“Oh my goodness, what do we do! Help!”
“Save us!”
“Who fell in?”
Suddenly, there was a scream. Peon looked right next to where the scream came from. He noticed when Kaela’s body touched the water surface, but it was already too late.
“Help! What should we do!”
When gentlemen started taking off their coats preparing to enter the water, Peon ran straight ahead. He pushed through people and ran. Into the pitch-black river water that had swallowed his wife, he ran, forgetting everything.
****
Lights flickered on the wavering water surface. Lanterns came and went, and ferries could be seen passing in their light.
But Kaela was quickly moving away from that light. The cold water choked her breath.
Though she instinctively flailed her arms and legs, it wasn’t enough. The dress wrapped around her entire body, even though it was light chiffon, was soaked with water and dragged her down.
‘It hurts…!’
It was painful and frightening. The pitch-black darkness swallowed her. Is this how she dies? With each passing second, the pain grew worse.
She couldn’t breathe. Her fearful eyes frantically scanned around. Her eyes stung, her nose stung, and her lungs felt like they would burst. Even as she struggled, something like the limp dress kept wrapping around her ankles, constantly pulling her down. Is this the end?
‘So suddenly?’
Was this the death she had been waiting for again? If she dies here, will she die properly? Kaela squeezed her eyes shut and tried to endure it. Enduring was the one thing she was relatively good at.
She had to hold on tight and wait for death. That was all she could do. The coldness swallowed her whole. It was familiar. Death is always cold, painful, aching, and frightening.
She knew this. But waiting while enduring until death came was too scary. The pain was even more unbearable. Kaela endured, hoping it would end quickly.
She endured and endured more. Holding her breath tight, she waited for the most painful moment to come. All strength had left her arms and legs that had been frantically flailing. Kaela closed her eyes tight as she was sucked into the darkness.
-Kaela!
She heard a voice that shouldn’t have been audible. It wasn’t a voice called out loud, but rather one that shook her consciousness awake. Before she could open her eyes, something grabbed and pulled her arm. With that strong force, Kaela barely managed to force her eyes open.
It was a very brief moment. But it was enough to confirm who it was and what expression they wore.
Peon, who had cut through the cold water to reach her and finally snatched her away, had such a desperate face. He cradled her face and immediately shared his breath with her.
Peon’s pale face filled her hazy vision.
-Kaela, stay conscious. Please don’t give up here.
The voice trying desperately to shake and wake her consciousness pleaded in terror.
-No, Kaela. I was wrong. I’ll never do it again. If you hate it, I won’t even love you anymore, so please.
Peon begged while breathing warmth into her body that had instantly grown cold.
-Please live, Kaela. Your father is right there too. Kaela, look at me. Open your eyes.
It no longer hurt, nor was it cold. Kaela blankly watched her husband, who was desperately crying out while holding her tight and heading to shore.
Ah. She was happy. Her whole body was filled with warmth. In front of the terror that death first brandishes, Kaela finally understood. Her blue-tinged lips smiled faintly.
-Kaela! No! Please, please! If it’s because of me, I won’t love you anymore. I won’t appear before you for the rest of my life. I’ll disappear without doing anything. Please, please don’t give up.
Where else could you find such a love confession? Though she was quite dense to hear that as a confession, that’s just how she was.
Even before regressing, she had worried about Peon rather than truly hating him, and after regressing, even amid the emptiness of his showered affection, it had been a secret joy.
‘I’ll just accept it.’
If he’s going to give the love she never received now, she’ll accept plenty of it. She’ll selfishly just receive and wickedly enjoy it.
Just receive everything without doing anything, possess it all, enjoy it all, and then when there’s nothing left. When he says he’s tired of it. When the love runs out and she’s abandoned again, then she can die.
Her death would surely be an unforgettable wound to that man. She was also glad to have properly gained a weapon she could wield against Peon.
-Kaela!
Kaela, who had smiled hazily, closed her eyes in Peon’s arms. Though it was too hard to endure anymore, she would open her eyes again this time too.
