Even Death Was Taken Away by That Obsession - Chapter 32
“Duke… Viente?”
The Duke’s hand that held my chin slid down softly.
Down my face, to just above my chest exposed by the torn dress.
And as his fingers returned to my face, he spoke.
“Ever since I first saw you at the temple. Strangely, I couldn’t get you out of my mind.”
Despite his dangerous eyes, his tone was proper and composed.
“Isn’t it strange? You’re my friend’s fiancée.”
Just that and nothing more.
His lips that muttered those words, his features I had thought perfect, twisted coldly.
It was a dangerous face.
“Why do I hate you so much every time I see you?”
His tone was lower, closer to self-reflection than words meant for me.
Eventually, the Duke suppressed the anger in his eyes beneath a gentleman’s smile.
And having regained his gentle ducal demeanor, he calmly revealed his thoughts.
“Honestly, I wished you would disappear and never catch my eye again.”
“Why……”
“Because of the nightmares.”
Nightmares?
As I blinked in surprise at his unexpected explanation, the Duke let out a soft chuckle, seemingly amused at his own words.
Then he confessed a fact that took my breath away.
“I have nightmares sometimes. Of a woman with beautiful silver hair like yours and red eyes like mine. Yet I can’t remember who she is.”
I, who had been tense and defensive, dropped my arms like a dead person.
‘Those nightmares… could it be…’
The Duke lifted my limp hand and placed a small kiss on it.
And with lips that seemed about to whisper love, he calmly expressed his hatred.
“Since seeing you, I’ve been tormented by that dream every day, suffering without fail.”
I instinctively stepped backward at his cool but chilling resentment.
My body tilted as if about to be sucked back into the pit.
“I wonder if it would have been better if hundreds of blades had been waiting down there.”
“Your Grace…?”
“I mean I wish you would die.”
“What are you saying…”
I looked behind me with a trembling voice.
One more step and I would be in a dangerous position in an instant.
“Of course, I considered killing you with my own hands. Disposing of one person wouldn’t be difficult, would it? And yet…”
The Duke’s hands grabbed my body.
As if to prevent me from falling into the trap again and getting hurt or dying as I pleased.
Then he tilted his head as if truly unable to understand himself.
“I wondered why I always end up just contemplating it. I found it strange that I couldn’t understand myself. So I thought about it.”
At his next words, my heart, which had barely been maintaining its beat, turned to black ashes in an instant.
“It’s because I’ve fallen in love with you, My Lady.”
Only then did the Duke pull my body toward safety.
And whispered again.
“I’ve taken you into my heart.”
An ice-cold confession.
A wind, slightly too warm to belong to spring, swept through the forest.
What just happened?
What exactly did I hear?
Like a criminal, I lowered my head, not wanting to see the Duke’s expression.
Even that was interrupted by his mere fingers, as Dekiel slowly lifted my face.
“This must be what ordinary people call love.”
Ah, such a merciless confession.
The forest surrounding us seemed to freeze completely.
“Otherwise, why would I hate someone enough to want to kill them?”
“That’s…!”
“I hate that you already belong to Ian so much it makes my teeth grind. Some days I want to kill you and get rid of you rather than endure this pain.”
The Duke was certain of his feelings, like fate, like lovers who had promised eternity since long ago.
“Seeing how even your fearful trembling appears beautiful to me, perhaps it’s not so bad to watch over you like this for now.”
“Your Grace…”
“Do you know? Just earlier, I quite liked seeing you needing me, begging to be saved.”
“……”
“I don’t intend to be greedy. Let’s maintain this level of relationship for now.”
“When you say this level…”
“Well. A special relationship different from Ian’s?”
I forcefully swallowed the tears that had spread further as I tried to hold them back.
And grasped my somewhat numb consciousness.
Finally, instead of arguing with the Duke’s words, I whimpered, pretending not to understand at all.
