Transmigrated Into A Tragic Romance Fantasy – Chapter 52

    Immortal, Selfless, Untouched, Uncorrupted

    Count Louis Vellaon.

    He was a man deeply rooted in the Duchy of Demisia, a patriarch of a common count’s family with one son and one daughter. The Vellaon family was not renowned, but it had remained steady without facing any major crises, never having to beg or hear pleas from others.

    Count Louis Vellaon was often praised by the nearby commoners for his commendable reputation. His only son also held a favorable reputation, adhering well to the noble teaching that one must know how to hide the truth and use lies.

    Louis took pride in raising his son without malice, believing this was the reason his son had the honor of becoming a final candidate in the marriage contest with the third Northern Grand Duchess. Louis dreamed that the Vellaon family might shine with a bright future, backed by the powerful Winterfell family.

    That is, if his son’s departure had not been untimely.

    “…Father!”

    Kyle Vellaon.

    The son who had departed with hopes of becoming the family’s pride had returned in disgrace. Looking disheveled and ragged, he had come back even before the marriage contest had ended.

    And the son pleaded to him.

    “There was a preselected candidate…! So, I just withdrew. I’m sorry for not meeting your expectations…!”

    “……”

    Count Louis Vellaon looked at his pale-faced son. His gaze was so fierce that Kyle couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. When his father silently took out a letter and threw it in front of him, Kyle realized that things were not going as he had hoped.

    “F-Father…? What is this…?”

    “Read it. And answer. Is everything written there true?”

    “W-What…?”

    Kyle hastily picked up the letter and started reading. After a moment, he cried out.

    “It’s a lie-!! It’s a blatant lie meant to slander me-!”

    He had to deny it. The contents of the letter were a damning truth from which he had run away, denying his own disgrace.

    And his father said, “Did I teach you to hide the truth with such a flimsy lie? And do you dare try to deceive me?”

    “F-Father-! How could I do such a thing-!”

    “Shut your mouth-! I thought I had raised you well, but how foolish I was to think so. Do you know how much it pains me to realize my mistake now-!”

    Kyle’s whole body trembled like a frightened puppy. The sight of his enraged father was terrifying. The mansion, once thought to be a place of solace, suddenly felt like a hellish furnace.

    “I’ll ask one last time. The contents of this letter. Are they true or false? You’d better answer carefully.”

    His father, who seemed already convinced of the letter’s contents, made Kyle remember the saying, “There is no rest for the wicked.”

    “I… it’s true…”

    After a moment.

    “Seize him. Break his legs and throw him in the dungeon. I’ll take him to Winterfell myself.”

    The sound of the runaway’s knees shattering and his agonized screams echoed through the mansion.

    Crack!

    “Aaaaargh-!!”

    The mansion, which should have echoed with shouts of joy, was instead filled with painful wails. The discordant screams started returning to where they should be, back into the cage of iron bars. The fugitive, realizing he could not escape his past unscathed, was thus sent back to where he belonged, understanding there could be no peace in the place he fled to.

    **

    At the time when the fugitive’s wails were echoing.

    Remian and Gelwood were facing off. It was a stark confrontation between someone who wanted to expose a cruel past and another trying to cover a foolish present.

    “If you stop now, I will try to ensure that the Grand Duke does not find out. Please consider this old man’s plea, Grand Duchess.”

    Stop what?

    How can I stop something that hasn’t even started?

    Is that all you can say? Stop?

    A man who should prioritize the Winterfell family, who should think of me first, can only say that?

    If you knew the truth, if you knew about the academy incident, you should be cheering for the downfall of the oppressors, not stopping me!

    “Will you listen to my order not to stop?! Can you resolve the grievances I couldn’t resolve-!!”

    Once again, Remian’s rancor erupted. Her fiercely open eyes were filled with unresolved, perhaps eternally unresolvable, grievances. Her pounding heart pumped harsh resentment through her veins. The seething resentment evaporated her blood, and in the void left behind, another unresolvable grievance filled.

    It was three years of ridicule and violence. It was three years of endured pain. It was maddeningly unfair.

    Returning to that day, having to ‘endure’ again, was so grievous and humiliating for Remian.

    “I will find a legal way to resolve the Grand Duchess’s grievances.”

    A legal way?

    “Don’t make me laugh! If it could have been resolved legally, I wouldn’t have started at all-!!”

