“Lady Crawford?”
My fiancé turned around, perhaps noticing that I had frozen in place.
“Marquis Moore.”
I heard my fiancé’s voice. I felt my fiancé quietly grasp my waist and turn me around.
“What brings you here?”
“…….”
He said nothing. I only stared at the tips of the feet of the person standing in front of me. I was too scared to lift my head.
Until I entered this room, my heart had been calm, but now anxiety was rushing over me like a tidal wave. Shame seemed to press down on my shoulders.
If I ever saw him again, I thought it would be at least as a corpse, never imagining it would be in such a pitiful state as this whore.
“This is my fiancée, Ezen Crawford.”
It was my fiancé who broke the quiet silence.
“Fiancée?”
A deep voice echoed as if resonating in a cave. I looked up in surprise.
For the first time, I met his eyes. His expressionless face was staring at me coldly.
Faded memories seemed to faintly revive. I did not dare to face him directly.
“Fiancée, you say.”
He muttered that and walked away. No one could stop him.
It was clear that the oppressive atmosphere emanating from the Black Lion of the border stifled my father and brothers, silencing them.
“Such insolence! How dare you barge in here with your lowly status! The Crawfords still stand strong, yet you back the king and can’t distinguish heaven from earth!”
My father belatedly shouted, despite being overwhelmed by his presence. It wasn’t even funny.
The opera had ended.
*
My fiancé politely escorted me. My stomach churned.
“I-I need to go to the restroom.”
I clutched the toilet and vomited clear gastric juice. My body trembled from my fingertips to my toes.
“Hah, hah…….”
The bitter bile rising up my throat was nauseating. The dull pain reminded me that I was still alive.
I tried to stand up but quickly lost strength and collapsed. At that moment, a firm hand lifted me.
I wanted to lift my head to see who had helped me. Perhaps I already had a premonition of who it was from the shadow falling over my head.
“……Your attempt at dying is weak. Not like a Crawford.”
He expressed faint disdain. I struggled to free myself from the thick fingers gripping my waist.
Coincidentally, it was the same spot my fiancé had held earlier. The heat from the contact with my bare skin, exposed by the backless dress, felt unfamiliar.
“Nigel Donovan is your lifeline, huh?”
The grip on my waist seemed to tighten slightly.
“It’s useless.”
He murmured in a low voice.
“Whatever it is, whoever it is, I’ll destroy it all.”
“…….”
“Ezen Crawford.”
The way he said my name sent a strange shiver down my spine.
For the first time, I lifted my head to face him. The blue eyes I saw up close were chilling.
But I knew the deep-seated rage he had harbored for decades.
“Beg me to save you.”
The excessively close distance was probably his instinct to overwhelm the other person.
The gaze looking down at me had grown much taller than I remembered, and the oppressive aura emanating from the shadow cast over my head made me realize once again how the world viewed him.
“Beg me to save the pitiful lives of your father and brothers.”
He said to me, who gave no response.
From his words, I already realized that what he wanted was our death.
My father is enraged, believing he intends to destroy our family, but his anger goes far beyond that.
Only our lives could fully compensate for it.
But what could I say in the face of his cruelty? The chain of cause and effect had been set from the beginning.
My father’s downfall was the consequence of the mistakes he committed.
My downfall would be the aftermath of ignorance, having lived on top of his suffering, doing nothing out of petty fear.
I thought of the money hidden in the mansion’s library.
Could I dare to dream of escaping? Would I be granted such a chance?
I said nothing. Even as I saw the crooked smile on his lips, as if he had expected it, and his back growing distant after putting me down, I said nothing.
But on the way back home, I thought of his face the entire time.
-You will regret letting me live.
The face with the same eyes as that time, those unforgiving eyes.
*
The Black Lion’s wrath quickly engulfed the Crawfords.
Perhaps facing the entire Crawford family, including myself, at the opera house was the catalyst for him.
A massive investigation into the Crawfords began immediately, and soon, the pillars supporting my meager world started to fall one by one. Even my fiancé’s family was entangled in corruption.
My father struggled until the end, but as I had mentioned, it was a game with the outcome decided from the start.
My father, trying to escape, was shot and killed by an arrow, and my brother was beaten to death by an enraged mob.
Our crimes were already exposed, and now all that was left for me was to calmly accept the consequences.
I quietly waited for the hand of revenge to reach me. The death looming at my throat was terrifying, but I thought it would be over soon.
I prepared for death. My meager conscience reminded me that I couldn’t dream of freedom.
Yes, this is right. The day of atonement I had always wanted was coming.
I handed money to the nanny, who had once been my little refuge, as she asked with innocent eyes.
“Run away. The imperial army will soon arrive here too, so use this to get out quickly and find new work. A recommendation from the Crawford family will only be a disadvantage…….”
Even as the nanny hurriedly left the mansion, pushed by my hands, she kept looking back repeatedly. I smiled faintly at her concern, but…..
“Lady Crawford, let’s escape. I’ve found a way.”
I never imagined she would go to my former fiancé for help.
“I can’t do that.”
I shook my head, but he was adamant.
“Why are you giving up without even trying? I’ve secured an escape route out of the kingdom with trustworthy people. Come with me.”
I couldn’t take his hand. I didn’t know what other shackles it might create.
He had already faced the king’s disfavor for siding with the Crawfords. I wanted to persuade him.
“Nigel, don’t endanger yourself for the sake of others. Donovan has already suffered too much because of the Crawfords.”
“I want you to live!”
His hand caught mine as I tried to push him away. I looked up in surprise.
For the first time, my always gentle fiancé’s face was distorted with emotion.
“Even if you can no longer be with me, I want you to breathe and live somewhere under the same sky. You wanted to be free, you always wanted to leave this place. So now, do it. As long as you’re alive, someday…….”
But his trembling voice couldn’t finish.
I saw the silver gleaming sword that had pierced his chest. And the large shadow falling over it.
“E-Ezen…….”
“The Crawfords don’t need another path.”
The cavernous voice seeped through the fountain of blood spurting out.
“Because I won’t allow it.”
I stood there, dumbfounded. The events unfolding before my eyes felt surreal.
“E-Ezen…….”
My dying fiancé reached out to me. But before he could touch me, he collapsed at Moore’s feet.
“Close your eyes, Ezen Crawford.”
He commanded. His low voice drowned out my fiancé’s desperate plea for me.
“Hell is about to unfold.”
My vision turned red. I prayed that when I opened my eyes again, I wouldn’t be alive.