I thought that by wearing a mask of innocence bordering on idiocy, I might be able to stop those lips that were violently ransacking my mind.
“I’m grateful that Your Grace thinks well of me. But as you know, I am his fiancée.”
The Duke’s eyes narrowed mockingly at my words.
It was undeniably a sneer.
“You’re quite generous in evaluating people, My Lady.”
“Generous?”
“Do I look like someone who would care about such things?”
I appealed more delicately to shake off the Duke.
“…I cannot understand your words, Your Grace. Saying you hate me, saying you’ve fallen in love. We’ve only met twice… isn’t this just our third time?”
The Duke slowly lowered his hand that had been gripping me.
And quietly muttered.
“Are you saying this is only our second… third conversation?”
That question lifted my already buried and broken heart only to tear it to pieces again.
This man knows me.
Dekiel Viente.
You… know me.
‘Could you be ‘him’?’
Or perhaps someone else who knows me?
“I would be pleased if you called me by my name instead of the formal ‘Your Grace.'”
Cold lips touched my forehead and withdrew.
“I too shall call you more intimately.”
Eyes the same color as mine turned toward the pocket containing the amulet.
“Today, one small gift seems sufficient. As thanks for my saving you.”
I clenched my fist in despair at the situation where I could no longer treat the possibility that Dekiel Viente might be ‘him’ as mere possibility.
Ah… I thought today had been particularly enjoyable.
Not just today, but ever since I opened my eyes, life here had been too generous to me.
Luckily meeting Ian and becoming his fiancée, meeting good servants, each day peaceful.
My friend who promised to lead me to victory in the bet is now the High Priest.
Isn’t he busy making medicine to help me remember who ‘he’ is, even bending the rules of the bet?
But despite those efforts, a deep certainty turned my complexion pale.
‘It was you. That man.’
It was time to wake up from the sweet dream of wanting to live like a human.
“…If you wish.”
Having barely spoken those words, I was overcome with a strange powerlessness.
So I handed the amulet that should have been given to Ian to Duke Viente instead.
That blonde gentleman smiled harmlessly as if satisfied with this.
It was a face that looked as innocent as Ian’s.
***
“The High Priest always cherishes the scripture, I see.”
An assistant priest approached Feiden, who was casually flipping through Koseji’s scripture.
Just two hours since the hunting festival began.
As the High Priest who had to declare both the opening and closing of the hunting festival, Feiden couldn’t leave the Viente duchy until all ceremonies were complete.
Thinking there would be no more nobles to deal with, he had opened the scripture out of boredom.
After all, this scripture containing Koseji’s mythology was what had made Feiden choose Aintz as his stage.
“You truly are a symbol of devotion. I should follow your example.”
Devotion? As if there could be such a thing.
As the assistant priest’s eyes sparkled, Feiden gently patted his back.
And contrary to his inner thoughts mocking his own leadership in blasphemy, he showed a clear smile.
Beneath his neatly folded eyes disappeared the gentle green eyes befitting a High Priest who had dedicated his life to God.
The High Priest rose and headed below the altar.
Though moving about would likely attract more troublesome conversations, he planned to avoid them by pretending to enjoy both a walk and study with the open scripture.
The plan was successful.
The nobles who had been gathering upon spotting Feiden turned away, completely fooled by his pretense of deep concentration.
It was after this situation had repeated several times.
The High Priest’s gentle face suddenly turned pale.
It was such a serious expression that he thought it fortunate no one was around.
‘Haine? And who’s that beside her?’
The sight of Haine heading toward the Fortena Grand Duke’s tent was quite a spectacle.
Her dress was a mess from who knows where, and it was even badly torn, suggesting she must have suffered quite painful injuries.
The problem was that the person escorting her to the Grand Duke’s tent was Dekiel Viente.
He was someone who should not be kept close to Haine.
Yet there he was, naturally holding Haine’s hand with his handsome face.
Even draping his outer garment over her for all to see.
