There Is No Mercy

The castle was silent as darkness fell.

 

The workers had finished for the day and the guards who patrolled the castle had left.

 

Even though the guards were supposed to be in and out of the castle at all hours of the day, none of them had come and gone, as if on orders from someone.

 

“I apologize, Sierra. You can’t go against the Duke of Bozborne, you know, and anyway…… I’m sorry, really.”

 

The sound of my footsteps in the hallway reawakened the flute of memory, ringing as vividly as if it had happened yesterday.

 

My footsteps were heavy on the floor and my exhale was exhausted.

 

The mansion that had once been my home now seemed like a foreign landscape.

 

Silent hallways filled with the echoing sound of shoes on the floor.

 

Above them, a faint voice echoed.

 

It shouldn’t be heard, shouldn’t be seen.

 

This was the bedroom my husband and I shared.

 

And it was an empty space where he never held me.

 

I stood in front of the tightly closed door, closed my eyes, and tilted my head.

 

My head thudded against the door.

 

My body seemed to be drained of energy.

 

The world was dark and silent, and familiar voices assaulted my ears.

 

“I don’t think I can keep it. As long as Bozbon is standing, ownership will pass.”

 

The echoing voice in her head jerked her awake.

 

I exhaled to face the reality I’d been denying.

 

“What do you think, I’m better than Sierra?”

 

A voice said my name.

 

It was followed by an equally familiar voice.

 

“Much better.”

 

My breath caught in my throat as I heard the voice.

 

The voice belonged to my husband.

 

I closed my eyes to cool my throbbing head.

 

I had to see it.

 

I had to see it with my own eyes.

 

With that, I slowly turned the handle of the closed door.

 

The scene in the room unfolded.

 

A woman sitting at an angle.

 

A man holding her and kissing her.

 

The bed they were on was the bed I was lying on and sleeping on.

 

“Oh, hey, what’s up?”

 

I bit my lip as I turned to face the woman who greeted me with a leisurely smile.

 

After all, I had come this far.

 

My dear old friend.

 

“‘Belietta.”

 

The woman, who looked like a mess on the bed, smiled faintly and placed a hand on the man’s body above him.

 

Then she opened her mouth leisurely.

 

“Why are you here so soon, Sierra.”

 

Belietta smiled, a sleepy expression on her face.

 

I watched her, then turned my head to look at Reiten.

 

He didn’t look surprised, but he did look like I was interrupting.

 

The smile on his face as he held Belietta in his arms was nothing compared to the fake, false smile he was giving me. I wondered where I’d gone wrong.

 

“Why do you look so hurt, Sierra? Are you saying I took advantage of your husband a little?”

 

Her booming laugh rang in my ears, but strangely, I wasn’t angry.

 

I’d lost everything I’d fought for, endured, and given my all to protect.

 

I wasn’t stupid enough to mourn the loss of another of my men.

 

“The one who’s dumb enough to give it is the problem, not the one who takes it, Sierra. Don’t you think?”

 

It’s the person who takes it away that’s at fault…….

 

Yeah, you’re not wrong, because that’s common sense, at least to you.

 

In the first place, my relationship with Belieta was one-sided.

 

The one who wants to take and the one who doesn’t want to be taken.

 

I was the giver, and she was the taker.

 

The only daughter of House Bosbourne, the sky above the sky, wielded power that no one else could match.

 

She coveted and sought to take what was mine, and I was powerless to stop her.

 

No matter what I did to stop her, she filled the gap with power and strength.

 

“‘Layton.”

 

Layton responded to my shortened voice.

 

His gaze was cold as he looked back at me, another woman in his arms.

 

“I can’t believe you used me to get Bellietta……….”

 

That’s the kind of man he was.

 

But Layton’s betrayal shocked me deeply.

 

He was the only one who held me together after my parents died in an accident.

 

How could I not feel for him?

 

“You don’t have to look so sorry for yourself. It’s the only thing I ever wanted anyway.”

 

Layton laughed deeply and kissed Belieta, then said.

 

 “You’re just a means to an end to get her.”

 

Tool…….

 

Maybe that’s why you never held me.

 

The day I married this man, drawn to him by the hand that had held me when I had nowhere else to turn after my parents’ deaths.

 

Layton said he would wait until I could open up to him.

 

It was a kind gesture, and I was grateful for his consideration.

 

How ridiculous it must have been to be mistaken.

 

Belieta pushed Layton away and stood up slowly.

 

The mask on her face rejoiced in the fact that she could now end this tiresome play.

 

I’m sorry, Your Lordship. I tried to stay until the end to repay your kindness to me and this house. But I can’t run this house anymore and I’m really sorry.”

 

How many things you have taken from me.

 

As I counted them, I smiled.

 

What does it matter?

 

Bellietta had taken away the most important thing of all.

 

“Mother…… Father.”

 

As I drew the faces I would never see again, a voice spoke.

 

“…….”

 

“Everything you have is mine, even my man.”

 

It was terrible.

 

It was horrible.

 

Again, I was exhausted.

 

Tired of Belieta’s vicious obsession.

 

My mind quickly flashed back to the countless hours I’d spent trying to get away from her over the past 25 years.

 

The first time I met her was in a small class I took to study.

 

From there, we grew close, and she led me to the first banquet I ever attended.

 

Intelligent and bright.

 

The only daughter of a beloved ducal family.

 

She approached me first.

 

It’s true that I was positively influenced by her.

 

But at some point, she changed.

 

 She began to mimic me.

 

Wearing the same clothes, studying the same, eating the same, having the same habits.

