The Price Is Revenge

Chapter 2

Is he asking for forgiveness in exchange for sparing my life?
I was incredulous.

Years ago, I lost both my parents in a carriage accident. They had visited the distant Baltara Kingdom and were on their way back when the accident happened.

The shocked Baltara Kingdom cooperated with the Empire to thoroughly investigate the incident.

The cause was a carriage wheel that hadn’t been properly tightened. The wheel caught on a stone and broke, causing the carriage to tumble off a mountain cliff.

The long-time stableman of the Eckhart family, who had conducted the inspection at the time, hanged himself out of guilt.

It was an unfortunate accident caused by a small oversight.
That’s what I believed.

But years after the accident, I discovered the truth. It wasn’t an accident but a murder.
The culprit was Cesar, who stood before me.

‘It can’t be!’

At first, I denied it.
My beloved husband couldn’t be the culprit.
But the more I investigated, the more evidence pointed to Cesar as the perpetrator.

“Return to the side of the man who killed my parents?”

“It was inevitable…”

His shameless retort made my blood boil.

“I’ll keep begging for your forgiveness, even if it takes a lifetime. Just stay by my side.”

My parents were truly wonderful people.
Despite their busy lives, they spent time with me, teaching me many things themselves. They gave me love without reservation and always cherished me.
They were also generous, sharing their wealth.
They took on the problems of their subjects as their own, and the lord managed the land wisely, solving issues directly.

Even up to the moment of the accident…
They willingly received the envoy from the Baltara Kingdom, which had a strained relationship with the Empire, to alleviate the anxiety of the Empire’s border residents.

They met with an unfortunate fate on their return journey after visiting Baltara.

And yet…

A rage engulfed me. I wanted to strangle Cesar on the spot, but there was something I needed to hear first.

“What crime did our parents commit that they had to die at your hands?”

It was a question I could never resolve, even after probing the mystery of the carriage accident.
The motive behind Cesar’s killing of my parents.

“You also went to the Baltara Kingdom with my parents. What happened there?”

“……”

“Speak!”

I glared at Cesar, who remained tight-lipped.
He loved and cherished me more than anyone else.

Whenever I felt his tender voice and touch, I felt like the most cherished person.

I needed to know why he had killed my parents.
‘Say something!’

If only there were an understandable reason.
If my parents had secretly been planning a rebellion, I still wouldn’t be able to forgive him, but at least I might understand his actions.

“Even an excuse would be fine, so just say something!”

No matter what he said, the fact that he was my parents’ enemy wouldn’t change. But maybe I could still believe he was someone worth loving.
If I didn’t want to regret the time I spent loving you.
If you think I, who truly cared for you, am pitiful, then say it.

“……”

Cesar’s lips, which had trembled several times, finally fell silent. It seemed he had chosen to flee until the very end.

“Hahaha.”

A bitter laugh escaped my lips.

To think I wanted to give a man as pathetic as this another chance.
I really am foolish to the very end.
In truth, I already knew.

Cesar had countless opportunities to confess the truth, but he never did. What if, before I uncovered the hidden events, he had come forward, revealed everything, and begged for forgiveness?
I might have forgiven him, swallowing the pain like a sword, because I loved him that much.

But not anymore. All that’s left for me now is a heart torn to shreds by betrayal and the desire for revenge against my enemy.

“There’s a reason… why I can’t tell you… Please, just understand me one last time.”

“…”

“I want to tell you everything I didn’t know. But I can’t.”

Well, I could roughly guess the reason.
Using my parents’ accident as an excuse, the Empire had declared war on the Kingdom of Baltara. They sacrificed a loyal servant for the sake of the Imperial family’s gain.
But why did it have to be my parents?

“Enough. I don’t want to hear anymore.”

At my words, Cesar clutched his chest.

“I made… the wrong choice. So please, forgive me.”
He never revealed the reason in the end.

Seeing him protect himself to the bitter end made me sick.
Disgusting worm.
I need to kill him quickly.

There’s no doubt there won’t be another chance.
Before Baal returns, I must finish Cesar. As I glanced around, I spotted the perfect weapon.
It was a large shard of a broken vase.

