Chapter 56: Aftermath – 1

Chapter 56: Aftermath – 1

The first thing that burst into the room was Lucia, in a state of utter devastation I had never witnessed before.

Her consciousness was so faint it was visibly fading in real-time, and a stab wound had practically split her body in half.

The armor I had gifted her was already torn in two, its power lost, and her hands were covered in wounds.

Her eyes, struggling to stay open but slowly closing, were losing their vitality,

And her distinctive fresh mint-colored hair was turning an ominous shade with the flowing blood.

And then… the man who had been moving just moments ago, and the perfectly intact door leading to the Duke’s room.

Putting all of that together… it wasn’t hard to deduce one fact.

But none of that registered in my eyes.

“Lu-Lucia…? Really…? N-no, right……?”

Lucia’s words, ‘Aren’t you too late?’, echoed in my ears.

At the same time, the man’s body, whose arm I had just severed with my sword, came into view.

He wasn’t dead yet, only unconscious… but he was clearly a man who would commit suicide as soon as he regained consciousness.

“You… you, how dare you!!”

I knew it was pointless, and I knew that keeping him alive a little longer would allow me to extract more information.

But… I simply couldn’t calm down.

I sincerely wished for the man, who lay helplessly unconscious before me, to suffer even a little more, and I raised my sword… but

The man’s physical condition was no different from Lucia’s.

His appearance, directly scorched by fire and electricity, and his left arm, cleanly severed by my earnest sword strike, already indicated that he had only a few minutes left to live.

And… at the same time, it told me that Lucia had even less time remaining.

“Ha, hahaha…”

All strength drained from my body.

I saw Lucia’s eyes slowly, but surely, closing.

And… my pathetic sword, which had done nothing until Lucia ended up in this state.

…I wish I had learned healing magic like the priests, instead of this useless sword.

Even at this moment, there was nothing I could do but wait for the priests I had urgently called.

First aid? What could I do for such deep wounds, and with the injuries already severely worsened?

Revenge? That man was already on the verge of death. It would be better to let him feel himself dying in real-time.

“…I should have thought of you first, not my father.”

She had smiled and said she was anxious and wanted to sleep at the Duke’s mansion tonight.

At that, I told her not to worry, that I would protect her.

Why, then, was it already too late when I arrived?

“Why…? Why do all the people who try to stay by my side end up like this…?”

My mother, and Lucia.

Why do all the people who try to see me as ‘Christie’ instead of ‘Duchess’ end up like this?

I gently picked up the limp Lucia.

……Her body, as always, was so light.

But unlike that time when I felt a warm presence, now she was only cold.

…Like the countless corpses I had seen.

“I, I’m sorry… I should have watched over you and protected you, no matter what…”

My voice was fading.

As if something was caught in my throat.

……It didn’t take long to realize that it was crying.

“So… please… please don’t leave like this…!”

A cry that was half-scream.

However, that cry did not reach Lucia.

As if betraying all those words, I felt the last vestiges of strength and warmth leave Lucia’s body.

Therefore, I hugged Lucia even tighter.

Sincerely wishing and praying that this frail girl in my arms would wake up again.

***

Late at night, an attack began just as I had fallen into a light sleep.

It was… by no means a half-hearted attack.

It was an attack by those who had been trained for a long time, and who knew the Duke’s family all too well.

It wasn’t difficult to overcome a surprise attack from enemies on par with high-level Knights.

I hadn’t grown up weak, and I was still training every day to gain my father’s recognition.

But… it was difficult to neutralize multiple enemies of high-level Knight caliber in a short amount of time, with no weapons, just my bare fists.

The enemies knew that all too well.

…And they also knew all too well that, apart from those on guard duty and myself, there was no one with proper combat power in this mansion.

Father? My father wasn’t weak, but he wouldn’t be able to handle attackers who were so determined.

Servants? With almost no connection to combat, knowing nothing beyond basic self-defense, how could they possibly stop surprise attackers?

Lucia, who came as a guest? Even if she carried a lot of potions, I didn’t think she could face the attackers with her frail body.

Rather… I even thought it would be fortunate if she didn’t get caught by the attackers and suffer something terrible.

Therefore, I thought.

That the purpose of this attack was my father, not me.

To target Lucia, they knew too much about the Duke’s family, and

They wouldn’t have taken the risk of attacking the Duke’s family like this in the first place.

If they had targeted me, much more skilled individuals would have attacked me.

Not these people who were struggling to buy time and were falling one by one to my fists.

