–
The door of the small brick house opened with an old sound.
“……..”
Holding her swollen belly with one hand, her dry, light purple hair was blowing in the wind.
A woman with a more indifferent face than a few years ago made a shadow with her hand and looked up at the sky.
Then, at one point.
“…..You.”
The brilliant golden eyes finally spotted the man standing on the desolate road.
A look of embarrassment appeared on the woman’s face.
“……Mariette.”
Riat smiled as if he was crying, looking at the face of the woman he could not forget even in his dreams.
The gray eyes that stared into the shaking golden eyes without being able to hide their surprise soon took in her swollen belly.
How many months are left until she gave birth?
What was inside must have been the blood of the person who had betrayed Mariette so cruelly and left her in such shabby condition.
Riat was overcome with indescribable emotions and, without even caring about the blood flowing from his palm, he squeezed it tightly.
“I found out how they treated you.”
He smiled beautifully and hid his miserable feelings.
“That’s why I came.”
Mariette spoke in a low voice, clearly showing her unconcealed agitation.
“……Riat. You must not come here.”
“Why?”
Riat asked calmly.
“Do you know how many years it has been since we last met? You’re still so cruel. I can’t believe you didn’t even say hello.”
Mariette answered, avoiding his gaze.
“…I can’t tell you to come in. Riat, the Roshan Empire and Nisha are long-time enemies. It would not be good for both of us if a rumor spreads that you are interacting with me, an exiled nobleman…”
“Stop it, Mariette.”
Riat cut off Mariette’s words.
Mariette turned her gaze, which had tried to avoid him, back on him.
“The Roshan Empire, the exiled nobles… What’s the point of it all?”
Riat muttered while suppressing his boiling inner feelings that threatened to burst out at any moment.
Soon, he walked towards her without any hesitation and held out his hand to her.
Just as the woman, who was once a girl with no fear in the world, did to him a long time ago.
“Come with me, Mariette.”
“!”
Mariette looked up at Liat with trembling eyes.
“You already know. Mariette, I love you…..This damned feeling still hasn’t gone away and continues to lead me to suffering.”
Riat gazed at Mariette with trembling eyes.
His hand stopped in the air, just as it was about to touch her cheek, at a distance where he couldn’t go any further.
“So use me.”
He, who had swallowed all his emotions, lowered his gaze and stared at the life that Mariette held.
“It doesn’t matter who your child’s father is. The moment you choose me, your child’s father will also be me.”
I meant it.
Riat said, “If it is Mariette’s child, it doesn’t matter who the father is.”
……Even if it was Roberick Arne Heilian, I was confident that I would love them.
“You also would never have to live miserably nor lose everything. So, Mariette.”
Riat persuaded her with sincerity.
“……Stop.”
However, the hand that carefully rested on Riat’s chest and gently pushed him contained the meaning of rejection.
Riat asked, staring at Mariette, who took a step back from him.
“Why?”
At that day he showed no signs of agitation, but his voice, as it faded, revealed the deep distortion without hiding it.
“Why? Do you hate me so much? Are you also saying that no matter how helpless I am, you also hate people who are parasitic on Arkane?”
“Riat.”
Mariette quietly called his name.
Riat’s face, which had calmed down to be indifferent again, contained Mariette.
“At that time, there was something I couldn’t say to you.”
The calm voice I had longed for so much flowed into my ears.
“I don’t hate dark spiritists. But on the other hand – you, the royal family of Nisha, have worshiped the Dark Spirit King in order to survive, no matter what the circumstances.”
Mariette softly rubbed her swollen belly and spoke in a whisper.
“I understand that behavior, but… it’s why you and I can’t be together.”
Riat shouted, twisting his eyes fiercely.
“Why? What’s so big about using Arkane’s power to survive? Why……!”
“Because that is an act of denying my life.”
Riat stopped breathing in despair.
Mariette looked at Riat with a weak smile.
“It is a denial of the very life I have believed in, lived, and fought for up to this point. So I can’t be with you. ……We can’t be together.”
The pity was sincere, but the obvious rejection could not be covered up.
“Sorry, Riat. Maybe… this will be the last time we meet while alive.”
Mariette, with her radiant beauty in the pale daylight, rejected Riat’s marriage proposal.
In the face of that clear answer, Riat could not say anything.
***
Even the sea has shadows.
Even when illuminated by light, it is always deep blue and beautiful without a speck of stain, but the sea shows its own shadow in the deepest part of itself.
It is usually hidden under the curtain of the abyss where no one can see it.
So no one can see it.
You were the first to look into my wounds that were hidden in the shadows.
So, I wanted to become your shadow.