****
“It’s the Grand Duke!”
“Throw a rope!”
“Your Highness!”
The Grand Duke, who had jumped in first, emerged above the water surface with his limp wife in his arms as other gentlemen were splashing in to jump.
He climbed onto the dock relentlessly while tightly holding his drenched wife. Despite the enormous weight of his wet clothes, the Grand Duke saved his wife with remarkable strength.
“Kaela!”
Why do such things keep happening to his fragile daughter? Duke Ostein, who had turned pale, hurriedly took off his coat to wrap his daughter.
“Get the people back! There must not be any additional accidents!”
At Duke Ostein’s order, the gentlemen quickly helped him shout.
“Everyone please step back safely! It would be terrible if anyone else falls!”
People murmured as they stepped back. The fireworks were effectively over with this. Peon laid Kaela down briefly on the dock without taking his eyes off her.
“Are you alright?”
“She just needs to expel the water. She’s breathing for now.”
“No, I mean you.”
He could see his daughter’s condition at a glance. While continuously massaging his daughter’s arms together with his son-in-law, Duke Ostein indicated Peon with his eyes.
“Are you alright?”
Peon momentarily lost his words.
Am I alright? He always had to be alright and perpetually fine. Peon had to experience battles like someone who had lost all sensation, and he couldn’t have injuries or aftereffects either.
That’s why hardly anyone asked if he was alright. Only three people ever asked if he was alright: his mother, Kaela, and Kaela’s father.
“I’m…, fi…”
The habitual response came out. But it couldn’t be completed. He wasn’t fine. He wasn’t fine at all.
Just then, Kaela suddenly coughed up water. Peon, who checked her pulse out of habit, helped his wife expel all the water without any regard for his own drenched state.
“Let’s move her.”
After carefully wrapping up the unconscious Kaela so no one could see her, Peon immediately stood up carrying her.
He began striding away from the dock. Of course, even while dealing with panic, Peon never forgot what needed to be done. Forgetting once when first jumping into the river was enough.
“Oh dear, what should we do.”
While everyone was murmuring with concern, suddenly there was another loud splash from the river.
“Kyaaah!”
“Oh my!”
“A boat capsized!”
“How many people fell in?”
The ferry carrying Beatrice and some gentlemen, which had been floating just fine, suddenly capsized. While people screamed again and rushed to help, the Grand Duke of Lusenford strode away without looking back once.
Though his eyes were fixed forward, they were unfocused. He seemed unable to hear any sound. Everyone turned to look in surprise at least once at his expression as he carried his unconscious wife while water dripped from them.
But Peon couldn’t properly recognize any of it. He only barely responded when his father-in-law spoke and when treating Kaela.
“My good man, you need to be examined too. Even in summer, the water temperature is cold and how exhausting it must be to rescue someone.”
Peon remained motionless until he finally came to his senses when Duke Ostein spoke while rubbing his face with a towel.
“I’m…, I’m fine. Kaela will be fine too. Please don’t worry too much.”
He was still counting Kaela’s heartbeats and checking her temperature even now. That was all he could do.
“Go soak in hot water at least. Hurry. I need you to be alright so I can go handle the banquet situation with peace of mind.”
“Yes, father-in-law. I’ll do that.”
Though he responded well, Peon was actually not alright. It was exactly like when Kaela voluntarily drank poison in Lusenford.
He couldn’t get the image of Kaela he saw in the river out of his head.
The moment he realized his wife was in danger, he was just a powerless human. He even forgot about the great power he had gained through awakening and recklessly tried to save her by throwing his whole body at it.
In the cold river water, Kaela looked like a pale water fairy. Wrapped in a dress that resembled her eyes, with her loose platinum blonde hair waving, Kaela was constantly being dragged away by something that held her.
Peon angrily cut away the black and crude magic spell caught on her slender ankle, and breathed air into her.
“Please warm up the Grand Duchess.”