Therefore, only the Duke, my father, remained.

…Because there were certainly not a few people who prayed with folded hands for my father to die and for the Duke’s family to falter.

Therefore, their first move was to attack me and buy time so I couldn’t go to my father.

When that thought occurred to me, instead of fighting them, I rushed to a device installed inside the room.

…A device created and whose purpose was only known to me, after my mother was murdered over a decade ago.

It was a device to warn each other of danger, and a device to open a secret passage connecting my father’s room and my room, unknown to anyone.

Naturally, activating that device was by no means easy.

The attackers standing brazenly before me wouldn’t just stand by and watch me do anything.

In the first place, I was inevitably defenseless while activating the device, so I could only activate it after defeating them to some extent.

……Honestly, I thought it would be a miracle if my father was still alive.

With no proper combat personnel in the mansion, and me being delayed by the attackers for over ten minutes, my father would have been more than assassinated.

But my father arrived in my room, perfectly fine, and even fully armed.

Perhaps surprised by the Duke’s unexpected appearance, the attackers quickly tried to flee… but my father and I successfully captured them.

It took a little time, but both my father and I were happy that we had overcome a major crisis.

……Unaware that that little bit of time was the source of all disaster.

In fact, I should have realized from the start that my father had arrived unharmed, and that he was unaware of the attack.

When a strange shock was transmitted from the top floor of the mansion, where my father’s room was, I should have immediately rushed to check.

Because I was so relieved that my father was safe and that we had captured the attackers alive, I thought about Lucia too late.

In my anxiety that the attackers might have attacked Lucia on their way to attack my father, I went to the guest room and found a small note.

‘…I’m sorry for leaving in a hurry. I saw things that shouldn’t be in this mansion right before my eyes. I always… hope you, unnie, are happy with your family.’

At that time, I didn’t understand those words at once.

What shouldn’t be in the mansion, and what it meant for me to be happy with my family.

……Until I heard a new voice shouting from the top floor of the mansion again.

Only then did I realize that Lucia had seen the attackers and had rushed to the top floor to protect my father, who was their target.

The clumsily open window and the words wishing me happiness with my family,

And my father, who was perfectly fine despite me being delayed by the attackers for a long time.

Lucia… had gone to stop the attackers, knowing she would be in danger.

To buy time so that my father wouldn’t be helplessly assassinated.

My father, who belatedly understood the note and the situation, also showed an expression of panic for the first time.

“……It must have been thanks to this child that I was able to survive.”

“Quickly, I have to go…!”

“Christie? Where are you… Christie!”

From that moment on, I think I half-lost my sanity.

Only the thought of having to go save Lucia on the top floor dominated my mind.

I sprinted to the top floor of the mansion at my fastest possible speed.

There were obstacles everywhere, perhaps the work of the attackers, hindering the ascent to the top floor, but I simply smashed them all.

Normally, I would have calmly gone around, but this was absolutely not a normal situation.

The second person I had met in my life who saw me as ‘Christie’ rather than ‘Duchess’ or ‘value’… and the only one among the living.

Because it was obvious that such a person was in danger of dying.

At the same time, I held a very small hope.

That in a moment of crisis, I might arrive at the top floor where Lucia was and save her.

A hope that, unlike my mother, I could save her with my own hands.

……However, all that hope was shattered as I approached the top floor.

Lucia’s clear scream.

Lucia, who rarely even said she was in pain for most things, was screaming in agony.

…That alone proved that the situation was already serious.

So I broke down the door leading to the top floor and swung my sword at the man in front of me, but what actually caught my eye was the dying Lucia.

With a very faint, but smiling, remark about whether I wasn’t too late.

The man she had been fighting was already practically killed by her, and Lucia herself was practically dead.

Nevertheless, I could do nothing.

Because I truly could do nothing.

I just felt so suffocated at this moment, and I cursed myself so much.

To have called her a precious person and even promised to protect her, yet all I could do was beg her not to die and hold her cooling body.

I could do nothing but pray and cry, wishing someone would grant my desperate wish for Lucia not to die.

……

……

“Oh…? Why is this…?”

And the next moment, the brooch in my pocket, which my mother had given me in the past, began to glow.

The brooch my mother had received as a gift when she first came to the Duke’s family, said to grant one’s most earnest wish just once in a lifetime, and the only gift my mother had given me.

The brooch I had kept as my mother’s keepsake, having concluded it had no effect because it never responded, even though I wished every day for my mother to be brought back to life.

That brooch… began to glow for the first time.