You are at the End of the Downfall

“Your Highness.”

“Yes.”

The man with an incredibly gentle voice and demeanor seemed unaware that he was covered in blood. It wasn’t splattered on him; rather, new neck, arms, ears, and nose appeared to have grown over the blood that flowed along the cut surfaces. On his neck, there was a clear bloodstain that had run down along where it had been severed. If all the visible parts were like this, what about the other parts hidden in the darkness?

“The castle, ah, ah, the dragon’s minions have invaded.”

Kaela gasped out the most urgent message she needed to convey. Peon looked down at her blankly, then reluctantly nodded.

Was he displeased that she had gotten straight to the point? She wasn’t sure. Goosebumps had long since covered her entire body, and Kaela was struggling just to endure.

“Is that so? It’s alright.”

“Because Your Highness wasn’t there…”

Her words didn’t come out properly as she was out of breath. The falling tears were irritating.

“It’s okay. There won’t be any casualties.”

Peon assured her with certainty right there, without even going to the castle to assess the situation. His confidence was so unwavering that it puzzled Kaela.

She recalled the monster that had come to her, crying. That creature, like the others, didn’t dare to enter this place. They were afraid.

“Don’t cry, Kaela. It’s alright. Were you scared because of that? You don’t need to be.”

Dried bloodstains were wrapped around each of his finger joints multiple times. Yet all his fingers were intact. Very neat, clean, and sturdy. The only part without blood was the fingertips.

Peon wiped Kaela’s eyes with those fingertips. He carefully wiped away each tear.

“No one will get hurt. Don’t be afraid. It’s okay.”

There was a clear trace of blood that had trickled down from the corner of his mouth as he repeatedly assured her that everything was fine. Most of the blood hadn’t even dried yet.

With such severe bleeding, he shouldn’t even be able to stand properly, yet Peon was standing perfectly fine, worrying about Kaela. All of this was too bizarre.

“Take a slow, deep breath. Then exhale slowly.”

She shook her head, even hiccuping severely. That wasn’t important right now.

“You, you need to go…”

“It’s fine without going. It’s quiet, isn’t it?”

Kaela looked up at him, aghast at his calm but cold words. It’s okay if it’s quiet?

“Your Highness.”

“Yes. Let’s take one long breath. You might faint at this rate. Come on.”

The man who faithfully answered when called didn’t seem to care at all about what happened to Lusenford Castle, focusing first on whether Kaela was breathing properly. As if that trivial matter was so important, he held onto Kaela and didn’t take his eyes off her.

“That’s right. You’re doing well.”

We can’t have you fainting and becoming useless. Kaela breathed slowly and deeply as instructed. The smell of blood came from somewhere.

“Don’t worry about Lusenford, Kaela. Let’s take one more breath. That’s it.”

Her breathing gradually stabilized. The heaving of her narrow chest subsided. Are you hurt anywhere? Peon kept checking as he dusted off the dirt on Kaela’s hands that had been leaning against the wall.

“Are you in pain anywhere?”

“Blood… there’s blood.”

“Blood? Where?”

His expression immediately turned grim as he asked.

“Where?”

Where else? Kaela raised her finger and pointed at him.

She pointed at him – his face that looked as if he had cried tears of blood or had his eyes gouged out, his barely visible neck and shoulders, arms and hands that all showed clear signs of having been severed and reattached. Her pointing finger trembled.

“There’s so much blood…”

“Ah.”

Only then did the darkness concealing him greatly fluctuate. As the darkness moved as if it were alive, it revealed a tightly knit, firm chest below his neck and collarbone.

His blood-soaked chest, as if it had been brutally butchered, especially around the heart, was just closing up after being split open.

As the empty space inside the split chest was being refilled, blood trickled down the outside, and then the skin cleanly reattached.

As if nothing had happened. Although the darkness quickly covered his chest again, Kaela clearly saw the moment the flustered darkness had revealed.

Any ordinary noblewoman would have fainted on the spot, but Kaela had seen all sorts of injuries in Lusenford. In the end, she herself had been in quite a terrible state, so she managed not to faint.

“It’s nothing.”

Peon seemed to have just realized anew that he was covered in blood. His purple eyes wavered.

“It’s nothing. I’m fine. See, I’m perfectly alright?”

