NMRJKM Chapter 115

 

It was possible because Erwin Atlosia was the most promising magician of the Magic Tower.

Fortunately, Ariadeline landed safely thanks to his magical power, and her family rushed to her in an instant.

“Adeline, what on earth are you trying to do…!”

“What happened, Adeline? Huh…?”

Her mother, shedding tears, and her father, shocked by her act of throwing herself off the terrace.

Erwin gently stroked Ariadeline’s hair with trembling hands.

“Adeline, why…?”

He spoke with a voice choked with suppressed tears.

“No, it’s okay now. We will make everything alright. So let’s go back.”

He pulled Ariadeline slightly away from his embrace and looked into her face.

“Home…”

As he was about to utter the words “let’s go back,” Erwin momentarily lost his voice. Ariadeline’s face showed no expression.

Seeing his sister appear as if she were an emotionless doll made Erwin’s fingertips tremble.

Despair filled her eyes.

“Adeline, Ariadeline. Why are you like this? What happened…?”

As he spoke, Erwin’s gaze fell to Ariadeline’s neck. It was impossible not to notice. The scar glowing in a vivid purple.

The story of her being injured by Princess Yermondi came to mind.

“You didn’t…”

Did you lose your voice? The unspoken words were immediately understood by the Atlosia couple.

Ariadeline’s mother, Rowena, burst into tears once more.

The Duke ultimately covered his face with one hand. Erwin stood there, dumbfounded, his lips trembling. Why, why does this child have to go through such things?

A false accusation, and now she couldn’t even speak? He bit his lip tightly and lifted Ariadeline into his arms.

Ariadeline showed no resistance, no reaction, no words.

And then, at that moment.

“Ariadeline…!”

Carlothian Denaves rushed out to the first floor. Upon seeing him, Erwin immediately straightened up.

“It’s been a while, Duke Denaves.”

“Ariadeline, is she hurt…?”

But Carlothian’s condition was strange. His bloodshot eyes were hollow, and his shirt was wrinkled and disheveled.

His black eyes flickered with despair, much like Ariadeline’s.

His gaze clung obsessively to Ariadeline.

Even as Erwin spoke, it was as if he couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, desperately.

Erwin clenched his teeth.

He didn’t know what was happening, but even if Carlothian had come to care for Ariadeline now, he could never forgive him.

“Fortunately, she’s not hurt. More importantly, we came to take Adeline with us.”

“Take her?”

At that, Ariadeline’s father, Rockdelt, replied.

“Exactly. You two are already divorced, so she can’t stay here anymore.”

Carlothian’s eyes widened. A glimmer of fury ignited in his pitch-black eyes, which burned like an abyss.

“You want to take her away from me…?”

He muttered like a madman.

“It can’t be. No way. I can’t let that happen.”

Carlothian gestured, and in an instant, the servants surrounded them.

“What is the meaning of this, Duke Denaves!” Rockdelt shouted. But Carlothian spoke to them with his burnt black eyes.

“Her crime was a false accusation.”

“Yes, so now we’ll take her back to our family…”

“Therefore, the divorce that was enforced as punishment is also null and void.”

“What did you say?”

Erwin shouted. However, Carlothian slowly approached Erwin, showing no intention of letting Ariadeline go.

He extended his arms as if to ask for Ariadeline, who lay limp like a lifeless person.

“I have no intention of becoming enemies with the Atlosia family.”

“You’re saying that while acting like this?”

“If you return Ariadeline to me.”

A strange light flickered in his eyes.

“Then nothing will happen.”

Erwin held his sister even tighter.

No matter what had happened, he felt strongly that he could not hand his sister over to that madman.

The atmosphere between them grew increasingly tense. Carlothian raised a hand toward him with dark eyes. As the hand drew closer, Erwin felt a surge of danger and immediately summoned his magical power.

“Stop!”

At that moment, their mother, Rowena, stepped in between them.

