episode_0100

Day 2 of the hunting festival.

Latri just walked around the hunting grounds with an empty look in his eyes and continued his meaningless hunting. Even though he hunted the beasts by throwing his sword like he used to do in his youth, the gloomy and uneasy feeling did not go away.

It was heavy and sticky, like a chain squeezing her chest. She couldn’t get rid of it even if she wanted to. She, like Raoul, didn’t know the name of the emotion.

The number of weapons she knows is probably greater than the number of emotions she can name.

“… Arthur. Please tell me. What is this feeling?”

Arthur Bergé was a wise man. He was a genius among geniuses who could answer any difficult question and surprise everyone. A husband like that would surely teach me the answer to my current feelings.

If he were wise, if he were kind, if he were ideal, he would surely answer.

But there was no answer. He was no longer in this world.

“You said you’d be with me for the rest of my life. You said you’d be by my side for the rest of my life, teaching me things I didn’t know. You said you’d protect me for the rest of my life.”

It was a pointless complaint. It was like spitting in my face. After all, Latri had also had an influence on his deteriorating health.

Even though Ratri knew that, he continued to blame himself by blaming himself. He thought that if he whipped himself like that, he would be able to forget that sticky unknown.

But no matter how much I whipped myself, nothing changed.

There was no way anything would change.

“… Of course. Even if you were to come back alive, you would hate someone like me. I am a selfish woman who didn’t even grant your last request. ”

Ratri looked at her wedding ring, which she had treasured with her husband, and smiled bitterly and sadly.

The happiness I felt on my wedding day. I felt exactly as much misery as that happiness.

Ratri took off her wedding ring and threw it far away over the bushes, for she was no longer worthy of his love.

So truly alone, she began to cross the forest in loneliness. Without a destination, without a reason to live, without the embers of love that had warmed her cold body.

Latri, who had been wandering for a long time without having lost everything, squeezed out an empty voice,

“So this is also inevitable.”

As Ratri glanced sideways, assassins with sharp knives appeared.

“They say he was once a famous knight. I guess it wasn’t just a rumor.”

“Young ones. I’ve been sweeping the battlefield with a sword before you’ve even held a blade.”

“… Yes. You are my senior. It is the etiquette of this world to show respect for your senior with a clean death.”

“It’s simple and clean, I like it.”

Ratri deliberately held his sword loosely.

He thought that if he were to be torn to pieces by them and killed, it would be a small atonement.

If he died so miserably, he also hoped that Raoul, who hated himself, would feel a little better.

And above all, there was no reason to continue this life.

“Come. I was already starting to get bored with dealing with beasts.”

Latri deliberately held his sword loosely as he fought the assassins. Judging by their skill, they were no ordinary assassins, but that didn’t matter.

Who could have held a grudge against her? It could have been Aaron Bergé, or someone who was jealous of Aaron Bergé, or someone who sought to profit from her death. But none of that mattered anymore.

After a moderate fight, she lost her sword and was tragically torn to pieces. She thought that was the punishment she deserved. It was the punishment given to a wicked woman who couldn’t even keep the will of her husband who saved her.

The loosely held sword finally flung out, and the assassin’s sharp dagger flew towards her, slicing into her skin.

“… Yeah. That should be right.”

Ratri closed his eyes.

In this dirty world, I met someone I loved, so I had no regrets, and since I betrayed that person, I didn’t deserve to live.

“Are you running away again?”

As a compassionate voice with a hint of intelligence was heard, drops of red blood splattered onto Ratri’s face.

“I happened to pass by and saw a familiar ring, so I followed it and this is what happened… Will these also count as points?”

“… you.”

“But the stench is so bad that it’s hard to get a high score. It would have been more fun to just catch rabbits.”

Empress Penelope smirked and glared at the assassins who had attacked Ratri.

His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were not.

“Even if you’re a hero, you can’t even walk on your own. You just get one more unexpected bonus.”

“Hahaha… I’m trying to control my swearing these days. You have to be careful not to swear too much.”

Even though the assassins pounced on her, the empress did not panic at all.

Today, after returning the sword to its scabbard, I fixed my posture.

“You’re holding a weapon in the middle of a fight, you must be dying!”

The moment the Empress pulled out the sword she had been holding, the body of one of the assassins who had clearly made the first move was split in half.

“What the heck…!”

“Are you surprised that he died in pieces like a fish? Huhuhu?”

