episode_0046

Daejeon has become so cold that even death seems to freeze.

Lemien, Deron, and Blund remained in the match where Elden took part.

no.

It was left behind.

Lemian, who had been sitting on the floor with a miserable face, struggles to stand up.

once.

He stumbled greatly, and was able to prevent himself from falling again by quickly holding on to the round table.

“… .”

With my right hand resting on the round table, I open my left hand and look down at my palm.

It was the hand that had slapped Elden.

The blazing heat still lingers.

The tingling pain still remains.

The miserable feeling still persisted.

Clean hands that had never inflicted violence on anyone were conveying such a foreign and dirty sensation.

The hand that resembled what he wanted to resemble so much, the hand that did what had tormented him so much, was disgusting and hateful.

Wow.

I clenched my fist.

I clenched my fists so hard that my nails dug into my palms and blood oozed out.

I felt pain digging into my skin, but strangely, it didn’t hurt.

I bit my molars.

A blood clot appeared on my neck.

As if whipping himself, he tightly clenched his fist, even wrapping his right hand around his left hand.

I opened my hand.

Red juice is gushing out of the crushed skin.

“… P.”

Lemien mutters absentmindedly.

The same thing happened to the wound on Elden’s cheek.

It wasn’t just a slap in the face, I saw his blood.

Of course, the wounds and blood are incomparable to what she suffered as Erincia, but the despair of broken faith leaves a scar that cannot be erased with just one scratch.

I lowered my hand.

I tilted my head helplessly.

The chandelier on the ceiling is emitting gorgeous and bright light.

Eat.

A laugh came out.

By now, I should have been enjoying the moment that would shine brighter than the light of that chandelier, and by now I should have been smiling cheerfully rather than in vain laughter, but what I was letting out was a vain laugh, and all I was enjoying was extreme regret.

How did it get to this point?

Where did it get twisted?

Why did I leave the words that I hope you are happy?

Why do you hope that you will no longer be miserable because of yourself?

How can you have such an undeserved wish when you have no qualifications?

And why on earth do those wishes seem sincere?

“Happiness… Ira… .”

Lemian, who pondered Elden’s wishes with a fierce expression, looked down at Deron and Blund.

Smirk.

When I looked at those miserable faces that had faces that were similar to Erincia’s, I let out a helpless laugh.

It was funny to see the two of them as if they were representing my miserable situation.

It’s foolish to see yourself obsessing over one obnoxious flea and burning down the entire stable, and it’s funny to hope that you will consider your wounds the same way you did Marien.

and.

It was truly absurd that the marriage proposal to Elden contained such a weak sincerity that I burst into laughter.

Again and again.

Lemian swept the round table with his blood-stained left hand and approached Deron and Blund.

“You guys would be great.”

Lemien’s voice resonates softly in the crushing silence.

As the voice gets closer, Deron and Blund’s faces show the same despair as Erincia’s.

“Yes, yes… ?”

“It can only be good. This doubles the chances of being forgiven.”

Lemien stood in front of the two kneeling people.

The blue eyes, once brilliant like the sun-drenched sea, have lost their light and have turned dark blue, and have lost their way, wandering aimlessly in the vast sea.

Instead of the lost light, there was a dark feeling of loss and regret.

There is thick sea fog on the lost road, making it impossible to see an inch ahead.

Eyes that had lost everything looked down at the two hands resting on the floor.

My hands got dirty from eating food greedily.

Their hands are as ugly as their ugly humanity.

It was always like that.

Please don’t step on my hand.

Because I have to study.

Because I have to research.

Because I have to record it.

I begged you not to step on my hand, but you only treated that plea as a mockery.

Again.

“Would you like to see how well you can tolerate it? The one who can endure well will be the winner of today’s face-to-face ceremony.”

Lemien took a step closer and stepped on the back of Blund’s hand with the heel of his shoe.

The pointed heel of the shoe digs mercilessly into the back of my hand.

“Kwaaah !”

Blund was in agony, twisting his entire body like a squid being bent over.

I pressed harder, as if whipping myself for turning a clear pond into mud while trying to catch a loach.

