Chapter 134

“Yurina, are you awake?”

“…Hmm.”

Her voice was hoarse and her tone low. But perhaps reassured by this modest reply, Reynard let out a long breath and kissed the back of her hand.

“You don’t know how scared I was knowing you were harmed.”

At the academy, Reynard often suffered from nightmares. In his nightmares, Yurina always met her death cruelly, and he had to embrace her cold body in despair.

As soon as the necklace broke, he immediately wanted to rush back, but he couldn’t do it, fearing that Marquis De Flon would activate the magic circle.

After suppressing Marquis De Flon’s mana and nullifying his magic circle, he was able to move to Carthia’s mansion, entrusting Rgs with the finishing touches.

The moment I saw Yurina lying limp in Marchioness Carthia’s arms, it seemed like his breath stopped.

Fortunately, Yurina was safe, and he was able to put his mind at ease a little after knowing that she fainted because she had suddenly used a large amount of magic that her body couldn’t handle.

‘I was too complacent.’

The magic circle hung in the bedroom of Marchioness Carthia was a magic circle that could defend against black magic attacking from the outside. That’s why she told Yurina that she never went outside until everything was settled.

Even if they were targeting and attacking Yurina, they thought it would be okay as long as they stayed in this room, since the black magic couldn’t penetrate the magic circle.

However, it seemed that Marquis De Flon had planted something like the seed of a curse in Yurina’s body beforehand and manifested the curse this time. It was probably a curse placed by the boy who came in the form of Betsy last time.

At the time, it seems that he intended to blackmail the Carthia House by kidnapping Yurina and making her sick, but after failing, he might have deliberately looked at the situation  placed a curse on her as a last resort.

Raynard, who wasn’t a warlock, didn’t know exactly how black magic worked.

Previously, the bloody ribbon found in Marchioness’ room or Yurina’s earring found in the wolf’s body were already after the curse started, so you could feel the black magic, but the seed inside Yurina’s body was before the curse started. He didn’t even notice.

Since Yurina’s body already had magical means, even if they had drawn a magic circle, Yurina could have been cursed.

Marquis De Flon probably expected that Reynard would be so worried about Yurina that he wouldn’t even think about destroying the magic circle drawn on the floor of the basement. Perhaps if Raynard hadn’t given Yurina the necklace, Raynard would have really lost his temper and rushed back to the manor.

Still, he believed that the power of the necklace he had given him and that Yurina had properly used it.

He believed Yurina could handle it.

However, when he saw the sight of Yurina lying unconscious, Reynard felt sorry and guilty. If he had looked more closely, she wouldn’t have had to go through all this.

Just an hour later, Yurina came to her senses. The time was short, but all that hour Raynard was tossing back and forth between heaven and hell.

And the moment Yurina opened her eyes again and met his twinkling eyes again, Raynard sincerely thanked the goddess for the first time.

“Ray.”

“Yes. Yes. I’m here.”

Yurina looked at him and smiled.

“I’m fine.”

He couldn’t answer and only wept.

“So don’t cry. Everything turned out well thanks to the necklace you gave me. Thank you.”

“Huh.”

Reynard continued to wipe the dripping tears with the back of his hand, lifting the corners of his mouth. Besides saying that he was sorry, there were things he had to say to her.

He whispered with a funny expression, not sure if he was crying or laughing.

“It’s all over.”

Yurina was unable to speak for a long time after hearing his words. She didn’t know what she was feeling or what answer she was supposed to give.

After a while, she whispered softly, making a face similar to Reynard’s, not sure if she was crying or laughing.

“Yeah, it’s all over.”

It was a comfortable voice, as if to say that today was a very tiring day. Reynard carefully placed his forehead on Yurina’s.

Feeling each other’s warmth and affection, the two smiled quietly.

* * *

The dungeon, which is said to confine only the heinous criminals among criminals, was dark and full of bleak energy. There was also a strange smell, either of dirty water or rotting flesh.

Lydia, who had come here secretly with Karion, was frightened by the ominous aura that hit her as soon as she opened the door. Karion looked at Lydia, who quickly covered her mouth and nose, and cautiously asked.

“Why don’t we just leave?”

Lydia shook her head, holding back the nausea that rose up inside her. She wanted to speak, but she couldn’t, because she thought that if she opened her mouth, she would vomit it all out.

Karion, who confirmed that her already pale face had grown whiter, grabbed Lydia’s arm.

“I don’t you’re good. Let’s just go back…”

“No.”

Lydia muttered as if she was determined, straightening her body leaning on him.

“I’m going to meet him.”

Before she came here, she vaguely heard about the atrocities committed by her father, Marquis De Flon, from Karion.

A warlock, a traitor to the Скщрт Kingdom, an accident during a hunting competition, and treason.

Karion, fearing that she would be shocked, tried to tell her the story in a succinct way, but Lydia was shocked to hear the summary. This is all he has told her as concisely as possible, but how much more terrible would it be in reality?

