Good dreams.
Yeah.
That face.
If you had known I was Erinsyia, you should have had a face filled with screams and agony.
Just like I did, sweating profusely as if facing the fires of hell.
If you had, I would never have slapped you.
It’s all your fault.
《I-I’m sorry…. Your Grace.》
《Apologizing on your knees but they seem too stiff? Elden?》
Thud!
Yes, you should have knelt so hard that your knees were crushed on the floor of the hall.
《I beg you like this. Please forgive me.》
《Hohoho. Right. Now it seems you have finally descended to where you should be.》
《For trash like me, it’s the rightful place.》
This is it.
How delightful.
Self-reflection?
That’s something you should do in front of me, not by yourself.
Like a sinner confessing to a priest, you should have done it in front of me.
《Yes. But don’t belittle yourself too much.》
《Huh? What do you mean?》
《Compared to other trash, your stench is less foul.》
And the judgment and mercy for your sins should have been decided by me.
I, who was the victim of violence and ridicule, should have done it.
Not you, but me.
《Do you mean…?》
《Yes. If you seek mercy, you can receive it much lighter and faster than other trash.》
If the weight of sin is light, then it’s natural to pay a light price for it.
That’s what I thought.
The stench of other trash was so foul that I couldn’t get near without holding my nose.
Just as the worse the stench, the harder it is to remove, the stench you emit would come out easier than other trash.
But you, you’re saying you want to run away without even paying that light price.
《So? Do you want mercy from me?》
《I will try. To be forgiven by the Lady Erinsyia, I will endure and accept whatever you command.》
Hohoho.
Yes, that’s how you should have come.
How pleasing to see?
What a heartwarming sight?
The perpetrator sincerely pleading for mercy from the victim.
Desperately wishing to become my husband in the end.
A frog in the well realizing there’s no eternal strongman.
The enlightenment that evil deeds’ karma will someday choke oneself.
How eagerly I’ve waited for this moment.
《Anything you’ll do?》
《Yes. I will take any punishment gladly.》
《Puhuh. Then… will you roll on the ground like a dog as I did?》
《Yes.》
Roll, roll, roll.
Puhuh.
Really rolling like a dog.
So funny.
《Next, how about barking like a dog?》
《Woof woof!》
《Puhut, the sound is good, but did you forget dogs walk on all fours?》
Bending his legs and stretching out his arms to touch the ground, Elden barks like a dog.
《Woof woof! Bow wow!》
That sight is so ridiculous and pathetic, yet at the same time, thinking that Deron’s gang must have looked at me like this, my heart aches and stings.
But I’m happy.
Elden Raphelion, the villain’s act of penance is more touching and moving than I expected, making it worth the wait.
《I like your determination to atone without hesitation. Then let’s see how far that determination goes?》
《If I can be forgiven by Erinsyia and betrothed to the Duchess of Ramiang, I would even face death.》
Hohoho.
You have an excellent mindset.
Honestly, it’s more than I expected.
If you keep that mindset to the end, maybe what you wish for will come true.
《Then, would you like to try the monster cuisine you so despised? I prepared it with great care.》
《….》
《What? Is your determination not strong enough to overcome your disgust?》
《N-No. I will eat it gratefully.》
Elden eats the monster cuisine.
Soon, his face turns red and he starts gagging.
I heard you talking at the academy.
You guys said monster cuisine was disgusting and filthy garbage.
You said you couldn’t understand the barbaric bastards who cooked and ate such hideous things.
You almost vomited just from seeing it, you said, Elden.
So I prepared this feast diligently.
So naturally, you should eat it with difficulty, gagging.
Not eating it delightfully like a delicacy, but like the other trash, eating it with vomiting.
Just like now.
How delightful to see?
《Ugh… I-I ate well….》
《Hooh. You proved your resolve wasn’t just bluff. If you marry me, you might have to eat it all your life, are you okay with that?》
《If I can atone by your side, I don’t mind anything.》
Yes.
That’s right.
Elden Raphelion, that’s how you should be.
If you truly want to atone, it’s only natural to do it by my side.
You knew that too, right?
You noticed what even I didn’t realize about my heart, didn’t you?
You sought the chance to become a part of the Winterfell family through a light atonement, right?
If so, I’m really glad.
You made the right decision.
