Chapter 281

“Excuse me? Are you saying His Highness isn’t coming?”

The Maindulante army officers were dumbfounded by the voice coming through the Magical Communication Device. However, their lord, already back in Maindulante, simply confirmed it in a leisurely tone.

[That’s right. So gather all the Imperial Family members, all the Imperial Capital nobles who didn’t join our side until the end—well, anyone I need to see, without exception—and send them up. Aidan will take charge of the Imperial Capital with Duke Ganielo.]

The officers still hadn’t fully grasped the situation.

A few days ago, the day after the full moon, they launched a full-scale attack. Those in the massive army surrounding the Imperial Capital who had been planning a rebellion were captured just before the assault, and because there was a problem with the Imperial Capital’s gates, there were no major issues with the attack.

In the middle of it all, monstrous members of the Imperial Family’s collateral line suddenly appeared, rampaging with Azure Jewel Eyes, but there weren’t that many of them, and skilled individuals could handle them. As planned, they broke through each of the gates on all sides of the Imperial Capital and began occupying the roads of that ancient city.

At that moment, a dazzling Golden Dragon appeared in the sky above the Imperial Capital and circled once.

There had been talk that at the end of this war, the ‘unfairly Sealed’ Dragon would be freed. It wasn’t exactly a military objective, but considering the contents of the novel ‘Betrayal’ and the justification the Maindulante army had put forward so far, it was logical.

However, very few people among the massive army actually believed a Dragon would appear. Wasn’t it just… a symbolic story?

In the first place, the opponent was a ‘Dragon.’ A Dragon. A being viciously depicted in old tales. Even the gentle Dragons in stories writers cleverly made up were terrifyingly powerful and didn’t love humans very much. Was such a thing really going to appear in this cold reality?

Moreover, in context, wasn’t that the strongest enemy that had threatened humanity—the ‘Evil Dragon’? Even if it wasn’t actually evil.

Even though it only circled once in the sky, the Dragon was imposing. People instinctively knew they would be crushed by even a light flick of its tail. That dazzling body, as if formed by poured gold, that alien presence as if it didn’t belong in this world… the sad, ugly feeling of hating it simply because it existed, because it was too powerful.

The chaos it caused was enough to stop the war within the Imperial Capital. The Imperial Army, which hadn’t been very motivated from the start, had been subtly surrendering or quietly running away even before the Dragon appeared. The story they’d heard at the morning mass on the day of battle had also influenced their actions. Still, it had at least been something resembling a battle.

It turned into a unilateral and absolute surrender.

Those with good eyesight saw a black-haired man riding on the Dragon. And the particularly quick-witted shouted that he was the real hero.

Destroy the Imperial Palace! Kill the Emperor! Capture all the direct Imperial Family members and offer them to that Dragon!

It wasn’t long before they were all rushing toward the Imperial Palace, shouting things like that. The Dragon had, for some reason, disappeared immediately after, which was a bit embarrassing, but the overwhelming presence of that great being still warmed people’s hearts.

That was when contact with their lord was lost. It was fortunate that the Maindulante side sent a ridiculous message saying, ‘Grand Duke is here, but he’s currently… um… sleeping,’ or something like that.

Aidan and Duke Ganielo were maintaining order in the Imperial Capital and thoroughly searching the Imperial Palace. They captured the Emperor, withering away like an old tree in his bed, the Empress, trying to flee with luxury goods, the Crown Prince, locked in the prison tower and half-crazy, and nobles who hadn’t given up until the end… and so on.

Additionally, Aidan went to the secret chamber he had previously visited with Cledwyn and captured Nellusion, tied up and collapsed there, and Camille, withering away like the Emperor.

Many people tried, but Camille could not be removed from the altar. They even wondered if she would come free if they chopped off her arm with an ax, but she already looked so fragile she might die if a feather landed on her head, so that idea was rejected. No one knew what had happened to leave her like that.

The officers were troubled. Normally, after a victory like this, the military leaders, led by the commander-in-chief, had to stay and distribute rewards for meritorious service. But the commander-in-chief had slipped away alone. Moreover, judging by his voice, he seemed far too happy to be back with his wife, who was in the early stages of pregnancy…

But what could they do? They couldn’t drag a man who had been separated from his pregnant wife for so long back, could they?

In the end, the officers nodded.

“As you command, I understand. What should we do with the nobles who are not in the Imperial Capital?”

[Summon them all and send them up together. The Crown Prince’s soldiers who were monitoring the Noble Academy must be running away or looting around there, so send people there too. There must be some crazy bastard trying to use Princess Izet, so bring her out politely.]

“Yes, as you command.”

The youngest Princess Izet had suddenly become the only sane member of the direct Imperial Family. Aidan and all the officers bowed their heads.

❖ ❖ ❖

The carriages transporting prisoners from the Imperial Capital to Maindulante were literally lined up.

The building of transport carriages, selecting who would be sent up, arranging those selected, strict surveillance, choosing soldiers who would quickly return to their hometowns with them… there were many things to manage, so it took quite some time before the first transport carriage arrived.

And the first people to arrive were, naturally, the Emperor and Empress and the Crown Prince.

“Abelus is in what state?”

Nerys, now beginning to show signs of pregnancy, raised her eyebrows as she drank the Consecration Herbal Tea that Ren had sent her. Cledwyn, who had been attending to her without leaving her side since his return, drank ordinary herbal tea and repeated what he’d already said.

