Chapter 42

***

“Then the baby…”

Benjamin lowered his gaze and looked down at my still flat belly.

“Whose baby is it? Perhaps Emperor Theodore’s?”

“No, it’s my child.”

“….”

Benjamin’s expression, which had always been indifferent, twisted in a very bizarre way.

“Benjamin?”

Looking at the expression I had seen for the first time, I called out to him. Then he asked me in an angry voice.

“Why are you… so carefree?”

“There is no reason not to be carefree.”

I protested timidly.

“I finally have a family.”

Benjamin remained silent for a while, then let out a short sigh. Then he looked directly into my eyes and said.

“Then I will help protect your family.”

“What?”

“I will use everything Ferdinand has so that the child is born and grows up safely. So don’t go anywhere and stay here longer.”

All of Ferdinand… Thank you, but it was an excessive favor.

“No, you don’t have to do that….”

“I’m your friend. Your one and only.”

But Benjamin said in a firm voice, as if he had not thought of my rejection in the first place.

I had more friends besides Benjamin, but Benjamin used to be very obsessed with ‘one and only friend’ from a young age.

So I left his expression uncorrected.

However, that didn’t make this space any better. Everywhere in Ferdinand’s mansion lies my dark past.

“But I hate it here.”

“Then shall we move the mansion?”

“Moving the mansion? What do you mean?”

“There is an island in the south. Let’s go there together…”

As Benjamin continued his explanation in a soft voice.

“Lord, Emperor Theodore has arrived.”

The news of Theodore’s visit came unexpectedly.

***

While Yvonne hid, Benjamin went to meet Theodore.

“I see the great master of Albrecht. Glory to Albrecht.”

Benjamin asked the uninvited guest without an appointment.

“What did you come here for?”

“I’m here to meet my heartbroken fiancée (Katarina).”

Theodore answered, tilting his head languidly.

Contrary to his words, however, his appearance was more like that of a butcher rather than that he had come to meet his beloved fiancée.

“You can’t meet Katarina because she’s not feeling well.”

“I don’t care. It’s not me who’s unwell, it’s that woman, right?”

At Theodore’s words, Benjamin wondered what the real reason of his visiting was.

“Generally, when visiting a patient, the first thing to do is to check the patient’s condition.”

“So, I can’t see her?”

Theodore frowned and asked.

As if the other person was sick or not was none of his business, Benjamin smirked at Theodore’s indifferent reaction.

“Sorry, I’ll let you know when Katarina gets a little better.”

“….”

Theodore muttered a coursed word in a muffled voice, but Benjamin pretended he didn’t hear it and changed the subject.

“I heard that you took Yves Llewellyn’s body. Yves Llewellyn was originally Ferdinand’s knight. Please return her body. I will bury her in Ferdinand.”

Theodore’s expression hardened at the sight of Benjamin’s calm voice.

“It was me, not you, that Yves liked.”

He said firmly, as if declaring in a voice full of obsession.

“Everything about Yves Llewellyn is mine. Every piece of rotting flesh, every dried drop of her blood is mine.”

“….”

“So there’s no way I’m going to give her back to you.”

“…I see.”

Benjamin answered meekly. At that attitude, Theodore raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?”

His eyes narrowed as he stared at Benjamin.

This man was just like Ernst. With only that much heart…

“But Your Majesty must have felt it.”

At this time, Benjamin spoke provocatively.

“My traces left on her.”

Yves’s scarecrow, which Theodore had been by her side since the two days before the engagement, was created by pouring out Benjamin’s own power.

Yves’s fake corpse would, of course, be full of Benjamin’s scent. It was as if he had become one with her.

Didn’t the doubtful Emperor have any thoughts after seeing that?

“Aren’t you curious? Why was my scent on her?”

Benjamin asked with a smirk.

When he heard Yvonne say that she was expecting Theodore’s baby, he wanted Theodore to feel the same misery he had felt.

However, Theodore lifted the corners of his lips crookedly with a look that was not at all provocative.

“Not at all.”

He replied in one voice, which seemed to be cheerful at first glance.

“Now I have covered all your traces.”

“…..”

“Yves smells like me every day. From the moment she opens her eyes in the morning to the dark night, she and I are always together.”

