As one cart filled and left, another empty cart came in. The knights continued to drag prisoners out from the underground dungeon.
It was a chilling sight. Blood-soaked prisoners were loaded onto carts one by one and disappeared somewhere. Peon’s face, as he directed and quietly observed this scene, was eerily expressionless.
Although Beatrice, who usually saw only beautiful sights, wasn’t completely unfamiliar with such scenes, the continuous loading of prisoners felt strangely grotesque. Peon, silently watching them one by one, was the most grotesque of all.
Was this really the time to face Peon?
‘Why at a time like this…’
Doris Windgood, the former head maid, would never have guided Beatrice to such a brutal place. The new head maid was the problem. She must have deliberately guided her here now!
But what could she do? Given the butler’s condition, Beatrice had to go through the head maid to see Peon. The people Beatrice knew in Lusenford had disappeared one by one.
Moreover, it seemed unlikely that Peon would acknowledge her first. Eventually, she had no choice but to approach him with a deliberately solemn expression and bow her head. It was a perfect etiquette.
“Your Highness.”
His cold, winter-like gaze fell on Beatrice.
“Could you spare me some time?”
Hesitating unknowingly, she added words she never usually said.
“I know you’re busy.”
Perhaps because of that? Peon smiled briefly. He smiled meaninglessly, standing alone, hollow and pitch-black, and nodded.
Beatrice couldn’t take her eyes off that fleeting moment. Everything seemed to converge on one man, and he stood still, endlessly swallowing everything. It was an overwhelmingly beautiful and simultaneously frightening sight.
“Sure.”
He nodded. But he didn’t move.
“I’d like to change location.”
“I’m busy.”
In the end, Beatrice had no choice but to approach Peon while witnessing the terrifying scene. She quickly racked her brain.
Kaela must have surely done something wrong. And quite severely. Did she confess voluntarily, unable to bear the butler’s denouncement due to her pride as a princess? Or there could have been some accident.
Seeing Peon’s extremely dangerous mood, Beatrice leaned towards the latter possibility. Sometimes, when traps set here and there collide, they can unexpectedly cause a massive earthquake.
“I think I’ve stayed too long. I’m planning to return.”
Peon, who had granted her time, just listened quietly. He seemed more interested in the prisoners leaving in miserable conditions than in Beatrice.
“Isidore has also left, and if I stay longer, I feel I’ll only be a burden while you’re dealing with the aftermath of the war.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I wanted to be of help to you, but I couldn’t, and I’m so sorry for that, Peon. I fell ill at such a time, I’m at a loss for words.”
Peon was rather taciturn, so when they were together, Beatrice usually led the conversation.
“I’m just really sorry to you. Before and after the wedding, I… I felt jealous and upset, as if I was losing a close friend. I should have sent you off well, but I couldn’t, and I’m so ashamed and sorry for that.”
He, who had been looking straight ahead, glanced down at her.
“I’m sincere. I should have been kinder and treated Kaela better, but I behaved so poorly. I didn’t act my age. I got angrier because I was so embarrassed.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I want to apologize. I’m truly sorry. I’d like to apologize to Kaela too, if possible. Do you think there might be time?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Nothing serious is happening, right?”
Peon smiled gently. At that smile, Beatrice momentarily forgot her purpose and gazed at him as if enchanted. No matter how many times she looked, he was newly beautiful.
“I’m a bit busy. So, regrettably, your offer to leave on your own sounds welcome.”
“Regrettable? Of course. I should leave quickly. I’ve spent a lot of time here, after all. It’s a place I’ve grown quite fond of. I hope Lusenford will always be safe.”
Beatrice, who had been standing beside Peon, turned to face him.
“And I hope you’ll be happy, Peon.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I hope you’ll live happily with Her Majesty the Empress, doing all the things you couldn’t do before. I know that feeling. I know it so well because I was by your side.”
The last sentence began to drip with poison. The taboo was trying to bind more strongly.