 

It was as if we were standing in front of a mirror, facing each other.

 

By the time I realized it, my name had already disappeared and Belietta’s name had replaced mine.

 

People saw me as her shadow.

 

How far does it reach?

 

I struggled to break free. I struggled to escape.

 

I tried to fight and overcome.

 

But like a battle between a giant and a dwarf, I can’t escape from her.

 

Even my parents.

 

My parents died in a carriage accident, but it was never an accident, it was a murder.

 

People said there was no evidence, that it was a simple accident, but I didn’t believe them.

 

The day Belieta found my missing parents’ wrecked carriage.

 

I had found Bosbourne’s seal on my parents’ carriage.

 

There was even testimony that the knights were moved.

 

But the Empire refused to recognize the evidence, and the witnesses disappeared.

 

And just like that, I lost everything.

 

Friends, people, wealth, power, property, name, family.

 

And my family.

 

All I did was fight for my life, and all I got was a handful of dust.

 

The swamp.

 

If I had to describe how I felt, I’d say I was in a dark place.

 

Drowning in a bottomless pit, barely alive except for my neck.

 

I can’t escape.

 

No way out.

 

Suddenly, a laugh escapes me.

 

“You always wanted what was mine, Bellietta. Now you’ve taken it all?”

 

She laughed and shook her head.

 

She walked over to the window with the deep pond below and slowly opened the box on the table.

 

“Do you know what this is?”

 

Stroking the box as if she were caressing something precious, Belieta watched my expression and opened it.

 

Inside was an envelope containing my parents’ ashes, which even I hadn’t yet received.

 

“How can I…… that?”

 

It was the last trace of my parents, whom Belieta had killed with her own hands.

 

She laughed softly, as if she liked the look on my face.

 

I tried to remain calm, but the sight of the remains in her hand made my heart race.

 

“Don’t try to trick me. That’s a fake…….”

 

Bellietta smirked and tugged at the corners of her mouth.

 

“In front of the Archbishop, I’m just a lowly priest with nothing special about me.”

 

Belieta stroked the urn that rested in her palm.

 

The sight of it made it impossible to delay any longer.

 

“Give it to me.”

 

“I can’t. If I take this, I’ll have taken everything you are, and why would I give it away? Oh, there’s one more.”

 

Bellietta smirked and pointed to the necklace around my neck.

 

Archmage, sage, and my teacher. The only necklace in the world, given to me by Ezakiel Roth.

 

Behind me, knights blocked the door so I couldn’t escape.

 

The knights, who once protected me.

 

Not anymore.

 

“My dear friend Sierra. The friend I want to be like, Sierra. Please, don’t blame me. You brought this on yourself, didn’t you?”

 

“……I brought it on myself.”

 

A hollow laugh escaped me.

 

I brought this on myself.

 

Even in reflection, I couldn’t figure out what I’d done wrong. No, I didn’t want to know.

 

Even if I had done something wrong, I didn’t deserve this.

 

I couldn’t stand the thought of them messing with my parents and making fun of their ashes.

 

“Give me ……. I’ll give you the necklace, but give me that.”

 

“Why bother? They’ll all come to me anyway.”

 

Belietta’s voice echoed as the knights approached.

 

There was no place to run.

 

“Don’t hurt yourself, Sierra, you don’t want to disfigure your pretty face, do you?”

 

A cool breeze blew in from the window with Belietta’s back to me.

 

I felt the breeze cool my head.

 

The wind told me where to go.

 

“Take …….”

 

I approached slowly.

 

Very slowly.

 

Belietta’s eyes shone. I walked up to her, face to face, the joy that it was over, and untied the necklace.

 

I dropped the necklace into Belietta’s hand.

 

“……I’m not dying, Belieta.”

 

I snatched the remains from Bellietta’s hand and shoved her with my body.

 

“What are you doing?!”

 

I shoved her again as she struggled to stay on her feet.

 

“Die!”

 

My only chance to kill the last defenseless Belietta.

 

I didn’t give up and pushed her back.

 

I felt a pain like being set on fire.

 

I turned around and saw Layton standing there.

 

His sword at my shoulder.

 

“I think that’s enough.”

 

“You…….”

 

Pop!

 

I jerked backward at the hand that pushed me away.

 

Behind me, Belieta disappeared inside, pulled by someone, and I tilted downward.

 

In my head-first vision, I saw Layton holding Belietta.

 

The moment the image locked in my mind, the sound of water rang in my ears and a wave enveloped me.

 

I sank beneath the water, dark as the abyss.

 

I hugged my parents’ ashes tightly in my arms.

 

The necklace slipped from my hand and slowly floated to the surface.

 

As I watched it sink with me instead of rising to the surface, I smiled.

 

This is not how you wanted this to end.

 

And this is not how I wanted it to end either.

 

Instead of going cold, I felt my insides burning.

 

The endlessness of this unfulfilled promise tortured my heart.

 

I wanted to go up and kill Bellietta right now, if I could, but even that was impossible now.

 

He reached slowly toward the floating necklace and grabbed it.

 

Maybe not right now.

 

But on my deathbed, I will curse you, Belieta.

 

Even if you are reborn, and reborn again, and reborn again, and live a new life, may it all be tragic and hopeless.

 

If I am given a second chance, I will make sure that I carry my curse with me, and I will place your head on a sharp guillotine.

 

The day the sharp blade will cut your throat and display it on that high spire.

 

You will regret everything you have done to me, Belietta.

 

‘See you later, Bellietta.

 

My fake.

 

Her body sank into a deep abyss.

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