Firstly, Lydia was shocked that her father would do such a thing, and secondly, that he was targeting Yurina Carthia. She knew that her father was hostile towards Yurina, but who would have thought that his feelings would be so strong that he aimed for her life.

Besides, it’s treason. Since she was young, he always said that she had to become an empress herself, and she knew that he was obsessed with the position of empress, but he was treasonous.

If Karion, who had noticed all this, hadn’t helped her beforehand, she too would have been caught and imprisoned.

In fact, Karion persuaded her not to come because he was worried about the situation, but Lydia insisted on coming. Even if things went wrong and people caught her, it was because she wanted to meet Marquis De Flon and talk.

A story she’s been wanting to find out for a long time.

‘If I stopped you, would you have stopped?’

From the moment she heard the story from Karion, Lydia continued to feel guilty. A question arose in her head, the situation wouldn’t have turned out differently if she had told her father in advance those words that she had kept in her heart all this time.

She didn’t care about the throne of the Empress, and Lydia sincerely wanted to be friends with Lady Carthia.

If she had presented everything to him so openly, everything would not have happened?

Her heart was heavy, though she knew the Marquis would stop at nothing.

She bit the inside of her mouth tightly as tears seemed to flow. Before she came here, she was held in Karion’s arms and her tears poured out so much that she felt like she wouldn’t shed any more tears, but she felt her eyes moist again.

Lydia took a deep breath through her nose and barely spoke to Karion.

“Let’s go to my father.”

Karion hesitated for a moment, but then he pulled a cloak over Lydia and led her. Lydia flinched for a moment as she heard the squeaking of mice, but then she walked slowly with Karion.

As if Karion cast some kind of magic, they passed a long corridor, but no one found them. In the end, they  reached a dead end where there was nowhere else to go, and stopped.

Lydia looked inside from a distance from the grate. A red-haired man glimmering in the dim light. The man’s body was covered in blood and his limbs were bound.

The moment she realized that this man was her father, Lydia lost strength in her legs aand collapsed onto the floor. If Karion hadn’t caught her in surprise, she would have fallen onto the dirty floor.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m okay…”

“Lydia?”

The man, who before hadn’t moved as if he was dead, suddenly started moving, feeling the commotion. Lydia didn’t pay attention to Karion’s warning that it was dangerous and moved closer to the grate.

“Father.”

The sight of Marquis De Flon up close brought tears to her eyes again. Lydia, feeling nothing dirty, held the grate with one hand and reached inside the grate with the other. She couldn’t reach him, but she now imagined that it was possible.

“How did it all happen?”

“Did Karion come with you?”

Marquis De Flon looked around Lydia. One eye was swollen, and the other eye was half-closed, so it seemed that he had trouble seeing.

“Quickly get me out of here.”

“We must go quickly.”

Lydia, who was inadvertently trying to respond to Marquis De Flon’s words, regained her mind at Karion’s whispering words as if urging her.

“Why did you do that to Lady Carthia? Is it true that my father did both the targeting of Lady Carthia during the hunting competition and the order to kidnap the lady’s maid?”

Although she already knew the answer, Lydia dared to ask him again. She couldn’t honestly admit even to herself whether she was waiting for a positive answer or a negative one.

She just wanted to ask him.

Marquis De Flon didn’t answer. The heavy silence that followed let Lydia know that it was all true.

“But why? What did Carthia do to you…?”

“You can only become empress without that fox.”

Something she had been holding back boiled in her stomach. Lydia asked in an involuntarily raised voice.

Lydia babbled in a high voice, forgetting herself.

“I never wanted to be an empress.

“What?”

Marquis De Flon’s face turned red.

“How did I, how did I raise you? How dare you, how dare you me! Why did you do this!”

“Don’t tell me it’s all my fault. I never once said that I wanted to be an empress. I would never love a prince I had never even seen, and I wouldn’t dare to dream of a throne. Everything is what my father forced me to do.”

Lydia took a step back, roughly wiping the tears from her cheeks.Then  Marquis De Flon urgently called her.

“Lydia! Are you going to leave your father? How do you…”

“Father, if you truly wish me well…”

She took Karion’s hand to hide the trembling in her body. Karion’s hands were large and warm, which seemed to give her strength.

“Confess everything and pay for your sins. For the rest of my life, I will bear the sins of my father and seek redemption.”

With these words, Lydia turned away without regret. However, in contrast to how coldly she turned her back on him, hot tears flowed from her eyes without stopping.

He was obviously not a good father. He abused his child, saying that she should become the Empress under the pretext of being for her sake, and he also abused Karion, who was a child and had nowhere to go.

But anyway, he was her father. Even now, Lydia was tempted to ask Karion to release the Marquis.

But that won’t happen.

There will be only redemption for those who suffered at the hands of the Marquis. Including Yurina Carthia, who suffered the most from this incident.