“I understand your heart. How hard must it be to manage this place alone? With few people to trust. I heard there were some unpleasant incidents. I can’t speak carelessly, but I’m always on your side, Peon. You’ve been with me all this time, and you’ll continue to be with me, so I’ll remain a faithful friend for life.”
Every word was poisonous. While feigning humility and stepping back, it was ultimately brainwashing Peon that with the Empress unconscious, this friend was his only support.
Beatrice watched with her glistening pink eyes as a pitch-black poisonous mist subtly enveloped Peon. It was a taboo that only she could see.
“Beatrice.”
“Yes?”
Beatrice, who had been watching the mist disappear from around Peon, looked up at him, responding casually.
“You thought well. Go back.”
The eyes that should have been steeped in old memories and groundless pure love for her as if bound by the taboo were completely dry. She was unknowingly startled by the purple eyes devoid of emotion.
His face, resembling the Empress’s, was so gorgeous that it somehow didn’t look human.
No, perhaps it was because his face was full of contradictions, smiling yet without any emotion, dripping with coldness, that he appeared as a non-human being.
“Lusenford is a dangerous place, so return before anything happens.”
Somehow it sounded like a threat. Beatrice looked at the prisoner being loaded just now. Although she knew some of the northern nobles, all the prisoners’ faces were so swollen that it was impossible to recognize anyone.
“Thank you for worrying. Indeed, you’re the only one who cares about me, Peon.”
Beatrice gritted her teeth, as if resisting this increasingly eerie feeling, and added more to the taboo. You should look at me. You should only think of me. I’m a pitiful person who only has you. So you should take care of me.
“Don’t worry. It’ll be fun when you return.”
Peon, smirking as if to say ‘I never worried about such things,’ made an incomprehensible remark.
“More than Lusenford.”
Everywhere would probably be more enjoyable than Lusenford. Beatrice looked at the miserable appearances of the endless stream of prisoners, then looked back at Peon. He was no longer looking at her, as if his business was finished.
She had set a new taboo. So, having fulfilled the Emperor’s instructions, it was okay to return, right?
“Ugh…”
Startled by a prisoner’s groan, Beatrice unconsciously stepped back. Right. She had done her job, so she could leave. She needed to leave Lusenford immediately. An eerie chill continued to creep over her.
****
Beatrice Ravalley disappeared in a flash with the use of the mysterious magical tool given by the Emperor, just as she had arrived. After she vanished, Lusenford Castle remained gloomy as prisoners continued to be dragged out.
The butler, who had recited the list of those who had arrogantly requested the dispatch of the Emperor’s inspectors to Crania, was confined to the northernmost tower with broken limbs.
“Then the guards will be Jean and Nader, those two for now…”
The situation was not one where a criminal could escape, but there had to be a guard to prevent escape. As the knight who brought the carriage was selecting a guard, Sir Renard shook his head.
“No. Seal the door.”
“Pardon?”
Wasn’t the prisoner supposed to be guarded? Despite the questioning tone, Sir Renard didn’t repeat himself. For a Lusenford knight, one command was enough.
“Yes, understood.”
The door was locked from the outside. Nails were driven in to prevent anyone from coming out. Bang, bang, bang, as the hammer struck the nails, what thoughts were going through the mind of Rolf Anderson trapped inside? His title and property had been stripped away, and his name erased from the registry of nobles.
Having lost everything and become disabled, he couldn’t even scream for help as the Grand Duke had personally destroyed his mouth. Now he could only quietly wait for death.
The knights emotionlessly pressed the Grand Duke’s seal over the nailed door. No one would dare open this door and rescue the criminal against the Grand Duke’s will.
The knights left, leaving behind the sealed door without a single person remaining.
****
Ten days later, when diligent farmers had finished sowing their seeds, fishermen were actively catching fish in the river, the Fueten fortress had become a bit sturdier, and the Lusenford castle kitchen had entered its final stage of construction. The seal was torn off and the door opened.
