I Married the Mad Duke Who Killed My Husband - Chapter 92
“Kugh, this… You don’t care what happens to your wife?!”
“I told you not to mention her.”
When Cassion charged with his sword, a couple of knights who had regained their senses tried to stop him, but it was futile.
Whether his helping knights fell slashed or not, he kept his gaze fixed on the Prince who glared at him with bloodshot eyes, and reached into his chest.
Though he didn’t want to show anything of Asilia’s and wondered if this was really necessary, but since she wanted it…
“I am protecting Asilia.”
“…!”
“Your pathetic lies won’t work.”
However, he couldn’t bear to let that lovely pink hair flutter in the wind, so he only showed it briefly before putting it back. The Prince’s confirmation was enough.
“…Having a hostage is true.”
“Your mouth is still working, I see.”
“Though it’s not the Duchess; we have another hostage. Stop the attack and join my side!”
“Do you still think you’re the First Prince?”
The few remaining knights who hadn’t fled shouted that how could he be sure just from seeing hair, that he must be lying, but that wasn’t his concern.
And though the First Prince wasn’t quite that foolish and stopped mentioning Asilia, he seemed unable to break his old habits. Cassion gripped his sword again, struck down at the Prince, and then kicked him in the stomach.
“Your Highness!”
“Where do you see a prince here?”
He never thought the day would come when he would look down on someone who had treated him, a mercenary-turned-war hero, like an insect crawling up from the ground.
“You should get used to crawling on the ground now.”
“Kugh, you street mercenary…!”
“You talk too much.”
This time, Cassion struck the First Prince with the back of his sword. The impact seemed too much for the Prince, who was pushed back. Those around him hurriedly tried to support him, but the First Prince, seemingly ashamed, shook them off. Even that action looked foolish.
Despite receiving the title of Duke as a war hero, he had always harbored an inferiority complex due to his desire for status. Because of this, even while supporting the Second Prince, he inwardly thought he could never shake off the label of being a former mercenary.
But after meeting Asilia and seeing her always so confident… he began to think, why should it matter?
“If it weren’t for Asilia, I wouldn’t care about any hostage.”
What does social status matter? Does it matter where or how one was raised? To be so lovable and precious just by existing.
Now, what Cassion wished for wasn’t to remove his label and rise to be admired by others, but simply for her to look at him with pure love, just as he looked at her.
“Bring him! Kugh, hurry and bring that bastard!”
It seemed the talk of hostages was true after all, as the few enemies already surrounded by Cassion and his knights shouted and protected the First Prince.
Well, the worst-case hostage would probably be the Second Prince Shurdin or the Emperor.
But if they could have entered the palace and captured them, they would have beheaded them immediately rather than keeping them as hostages.
“D-Duke…! Please spare me!”
However, the hostage was truly, truly an unexpected person.
“Please save me! Help me!”
“…Hmm.”
Seeing Lorang being dragged out with blood on his forehead, whimpering and shouting, Cassion’s first thought was relief.
In the ducal residence, Lorang’s room wasn’t far from Asil’s. In other words, Lorang being captured meant that Asil could have been captured by the enemy too. A chill ran down his spine for a moment.
Cassion unnecessarily patted the pocket in his chest containing the hair, then let out a sigh. Knights with ambiguous expressions approached.
“Your Grace, what should we do? Shall we just attack?”
In truth, Lorang had no value as a hostage.
He had already served his purpose, and harming him would only increase the infamy of the First Prince who had killed his own father.
At this moment, the dilemma was whether to struggle a bit more in this battle that was clearly heading towards victory to rescue Lorang, or to just sweep everything away to avoid the hassle.
“Well… Try to bring him if possible. As long as he’s alive, that’s enough.”
“Yes!”
However, Asilia would worry about him. Cassion didn’t want to make her sad in the slightest.
So that when all this is over and he returns, she too can come into his arms with a light heart.
In fact, even without hearing Asil’s answer to his confession now, he already knew her heart, but…
“…Still, I’d like to hear it.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Don’t slack off subtly; go and capture that guy too.”
As the victory was too obvious, Cassion chased away the ducal knights who were cleverly hovering around him with sarcastic remarks, striking them with the back of his sword, and covered his mouth.