She blocked other attacks with her scabbard, then turned the wheelchair around and struck her enemy in the chin with her scabbard.

“Well, my legs definitely became weaker because they became like this… But you guys didn’t get stronger, did you? ”

And then the Empress returned her sword to its scabbard, drew it again, and swept away all the other assassins around her with one blow.

“……Your Highness the Empress.”

“Oh my. Why don’t you just call me ‘Sitting Cow’ like you usually do?”

“…….”

Ratri was once jealous of the empress. He envied the empress who was able to overcome adversity unlike himself, and he felt like he was becoming insignificant.

“Thank you for saving me. In that case, I guess I’ll take my leave now…”

“There’s no need to hear my thanks. They were meant to die anyway, right? What’s the point of saving them? I just killed them because I felt bad.”

“…… I don’t think Your Highness cares whether I live or die. No. Rather, Your Highness would be happy if I died.”

Ratri looked into the Empress’s calm eyes and shook his hands.

How did he not shrink? How did he remain so confident? How did he remain so upright despite suffering the same pain as me?

“… I had friends.”

And the Empress, who saw through Ratri’s thoughts, smiled and told him the answer.

“I was able to endure because I had friends who looked at me as I am. I am not that strong. It is all thanks to them. Raul was one of them.”

“….”

“There are many people who are in a harder situation than you. Not all of them are like you. There are many who have suffered more than you and have lived bravely. The only reason you have been broken is because you are weak.”

Ratri tried to accept the words without denying them.

“… I will never say that kind of shit even if I die.”

“Yes…?”

“Just as your sins should not be forgiven just because you suffered, your suffering should not be taken lightly just because you committed a sin.”

The Empress quietly approached and placed the wedding ring back on Ratri’s hand.

“Your love is the same. Sin is sin. Pain is pain. Love should be seen as love. Don’t throw it away. It’s a pretty ring and a wonderful love, right?”

“Your Highness… I… No, I…!”

“Latri Bergé. I forgive you for everything you’ve said about me.”

Hot liquid began to flow from Ratri’s eyes.

“I won’t ask you to take away your hatred. I won’t ask you to forget your wounds. They are unforgettable and unerasable. I understand you, Latri Bergé.”

The Empress spoke with a bright smile befitting a young lady of her age, rather than her usual intelligent and dignified smile.

“Please, look at my friend Raoul not as the son of an enemy, but as Raoul Bergé. As Raoul Bergé, who devoted himself to you, leaving behind all favors. Just as my friends did to me.”

“It’s already too late… That kid…”

“It might be too late. It would be better to do something before then. And the Raul I know… doesn’t turn away the hand of someone who has truly repented.”

Ratri fell to her knees in tears.

And the Empress comforted Ratri by giving her a warm hug. It was something she would not have done if Ratri had not shown even a little bit of remorse.

But the Empress was a gentle person. She believed that everyone should be given a chance.

That’s why I tried to make them realize the sadness in their hearts.

It is clear that Ratri’s mental pain, now that she has become aware of her sadness, will only get worse in the future.

The Empress wished that Ratri would wash away her sins with her tears, for she believed that only sorrow and tears could wash away sins.

“You are clearly guilty about your son. As for other things…”

Ratri affectionately patted Ratri’s back as he burst into tears.

“You did nothing wrong. How can it be your fault that your purity was trampled? You deserve to be comforted, but this country is trash. So… please don’t pass on the hate you received.”

“… Okay… I will do that.”

“Please don’t die as a bad mother. One miserable nickname is enough.”

As the Empress spoke, her expression began to look sad.

Then Ratri burst into tears and spoke in a voice so small that no one could hear.

“I’m enough to die as a bad mother.”

The Empress recalled the chess records she had left alone just a moment ago.

At the end of the fight, the old bishop defeated the knight.

But the enemies still had the king and the rook.

It would normally be a very foolish move considering the value, but she gave up her queen in exchange for the rook.

From a game perspective, it was crazy, but life isn’t a game.

What had to be given up was not a simple object.

That is why the Empress wanted to give up the old and broken Queen.

“… The strategic value of the piece is only a part of the game.”

The empress carefully stroked her belly.

“If I had to give one… I would be the best with my broken leg. And I’m sorry for being such a mother. I will repay that sin in hell.”

Real war could not be expressed in terms of chess.

But if there’s one thing they have in common, it’s that nothing comes without sacrifice.

“It would be another bad thing to do to Raoul…but it’s also atonement for killing Leila.”