“It seems Camille didn’t care what kind of treatment he received inside after she locked him in the prison tower. Duke Grunehal sent people in and tortured Abelus. He didn’t die, but they tormented him persistently, so at least one of his legs will be unusable for the rest of his life.”

“Is that so?”

It was an interesting coincidence. One leg, of all things. Nerys recalled Eustace Grunehals’s face.

Natasha’s brother, as beautiful as a rose. Duke Grunehal, the siblings’ father, was a man who neglected his real wife because he was infatuated with his mistress. In an environment where their mother was banished to the countryside, Natasha and her younger brother relied on each other, and Eustace was a man who would do anything for his sister.

She remembered the time she had nearly been kidnapped and sold off by Eustace. N6erys snorted.

“He deserves to be torn to pieces and die. The idiot.”

Bright sunlight poured into the West Palace drawing room where the two were sitting. Lately, Cledwyn had been fussing that Nerys couldn’t relax because too many people were coming and going to the main palace. Thanks to that, the couple was spending more time in the West Palace than ever before.

Nerys had said it without much thought, but Cledwyn asked quietly, as if he had been expecting it.

“So, speaking of which, do you perhaps want to see him in that state? If you want to see him, see him quickly. He’ll be executed soon.”

“Not really…”

Where did the husband who bought art and told her to only look at pretty and beautiful things go, and why was he saying things like this? Nerys tilted her head, then suddenly realized.

Nerys wasn’t very interested in Abelus anymore. But Cledwyn was.

Because, during the time she had been asleep, he had seen everything.

Because all the anger and sadness were old scars that had long since been covered with new flesh within her, but for him, they were fresh wounds.

With a sigh, Nerys nodded.

“Well… it wouldn’t be bad to see him once before he dies.”

“Okay. I’ll tell them to bring him here right away!”

Cledwyn pulled one of the newly installed ropes placed throughout the West Palace. Dyed purple and embroidered with gold thread, it connected the West Palace to the main palace so that someone would run over immediately if it was pulled. There had once been ropes of different colors in similar locations during the previous Grand Duchess’s time, but many had grown old and snapped after her death, so they had no choice but to replace them all.

Ellen ran over. Cledwyn ordered her to wash Abelus and bring him here. He said he didn’t want an ugly man reflected in his wife’s pretty eyes, and he couldn’t stand the smell either.

‘Then you don’t have to show him to me.’

Nerys thought that, but stayed quiet because she appreciated the sincerity.

Not long after, Abelus was brought in, tied up and gagged, dragged by a leash like a beast. His eyes, no longer Jewel Eyes after the Power of Pheros was released, were brown. But the most changed part of his appearance wasn’t his eye color.

His emaciated, twisted body. His face, aged by brutal torture. Even his hair had gone dull and gray from all the suffering. One of his legs didn’t move at all, and he dragged it like a piece of wood as the soldier threw him onto the drawing room floor.

Abelus’s unfocused eyes suddenly flared like striking flint when they caught Cledwyn—more precisely, Cledwyn’s gray eyes.

Seeing the Jewel Eyes that radiated thousands of colors like jewels.

The soldier punched Abelus in the head for his rude attitude. Nerys sighed at the sight.

She thought she wouldn’t have anything to say even if she saw him. But now that she was looking at that… pathetic appearance, she felt a strange emotion.

‘That’s right.’

She could… say a word or two.

Cledwyn sent everyone else out of the room. Nerys looked at Abelus and slowly opened her mouth.

“…Abelus. For a long time, I thought I had no feelings for you. I knew from the beginning that you wouldn’t love me, and I knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t love you either.”

The man she thought she would love forever was already there for her, and the lover he had been close to since school was already there for him. So she didn’t expect anything from him. She didn’t bother getting hurt any more by the things he did to her.

That’s what she thought.

“But now that I think about it, I was disappointed in you. Even if it was an arranged marriage, you know, you could have respected your wife a little more.”

A marriage where only the bare minimum of formalities existed.

He was a husband to her, even if it wasn’t love.

She was neither love nor a wife to him.

“I think I realized that too late.”

Looking back, Nerys had turned a blind eye to her cold husband’s unfair actions more than necessary, because of her own guilt. The guilt that she, of all people, dared to make a marriage vow with him, the Crown Prince of this country, even though she wasn’t worthy of him. The guilt that she made a marriage vow with him even though he had someone he truly loved.

Because she had been feeling guilty from such an early stage.

She had been turning a blind eye to unfairness she should have recognized long ago.

Nerys looked at Abelus, perhaps for the first time, utterly trivial and nonchalant—at him, blinking as though he didn’t even understand why she was saying such things.

“I think I resented Megara a lot—the one who captured your heart on the very day I married you. Because I knew she was doing wrong to me. But I didn’t resent you enough. Looking back, that part is my fault.”

The mistress who seduced her husband. The husband who fell for the mistress.

Why should the former’s fault be greater?

Turning one person’s married life into hell is a collaboration between two people.

“There are many people whose lives you ruined, so you shouldn’t die comfortably. The young Marquis Likeandros luckily survived that war. The marquisate will be confiscated, but I’ll reflect his opinion on how to kill you.”

After saying that much, Nerys closed her mouth. Cledwyn gestured lightly, and the soldier dragged Abelus out. Even as he was hauled away by the leash, scraping and bumping across the floor, Abelus tried to look back. He tried to glare at Cledwyn and Nerys.

But Nerys never saw him again.