    What I suffered wasn’t legal, so how can a legal method resolve my grievances! It was irrational verbal abuse and violence, so how can a rational method judge it!

    My father, who hunted the monster tribes, also said it!

    An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!

    The monster tribes that massacred the people had to be exterminated without exception!

    “I will also arrange personal measures to resolve your grievances. So please stop bringing dishonor to the family tradition. If the Grand Duke finds out, there will certainly be severe consequences.”

    Gelwood’s earnest wish made Remian sigh. Or maybe she smiled in futility.

    [Dishonor]

    The absurd word made her seething resentment disappear. Her clenched fists loosened. The insults she had to witness in the past were not dishonor, then? Was family tradition more important than the hell she had to endure?

    It was a cruel and bitter statement, one that made her fierce gaze soften.

    “If I have offended you, I apologize, but please understand my feelings as well. I cannot just watch you take steps that lead you back to hell.”

    Ha.

    Haha.

    Hahaha.

    Funny, really.

    Even the solemn Gelwood has a funny side?

    Steps to escape hell are leading me back to hell?

    What nonsense.

    With a bitter smile, Remian opened her mouth.

    “So, what do you want me to do now? Forgive Eldon, whom you arbitrarily pardoned?”

    “Of course not. I just want this marriage contest to conclude peacefully, with its reputation and tradition intact.”

    “Peacefully……?”

    Remian dragged out her words and then smiled again.

    Selflessness means fairness without bias.

    Tranquility means having nothing to worry about.

    Purity means being free from evil.

    Of the three meanings, none suited the conclusion of the marriage contest. None matched, and that made her laugh. If any of the meanings were to partake in the conclusion, there was only one way.

    “Bring Eldon Rafellion.”

    “What…?”

    “If you want the peaceful conclusion you mentioned, there’s only one way. Return Eldon. Then I will stop.”

    “What…?”

    Gelwood’s face showed perplexity.

    In exchange for testifying about the past, for keeping the damage to the marriage contest’s reputation a secret, and for handing over all evidence, Gelwood had granted Eldon his freedom. He had no choice. The evidence and the scar on Eldon’s cheek were enough to cause a major rift in the contest’s reputation. Moreover, Eldon had sincerely apologized to the Grand Duchess and vowed to live remembering this. He couldn’t detain him any longer, so Gelwood had released him in exchange.

    With a troubled face, Gelwood bowed his head.

    “…I’m sorry, but I cannot nullify the agreement. Consider it the Grand Duke’s decree.”

    And then he looked up.

    Smiling. He saw Remian smiling.

    That smile grew into laughter.

    Soon, Remian was holding her belly, laughing, and Gelwood had to show perplexity and sorrow on his face.

    “Hahaha-!”

    “W-Why are you laughing….”

    He was scared.

    Even someone like him, numbed to fear after facing many storms, was scared of Remian’s laughter that contained something indescribable.

    After a while, Remian wiped the tears from her eyes and stopped laughing.

    “Gelwood.”

    “Yes.”

    Remian Winterfell.

    Gelwood, who had witnessed her past and present, felt like he was facing a different person today. The Remian who had torn Eldon’s note in the eternal snow garden and shouted seemed like a momentary rebel. He thought it was a momentary impulse. But it seemed it wasn’t a mere whim. That realization terrified him, and he had to understand that his hope for the peaceful conclusion of the marriage contest was foolish.

    “You arbitrarily released Eldon Rafellion, who should have been the winner, and you expect this marriage contest to end peacefully? You do know how to joke, don’t you?”

    That night, as Eldon was heading to the party with Rachel, two letters were sent to the Kellyd and Rosfel families.

    To the Duke Kellyd in Deron.

    To the Marquis Rosfel in Blund.

    Letters bearing the same despair that

 had reached Count Vellaon’s house were sent.

    And Remian, who sent the letters, felt deep regret again. There was no one at the Rafellion family to receive the letter and nullify Eldon’s withdrawal. His parents were dead, and his mother had been an orphan commoner with no family.

    It felt like the world itself was helping Eldon’s escape, a ridiculous delusion for Remian. Furthermore, the marriage contest no longer held any meaning for Remian, who couldn’t face Eldon Rafellion’s absence.

    Neither revenge nor liberation.

    Everything.

    And that night, another letter left the Grand Duke’s castle.

    It was Gelwood’s urgent letter, calling for Logan’s return, the head of the Winterfell family.