The only being who could remove the seal entered the foul-smelling tower. Peon, after personally confirming the corpse of the butler who had died with a twisted body, said without emotion.
“Remove it.”
The warm weather had hastened the decomposition of the body. The knights, not flinching at the terrible stench, roughly gathered the corpse and disposed of it in the mountains. A criminal doesn’t deserve burial. They would leave it for beasts and birds to devour.
The tower was empty. And behind the silently standing Peon, the next criminal arrived.
Former head maid Doris Windgood, who had barely managed to survive with the help of relatives and narrowly escaped death in the recent war, was suddenly arrested and brought here. Looking much older than when she was expelled, she groped the floor and prostrated herself, not knowing what was happening.
“Your, Your Highness.”
Though filled with indignation, resentment, and fury, she had been living quietly, keeping a low profile.
Hoping that perhaps the butler, or maybe the people of Lusenford castle, would remember her and bring her back. She really hadn’t done anything. So why had the Grand Duke brought her back after expelling her?
“Have you heard the rumor that the Grand Duchess tried to poison me?”
“Pardon?”
Doris Windgood raised her face, now full of wrinkles and gaunt. Was this why the Grand Duke had summoned her again?
“I, I knew it would come to this!”
“Oh?”
“Yes, I saw through her from the beginning, Your Highness! I knew such a sad thing would happen! That woman is from the South. She’s the Emperor’s niece. In the end, she would betray us…”
Before she could finish speaking, Peon gestured.
“Confine her.”
The knights threw Doris Windgood into the tower.
By the time she raised her head after being tossed in, the Grand Duke had already left, and the door was completely locked shut. Bewildered, Doris Windgood called out to a Grand Duke very different from the one she remembered.
“Your Highness? Your Highness!”
The screams were muffled and faint. The knights who had coldly closed the door nailed it shut just like before and sealed it with the Grand Duke’s seal.
After confirming several criminals who had connections with Crania and spread information, only the head maid, like the butler, irrationally rejected Kaela while saying the same things.
Traces of the past life remained. Or perhaps it meant that people were the same now as they were before the regression. Equally evil, equally cruel.
The Grand Duke, seemingly emotionless, continuously verified and eliminated, repeating the process without rest. Even as another corpse was removed from the tower, the Grand Duchess still hadn’t awakened. Whether she was happy to have escaped from him, there was no sign of her returning.
Just like before the regression, as a husband who hadn’t done much for his wife properly, all he could offer was the lives of those who had tormented her.
He was ashamed that this was all he could do. If he burned everything down and finally set fire to this sinner’s body, would she return then?
[Peon.]
He had become a being beyond human, to the extent that he could hear his father’s voice, deeply concerned for his son, as if it were right beside him.
“Your Highness, surely Crania will notice.”
“They’ve probably noticed already.”
No one could stop him as he acted as if he didn’t care that the Emperor was constantly scrutinizing Lusenford through magical tools and had planted numerous spies.
Peon smiled vacantly, like a person out of his mind. He had to kill the Emperor anyway.
“But Your Highness.”
“Send the gold nuggets we prepared.”
“Pardon?”
The Grand Duke, who had always been upright, exemplary, and avoided immoral acts as if he had an obsession with righteousness, seemed like a different person.
“Our Emperor should see the gold from our mines.”
See, and become blind, and deaf. Just as Peon had been before the regression.
He had already experienced the dirtiest humiliations and committed the most atrocious sin against his wife. So he could do anything now. He could set fire to the entire Crania Empire, rejoice at the sight of burning sinners, and completely clean the path for Kaela.
Then he would gouge out these useless eyes, cut off the ears that had been as good as nonexistent, cut out the tongue that had hurt Kaela, and stab his throat. He should quietly disappear before Kaela. He should remain as meaningless dust, so insignificant that she wouldn’t even notice his disappearance.
Long after an incredibly heavy gold nugget had departed for Crania, one day, the Grand Duchess opened her eyes.
what a heavy chapter!! thanks for the translation!!