I picked up the sharpest piece and clenched it tightly in my hand. The sharp glass bit into my palm.
It stung, but when I thought of the pain my parents endured, it was bearable.

“Te-Tessa…?”

His gaze wavered.
Blood dripped from my hand, falling drop by drop.

“If you grip the glass that hard, your hand will get hurt! You’re already bleeding so much… Are you okay?”

“Worry about your own neck!”

This time, I won’t fail.
I planned to stab his neck without hesitation.

“If… If this will ease your heart, then go ahead and stab me. If I can’t win your heart back, I don’t want to live anymore either.”

That cursed tenderness again.
With a sorrowful expression, Cesar’s shoulders drooped.

Even now, though my mind screamed to kill him, my heart throbbed at his pitiful sight.

‘It’s an act.’

Just like how he played the role of the loving husband, pretending to know nothing.
It’s all just a perfect performance to deceive me.

“Die!”

With a shout, I lunged at him.
Piercing the throat of someone who had lost the will to live should be easy. So killing him should be just as simple.

Thud—.

But before I could reach him, something pierced through me. I felt a foreign sensation, and when I looked down, I saw the cold blade that had gone through my chest.

It felt as though all the blood in my body was draining from the gaping wound. At the same time, my strength left me, and my knees buckled.

I turned my gaze back to Cesar.
If only I could take one more step…!
Just one step more, and I could have avenged my parents!

“Your Highness! Are you all right?”

It seemed Baal had returned from checking outside.

“Tessa!”

Cesar rushed over and held me in his arms.

“Cough!”

With a cough, I spat out a mouthful of blood.
My whole body burned as if I had been scalded, and everything around me began to blur.

First, my vision, then my sense of smell, and then touch.
I felt like my bodily functions were shutting down one by one.

“No! No, no…!”

Ugh, just shut up already.
Unlike my failing vision, my hearing remained intact until the very end. Because of that, I had to listen to his screams in full.

I’m the one dying in pain, so why is he the one screaming?
There was not a single thing about him I liked until the bitter end.

“Tessa…!”

So noisy.
Thankfully, soon I couldn’t hear anything anymore.
I vaguely sensed that the end was near.

‘I don’t want to die like this.’

To close my eyes without having avenged my parents.
It was unfair.

If by some miracle I was given one more chance, I would make sure to kill Cesar.
No, I shouldn’t just kill him simply.

I wanted to drag him down from that oh-so-proud position of crown prince, make him crawl miserably on the ground, and then kill him.

Ah, I wanted to curse him one last time.
My breath stopped, and I felt like I was sinking underwater. I couldn’t breathe.

It really seemed like this was the end.
Was it because I so desperately cursed Cesar?
A miracle really happened.

* * *

Gasp, gasp.

As if I had been pulled out of the water, I could suddenly breathe again. I took a deep breath.
Instinctively, I repeated the action several times, and my vision cleared.

No, I could see again, but it was still dark around me. It was a forest, late at night, after the sun had set.

‘What… is this?’

My thoughts weren’t connecting properly.
I blinked repeatedly, surveying my surroundings.

‘Oh, this place.’

I recognized it immediately.
It was my parents’ grave, where I had visited every morning until I married Cesar and moved to the palace.

What in the world is going on?
I had just been killed by that bastard Baal.
How could I suddenly be at my parents’ grave?
Confused by the inexplicable situation, I reached for my chest, where the sword had pierced me.

There was no gaping hole. My hands, which had been drenched in blood, were now clean.

It was as if I had just woken from a dream, with no trace of anything left behind.

I looked around in a panic. A light rain was falling in the darkening cemetery.

I shivered.
It felt like the reaction of someone who was very much alive.

‘What is this? Some sort of life-flashing-before-my-eyes moment?’

I’d heard that sometimes, before a soul fully passes on, they see their life flash before them.

As I stood there, trying to make sense of the situation, I heard a soft crunch—someone stepping on grass.

“Who’s there?”

I turned in the direction of the sound and saw a tall man standing there.

His black hair, dampened by the drizzle, lay smoothly against his head, and beneath it, his thick eyebrows were visible.

He had a solid build, like a well-bred horse, standing there without the slightest hint of disarray.

I couldn’t help but gape at the sight of him.