He tried to force a smile, but Kaela stepped back, frozen. Then what was the state of his body hidden in that darkness?

“It’s nothing, Kaela. Really, I’m fine.”

He hurriedly repeated, as if trying to forcibly hold onto the retreating Kaela. The dense darkness began to envelop and conceal him more thoroughly. Even his face was disappearing.

“I’m sorry for startling you. Just wait there for a moment.”

Below his chest, perhaps everything was split open with his internal organs spilling out. Were his legs properly attached? Kaela realized her thoughts were increasingly departing from normalcy.

In other words, nothing was normal. Her husband had confessed last night that they had done something called regression, begged for forgiveness, and then disappeared as if by magic. Today, Kaela was suddenly kidnapped by a monster and brought here.

But was this Peon she met here, the real Peon?

“It’s not a pretty sight to show you.”

The smiling Peon was quite different from his usual stiff and taciturn self. She stepped back further. Her breathing, which had calmed for a moment, began to heave again.

‘This might all be a trap set by the evil dragon. But what benefit is there in kidnapping me? No, if this person is fake, where is the real His Highness?’

All sorts of speculations born from fear mixed chaotically in her mind.

“I didn’t know I looked like this either. Just stay there for a moment.”

Kaela tried to find Peon in the darkness as he grinned and asked for her understanding. His expression and attitude of trying to care for her did seem like the Peon she had come to know recently.

But her husband had clearly been using honorifics with her until now, and above all, he was human. He wasn’t a being that transcended humanity.

This place belonged to the evil dragon’s minions, so she couldn’t know what might be wearing Peon’s skin and imitating him. There was, coincidentally, just one way to confirm if he was her real husband or not.

“Your Highness.”

A part of his face that was about to be completely covered was unveiled. The bloodstains had been hurriedly wiped away, leaving smears of moisture.

“Last night, I made a request.”

If this was her husband, he wouldn’t forget that.

“You agreed to grant it, didn’t you?”

With bloodstains smeared around his eyes, Peon stared at Kaela for a while. The darkness rippled and moved, slightly revealing him before hiding him again, repeatedly.

Even in the darkness, she could see the clear wound etched in those purple eyes. Even without an answer, Kaela got her answer just from that gaze.

This man was indeed her husband. He was the husband who had come first to kneel down, saying he would accept punishment for his sins.

“…Rather, make a different wish, Kaela. I can grant anything else.”

Even if he gouged out his eyes countless times, the eyes that had only misunderstood his wife without seeing her as she truly was, they would regrow and continue to pursue only his wife. It was maddening at first, but now he didn’t care anymore. What could he do about looking like this?

“Rather, confirm who I am with a different memory.”

Peon immediately realized why Kaela had brought up last night’s events, what she was trying to confirm.

“Why do you insist on telling me things I can’t grant?”

Red bloodstains flowed down, coloring his tears the same color as they fell together.

“Now I can fulfill so many things for you.”

Even after cutting off each joint of the finger that never wore a wedding ring, gouging out the eyes that didn’t recognize her, and ripping out his heart, he was still alive.

But since limits certainly exist, the evil dragon took action before losing his son. So Peon, who returned just before becoming a completely living disaster, could now do more things for Kaela.

Neither the emperor, nor the empire itself, nor anything else could restrict him. If she wished for his death, even with his grotesque body that rarely got injured, he could still die painfully, trying his best.

Until Kaela came, though unintended, he had been heading well toward death, lost in madness and insanity.

“That’s all you wish for.”

Wishes or hopes were not permitted for Peon.

Yes. Now he understood. While quickly reconstructing his body that had been broken, torn, cut, and gouged, the one who had shed his humanity smiled. Blood-mixed tears fell again onto the blood abundantly spilled the night before.

“So resent me for life.”

Rather than killing her with his hands, he’d rather receive her resentment and hatred for life. That would still make him happy. His distorted face dropped blood and tears as he smiled grimly.

“After all, I’m the incompetent husband who never granted anything you wanted.”

The darkness suddenly sank down, and the bloodstains disappeared along with the tears. His body, regenerated without a single scar, stood up strongly, perfectly draped with unwrinkled clothing.

Through the sunken darkness, Kaela caught a glimpse of pooled liquid and various scattered masses disappearing.

