CH 5

“Come in.”

I opened the door and went inside the cabin. Wherever Delphina went, only Merilly was playing with toys in the middle of the living room.

“This child!”

Kriella, who had been frowning as if she was entering a garbage dump, suddenly pushed me away and made her way to Merilly with rough steps. Her eyes flashed like a beast with its prey in front of her eyes.

“Brilliant silver hair!” She screamed in a shrill voice and held the child tightly.

“Mam?”

“It’s definitely my son’s seed.”

Merilly opened her eyes wide like a rabbit and stared at Kriella as if observing her.

“But I have to make sure.”

Kriella took a dagger out of her arms. It was a small dagger with a golden jewel at the end, engraved with a lily of the valley.

“Ma-Madam…?”

Before I could stop her, she sliced Merilly’s forearm slightly.

“Merilly!”

“Huaaaang!” The tearful cry of the baby filled the cabin.

“What are you doing now…!”

A brilliant light flowed from the jewel Kriella was holding.

“Indeed. The seed of my son.” The corners of her mouth curved meanly.

A look of astonishment fell on Magorit’s face, who had followed them. Merilly was a baby born around the time he was making love and dating her. From her point of view, Lobelia was a lowly woman, and Merilly was just an illegitimate child. There was no way they would look good in her eyes.

“Lobelia!”

After hearing Merilly’s cry, Delphina, who was preparing the baby’s meal, rushed in.

“Delphina!”

Delphina’s face turned white when she saw the red blood, the crying Merilly, and the strange woman. Fearlessly, she reached out her hand to the crying Merilly in Kriella’s arms.

“Merilly!”

“Delphina, this is…!”

It was the moment when I was about to explain Kriella, fearing that Delphina would be hostile to her.

“Now, everyone here…” Kriella smiled and ordered the knights who had come with us. “Kill them.”

The knights drew their swords in unison and cut Delphina first at once.

“Argh!”

“Delphina!”

A tearful scream resounded sharply. My misjudgment was creating a cruel and brutal hell before my eyes.

“No…!”

I held on to Delphina’s body as she collapsed, bleeding. Then I hurriedly grabbed my pendant. But as if something

She held onto Delphina’s bleeding body first.

Then I grabbed my pendant in a hurry. However, as if something didn’t go my way, my forehead was wrinkled.

“Now, it’s her turn.”

The knights approached me menacingly. A scream mixed with anger flowed from my lips as I came to my senses belatedly. “Why, why on earth!”

“What do you mean why?” Kriella raised one corner of her mouth meanly and continued as if that’s how it should be. “It’s not even funny to say that you’re his concubine when you’re only a commoner. Besides, how dare you give birth to a child first before his wife?”

The corners of her mouth, which had risen meanly, slowly regained their place. Her face was colder than the ice sheet.

“Hmph, cheeky thing.”

My hands trembled as I caught Delphina’s body. There was no emotion in the eyes that looked down at me. Just like looking down at ants crawling on the ground, it seemed I was nothing more than that to her. Thick drops of tears finally fell from my eyes.

“Did it because… I forcibly took your son…?”

“What?”

“Or because I kidnapped and imprisoned him!”

Without fear, my bloodshot eyes glared fiercely at Kriella. “I’m the one who is dumbfounded by Endrew!”

His name was a lie. The victim was me. He was less than trash and nothing more than a cheater. But why should Delphina, who was my benefactor, have to die? Why should Merilly and I go through this hardship?

Wiping away my flowing tears, I continued to glare at her. “No, Marquis Endimion didn’t tell me anything. You saw it clearly earlier. He crazily talks about loving both of us…!”

“You’re talking about being a victim on the subject of being a commoner? It’s because my son is a very loving person.”

Kriella’s stern and cruel answer cut my heart. My eyes twitched because of the absurdity.

“What, did you say…?”

“I have nothing more to say to dirty people like you. Just die already.”