…No matter what, they’re in the middle of a battle. He couldn’t show a foolishly smiling face.
‘I like you, Cassion’
“……”
But imagining her answer to him, he couldn’t control his mouth from splitting into a grin.
Cassion tried to shake his head, which had turned pink, even as a bloody battle unfolded before his eyes, but it was useless.
He thought it wouldn’t matter what her answer was since his feelings wouldn’t change, but that was all nonsense. Cassion kept imagining Asilia.
Because she’s always confident, she’d probably say those words confidently too. Or would she be uncharacteristically shy? Whatever it may be…
“…Your Grace. I can roughly guess what you’re thinking, but we’re still in battle. It seems the First Prince has been captured over there.”
“Ah.”
“Ah? Ah~? You weren’t even looking? And you’ve lowered your weapon?”
“Shut up.”
“I’m going to tell the Duchess everything about how you were unarmed in the middle of the battlefield!”
When he came to his senses, Cassion’s knights, who had charged in an instant, had subdued the few remaining enemies and were dragging the disarmed First Prince.
He thought he had chased them away earlier with the back of his sword. He silenced the ducal knight who had somehow returned and was speaking incredulously, striking his mouth without even removing his armored gauntlet.
“…Just try to say it.”
Seeing the knight’s eyes looking at him rebelliously, as if he would tattle about this too, Cassion felt tense in a different way. She dislikes it when he doesn’t do his job properly or acts unsafely.
“Keep. Your mouth. Shut.”
Thinking he should finish this properly now, he released the knight who was mumbling with his mouth covered and looked at the First Prince being dragged and forced to kneel.
Glancing aside, it seemed Lorang had been properly rescued too, though slightly injured. After confirming that he was being protected in the rear, shedding tears profusely, he turned his eyes back, and amusingly, the First Prince’s gaze was also directed at Lorang.
“Unexpected. I thought he’d be someone you’d want to kill as much as the Second Prince or the Emperor.”
“……”
“You must have known he had no value as a hostage? Did you spare him because he’s your father?”
If it were Asilia, he couldn’t let even a hair on her head be harmed, so the rescue process would have been difficult even with superior forces.
But with Lorang, since the order was just to keep him alive whether he was injured or not, there was no hesitation in the charge, making the rescue faster and easier.
In a situation where they were already outnumbered and at a disadvantage, the First Prince must have known this. He thought it might have just been a final struggle, but the Prince’s gaze following Lorang’s movements was peculiar.
“You’ll live in prison for the rest of your life now, so I’ll let you have one last meeting with your father.”
“……”
Lorang, who was receiving first aid, shook his head in horror, but Cassion ignored it. With a beckoning gesture, Lorang was pushed forward to stand beside Cassion and in front of the First Prince.
“Now. If you have anything to say between father and son, say it. Pretend no one else is here.”
“Ah, no, Duke! It’s too close! A, a weapon at least……”
A knight who gave Lorang a contemptuous look handed him a sword with a broken blade, almost throwing it. This was to prevent Lorang from actually trying to kill his son or, conversely, the First Prince from snatching Lorang’s sword and escaping.
But Lorang, who could barely hold even the broken sword, stood awkwardly, staring at his son in a confrontational manner.
Throughout this process, the First Prince was quietly watching, surrounded by many soldiers.
“So… um, Your Highness?”
“That man is not a prince.”
“Yes, then… s-son?”
“……”
At Lorang’s address, Cassion thought the First Prince might show bloodshot eyes again, but his eyes only sank deeply.
What’s so important about mere status? Watching the First Prince obsessing over and despairing about his birth, Cassion wondered if his past self had looked like that, too.
“…Father.”
“…!!”
“!!”
However, the low voice that followed was unexpected. In the moment of confusion at the surprising address, the First Prince sprang up and lunged at Lorang.
“Aaack!”
Cassion panicked and blocked in front of the fleeing Lorang with his sword raised, but in a split second, the First Prince snatched the sword Lorang had been holding limply and raised his arm high. It was an expected outburst anyway.
“Foolish act…!”
Squelch-
However, the raised sword seemed to spin, and then it deeply pierced the First Prince’s own abdomen. With enough force to drive the blunted blade deep inside.
Everyone held their breath and watched the scene.