“Please… ! It hurts so much! ”

I lifted my foot.

The hollowed back of my hand was visible.

moved to the side

I could see the fear-stricken face of Deron, the instigator and the starting point of all this.

He stomped on the back of Deron’s hand, expressing his resentment toward Elden, who had desperately rejected the helping hand offered at the Academy and ran away after rejecting the helping hand desperately offered during the Battle of Marriage.

“Off… !!”

So that it breaks.

To be crushed.

The belief that you are different from them.

The belief that I will not engage in violence like them.

It was Lemian who mercilessly trampled on the back of Deron’s hand, as if trampling on his own beliefs that were shattered with a single slap.

And I thought.

okay.

You want me to be happy?

don’t worry.

Because at the end of this revenge, I will be happy.

Just as you laugh at the wish you achieved, you will become happier than anyone else.

Try running away somewhere.

Because I will watch with my own eyes to see if there is hope waiting for me in the place I run away to, or if regret is waiting for me.

“Off… !!”

Try running away until the end.

Do you think I’ll miss you?

**

There is a saying that all history takes place at night.

Night, distinguished from day by light and darkness, ends today and begins tomorrow through its own rules.

Night was a time of violence and plunder, when things that could not be done during the day were done in secret, and it was also a time of fear for those who followed superstitions.

Therefore, in some regions, public oppression called a curfew was implemented to protect their people in the dangerous darkness.

Rest and anxiety.

It was night that planned tomorrow through the two sides of the day, and Gelwood was afraid of tomorrow through anxiety.

The tomorrow of the marriage war that led to catastrophe made even the elderly, who had become insensitive to crises after going through prenatal hardships, experience anxiety.

and.

When Prince Elden walked through the night and arrived at his office, it seemed to Gelwood that his anxiety had become reality.

The things held in my hands and drawn on my cheeks seemed to contain something ominous beyond anxiety.

yet.

The things in my hand began to go onto the table one by one.

The note was unfolded.

In response to a question about concerns about the nominee, the message that was said to only contain support went beyond concerns and was a violation of the rules by containing secrets about the second evaluation match.

I couldn’t find anything to say.

One mana record has been uploaded.

It contained a rule violation in which three candidates posed a threat to the personal safety of one candidate.

I was at a loss for words.

One mana record has been uploaded.

It showed that the watcher, who had expressed concern that if the tail was long, would get stepped on, had his tail stepped on.

It involved an ethical violation of officially removing the shackles of the judging panel and carrying out secret surveillance unofficially.

I had nothing to say.

And finally.

“This is the scar left behind by the Grand Duchess.”

When the final candidate was informed of the ethical violation of inflicting violence on a single person, Gelwood had to bow his head on behalf of the Grand Dukes of Winterfell.

Of course, a single stabbing inflicted on a person suspected of harming Erincia is not a big problem, but the circumstances he had were enough to cause problems for the family’s tradition and the largest festival in the Northern Territory, so he had no choice but to bow his head.

Furthermore.

Because he was an abstainer who officially announced his withdrawal before the final evaluation match began.

Even though there was no provision to detain an abstentionist, the Grand Duchess’s stubbornness was detaining him, and if he suffered enormous damage as a result, he had no choice but to bow his head.

which.

There was no choice but to officially approve the two remaining three candidates.

“… What do you wish for?”

“There is only one thing I wish for.”

Elden took out a piece of paper from his pocket.

It was a piece of paper with several provisions written on it and a seal at the end.

“This… What is it?”

Elden, with a faint smile, looked at the Grand Duke of Winterfell’s seal on Gelwood’s desk.

“This is the ideal that we both desire.”

Absolution from original sins that were not committed.

An apology for original sin, even though it was not committed.

Liberation from unjust detention and unjust oppression.

The obligation to perform what was promised in return.

A possessed person who became a villain overnight did his best.

The right of humans to live as humans.

The will of a free person to pursue romance and rest.

and.

A fair escape from the whoopee house.

It was the paper that contained it all, and it was truly the fulfillment of a long-awaited wish.

next day.

The public schedule for the remaining 7 days of the wedding match will be converted to a completely closed schedule for personal reasons.