I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 192
The funerals for Princes Camus and Tarek were expedited to prevent the bodies from decaying. The princes’ bodies were buried in the royal cemetery, far from the palace.
“…”
Rufus attended the funeral in silence, watching as the undertakers placed Prince Tarek’s body into the coffin.
Prince Camus’s body was so horrifically mangled that it was impossible to view. Thus, his final appearance was not revealed to the public. In contrast, Prince Tarek, lying in his coffin, was completely unscathed.
“Aah… Tarek, Brother Tarek…!”
Looking over the edge of the still-open coffin at Prince Tarek, Princess Sordid sobbed.
“This makes no sense… Look at his face! His eyes, his nose—they’re all perfectly clear, as if he could come back to life at any moment…!”
Princess Sordid’s words were true. Perhaps because he had died by poison rather than by any weapon, Prince Tarek looked as though he were merely sleeping, except for his bloodless, pale complexion.
“Bring a doctor immediately! Brother Tarek might still be alive!”
Half out of her mind, Princess Sordid finally attempted to touch Prince Tarek herself as he lay in the coffin.
Crown Prince Viren held her back desperately.
“No, Sordid. Camus and Tarek are dead. Face reality.”
“No, no! It’s a lie! They must be alive! Brother Tarek, Brother Camus…!”
After a long time spent wailing over the loss of her two brothers, Princess Sordid finally collapsed into the arms of her fiancé, Imperial Prince Erius. Watching his sister, Crown Prince Viren bit his lips hard in frustration.
The king, too, was out of his mind. Beyond the fact that one of his sons had killed his own brother, the shock of Prince Tarek’s death after barely escaping death once before left him deeply shaken.
Even as he received condolences from countless nobles, the king struggled to regain his composure.
“Camus… Tarek…”
The king gazed vacantly at the graves of his two sons.
As the coffin of Prince Camus was lowered into the earth, the king’s emotions surged uncontrollably, and he struck his chest with his fists. The startled royal scribes hurried to restrain him, but he, like a broken clockwork doll, couldn’t control himself.
“Camus, my beloved son… Tarek, my beloved son…”
Throughout the funeral, the king called out the names of those who would never return.
“…”
Rufus, watching the king, lowered his head and covered his mouth with one hand.
He couldn’t stop laughing.
The sight of the king twisting in sorrow, overwhelmed with grief, was so delightful he could barely contain himself.
Ah, Your Majesty.
Why are you shedding such noble tears? Has the shock of losing just two sons driven you mad?
But it’s too early for you to lose your mind, Your Majesty.
Your precious daughter, Princess Sordid, and the only hope of the royal family, Crown Prince Viren—they, too, will soon join their brothers. And I must see the day when your head rolls last, so I hope you’ll live long, just until that time.
Until the bloodline of this kingdom’s royal family is completely severed, you will never rest in peace.
Your Majesty.
I despise you. Horribly so.
Your sorrow is my joy, your loss is my victory, and your downfall is my reward.
So, please.
Continue to thrash about in despair, just like this.
“Rufus…?”
As Rufus struggled to stifle his laughter, Sarubia, standing beside him, called to him in a quiet voice.
“Rufus… is something wrong?”
“…No, nothing at all.”
Rufus forced his laughter away, firmly closing his mouth and turning his head.
“…”
Sarubia looked at him silently for a moment, then grasped his hand tightly.
‘Rufus…’
What did he truly think about Prince Camus’s death?
Everyone believed that the monsters had killed Prince Camus. But that wasn’t the truth.
She had killed him.
It was self-defense. Although, in the end, it had been an act of murder. Still, it was undeniably an act of self-defense. Had she not killed Prince Camus, she would have died instead.
But Sarubia could not die.
She had seen it in the future.
She had seen herself alive, staying by Rufus’s side until the day he died.
So.
Sarubia had to survive.
Killing Prince Camus was not the wrong choice.
As Sarubia repeated this self-reassurance to herself over and over, the sound of crying reached her from behind. When she turned her head, she saw several nobles holding handkerchiefs to their mouths, stifling their sobs.
Seeing this, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
‘Prince Camus must have lived a happy life.’
To have people shedding tears for him after his death—Prince Camus, it seemed, hadn’t led a completely wasted life.
Finally, Prince Camus’s coffin disappeared entirely beneath the earth.
It felt hollow.
Prince Camus, who had once harbored ambitions of becoming a power rivaling that of the king of the Hevania Kingdom, had struggled so desperately until the end. Now, he was nothing more than a silent corpse.
What’s the point of dreaming at all?
‘In the end, every human being’s fate is already set.’
With eyes that had lost their luster, Sarubia looked at Prince Tarek’s coffin, which was waiting beside the freshly dug grave.
Inside that coffin lay Iruel, in the form of Prince Tarek.
Sarubia had been deeply shocked when she saw Iruel convulsing, pierced by a rapier at the banquet.
In her confusion, not understanding what was happening, someone shouted from behind her.
‘Prince Tarek has been killed!’
At first, upon hearing that, she thought Iruel had truly died. He had foamed at the mouth, his tongue hanging out, and his hair spread out like a discarded mop against the wall. Seeing Iruel in such a state, how could she possibly think he had survived?
But then, upon further reflection, she realized it was impossible for Iruel to have died.
Sarubia had seen Iruel’s death.
In the future she had glimpsed, Iruel had died of old age alongside the woman he loved. According to the prophecy, Iruel could not have died from poison at the hands of Prince Camus at the banquet.
In that case…
‘Iruel… I don’t fully understand what’s happened, but you’ll come back to life, won’t you? …Won’t you?’
Watching as Prince Tarek’s coffin was lowered into the ground, Sarubia quietly prayed.
