You are at the End of the Downfall

Grand Duke Hyperion Sabrand Ferraro of Lusenford.

To the nobles of the Crania Empire, this man with the unheard-of surname ‘Ferraro’ had nothing but the title of Grand Duke of the barren northern region.

The only recent addition to his status was that he was the son-in-law of Duke Ostein and the husband of the future Duchess of Ostein.

He was a man of few possessions, blunt and indifferent, ill-suited for social circles. It was said that his special relationship with Beatrice was due to their mothers’ friendship since they were very young.

So how good could the relationship between the newlyweds be? No one thought the Grand Duke would properly fulfill his role as a husband to the Princess Ostein. Everyone at this table thought so, and so did Kaela.

“…Excuse me for a moment.”

Kaela, who had been pressing her napkin to her mouth, finally stood up. Even her voice asking for permission sounded strained.

With a pale face, she disappeared through the back exit. Since this was a banquet to welcome the Emperor’s inspector, at least one of the Grand Ducal couple had to remain seated.

As soon as his wife left her seat, all expression vanished from Peon’s face.

Isidore Dakiten, who had been trying hard to follow but ultimately failed to discover where the Grand Duke, his cousin, was heading, looked alternately at his cousin and where his cousin’s wife had disappeared. He finally made up his mind. It would be better to hear the victim’s story than to witness a brutal fight.

“Please excuse me for a moment as well.”

The table suddenly became quiet as two people left in an instant. Beatrice glanced at Isidore’s retreating figure and scoffed as if in disbelief.

“What’s this? Is he her husband?”

“Don’t cross the line.”

“No, it’s strange. Since when were they so close? I didn’t know they were doing something behind my back.”

“Line.”

A murderous glint appeared in Peon’s eyes.

“I said don’t cross it.”

“Why are you being like this to me? Are you angry with me?”

“Don’t ask when you already know. It’s a stupid question.”

“What?”

Beatrice’s expression suddenly contorted.

“You shouldn’t treat me like this.”

After looking around, she spoke in a low, sharp voice.

“Why do you think I came here? I came all the way to this cold place because I wanted to see you. You shouldn’t betray me.”

“You shouldn’t have come. I don’t want to see your face.”

Undeterred, Beatrice smiled this time. A spell containing a taboo that ordinary people couldn’t see crept towards Peon.

“Really? For someone who doesn’t want to see me, you were eating well?”

“I wasn’t eating because I saw you, I was eating because I was influenced by Her Highness, so I didn’t get indigestion.”

Though Kaela seems to have gotten indigestion. Peon tried to remain calm as he had always done out of habit, but in truth, he was furious that Isidore had followed his wife.

Before their marriage, how close were Kaela, who was desperately trying to pass through the Klein Gate, and Isidore, who was the chief supervisor of the gate at that time? No, he had no right to know.

Beatrice smiled even more brightly.

“Since when did your taste become so cheap?”

“When did my taste ever change? It’s always been cheap since you’re the only person I’ve been with.”

A crack appeared in her smiling face. Her smooth pink lips trembled, then twisted menacingly as she retorted to his words.

“Ah, so that’s why you’ve taken a liking to her?”

Beatrice’s silver hair shook roughly as she pointed with her chin and eyes towards where Kaela had left.

“Yes. Compared to what I’ve been seeing until now, she’s so precious that I realized how cheap I was.”

“You’ve known her for how many years and you’re saying this now? Do you think I’ll believe that?”

Peon’s cold purple eyes turned askew towards Beatrice, who was dumbfounded with bloodshot eyes.

“What do you expect from a mongrel?”

There was no trace of chivalry or courtesy in Peon’s attitude or gaze towards her.

The man who used to say Beatrice should be treated preciously because she’s a lady, the conqueror of the north and the strongest knight, was now treating her with a very improper attitude and gaze. She gritted her teeth.

“You son of a b*tch.”

“Woof.”

His languid gaze and slanted attitude were unmistakably that of a thug.

Everyone who knows Peon, even the Emperor, would be shocked. To see someone known for his strict manners, elegance, and high reputation suddenly behaving like a street thug.

‘What is this?’