She wiped her tear-streaked face and spoke to the two men.

“First… Duke Denaves, I understand your feelings well. However, the sudden change has left us quite bewildered.”

“……”

Carlothian looked at Rowena. She swallowed hard, gazing into his unreadable black eyes.

He had always been a sharp-edged man, but she couldn’t understand how he had come to this point.

Clearly, something had happened between the two.

Judging this, Rowena suggested they enter the mansion.

“Adeline needs a place to rest for a while, so I would like to hear about what has happened inside the mansion.”

Carlothian seemed somewhat calmed by the fact that they wouldn’t be leaving with Ariadeline for the time being.

He nodded.

“Please come in.”

Carlothian turned around. The family exchanged glances and soon followed him into the mansion.

Even during this, Ariadeline remained limp and unresponsive, truly like a lifeless person.

Erwin frowned as he looked down at Ariadeline in his arms.

‘Adeline, what on earth happened to you?’

Carlothian led the family not to the reception room but to his own chamber. Erwin and the Duke and Duchess entered the room with puzzled expressions.

The private chamber of a noble was not a place just anyone could enter.

However, Carlothian gestured toward the bed as if to say Ariadeline should lie down, then headed for the terrace.

Creak, clank.

The terrace door was firmly locked. He commanded the butler.

“Block all the windows on the upper floors.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t care if you use boards and nails.”

“Yes, yes. Understood.”

The butler nodded at the unusual atmosphere and disappeared.

Erwin gently laid Ariadeline down on the bed.

As she realized she was back on the bed, she clutched the sheets and curled up, signaling that she didn’t want to talk to anyone. Erwin bit his lip as he looked at his sister.

“So, what happened?”

“Please, sit down.”

As they sat on the sofa, Carlothian, who had taken a seat opposite them, briefly washed his face and slowly began to speak.

“Princess Yermondi cut Ariadeline’s neck just before committing suicide.”

He then slowly recounted the events.

“I can’t know for sure, but it seems that after being cast out as a prisoner, Ariadeline poured all her heart into her singing.”

Carlothian briefly touched his own neck.

“And after injuring her neck…”

His voice gradually trailed off.

“Several times… she attempted to take her own life.”

At that, the family fell silent. The idea that she would commit suicide over not being able to sing was incomprehensible to them.

“That girl… she had no interest in singing at all.”

“At least she knew how to appreciate it. To think it was for such a reason…”

The moment Erwin uttered the word “just,” Carlothian slammed the table in front of the sofa with a bang!

“Don’t say ‘just.'”

He growled. He still remembered.

Ariadeline, who had fallen before him dozens, if not hundreds, of times. The way she had been broken and crumpled.

“She already has a history of attempting to take her own life several times in the monastery.”

“Ah…”

The expressions of the family darkened upon hearing this. Rowena burst into tears.

Carlothian explained that it was when she regained her voice and began to sing that she found her smile again.

After finishing his words, he reflected on his own foolishness.

Yes, she had been so happy while singing, yet he had failed to recognize it; it was his own stupidity.

Why hadn’t he known? Why hadn’t he noticed?

If possible, he wanted to go back to the past and fight to protect her.

To save her. To ensure that she could continue living. But it was already too late.

He had confirmed that Ariadeline could not return to that time.

So now, he had to find another way. A way to restore her voice, no matter what it took.

“I will restore her voice, no matter what.”

At his low voice, Ariadeline’s family stiffened. His tone carried everything.

A determination to do whatever it took.

“So please leave her matters to me.”

“…That’s…”

While the family struggled to respond, Carlothian’s head suddenly turned sharply.

Following his gaze, they saw the sheets where Ariadeline had been lying had risen high.

Ariadeline, who had been covered with the sheets, was sitting up.

However, she sat there wrapped in the sheets as if she didn’t even have the strength to pull them off.

Her appearance was like that of a ghost.