“Light the fireplace!”
“It would be terrible if she catches pneumonia.”
She’s a woman who tries to die at every opportunity. Though she looks so fragile that she might break if grabbed carelessly, she recklessly jumps toward death without fear.
She drank poison, and despite saying she hates pain, she ate all the food that made her body swell frighteningly, so after falling in the river, she probably wouldn’t try to live.
Swaying gently in the faint light and pitch darkness, she smiled weakly at her husband who was pleading while taking her to shore. She smiled softly as if to say his pleading was useless, and closed her eyes.
It seems only death can make Kaela smile. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t make his wife smile. It was something he had completely given up on, but he finally saw his wife smile when facing death.
“Kaela.”
Somehow the doctors and maids who had been crowded around had withdrawn, and he was sitting beside the quietly lying Kaela in dry clothes he didn’t even remember putting on.
That didn’t matter. Peon had lost all meaning in life.
If only Kaela hadn’t smiled at the last moment, if she had shown even a little will to live while suffering, it wouldn’t have ended just with capsizing the boat Beatrice was on.
But when Kaela was happy even with such painful drowning, what meaning was there in him acting out? What right did he have to act out?
“…I wanted you to live. I thought maybe you’d find something fun while living, that even a moment of joy would be enough.”
Because he could keep bringing those momentarily joyful things endlessly.
“Does my effort make you unhappy?”
Your life already ended when I confined you to the North Tower. I knew but just hoped you’d live somehow. Even monotonously. But that’s not it – living itself is unhappy.
All causes ultimately point to just one person. Tears fell drop by drop below his roughened jaw.
****
The banquet ended quietly after the unfortunate accident of six people falling into the river. Among them were the Grand Duchess of Lusenford and the famous Lady Ravalley.
The Princess of Keruzhan returned after finishing the engagement ceremony, but strangely, Prince Elkanan didn’t return and remained in Craine.
He announced that he planned to travel Crania leisurely while stepping away from Keruzhan’s internal affairs for the time being, but no one believed those words.
This was because Keruzhan and Crania couldn’t become closer even after celebrating the engagement.
Since the confidential information about the construction of the Bayetta naval base came out through the Crown Prince’s mouth, Keruzhan couldn’t completely trust their in-laws. They were just looking the other way for now since at least the engagement with the Crown Prince was successful.
Because of this, the Crania Emperor ordered the newly appointed regents to stay in Craine for the time being. Rumors flooded Craine.
Monde Castle seizure request! Creditors request to court! Will Duke Monde’s family lose their ancestral home like this!
The downfall of others is more enjoyable and sells better than boring politics. The day after the banquet ended, the merchant group holding all of Duke Monde’s debts began seizing real estate again.
“They say Duke Monde died?”
“People who heard the Duchess of Monde rambling while drunk aren’t just one or two. Everyone who was there heard it, they say?”
The rumors they hoped would be buried by other commotions absolutely refused to be buried, and began circulating around Craine along with the articles.
Meanwhile, Lady Ravalley, who had fallen into the water, was barely rescued but unfortunately lost several jewels she had been wearing.
“Oh my, those could have helped pay off the debts, what a shame.”
“If she hadn’t lived luxuriously while getting into debt in the first place, it wouldn’t have been this bad.”
Everyone showed fake sympathy while not actually feeling sympathetic.
Strangely, amid all the talk in Craine, there was no news at all about the Grand Duchess of Lusenford waking up.
“How unfortunate. She’s the only woman playing her role in the imperial family, and at such a young age she’s doing regency work and cleaning up after the Marchioness of Schroz. She’s already weak physically.”
“They say the Grand Duke went mad since this accident happened during their honeymoon.”
“Oh dear, what should we do…”
Flower baskets praying for her recovery were delivered several times a day to the Grand Duke of Lusenford’s townhouse.
The Grand Duchess opened her eyes three days later, around when the first delivered flowers began wilting and were being moved to the inner room.