As the realization struck that these were all parts of human bodies, her legs, which had barely been holding up, gave way. Even her hand that quickly grabbed the cave wall slipped down.

Peon caught and held her before she could completely collapse. Kaela, who had endured until the end in a situation where fainting wouldn’t have been strange, looked down at her hand that had touched the wall.

Before she could properly see the blood that had splattered on her hand, Peon grabbed it. After feeling slightly cool, the hand that Peon released was perfectly clean.

“Your Highness.”

The man who could hold her with just one arm leaned closer to her at her dazed voice.

“Are you still human?”

Peon chuckled unexpectedly, realizing there was no disgust in that small voice. This woman was indifferent to everything.

That question was half asked out of necessity as the Grand Duchess, and half out of curiosity. She calmly prepared for death and showed no emotion toward him.

That’s why Peon found himself unknowingly struggling to find any resentment or disgust directed at him.

“I am human, but this time I’ve become closer to another species.”

He carefully began walking while carrying his wife.

****

Beatrice Ravalley was busy. Well, she was always busy, which was natural. Whenever there were parties, tea parties, concerts, or small gatherings for poetry and painting, invitation cards were naturally sent to her.

Not only that. When new plays, operas, ballets, and concerts were featured at theaters, composers, playwrights, and famous actors all eagerly hoped for Beatrice to come see them.

With the empress unable to oversee and maintain discipline in social circles, Crania’s social scene rolled along haphazardly as nobles merely paid lip service to please the emperor.

Beatrice Ravalley had ridden this wave best, claiming the queen’s position in the spotlight of social circles. Today too, she should have been darting around Crania, attending only the most worthwhile gatherings. That’s what should have happened.

“What is this?”

Her voice echoed hollowly against the ceiling of Rulnori Castle in Monde Duchy, not in a grand mansion of Crania.

Having just returned from completing her mission to strengthen Peon’s restrictions in cold Lusenford—though with a somewhat suspicious conclusion—she had gone to Crania but had to return to Monde.

“What is this, Mother?”

Although the palace entry ban had been lifted, it was still a time to be careful. She should either be in Crania busily preparing for a splendid return, or at least properly pretending to reflect while laying low.

“Mother!”

Finally, Beatrice’s voice rang out sharply. Only then did the Duchess of Monde, who had collapsed on the floor sleeping, stir. She reeked heavily of alcohol.

“What is this! Get a hold of yourself! Why are you drinking so heavily in broad daylight!”

“Don’t shout, my head is ringing…”

With her hair completely disheveled, the Duchess of Monde barely moved bit by bit, grimacing at her daughter’s scolding. Beatrice thrust several documents at her mother, who could barely open her eyes.

“What is this, Mother? What happened while I was in Lusenford? Why has our debt been transferred elsewhere? What is ‘Insenidraken’? I’ve never heard of such a merchant guild. Why does this guild hold our debt?”

“Oh, dear… One thing at a time. I can’t think straight. Is there any water?”

Beatrice furrowed her brow deeply and signaled to the maid. The maid set down a tray with a glass and water pitcher before withdrawing.

“All our creditors have been consolidated.”

“Ah, yes. Right. It’s gotten quiet. Too quiet these days.”

The Duchess of Monde muttered in a cracked voice as she drank some water.

“Nobody comes around these days. It’s too quiet. Strange, isn’t it? At least when our creditors visited, I wasn’t bored.”

“Ah, Mother, I’m telling you all the creditors have transferred their debts and left!”

Someone had taken over all of House Monde’s debts.

“Hmm? Who did such a kind thing? Was it you, Beatrice? Oh, my dear child.”

“Where would I get that kind of money? Mother, do you really not know?”

Debt was always something that existed until death, and after death, it wasn’t one’s concern anymore. Beatrice stared at her mother who couldn’t get her thoughts straight.

“Well, Mother doesn’t know. But get it together. Our debt hasn’t decreased—it’s just that now there’s only one creditor.”

“Oh my, how boring.”

“And that creditor wants to see Father!”

“Father?”

The Duchess of Monde giggled.

“Your father is dead.”

“Others don’t know that!”

Hmm? The Duchess of Monde opened her eyes again.

“Ah, stop drinking so much! Don’t you know that’s a secret?”

Only then did the Duchess of Monde snap to attention.