Beatrice’s pink eyes shook wildly. This wasn’t ‘the Peon she knew’. Not the simple-minded Peon whose answers came easily. She didn’t know who this man was. The puzzle she thought she knew was breaking apart.

Her pink lips curved into a smile.

“So this is how you really are?”

Isn’t it so alluring? Her shaking eyes gleamed.

“I’ve always been like this.”

He smells like one of her kind. Beatrice was excited, fully inhaling the dangerous male scent emanating from the man who had, for the first time, become ‘like her’.

Yes. No matter how elegant the Empress was, would he have inherited only the Empress’s blood? There must have been an unnamed father somewhere who provided a different disposition, a dirty nature that had to be hidden.

“You’ve tried hard to hide it.”

“It was hard to endure.”

The man who had never hidden it simply corrected her.

“Then, this time you’re enduring in front of your wife?”

“I have to hide it in front of Her Highness. Though it’s already useless since she’s smart.”

“Her?”

A scoffing sound, lips twisting upwards, eyes full of contempt, and shaking shoulders. Peon engraved all of this clearly in his mind. All of these were the contempt and insults his poor wife had endured all her life.

“Well, do as you like. It’s convenient when a wife is a virtuous homemaker. And when you’re bored…”

Her eyes, full of red energy, swallowed as she took him in.

“Play with me.”

Her cheerful voice was full of greed.

“Right. That’s your true nature. You can’t openly show it, so being a mistress who has to hide behind suits you well.”

A low voice settled, and a murderous intent flowed across the quiet dining table.

“You like that kind of thing. People should live according to their nature.”

“What?”

Watching Beatrice’s expression distort in an instant, Peon laughed softly. Even in that moment, his laugh seemed self-deprecating yet decadent in the dim lighting, and Beatrice couldn’t take her eyes off him.

“Keep living like that. Don’t change, just keep going. Deceiving moderately and pretending moderately.”

“What about you? Do you think you won’t be deceived?”

Acting all composed when you have nothing.

Beatrice couldn’t stand Peon who was irritating her, Peon who no longer unconditionally obeyed her words. She found him annoying, irritating, desirable, and wanted to crush him flat.

“Do you think that’s all you know? When you know nothing at all.”

“Well. Check what I know and don’t know after you go back.”

“What do you mean check after I go back? You should keep your wife in check. It’s always men like you who underestimate their docile wives and end up with a bloody nose. That Isidore, he likes melancholic women.”

Beatrice smirked.

“Women who quietly keep house, play the piano, and cry at every little thing, just like Kaela. Did you see his eyes when he followed her? Anyone would think they were already in a deep relationship. Haven’t they already crossed the line?”

“You interpret everyone’s relationships as extramarital affairs because you’ll never have a legal relationship yourself. Well, what would you know?”

Peon chuckled.

“Divorce isn’t easy, but it’s a bit easier for men. Do you know why husbands don’t divorce even when their wives cheat?”

They already knew someone like that. They knew a man who held onto his wife till the end, despite anger, cursing, and sadness.

“They can’t ignore the affection built over years of living together. It’s so powerful that they forgive even if a child is brought home from outside. I didn’t understand before, but now that I’m married, I do.”

He smiled at the woman who was either the Emperor’s mistress or a sorceress, desperately wishing for his marriage to fail.

“Marriage is too sacred to break, no matter who prays or begs for it to end. When we’ve lived together for so long, if one falls ill, we mobilize doctors, sorcerers, and witches to save them. Even in death, we should die together on the same day and hour.”

Beatrice flinched.

“Unlike you, my wife has a clear sense of morality and ethics, so she won’t do such things. But even if by some chance she bears another man’s child, well, that’s how I was born, so it doesn’t matter. I’ll raise it. It’ll be pretty, taking after its mother.”

“Are you crazy?”

Beatrice knew better than anyone how Peon, the one most pained by the title of illegitimate child, had struggled not to hate his mother. And now he says it doesn’t matter?

Beatrice’s bloodshot eyes widened and trembled.

Why is he acting like this? Why has he ‘changed’ so much?

She was so dumbfounded that she needed to speak but couldn’t find the words. No, her words no longer reached Peon.

The words that used to cast spells had lost all their power.

