CH 53

Chapter - 53 || Who Was Better

Rudolf and his men kept Alexander and Natalia captive and brought them to the top of the tower.

"How dare you?"

The watchman, who knew nothing about it, was startled and tried to run away, but he quickly caught him. His hands were also covered with scars.

"Open it."

"But, as I told you, it won't open."

"Open it even if it doesn't work."

Rudolf brought his sword even closer to Alexander.

"Guh!"

Because he was tied up behind his back, his face hit the door and it looked like a blade had cut there.

"Natalia has nothing to do with this, let me go..."

Natalia, who was also tied up behind her back, said in a faint voice.

"How could we?"

"In the first place."

Christopher said in a dark voice,

"What did you want? Did you really think you could get away after picking a fight with the Empire?"

Alexander's answer sounded very innocent to Rudolf and the others.

"I just wanted to stick to my original plan."

"Original?"

Alexander nodded, blood pouring from his face.

"When I broke off our engagement, I told her to stay at the court and help Natalia with her affairs by becoming her side Queen. She was to carry out that."

Everyone in the room finally questioned Alexander's sanity.

"Your Majesty... Are you still hung up on that?"

Natalia muttered in dismay,

"It's about that."

Natalia said, her pride shattered.

"Didn't you solve the problem by making Lady Agnieszka your consort?"

It was privately decided that Countess Agnieszka Padeni would be the consort to replace Natalia, who had no practical experience.

This was why Natalia was looked down upon every time she met Agnieszka.

"Oh, that."

Alexander nodded.

"I don't want her anymore. She wasn't bad, but if Elvira's here, then I don't need her."

Gah!

"Ugh!"

Rudolf punched Alexander in the gut.

"Don't talk about Elvira like she's a thing."

"Uh..."

Natalia couldn't help but say something there. She couldn't help it.

"But then, why did you break off your engagement?"

There would have been no problem if Elvira had been made the Queen from the beginning.

There had to be a reason for her to go through all that trouble.

Natalia hoped that the reason would be her.

At least, that was all I wanted to hear.

That was the last thing I wanted to hear clearly.

But the huddled Alexander looked up at me and said,

"Because then, she wouldn't know who was better."

"...Who, was better?"

No one in the room could make sense of it.

"I had to remind Elvira that I was better than her. Elvira always looks down on me."

Natalia muttered in terror,

"Wasn't it because you liked Natalia?"

I wanted him to say that, even if it was a lie.

I wanted him to say that he was thinking of Natalia at that time, even if he wasn't now.

Even if she was a fake saint now, she was so unvalued that she could be handed over to the enemy.

But Alexander's answer was not what I expected.

"Of course there's that too. You were a bitch."

"Bitch?"

Alexander scoffed and said,

"The important thing is that Elvira lost to a Baroness who was a bitch."

Natalia shivered.

The alertness of Rudolf and the others increased.

Only Alexander continued in a pleasant manner.

"Even Natalia can't complain, she even became Queen. Well, she's been misunderstood and annoying lately. If Elvira's back, maybe we don't need you anymore either."

—'You would no longer be needed.'

Something froze and shattered in Natalia.

————————————

Elvira had been having a dream.

It was a dream in which the Saints of the past appeared one after another.

The Saints handed bouquets of Maiden's Lilies to Elvira one after the other.

In the dream, Elvira was surrounded by flowers in no time at all.

The last one was a Saint in white. She did not have a bouquet of flowers and only pointed Elvira in one direction.

When she looked, she saw that the white road went on for a long way.

Go, Elvira thought.

That thought made her feel faint.

We had to hurry.

————————————

The events that took place at that time were to be talked about for years to come.

A great light shone down on the entire east tower, and even though it was sunny, a strong wind blew and eventually swirled around it.

Even the people who had been fighting with each other couldn't help but pay attention to the tower.

Changes were also taking place in the tower.

"Elvira?"

Rudolf muttered.

There was a light leaking from behind the door.

Natalia was silent and Alexander shouted,

"Elvira?! Are you coming out?"

"Shut up."

Just as Rudolf raised his sword to Alexander, the tower began to shake.

The wind was so strong that the outer walls began to collapse.

"Look out!"

"Run!"

"Your Highness! This way, please."

"No, not until we get Elvira!"

The crumbling bricks fell outside as well, and people fled.

Enduring the violent shaking, Rudolf left Alexander in the hands of Christopher.

"I'm coming."

Rudolf put his hand on the door and pulled as hard as he could.

Fresh blood dripped from his hand, but he didn't care, he tried to open the door.

The door did not budge.

The fresh blood at Rudolf's feet only spread.

Rudolf then tried to kick the door. Then,

Rattle, rattle, rattle!

The wall around the door collapsed first. Rudolph stepped in, carefully.

"Elvira?"

It was a strange sight.

Elvira, who had fallen asleep on her side, was floating in the air, surrounded by light.

"Rudolf-sama, be careful!"

Overhearing the words of his subjects, Rudolf went to catch Elvira.

Reaching out, Elvira dropped down and landed in Rudolf's arms.