《Hohoho. It would have been so nice if you had done this earlier.》
《It was my fault. If my anger can be soothed, I will even roll in the fires of hell.》
《Even if my side is that fire of hell?》
《I will endure it gladly.》
Hohoho.
Yes.
You were that kind of person.
Always fought against everything.
You didn’t avoid any fights that came your way.
So naturally, you wouldn’t back down from the fight I picked either.
Right?
Hahaha.
“Miss? Are you awake?”
Haha.
“…Why, why are you laughing?”
Haha.
“Miss…? Did you have a good dream?”
Ha.
Another dream about Elden.
……….
…….
…
Yeah.
It was a good dream for once.
**
“What kind of… dream did you have that made you laugh in your sleep?”
Marien asked as she sat on the bed.
Unlike that day when her entire body was drenched in sweat from a nightmare, her lady’s face was as pure white as it was before she slept.
Marien didn’t know whether that light was fortunate or unfortunate.
“….”
Ramiang silently caressed her left hand.
The hand that had slapped Elden, the hand she had injured herself, was wrapped in bandages.
She had told Marien it was cut by a broken plate.
Her palm throbbed.
She didn’t know if the throbbing was from pain or some new sensation.
Smirk.
With one corner of her mouth lifted, Ramiang moved her cracked lips.
“Yes. It was a good dream. For once.”
“…That’s… a relief, right?”
Ramiang smiled again at Marien’s question.
Seeing her smile look so lonely and bitter, Marien had to swallow a sigh.
She was so startled yesterday.
Marien had screamed when she saw her lady’s hand covered in blood as she came out of the hall.
“What’s the relief in anything now?”
“…Is your hand okay?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good…. Please have some of this.”
Marien offered her a cup of winter flower tea.
It was the tea she always sought when she needed to calm her mind and body, whenever the pain from that day throbbed.
But the lady didn’t take a sip of the tea she was given.
“Aren’t… you going to drink it? Please have at least a little.”
“I’m fine.”
In the end, the lady set the teacup down.
She had never done this before.
She always sought this tea when she needed comfort and rest.
Could it be… that she no longer needs them?
Marien looked anxiously at her lady’s complexion.
The eyes that once held a clear blue coast now seemed as dark and deep as an abyss.
She thought the light would return after a good night’s sleep, but it was the same as yesterday.
“Miss…? How about stopping this now?”
Marien cautiously asked.
In response, Ramiang looked at the window where the brilliant sunlight shone in.
The window was particularly dazzling with sunlight today.
Ramiang pressed her right hand on the palm of her bandaged left hand as she answered.
Again, with a smile.
“How can I stop?”
“…What?”
Instead of a direct answer, a cryptic question came back, and Marien understood the deep darkness in her lady’s eyes with the words that followed.
“I haven’t even started yet.”
Only Elden Raphelion, the son of the Count Raphelion, could return the brilliant light to her lady’s dark eyes.
And his official withdrawal declaration and the emergence of the pardon treaty darkened her lady’s eyes even further.
Marien couldn’t stop her lady from storming out upon hearing the news.
Bang!
Crash!
The door to the central office slammed open with a thunderous noise.
Ramiang stormed into Gelwood’s office and called out to him with a furious voice.
It was the first time she had shown such fierce hostility.
“Gelwood-!!”
Gelwood, who had anticipated the visit of the harbinger of collapse, greeted her with a solemn expression.
He, who had made a life-changing decision to prevent the collapse foreseen by the cracks, faced the harbinger of that collapse.
“You’ve arrived, Your Grace.”
“Are you crazy?! Who gave you the right to pardon Elden? I haven’t forgiven him yet, so who gave you the right to forgive him?!”
“Calm yourself. His Highness the Grand Duke delegated all decision-making authority to me before he left for the capital.”
“What?”
“I did not pardon him out of my own will. It was simply the outcome of what was already determined. Elden told me everything. Please, I beg of you, stop this now.”
They keep telling me to stop when I haven’t even started.
Ramiang, who had to fight alone in a never-ending disaster, couldn’t understand what they wanted her to stop.
It was a fight directed at the void, an empty struggle with no one to receive it.
That b*tch tweakin 😭😭😭😭
She has been filled with hate 😱
Thanks for the chapter 😁