CH 140

Cosette: “It’s been a while. Rather than that, why are you here in this desolate place? It’s so ugly, now.”

Ludwig: “You… What the h*ll happened to you? Are you injured?”

He actually thought she was dead. He figured that since Johanna died, there was no way that Cosette could have been safe.

However, she appeared before him without a single wound on her body.

Cosette: “Hmm? You still don’t understand the situation, do you?”

Cosette asked, rolling her eyes. 

Just then, the wind from the ruins blew the hem of her robe, giving Ludwig a glimpse of the uniform of the demon army.

“…!”

Ludwig wasn’t stupid enough to turn a blind eye to the obvious reality.

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Instead of dismissing it as a mistake, he speculated why Cosette might have made that choice.

‘Why?’

Why would she betray the Empire when she could have lived her whole life revered as an elementalist?

That’s why he didn’t consider the possibility of betrayal when Cosette first went missing.

Cosette: “Did you not know? I thought you knew I stabbed you in the back.”

“…”

Cosette: “Ah! So, I guess those people didn’t know, so they hung on to me, asking me to rescue or save them?”

Come to think of it, it was pretty funny– they’re praying for their lives to the existence that drove them into the abyss.

She smiled for a moment, then looked straight ahead.

The Grand Duke looked at her in confusion. Poor thing.

Ludwig: “Why… why in the h*ll? What the h*ll is wrong with you…”

Cosette: “Um, hey, Grand Duke. You’re misunderstanding something. I didn’t join the other side because I was dissatisfied. I planned on doing this from the beginning.”

Ludwig: “Y-you, why would you!”

Cosette: “You don’t really understand what I’m saying.”

She ruffled her hair as if annoyed.

Cosette: “I wasn’t your real daughter from the start. I purposely killed your real daughter and the elementalist, approached Beatrice to seal it, and left because I wanted to stop pretending. Do you get it now?”

“…”

Anyone would be at a loss for words when they encountered so much incredible information, and Ludwig wasn’t an exception. 

It wasn’t until after a long time that Ludwig could stutter back.

Ludwig: “You’re not… my daughter?”

Cosette: “That’s right! First of all, I’m a demon. A different race. How could you be my father? And I’m a hundred years older than you.”

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A woman who looked just like him chirped on like that.

Yeah, she looked just like him. 

However, Cosette had clearly used the power of the spirits.

Johanna Parvis even confirmed it, so it was certain.

But she’s not his real daughter?

As if she knew what he was thinking, Cosette continued with a snort.

Cosette: “Are you curious? How I disguised myself as your daughter?”

“…”

Cosette: “Oh, I know, even if you don’t say it. Even if you don’t ask, I will tell you.”

In fact, she flew here to tell him.

To teach him the truth that would bring down that strong man. Her red eyes curved into crescent moons.

Cosette: “You remember the name Rowena Weinberg? She was your first wife.”

A woman ran barefoot on the dirt floor.

Although she now ran down the mountain road like a beggar, she was once the most respected woman in the Empire– Rowena Weinberg. Her surname before her divorce was Parvis.

Born into a prestigious family, she lived as a noble girl and a Grand Duchess for over twenty years.

However, only half a year had passed since her divorce, and her former elegant and glamorous appearance was gone.

‘Why? Why? Why did I become like this? What sin have I committed?’

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Her vision blurred in resentment, but she couldn’t stop running. Her life would end if she did.

Rowena: “Ack!”

As she ran down the dangerous mountain path, Rowena fell when her foot got caught in the root of a tree.

She rolled down the slope, and bumped into a boulder, barely stopping.

Rowena: “Ugh!”

Severe pain came from her fully-pregnant belly, but she couldn’t scream. She would die the moment they found her location.

“It’s this way! This way!”

“You fools! I can’t believe you lost a heavily pregnant woman! Kill her as soon as you find her!”

Rowena covered her mouth with one hand and hid behind a rock, s stream of her blood dripping from her bitten lips.

How much time had passed?

Only after the man disappeared from above her head did she take her hand off her lips.

It was the first time she had ever experienced a vivid fear of death, as she had grown up with privilege and comfort throughout her life.

Why?

Why?

She wasn’t greedy. 

She tried to fulfill her role as a dignified wife just as she was taught.

She lived her whole life quietly without causing trouble to others.

It was also an absurd falsehood that she was infertile. After all, life was now growing in her belly.

But why? Why?

Rowena: “Ugh!”

At that moment, an excruciating pain came again in her abdomen. Between her legs, it was wet. Her amniotic fluid had burst.

Rowena: “God… Ugh, ngh…”

Tears streamed down her face as the pain overwhelmed her. It was too much that she couldn’t think at all.

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With her remaining instinct, she suppressed her screamed and endured it.

Rowena: “Hngh…!”

A long time later, a piece of flesh soaked in her blood flowed from between Rowena’s legs.

Who would have thought? 

She was born as the famous daughter of a Count yet she gave birth to a child without a midwife in the mountain like this.

Rowena: “Ha, haha.”

‘I did it.’

With a strange smile, she embraced the child, who had not yet severed the umbilical cord, into her arms.

She gave birth.

After being chased and chased, after countless threats to her life, the Grand Duke’s heir was born.

This child was even a daughter.

Later, when her daughter’s abilities manifested and the Grand Duke’s bloodline was proven, she could become the elementalist’s mother and clear her name.

Then she could get revenge on the man who overthrew her father, framed her and expelled her from the capital.

Rowena: “Simon Edinburgh…!”

She repeated the name of the enemy she wanted to kill.

She would never forget today’s pain.

She would definitely pay him back twice.

Rowena: “Y-you lost! As long as I live…!”

But something was strange.

She was too distracted by the fact she gave birth to a child to notice.

Rowena: “Ah.”

Rowena looked down at the child in her arms.

Little flesh soaked in blood.

A small body still warm.

The newborn baby did not cry.

Rowena: “A-ah!”

The baby didn’t breathe, and neither did its heart beat.

Rowena: “Ahhhhhhh!”

Forgetting that there might still be pursuers around, she screamed loudly.

Frustration as a mother came along with her despair that she had lost her way to revenge.

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My child.

Her daughter who should have grown up in comfort as the heir of the Grand Duke.

She would have been born alive had it not been for her pursuit in the past few months.

If she had been able to give birth in a warm and safe mansion, the baby would have been alive and breathing by now…

The child would have been born blessed, and she would have enjoyed the wealth, glory, status, and happy life she deserved.

It was completely stolen away. All because of that d*mn old man’s greed!

It wasn’t fair.

She couldn’t close her eyes at the feeling of being treated so unfairly.

If she had closed her eyes here, everything would go as he wished.

And the newborn child’s existence would also be erased in this world. 

In that moment, she realized that the saying ‘one’s eyes would turn red when they’re too angry’ was not just an idiom.

She could feel something hot boiling deep inside her body. Her head burned like it was going to explode.

I will kill you all–Simon Edinburgh, your family, and everyone who works for you.

She wanted to make him suffer a painful death, one so unbearable that he would beg to be killed.

It was the first time she had felt such intense murderous intent toward another person. She would make him roll in the mud with her.