Theodore laughed and explained his daily life with Yves. At that time, his expression seemed very happy.

“When I eat, when I work, when I sleep…… We are always together.”

“With her everyday? How?”

“Yes. So, let go of your attachment. If you ask for her one more time, I won’t let it go.”

“I’m not talking about her, I’m talking about her body.”

“Then I will come see Miss Katarina next time.”

Theodore smiled and left.

Benjamin stared blankly at his back. No matter how much he thought about it, Emperor Theodore seemed quite crazy.

***

On the other hand, Theodore, who left Ferdinand, stopped after walking for a while.

Yes, as he told Benjamin, he was enjoying the little everyday happiness with Yves.

But is she happy…?

Yves still seemed very angry with him. She still hasn’t opened her eyes to look at him.

Theodore’s expression contorted in pain. Anxiety of unknown origin came over and shook his heart violently.

That’s why he shouldn’t be away from her. Because he kept having other thoughts like this.

“Yves, I need Yves…”

He thought, muttering gibberish.

“I miss you, Yves….”

Theodore got on his horse straight away.

Arriving at the Imperial Palace, he ran in a hurry to the place where Yves would be.

“Yves…!”

When he opened the bedroom door and saw Yves lying still on the bed, just like when he left in the morning, his heart, which had been beating wildly, gradually calmed down.

“I’m here, Yves.”

Theodore smiled softly and sat down on the bed she was lying on.

“You’re still sleeping…”

Her silver hair fluttered through his palm.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave you, but I had to meet that woman…”

The moment he put Katarina’s name in his mouth, emotions of disgust surged.

It was because he thought of another mistake of his own.

Don’t you love her?

I love her.

Then what about me?

You are nothing to me.

He didn’t tell Yves that he loved her, but that he loved Katarina.

All of that was so regretful.

What if he had said it differently?

What if he had said he loved her (Yves) and not Katarina?

‘I love you.’

“Theodore, you fucking bastard. You should have died instead of Yves.”

Theodore swears at himself. Then he whispered to Yves in a sorrowful tone.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Yves. But when you open your eyes again…… then I’ll definitely tell you, I love you.”

It was impossible to bring back the dead.

Therefore, the eyes of the already dead would never be reopened.

However, if he gathered the powers of the four ancient apostles…

“I’ll go back in time, I’ll come to you.”

Theodore’s eyes stared at her in determination.

It was possible to go back in time. It was difficult and complicated, but it was definitely possible.

In ancient times, there were four apostles who received the protection of the God Brihim.

The guide of light, Leobrante.

Heaven’s agent, Ferdinand.

Earth’s guide, Chernicia.

And… The fourth apostle, who was originally the strongest among the four apostles, was defined as evil over a long period of time and was called the ‘ancient darkness’.

Dark Executor, Tenebris.

Theodore intended to gather their powers for Yves.

However, unlike the previous three apostles, it was difficult to find traces of Tenebris, the last apostle, since his life had been cut off for a long time.

However, Theodore knew that the traces of Tenebris were nearby.

The most dreadful and dark magic was manifested in Ferdinand’s courtyard.

Ferdinand’s courtyard.

Katarina said there were traces of murder magic there. Perhaps something that would have been a source of black magic was in Ferdinand’s courtyard.

And like all black magic by-products, it must contain the spirit of Tenebris.

It was probably the only use of Katarina Ferdinand for leaking this information that contained the soul of Tenebris.

At one point, his purpose changed from finding Yvonne’s last trace to going back in time to meet Yves.

“If I could go back in time, the first thing I would do is kill that stupid bastard (his past self) and confess that I love you.”

A lovely smile appeared on his face as he whispered the most perfect plan in the world.

“But…l.”

But his smile did not last long.

“What if I don’t see you there?”

Anxiety once again engulfed his heart.

“What will happen then……”

Theodore muttered endlessly at the bedside of the dead Yves, who was still turning away from him.

T/N: Hello readers! I’ve started writing an original story and it’s being posted in here, Moonlight novels. It’s a sci-fi story with a transmigrated MC and her yandere family. If you like stories filled with science and technology, along with some romance, you may like it. The novel’s name is ‘Number one chef in the intergalactic era’.