At Kriella’s order, the knights were about to attack me again. My eyes changed instantly.

“I can’t just die quietly.”

I quickly pulled out the dagger I had hidden under the sofa. A strange aura rose from the dagger with strange patterns carved on the handle.

“…Mana tool?”

“Give back Merilly!”

I swiftly approached Kriella, who furrowed her eyebrows slightly, then snatched Merilly away.

“No! Take the child!” Kriella screamed in a shrill voice.

I was blocked by the knights of Marquis Hamilton. As I swung the dagger at them, a crescent-thin blue mana floated in front of them. The dazzlingly shining mana became a boomerang and slashed them all at once.

“Uaaaaaargh!”

“How could!”

All the knights who followed me died. Surprised, Kriella stupidly opened her mouth.

“You touched the wrong person.”

“How did you get that mana tool?”

In the same context as the mana tunnel became the exclusive property of the nobles, the mana tools were unimaginably precious and expensive items for commoners.

How could that woman have something like that? Kriella’s eyes narrowed to the side. Her eyes, which had been looking at her as if she was something dirty, slowly scanned Lobelia’s appearance. When she thought of it, Lobelia’s eyes were very clear. It tickled her mind as if she couldn’t remember someone she had met on a midsummer day.

“If you let me go, I won’t harm anyone anymore.”

It was an earnest tone that did not go with the threat. However, no answer was received from Kriella. Thinking that it was a positive reaction, I turned around. Only then did Kriella’s lips slowly open.

“You won’t hurt anyone?” A sarcastic tone pointed sharply at me.

“I’m glad my personality is meticulous.”

In front of my eyes,

“Plenty of knights are willing to give their lives for Hamilton.”

More knights were surrounding the cabin than before.

I grinned my teeth. If the charged mana ran out, the mana tool could no longer be used. I don’t have much mana left…!  I swung my dagger at random with the intent to escape by creating a gap.

“Urgh!”

The blue mana created by me ran wild like a beast.

“That one!”

However, no matter how many mana tools I had, it was a burdensome task for a woman alone to handle elite knights who specialized in combat. In addition, the mana of the dagger that had been charged for a long time quickly faded. As the blue light faded, the rest of the knights approached me with even more stern faces.

“Take the baby away.”

At the same time as Kriella’s coercive order, they took Merilly away harshly.

“No, Merilly!”

“Mama…!”

Frightened, Merilly stretched out her hands toward her mother. Kriella covered the child’s eyes with a handkerchief and said coldly, as if she didn’t get a single handful of sympathy from that look, “Don’t just kill her. I’d rather you torture her to the point of begging to die… then kill her.”

“Yes, Madam.”

“No! No…!”

I resisted with all I might. But no matter how much I stretched out my hand, I couldn’t reach my child’s tiny hand. The hand I had reached for Merilly was soon brutally bent by the knights’ attack.

“You bitch!”

“Huaang!”

Leaving behind Lobelia, who was mercilessly trampled by the knights, Kriella carried Merilly and proudly climbed onto the carriage.

The cry of the child, who had been crying so much, gradually drifted away from my ears. I couldn’t even tell which parts of my body were healthy and which ones were injured. My whole body was tattered like rags, and my heart was torn apart without a single piece left. It wasn’t until I was completely limp, as if dead, that the knights turned away from me.

The suffocating silence enveloped the barely breathing me. Even in pain worse than death, I slowly got up. My eyes turned to Delphina’s body, which had been cold.

I’m sorry, Delphina. She did nothing wrong but lost her life because of me. It was only right for me as a human being to bury Delphina’s body to rest. But I was a mother before I was a human. Get Merilly back. I will definitely come back here.

I tried to turn my body around. Contrary to my spirit, my pupils dilated weekly, and my limbs were numb. My vision was just like a drunk person. It was when I was only a few steps away.

“Are you okay?”

At the clear voice, my head turned upward very slowly. Standing in front of me was none other than Magorit.