If I could embrace all your wounds and loneliness and become a shade where you can sit down and breathe out at any time.
If only I could be a haven where you can stop by and rest.
‘I don’t hate dark spiritists. But on the other hand – you, the royal family of Nisha, have worshiped the Dark Spirit King in order to survive, no matter what the circumstances.’
‘That’s why you and I can’t be together. Because that is an act of denying my life.’
‘It is a denial of the life I have believed in, lived, and fought for up to this point. So I can’t be with you. ······We won’t be together.’
However, the sea ultimately refused to lie in the shadows and chose to protect its deep blue.
The shadow, which had nowhere to go, wandered forever.1That’s some deep stuff, but I don’t understand a thing(•‿•)
***
Mariette is dead.
Riat was crowned as the king of Nisha.
Many years have passed.
Riat did not forget Mariette even for a moment.
I couldn’t forget her.
However, no matter what lingering regrets he had in his heart, there was nothing more he could do as he was not accepted by her.
He was simply frozen in his cold blood and dedicated his life to protect his country and people.
It was quite surprising that a child named Mariette’s daughter came into such an empty bondage.
“…Mariette’s hidden daughter turned Roshan upside down with the imprisoned prince?”
Wasn’t it absolutely outrageous?
Upon hearing the news that shook the entire continent, Riat couldn’t hide his smile and muttered.
She was Mariette’s only blood relative she has left in this world.2What about grandfather 🤔
At the same time, she was the daughter of Roberick Arne Heilian, who he would not mind tearing him to death.
Is she a strong and extraordinary child like her?
Or is she just a foolish child who takes after her father?
My curiosity arose.
“The Emperor of the Roshan Empire has requested contact with the guild.”
“Roshan? What brought him here?”
“…He ask you to assassinate the second prince, Ashamed Haas Ruairi.”
Oh, how funny.
Riat couldn’t help but laugh at the series of events that followed.
Mariette. The Emperor of Roshan, who symbolizes the noble justice you revered souch, was so ugly.
It was like directly begging the king of an enemy country to kill his son.3Well, literally it’s like this😅.
Also, was it an arrangement of fate, or was the 2nd Prince pushing him to do something when he and your daughter are heading to Litera, and not to any other place?
“I will accept it. Get ready.”
Riat held the Emperor’s letter in his hand with a deep smile.
“But Your Highness! Killing the second prince of Roshan would have devastating consequences-”
“It doesn’t matter. We can play a little prank instead.”
I missed Mariette’s daughter.
Could it be possible to capture her resemblance in his two eyes again?
A surge of curiosity and a widow that he could not give up led him on his way.
“-Ashamed!!”
Thus, Riat finally faced the second prince of Roshan, who was sleeping as if he was dead, while embracing him.
She had small, white face.
Even if you didn’t know the name, you can tell at a glance that it was a noble person with a beautiful appearance.
Even though those bright eyes were colored with a color that did not belong to Mariette.
At the same time, the hair blowing in the wind with her back to the sound of waves filling the quiet forest reminds me of a vision that was indelibly imprinted in my memories.
“…Who are you? Are you an assassin? At someone’s instigation, like this…”
She was a small child who clearly showed her father’s traces.
However, her actions of immediately regaining her senses and calmly asking questions clearly resembled Mariette.
“Well. It was a special feeling to see that face asking who I was.”
Riat couldn’t overcome the joy that was building up in him, so he raised the corners of his mouth and smiled.
No matter who the father is, she is clearly Mariette’s daughter.
“…I first met Mariette at Litera. That’s where I fell in love.”
Thus, Riat came out of all the flashbacks and finished speaking lightly.
He smiled as he looked down at the child, who looked clearly shocked, as if this was something she had never expected.
“You asked why I brought you here? There’s only one reason.”
And then he slowly got up and finally revealed his true feelings without any filtering.
“Because I didn’t want the empire to take you, Mariette’s daughter, away.”
Mariette was dead.
In the end, she rejected him, gave birth to the daughter of the man who betrayed her, and finally faced a cold death.
When she left, there was only void that consumed him.
No one could save him.
He was destined to have a fleeting fate of being buried in a lonely shadow and having to live without being able to end his until the last breath.
However, the moment I encountered the only trace that Mariette had left in this world, a spark lit up in my heart that had been reduced to ashes.
I want to completely own the last traces that Mariette left in this world.
Only one thing, a strong desire, brought his heart back to life.
“So you have to join me.”
Riat smiled happily, looking down at the pitiful shaking red eyes.
***
TL:
Phew ~
That’s it for this week, next update will be on next Tuesday.
I hope you enjoyed your time, see you(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.).
Thank you
💘