“The only crazy one here is you, Lady Ravalley. You alone deny obvious facts, deny all laws and manners, without thinking about the consequences you’ll face later.”

Peon spoke quietly as he stood up.

“Well, I’m in a position where I need to entertain the inspector well. Please excuse me first.”

Beatrice was left alone at the table as even the Grand Duke left without looking back. Left alone at the cold table, trembling, she finally turned her gaze to the only butler nearby.

“Why on earth is he acting like this?”

A butler’s job is to pretend not to hear or see while knowing all the shortcomings of those they serve. He just hoped that the inspector’s visit, which he had subtly arranged, would be good medicine for Peon.

However, far from being good medicine, the butler’s face was even paler than Beatrice’s after hearing such shocking words.

He couldn’t even speak properly, standing awkwardly and shaking his head. Even the butler didn’t understand. The Grand Duke who just passed by him was not the child he had raised. Not his son.

****

“Oh my, Your Highness.”

Cecile was startled to see Kaela holding her stomach, unable to straighten her back properly, with cold sweat streaming down.

“Do you feel like vomiting, Your Highness?”

Kaela didn’t have the strength to speak and just gestured for them to move aside. Her symptoms were getting worse, and above all, the progression was too fast. Her stomach was tightly clenched, causing intense pain.

“Her Highness seems to have indigestion. Isn’t there any medicine?”

Lord Isidore Dakiten, who was supporting Kaela, asked urgently. Marie answered,

“We’ve sent for the doctor. She’ll be here soon.”

“How long will it take? Kaela, sit down for now.”

Indigestion can be a serious illness. Isidore, who had seen people die suddenly from indigestion while working at the gate, urged them to bring the doctor quickly and helped Kaela to a seat.

“No…”

A cracked voice rejected him. Kaela didn’t want to sit right now. What good would sitting do when she couldn’t even straighten her back? The stabbing pain in her stomach was growing.

“Moving around will make it worse, Kaela.”

Isidore persuaded Kaela, forcing her to sit, then anxiously waited for the doctor. They waited in silence for a while.

Lusenford Castle was still cold and dreary. Seeing Kaela in such a state after finally getting to eat southern food, Isidore recalled the incident reports and felt a surge of anger.

‘Either settle things properly before getting married, or don’t show it in official settings!’

Beatrice and Peon were the same. Only the kind and soft-hearted Kaela was getting hurt multiple times between them. After waiting and waiting, Isidore finally exploded after just one minute.

“Where on earth is the doctor!”

“There are many people to care for, so she might be outside.”

“You’re saying there’s not a single resident doctor?”

“The resident doctor is that very person.”

“Isn’t there another doctor?”

“She’s been in charge of all the food and medicine Her Highness consumes, so rather than another doctor…”

At that moment, Kaela suddenly stood up.

“Where are you going? You’ll fall like that. Kaela!”

Brushing off Isidore’s hand, she covered her mouth and ran. She didn’t have the strength to run, so it was more like a rapid, stumbling walk.

The urge to vomit was rising, but her compulsion to avoid showing an unseemly appearance in front of others drove her forward.

She barely managed to close the door before immediately retching. But nothing was coming out properly. No matter how painfully she squeezed her stomach, nothing was resolved.

“Ugh…”

Tears blurred her vision. Why did she eat so much? But she had wanted to eat so badly.

She had been determined to eat everything she wanted before dying, to die on a full stomach. Of all people, Beatrice, who had poisoned her, pointed this out. And in front of Peon, no less.

She must have eaten hastily and unsightly. Her position would have become that much more precarious. Would she be able to eat everything she wanted before dying? When would this pain end?

Just then, the door opened again. If it was Isidore, she should tell him to leave. But the much larger and darker shadow than Isidore immediately bent down and started patting her back.

“Throw it all up.”

Kaela, gasping for breath, pushed her husband away. He was the last person she wanted to show such an unseemly sight to. He shouldn’t see this.

“Vomit. It’s faster that way. Come on.”

With one hand holding her pushing arm and the other continuing to pat her back, he didn’t stop. Her stomach twisted violently again.

While Kaela finally threw everything up, Peon didn’t leave her side. Patting her back, helping her rinse her mouth, and carrying her completely limp body – all of this was the husband’s role.